Chapter 29 - A New Method

Hearing that made Piere wonder about Ango's intentions.

"What do you mean lad?"

"What I mean professor, why don't try doing the same thing I did but with Your mana? You naturally recover yours while I need to consciously try to do it which takes too long; Lets see if I can absorb it from you or Hawkwood. It's better this way right?"

Hawkwood and Piere started pondering about the possibility which took them some time but after that Piere started speaking, a slight frown appearing on his face

"Hm.. that's an interesting idea but I don't think it's possible, you see lad the mana inside the body belongs to that person, it carries something like a signature"

"Signature?" Ango asked, confused by the word "What's that?"

"ahh.." Even after a month of being together Piere still was not used to Ango suddenly asking basic questions and was caught off guard but Hawkwood was used to it, so he came to the rescue.

"Imagine the mana wearing unique clothes or an emblem that associates it to one particular person"

"Oh I got it, so what about it professor?"

Piere cleared his throat, grabbed his beard and continued "Ahem, well you can't just put someone else's mana inside your body, or at least we can't. It tends to cause problems and make that person sick; a small amount is fine, it will only cause headaches, upset stomach or other minor symptoms but a bit more of it will cause some of your organs to stop working or even die"

"Oh…hm.." Ango started thinking, mauling over the issue in his head but Piere had more to say.

"But that can be tested easily using a small amount of mana. The more important reason why you can't do it with me is that my mana is Tier 4, It's too much for your body right now, You'll explode at least I think so since we don't know much about your body but it's better not to do it"

'Agh well that sucks, was too good to be true anyway…ahhh my dream of instantly getting stronger ..' he them waved those immature thoughts away and said

"Then Professor let me try it with Hawkwood, just a small amount of his mana, you said you were tier 1 right?"

Hawkwood wasn't surprised by the notion and just nodded, showing his approval.

Piere, Seeing that Hawkwood did not have any problem with this, gave Ango the green light.

…

Ango was explaining to Hawkwood what he should do and what he himself was going to do when he suddenly thought of something

"Um.. I forgot to ask but teacher? How did your rank increase if you didn't know this? Do you gather it naturally as well?

Hawkwood was surprised but not so much "I thought I had told you before. Yes my body naturally recovers its mana but it also absorbs small amounts of lightning energy from the environment, increasing my rank but I can't force my body to absorb more so I'm stuck with a slow but steady progress"

'That has it's perks I guess' Ango said to himself while hitting Hawkwood with a mace repeatedly in his mind

'Oh a mace can be handy' after he focused on the task at hand.

Ango nodded and concluded his explanation a few seconds later. They both sat on the ground and Ango started the visualization process while Hawkwood gathered a bit of his mana in his hand.

It didn't take him long since the memory was still fresh in his mind; he conjured the wire but before that he grabbed a hold of Hawkwood's hand that was releasing the mana to make the process easier.

…

"It works professor, I absorbed it, and it's even denser than what I absorbed earlier, though just a bit more"

Ango was about to tell Hawkwood to release a bit more or maybe try an even smaller amount with Piere but then he felt a sudden pain in his head.

"Aghhh It's like somebody is scratching the inside of my head aghhh"

Hawkwood was about to rush forward when he remembered what Piere had said.

"Ah mana poisoning" he said and Piere nodded, they weren't worried about Ango, he had only absorbed a small amount after all.

"Pity it didn't work out lad. It will take just a bit of time for you to get better since it was only a small amount, an hour or two at most" He looked at Hawkwood and told him "Let the lad rest for now until the poisoning is over, not here though," and he shooed them out, now knowing that his experiment's sacrifice was not for naught

*A.N: All salute the valorous experiment :)

…...

That day after he rested and then done with physical training, Piere and Ango decided that he should work on recovering his mana but it was harder than they imagined.

The constant need for focus made the process incredibly difficult and slow; after nearly six hours, the amount of mana that Ango had recovered was almost one-fifth of what he had a week ago. He was exhausted and after they all ate, he decided to sleep.

He was walking toward his cave alongside little snow, thinking about the day's events.

'I can't keep doing this, this is too tiring, there must be a better way. It's not like I can sit still in a cave for long periods of time, gathering energy only to repeat the process after casting a few spells' He wanted to think of a better way but his mind could barely function.

