The Song of Life

The actual making of [Bloodlust] didn't take too much time, but it did require absolute attention. The processing stage started off similar to how any other herb would be processed. The component parts had their essences extracted

As Li set aside a clean bowl and wiped down dirty beakers and flasks, Iona got to work, using a small paring knife to cut the goblin grass tubes into quadrants. The flesh inside was gooey and green, like that of mucus, and stank of rotten eggs.

Iona took the clean bowl and crushed the quadrants above it, letting the mucus-like juices ooze in. She did this over and over again until all the bowl was almost full and the tubes were fully crushed to a pulp. She gathered the crushed tubes in a pile and passed it over to Li.

Without taking a breath, she moved back to the bowl now full of the gooey goblin grass juice. She took a stirring rod and vigorously circled it through. At first, the thick liquid resisted, but with enough stirs, it broke apart into a smoother consistency.

Li nodded and took the pile and carefully tossed it into the cauldron's fire. The tubes burst into green flames and toxic fumes smelling of dead fish began to waft through the stall.

"Up the pace before the tubes burn too much," said Li as he used his bare finger to poke around the burning coals and tubes. The tubes didn't burn quickly, their durable flesh blistering and browning but not blackening. Once they blackened, the goblin grass extract had to be put in the cauldron.

"Yes, yes." Iona stirred even faster, and the extract became as thin as water. She kept stirring as even a second without it meant the extract would solidify back into its mucus-like form, and it was unusable in that state.

Li kept a careful eye on the burning tubes. He saw the first hints of black creep up on their flesh, and he turned to Iona. She was already there, the bowl of extract extended forwards. He gave her an acknowledging nod before dumping the contents into the cauldron and stirring.

This began extraction. By boiling the liquid, reducing its volume, and also imbuing it with the smoke of the tubes, it removed many impurities and yielded an extract that had concentrated magical energy within.

Like this, the two continued to make the batch of [Bloodlust]. Li mostly acted on his own, focusing entirely on recalling facts he had memorized. He did what he remembered to do at the time, and what he couldn't give his full attention to, Iona instantly recognized and covered for him.

Although Li gave out commands here and there, it was more for him to familiarize himself with everything – Iona already knew what to do. In a way, it was she that was leading the process, taking over whatever Li was not doing and allowing him to hone his skills at his own pace.

Soon enough, they started on purification, which was the easiest part of it all. All they had to do was put the extract into beakers and mix them with water. Once they did that, they just had to let it sit for a few hours. The remaining impurities would just settle at the bottom of the beaker and could be strained out.

"A little celandine would be nice," said Li as he gazed at the foggy green liquid in the beakers. "One petal of their flowers for each of these beakers would make a much purer product."

Iona glanced at Li, a little surprised. "Shall I provide some?"

Li waved his hand. "No use going to the market right now. Plus, the old man doesn't have a lot of coin. Once the first batches here start selling and the money comes rolling in, you can go buy some general supplies. Non-magical herbs, a jar of blood, tar, bark, and so on."

"I shall do that, yes, but there is another way for the celandine." Iona opened her palm and held it towards Li. Sure enough, a shoot grew and branched into several little yellow flowers.

Li blinked. "Right, I forgot you could do that."

"We." Iona corrected him. "And you can do far more than this. You must simply get into the habit of thinking yourself capable."

Li plucked the shoot from Iona's hand and tore off the flowers. He plucked their petals and placed them in the beakers.

"It feels like cheating," he finally admitted.

"That is simply not true, no. These powers are your nature, they are who you are. It is every bit as natural to use them as it is your bare hands. It is because you are unused to them that you feel they are against your being. Use them, and you will feel that they will make you whole."

"Well, I guess I did hire you to tell me what I'm missing out on." Li shrugged. "Okay then, I'll give this a shot. We have a couple hours before this batch finishes purifying anyway, so in the meanwhile, let's start with growing things at will. How does that work?"

Iona smiled. She took off her gloves and mask and laid them aside. "It is all about mindset." She opened her palm again and another flower emerged, this time a white lily. She plucked it and handed it to Li. "Take it and feel its life. When you hear the beating, focus on it and commit it to memory, truly parse the beating's frequency for every living thing possesses its own unique beat."

Li took the lily in his hands and focused his sight on it. He made out every little detail on the flower, tracing his vision across very little crease upon the snowy petals. "I can't hear the beating too well. I'm in my human form – it dampens my senses."

"I recommend staying in it, yes. Think of it like a training weight. If you can make out the lily's life frequency even through the muffling of your human skin, then you will find it all the more beautiful, striking, and mesmerizing when you truly hear it."

Li closed his eyes to heighten his hearing. His brows furrowed as he strained to hear the beating through the dense cover of his human disguise. There were faint beats, and they rang out an interesting tune, speeding up, slowing down, stopping and starting in regular intervals. It was a song. Slow and melodic, maybe a little mournful, but as complex and wonderful as any professionally orchestrated piece.

"Do you hear its song? Its frequency?"

"I can make it out, barely."

"Try to memorize it. When you have it completely inscribed within your mind, you should be able to grow it from your own life force."

"That's going to take a while. The song's more than a minute long and it's pretty complicated. Plus I'm not even sure if I'm missing anything with how hard it is to hear."

Iona nodded. "That is true, and it is also true that should you hear in your true form, then it will be far easier for you to learn, but at the same time, your humanity will deteriorate at an astounding pace as it struggles to intake what it should never perceive in the first place.

I understand that you wish to maintain your humanity for the near future, and I must say that this is the challenge you shall have to confront in attempting to blend your spiritual powers within an incompatibly mortal form."

Li sighed but understood. It was a little frustrating, trying to memorize every little beat of the lily's muffled life song, but far more compelling than his frustration was his devotion to Old Thane. He would not let the old man pass with only the company of a strange and unfeeling god beside him. No, Li would develop his abilities as a Leshen, but he would take his time and put in the effort to learn in his human form because Old Thane deserved at least that much.

_____________________

By the time they finished bottling and stashing away the elixirs of [Bloodboil], night had come, its darkness thick and unyielding. Li could manage to remember around half the lily's song, and with it, he could manage to sprout a little shoot, but not much more than that.

But that was progress enough, and Li bid Iona farewells. She would come back in the morning to arrange the stall for its grand opening – something Li was particularly excited about. He wanted to give Old Thane a heads up that the stall was finally opening, but by the time he had cleaned his herb-reeking clothes and settled back into the cottage, the old man was sound asleep in his humble bed of thatch and straw, having worked hard managing the farm alone.

"Thank you," whispered Li as he closed the door to the old man's room to give him some peace.