D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad Chapter 2285 Broken Space to Relax

--- Kat ---

Lily gently moved a shadow hand to one of the fragments of space. Even this much was only because she could feel it. Feel the solid, anchored form. The shadow hand was able to wrap around it, grasp it, but not move it. Not at all.

For all that the space here looked like it had been broken into delicate pieces, those same pieces were reinforced strongly. Anchored. They were not simply sharp, they were immovable. Those rainbow floating pieces of space looking almost like stained glass stood firmly in place. Some bobbed, some shook, but attempting to disrupt that with a poke or prod of shadow meant nothing. For all that they moved, they were solid in their foundations.

Appoline continued on in the background. Gathering bulbs, a darkened shrub that blended into the grass, and of course, some of that grass as well. Perhaps if she had more space she would’ve taken far more grass and dirt to keep it growing. Kat returned her focus to the portal. *

Kat chose not to comment, instead nodding and setting up the blankets and whatnot. She considered looking for some logs and perhaps cooking something over the fire... but there didn’t seem to be many trees nearby, and the ones she could see might not be suitable. There was also the fact that they didn’t really have the raw ingredients for something like this. Especially if you didn’t count monster parts.

Kat twitched. A desire to cook something to relax and pass the time was present... but she didn’t have the tools. Didn’t have the ingredients, and fire was something that might not be possible. A shame, but not one that Kat would allow herself to linger on. Instead, she slipped the food out of her bracelet and started to nibble. Swapping between offering bites to herself and Lily as she went.

Lily was stretched out in human form across Kat’s legs, slowly getting fed whatever Kat managed to spear as part of the salad she’d taken out. There was also a LITTLE bit of fish. Lily didn’t want to overdo it, especially when they now had a limited stock. Best to savour a few bites as a snack almost.

When Appoline finally made her way over, it was with a big smile on her face, a distinct lack of wounds... and hair that seemed to have decided that it was appropriate to be in a tangled ball instead of the neat straight lines it normally rested in. Appoline seemed to have no care at all regarding that last part. She just smiled as she sat down and started eating, like nothing odd had happened.

"So..." Kat began slowly as she fed Lily another grape-like thing. Taxonomically it might not have been one, but taste and texture wise it certainly was a grape. "... why were you so excited about those?"

"They’re rare and quite useful. Perhaps not the most useful, but I can already think of several potions I can make to help us out. The big one is a ’Haste’ potion. I... I admit to not being entirely sure that it would work on you and Lily, but for me it would allow me to think and act at about twice my standard maximum. The crash afterwards is not fun, but making use of such potent ingredients like those bulbs means it will be minimal, and you can take two at once without dying," explained Appoline.

"I feel like I want that last part explained," Kat grumbled.

"Oh, most haste potions will kill you if you take two or three in succession. The idea, in theory, is to stop or slow the crash with the second one, but it usually just leads to either your heart exploding or your nerves setting themselves on fire and destroying your brain. Highly not recommended," explained Appoline.

"That seems... unbelievably dangerous compared to so many other potions," Lily questioned.

Appoline nodded. "That’s because it IS. It’s a hard potion to properly develop, because even with proper rest you can’t really use too many of them in a full year without healing. On the other end of things, if you DO get healing, either from a healer or by having a regeneration affinity, then it’s hard to make improvements for the general public rather than someone who is able to withstand the use of haste potions...

"At the same time, they’ve been in use for a LONG time. The idea of a haste potion is ancient, and it’s only moderately recently, within the last thousand years," *"that people are even able to use them at all without simply dying or needing to be healed afterwards to prevent permanent damage. Makes them hard to test. Very much a ’last stand’ style potion for much of our history."

"And you want to make one of these?" asked Kat.

"Well, I can both make potions to heal the damage afterwards and know the safe limits. I am no unaware that I am the weak link in the team, but with this and some of the scorpion parts I can make some potent potions. If we’d got some of those rabbits I could likely make something truly great... but alas," sighed Appoline.

"Yeah but those rabbits were evil, and deadly," grumbled Kat.

Appoline shrugged, "I suppose I can only imagine. I mean, if we’d taken out the axolotl I could have perhaps used its nerve system as an ingredient to make the potion truly safe. Then again, not sure removing said nerve system would kill it, nor do I know if it’s possible to have just the nerve system without the rest regrowing."

"Ok, how crazy do you think that thing was? Are you imagining that it could be split in half and there would be two more?" asked Kat.

Appoline shrugged, "Depends. How were all the tiny ones made? Were they really separate entities or actually a hive mind? I didn’t think of it at the time... but if it made those as clones by tearing off little bits of itself and giving them direction... who is to say it doesn’t work that way?"

Kat shivered, "I am once again rather glad we didn’t properly fight that thing. I would not have enjoyed trying to kill it if it’s truly so crazy."

"It might not have been. The monster likely only had the one soul," Appoline countered. "While I can, and clearly do, speculate on its possible endless strength that doesn’t necessarily mean I was correct. It could simply be an alpha equivalent for them that acts as the guardian they support while it drives off predators and perhaps provides food and shelter. They might not even be the same species... because I didn’t get to catch any."

Kat sighed, "We’ll see what we can do about getting you better ingredients in the future,"

"Well I would hope so. The area on the other side of that portal seems rather calm, and while it is not so flush with potential ingredients as some of things we’ve seen, it also looks safer," commented Appoline.

"Looks can be misleading," commented Lily. "I’d say the bunnies in that field of flowers might still be the most deadly. I mean... I can’t say I like the scorpions but it’s... different. The bunnies seemed more actively malicious."

Appoline looked as if she was about to comment something... but a quick glare from Kat silenced her. Kat personally wasn’t sure if Lily was just... ignoring the fact the scorpion had done far more damage, or if she had a reason. "I do have a reason," Lily cut in. Apparently Kat hadn’t quite kept her thoughts quite so secret. Aw well. "As much as it pains me to admit... the scorpions were kinda dumb. They barely took notice of you once you transformed into water. For some reason, I’d be the rabbits wouldn’t give up so easily."

"Truly a fearsome idea," laughed Appoline. Though Kat didn’t find it so amusing. For she also suspected it was true.