NOVEL NEXT Chapter 235: Extracts
Siderius snapped her hand away. In the end, he still hated witches. No matter how good they were.
Jude, Caterina, Erin. All these supposedly good witches would soon give up to their desire. They weren't innocent either.
The horror that Caterina did was clear as day in Siderius' mind. He saw her memory. Her hands got innocent blood.
Siderius wasn't so innocent himself. But he never spilled blood without a reason. He only did so if it was necessary. That was always the way of a witch hunter.
Erin withdrew her hand and held them tightly to her chest. She cried a witch's tear. Dense black liquid. She was tainted by Chaos. By the Dark Aether.
Siderius sighed. His voice softened.
"Our path won't cross again, Erin. Forget me. We will never be as close as we once were.
Consider me as a memory."
Siderius stood up to leave.
"Wait. Even if we can't be friends anymore. We can be something else…"
"And what would that be?" Siderius said.
Erin went to one of her shelves. As she tapped on the wooden surface, the shelf opened up and showed all kinds of bottles inside.
"I don't need witch potions."
"They aren't potions. They are simply extracts of rare miracle herbs. The kind that you can hardly find."
Erin took a bottle and placed it on the table. She opened the lid and let the smell go wild.
"The Heart Rose's Extract. The strongest antipsychotic agent there is in the natural world. It can calm down your addiction…"
"Oh?"
Siderius was surprised by how Erin used the word addiction. He, of all people, knew what she was referring to. The desire of a witch. Eldoria called them virtue.
But they were simply a sin. A corruption that ate into the bones of every witch. No witch tried to restrain their desire. Because that would mean restraining their path of power.
Erin had a different opinion about desire. If she didn't, she wouldn't call the virtue by a degrading term like addiction.
Siderius picked up the bottle of the Heart Rose's Extract. Its smell had an effect, even only for a little bit.
[PSYCHOSIS -1]
[PSYCHOSIS LEVEL: 75/150]
Antipsychotic didn't only calm a witch's addiction. It also lowered psychosis as well. It was logical as the substance had the ability to stabilize the mind.
Siderius looked up at Erin.
"So I assume it is useful to you?" Erin said.
Siderius nodded. "Very much. How much do you want for this?"
"It's on the house. Please don't reject it. I owe you. Even if I'm not directly connected to what happened."
"She has a point. She really does owe me. In the grand scheme of things, what she did led to Snow's fate. Even when she didn't know about it. Witches really are bad omens."
Siderius let out a long breath and put the bottle into his utility belt.
"Then I must thank you for this generosity. What other extracts do you have?"
Erin smiled. Her eyes were filled with joy. Even though she couldn't be his friend anymore, being his merchant was more than enough.
"Let me introduce a few things for you.
This is Screaming Moss's Extract. It isn't a medicine but rather a potion. One sip would cause you to start having auditory hallucinations. Usually non-stop screams in your ear.
This is Bael Thorn's Extract. It will make you lose the feeling of pain for a while. Doesn't have much use except in battle.
This bottle is Crying Sphere's Extract. One single drop will overwhelm you with sorrow. Some witches also use this to fight back their addiction as it would make their hidden emotions go away.
The bottle with all the leaves around it is One-Eyed Green's Extract. A unique plant that can only live for seven days. Its extract however can quicken the growth of any tree by seven days.
This is…"
Erin started to talk about the potions she got in store. Some of them were miscellaneous. Some were very useful. Some were completely useless.
"How much are the Bael Thorn and One-Eyed Green?"
"The Bael Thorn is twenty silvers. The One-Eyed Green is very rare though, at least fifty silver coins."
"And the Heart Rose?"
"That is very rare… Even for high nobles. I usually sell them for one gold each. But you can buy it for eighty silver."
"Tch. Not cheap at all."
Siderius rubbed his chin in deep thought. The Heart Rose compressed addiction, one single sniff was able to lower Siderius' psychosis. It was obvious that it was valuable.
Bael Thorn was useful for combat. And the One-Eyed Green could be given to Tanya and Anna to grow more herbs.
"The One-Eyed Green. Do you know where I can find it?"
Erin shook her head. "It doesn't live in one particular area. It is a very rare plant. I try to collect as much as I can. But usually finding it is all about luck.
It is too rare for such a useless effect. After all, seven days aren't that much for a plant's life cycle."
"It is useless for you. But not that for me. If I can shorten the life cycle for a plant. More spirits could be made. It is much more useful for an alchemist than a witch."
"Have you ever tried to plant it?"
"I did. But it had no seed. For some reason, it appeared out of nowhere, lived for seven days and died. I don't even know why it even existed in the first place."
"No seed? Then that means it has a different way of reproducing. Maybe a Forest Guardian can help me with that."
"I don't want the One-Eyed Green but I would approve if you can sell me the locations of where you last saw this plant."
"That can be arranged. As I say, they aren't restricted to an area so you won't find any other One-Eyed Green there. Don't hope too much."
"Don't worry. I just want to take a look."
Erin nodded. "The One-Eyed Green's past locations can be sold for ten silver coins."
"Then give me two more bottles of Heart Rose and a bottle of Bael Thorn. Finally, the locations of One-Eyed Green."
"That will be 190 silvers. Or 1 Gold Coin, 90 Silver Coins."
"Here you go."