Jjhutto_Son of Flame
patreon
B2 Ch. 42 Smoking Grass
🕑 Added 2024-02-19 15:34:50 +0000 UTCAn hour later, Tilly had cleansed all of the Knights in the chamber with the assistance of two mana potions. During this time, Amelia and the Queen had built a large circular spell around the Vessel. Its top had been removed allowing for a two-foot opening that exposed the large volume of blood within.
Some of the containment and transfer runes were canceled so as not to interfere with the spell and then the Queen drew a Triquetra around the enchanted container of blood. She of course used the blood from the vessel itself to mark the floors in the large space surrounded by the High Table. After marking out the shape with her finger dipped in blood, she then reluctantly called Hilbert over to consult on several points. They talked through the concept of the spell and marked the edge of the shape with Runes, also drawn in blood from the vessel.
After all that was done, Amelia called Tilly back from the last of the cleansed Knights. Despite his fears, none of their infections had progressed very far before he had a chance to cleanse them, and Tilly realized that the armored class of Knight must emphasize Endurance as one of its primary stats. While it wasn’t enough to stop or remove the infection, most of them had shown strong resistance to its spread. Regardless he was glad he had been present to stop Corruption’s influence through a Faction that could hopefully become integral allies in the coming fight.
“Do you have enough Mana to cast your strongest version of Flame’s Renewal?” Amelia asked as he approached the outer edge of the spell, where Amelia had been taking notes, and preparing several different Blood Weed shoots.
“I’m just above what I need to put out a maximum strength version of the Ability.” He nodded.
At his words, the Queen waved him over to the third point of the ritual shape and had him stand at its apex while she and Hilbert marked out a few final touches on the spell. As they finished, there was a subtle snap that clicked through the metaphysical space within the spell, linking Tilly to the vessel in a way he did not understand.
“With that, we should be ready.,” Amelia called over, her eyes scanning over the runes, vessel, and the Blood Weed, rechecking everything. “Tilly, once the Queen says so, I want you to move to the vessel and cast your Ability at the surface of the blood. The Queen’s spell has been built with two functions. It should cause your Ability to affect the entire volume of blood, just like it would a normal target’s body. Then once your Buff has settled in, she will enact the second portion of the spell, putting blood in stasis. I believe this is what they have done to the more severely infected Knights to keep them from turning.”
“Oh, and Tilly-” She said, finding his eyes to emphasize her next point, “get out of the spell area before she cast the stasis portion please.”
“Got it.” He said, feeling like the toddler invited to place the final block on top of a large tower.
After his acknowledgment, she looked back over the entire ritual one more time, explaining the rest to Tilly, “I have locked several simple commands into our test specimens. They should absorb your purifying ability in its stasis form as they feed off the blood. Then, once they are removed from the blood’s surface they will revert to their inert state. I theorize that they will be able to last days, if not weeks in this state before my mana fades and they lose their effectiveness. However, I am not sure how long your Abiity in stasis will remain intact within their simple mana path-”
“Hey Amelia, how will we use them once they absorb the blood?” Tilly asked, more to get her back on track than anything else. The Queen looked on curiously now that she was finished building up her part in the plan.
“Oh! Yes, I believe they will behave just as they do in the wild when introduced to a wound. I have keyed their hunger reflect onto Corruption’s resonance. They should seek out only infected blood, and release the effect of your ability once they have taken it in. I believe their rapid growth cycle brought on by the introduction of blood with allow a chain reaction that will keep new growth happening even as the old growth is destroyed by the reaction of the two opposing forces.” She answered before turning toward him with a forced bright smile,
“Only one way to truly find out! Are we ready?” She asked turning to the Queen.
The monarch nodded, looking altogether relaxed, with her sleeves dress pulled back and her fingertips stained a rusty red, “For what it is worth Mr. Tillman, I do believe this will work. I have never used alchemy in such a… lively way, but the theories are sound and from my experience with magic, strong Intent can make even the strangest thing possible.” She said, lifting her hands to a ready casting position and nodding for him to proceed.
“Ok, here goes nothing…” He said as much to himself as anyone else. He stepped over the edge of the spell, feeling a strange sense of vertigo as if he was stepping into a familiar room. The sensation was not too different from what accompanied his Spirit Walk Skill and he did his best to ignore it as he carefully moved over the lines of the spell without disturbing any of the markings.
After several well-placed steps, he was at the lip of the Vessel and looked down into the still, dark mirror that the surface of the opaque liquid created. He saw his face looking back at him, his dark brows pulled down in focus as he began to churn the fire at his center, activating the pattern for Flame’s Renewal. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, releasing shimmering heat waves through the air, and rippling the surface of the liquid.
The spell form all around him began to glow with a ruby light, and he quickly stepped back through the path he had charted for himself on the way in. The blood began to steam and then boil. Just as the Tilly exited the spell form, the Queen called out in a loud voice,
“Sanguine Histasthai Nocturnum!”
The Spell laid out on the floor flashed once in a burst of power, then went completely dark. Tilly turned to look at the vessel and saw that steam was no longer rising from the top, in fact, all the activity that his Ability had caused had immediately stopped.
