Chapter 32 – Testing

(Nathan) "What are you looking so giddy about Ikarus?"

"Hehe, don't worry about it"

We've all done as we promised and sent the slaves on their way stocked and supplied with clothes and weapons from the camp with spare food we could find that had survived from the fire as well as some spare from my storage.

They were more than happy to head back by themselves, probably more the fact that they couldn't exactly be anything but grateful to their saviours and would've felt guilty asking for any additional help. They weren't exactly treated the best from the bandits judging from what was found around the camp.

Let's just say, death might have been a better alternative than what these lot must have suffered and move on. I made sure to burn everything to the ground before leaving though, this place is better left burned and buried.

Back onto something a bit more light hearted, the reason for why I look happy.

I tried waiting till we were rid of the slaves to check out my status but I just couldn't wait that long, it's been a few more days since then and I'm still giddy over it even now, killing humans really does pay off.

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 41]

[Health 13,413/13,500]

[Stamina 1,773/3,500]

[Magicka 3,500/3,500]

Seventeen levels! Yes, I gained seventeen from that one fight! Hunting anything other than humans is so freaking pointless, my health is so high right now I could actually afford to start investing elsewhere or use that gambling ability, I won't though, I'm not that self-destructive. Oh, that reminds me of something I need to do in a second.

It's still tiny compared to the other OP people but their freaks of nature, alright? I do wonder how many people died by my hands or wings that battle, my level has gone up so much and those bandits seemed so weak.

If I compare myself to a human level, my stats would be the same as a two hundred and four. Bloody hell… it would be nicer if I wasn't just a health main but what can you do about it? My curse persists, once I've levelled a bit more and take a quick visit to my parents, I'll head back to the capital and continue the cure search. That should have been enough time for the prince to find more dungeons, I hope.

We've set up a small camp right now still within the brown forest, it's been four days since the bandit camp and it's early in to the night, I'm holding several bottles of something and am in my human form right now.

"Ikarus-sama… you said you would cut down"

"Calm yourself priestess, they're potions, not booze. I haven't drunk in two nights as well, cut me some slack"

I'm currently doing two things at once right now. Just before I opened up my status, I got out the six potions I purchased back in the city. The reason why I've only just got round to testing them now, I'll explain shortly.

There's also a reason I have to be in my human form, I'll explain that as well.

"Why have you got some potions out?"

"I'm experimenting with something knight"

Since I want to check out the effects of the healent, there's really only one way I can test it effectively, I need to start bleeding. I did want to use it after the battle where I got the arrow wound but there was a slight problem with that. Actually, it was a big problem.

After the arrow was pulled out and I switched form since applying treatment with wings is impossible, the problem was that I couldn't really get to where the wound happened. I have a rough idea where the wound was located but I couldn't bring myself to actually heal down there. It turns out, I wasn't actually shot in the bottom. Ahem… let's just move on since it hurts even thinking about it.

Back on to the healent test, I bite down, pull out a dagger from storage and stab it straight through my left hand… Argh! That wasn't what I intended, I put a little too much strength there, I'm not doing this ever again.

"Ugmff!"

"Ikarus-sama! What are you doing!?"

(Nathan) "Ikarus! You seem so happy and full of life, what's changed?"

We're not doing suicidal jokes today; I'm just ignoring them for now. Stop looking concerned idiots.

"You two can relax, she's just testing out some healent. I've done a similar thing a while ago"

At least Petra understands what I'm doing. Wait, she's done a similar thing? Yeah, I'd rather not know thinking about it.

Taking the cork out of the healent bottle, I pour the red coloured liquid all over my painful hand.

'Aesa, can you tell what the effect it has?'

[<Potion -healent- applies regeneration effect and stops bleeding damage to effected area. 100% recovery to HP>]

'So it doubles the recovery on injuries? That's pretty effectiv-'

Then without warning, pain even worse than the injury itself radiates through my hand.

"ARGHH!! It's agony!"

(Petra) "It really is unpleasant, isn't it?"

