1835 Medicine and Poison (Part 1)
The Quylla-Abomination stared at Lith in anger as if it blamed him for its fate before losing its mind and feeding upon its sisters and Faluel.
"Fine, I'll help you." Lith sighed in resignation. "But I'll need everyone's help and this is going to wait until tomorrow. We need to be at the peak of our strength if we want to keep the worst from happening."
And by that, he didn't mean something as trifling as death.
***
The following day, Lith and the group met at the tower early in the morning.
"I have good news and I have great news." He said while leading them to the underground floors of the mines and the Crucible. "The good news is that after adding the loot from yesterday's mission, the orc crystal has finally turned completely white.
"I can now start working on my golems since thanks to my experiments with Vastor's tracking mechanism it's the gemstone I know best. I should be able to make decent memory crystals out of it.
"The great news is that even the Adamant refining process took a huge leap forward overnight. In a few weeks, I won't be stuck with just a few Davross ingots, but I might have enough for a weapon and an armor."
"Seriously? You have so much already to cover your Tiamat form?" Tista said in amazement.
"I wish." Lith sighed. "I meant enough for a human-sized set. The entire Crucible should be filled with Davross to have enough to craft something like that."
"Seriously?" Phloria echoed, yet her voice was filled solely with anger. "Today Quylla might die if not even turn into an Abomination and your so-called good news are about your already thick wallet?"
"Phloria is right, can't you be a little more compassionate for once?" Friya threw him a reproachful look. "Our sister is acting tough but her knees are shaking."
Quylla looked pale that day and she kept hugging herself despite the warm sun, trying to shrug off the dread cold that haunted her.
"I'm not worried about my wallet." Then, after they all glared at him for a long second, he added: "I mean, not right now. I said that I had great news because the white crystals produce a flow of world energy of their own that the metals further enhance.
"Their progress means that during Quylla's Awakening process I can use both the power coming from the geyser and that accumulated inside the tower mines.
"On top of that, now that we have learned how to use the Hands of Menadion, we can control even the energy of the mana geyser that exceeds the tower's capacity. We couldn't ask for better development."
"Nice save." Phloria said, punching him in the shoulder and regretting it immediately after.
Between the Voidwalker armor and his mass, hitting a block of Adamant would have hurt less. Seeing her grimace of pain, Friya managed to stop in time and just glared at him.
"When do we start?" Quylla asked with a hoarse voice.
No matter how much she drank, stress kept her throat dry.
"As soon as Faluel arrives." Solus replied while handing Quylla several milky potions.
"Why Faluel and what's in these flasks?" She asked.
"Two pairs of Hands of Menadion are better than one." Solus replied. "As for the potions, they are the best tonics we have managed to brew after visiting Jiera. They contain more nutrients than a full course meal and taste good."
Quylla sipped one, discovering that it tasted like honeyed milk.
"You have to drink them all." Lith said. "We have no idea how long the process will last and if you die of malnutrition, it would be all for naught."
At those words, Quylla literally started drinking for her life.
"Sorry for being late, but the Council is still assessing their losses and they needed all hands on deck." The Hydra walked in while Quylla ran to the bathroom before drinking more.
"Thrud and Or- I mean Meln hit us hard. It's going to be an uphill fight from now on."
"All more the reason to Awaken me!" Quylla yelled from behind the door.
Once she was done emptying the tank and filling it with tonics, they moved to the Forge. It was the floor right above the mines and the place where they could best harness the combined strength of the tower and the geyser.
Lith and Faluel wore their respective Hands while Solus would focus solely on controlling the energy flowing through the tower. Together they formed a triangle around Quylla while the others watched the scene from the Mirror Hall.
"Before we start, I have to drink this as well." Quylla took out a potion that seemed to be filled with tar.
It was actually a painkiller infused with darkness magic whose effects would last for several hours. Quylla had witnessed Phloria's agony and she knew that her own would be much worse.
She couldn't afford to lose her consciousness in the middle of the process. If that happened, the Awakening would go haywire and she would die.
"I'm sorry, but there's one more thing that you have to do." Solus said while staring awkwardly at the ground. "You also have to strip."
"What?" Quylla went from pale to bright red in less than one second.
"The Adamant armor would compress your body, slowing the flow of impurities and increasing the risks." Lith replied. "Besides, we are all friends here and I've seen my fair share of naked women. There's nothing for you to worry about."
"Doesn't this mean that aside from Friya you'll have seen the three of us naked?" Quylla refused to take the armor off.
"Fair point. Friya, if you want to strip as well out of camaraderie, I've nothing against it." Lith said with his serious face that meant he was thinking about something lewd.
"Nice try, pervert! Why don't you do it, instead." She replied.
"Because it would make Solus, Faluel, and Quylla lose focus." Lith made his shirt disappear and his pants become skin-tight to prove his point.
Friya giggled at the sight of his broad shoulder and chiseled physique while Phloria quickly turned her head around. Faluel was used to Awakened bodies so she just smiled while biting her pinkie seductively.
Quylla had never seen something like that before and blushed up to her ears whereas Solus yawned. Everyone turned toward her, staring inquisitively.
"Why should I be embarrassed? I've seen him naked countless-" She bit her own tongue, but it was already too late. "I mean with our mind fusion and when Lith has to clean himself up after a breakthrough. I don't peek at him."
Solus turning beet red only made her words sound like an excuse.
"Is it better now?" Lith asked after covering himself.
"No. I mean yes." Quylla said while using water magic to cool down.
She took several deep breaths until she managed to focus her mind on the imminent risk of death instead of Lith's body. Then she took her Forgemastery wand out and cast one Spirit Spell after another until even a tier zero spell became difficult.
"I've thought hard about your breakthroughs during the past year." She said amid pants. "I believe that it's not a coincidence that they always triggered when you were physically and magically exhausted, like it happened to Friya in the mines.