In his exhausted state the only thing he thought of when he was getting into his bed was

'Let's hope I don't dream tonight, it's been a week that I haven't seen them but let's hope it lasts for one more night. I'

*Yaaaaawn

'I just want a dreamless sleep tonight'

….

Two weeks later, inside the wooden cabin

"Now lad listen well, you'll have to be precise when you want to mix the extracts from the herbs, otherwise the effects can vary" Piere was standing on a pedestal, looking at Ango who was adding colorful powders to a small, using something akin to a small spoon.

"Professor I know, you've already told me that over five times, it's just a nutrition potion, it's not like it's going explode or turn to poison"

"Keep up that attitude and you'll die when you consume one of your own potions one day, obviously not this one but if you're not careful when mixing something like Fiendlotus, Bloodplight or Ghoul's widow, sudden death will be the least of your worries" Piere was berating him, genuinely worried that he might hurt himself.

'Nice, I remember those herbs. Finally… memorizing them was really tough' Piere had been drilling the names and effects of different herbs into Ango's mind for the past week, to prepare him for learning Alchemy. During the lessons he kept stressing that there were only a few herbs that could be used in their natural form; most of them had to be processed and only their extract could be used, the nutrition potion he was making was one of them. There was actually no need to grind different colored Earthvines to powder and then mix them with water, he could eat them raw, as every color provided a different kind of nutrition and was safe to consume. Earthvine was actually one of the reasons people could survive long periods of travel or adventuring into dangerous locations.

Ango suddenly noticed Piere's stare, hinting that he was waiting for his answer

"Ah.. alright professor, I'll be extra careful" he said which led to Piere nodding and patting him on the back, something he rarely did … for obvious reasons.

…

"Five should be enough, right professor?" Ango said while looking at the sealed vials in front of him.

"Hm… yes now let me show you how to use Bloodplight" Piere grabbed the grinder and took out a couple of orange-colored grass and a Mountain flower which was pinkish white. He ground them separately and then said without stopping his fluid movements

"I've told you about Bloodplight, so be careful to not eat it or use it along with any other herbs, it'll coagulate the blood and believe me lad, dying from your blood turning to tofu is a painful way to go"

'Why is alchemy so damn dangerous? Damn it, one turns my blood into tofu, another will make my heart burst and one even makes me explode' Ango was whining constantly in his mind because he knew that what he was learning was the basics of the basics, every herb was attuned to at least one kind of elemental energy, higher level alchemy included enhancing the potency of the herbs or outright causing mutations inside them. Elves were far ahead of the other races in this field because they used natural energy, a variant of life energy; Due to this they could easily grow and transform herbs.

"You need to mix just about this amount of Bloodplight paste with only a pinch of Mountain flower extract or powder to make a poultice for bleeding wounds; The wound should stop bleeding in less than a minute. Always carry a bit of Bloodplight with you, it can save your life"

…

Nearly half an hour later

Ango was looking at five vials, a small pouch filled with Bloodplight and a potion that Piere had repeatedly told him to only use in case they were being overwhelmed; Ango and Hawkwood were going to go into the forest to hunt a beast and Piere wanted to make sure that they would both stay safe.

He believed that Ango needed more training before fighting an actual beast, even though he had seen him create a few spells in the last week after he had recovered his mana, he still was not assured. He was old, old enough to know that for someone to die all it took was a powerful blow to the head or any other vitals.

But Hawkwood disagreed, saying that now he needed to be in a life and death battle to understand what he needed to work on, to understand his weaknesses and his strength; otherwise it would be too late to correct his habits. At that time the day before, They had argued for nearly an hour and did not notice Ango tearing up behind the door. His emotions were a mess, he was incredibly happy that someone cared for him so much even though he did not understand the reason behind it but at the same time, he suddenly felt the void his parents had left behind and he couldn't stop his crying even while burying his face in Little snow's face.

…

At night Ango did not practice magic like in the past but instead he resolutely practiced visualization using a method that Piere had thought of, so he would be able to use magic easier in a fight, a method that Ango had been practicing for almost two weeks. Standing still with closed eyes in the middle of a battle was the same as committing suicide and Piere was well aware of that so he had decided to teach Ango the method he had often practiced in his younger years.