“I call it… Eik’s Legendary Mystery Medicine!”

  Both Heath and Michael stared at him with jaws hanging slackly. “That’s… so dumb,” Heath finally said.

  “What?”

  “Eik’s Legendary Mystery Medicine? That might just be the dumbest name I’ve ever heard. Why did you put ‘mystery’ in there? It makes it sound like you have no idea what it even does.”

  Eik nodded along. “Yeah, yeah, that’s true, I guess. But then again, I don’t really know what it does, so…”

  “Exactly, so maybe you should change it t— what?” the tank exclaimed. “You don’t know what it does?”

  “Kind of, yeah.”

  “What the hell does ‘kind of’ mean?” Heath asked, doing quotation marks with his fingers.

  “That I have a guess, but that it’s… uncertain.”

  “And yet you want me to take this… mystery medicine? Why don’t you take it yourself?”

  Eik threw his hands in the air. “I made it based on the recipe for Potion of Mighty Strength class 1 and that’s made for E-rankers!” he said. “If it has a lesser effect on me, then we won’t actually know for sure anyway! It would be a total waste!”

  “But you’re sure it won’t kill me, right?” Heath asked with narrowed eyes.

  Eik met his gaze sheepishly. “I—… Yeah…”

  “Eik, dude!”

  “Alright, yes! I’m sure it won’t kill you!”

  “Good, then!”

  “Because I can get rid of the poison if anything bad happens,” Eik muttered quickly under his breath, coughing conspicuously a couple of times along the way.

  “What’s that?” Heath questioned.

  “Nothing!”

  Heath glared with eyes filled with suspicion. “Alright, fine.”

  “Wait, really? You’ll take it?”

  “Of course I will. I know we bitch and moan at each other all the time but I trust you, you know.”

  Eik was quiet for a moment as he digested that moment of sincerity. A smile wandered onto his face. “I’ll make sure you’re safe, my friend.”

  “Alright, alright, just hand over the damn thing,” Heath said and held the opaque sphere up to the sun. “What is it anyway? How did you even make it?” He opened his mouth and made to pop in the pill.

  “I’ve discovered a way to combine my aura, which I always use in my alchemy, with Profound Toxin. I used that new fused energy to infuse the regular recipe for Potion of Mighty Strength class 1 instead of normal Ak’ki. That’s what came out of it.”

  Heath spat out the pill as if he’d been told it was a solid ball of dog crap. With a clack, it rolled across the floor, collecting dust bunnies as came to a stop against the wall.

  “Dude, my pill!” Eik exclaimed as he chased the little thing and tried his best to blow away the gathered dirt and dust.

  “Screw your pill! You tryna kill me, man?” Heath spat. Then he spat some more just to be safe.

  “I’m telling you its fine!” Eik promised and handed the pill back to Heath who reluctantly accepted it. “It’s a minuscule amount, and with my control at Instinct of Toxin, I could have any trace of toxin extracted from your system in literally half a second. I swear you’ll be okay, Heath.”

  “Alright, fine,” Heath grumbled. “But I’m gonna wash it first. Is it okay to be washed?” The pill didn’t seem to have suffered any visible cracks or damage from the rough tumble across the floor. It was sturdier than it looked.

  “It should be fine.”

  Michael sat in a chair. “Did you seriously combine your two powers?” he asked. “What does it do? Is it strong?”

  “Honestly, I have no idea. It is a ridiculously exhausting process to the point where I can only make just enough to make that single pill. I’m nowhere near capable of producing an amount sufficient to use in combat.”

  “Yeah, okay. But if it’s exhausting, wouldn’t that mean it’s strong?” he wondered.

  “Maybe? In this strange, magical world, that certainly wouldn’t surprise me. But there’s another thing that might indicate that it’s a pretty big thing.”

  “What?”

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  “I’ve already hit stage three for Instinct of Toxin,” Eik said, grin splitting his face in two.

  “You what?” Heath shouted, racing back from the garden where he’d been washing the pill. “You’re seriously already stage three?” He was clearly shocked and happy on Eik’s behalf, but there was a gloom in his eyes as well. “You’re pulling even further away from us. We can’t keep up with you. We’re becoming shackles around your ankles.”

  “No, definitely not! You’re not!” Eik insisted.

  “No, we are,” Heath said and looked at the purple orb in his fingers. “But you’re working to keep Earth safe so there’s nothing to be sad about!” he said but his smile looked a little forced.

  “Well,” Eik said and pointed at the pill. “Considering that the creation of that little guy there was responsible for a whole grade on its own, you might want to give it a chance before you get all depressed about it.”

  “A whole grade…?” Heath looked at the sphere with a hint of awe. “Alright, here we go,” he barked and swallowed the thing whole.

  “Ih’s melhing ong mah hongue.”

  “He said ‘it’s melting on my tongue’,” Michael interpreted.

  “I know.”

  “How’s the taste?”

  Heath pulled a face and shrugged. “Meh.”

  “Are you feeling anything?”

  “A little bit, yeah, but honestly not much,” Heath admitted, flexing his fingers and arms then doing a couple of vertical jumps. “It’s a pretty similar feeling to the regular potion, it’s just that…”

  “What?”

  “Well, it’s the same but a lot weaker. Like tens of times weaker, I’d say.”

  Eik stared at him crestfallen. “Damn, seriously? So it really wasn’t all that. I really thought I had something crazy here.”