"Didn't Betty-sama warn you about the aftereffect?"

Betty-sama? Oh, the elf alchemist, priestess knows her then.

"I forgot alright? Damn, that hurts like a bitch! I've even wasted the bottle as well"

I end up dropping the bottle and spilling the rest of it all over the floor because of the pain, such a waste of money. I just wanted to apply a little bit and save the rest of the bottle, this sucks.

Now that the pain has subsided a little bit, I look and see that the wound on my hand has already partially sealed up.

'Aesa, there's no way that's doubled, that's already sealed up'

[<-User- is only thinking of visual wound. Recovery only effects HP recovery, any additional effect is not known by Aesa>]

'Oh, that explains it then… does it? Oh forget it, all that matters is this stuff is really effective but extremely painful to use'

Now let's move on to another bottle, magicka next. I'll leave them sealed on the floor for the time being, I need to drain my magic first.

"Where are you going Ikarus-sama?"

"Yeah, Ikarus? You went to the toilet an hour ago"

Is he tracking my bathroom schedule now? These two really should just learn to be quiet more.

"Just stop asking me questions, alright? I want to get this done and stopping to explain to you two is slowing me down, I'm only finding a place to shoot up"

"Shoot up?"

Even Petra's asking me questions now, I'm ignoring them all now. I've got to move from the camp since the canopy of the trees are in the way and there isn't enough room here not to burn everything in range.

I've moved a little distance away but I'm still in hearing and seeing range from everyone, just now I don't have anything above me.

I start rapidly charging up my fire tornado, it starts engulfing my human body and probably looks like I'm about to do something extremely evil and epic from my party's point of view.

Of course, I'm getting surprised faces from the two nagging party members, Petra couldn't give a shit what I'm doing right now though, her attention has gone elsewhere.

Now that it's charged a reasonable amount, I release it forcing it from my hands up in the night sky. It actually looks similar to fireworks or an aurora watching it fly in the night sky, it quickly disappears fading into the night sky though.

'Status

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 41]

[Health 13,279/13,500]

[Stamina 1,767/3,500]

[Magicka 934/3,500]

'Only that much left!? I know I purposely overcharged it but still, I need more magic'

Ignoring my own moaning now, I head back to the camp, sit back down and pick up one of the blue-coloured magic recovery bottles.

"You really want to drink that in one go Ikarus, trust me"

I take the cork out and do what Petra says, I instantly know why she made that suggestion once the taste hits the back of my throat.

"Urgh… think I'm going to puke. It tastes like fermented duck egg mixed with mouldy cheese. That's terrible"

I swear that alchemist said something about her favourite tasting magic potions being strawberry? The only thing I can think of is the one I've bought might taste crap because it's really strong and effective.

"You're exaggerating again Ikarus"

"She does have a point though Nat, they are really bad. The Lord advises me to avoid those types of tastes"

Those types of tastes? I really want to speak with her God one day, he seems batshit crazy.

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 41]

[Health 13,284/13,500]

[Stamina 1,766/3,500]

[Magicka 2,684/3,500]

'It's gone up that quickly!? How does that work then Aesa?'

[<Potion -magic recovery- increases -user's- current MP by 50% of max total magicka. 1750 if -user- want's specific value right now>]

'Damn, that's effective'

[<Please note, -magic recovery- potion only has effect every 24 hours. -User- cannot exploit potion>]

Okay, she read my mind, I was thinking of just stacking multiple pots to keep unlimited magic rolling on and on, that's slightly disappointing but some things do need some balancing, I guess. It's just unfortunate that everyone else who is OP doesn't seem to have these types of restrictions placed upon them.

Now that those two potions are done, it's time to put everything back in storage.

"Aren't you going to drink the green one next?"

Petra has a sly smile on her face while saying that, she knows exactly what the bottle consists off. My other party members have no clue though.

