After seeing his friends out, Marcus returned to the living room, only to find Alana already at work, quietly tidying the space as if she had always belonged there. He had originally intended to hire NPC servants to maintain the mansion, but now that idea felt unnecessary. Having Alana here, a beauty who carried herself with effortless grace and a natural dostic touch, made the place feel alive in a way hired help never could.
Still, her presence ca with its own concerns.
Because of her Body of a Hundred Flowers, Alana was like a beacon to powerful creatures, especially those of Mythic rank and above. To them, she wasn’t just attractive, she was irresistible, sothing to be claid or consud. After what had happened with the Eight-Tailed Vixens, Marcus had no intention of exposing her to that kind of danger again.
On top of that, Alana herself had no real inclination toward combat. She wasn’t built for the battlefield, and more importantly, she didn’t want to be there. Keeping her within the safety of the city, managing the mansion and focusing on her alchemy, was the most sensible choice.
There was also a harsher reality to consider. Unlike pets, which could be revived for a price, NPCs in Dominion were permanent. If Alana died, she wouldn’t co back.
Marcus wasn’t about to let that happen.
He leaned against the doorway for a mont, watching her as she moved through the room. There was sothing almost hypnotic about the way she carried herself, light and fluid, like a cat weaving through sunlight. The mansion, which had felt large and empty before, now seed warm, filled with a quiet sense of life that followed her wherever she went.
She didn’t just brighten the space, she changed it.
"Master, does this look okay here?" Alana asked, turning toward him with a small arrangent of freshly placed flowers.
Marcus glanced over, but his attention lingered less on the arrangent and more on her expression. The flowers were beautiful, certainly, but beside her, they seed almost dull.
"It’s perfect," he said, aning it, though not entirely for the reason she thought.
After a brief pause, he stepped forward to join her. What started as a simple task stretched into sothing unexpectedly comfortable. For the next hour, the two of them worked side by side, adjusting furniture, arranging plants, and adding small personal touches until the mansion no longer felt like a reward, but a ho.
When they were finally done, Alana stepped into the center of the room. She brought her hands together gently, her eyes closing as her lips moved in a soft, almost lodic whisper.
"Floral Bloom."
A gentle green light pulsed outward from her palms, spreading through the room like a living breath. The air shifted, filled with the subtle energy of growing things, and in the next instant, every plant responded. Leaves unfurled, vines stretched, and blossoms opened all at once, filling the space with color and a rich, layered fragrance that felt both calming and invigorating.
Marcus looked around, montarily caught off guard.
"Alana... that’s—"
"My unique constitution allows to command flora," she said, opening her eyes. There was a faint, playful spark in them now, sothing proud, almost teasing. "See? Your Alana isn’t just a pretty face."
She stepped closer and slipped her arm through his, leaning lightly against him. The warmth of her body, the faint scent of flowers clinging to her, made Marcus acutely aware of her presence. When she tilted her head up to look at him, there was a quiet expectation in her gaze.
"It’s incredible," he admitted, his voice softer now, and completely sincere.
"That’s not all, Master," she continued, clearly pleased. "As a Grandmaster Alchemist, my real strength lies elsewhere. I can create things that will help you far more than I ever could in a fight."
Her expression dimd slightly as the thought continued.
"It’s just... a sha the Vixens destroyed my herb garden. If I still had access to my rarer ingredients, I could make sothing truly special for you."
Marcus was about to reassure her when she suddenly paused, her eyes lighting up as if a forgotten mory had just surfaced.
"Wait... I almost forgot," she said, straightening. "About a year ago, my grandfather discovered an ancient recipe hidden inside a cave. It’s called a Super Health Potion. It doesn’t require anything legendary, just Five-Leaf Goldgrass and Crystal-Tear Berries, combined with standard large health potions. But the formula itself is classified as High-tier."
Marcus blinked. "A Super Health Potion?"
Alana nodded. "Grandfather said it used to be a state secret of the Dragon Dynasty. Only Imperial Physicians were allowed to brew it. According to him, it was one of the reasons the Dynasty managed to unify the continent. Their soldiers simply refused to fall."
Marcus imdiately pulled up her skill interface. He had glanced through her long list of recipes before, but never taken the ti to study them properly. Now, he quickly located the one she had ntioned.
—
Super Health Potion (Advanced Recipe):
Level 1 (0/20000)
A secret formula of the Dragon Dynasty.
Requirents: Grandmaster Alchemist
Ingredients: 3 Large Health Potions, 1 Five-Leaf Goldgrass, 1 Crystal-Tear Berry
Brew Ti: 5–10 minutes
Success Rate: 80%
Yield: Minimum 2 potions per batch
Effect: Restores 500 Health per second for 10 seconds
—
Marcus stared at the description, his mind going completely still for a mont as the implications sank in.
Five hundred per second, for ten seconds.
"Master? Is sothing wrong?" Alana asked softly, giving his arm a small shake when he didn’t respond.
Then, suddenly—
"Alana, you’re a genius!"
Marcus burst out laughing, the tension breaking all at once. Without thinking, he pulled her into his arms and lifted her off the ground, spinning her in a full circle before setting her down just long enough to kiss her.
"Master!" she gasped, her face flushing bright red, though the delight in her eyes was impossible to hide.
The importance of the potion couldn’t be overstated.
In Dominion, health potions were everything. They weren’t just helpful, they were essential. You couldn’t grind efficiently without them, and in serious combat, especially between players of equal skill, the outco often ca down to who had the better resources.
And nothing mattered more than healing.
In a typical encounter, if an enemy dealt three hundred damage per second and your best potion restored two hundred, you were fighting on borrowed ti. Every second pushed you closer to defeat. But with a potion restoring five hundred per second, that entire equation flipped.
Suddenly, you weren’t struggling to survive. You were outlasting.
The sa principle applied on a larger scale. In the coming Nation Wars, if one side relied on standard potions restoring two hundred health while the other had access to sothing like this, the difference wouldn’t just be noticeable, it would be overwhelming. It wouldn’t be a battle.
It would be a massacre.
At present, the best potions sold in city shops were Large Health Potions, restoring two hundred health for ten gold each. Even those were considered expensive, sothing not every player could afford to use freely.
Compared to what Alana could produce, they were nothing.
Marcus’s thoughts sharpened as the realization fully took hold.
As long as he could secure a steady supply of the required ingredients, he wouldn’t just have an advantage. He would control it. Completely.
For a long ti to co, he wouldn’t just be ahead of the competition, he would be untouchable.
And in Dominion, that made him the most dangerous man alive.
User Comments
0 comments from readers