Luke stood before Cassandra, Peter, and several officers. He had been escorted there after requesting a meeting.

  “So, we meet again,” Cassandra said.

  “Yeah. Sooner than I planned.”

  “I’m curious about the price this time,” Peter added. “What will it be for more antidotes? Our treasure, perhaps? Or something simpler. Maybe the crown of our king. You’re imaginative.”

  “I’m being serious now. I assume you confirmed the antidote is real,” Luke replied.

  “It bore the seal of the Order of Ardan,” Cassandra said. “How did you acquire it?”

  “I found it lying around in the forest.”

  Peter clicked his tongue. “Truly a creative man.”

  'Too bad this idiot here actually found it just lying on the ground in the forest', Artemis muttered in his thoughts.

  “I’m willing to hand over all the other crates of antidotes I found. In exchange, I want only information.”

  “What kind of information?”

  'The size of Cassandra’s', Artemis started, and Luke shut her up mentally before she could finish.

  He pretended to think it over, though everyone there could tell it was an act.

  “I want to know how you captured this temple. What kind of enemies were here, how many, and what you fought to take it. And, of course, where the weapon was found. Whether it was easy to access, hidden, or just lying around at random. I want every detail.”

  “That’s all?” Cassandra asked.

  “That’s all.”

  “Then we have a deal.”

  ***

  Luke returned to his tent. Charlie was inside, while Franky slept on the floor, snoring loudly.

  “Layla left a few minutes ago, Master Luke.”

  “Good. I need to make sure she gets back alive. I arranged for her to move to a safer tent. Because of Eleanor, I have to see to it she returns to the United States in one piece.”

  He began preparing potions in the cauldron. The ones he’d given Cassandra and Peter were useless for traveling through the forest, so they had little value to him.

  “Charlie,” Artemis said. “Aren’t you worried that Luke… and Layla… you know, that he might harass her?”

  “Me? Harass someone?”

  “Master Luke and Layla are like fire and ice, so it’s fine,” Charlie said.

  “Harassment? With Layla? I’d be way more likely to end up committing homicide.”

  ***

  A few days passed while Luke prepared to investigate the Spore Forest. He brewed potions and antidotes, testing mixtures and refining formulas. From what he had observed, the Alchemists hadn’t managed to get very far. They had likely underestimated how much stronger the toxins became the closer one moved toward the center of the forest.

  There was almost certainly a temple somewhere inside. From Cassandra, he had learned that temple regions themselves were like trials, environments designed to challenge anyone who approached them, and that was before even stepping inside the temple proper.

  With his blood already resistant to poison and a stock of antidotes to reinforce that advantage, he expected to push deeper than anyone else had. And with Angie scouting overhead, his chances would only improve. As he walked through the village, Luke noticed the sheer number of soldiers stationed there.

  Cassandra really is stretched thin.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  If she pulled all of them away, the village would be overrun. And this place was under the care of the Kingdom of Lagras. Merchants lived here, people with businesses tied to the rift, local trade networks. Cassandra and Peter were caught in a stalemate.

  Why is that man Miles occupying the exit? There has to be another reason.

  The Red Eight Fingers faction had taken control of the area and turned everyone into hostages. Luke suspected the reason was simple. Miles wanted the treasure Lagras had already found.

  One of the four treasures is the key that opens the temple. I doubt he cares which one it is. If he gets all of them, he wins by default.

  Leaving the village behind, Luke headed into the forest, making his way toward the ruins to test his new Witch skill. Angie stayed at his side while Charlie remained in the village.

  “You’re going to test it now?” Angie asked when he finally stopped.

  “Yes. Let’s see how good this one really is.”

  Upon reaching level twenty in the Witch class, five skill options had appeared, but only two truly interested him: [Pentagram of Shield I] and [Telekinetic Impulse].

  He chose the second.

  [Telekinetic Impulse (Rare)]: The Witch infuses telekinetic force into a thrown weapon at the moment of release, drastically increasing its speed and range. The weapon retains the full power of the original throw while gaining a mental surge that amplifies its impact.

  Luke drew a throwing knife from his holster and activated the skill. A faint blue aura formed around the blade.

