Shimmer

Inside the plain little box were two types of medicine. Oran gave two of each to Ivankov and Ginny.

"What are these?"

Ginny held the glass vial up to the sunlight. Under its rays, the pale violet specks of light within the medicine seemed to shine even brighter.

"This is Shimmer, a product of Zaunite alchemy."

Like Piltover, Zaun was the name of a region. They had once been one, but for various reasons, they had split into two parts.

Piltover placed greater emphasis on the development of Hextech, while Zaun gave rise to its own unique alchemical technology. Oran lived in Piltover, but he also had close ties with Zaun.

Oran had never believed Piltover to be much nobler than Zaun, nor did he consider Zaun's technology inferior. He drew on the strengths of different technologies and put them to proper use.

"Shimmer—what a beautiful name. It looks pretty too. I just wonder what it tastes like."

Ginny licked her lips. Things that looked nice ought to taste good too—that was her rather simple way of thinking. After all, she had barely ever had enough to eat over the years.

"This isn't for eating. I'm only giving it to you in case of emergencies."

Oran had no idea what they might encounter on the island. Even if Ivankov and Ginny wanted to resist, they were still, at their core, underage children.

They did not need to face the famous figures from the original timeline. Even a slightly trained soldier was more than they could handle.

He had stronger weapons, but on these seas, an individual's martial prowess carried enormous weight. Given Ginny and Ivankov's circumstances, giving them overly powerful weapons might even end up arming the enemy, becoming a future liability instead.

"This little bottle can be used to heal wounds. If you're seriously injured by accident, it can save your lives."

That had been the original purpose behind Shimmer: healing external injuries and illnesses. The alchemist Singed had extracted a new substance from mutated lizards he raised and developed this medicine.

Just a tiny amount could produce powerful healing effects.

Oran had used a formula acquired from a dream world to alter Shimmer's composition, reducing its potency and eliminating its addictive side effects. The only price was an increase in production costs.

Still, compared to the difficult-to-obtain raw materials from those mutated lizards, it would not be wrong to call it a reduction in cost.

"This really is good stuff. Then what about this big bottle?"

At a time like this, such medicine was practically a second life. Ivankov and Ginny carefully put it away, then looked toward the other syringe.

"You'd better hope you never need it. It's something for when you have to risk your lives. If you're driven into a dead end, inject it into the area over your heart. It might just let you escape alive."

Perhaps it was human nature. Whenever something new emerged, people always wondered whether it could be applied to warfare. What came next might be something lewd?

Shimmer was no exception. As time passed, its uses gradually became more complicated and dangerous. Once taken in large quantities, it caused unstable mutations in the body.

Even Oran's improved version retained that effect. Injecting a massive dose directly into the heart would give the body new life, granting strength far beyond what it had possessed before—and powers of an unknown nature.

Zaun and Piltover had an extremely complicated relationship, with conflicts breaking out constantly. Compared with Piltover, Zaun lagged far behind. Shimmer was their weapon against the Upper City.

"We don't have a complete army or powerful warriors. All we have left are our own bodies. This medicine can burn away your life and turn your body into a better weapon, giving you at least some strength to fight back."

The words "burn away your life" already made its price clear. If circumstances were not so unusual, Oran would not have liked something so unstable.

"This is good stuff too, hee-haw! If it really comes to that, this is way better than waiting to die."

To say they were not afraid at all would certainly have been a lie.

But compared to the threat of death, Ivankov feared being completely unable to fight back even more. Ginny felt the same way.

After putting away Oran's medicine, the two headed in another direction under the guidance of local God Valley residents. Oran gathered the remaining people and prepared to check out a nearby granary.

Some time later, Oran and the others found a warehouse located within a canyon. It was quite a distance from where Oran's Black Ship had appeared.

The residents of God Valley had converted a natural cave into a warehouse. The environment made it a natural refrigerator, and thick iron chains secured the metal gate at its entrance.

Crack.

With a crisp snap, a Sharkfolk bit straight through the chain. The tough iron was as brittle as a cracker in his mouth.

"Shak, nicely done. Outstanding racial talent. Is this the bite force of a Sharkfolk? Truly impressive."

"Th-thank you for the praise, Oran. Do you know? This is the first time anyone's ever praised me like that!"

The intimidating-looking fish-man became somewhat incoherent. The praise had clearly excited him greatly. Shak could also sense that Oran was sincerely admiring his talent, rather than showing the prejudice toward him that he had encountered from humans in the past.

"Don't get so worked up. We still have a lot to do. When we get the chance, I'd like you to take me to Merfolk Island for a visit. I've always longed to see that island in the deep sea."

"Mm, definitely."

Working together, they pushed open the gate. By the light streaming in from the entrance, neatly stacked crates came into view. After checking them, they found that all of them contained well-preserved food. The warehouse manager had not been skimming anything for himself.

At first, Oran had genuinely worried that this would be an empty warehouse. That would have been troublesome.

Not only had they avoided that worst-case scenario, Oran even found a large amount of white sugar in the warehouse.

"Everyone, take more sugar. As for food, prioritize dried meat. Carry as much as you can manage. We don't know how long we'll be able to keep coming back here!"

"Oran, do you really like sweets that much?"

Bear now had an enormous bundle strapped to his back. Supplies twice his own height were carried on his back just like that. Shak beside him was much the same; after hearing Oran say to bring more sugar, he had even hung bags all around his waist.

Whether it was the giant-blooded strength of the Buccaneer Tribe or the innate arm strength of fish-men, ten times that of ordinary humans, both were proving useful on this road to survival.

Still, Bear did not quite understand why they needed to bring so much sugar. Sweet things did taste wonderful, but he did not think they could fill anyone's stomach.

"Bear, sugar isn't just sweet. It has many uses, especially under circumstances like these. It's an extremely important strategic resource."