13 Over limit
I finished up right before I fully ran out of energy and handed over the leaf that now looked like it had just been plucked from the plant and had a slight gleam to it.
"My word! This is one of if not the best looking Azure leaf I have ever seen and so fresh as well!" Miach said with an impressed expression that Naaza also shared.
"I would hope so, it took nearly all of my energy to make it like that. What is that leaf even used for anyways?" I asked curiously.
"It's one of the primary ingredients for the elixirs that restore even high level adventurers health and mana. Usually they are controlled heavily by my fathers familia. But I managed to get a dried leaf from the market that I haven't been able to use until now since as it turned out the leaves properties are held within it's juices." Miach explained without looking away from the leaf.
"No wonder it was so expensive to restore and refine despite only being a single leaf." I said rather surprised at the true identity of the leaf.
"So long as mana potions work on you I have no doubt that you aught to be able to regrow Naazas arm with your spell!" Miach said after carefully storing the leaf again.
"Wait a second, what do you mean regrowing Naazas arm? Doesn't she have two arms already?" I asked confused as hell.
Naaza grimaced but rolled up her right sleeve to show that the perfectly functional arm she had was in fact a prosthetic that was made of a shining silver metal. I was shocked since when fully covered like it was I thought it was a perfectly normal arm as it perfectly matched her other and moved smoothly and quickly.
"It's so convincing I truly though it was a normal arm, I apologize for the discomfort." I said honestly.
"It's not your fault since I try to keep it hidden and it is a top of the line prosthetic from the Dian Cecht familia after all." Naaza said waving off my apology.
"I am going to be honest, I am unsure whether my technique will work on you since you are a living thing and not something taken from a living thing but not alive like that leaf. I am willing to test if I can use mana potions if you are willing to accept that possibility." I told her seriously.
"I am willing to make that gamble." she said with a determined look.
Miach nodded in agreement before reaching over to the nearby shelf and taking off a single vial of yellow liquid the color of a banana but that was as smooth as water. "This is a low level mana potion, try taking a small sip of it to see if it has any effect." he said as he handed it over.
I looked at my goddess and carefully took off the cork sealing the liquid in before pouring a small amount in my mouth and swallowing it. It tasted of bitter medicine which was unpleasant but something I could handle. We all waited with baited breath to see what would happen but I didn't feel any different than normal.
"Er, Is it supposed to take this long?" I asked and before I could get an answer there was a change.
In my reservoir energy started to pour in like a wave quickly filling it to the brim but that was when a problem came about, it didn't stop. I started to feel a bit bloated then I started to feel hot and finally my body began to exude cursed energy and I panted like I was burning up and judging from the expressions on everyone's faces I must have looked like it too.
"Too *ha ha* much energy! *Ha ha* Need to vent!" I said panting heavily as I grabbed Naaza roughly "Hell's Forge!" I spoke the incantation before anyone could stop me and began to will the cursed technique to restore her arm.
My cursed flames burst to life on Naazas body and she grit her teeth in pain but her shirt at the shoulder began to tear as her body began to slowly regrow the arm that was once there. The prosthetic that was taking up that space however was getting pushed away by the newly regrown flesh and bone thus the shirt was ripping from the pressure. Naaza resolutely tore off the fabric and prosthetic with her left arm and the regrowth now unobstructed accelerated drastically. My energy reservoir concerningly never dropped below halfway for the entirety of the regrowing process despite my technique literally burning through it at a staggering rate.-
In the end Naaza was left with a brand new arm that mirrored her other. I was still overflowing with cursed energy though and had to make a desperate gamble to get rid of it, I tried to force it out of my body without negative emotions. It was hard to describe but it felt like I was pressing against a barrier with the energy until the pressure was too much and the barrier was shattered and my cursed energy flowed freely out of my body in a violent burst. I didn't realize it but the cursed technique markings on my stomach and chest began to expand at this moment and black tattoo like bands appeared on my shoulders and two sigils came into existence on my shoulder blades.-
At this point the energy finally stopped surging into my reservoir and I felt light headed for a moment before collapsing. That was my first experience with the common magical phenomenon known as "mind zero" which happened when a mage used more magic than they can handle in a short period of time. In my case I had used the equivalent of twenty times my current max energy amount in all of a few brief minutes.-
"Ugh my fucking head!" I groaned when consciousness finally started to return to me.
"Easy lad, you are suffering a nasty case of mind zero. Give it a few minutes and the headache will ease up a bit." Miach said as I went to sit up.
"Alex!" I heard Hestia yell before feeling a softness covering my face and suffocating me alongside a weight on my chest.
'Pretty sure she's suffocating me in her boobs, I am strangely okay with this.' I thought despite tapping out in hopes of someone saving me.
The weight vanished and I could suddenly see and breath again which was nice I suppose. Looking around I saw Naaza holding a struggling Hestia while Miach just had this amused look on his face as he gave me a sly wink.
"I'm fine Hestia, well I could really use some water but I don't think it'll kill me to wait." I joked despite it feeling like I had a gorilla punching my brain.
My goddess was released and thankfully didn't try and smother me to death this time but settled for a concerned hug. It was nice to be cared about like this, warm I suppose is a good way to describe it.
