Potion

The night that had seemed like the end of the world had finally passed.

As the morning sunlight once again spilled across the ship, the familiar bell rang out again.

Charles, who had stood guard all night, and Molly, lying beside him in a groggy daze, were both startled awake by the bell.

Molly asked in surprise, "The bell is ringing again. Are we going out?"

Charles glanced at the water and dried rations in the room and said, "No rush. We still have food."

Although Charles and the others did not go out, they could hear people opening doors and passing by outside.

After the sounds had continued for a while, Charles decided to go out and take a look after all. There might be something important to announce in the dining hall.

He told Molly to stay in the room and clean up the bloodstains, then took up his sword and headed straight for the dining hall.

Quite a few people had gathered there, and some of them were still wounded.

Food and dried rations were being distributed in the dining hall once more.

On the second level stood a wizard apprentice in a gray robe, along with more than a dozen knights.

Once enough people had arrived in the dining hall, the wizard apprentice glanced at the knight beside him.

The knight immediately shouted sternly, "Silence!"

At the knight's roar, the noisy dining hall instantly fell silent.

The wizard apprentice stepped forward. Looking down at everyone in the dining hall, he said calmly, "Everyone, we are currently in the deep sea. Last night's crisis was the first, but it will certainly not be the last!"

"If we are to reach the Wizard Continent safely, the ship must be kept clean."

"Many people died last night, and many Mermen died as well. Your task today is to cooperate with the sailors and clear all the Merman corpses from the ship!"

"For the sake of your lives, become Third-Rank Wizard Apprentices as soon as possible!"

After saying that, the wizard apprentice turned and left, leaving only the knights under his command in the dining hall to maintain order.

After leaving, Charles returned to the room, called Molly out, and together they disposed of the two Mermen they had killed yesterday.

"Hmm?"

Looking at the quilt on the floor, Molly looked at Charles as though she wanted to say something but held it back.

Charles simply ignored her gaze. He sliced open the quilt with his sword and had Molly clean the bloodstains around it.

He dragged the two Merman corpses to the deck and threw them overboard.

He also fetched two buckets of seawater to wash away the blood and Merman slime near the room.

If they did not clean it up, the stench around here was simply too strong. The place reeked of fish.

After cleaning up the area, Charles took Molly back to the room and began cultivating.

Charles said earnestly to Molly, "The middle decks still aren't safe. We need to become Third-Rank Wizard Apprentices as soon as possible!"

"How many runes are you short? If you have Magic Stones, don't be stingy. Use them when you should."

Molly froze for a moment and asked, "What about you?"

Charles shook his head. "Me? Don't worry about me."

With that, he sat on the bed and began another round of meditation.

After obtaining Wood's cultivation insights, Charles's speed in memorizing runes had increased considerably.

What the wizard apprentice had said today made Charles feel a sense of crisis. It was bad enough for the Mermen to come once—surely they would not keep coming back!

Besides, these wizards seemed far too unconcerned about treating potential apprentices like themselves as one of their own.

That feeling was terrible.

Molly hesitated for a long time before finally leaving the room with her Magic Stones tucked away.

Hearing Molly close the door, Charles did not even open his eyes.

More than half an hour later, Molly quietly opened Charles's door again. She had sneaked around the whole way like a thief.

By then, Charles had finished meditating and was lying down to rest.

He had put his Knight Breathing Technique cultivation on hold lately. He did not dare waste his energy, fearing he might encounter danger when exhausted.

After Molly returned, she remained silent for a long while before saying, "I went to look for Doris and wanted her to help us, but I still couldn't find her. She may have gone to the upper decks."

Charles asked in confusion, "I thought you and Doris were close. She would have taken you with her. Has she become a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice? How did she get up there?"

Molly shook her head. "I don't know either. Maybe someone helped her."

Molly's expression was somewhat dejected.

Charles understood that. Doris was beautiful and had the personality of a calculating flirt, keeping the former Charles and Qiaosuo, two good friends, hanging around her like lapdogs.

It did not surprise Charles that she had lapdogs on the upper decks as well.

Unfortunately, the current Charles felt nothing for Doris.

Molly's dejected expression lingered for a long time, while Charles had already closed his eyes to rest.

Molly stared at Charles for so long that he could feel it. He opened his eyes helplessly and asked, "Why do you keep staring at me?"

Molly hesitated before finally taking out two small bottles and handing one to Charles.

She said, "This is a potion I just bought from a wizard apprentice on the upper decks with my last Magic Stones."

"He said that after drinking it, it can restore depleted mental power, let you meditate longer, and briefly enhance the effects."

"One bottle for you..."

Charles looked at Molly and said, "Can you really bear to part with it?"

Molly's eyes were filled with reluctance to part with the potion. Biting her lower lip, she said, "The potion has gone up in price too. It used to cost ten Magic Stones a bottle, but now it costs fifteen."

She turned her head away. "Just take it quickly. If you wait any longer, I might not be able to give it to you."

Hearing that, Charles accepted the potion and said, "If I become a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice and can bring someone up there, I'll definitely take you with me."

At that, Molly lowered her head and said softly, somewhat dejected, "It had better be."

"The wizard apprentice said you can just drink the potion directly. It will restore the mental power you've already used up."

Charles's meditation time for the day had already ended, and his mental power was completely depleted. Hearing her say so, he immediately stopped hesitating.

He downed the potion in one gulp. The instant it entered his mouth, it was bitter, fishy, and rank, like the concentrated juice of sheep kidneys and cow kidneys.

"What the hell is this taste?!" Charles cursed the moment he swallowed it.

But the next instant, his eyes widened. He could clearly feel the mental power he had consumed memorizing runes rapidly recovering.

Charles hurriedly filled the bottle with water and rinsed it three more times before finally setting it down.

The potion was effective, but restoring Charles's mental power still took nearly an hour.

Once he had recovered, Charles entered a meditative state once more.

With the help of this potion, Charles could save at least two more days.

While Charles meditated, Molly sat on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, quietly watching him with his eyes closed.

Her gaze was vacant, and no one knew what she was thinking.