Mariela had entered the basement of her hut and activated the Magic Circle of Suspended Animation.
“I survived.”
The Magic Circle of Suspended Animation was designed to deactivate once the threat of death had passed.
Thanks to the drop of life, her eyesight had improved considerably.
There was a light shining into the basement from a hole above her feet.
The hatch leading to the basement had been broken open. There were no signs of wind or rain, so it must have happened recently.
As Mariela approached the door to get out, she noticed the wooden ladder leading to the exit was completely rotted and lying on the ground. It was most likely knocked loose by the tremors caused by the stampeding demons. She managed to climb up the wall using the loose stones as footholds.
“Umm–”
The place where her hut was supposed to be, had been completely overtaken by the forest.
“Okay, let’s just think of why there would be no trace of the hut. The hut must’ve been completely overwhelmed by the stampede.”
She pulled out a handful of the overgrown grass at her feet.
“Medicinal herbs that were growing in my herb garden…. Why are you growing all over the place——!!!!”
Mariela buried her head in her hands. The only way the herbs could be like this is if they were ignored for decades.
Something had felt wrong to her ever since she was revived.
Her body had become stiff and the ladder was severely rotted.
“Did the Magic Circle of Suspended Animation break?”
That shouldn’t be the case. She confirmed that it was in good condition before she activated it.
At the time, she was relying on the flickering light of the lantern, but she carefully examined every inch of the magic circle.
She remembered the swaying flame of the lantern as if she had seen it only minutes ago.
“Hmm? The lantern’s….flame?”
“Ah—!” Mariela let out a pitiful scream and crouched down.
She forgot because she was used to using illumination magic, but if you light a flame in a closed room it will eventually use up all of the oxygen.
Even though the stampede passed, she was unable to revive. That is until the door was broke open letting oxygen in.
“How long was I asleep for–”
Mariela’s grief echoed pointlessly throughout the forest.
10 depressing minutes passed.
Mariela sat there tearing the leaves off of plants.
《Desiccation, Desiccation, Des~i~cca~tion》
“Ah mou~, it’s incredibly inconvenient not having a bag. I’d be able to free up my hands to tie the leaves to my waist if I had a bag. Still, all of the common herbs have flourished. With these, I should be able to avoid any demons and make low-grade potions.”
Mariela was complaining while drying the herbs she found and hanging them from her waist.
She quickly finished and was now sporting a unique herb skirt. With this, she had completed her aboriginal look.
Originally these were for healing…..but it provided a rather simple look.
The herb skirt looks pretty tacky, a girl of marriageable age would never be seen wearing something like this.
“Fuufuufuu–As long as I wear these herbs lower-class demons won’t be able to detect me. It’s my ‘Skirt of Demon Protection.’”
While the herb skirt swayed from Mariela’s waist, she continued searching for more medicinal herbs. She extracted a few more bundles of herbs and took out 5 vials from her waist pouch.
《Desiccation, Pulverization, Drop of Life, Medicinal Effect Extraction, Waste Separation, Enrichment, Medicinal Effect Fixation, Inclusion》
The alchemy was executed in quick succession, and the low-grade potions were completed.
At the same time, she created a demon repellent potion. With that, she should hopefully be able to make it to town.
In short, a potion is a magical drug that has raised the medicinal effects of herbs beyond the normal limits by using a drop of life.
For example, using Kyuruke grass to make the low-grade potions. Even if the grass were to just be ground up into a powder, if it were applied to a wound it would sterilize the wound. This grass also has the ability to reduce blood flow, help heal lacerations, and if the cut isn’t that bad it can completely recover it in a few days. But, if it’s just taken as is, it wouldn’t have these effects.
By dissolving this medicinal plant in the drop of life, it will become a magical medicine that will not only heal wounds but also recover strength. It will also immediately close the wound if you put it directly on it.
Recovery Magic can do the same thing immediately, but recovery magic relies on the own healing power of the injured person. If the injury is too great the person will only gradually recover over time. So for patients with low physical strength, to begin with, the healing effect will be greatly reduced.
To that point, potions use the power of the drop of life. So, potions would have the same effect no matter how grave an injury is.
However, since the drop of life originally flowed throughout veins in the ground — nurturing plants, giving power to animals, and then, eventually dissolving into the atmosphere and returning to the ground veins once more — alchemy used this unconventional energy and, “Medicinal Effect Fixation,” to create potions. Though in less than a year, the effect of the potion will be gone, and it will just become herbal medicinal water.
Furthermore, if you move away from the vein that the drop of life originated from, it becomes more difficult to use.
Eventually, it will disappear completely.
There are many processes that one needs to go through to use alchemy and that’s why it is usually better to heal using recovery magic. Not only is the cost of the treatment less, there are almost no materials needed to use recovery magic.
On the streets in the safe haven of Endalgia, there were many people earning small amounts of money by using recovery magic to heal minor wounds. Because of this, the price of low-grade potions had to be made dirt-cheap to compete with them.
There were many advanced potions with specialized effects that would be much more expensive, but these potions would only be needed by people with specific occupations. And on top of that, only expert alchemists would be able to create these potions. There is no chance an alchemist of Mariela’s level would be able to make these potions.
People with the ability to use alchemy were not rare. Alchemists were as common as bakers in Endalgia.
Mariela was not skilled enough to fight against the demons. So, she was thankful that she was able to make even a meager living selling potions.
“Ooh, Skipilla grass.”
An important source of revenue survived!
Skipilla grass is the base material for creating contraceptives. Mariela’s special contraceptive potion was made with several other herbs, but the main component was Skipilla grass. This potion was in high demand among prostitutes as it could prevent venereal disease and pregnancy.
(When I had just started out on my own, this potion was how I was able to make a living.)
When she looked more closely, she could see that several rare medicinal herbs had survived.
“Somehow, I think I’ll be able to get back on track.”
First of all, she’ll need to get some information in town. If she buys more vials and uses the herbs she has tied around her waist to make more potions, she should be able to afford to rent a room to spend the night in. She had been sleeping in the basement on stones for who knows how long. She wanted to clean her body and, if possible, she wanted to be able to sleep in a soft bed.
“Hopefully the price of potions hasn’t gone down.”
Mariela began walking in the direction of the haven, as the dried herbs hanging from her waist continued to sway back and forth.
