28 Preparation

Saiph hurried back down the river and to where Enzo and Velvet should have been. He soon stumbled into a clearing by the river, where the two were squatting down and scribbling onto the ground.

Around them, a few large circles made of Runes were overlaid, each looking like their own Spell Circles. At the center of these Spell Circles was a smaller, more condensed one, which is what Enzo and Velvet were currently working on.

This was a Rune Formation. Rune Formations acted a bit like Spell Circles in the sense that they used Runes to instruct and guide Mana into doing complex tasks.

Saiph was no Runemaster; he only knew enough to be able to use Spell Circles since trying to use Circleless Spells was a pain and unreliable. Thus, he didn't quite know what any of these Rune Formations were doing.

However, he could still tell that this was the most simple type of Rune Formation: a Restriction. Contrarily to their name, Restrictions had two effects; they could either restrict things or amplify things. Restrictions were very simple and hard to control precisely, so in comparison to more complex formations they had limited usage.

"Ah, Saiph, you're back. How was it? You're covered in blood; are you okay?" Velvet called out to him.

"It's not mine. Got some bait," Saiph succinctly responded. He was just too tired to have a full conversation right now. Running through the forest one way, chopping up a tough deer, and running back the other was more than he was used to.

Velvet picked up on his exhaustion keenly.

"All right," she said.

Saiph shambled over to the other two and collapsed onto the ground, carefully minding the Runes inscribed into the dirt.

"...Found a Leap Deer," he spoke after a while. "Killed it. Gutted it."

"Great!" Enzo smirked. "This formation is made to amplify the stench of things, so the effect should travel far and wide. It'll also restrict things that enter it, making them sluggish."

"...Wouldn't that... invite other... things?" Saiph asked through bated breaths.

"Haha, yeah, probably. But, that's what makes it interesting, don't you think? It'll be a battle royale of beasts."

"I still think this idea is stupid," Velvet commented.

"Nah, nah. Can't stop now," Enzo insisted.

Saiph tuned out their bickering and started thinking about what he would have to do once the formation started up.

Ideally, only one pack of Blaze Wolves would show up- nothing else. Even if conflicting beast groups or singular entities appeared, the chaos would be far too much to manage. However, he had to agree that this was probably the best idea they could manage. Fighting their enemies while they were hindered by the formation was very feasible.

Saiph groaned, getting up and shambling over to where they had set up camp. Notably, his leg, despite its injury, wasn't bothering him too much, to his relief. The pain was still there but Saiph wasn't having much of an issue putting pressure on that leg, at least.

He laid down on the ground, closing his eyes.

…

Now day time, Saiph groaned and sat upright, stretching his stiff muscles. He looked around, eyeing his sister and friend sprawled out messily on opposing sides of the camp. As a passing thought, Saiph wondered if their arguing continued until they went to bed.

He wandered over to the array, inspecting it for any obvious flaws. Seeing none, he continued to move around the area for a bit to stretch out his legs further.

That was until nature called. Saiph found his way over to the river and did his business. Upon returning, he found that the other two had awakened.

The trio greeted each other and went to finish their plans. Velvet and Enzo were going to finish up their formation while Saiph was going to find some Flora Magicae or components to make some damaging potions with, like the potion of Minor Acid Splash he had previously used.

Potions with acidity and corrosion were favorable to Saiph, especially after seeing the result on the Zap Ant the other day. What was good about them was that 'corrosion' wasn't an element, so few beasts would have a Soul that negated its power.

Corrosion was a type of Runic Symbol that didn't embody any of the five elements: wood, water, earth, metal, and fire. Nor was it a simple type of Runic Symbol, such as the likes of air, light, and dark. Thus, a beast that had a Soul complex enough to naturally evolve to have a strong affinity to corrosion would either be a specialist or powerful.

In regards to a specialist, if they came across a slime of some sort, so be it; Saiph wouldn't use a corrosive potion.