  “The downside is that it doesn’t work on the kukris. Only on throwing knives.”

  He studied the knife, eyes fixed on the shimmering aura.

  “Can you see that, Angie?” Luke asked. “The blue aura on the blade?”

  “No. Not to me,” she replied.

  He tightened his grip and threw the knife hard. Even as it flew, Luke could feel a connection to it. In midair, he triggered the skill.

  [Telekinetic Impulse activated]

  The knife, which had begun to arc downward, suddenly shot forward like a rocket, straight and fast, streaking across the distance until it slammed into a ruin wall and shattered on impact.

  A smile tugged at Luke’s lips.

  He threw another blade in a straight line. It tore forward with absurd force, refusing to lose momentum. He launched a third knife farther out, and this time it dropped like a bullet from the sky, slicing straight into the exact spot he aimed for with overwhelming impact. Instead of losing strength, it gained it.

  Feels like an arrow.

  ***

  Three cauldrons bubbled in front of him inside the tent. Wooden spoons stirred their contents on their own, guided by Luke’s telekinesis.

  “Charlie’s taking a long time with Layla” he muttered while glass vials floated past his hands and the pages of a notebook turned themselves in the air.

  “She is, yeah. Layla’s what people would call scatterbrained. She said she wants to buy things in the village with the money she made selling the resources she gathered on the trip,” Angie said as she tended the campfire beside him.

  “Here, this is for you.” Angie set a plate in front of Luke, thick slices of boar meat steaming beneath a faint herbal glaze. She had been steadily learning how to cook, and lately she’d begun taking the task almost personally.

  “Thanks, Angie.”

  “And one for the mascot,” she added, placing another plate on the ground.

  “I am not a mascot,” Franky snapped. “I am a powerful and intelligent magical beast. I may look like a little winged rat, but I still hunt my own food.”

  “You and your eternal bad mood,” Luke said dryly.

  “If Mr. Shitpants doesn’t want it, that just means more for me,” Artemis chimed.

  Franky clicked his tongue in annoyance.

  “These weak humans keep gathering in little groups, shuffling from one place to another,” he grumbled. “No wonder they’re such pathetic rats. They should be fighting each other to prove who’s strongest.”

  “That’s how societies work,” Luke replied. “Did your world have humans?”

  He looked down. The wyvern was smiling.

  “It did. I devoured all of them.”

  “Oh, right,” Artemis laughed. “Says the same guy we found out was just a scared little baby who ran away from his mom.”

  “Fat woman! Greedy woman!” Franky shouted.

  “Coward! Winged-snake coward! And you’re not even a snake anymore, you’re a rat with wings,” Artemis shot back, laughing harder.

  **You have successfully created a potion! (Bonus Experience Points acquired!)**

  The notification flashed before Luke’s eyes.

  **Your profession [Guardian Botanist of Mother Freya] has reached Level 75! (+5 Strength, +3 Agility, +4 Vitality, +4 Intelligence, +12 Free Points)**

  [New Profession Skill available]

  I picked up another skill and I’m now at level 75. It looks like it’s back to giving out skills every five levels. The theory that it’s because of the Rank E body is looking like the most likely one.

  He glanced at the potion he’d just finished.

  [Verdant Blood Fertilizer (Rare)]: Brewed from magically blessed blood infused with nature’s vitality, this liquid fertilizer pulses with life. When applied, it restores withering plants, awakens new roots, and breathes vigor back into dead soil. In sentient plants, it functions as a powerful healing potion, reigniting dormant life within their cores.

  To create powerful potions, he needed powerful ingredients, and this one had turned out to be an excellent base for healing brews. He had to be ready for the temple challenge, the one Cassandra insisted only major military forces had managed to overcome.

  Each of the three conquered temples had been guarded by an entire oni army. It wasn’t just about finding a temple hidden in a poison-shrouded forest. It meant defeating the force that protected it.

  Luke tapped the notification for the new profession skill.

  Let’s see if I can get a skill as useful as Acid Blood Arrow.

  The first skill on the list appeared.

  https://discord.gg/znGSjCxhkR