“Mm~”

Li stretched, then looked over the bottles and jars in front of her. With a little effort, she’d made quite a few potions: supplements for Pal, painkillers that numbed pain, stimulants to energize Pal, and some healing potions. More than a dozen bottles, large and small, sat inside glass jars. She’d also put together over a dozen strange, unusual concoctions. They were her own secret recipes, developed over the years to keep herself safe in the wild.

Though Hortons had already figured out her secret recipe—and that had happened a long time ago...

You had to admit, potion-makers were all crazy. They’d dare to imagine anything, and as long as it might produce the result they wanted, they’d try any idea that came to mind. Anyone who managed to become a successful potion-maker usually had a pretty peculiar personality.

“Norton, how much time has passed?”

【Master, five hours have passed.】

Five hours? About forty bottles of potions—that was all she’d managed in five hours. She’d spent longer because she’d tried making some more complicated ones. Li picked up a bottle and went over to Phoebe. She had no choice but to pry Phoebe’s mouth open and pour it in, then use Pal’s power to guide the potion safely down into Phoebe’s stomach.

It was only a healing potion. It could keep Phoebe from dying, but Li couldn’t heal her injuries anytime soon. None of the ingredients here could treat Phoebe’s wounds. She’d have to go out and find some—and she needed to think about her own injuries, too.

The wound didn’t hurt anymore, and it had started to heal, but it would still take some time to recover.

This pool of water...

I wonder what would happen if I drank some now?

No, that wouldn’t do! She couldn’t go around experimenting so carelessly anymore. Besides, Phoebe was right here. Li didn’t need to use herself as a test subject. She could use Phoebe instead.

She got up, grabbed a cup, and went over to the pool. After scooping up a cupful, she returned and poured it straight into Phoebe’s mouth without a second thought. If the water in this pool still had some use...

Li snatched up another potion she’d prepared for Phoebe.

“Huh? Is it not having any effect?”

After waiting a while, nothing happened to Phoebe. So the water in that pool... Had the potion stopped working?

She went to the edge of the pool, dipped in a fingertip, and put a tiny bit on her tongue. The moment she tasted it, Li let out a helpless sigh.

“It’s turned into plain old water. So I must’ve absorbed all of its effects...”

During the process of rebuilding her body, she’d absorbed and consumed everything in that pool.

That was how her body had been completely rebuilt. Hortons had left behind the potion recipe, but its ingredients were unbelievably hard to come by. It was clear Hortons had thought it was a recipe for a panacea. But after making it, Hortons had realized it wasn’t a cure-all—though its effects were still extraordinary. It could completely rebuild a body.

“If it were possible, maybe it could help Chloe too, but...”

Li could easily imagine how Hortons had died. One of the ingredients—if she had to describe it, it was like breaking into hell, finding the Grim Reaper, and plucking out one of his hairs for the recipe...

That was why potion-makers were all crazy. They’d do any insane thing to get what they wanted.

Awooo~!!!

“Huh? A wolf’s howl...”