"Unless you want to see this orange bird turn red, I think I best leave that one for now"

"Heh, you should really give it a try"

[<-User- should give potion a try>]

I'm now getting two people trying to convince me to drink that aphrodisiac, I understand system's reasoning since it doesn't have the data behind it but for Petra, I think she's just having fun teasing.

"Petra, there's more chan-"

Before I have the chance to finish, filthy intruders show up in our little makeshift camp.

"Keok" "Geoak" "Geoagek"

Half a dozen little green creatures stumble into out camp, some armed with deadly weapons, others adorn terrifying looking armour. They all look battle hardened and ready to kill us at any second.

"Goblins!?"

I swear a red light lit out of one of my red eyes when I said that. Like the silver ranked adventure that haunts goblins dreams, I also hold his disgust of those filthy goblinnnssssss!

"Relax Ikarus-sama, they'll run off once they realize we won't feed them"

"Yeah, goblins are passive creatures, they don't attack humans unless provoked. It's actually really rare to see them within the empire"

I might have been a little over the top with my description of them, they don't have armour and their weapons are makeshift at best. No, I'm not convincing myself goblins aren't scum!

How can the both of them be so calm when a couple of them are armed? Even if the weapons are only small sticks, they must be destroyed! Just look how dangerous they are with their small chubby bodies and cute faces, goblins are terrible!

"No! Every goblin must die! Especially the children, they are the worst!"

Okay, I might be taking things to far but I'm not the only one who holds dislike of these filthy creatures.

(Petra) "It depends on where you encounter them. If we were near a goblin stronghold right now, they would probably attack us on sight. They can be nasty little creatures at times though"

So, my hatred of goblins is justified then, who cares if these lot look cute and harmless? They would attack us if they could, that's more than enough justification to do something morally questionable.

I get back up and get myself ready for some goblin slaying.

"Begone filthy green little men! Muhahaha"

__________

Okay, I feel slightly guilty after doing that, I did let most of them run off mind you, they really proved no threat and all seemed harmless. Well, they still could have been a threat, I'll keep telling myself that to help my guilty conscience.

It should be safe to let them run around these woods, it's not like there's anyone friendly out here other than us anyway, the slaves should be long gone by now.

Turns out, I'm not as bad towards goblins as my father is to wyverns, there really isn't any reason to hate other species just for the sake of it. I may have been misguided on what goblins are actually like, blame fantasy novels, manga, anime basically everything that depicts goblins as evil bastards. There actually might be an agenda against goblins on Earth, everyone seems to make them out as being terrible.

"Now that you've exhausted your energy, it wouldn't be a bad time to test out that potion, wouldn't it?"

I've just come back into the camp and this damn sly woman is still on about that, I don't want to be drinking that stupid potion, alright? I'm going to play her game though and see if she's willing to walk the talk or whatever that expression was.

"Fine then seeing that your so adamant about this, you drink half the bottle and I'll drink the other half, let's see if you're that brave to d-"

"Okay"

"W-Wait a second!"

She actually picks up the bottle of the floor, uncorks it and drinks half of it straight down. I run over to try and stop her but don't get there in time.

"These have always had a nice taste to them, your turn next"

…

"I erm… I was only making a point. I'm good thanks"

Damn it, I really don't want to drink that shit. Why did I just say that? I didn't think she would actually do it.

She gives a slight chuckle at my reluctance to drink the stupid potion.

"Heh, Ikarus, it's an aphrodisiac, not a mind controlling device. If you're that worried that you'll become uncontrollable to lust, then don't bother drinking it, I won't force you. You are missing slightly out though"

(Nathan) "Wait, you two are drinking aphrodisiacs!?"

"Dear Lord, give me strength"

It's taking this long for these two to realize what's going on? Ah, the joys of innocence or being oblivious to the situation surrounding them.

You know what, fuck it, let's play this blind woman's game, I bet I can fight off any perverted thoughts.

"Fine thennnn, just give me the damn bottle"

'Beforehand, I need to check this out again, status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 41]

[Health 13,388/13,500]

[Stamina 1,419/3,500]

[Magicka 1,993/3,500]

Oh yeah, my magicka has gone down again, I may have used it on the innocent goblins, let's forget about that and move on.