“Hilbert, what Status effects are you reading?” The Queen called across the ritual to the Wizard’s Apprentice. He had a spell active that formed a circle in front his his eyes acting as a lens through which he watched the vessel intently.
“I see Flame’s Renewal reading out on the Vessel, and interestingly, it says the target effect is stacking with something that looks like a Partial [Title]?” He asked, shooting a quick questioning glance in Tilly’s direction.
“I have one that makes me more resistant to poison and infection. Probably the only reason I am still me at this point.” Tilly happily chimed in, attempting to ease the tension of the moment somewhat as the whole room waited to see if the spell worked.
“And… is it holding?” the Queen followed up.
Hilbert turned back to the Vessel and watched it for several more seconds before answering, “Yes, Your Majesty. I show no change in status. Tillman, your Ability’s effect is usually instantaneous yes?”
“Yeah, I think so. It activates and then supplements the target's Endurance increasing their ability to resist anything the system catagorizes as an invader.”
“Well then, with no presence of poison or Corruption, I am happy to report that its continued presence means that the stasis has successfully held.” Hilbert declared, looking up and smiling.
The Queen schooled her focused expression back to something reserved, but Tilly could almost feel the satisfaction rolling off her, “Ms. Cooper, I believe it is stable, you may introduce the specimen.” she advised.
Amelia moved forward taking care to not disturb any part of the spell and gently laid the Blood Weed on the still surface of the open container. As soon as the roots touched the surface, the plant started to shudder. New growth burst out in every direction and it drank greedily from the surface. This wild growth continued until the plant was spilling over the lip of the Vessel before stopping immediately, most likely due to Amelia’s influence. When it shifted into its active feeding mode, its color deepened to a rich red, as Tilly had seen before. But as it continued to spread, some of the original growth continued to change color, taking on a bluish hue before reverting it its inert state.
“Any change in the stasis?” the Queen asked Hilbert.
“None your majesty,” He answered happily.
“Villers, come forward.” She called to the surrounding crowd which had grown precipitously at some point. Through the crowd stepped the same Official that had taken the blood tax at the front gate. “Ms. Amelia, Villers has agreed to be the first test of your solution. You may proceed.” She added as the Official moved forward, looking much worse than he had a few hours ago.
His clothes were torn in several places and Tilly could see a collection of wounds festering on his arms and chest from the second part of the Weasel’s plan. Despite this, He presented himself calmly near the edge of the spell. Amelia carefully detached a piece of the Weed from the carpet of flora that now covered the top of the open Vessel. The hole made by its absence was quickly filed in by the surrounding plant, but as soon as it reached the lip of the container, it once again stopped expanding, held in check by Amelia's magic.
The Botinast Surveyor, moved carefully out of the spell's effect and up to Villars, who regarded her stoically, manfully ignoring the black streaks of Corruption reaching out from each of his wounds and attempting to dig deeper into his body.
“Thank you for volunteering sir.” She addressed him checking over the plant with her magical senses before lifting it in front of him.
“This should only consume the Corrupted blood in your system, as it does, it should clash with the imbued Ability and destroy itself… But you must know I am not sure what this reaction will look like. I am however prepared to pull it back at a moment's notice if you so desire. Simply say the word and I can stop its growth, are you ready?”
The Official, who had seemed bookish in their first interaction, Showed a stern and calm visage as he simply nodded. He kept his face composed to a heroic degree as Amelia lifted the Blood Weed to his chest and placed the red-tinted roots against his largest wounds. The Queen snapped her fingers nearby and all of the scabbed wounds began to bleed freely, sending the Blood Weed into manic action.
The roots reached out to the source of new energy burrowing deeply, while the blades multiplied sending new shoots in the direction of other sources of blood. Any place that wasn't actively bleeding was ignored, as the plant covered all of the Vampire’s infected wounds in an eager explosion of frenzied growth.
In reaction to what must have been a horrendous experience, the official bared both fangs fully, allowing himself a long hiss at the pain. After about thirty seconds, the original part of the plant that Amelia had initially attached to his chest began to blacken and wither.
Tilly watched in fascination as it charred before his eyes, eventually falling off the Vampire, leaving pale, uninfected flesh behind. The shallow cuts left began to heal immediately, and the intense expression on his face eased.
“Oh!” Amelia said in surprise. When Tilly looked over to smile at her success, he found her eyes looking into the middle distance, reading over some notification. Then his Identify pinged and her level changed.
Level 40 Botanist Surveyor
After allowing herself a happy smile, she announced. “The System has recognized this new use of the Weed as a discovery of significant proportions on the plane, and hints that there is more to discover beyond this possible interaction.” She read sharing the prompt with the room.
Comments
Wyatt Hilbert
No, I'm a pineapple. Lol
Joshua Hutto
you are a monster.
Wyatt Hilbert
No warhead soda is.
Joshua Hutto
Blood is the best.
Wyatt Hilbert
Thanks for the chapter, see even the plants are vampires
