Perceived Fate

He stood up from his bed as he stretched his arms. He yawned, before he got dressed and went to find Jameson.

Opening the door he found the man already dressed and doing some simple sword practice.

“Morning. What are your plans for today? Malum asked.

“I’ve got to sort out that offer with the idiot. I need to find some official way to deny his offer other than, nah prick its my house.”

“Sounds like fun. I’m feeling better so I’m going to be doing some light training. I’ll see you at that egg place for dinner?”

Jameson smiled, “I’m already salivating.”

Malum smiled back as he walked off back to his room. Today he was going to train but not his body, today he was training his alchemy.

He waited for Jameson to leave before he met up with his herb dealer and purchased what he needed. They updated his mark and told him that he could now enjoy a 10% discount on all goods and they would offer slightly better prices for his own potions.

Who didn’t like to hear free benefits, Malum was immediately put in a good mood.

It would make him more, and cost him less. His smile grew and wider as he thought about it.

He carried his good mood, and his new materials back to the inn. He lugged them onto his bed as he found his travel bag. Inside was menial things he used when he travelled, like his old sleeping bag and pillow.

Also inside was what he used to practice his beginner alchemy. A head sized metallic pot was the main tool and it was by far the most expensive piece of kit.

Luckily it was durable and would last a lifetime of normal use. Alchemy used extremely hot and cold temperatures on their potions so the pot was built with this mind, still it put a strain on the large chunk of metal so in heavy use it would only last 10 ish years.

That was more than enough for his plans, so Malum set his pot over the fire place and poured some water inside of it.

Water was in mortal potions such to dim the strong effects of the treasured herbs, for most of the potions on his book, he would need something called Pure Water but he hadn’t heard of what that was before the book had explained it so getting it was for another day.

Luckily for what he wanted to make he wouldn’t need it. After he set the fire he got the water to a boil before he pulled out 4 herbs from the pile.

He first added some Calming Leaves, which not only had a healing effect but also helped with headaches and other injuries. If it wasn’t for the fact it also soothed muscles making many immobile during its effects than it would have been a best-seller. Mortals usually chewed them for a reduced effect but Malum was going to need it to counter affect what he was about to add next.

A Thistle of Purification was a nasty little thing that hurt as much as it helped. The small poison it stung with helped with fevers of other illnesses but the cost of extreme momentary pain. When it cleared the system it did with no exception. Your bowels were emptied whether you wanted them to or not. People who took them were not only crying from the pain, with snot running down their noses, they were also taking a number 1 and 2 at the same time.

Needless to say it wasn’t as popular as the Calming Leaves but it had some use cases although nobility wouldn’t be caught dead taking them.

After they were added he needed to bring down the temperature so he added the cooling herb of Frozen Touch. It was a small berry that’s liquid would bring anything it touched to a freeze.

Humans never ate them for obvious reasons but a small amount of the liquid could be used on a hot summers day in many drinks or wines and so Nobility loved them.

The fire still ran but the liquid was now frozen. In this state, Malum added in the last ingredient of Demons Oak.

It was from a very rare tree that when touched brought about a feeling of burning to the whole body. Malum hadn’t heard of its second effect but the book said that it cleared the veins and arteries of the body for faster blood flow.

Malum believed in the book, and its effects were also dampened not only by the Calming leaves but also the fact that it was a watered-down product. He was not going to enjoy the process and this was the weakest potion but it was start on a journey Malum was forcing himself to take.

He waited for the wood to begin to fall apart in the water before he took it out and then strained the water to take out any remaining pieces. He was left with a bowl of slightly red liquid.

Never one to hesitate, Malum held the bowl to his mouth and began to drink.

At first it was still cold. The Frozen touch had kept it cooler than he expected but the feeling of coldness did not last long. A fire raged in his body, whilst he felt pores on his face and body opening up.

