Afterwards

Even though Elena got something useful at Alchemy Pavilion, she was in a pretty bad mood when she reached home.

It is because she knew that Mitchell guy didn't give up obediently.

It seems she has to be more ruthless next time. Or, this pest won't learn his lesson.

It's not like she can run away or hide from every little problem she is facing.

And just because she's injured doesn't mean she doesn't have any self-defense capability.

But she should try her best to avoid those kinds of situations, especially with a bug like Mitchell. It's like, 'I don't want to squash the bug as it will dirty my feet' type of feeling.

She felt that some people were tailing them till they reached home. It just gave an unsavory test at the back of her throat.

.

Right now, someone else was having the same unsavory feeling but for a different reason though.

"Ahh, that monster... what did she do? How did she do it? When did she do it?"

It was Jon.

He was holding his head and trying to remember about every action Elena took in their little bout.

It happened a little after Jon got back from the training field.

At first, he was happy with the bout and the result. Though the result don't matter to him, it was better than he thought. But when he got back, he felt horror creep in.

A few hours ago, when he got back, the first thing he did was wipe off his body with a wet towel. Then he started to meditate.

He started to play the whole bout in his head. Every move, every detail he could remember.

There were, of course, a lot of gaps in them like how Elena was able to shift her position at times and how she generated such huge force with so little movements. Most of it was hazy to him.

But he could get the bits of pieces here and there, like how her movements changed to different types of approaches he made.

He was trying to get whatever little he could get. Trying to improve on things he could understand about his limitation and trying to counter those unbelievably sharp moves. This was his way of training.

He repeated those ten minutes in his head over and over again. And each time, he had a feeling that he had discovered something new.

This was a bout that let the loser gain a lot more than the winner.

But at that time, he started to feel itchy at the base of his throat.

When he tried to scratch it, there was a slight trace of a burning feeling there.

He didn't mind it much. But then he again felt the same itchiness from the back of his neck. And there was the same feeling of burn.

This time he went in front of the mirror to take a look. And there, his horror began.

There was a white mark left at the points he felt the itch.

They can't be called wounds. Even saying them a scratch would be a bit of a stretch.

They looked like something graze in that place. But the mark was very thin.

What could have made it?

He felt the same itchiness on his chest.

He opened his shirt only to see the same mark.

He was thoroughly horrified. Because he knew what could make a mark like those.

It has to be a sharp weapon. What was more horrifying is the point they were in, every one of these marks was on a vital point of his body that could have gotten him killed. And the most ridiculous part is, he didn't know how they got there.

A blade that can reach your throat at any moment without even knowing, there are few things more horrifying than that.

Just how did he get these? Suddenly, he thought about the last two minutes of the bout.

At that time, her move got a bit weird. It felt sluggish, but at the same time, it was not.

He was able to counter her but couldn't push forward. It felt like all his moves were under her grasp.

"Yes, it was at that time." –he was sure of it.

But to think, in that two minutes she had killed him at least five times. That is insane.

At this, Jon started to have an Elena phobia.

.

Anyway, right now, the culprit of Jon's phobia, Elena, threw the thought of the bug-like existence known as Mitchell out of her mind.

Right now, her idea of solving 'the' problem was just to ignore it.

She would just let the problem solve itself with time.

Well, she was clearly ignorant of the thought process of a person who thinks with their third leg. But the problem is currently not an issue.

She currently has a bigger problem to take care of. She unpacked all the books she had in her storage.

She was looking at every detailed information she could find about the Night-fall herb. But it had little information on the bath she was looking for. It said about the ingredients needed to prepare it. But there was nothing about proportions or the timing for it.

This recipe is of little importance to big families like theirs. But Elena was feeling wronged.

"Oh, why can't I find the thing when they are needed?" -She was irritated.

But there was nothing she could do. She had to experiment with the information she had in her mind and the information she found in the books.

And now that she is so 'poor', her heart was winching in pain only thinking about the expanses.

With a bleeding heart and gritted teeth, she finally called for Jon.