As for a powerful beast, then it would probably be too tough for them to take on regardless. Saiph figured that if that was to happen then the potion would still prove enough of a distraction regardless of what Runic Symbol types it possessed. Or, it wouldn't suffice. The type shouldn't matter.

Runic Symbol types were strange, bizarre amalgamations that didn't make much sense to Saiph. There could be a Runic Symbol for anything if the designer was clever enough. And, there were also thousands of different Runic Symbols for each element out there, each one with its own affinities to other Runic Symbols and varying specifications of power and efficiency.

...Then again, Saiph had to admit that Spagyric was practically the exact same if one viewed potion ingredients as Runic Symbols and the resulting potion as Runes.

Sighing, Saiph pushed these stray thoughts from his head and started actively looking for any Flora Magicae that could prove useful for a splash potion of some sort.

From what he knew, there should be some Jin Root or Han Root around, alongside some Nightrot.

Jin Root was easily the most ubiquitous and crucial Flora Magicae that Saiph could think of for any splash potion that was on the level of a Magic Initiate. It acted as a great general amplifier for most potion effects, easily combinable with any potion.

The Han Root acted as the Jin Root's mortal counterpart, so it would act as an acceptable substitute if need be. In fact, it was used in the first potion that Saiph ever created.

Back when he was with Mr. Mayers on Orion…

Saiph's thoughts wandered off into the past as he looked for the Jin Root and Nightrot.

Nightrot was a black, toxic type of moss that grew inside and under fallen trees, making it quite easy to search for here, where trees were commonplace and practically everywhere.

Saiph, after searching through a few tens of rotting trees, found some Nightrot. The black moss constantly secreted a sap-like substance. This sap was the actual toxic portion of the Nightrot, not the plant fibers themselves.

Although, the distinction didn't matter too much since Nightrot oozed so much sap that it was constantly soaked.

Saiph took one of his few remaining vials and set it under the oozing moss, collecting a few ounces of the viscous sap. He was extremely careful to not let any make contact with his bare skin, lest he lost another hand.

After an hour or two more of searching for the Jin Root, Saiph found some Highborne Vraakest, a good intermediary between Nightrot and the other key ingredient of his desired potion- Turbulent Fleece.

Saiph harvested the Flora Magicae -- which was a type of blue grass -- and continued searching for some Jin Root.

Jin Root acted a lot like ginger, a common mortal spice. It was an herbaceous -- woodless -- plant with half-a-meter tall green stalks. Its primary focus, its rhizome, was where all of its Mana was focused on, making it a potent ingredient in general.

Saiph soon found a small batch of Jin Root inside of a clearing about half-a-kilometer away from the river that he was using as his chief reference and navigator.

There were four stalks total, plenty enough for the amount of Nightrot sap he had accumulated. Saiph carefully pulled two of the plants from the ground and cut off the rhizomes, putting them away in his bag.

After some consideration, he decided to leave the other two so that, if he needed them in the future, they would be here.

Now all that was left was the Turbulent Fleece. Turbulent Fleece wasn't actually a plant of any sort- it was a type of stone that had properties similar to sulfur. It could be found in rivers close to mountains, so Saiph figured that finding a deposit wouldn't be too difficult.

After wading through the river, inspecting the bottom, Saiph soon found what he wanted. Just a foot below the water level, there was a rust-colored patch of ground that looked just like Turbulent Fleece.

Saiph sighed and grinned; he had finally found the final ingredient necessary for his potion after an entire day's efforts.

Turbulent Fleece, somewhat like the infamous exploding metal, sodium, oxidized extremely quickly and was eerily soft for a rock. Of course, it didn't contain the explosive properties that sodium was known for; this deposit was very much underwater.

Saiph used his bare hand to dig into the rock after stomping on it with his foot to break its outer shell. He scooped the Turbulent Fleece into his second-to-last vial and exited the river, going back to the base camp where Velvet and Enzo should have been done making their preparations.