His skin screamed and Malum felt his mouth follow to copy. Sadly, he couldn’t afford to bring attention to himself so he bit his tongue down and swallowed the blood.

Thankfully his body began to feel more loose as the calming leaves brought about its effects. He was on fire and being purged form the inside out, but he was getting stronger.

`Power!` Malum told himself.

Every pain was for a stronger punch, and every sweat he gave out was for a stronger kick. His body was going through a reformation and he would be reborn a stronger man.

So he pushed through.

Pain was simply weakness leaving him, and Malum swore to never to be weak again.

He had died, been lost in death for an uncountable amount of time and survived a horde of demons that didn’t end until the sun came back to its peak.

He wasn’t going to lose to simple pain.

His eyelids slowly fell shut as his muscles relaxed even more. He began to feel the pain begin to numb as the concoction reached his brain.

As it did, so did the fire.

His senses began to fail. Everything he thought began to change into heat. A burning sensation above all, reached every fibre of his thoughts. No longer could he even cheer himself on, now all he could do was burn.

The unfamiliar feeling was the worst pain Malum had ever suffered.

Yet, he as everything slowly turned numb, as he could feel himself drifting into sleep, Malum felt a feeling of success he had never before achieved.

Sleep and death was so similar and yet so different. Dreams were something he never really thought about but he heard over the years about many priests calling it divinity and others calling it simply idle thoughts.

Malum had no idea what dreams really were and he reckoned neither did nearly everyone who existed on the plain. Perhaps the Gods knew what they were, the Dao definitely did at least.

Now he was awake and with his senses returning he felt his muscles contract. They were strong, Malum could feel that just from the tension running down his arm.

Then another feeling returned to him. Smell... and the waste products of his body immediately made themselves known.

He would have been sick if he had anything left to throw up, instead he just gagged and ran towards the shutters.

He opened them and smelled clean air.

Then he closed his nose again and rushed back into the room.

Laying where he once was a puddle of human waste and if Malum wanted to sleep in the room anymore he would need to clear his own mess.

First he removed his clothes and ran towards the communal bath.

A few eating in the inn saw his naked figure running off but none of them had the confidence to make fun of him. Naked he was, but it also showed his physique and after the enhancement it wasn’t anything they would want to fight.

He got to the showers and cleaned his body as best as he could. He cleaned his clothes as well, rinsing them to roughly, a few wholes formed on the thin fabric.

Now dressed and clean, Malum went back into the diner of the inn and asked the woman behind the bar for a brush. With a promise of returning it he secured the brush and with it he went back to his room.

The dried brush soon became wet and Malum emptied its contents onto the lawn outside. He then repeated until there was nothing lest on the floor.

He then cleaned of the brush using water from his waterskin and mopped the floor again. After he squeezed that out, he went back into the showers and cleaned of the brush one last time and refilled his drink.

The experience was anything but fun and there many lessons to learn from it, but at least now it was over. Now all he had to show for the experience was his stronger muscles and slightly enhanced senses.

He didn’t notice it before because he would have smelled only waste anyway but now that it was gone it was more evident that his eyes, ears, nose and skin were more sensitive than they were before.

Its effect was more profound in the book, but because of his sixth sense he already had strong senses to begin with. He wondered if it would affect his Intuition ability but with his headache still remaining he wouldn’t know before it returned.

Happy with his day, Malum returned the brush and went back to his room.

To best make use of his enhancement he would need to first get used to it so he first stretched before he began to do some shadow fighting.

The sword was lighter, he could swing it faster, and his movement made him hard to even see.

Malum’s grin only grew wider and wider as he tested out his new prowess. He set new records for nearly every exercise he knew and Malum couldn’t have been happier.

Finally, he felt like he was on the right path. SO much had he struggled and now he had finally begun to take steps on the right path.

He have the Gods a prayer and one to parents, then he gave his middle finger to his Uncle as he moved outside to sort out a newly found need.

Food, he needed food!