While checking my status, I grab the bottle that Petra passes me, stare at it for a second or two thinking if I should really do this and then take a small sip. The taste is actually quite nice, similar to fruit energy drink if you can imagine that. I continue to sip the small bottle until it's gone, that actually was quite nice.

"Ahhh! There you go, it's finished now. To be fair, the taste is actually incredible"

"Wow, I can't actually believe you just drunk that"

Wait, she actually looks surprised, what the hell is going to happen now? Oh God, I'm actually fearful now.

The blind woman can't help but laugh at my misfortune.

"Haha, I'm just messing with you Ikarus, you don't need to look concerned. You'll start feeling the effects in ten minutes or so but it won't be what you expect, it really only enhances feelings, it doesn't create them"

This eases me up a little but I still have a slight little problem with that.

"My problem with that is that I might hold some secret deep feelings for some of you idiots that even I don't know of"

"Uncalled for Ikarus-sama"

"Agreed"

"Heh"

Ignoring them all, I take a seat again and go back to what I was originally planning to do.

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 41]

[Health 13,391/13,500]

[Stamina 3,169/3,500]

[Magicka 1,995/3,500]

'It's gone above three thousand, does this have the same effect as the magicka potion Aesa? It gives half of the max amount I can store?'

[<Affirmative, potion -stamina love- refills 50% and contains aphrodisiac effect. -User- will experience aphrodisiac effect very shortly>]

'I'm guessing it has the same twenty-four-hour cooldown like the magicka pot?'

[<Affirmative once again>]

Twelve minutes or so pass with me constantly stressing about the impending future with all my party members all doing their own little things like sorting through their backpacks and other stuff like that and nothing happens. Literally, I don't feel a lick of difference.

"Should it have kicked in yet? I still only feel stressed out"

"I cannot help you with this Ikarus-sama"

"I'd rather not get involved"

Both my original party members want to have nothing to do with this experiment and I can't blame them, it is a bit stupid.

I take a look towards Petra next and immediately notice how red her face is, she looks like she has a fever. Did she have really bad reaction to this?

"Petra… are you alright?"

"Heh, I might have just made a massive error, just having a battle of internal conflicts right now, pay it no mind"

She partially facepalms while saying that, I can't help but laugh at her misfortune, she was giving it the large trying to get me to drink that crap and now it's completely backfired on her, karma is a beautiful thing.

…

Wait a second, she said it enhances feelings, not creates them, then why does she look like that then? Does she hold feelings towards one of us?

Oh for fuck sake, it's very clearly me, isn't it? Was this a way of confessing or something or is she just stupid? I do think it's pretty safe to assume it's me, there's no way it's either one of those two. Miss God and Mr boring, it's probably me.

No, maybe I might be overthinking this, it might be she just holds a slight feeling, maybe like a small crush or something like that and it really is affecting her badly. She seemed so confident about drinking the potion, there's no way she expected this result. This isn't that big of a deal, right?

Am I seriously having no effect to this? I'm slightly disappointed actually, if she's having such a stupid reaction and I'm like this, do I have no feelings for my party members? I guess that's a good thing, it'll stop any hearts getting broken, I guess.

"I'm going to go bed early tonight, that potion has really had a bad effect on me"

"Goodnight Petra-sama"

(Nathan) "Night"

She heads off to her sleeping tent and then I think it might be a good idea to get some early rest too, my stamina may be high but I'm feeling a little down now.

"I'm going to switch form and find a tree, see you in the morning as well"

"Goodnight as well Ikarus-sama"

(Nathan) "Night Ikarus"

Unlike with my usual blunt and rude self, I don't think I'm going to say anything to her about this. This doesn't seem like the type of situation to just laugh and joke about. If she wants to say something, then I'll listen and react to what she says then, I'm not going to give this a proper thought unless something changes.

I could still be easily mistaken as well, let's not overthink this and get some shut eye.