After all that fuss, it turned out the mistake was mine.
This Higan was truly terrifying. A mere 0.01-milligram discrepancy could produce such a huge difference in medicinal effect.
Sigh...
I really scared myself for nothing.
After frowning his way through all the analysis reports, Chiba finally let out a long breath. Comparing the report with the data from his previous tests of Higan's medicinal properties, he found that there had been a 0.01-milligram discrepancy in the Higan Grass component, the main ingredient. Combined with the fact that the ingredients had not been mixed thoroughly after concentrated extraction, it had caused the difference in medicinal effect between the two tubes.
The final difference had been two hours.
Strictly speaking, there had been no change at all in the medicinal properties. It had entirely been caused by Chiba's operational error.
Moreover, after thinking it over, Chiba realized that the two bottles he was currently carrying happened to be from the same batch. Due to the limitations of his equipment, he purified and mixed them in batches, with each batch producing roughly three tubes of medicine.
In other words, among the last two tubes of medicine on Chiba's person, one had the same medicinal effect and required two hours for the effect to metabolize.
This test had classified the medicinal effect as "stable," so Chiba did not need to worry about any further mutations. Of the two tubes, one would last ten minutes and the other two hours. They would not change again.
That meant he now had one tube of Higan poison that would revive him from feigned death after ten minutes, and another that would revive him after two hours.
Overall, this unexpected incident could not really be considered unexpected. It could only be called one of Chiba's mistakes. And