Chapter 198 – Three

With steady hands, Percy distilled the turquoise gel, pouring the Aurora Dew into the vial, filling nearly a quarter of it. And this was the third one this batch. Two more rested on the desk, filled and corked.

“Man, I love these eyes so darn much!” he grinned.

Besides his stash lasting a little longer thanks to his improved yield, Percy’s new mutation had also reduced the time he needed to prepare everyone’s doses. Before Atlantis, it used to take him nearly six hours per day, on average. Nowadays, it only took him close to four. Still a hefty amount, but it left him more time to invest in his other tasks.

And he did need that, as there were plenty of things begging for his attention. For instance, he had been forced to replace all his constructs over the past few days. His brawl with the troll king hadn’t left any visible damage on them, but it had already been a couple of weeks since he crafted them. Surely, the intense fight had knocked a few more days off the spell’s lifespan.

“You look like you’re in a good mood today.” Nesha noted as she entered the house.

“Yeah!” Percy said, his smile expanding. “Just finished all the chores! I can finally put some time into my new projects!”

Then, he handed her one of the freshly brewed elixirs, before grabbing two for himself – one from his desk and one from his amulet. Opening them, he downed their contents as he began revolving his mana inside his stomach, using his Whirlpool of Four Streams technique to cleanse both of his cores. Nesha didn’t say anything, focusing on purifying her own.

“Working with the mushrooms again?” she asked as soon as they were done.

“Nah. I’ve put that on the side for now. I’d rather focus on the mana threads.”

Figuring out the recipe for his new potions was definitely easier than creating a Masterful spell. That said, there were a few additional difficulties that made this a bad time to work on that. For one, he didn’t have the means nor the time to cultivate more mushrooms at the moment. After all, they wouldn’t even be staying here a month from now. Plus, he would probably need some secondary ingredients for the potions, and Bogside town wasn’t exactly known for its access to magical reagents.

“How are things on your end?” he asked, changing the topic.

He wasn’t the only one who had a role to play in the upcoming ambush. Nesha’s traps didn’t last indefinitely either. And she’d planted dozens of them around the swamp. Naturally, she also had to replace them every now and then.

“The north and east fields are up to date. But the runes planted in the west field are probably close to expiring.”

“How long do you need to get those fixed too?”

“Hmmm… I suppose I can have it done by the end of the week.”

“Alright.” Percy nodded. “I guess we’ll have to lure the Greens to the other locations if they attack before then. How about the other ones?”

“Are you kidding?” Nesha appeared offended at the question. “I replenish those every two days or so. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I wasn’t certain we could rely on them.”

Of course, the odds of getting attacked in the little time they had left were quite low. Percy and Nesha had already decided to leave Bogside town around two weeks from now regardless. That said, they hadn’t relaxed their preparations in the slightest. They both knew that a moment of complacency combined with some bad luck would be more than enough to spell their doom.

Grabbing a handful of teal powder from the jar, Percy sat at his desk. Then, he pulled some mana from his cores, about to start working on his spell again, when Nesha suddenly moved a chair next to him, sitting by his side. He flashed her a questioning look, getting a playful smile back.

“How about you take a break for an hour or two?” she asked, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Percy’s heart skipped a beat as her moist breath licked his cheek. Sighing, he returned the powder to the jar so that they wouldn’t spill it on the floor by accident. Following that, he wrapped his arm around Nesha, giving her a small peck on the lips, which she reciprocated.

Suffice to say, their relationship had evolved a little beyond that of mere collaborators by now. Some subtle tension had existed between them since their frantic escape from the Guild. Beyond that, getting closer was the inevitable conclusion for two healthy adults cohabiting inside a tiny house for nearly two years.

Then again, it had taken quite a while for their feelings to truly blossom. At first, the pressure they were both under hadn’t left much room for romance to take root. It wasn’t until Percy’s return from Atlantis that things picked up. The scare they both experienced when he nearly crippled his Status made them realize it might be better to take their chances now, while they still could.

‘Let me know if anything goes wrong.’ Percy told Micky as he pulled the curtains.

***

In the end, their ‘break’ lasted a little longer than planned. It was dark outside by the time they finished. Usually, Percy preferred not to waste time that could otherwise be spent productively, but he made an exception for this, allowing himself to mess around with Nesha every now and then. It was probably good for his mind anyway.

Getting up gently, to avoid waking Nesha up, Percy tossed his clothes on before returning to his desk. He picked up some powder again, intent on spending at least a couple hours working on the mana threads. Distractions aside, he understood he’d never complete his ambitious project if he didn’t put in the effort.

Blending the soft mana with the powder, he allowed his gaze to sink deep into the process as three sets of grains began to form. Some were long and narrow like hairs, others short and stubby like rice, while the rest were small and round – sort of like tiny pebbles.

Suffice to say, Percy had already added a third intermediate step to the process, increasing the number of variables once more. Luckily, his Sorcerer’s Eye helped him here as well, allowing him to better channel his trait’s intuition, accelerating the development of the mana threads massively.

‘Still too thick…’ he grimaced a few minutes later, looking at his latest construct.

A quick tug revealed it was rather strong, though it wasn’t nearly thin nor flexible enough to be woven into a fabric just yet. Even worse, the rapid improvements afforded to him by his mutation had already started to slow down. The rest of the distance to his goal promised to be quite a slog.

“Not there yet?” Nesha asked.

It was only now that Percy noticed she had woken up at some point, watching him work.

“I knew it would be tough from the start, but I still underestimated it. I’m probably a couple years away – at least – and that’s despite my new eyes doing all the heavy lifting. I can’t even imagine how long it would have taken without them.”

“Percy… You do realize Masterful spells are meant for Violets and Whites, right? Even Blues rarely create one. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. In fact, I’m more annoyed that you jumped out of bed to do more work.” she pouted.

“Hey, you’re the one who fell asleep first.” he quipped back.

“I’m not apologizing for loving myself a good nap. It’s my most charming feature.” she replied.

“Well, being a workaholic is mine.” Percy fired back.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. She was the first to laugh, though he soon followed.

“You know… I’ll miss this place once we’re gone.” she said after a while.

“Really? Remind me again, who was it that kept complaining about the bad smell and the leaking house back when we first got here?”

“What can I say? It grew on me.” she shrugged.

“We can come back.”

“How?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know if my grandpa will manage to eliminate House Tantalus anytime soon, but it doesn’t matter. If he doesn’t, I’ll finish the job myself. One day. This town will naturally fall under my family’s control when that happens.”

“Dreaming much?” she chuckled.

“Do you doubt I can do it?” he asked.

She appeared to ponder for a second or two, before shaking her head.

“Nah. I’m sure you’ll pull it off. Eventually.” she said, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. “Though our hair might have greyed out by then.”

Percy was about to argue back, when a wave of panic suddenly slammed into him like a crazed horse, oozing through the ethereal cord.

“Micky?!” his chair scraped against the floor as he shot up, his pulse hammering. “What’s wrong?!” he asked out loud, for Nesha’s benefit.

‘They’re here!’

The crow’s response shook Percy to his core. This was something they had never stopped preparing for over the past year, though the situation still felt surreal.

“Are you sure it’s them?”

‘Yes. House Tantalus. Greens.’

Percy nodded, as Nesha stared at him with bated breath.

“How many?” he asked.

They knew the enemy family was bound to send somebody stronger than Broose this time, though they still couldn’t stretch their forces too thin. Percy and Nesha were confident there would be two Greens.

Unfortunately, Micky’s response caused the colour to drain from his face, however.

‘Three.’

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A/N: Happy New Year!