Yearning for the Moon

Chapter Fourteen

*This chapter was previously labelled thirteen, before I realized that the proper chapter four had been accidentally not published, so please re-read chapter four and then move on with the book, thank you*

There were so many different types of potions, things I hadn't really thought possible before, potions and pills were most consistently used on people or animals alone, living beings, but with a few rare exceptions. Elixirs were evenly spread out between being used on objects and people, take the Floating Elixir for example, made of a blend of the weightless potion, one that normally enabled people to jump great heights with less effort, and the levitation pill, which could allow a person to hover in the air for a little while.

Together they made an Elixir that enabled one to put some drops onto any object no matter how heavy and cause it to float in the air, practically feather light as well, it made transporting heavy objects infinitely easier, though the larger and heavier the object the shorter time the elixir would last, so more was needed for larger objects. It made me wonder if they had used this elixir a few thousand years ago when the tainted lands used to be the rich empire of Ulnaga, if they used it to put the Upalamite pillars in place.

I thought this was a break through, that I had finally found a way to solve my transportation issue with the lodestones, except to my annoyance when I try it, I discover one important fact, the Float Elixir worked on everything it seemed except Lodestone. I don't know why I was so surprised, after all if it rejected spiritual energy trying to move it, why would it accept an Elixir that was made of a potion and pill weaved together with spiritual energy? That was what was so unique about the Lodestone, how it only accepted certain types of spiritual energy and shielded against others, because while it may reject spirit energy directed by a cultivator to move it, it easily accepted spiritual energy from the spirit crystals in order to make itself stronger.

But maybe that was part of the point, it was meant to shield against force, so why wouldn't it resist a force of energy trying to move it, it likely would serve as a good shield if it didn't, maybe force wasn't the way to go with this, maybe the gentle way was better, but I didn't yet know of a gentle way of doing what I wanted to do. And while I had been working my way up to it, going through the easier Elixirs first, I finally found my way to the page I wanted to be on, the Rune Elixir, a blend of a Dissolving potion and a Spirit Qi Pill.

It was an interesting mix, one is a potion that dissolves what it touches, and the other is a pill that draws spirit energy towards it. The dissolving potion was a dark glittering silver, and the Spirit Qi pill was a glittering gold, together they formed a peculiar mixture of glittering silver and gold paint, there was no other way to describe it, even though it was an Elixir, it had many similarities to paint, after all you used a brush to draw out a specific shape on an object.

But of course my first try ends in disaster, with my brush quite literally melting in my hand, obviously not capable of withstanding the Dissolving potion, but I didn't know what else to use, anything that could resist the dissolving potion was hard, like glass or stone, and rune carving contrary to the name required the delicate use of a brush, the book on Rune Carving clearly stated that, but I suppose that is what I get for skimming, I think I should know that by now, always read the entire book thoroughly instead of skimming, skimming is how important things get missed.

Which is how I find out that the brush I need, has to be made of specific materials in order to withstand the dissolving potion, of course the handle was easy enough, just carved crystal, of which I had an abundance of, but the tip of the brush was going to be a slight problem. Of course for any one else this would serve as an enormous difficulty, but I had a idea of where to get some, he just wouldn't be very happy about it.

"I'm sorry you want what from me?" I look at Orpheus with pleading eyes, kind of regretting I hadn't just tried to jump him and take it forcefully, though I knew it would have ended badly for me.