24 24. The Cure.

"Dungeon illness?"

"Yes, that's what I've decided to call it. I'll explain later. For now, have your men grab one mortar and pestle each, including you," Orion ordered and returned his gaze to the ingredients in front of him.

There were seven different kinds of herbs in front of him ranging from Mistwood blossom to frostbite lotus petal, whispering Fern leaves, Wyrmwood bark, orchid bloom, starlight moss, and moon bloom sprig.

Jarvis and his men nodded their heads in understanding and they each grabbed a mortar and pestle.

"Good, now I want you to grab only the Mistwood blossoms, whispering Fern leaves, Wyrmwood barks, and the moon bloom herb sprigs. Once you have them, grind and crush all of them," Orion selected the specific herbs he wanted them to crush and placed them on a separate desk.

"Understood," Jarvis and his subordinates did as they were ordered. They walked towards the huge pile of ingredients they had gathered and selected only the ones Orion told them to crush.

Orion watched as the men diligently gathered the ingredients he requested and began grinding them.

He could explain in detail what each ingredient was for and the benefits they had in creating the potions in order to assure them that he knew what he was doing, but he knew time wasn't on their side, so he decided to focus on what he had to do.

"Master," Lilith called out to him, and Orion turned around to see Lilith inspecting the cauldron he had asked her to monitor.

"The water is ready," she notified him.

Orion had asked her to boil some water in the cauldron, which would be used to make the potion. However, since he wasn't expecting Jarvis to bring a lot of ingredients with him, it meant the amount of water in the cauldron would have to increase and it would have to boil longer while they focused on other things.

"Take these and squeeze them as hard as you can," Orion instructed Lilith while giving her the frostbite lotus petals.

These were the petals of the frostbite lotus flower that was known to bloom in the heart of a cold cavern. This was what made them extremely rare to find.

From the mere look at the flower, it was really similar to a regular lotus flower back on Earth. The only distinctive feature was the vivid blue colors and the icy cold sensation it had when touched.

Once, Lilith squeezed the petals, they would then release a light blue gelatinous liquid with extraordinary revitalizing properties.

While Lilith was busy doing what Orion had asked her to, Orion decided to focus on the rarest ingredients of them all.

The orchid blooms.

Of all the ingredients he had mentioned, Orion had been worried that this particular herb might not be found, but luckily for him, Jarvis was able to find it.

He extracted the essence of the orchid blooms by distilling it, which was a bit more complex than what anyone else in the room was doing.

It was also time-consuming but he worked really hard to meet up with everyone else.

Once he was done, he noticed that Lilith, Jarvis, and his men were all done with theirs as well.

Each of the herbs given to Jarvis and his men had been expertly crushed into powdered form.

Seeing this, Orion gathered all the ingredients together and poured them into the cauldron which now had the right amount of boiling water in it.

He carefully stirred the ingredients into it in a clockwise motion, but as he did this, Orion wasn't pleased with what he was seeing.

Under Lilith's watchful eye which was focused on her beloved master, she noticed Orion's sudden change in his facial expression.

"Master? Is something wrong?"

"Something is missing," He replied.

Orion wasn't sure what it was, but he was certain he remembered all the ingredients that would be needed.

He had carefully followed the procedure up to this point, but the potion wasn't glowing and shimmering as he had expected it to.

'What could it be missing?'

'Or did I forget to include a very important ingredient?'

'No, think carefully Orion.'

'Think.'

Orion pondered deeply while continuously stirring the potion in front of him.

It almost felt like the potion was missing an essential ingredient that was required for it to work.

'Essence,' Orion repeated in his mind.

'Essence?... Essence!!!'

"That's it!!!" Orion's words startled everyone in the room.

"Young master, what is it? Is something wrong?" Jarvis inquired with a concerned look on his face.

"No, Jarvis, but I need you and everyone in the room to channel your mana into the cauldron until I ask you to stop."

Everyone was surprised to hear this, but they told themselves that if he needed them to do this, then it had to be for an important reason.

"Understood," Jarvis instantly replied and everyone, including Lilith, stretched their arms toward the cauldron.

Slowly, their bodies began to glow as streams of mana flowed from their beings and into the cauldron.

The combined mana flowed into the seething water, causing it to glow while Orion continued to stir it.

The more he stirred, the more the potion began to shimmer until the mana infusion reached its peak.

"Stop."

Lilith and everyone else stopped immediately, and suddenly, they felt the surge of mana resonating within the cauldron.

Jarvis stepped closer to the concoction and noticed how brightly it was glowing while Orion was stirring.

After a while, the potion cooled down and was carefully decanted into the vials arranged on a separate desk.

Orion grabbed a vial and noticed the luminescent pale blue hue of the potion.

Just from holding the vial, he could already feel a sense of calm washing all over him.

The vial felt cool to the touch, as it radiated a cool energy that invigorated and refreshed him as he held it.

"Is it ready?" Lilith asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Yes, it is," Orion replied, filling everyone in the room with hope and joy. "You can take one to the queen, I'll give one to Mia," He informed Lilith.

Lilith nodded her head in response and grabbed one vial out of the twenty-four vials placed on the desk before heading towards the queen's bedroom.

Seeing this, Orion turned his attention to Jarvis. "Jarvis, find a safe place to store the remaining potions."

"Understood, young master," Jarvis and the other two knights bowed.

Orion also gave the knights one potion each for their families and the knights thanked Orion once again before he stepped out of the alchemy room.