The plant itself didn’t have green leaves; it had a dusty bronze colour and a bitter smell. Driving away herbivores and omnivores.
However, Mage Tower changed the status quo whenity unveiled the real form of Sherry leaves. It quickly became one of the few herbs that could increase magik recovery, and the only one in its price range.
The green leaves now made up for 40% of the herb gathering Hunter’s revenue worldwide, making it the most traded magik herb in the Hunter Society. That was the Sherry that the world knew.
However, if Johan wanted to take the next step, he had to go back to the beginning.
After the first round of Growth acceleration, he found the shining pair of verdant leaves he wanted. They weigh almost twice as much as the other and the surface of the leaf felt silky smooth, with occasional bumps from the yellow veins.
Name: Sherry Leaf
Rank: C
Info: Can be used to create Rank D Magik Recovery Potions.
Johan could make Rank C magik recovering potions with the Rank D leaves he had in abundance. However, it would require him to continuously reduce the potion and keep adding more sherry leaves.
If 10 grams of powdered Sherry leaves and 100 ml of magik water made one rank D potion, 1 kg of powdered Sherry leaves mixed in 100 ml of magik water would give a rank C potion.
Yes, on paper it was a potion, but it would be super gooey and nasty, even a normal rank D magik recovery potion was almost as bitter as ceremonial Macha, Johan felt goosebumps just thinking about the taste of the rank C abomination.
His tongue might fall off altogether. That’s why Magik recovery potions made from Sherry leaves had stayed at Rank E and D since their discovery 38 years ago.
Johan separated the pot with the Rank D Sherry leaf and cast growth acceleration on it.
After one cast, the lithe branches started to bend. By the second, the leaves that had opened like wings started to come close, losing much of their green lustre. By the third, the two seams of the leaves stuck together because of the white, gooey liquid secreted at the edges. The color of old, beaten bronze started to spread from the leaf veins, slowly encroaching on the leaves that formed a cup-like structure.
When Johan cast the fourth growth acceleration, a fuzzy stamen rose from the centre of the cup, slightly bent forward. The moment it reached the air, a scent of rotten flesh assaulted Johan’s nose.
“This…. This is worse than what was said in the book!” Johan cursed the writer for undermining the severity and quickly ran away. Eunally and Nunally had already left him behind.
It wasn’t just one such flower, either; there were twenty-five of them on the entire plant!
When he came back, a scented cloth covered his nose. With his reddened eyes, he saw Parakeet circling the plant in a crazy dance. The butterfly seemed elated, swaying as if drunk on the scent.
This was a butterfly after all. Johan could only shake his head as Parakeet got to work on pollination. These flowers used the scent of rotting flesh to lure the insects, and it worked very well.
It was almost morning when the flower’s(?) opening closed into a sealed pouch of dusty bronze. Parakeet flew away dejected, but Johan could finally soothe his itching nose and eyes.
Why did he have to be stubborn about noting down the process?
Still, he had a few hours to recover before seed forming process ended.
So, he returned to the Mart.
Johan took a short nap in the storage room while Eugene took care of customersase usual. Thanks to the printing machine Eugene bought from the Hunter Mall, one that worked with custom ink, he was finally free from slip writing duty.
Lately, he had more free time after starting to assume his actual role. So, he should have more time to rest, at least on paper that was true.
If I have so much free time, why did I not sleep last night? He could only shake his head in dismay, wiping the crusts off his eyes after the nap.
When he came back after washing his face with cold water, Eugene was waiting for him with an order of an Iced Caramel Macchiato with a double shot of vanilla syrup and extra caramel. Eugene was too good at getting him what he needed.
He is more dependable than I, that’s for sure. Johan could only drown in his wallows with the sweet drink.
Still, the look on Eugene’s face concerned him. It was all bright and respectful. Well, had been like that for a while, but after he saw Merilyn in Johan’s room, it had reached the stratosphere.
I hope he is not misunderstanding something about that. The situation he saw could easily spark such misunderstandings; it would be weird if it didn’t.
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At this point, he wasn’t sure if he wanted Eugene to misunderstand or not. Maybe this was the feeling women had when asked what they wanted to eat? Eh, probably not.
Seeing Eugene off, Johan locked the front and back doors as usual before retreating into the potion workshop. He gathered the empty crates used to store the potions and returned to the Tower after his much-needed recharge.
As he completed the minor chores, nighttime arrived, according to his wristwatch at least.
Cautioning Eunally and Nunally to stay away from the Sherry leaves farm, Johan retied the scent cloth around his nose and stepped into the fray.
The bronze pouch looked more like a ripe fig now, but extremely pudgy to the touch and nasty in scent. Johan made a mental note to use the oxygen mask next time.
Next time, I’ll do this in the Night Bloom flower area. Johan held back the bagels and macchiato in his stomach, snipping the sac-like pouch from the dark green stem.
Now, the book had already let him down on the severity once, so he didn’t want to take another chance. Donning his oxygen mask, he went near the Night Bloom flower tent and used a box cutter to make a coin slot-like incision.
