Chapter 256 - Mules

The attempt to create a telekinetic ability for himself, was an utter failure! He just couldn't do it, even though he technically understood what it would take to create one, he still couldn’t absorb it. This was infuriating!

The lesser man would be tricked into trying hundreds of times to try and absorb the ability, but Timothy was no lesser man. He paused this task all together, and didn't want to pay attention to it again until he got some new information about the matter that he could use to alter his approach. He was hoping that the books in front of him could tell him anything useful, because right now, it was his best shot at understanding telekinetic abilities better!

“It's funny how I refuse to waste time, even though time is at my advantage for once.” He kept rubbing his forehead, “It's ironic.”

Timothy opened the book that he saw before, the one with pictures, and tried to make more sense out of it. Of course, he didn’t understand the language, because the letters themselves in this book looked more like ocean waves rather than letters, so he relied on the pictures instead. He was hoping that the funny drawings would tell him something useful.

The book was six-hundred pages thick, so he had his work cut out for him! He sat down, and flipped through the book for hours!

Eventually, he found something interesting. Well the page he took interest in was coated with wishful thinking at best, but he didn’t want to give up on it.

The page featured a plant of sorts, well, it was more like a small, brown root. The drawing featured a bald mage eating this root, and so, these types of weird waves radiated around the mage’s head, presumably because he ate the root! Timothy associated these waves with absorption, as in, a better absorption and or understanding of telekinetic abilities, even though it may be a long shot to think so. He couldn’t understand the associated words that came along with this drawing, so he could never be sure regarding what it was about!

Nevertheless, he thought. “I have to give this a shot, damn it, I have to look for the roots! I don’t need telekinetic powers now, but they can be modified to be heavily weaponized in the future. This is an investment...”

Afterwards, he handed the book over to Ortana, and said. “Please memorize what this root looks like, cause we're going to go out and look for it soon.”

“If we're hunting for ingredients, I might as well draw a list, because I'm sure that I can find at least ten of the ingredients that these alchemical books are overly describing. We can make some mana potions later, and save them for when things get tough!”

Timothy liked this idea a lot, so he cooperated, and found some ink for her to use. Much like in medieval times, people seemed to have been writing with the tip of a feather around here. It's simple, but effective.

“Careful with that bug leather, it looks like a fart can tear it.” He said, referring to a blank page. “Roll it up like a scroll once you’re done.”

In less than twenty minutes, she made the appropriate list, and now, they were ready to leave the castle, and explore the needle universe. The alchemical lab in the basement was stripped out of all ingredients, so they had to forage each, and every one of the ingredients themselves if they were to make potions that were worth their time!

Leaving the castle made them a bit nervous, with giant bugs casually living in the area, but they had to make due. When they stepped into this universe a few hours ago, they took an extra long walk in order to avoid those giant centipedes, so they were aiming to be as careful with the rest of their little journey here. It shouldn't take too long to forage about ten ingredients in quantities, and that weird root too, they were hoping for it to be a short trip.

The team left through the hatch which was on top of one of the towers, so as to not go through the process of opening, and closing the main gate. Timothy helped them float towards the ground safely afterwards, as he was becoming really good at floating, regardless if he had wings or not. His tricks were quite useful.

Afterwards, they just walked towards the crimson forest nearby, and could only hope that they wouldn't run into anything huge. They were capable of fighting the monstrous bugs if they were attacked, sure, but one would almost never want to see a giant bug regardless of one's power scale, so they were hoping for some peace!

Once they entered the forest, Ortana already started recognizing the ingredients that she was looking for. She found two of them, two types of weeds, to be exact, and even though their red color made them look identical to one another, she could tell the difference between them!

“This is called a Tutalian Weed, you can tell by its extra long leaf that it's ready to be picked. Its leaf is used to soften up the more aggressive ingredients of a mana potion, you know, so you don't poison yourself after you drink one?” She explained.

“They all look poisonous to me. We're not supposed to eat red weeds, or was it mushrooms? I can never remember.” Tim blabbered.

Ortana ignored his input, and kept looking for the other ingredients. She felt completely responsible about their alchemical task here, because she could recognize species of plants better than anyone else, and she acted accordingly to this responsibility. However, in a way, she felt weird picking out the ingredients, because she knew for a fact that these plants and weeds were, to some degree, alive. Metaphorically, this looked no different to her from a human who was harvesting other humans for ‘ingredients’, it just didn't feel right. She was weirded out.

However, she continued the task, and managed to collect batches of ingredients. They had found a few satchels in the castle, brought them along, and the satchels started filling up with ingredients. She did not spare her friends, and used them as if they were mules. There was a lot more work to do if they were to make a sizable amount of mana potions, and this was where mules would come in handy!