Evolution I — Ambrosya

The potion was just as I described it.

Sweet, but with the aftertaste of salt and blood. It was an amazing flavour at first, but a rather lousy one afterwards.

I cringed at the sudden, extreme changes that occurred on my tongue. It would've been nicer if the lousy taste came before the good taste, that way, I wouldn't be suffering for an extended amount of time.

Yet another thing I regret adding now that I was in my book. Well, half-regret. Others will be drinking these potions like crazy in the future, so I was still going to have my dosage of fun.

As the potion ended up in my stomach, I suddenly felt an ethereal feeling envelop me. My intentions became very concrete in a sense. It was as if I had a cursor or a crosshair in my vision and mind. I could select certain thoughts or items in my view and interact with their ideas with my will.

Then, I felt something bubble from underneath my skin. Black miasma was leaking out of my pores, forming some sort of intangible cloud. I shivered as I saw the curse take the form of the goddess Alliyaha. Pure rage was emanating from the curse, clearly a manifestation of the goddess' intentions to keep me helpless forever.

Unfortunately for her, this potion could eliminate even a god's curse. Faeries, after all, were more adept at curses than the gods of humans.

I directed my thoughts at the curse cloud. My will pierced into the curse and sensed its constituents.

A dense set of mana programs flooded my mind, and I got a glimpse of how amazing Alliyaha's powers were to be able to craft a curse like this.

The Curse-Cleansing Cure was already eating at the edges of the curse. Its nature was acting up, and all I had to do now was supplement it with my will.

I then focused with all my might.

When a mana program appeared before my gaze, I swiftly commanded the potion to eat at its patterns. I had to direct each minute movement of the potion's abilities to make sure that I did not damage my body in the process.

I thus repeated this process for all 97 mana programs.

"These A rank spells surely are a hassle to deal with," I cursed for the nth time today.

When I was done, I communicated with the potion in my body, telling it to clean up all the residual mana debris. I didn't want to accidentally curse myself again with its residues, thus I had to observe proper waste management.

Just like this, I had dealt with my curse.

All that was left was to actually evolve.

...

It was the ninth day since I began my foundation-rebuilding plan.

The sun was rising on a beautiful morning as large birds flew overhead. Their caws and tweets were music to the ears of every human. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the streets of Gobble, making my mouth water.

I cooked another mana-filled breakfast and had a sumptuous meal that rejuvenated my soul. Now, I had officially used up all of the food that I bought. My clunky, steam-powered refrigerator was empty.

I had budgeted everything really well. All that experience from living alone and cooking for myself paid off.

It was finally time to sell this house for some extra cash. I was going to catch the zeppelin flight that would leave at 10:00 in the morning. It was 6:00 am right now, and that meant I didn't have that much time left.

Thus, I packed my bags and made sure everything that I needed and looted was there. I was bringing everything. I had about four bags. One in front of me, one on my back, and one for each arm.

I headed straight for the small airport that Gobble had for zeppelins and airships. Once there, I bought a ticket for 300G and left my bags for the people there to load.

After that, I headed out into town again and searched for the merchant guild. After asking around, I learned of the procedure for selling houses. I filled in several forms and showed them the property deed that I had to dig out from under the house's floorboards.

When I was done, and after the people at the merchant guild had looked at the house I was selling, I was given 7,500G.

I licked my lips in satisfaction. Having all this extra cash would make my life a bit easier once school started.

Carrying the thick envelope of 100G bills, I stealthily walked back to the airport. I made sure I hid all my cash well as I would be too weak to resist any type of robbery. Even if it was a child who wanted to rob me.

Thankfully, I made it to the airport safe and sound. I boarded the zeppelin and entered my cabin. I took out my pocket watch and read the time.

9:24 am.

Less than 40 minutes until take off.

I was slightly nervous. During the course of the 24-hour flight, when we cruise in the Atmospheric Mana Layer, I would commence my evolution. It was only in the Atmospheric Mana Layer, where mana was more abundant than on the surface of the planet, would I have the chance to trigger an evolution.

I also had the option to evolve in mana springs and other locations with densely packed mana, but I did not have the time for that. This technique was the most efficient one for me.

"I hope it goes well," I whispered to myself as I closed my eyes for meditation.

The entrance exams were tomorrow. The tenth day since my devolution. If I failed my evolution today, then I would surely fail the test tomorrow as well.

If that happened, then an important source of resources and information would be cut off from me. I would lose a very large opportunity to cultivate my strength.