The leaves had turned paper-thin. He was sure she could poke it with a toothpick. Turning it over onto the fine mesh laid over a bowl, he allowed the white liquid milk to flow out of the incision. It passed through the mesh, leaving behind oval black seeds.
The seeds, dripping with droplets of white, were as big as pumpkin seeds, and there were about 100 of them. The milk-like water was the nasty deterrent that made any animal that bit into the fruit-like thing spit it right out. Spreading the sherry leaf seeds nearby.
From magik recovery increasing leaves to flowers to a pseudo fruit, this thing does a lot of work. Johan could only marvel at the wonders of nature while washing the seeds with magik water.
After drying the seeds, he left them in the sun to dry. As for the white liquid, Parakeet wanted it, so Johan let it have the bowl. Watching the butterfly drink it up like nectar, he could only blame nature for playing favourites.
Johan had barely touched the seed,s and the smell won’t leave his finger. But Parakeet? This guy almost bathed in that white liquid and still smelled all sweet and flowery.
As the butterfly sat on his right hand, flapping its wings, Johan turned to the now dried seeds. With a little rub, he got the black coating off and looked at the brand-new brown seed.
Name: Sherry Leaf Seed
Rank: C
Info: Effects: An average quality seed with a small amount of magik, perfect to kickstart its growth. The more magik in the surroundings, the higher it absorbs.
Note: The plant is slightly weaker than normal in the sprouting stage.
“Suffering does have a purpose, after all.” Johan nodded to himself.
Sowing the first seed in the pot full of soil, and after pouring a generous amount of magik water, he cast growth acceleration on the pot.
A stem thicker than the usual one popped out; it was almost as thick as bamboo by the end. However, Johan’s eyes only looked at the bright leaves that spread open.
Taking a few, Johan rushed to the brewing tent and got to brewing the potion on the spot. Using the new stirrer, made by Master Adelan, Johan couldn’t help but grin as the powdered sherry leaves vanished into the water.
Name: Magik Recovery Potion Pro
Rank: C
Effects:
- Restores 40 Magik Power instantly.
- Increases magik recovery speed by 30% for 30 minutes.
Note: Effect No.2 is not stackable.
As he had almost emptied his magik reserves, Johan decided to drink it.
“Blegh!” Johan almost threw up as soon as the potion touched his tongue.
The Rank D potion had a slight sweetness to it, but this one was straight up the big brother of matcha, and not in a good way. As someone with a raging sweet tooth, this was Grade 1 torture.
Seemed like the increase in rank had also strengthened the taste; sherry leaves had an inherent bitter flavour.
Good thing that Johan had just the tool to sweeten it.
Opening the cabinet near the brewing desk, assembled a few days ago, he picked a random pickle jar on the third level. It had a white, almost sparkling powder. The cabinet held a dozen of these jars.
This powder, which felt like corn starch to the touch, was the dehydrated pulp of Nefel’s blessing, after he had taken all the juice away for the potions.
Johan poured the potion back into the beaker and picked up a small golden spoon that only scooped up to a milligram. Nefel’s blessing was a weird fruit; its sweetness didn’t come from the juice, but from the pulp.
The juice was the ice essence that protected the body from the cold, leading to ice resistance.
He stirred the golden spoon in the potion and set it aside on a paper towel, then used the stirrer to incorporate the powder in the liquid. Just this step added an extra 5 minutes of brewing time.
As for why 1 mg? Johan had tried a spoonful before, while making tea for what was supposed to be a meeting with Cara’s Team Leader at the time, and he threw up because of how sweet it was.
Even a sweet tooth had its limits.
Johan thought he’d get diabetes; that’s how sweet it was. Thankfully, that didn’t cause any adverse effects, so he decided to test how much would be ok. He had started with 1 mg, and it worked.
Shortest experiment of his career.
“Still refreshing though.” Johan let out a sigh of relief after drinking the potion.
Because the pulp came from Nefel’s blessing, it had some cooling effects. Even if it didn’t give ice resistance, it cooled the body. The potion also felt chilled.
Cool wind revolved around him, at least it felt like that; no matter how much he moved, he wouldn’t even break a sweat. Johan couldn’t wait till summer arrived. The iced tea would work wonders during those times.
Having that refreshing coolness on the beach in the hot summer, Johan could already feel the satisfaction.
However, as he was busy in his happy delusions, a crunch resounded in the tent.
Johan froze. He recognized that crunch. He looked at the source of the wet chews and cracking glass. Cerberious had jumped onto the potion-making table.
Cerbie barked, happy to see him. Cerberious, the middle head, avoided his eyes as the right head chewed continuously. What was it chewing on?
The 1-kilo jar of Nefel’s blessing pulp, along with the steel lid. And that wasn’t the only one, it seemed.
When he looked past the ajar cabinet door, the five jars inside weren’t there any longer.
Johan had more Nefel’s Blessings in his storage, so he wasn’t worried about that. Another thing worried him as he saw the head that always growled at him, swaying left to right.
“He’s not gonna get poisoned by sugar, right?”
The guardian beast dying from a sucrose overdose, now that would be divine comedy.
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