"That was incredible," Jack said. "Healers can’t touch corruption and you just... fixed it."
"Suppressed it," I corrected. "Not the sa as fixed."
"Still!" Lyssa was looking at with new interest, less flirtatious now, more genuinely impressed.
Tessa moved closer, her earlier territorial aggression replaced with quiet pride.
"Told you he was impressive," she said to the newbies.
The receptionist caught my eye from across the hall and gestured over.
I excused myself from the group and headed to her desk.
"That was quite a display," she said, her tone professional but carrying approval.
"The guild council will definitely want to speak with you now. Soone who can treat dungeon corruption is extrely valuable."
Great. More official attention. Exactly what I need.
"When?"
"Probably tomorrow. I’ll send word to your inn when they’re ready."
I nodded and returned to Tessa, who was saying goodbye to Jack and his party.
"Ready to go?" I asked.
"Ready."
We headed out into the midday streets, leaving the guild hall’s attention behind.
"Sixty silver for three doses," Tessa said once we were out of earshot. "That’s good money."
"If they actually co back and pay."
"They will. You saved their friend’s life. They’re not going to risk him dying by skipping treatnt."
She was probably right.
So now I’m in the corruption treatnt business.
"We need to check on Scarlet," I said. "See how she’s doing with her own corruption."
"And make more doses," Tessa added. "If we’re selling them at twenty silver each, we should have supply ready."
She’s already thinking like a businesswoman.
We headed back to the inn, moving through the streets with purpose.
Scarlet’s room was on the second floor, three doors down from ours.
I knocked twice.
"It’s us. We’re coming in."
A muffled sound ca from inside.
I pushed the door open.
Scarlet was sitting on the bed, her back against the headboard, her glamour flickering unstably. She looked better than yesterday but the dark veins on her exposed arms had started spreading again.
The compound is wearing off faster than I’d hoped.
"How do you feel?" I asked, moving closer.
She scowled. "Like sothing’s crawling under my skin. It’s annoying."
"Painful?"
"Not exactly. Just... wrong. Like my body knows sothing is inside it and can’t get it out." She looked at her arms, at the visible corruption. "It’s getting worse again, isn’t it?"
"It’s spreading," I confird. "But slowly. We’re not at critical levels yet."
Tessa was already pulling the second vial from her storage ring, moving to Scarlet’s side without being asked.
"Here. This should suppress it again."
Scarlet took it, uncorked it, and drank without hesitation.
We waited.
The dark veins stopped their slow creep. Began receding back toward the original wound site, just like before.
Scarlet’s expression relaxed slightly as the wrongness under her skin eased.
"Better?" I asked.
"Better," she admitted grudgingly. "How many more of these do I need?"
"I don’t know yet."
She nodded, already looking tired despite just waking up.
"I’ll be here sleeping again. Wake when it’s dinner or sothing."
"Will do."
We left her to rest, closing the door quietly behind us.
Back in my room, I imdiately got to work.
Pulled out paper and quill from my pack.
Then accessed my storage ring and started extracting materials.
The herbs and minerals from the mine ca out one by one.
I spread them across the table, organizing by type and potential use.
Activated my debug vision and began systematic analysis.
And then started writing.
Initial observations. Potential interactions. Modifications to the base formula that might improve efficacy or reduce side effects.
Three hours passed.
My hand was cramping from writing. My eyes ached from staring at structures in debug vision.
The table was littered with crumpled papers scattered around like evidence of intellectual warfare.
But I was close. I could feel it.
One more modification. Adjusting the binding agent concentration.
I slamd my palms down on the table, the sound loud in the quiet room.
"Yes! That’s it!"
This should clear corruption faster with fewer doses.
The door opened.
I looked up, startled.
Tessa entered carrying a tray laden with food, bread, cheese, what looked like roasted chicken, vegetables, a mug of sothing that slled like cider.
"You haven’t eaten since this morning," she said, kicking the door closed behind her with practiced ease. "I brought lunch. Or dinner. Whatever al this counts as."
"I’m—"
My stomach growled loudly, betraying completely.
Tessa grinned. "See? You’re hungry. Your body knows even if your brain forgot."
She set the tray on the only clear space on the table, pushing aside so of my papers carefully.
Then she walked over to where I sat, leaning over my shoulder to look at what I was working on.
"What are you doing?"
"Making a new formula," I said, quickly pulling the completed version toward protectively.
"The previous one works, but it’s less effective than it could be. I wanted to optimize it."
I stood and stretched, my back protesting from hours of hunching over the table.
"And since we’re going to be selling these anyway, I made so new ones too."
Tessa’s eyes lit up imdiately.
"Really?!" She clapped her hands together in excitent. "Which ones? What do they do?"
I grinned at her enthusiasm.
"It’s a secret for now."
Her expression shifted from excited to suspicious in an instant.
"What? No! Tell !"
"You’ll find out when I make them."
"That’s not fair! I helped you!"
"And you did great. But these are still experintal. I need to test them first."
She narrowed her eyes at , then pointed deliberately at the food.
"Fine. Be like that. But you’re eating. Before it gets cold."
When did she get so bossy?
But I was hungry, so I moved to the bed and sat down, taking the tray from the table.
I ate while she wandered around the room, examining my setup with obvious curiosity, her eyes constantly drifting back to the papers on the table.
Then I saw her start tiptoeing like a cartoon character toward where I’d left my notes.
I pulled the completed formula from my pocket where I’d stored it earlier and waved it at her.
"Looking for this?"
She spun around, caught completely, and huffed indignantly.
Placed her hands on her hips in exaggerated offense.
"Fine! Be like that! Keep your secrets!" She marched toward the door with theatrical stomping.
"I’ll just go entertain myself elsewhere while you and your mysterious formulas have your private ti together!"
She yanked the door opened and was gone closing the door behind.
I sat there on the bed, holding half-eaten chicken, surrounded by crumpled papers and successful formulas, in a rented room in a border town.
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