The Potionmaking

The young girl stood in the small storage room. The tall shelves filled with various bottles of cleaning chemicals loomed over her. Only a single flickering light bulb illuminated the entire storage room in dim and sterile light, making her look even paler than she was.

She refused to relinquish her freshly gained freedom and get captured again. She knew that her time was limited before the commando of the planetary security entered the building.

'In head-on battle, I will have no chance to beat a full squad armed with automatic plasma rifles and armored tactical suits.'

The thunderous robotic voice constantly shouted over and over while the alarm kept blaring, the sound of it penetrating through the thick concrete walls as if they were paper-thin. "Leave the building with your hands above your head, immediately!"

'Shut up and let me work! Or do you want me to really go crazy?!' It was making her nuts, the constant loud noises making her feel like a real lunatic.

Tia hurried up and returned to her current task as she was quickly running out of time.

Ding!

//

New quest: First Potion

The potion making is the bread and water of every with! Concote your first Potion.

Rewards: One random potion recipe; 1 x witch point

//

A pile of paper was burning on the ground, the flames licking a small metallic pot filled with boiling, bubbling water and blood. Steam was rising out, carrying a strong stench of blood with it.

'I already have fire, blood, and water elements... ' Her eyes desperately scanned the shelves, looking for anything that would fit a poison description. Finally, they stopped on a bottle of strong and adhesive floor cleaner.

A smile formed on her face as she grabbed it, 'This should be toxic enough... It isn't exactly a poison, but it should be enough for such a low-grade potion.'

She closed her eyes in concentration, and mana moved from her heart to her fingertips. She felt the familiar warm feeling of mana heat her palms as if she had put them under warm running water.

Her hands moved to stop above the pot of boiling water. She felt the water, metal, and fire elements contained within it, the system guiding her fingers and mana with inhuman accuracy.

Her hand moved again, stopping above the cleaning adhesive. A slight frown warped her face as a pain stabbed through her mind, and an immense amount of various elements reached her hand. She felt water, poison, acid, and some unknown ones.

'It should work, it isn't a very pure poison element but it is enough for this garbage potion.'

With a flick of her wrist, the droplets of the elemental mana lifted off from the fire, the bloody water, and the cleaning solution, all of them neatly separating.

The droplets of the elemental mana hovered in the air, floating as if they were in a zero-gravity environment, the light of the lightbulb refracting in them.

It was just the lowest grade of a potion, so it didn't require any fancy materials, methods, or equipment. On top of that, the number of used elements was so small it even preserved the materials from which they were extracted.

All it required were the needed samples of materials to extract elements, a medium to mix elements into, and mana to execute it.

'The most important material witches are using is mana and elemental energy. It is almost like chemistry but the chemicals are replaced by magic. Well, at least on the low level...'

With her will, she pushed all the extracted elements together, condensing them into a single pulsing droplet of mana. Her energy poured out of her body, and sweat dripped down her neck.

Tia closed her eyes, already bracing herself in case it exploded, 'Finger crossed...'

Her mana enveloped the droplet of elemental energy and dissolved them into a single droplet.

There was no explosion, so she snapped open her eyes in anticipation of seeing the result. A smile formed on her youthful face, and her eyes glinted when she looked at it.

There was the levitating droplet of elemental energy mid-air. It brightly shone, outglowing even the old lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't perfectly fused, its color constantly shifting between the colors of the respective elements it was composed of. It looked like mixed water and oil. It was imperfect and nonhomogenous.

'Good enough.'

It fell straight into the bubbling water, and as if she had dropped a die into it, its color changed into wine-red. A red vapor rose out, it filling the air.

Ding!

//

You have concocted a potion.

Rating: It is garbage and barely eligible to be called a potion.

Reward: +1 MAG stat

//

'Well, that was expected.' She still frowned at it, hating how the system couldn't help but make fun of her.

Ding!

//

The quest was cleared!

Rewards: Recipe: Inferior Healing Potion; 1 x witch point

//

Tia bathed her breath, refusing to inhale the dangerous vapors rising out of it. She fell on her ass, tiredness filling her mind. All of her energy was almost gone after creating a single low-grade potion.

'How deep have I fallen?'

Her body tensed in fear. Steps, lots of heavy steps were moving down the hallway. She counted in her head, 'At least eight of them...'

The bubbling pot of the red liquid raised into the air, suspended by her telekinesis. She was tired, her long hair in a mess, but she refused to give up. With sheer willpower, she stood up and walked straight to the door, her small, pale feet tapping on the ceramic tiles. Her eyes shined, the pot moving before her.

The steps were getting closer and closer. She carefully peeked out of the doorframe and immediately ducked back, her heartbeat becoming faster, and the adrenaline pushed back her headache and tiredness.

A manly voice shouted through the hospital and echoed through the abandoned hallways, "Come out, girl, it will be alright!"

The girl felt relief and joy at the voice, 'It sounds clear, so they are likely without masks! I still have a chance!

'Still... How did they find me so fast? They are no cameras around here... maybe some life signs sensors?' Her knowledge was limited only to what she heard from the other patients or found out during her limited access time to the galactic net.

They kept her locked, but she wasn't fully isolated.

The same voice brought her back out of her thoughts, "Throw your gun out of the room! I promise you, no one will hurt you."

'I must stop spacing out, or I will die!' She stilled her breath and calmed her mind. She flicked her wrist, the last bit of her energy leaving her body. The pot of the red liquid flew straight through the open door.

<<<>>>>

<Basic Telekinesis IV (62%)> --> 63%

<<<>>>>

A loud shattering noise echoed through the dark corridors of the hospital. Her heart loudly pounded, all of her hopes put into the Potion.