  “Yeah, sorry, man,” Heath said. “But at least I’m not feeling the toxin either.”

  “Yeah…” Eik muttered and let himself fall backwards into the couch. “Then what the hell was all that jazz about the level up about? Crap like that doesn’t just happen randomly, right?”

  “Not as far as I know, no,” Michael said, joining him on the couch.

  Heath went to cut some fruit for the group and they spent the next hour just chatting and taking it easy.

  Heath told them about his newfound love for the art of smithing and while armor crafting was an art with a never ending skill ceiling, weapons, he had come to realize, was his true passion. Seeing that edge start to form in the metal was such a rush that it could rival the feeling of being in the middle of battle.

  Next time Mikla stopped by Earth, he would request permission to come to headquarters whenever he was off work. Practicing sensing his internal Ak’ki here on Earth was an endeavor with no goal line. It just wasn’t going to happen realistically. And after learning about magical armor, weapons, and items, it had become apparent that any magical crafting, like alchemy, required one’s own aura to imbue and manipulate the dormant Ak’ki resting in the materials.

  The faster he could attain aura control, the faster he could begin to help Earth advance their smithing capabilities. And like Eik’s alchemical creations, magical armor and weapons for the Awakened fighting for the survival of the human race would save countless lives.

  They also discussed the selection test for the upcoming Championships hosted by the Nidafjeld Alliance. One topic in particular was the focus of their conversation.

  “You think the guy has a mind skulk inside him?” Michael asked wit surprise.

  Eik shrugged. “It’s just a thought. He’s been acting pretty erratically, is firmly against Earth’s association with the Nidafjeld Alliance, and he was an ally of Rock Fist Bart who we know for a fact was infected by one of the little bastards. If you ask me, he’s basically a perfect target for the cult if they want to stir shit up around here.”

  “I mean, I guess that’s true,” Heath nodded. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s a certainty.”

  “Definitely not, no. But it might be worth checking out,” Eik said and conjured a dancing glob of Profound Toxin on the tip of his finger that spiraled down his hand and wrist like a twirling ribbon. Compared to when he first Awoke to the Worldbreaker, his control was magnitudes better. It was difficult to even imagine to what height this thing could be taken. “After all, I’ve got a little guy who might even be a little too eager to get in there and rummage around for worms.”

  Michael and Heath exchanged semi concerned glances. “Yeah, but are you sure your ‘little guy’ isn’t going to kill him first?”

  “He wouldn’t do that! He’s a good boy!” Eik exclaimed indignantly.

  “Alright, keep telling yourself that,” Heath said. “He’s just not always such a good boy when you’re not around. Trust me, I’ve been bitten before, if you remember.”

  “Sorry about that. But all jokes aside, I would use a minuscule amount of toxin, just like I did on Rock Fist Bart. It wouldn’t be enough to kill him. And we would be keeping an eye on him. Remember Lisa?” Eik asked Michael.

  “The, uh… The B-ranked scout who found the manticores for you?”

  “Exactly!” Eik said, slapping a fist into his palm. “Travis already promised that he’d let me borrow her.”

  Michael made a face. “… Borrow her?”

  “Yeah, you know, on a temporary basis. Nothing permanent — but not for a lack of trying, I should add. With her sticking to him, any behavior out of the ordinary will definitely be noticed.”

  Heath pursed his lips. “I can’t deny that it’s probably the best method we’ve got.”

  “I think so too,” Eik said and patted the small blob of Profound Toxin which had transformed into a pretty good facsimile of the tier one Profound Toxic beast that looked like a snake without features. “It’s just a shame that the Eik’s Legendary Mystery Medicine didn’t turn out as great as I’d hoped. Getting a worse version of what I can already make kinda sucks after everything I’ve been through to make even one.”

  Michael patted him on the shoulder. Heath, though, wore a contemplative expression. “Yeah, actually, about that… I’ve realized something in the past few minutes.”

  “What is it?” Eik asked, then shot up from the couch as a frightening thought struck him. “Wait, are you feeling sick? A deep feeling of weakness? Head hurts? Aching bones? Stiff jaw, neck, and back? Dry eyes? Pins and needles all over your body? A sense of doom and dread? Severe constipation?”

  “God damn, dude,” Michael said. “Are all of those symptoms from Profound Toxin?”

  Eik shrugged. “Probably? I experienced all that after I overused Backflow in the fight against Bart. It totally sucked. So how are you feeling, Heathy? Anything that feels wrong?”

  Heath’s face had grown considerably pale as he listened to Eik list symptoms of his deadly toxin but he shook his head. “Nothing that feels bad. It’s kind of… strange, actually.”

  “Okay? That’s good, I guess,” Eik said and sat back down in the couch, eyes never leaving Heath as he watched for anything alarming. “So what is it?”

  “Remember when I took the pill and there wasn’t a big boost in power like with the potions, and instead there was only an almost imperceptible increase?”

  “Yeah. Thanks for reminding me…” Eik grumbled.

  “By now we’ve been sitting here and talking for, what, a little over an hour or something along those lines?”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “Well, because it was so faint from the beginning I didn’t really notice, but now I’m sure.”

  “What are you saying?” Eik asked, heart fluttering with hope.

  “The effects of Eik’s Legendary Mystery Medicine never went away at all.”

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  The Green Forest