Within moments Jon was there standing before her. His back was as straight as it could be. Yes, he was as stiff as rock.

'What does this bitch want with me now?' –his head was filled with delusions.

"What does Miss Aniston want from me?" –he said politely.

He wants to get out of here as soon as possible. 'So out with the business.' Doesn't she understand how much of a fright she gave him?

It's like, you don't want to get close to some poisonous snake even if you know that its teeth have been pulled out.

But instead of saying anything, Elena threw a piece of paper which she was folding to look like a bird at him out of boredom.

It landed on Jon's hands elegantly.

Jon was at a loss holding the paper bird.

what is this?

Did she call me here to look at her origami skills?

Jon just couldn't seem to get his head straight in front of Elena.

"Open It." –Elena.

Jon tried to open the fold with his shaky hands. 'Is it an assassination request?' He thought. Surely, she wouldn't make me do something shady, right?

In the stories he heard from his seniors about powerful characters, all had shady characters. Could it be that Elenora was something like that?

In any case, his hands were shaking at the thought. And in the process, the paper got torn.

"Oh." They both looked at Jon's hand and the torn paper.

Jon thought that was it for him. Will his life end because he tore Elenora's origami?

Elena's Eyes twitched. She wanted to look cool when giving the request. But the moron tore her dove.

"So, you can't even be trusted to open a simple paper bird? Sigh.."

"Come here." –she quickly wrote down on another piece of paper and handed it to Jon.

"Get these ingredients for me."

"And ask Bianca for money. Tell her that the money will be deducted from my payment." –Elena turned around.

She gave the remaining names of the ingredients and the amount accordingly. The ingredients were of different quality and were not high in level. But they will use up about half of her salary. But it should be enough for her to experiment.

Because it is a solution, the process of making is not hard. But one must be careful of the exact proportion of the ingredients. Otherwise, there will be no effect.

The main goal of the mixture is to get the dark substance of the 'Night-Fall' flower out properly.

The "Night-Fall" flower is mildly poisonous. And it affects the spirit. But usually does not affect people if they don't inject it.

They are very effective to repel insects. They are beautiful looking. It's poisonous and beautiful. This is why many aristocrats like to plant them in their gardens.

Many alchemists use it as poisonous pill ingredients for red-grade pills.

In those cases, they try to enhance the dark poisonous substance.

But in this case, they had to dry up the flowers and reduce dark poisonous substances as much as possible but not completely. The other ingredients have the same effect.

They just slightly let the dark substance stimulate the spirit to naturally strengthen and heal itself.

It is effective without any need for meditation. So, Elena had to take a bath of this type regularly when she was a child and couldn't meditate to strengthen her spirit.

It's a delicate balance. Not too much and you will be poisoned, and too little so that nothing happens.

Perfumes use a similar process when Night-Fall herb is used. And as it affects the spirit, people feel something more than just the sensation of their nose. They just can't get enough of this feeling. So, it is very popular among the wealthy ladies here.

Elena was thinking, she might even be able to start a perfume business with the theory in her head when she saw Jon was still looking at the list and standing there dumbly.

"Hey, shoo, shoo. Go away. Why are you standing there? Go get the job done quickly."

'Did I hit him too hard that his brain was damaged? Why does he look so dumb all of a sudden?' –she thought.

Jon, on the other hand, thought long and hard and concluded that he was saved by some miraculous means. It must be because of her good mood and his incredible luck.

"Oh. Ok. Is there anything else you need?" –Jon asked.

"No." –Elena.

Jon quickly left this time. It's already good that Elena didn't beat him up this time. These little errands… he will gladly do them without any payment as long as she behaves.

But even so, he was a little confused because the quantity in the list written was too much.

'What will she do with these low-quality herbs and in this quantity?' –he thought.

He knew that Elena was a high-level cultivator. There's no way these herbs will be of any use to her. So why would she ask him to gather these in this quantity? Even if they are not too pricy, they are not cheap, you know.

But he didn't think about it for too long. He just had to mind his own business.