VP | Ch. 9 - Potion of Quenching Thirst

At the center of the scalding hot cauldron was a liquid, shimmery and red. Nara gaped at it. That’s what became of all those ingredients? It smelled like sulfur and nearly made her gag. She pressed one of her gloves to her nose, pinching the bridge of it to hold back the building nausea.

“Just a beauty, isn’t it?” Diabla sighed. “Now get me a flask.”

After Nara determined that she meant a bottle, she fetched one from the cupboards and placed it into the demon’s palm. Diabla didn’t thank her. She simply raised her hand upwards, and the liquid followed her gesture. It floated out of the pan as if possessed by a spirit, flowing through the air like a vine and collecting inside the potion bottle. She repeated the process for several more containers, all of which Nara provided swiftly and obediently.

Ten potions in total, Nara counted. Ten glimmery red things that smelled like rotten eggs.

“Time for a taste test,” Diabla said, and uncorked one. She reached for Nara’s chin and tapped at it. “Open up, darling.”

Nara stared at her. “What? Are you kidding? That smells like it’ll kill me.”

“Why would it kill you?” Diabla said, as if that wasn't a very real possibility. “Poisoning you like this would be no fun to it all. I won’t say it again. Open up.”

Nara swallowed thickly. It didn’t seem like she had many better alternatives. She was already feeling drained as it was, her Thirst mounting. And she was sure if Diabla wanted to kill her, she’d have no problem finding a way.

She paused, pursing her lips. Obviously, her mental functions had to be in severe Thirst-caused disrepair for her to even be considering letting a stranger shove a potentially fatal liquid down her throat, but here she was. Letting it happen.

As if reading her expression, Diabla smirked.

“You really hate not knowing how things are going to turn out, don’t you?”

“Most people do seem to feel that way, yes.”

“Well, too bad.”

Diabla pressed a fiery finger to Nara’s lips, scalding the skin. Nara yelped, opening her mouth reflexively. The potion flew down her gullet, piping hot the whole way down. She screamed in agony, holding her stomach as it bubbled down her throat and into her digestive system.

“Oops. It might have been a bit too fresh off the griddle,” Diabla said, tapping her chin as if she was observing a science experiment. Nara couldn’t even offer a rebuttal. Her throat felt like it was burnt to a crisp.

Then, out of nowhere – sudden relief.

Your thirst is now Quenched

Status Effects:

• Rapid Healing – Recover from all wounds 65% faster than normal
• Vampiric Instincts – Your movement speed is increased by 45%
• Vampiric Mindfulness – You can make snap judgements. Your INT is temporarily increased by 3.

“Much better, isn’t it?” Diabla said with a smile. “It’s a Potion of Quenching Thirst. Since you helped me create it, you should be able to see it in your Recipe Book now.”

“My… Recipe Book?” Nara said wearily. Her esophagus was still in the process of healing itself. She wasn't dead, at least. So there was that.

By Diabla's insistence, she tried thinking Recipe Book, and sure enough, there it was. It was displayed in front of her in a similar fashion to the Inventory, except it was presented in a list format instead of an array of boxes. 

"Wow..." Nara said, mouth agape. "There are so many."

There were hundreds of grayed out, undiscovered potions, each of them numbered and listed in order as if they all belonged to a giant potionmaking atlas.

Nara scrolled until she saw it.

N.326 – Potion of Quenching Thirst

• 1 Dragonfly Wing
• 2 Flakes of Silver
• 1 Blood Crystals
• 1 Dreamwalker
• ¼ Baby Shroom

Effect: Quench a vampire’s Thirst for a limited time, depending on the grade of the potion.

“It says here that the time limit on the quenching varies by potion grade,” Nara read. “How long will the ones you made last?”

“Since I was the principal potionmaker, these are Master-grade," Diabla explained, holding up one such potion. "Each Master-grade potion will give you about a day’s worth of Thirst-quenching. All ten will give you ten days, and so on. Normally I wouldn’t be so charitable with my potions, but I doubt I’ll find another buyer for these. Not many vampires prefer the vegan route.”

Diabla handed her the potions and Nara took them into her inventory one by one.

“Thank you,” Nara said earnestly. Ten days was more than enough. Now that she knew how to make potions, all she had to do was track down the ingredients and produce them in bulk. Easy peasy – theoretically. “One question though… I can guess where to find Dragonfly Wings, but do you have any idea where I get the rest of these ingredients? Blood crystals, Dreamwalkers?”

Diabla smiled mischievously. It didn’t give Nara a good feeling.

“And now we’ve arrived at how I will be paying you, my dear trial assistant,” she said. “Blood crystals can only be mined in the depths of the Ancestor Vampire mines, or by practicing Crystal Infusion, a high level potionmaker practice. You won’t be able to perform such a feat for many more levels.”

Nara’s body and soul both deflated. That put a gunshot-sized hole in her plans.

“Silver can be bought, but it’s quite expensive. And Dreamwalkers can be foraged for, but only in areas crawling with high-level monsters. All things above your level, for certain. A potion like this isn’t meant to be crafted by a Novice like you. It’s much too powerful.”

Nara could already piece together where Diabla was going with this.

“So if I help you, you’ll pay me enough of these potions to keep me sane?” Nara guessed.

“Precisely.”

Nara considered it for a short while, then nodded.

“That’s good enough for me.”

She wasn't exactly fielding better offers. I’ll worry about escaping indentured servitude later, she thought. There was no way she was returning to Lopa Lopa, and it’d be stupid of her to give up the opportunity to train with a master of the craft, even if that master was more than a bit deranged.

After all, she still understood very little about this world. If life on the road had taught her anything, it was that ignorance was dangerous. Very dangerous. More so than any poison elixir. You see - ignorance breeds arrogance, and arrogance often breeds an untimely death.

And if Nara was headed to the afterlife, the Nether, the Ballpit, it didn't matter; she was certainly going to give Death a run for his money for as long as she could.

She took a deep breath in, and got to work.

—

“You can sleep here, if you’d like,” Diabla said.

“In your… attic?”

Cobwebs, dust and haphazard shards of glass cluttered the triangle-shaped chamber. It was a low, narrow space, which required Nara to bend her back to avoid hitting herself on the wooden rafters. It was loud, too; Nara could hear the pitter-patter of rain on the roof as if it was a deafening thunder clap. Even the sound of the squirrels running across it resounded like the footfall of giants.

Still, it was a space she could call her own, and she’d done better with worse.

“Are you complaining?” Diabla said, irises burning red.

She was obviously exhausted. Diabla had spent the rest of the afternoon running Nara through all the essential ingredients in her cupboards, the layout of the house and the gardens, the watering instructions for her plants -- just about everything required for daily household upkeep. Nara had absorbed it all like a sponge, but the demoness was obviously unused to the role of teacher.

“Er – no. Not at all,” Nara lied. “This is great. Thank you.”

Diabla hummed.

“Good. If you feel anything flying by your head, those are just the bats. Goodnight.”

Without another word, she shut the trapdoor that connected the first floor to the attic. As the small square plate closed, it trapped Nara in complete darkness.

“Wonderful,” Nara muttered, then wrinkled her nose. Something smelled terrible. “I hope this universe doesn't have rabies.”