Chapter 171: Progress
Everything steadily moved forward, gradually showing signs of progress.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the mission in the Mutated Battlefield had revolutionized most, if not all, aspects of Liam’s life.
On the surface, nothing had changed, but the disparate and plentiful rewards had added multiple goals for Liam to pursue, granting his almost identical routine new, grander anings.
The Disciplinary Elder hadn’t pressed the greatsword’s issue any further, but the weapon training that followed the combat lessons had been broad enough to involve heavy instrunts, too.
It was the Disciplinary Elder’s opinion that Liam had to grow accustod to fighting with weapons before specializing in one. So, the afternoon lessons tackled battle stances with knives, swords, axes, spears, hamrs, and even greatswords.
Even the Alchemy Elder seed to be fine with that approach, so Liam didn’t press the matter and focused on learning.
Alchemy also showed great progress. With all the new ingredients, Liam could go wild, concocting to his heart’s content without having to worry about contribution points or finances.
That unrestrained approach eventually highlighted the validity of the Alchemy Elder’s suggestion. Liam only concocted poisons, and the more he did, the more his understanding and confidence grew.
It was an eerie feeling. Liam couldn’t exactly describe it. It was more of a subconscious knowledge that created an instinctive understanding of how certain ingredients, recipes, concoctions, and products would react.
Liam felt as if poison was beginning to speak to him. It was the advantage of a growing specialization, of the complete imrsion his Master had ntioned.
And among that positive, unhindered, and steady progress, one glaring issue stood out, gradually gnawing more at Liam’s brain, almost turning into an obsession.
Nothing really happened with lissa. Actually, everything was going more than fine despite Liam’s shorter free ti.
The weapon training stretched Liam’s lessons into the afternoon, but that didn’t change how he spent his ti before his nightti etings with his Master.
lissa didn’t exactly wait for Liam. She did at tis, but she mostly left him once her combat lessons ended, only to always be there when it was ti for him to return to his cave.
That was sothing Liam had long since accepted as normal. Having lissa in his cave while he concocted was part of his routine. Simon hadn’t even made any move, and being together was the best way to ensure that things continued like that.
Despite the Alchemy Elder’s suggestion, Liam also kept his priorities straight. The interactions basically boiled down to the short monts before he began concocting.
Yet, lissa had made that the highlight of Liam’s days. She kept giving and requesting kisses, always bringing his hands to her, as if wanting him to learn exactly what she was made of.
lissa even hugged Liam at tis, creating intimate monts that made him crave to dive deeper into whatever was happening. She stirred his curiosity and desire until they threatened to take over him, only to leave him to his concoctions before they could reach the critical point.
And Liam had to admit that he was going crazy. Sothing that had long since been ready to explode kept building up inside him, only for his routine never to give him the opportunity to ask or do anything about it.
However, slightly over three weeks into that focused training, a change arrived.
Liam slapped the rumbling cauldron, forcing it to expel a tide of black smoke that quickly dispersed, and checking its insides filled his nostrils with a foul scent that sent happy quivers into his foundation.
Sothing murky-green rested at the cauldron’s bottom. A slimy paste that resonated with Liam quickly settled, his nose already confirming his success.
After all, that paste was a properly deadly poison, one tailored for weapons. It was the upgrade to Liam’s Cloud Pills, one that even he had to handle carefully.
’I’ll let Master check it,’ Liam thought, despite already knowing the answer. ’If he approves, I can finally start.’
That success didn’t exist in a vacuum. It was proof that Liam’s mastery of poisons had t the requirents to concoct sothing even more powerful, sothing deadly enough to overco his steep bottleneck.
Liam browsed over his cave next. Ingredients still cluttered it, but he had cut them in half in those three weeks. He also spotted a wooden target with tal needles stabbed into it and the quiver with ten arrows he had requested, but his gaze soon fell on his cross-legged, beautiful companion.
That readiness ant that Liam would enter seclusion next, a process necessary to ensure absolute imrsion and concentration.
Liam needed as much not only to succeed at what promised to be his last concoction as a foundation expert. He also had to face the breakthrough itself, and that couldn’t feature an audience. His Master was the only exception.
’Will she be fine in the anti?’ Liam worried, only to shake his head when his gaze went over lissa’s lips, neck, waist, and legs, knowing the unparalleled joy and more that they could generate.
Since alchemy promised to be the main and sole dish for a while, Liam saved himself for when his Master arrived, heading instead for the tal slab by the piles of ingredients.
Liam sat down before the slab, lying it horizontally in front of him as he began one of his new training routines.
Liam slamd the back of his hands on the slab, repeating the process with his palms, fingers, and even wrists until a familiar pain filled them.
That pain couldn’t make Liam flinch, but he stopped anyway, focusing on the process described in the tal Hand’s to. He sent his Qi to those suffering extremities, letting it settle there so that it could be part of their recovery.
Nothing revolutionary unfolded, but Liam knew it was working. His Qi fueled a superhuman recovery that would harden his skin, ligants, and bones, improving what his hands could unleash and endure with his new martial art.
Once the pain subsided, Liam repeated the process. His hands wouldn’t be ready until the slab was the only one to suffer, a goal standing in the superior stage he would attempt to reach next.
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