"Yeah, these ain't so fancy, but they're a solid base. You make a solid foundation and you can go far." Harn shrugged. "Or don't. Build yer tower on sand, and watch it fall."
Harn had his number, that was for sure. Despite knowing what Harn was doing, Felix still felt his need for the Iron Essences surge in him. Stupid reverse psychology.
"Ok yeah. Gimme the seven, then." Harn handed them over, and Felix carefully put them away in his own potion case, which was too full. Several empty vials, two filled with blood, and his own Draught of Wandering Spirit. He handed one back to Harn. "Sorry, just six. Forgot I had one."
"Oh?" Harn said, taking the Iron Spirit Essence back. "What one?"
"Essence Draught of the Wandering Spirit," Felix said, holding up the vial. "Uncommon rarity."
Harn sucked at his teeth and nodded. "That's a good one. Don't find those outside Henaar too much, though. How'd you get one?"
Felix tucked the vial back into his case before answering. "Found it in the forest. Someone lost it, I guess." He wasn't sure why he omitted the Henaari corpse, it just felt...inappropriate to bring up. He looked at Harn. "Do you know what Essences it offers?"
"Essence of Wander, for sure, but I ain't positive on the others. Usual is to offer two related Essences, but that one is tied deep to their goddess. The Endless Raven is known for knowledge and exploration," he said, packing away the case and starting to get up. "Chances are the other two're about one or both."
The women were talking about Vessilia's Essences, but Felix stepped away from them, cutting off Harn before left. "One more question, Harn."
"Always one more with you. What?" Harn groused, and Felix got the impression he was genuinely tired.
"I'll make it quick, if I can. How long can you put off Tempering? As in, how long after reaching Apprentice Tier before you lose the chance to take an Essence Draught?" If it worked like he hoped, then he thought he'd be ok. If.
"If you ignore yer Apprentice notification, it won't activate. Just like any system prompt. Ya only got so long with that tactic though; at most a day, dawn ta dawn." Harn sighed and glanced at his bedroll. "After that, formation starts as normal, and if you don't have an Essence in ya, then yer outta luck."
Harn started to turn away before he stopped and looked back. "Oh, and ya won't be able to rank up the Skill either until you finish formation, so that's a waste a time too. Take my advice: it's better to settle for common Essences in the hand than rare ones ya can't find." With a final, piercing look, Harn stumped toward his bed.
Later that night, Felix spent some more time in the basin room.
He had some ideas about Skill training that he wanted to test.
After filling up the same basin with Acid Stream, he once more dunked his arm into the foul solution. Again, his flesh started to melt and sizzle, making the green liquid bubble furiously. His Acid Resistance was only 22, but his Acid Stream had jumped up to 24 after fighting the Ofrenoks. Now it was all about patience.
And pain.
Felix pushed at the pain, letting it drift around him like steam, feeling his Pain Resistance do it's job as his Willpower buoyed the entire effort. As he held off the agony, Felix purposely let his mind float into Meditation. Pain Resistance flared, Acid Resistance building, Felix let himself fall deeper into Meditation than ever.
Everything went dark.
No pain. No weight. No scents or sounds or anything at all. It was a perfect void.
Just that ocean loud roar of silence that was everything and nothing.
When he resurfaced, Felix was unsure if he'd been down for a few minutes or an hour, but his notifications indicated the latter.
Acid Resistance is level 24!
Pain Resistance is level 30!
Meditation is level 32!
"Haha! It worked!" Not only did he rank up three of his Skills, but he didn't have to endure the acrid stank of his own acid. Felix pulled his arm out of the once-sizzling goop and looked at it: it was hale and whole, without a single mark of pink or healing patch of skin. His resistance must have ranked up a while ago and his Health regen did the rest.
After taking a moment to stretch his back, Felix sat on one of the stone benches and pulled out his two blood vials.
Ofrenok and Ofrehulk. Which to do first? He weighed them in his hands. Both are gonna be gross, I can almost guarantee that. He sighed. Why blood? The Title and Skill both talk about digesting Mana, not blood specifically. I ate the shadow tendril of the Rockstrike previously, and the Wisp didn't have blood at all, just sparky magic...stuff. Could I just eat an enemy's spell instead?
Felix snorted at the mental image of catching a fireball with his mouth. Maybe, but am I getting hit with Mana when a fireball hits me? Or is it Mana that turns into fire? A question worth asking. Maybe Atar will tell me when he stops training.
The mage had been pushing himself and his fire spells hard since dinner, resting only to recover some of his Mana before pushing forward again. He was dedicated, that was for sure. His Mana regen must have been pretty decent as well, since he was otherwise risking a low tank when they all got up in a few hours.
Felix's stomach growled, loudly, reminding him of his ever present friend. This is getting really annoying. I'm eating like a cartoon character, just piles of food, and still I have this...It's even making this blood look tastier. He shuddered, but popped the cork on the Ofrenok vial. Better now than later. "Bottoms up."
"What are you doing, child?"
Felix scrambled to his feet, an orb of acid in his hand before he even turned.
"What?" He asked, blinking and tilting his head. "What are you?"