PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

′′ what’s happening? ′′ answered Desmond who could barely hide the lazy comfort he was in.

′′ How did he go on your trip to the forest? ′′ Sasha who also struggled with the fatigue of the day still found the energy to ask Desmond about the situation in the forest.

′′ The corruption has not spread since the last time we went together but the presence of mutant beasts seems to have increased instead, I faced at least twelve of them in my tour of the area; if I had to guess I would say whatever the source of all this it doesn’t seem to be content with having lost a lot of corrupted creatures recently so it sent her bad guys to take care of the problem ′′ Desmond answered Sasha’s question as a serious expression returned to his face.

The truth is that Desmond was somewhat concerned with the issue of corrupt beasts, although today had been quite easy, it was because he had never faced more than three corrupt beasts at the same time; furthermore, all of them could be considered low-level beasts.

Still, the process of dealing with multiple mutant beasts in hand-to-hand combat was strenuous on both his body and his mana reserves, ironically even if Desmond went back to his original plan of hunting them bit by bit with the bow in hand it wouldn’t change much. since the use of his bow was quite strenuous for him given his current strength.

Desmond felt quite helpless about it, he liked his new bow, but I don’t expect his improvement to result in his inability to use it to the extent that he was used to.

′′ Did you have problems dealing with them? ′′ Sasha interrupted Desmond’s train of thought when she asked him again on the subject.

′′ Not really, I only had to use a couple of the stamina potions, the bow is difficult to use due to the difference in level and the new skill that I develop consumes a lot of my physical stamina; from there on out, I would only find trouble from having to face too many beasts at the same time. . . but something tells me that the next time we go to that area of ??the forest that is exactly what will happen. ′′

.....

Upon hearing Desmond’s response, Sasha tried to think of a solution, but in addition to giving her more resistance potions from Desmond, nothing had occurred to her, somewhat discontented she began to squirm as she tried to snuggle in the most comfortable way possible in Desmond’s hug.

′′ Little lazy alchemist, if you make yourself comfortable and warm you will end up getting sick when you have to get up and be in the cold again. ′′ Faced with Sasha’s spoiled attitude, Desmond playfully scolded her as he brushed a couple of strands of hair away from the girl’s adorable face.

At Desmond’s comment, Sasha just ignored him, once she put her cute little face on Desmond’s chest right above his heart Sasha began to fall asleep with Desmond’s heartbeat as a lullaby.

Just before falling asleep, she had a momentary flash of inspiration that pulled her out of her sleepiness as she muttered a few words over and over again: ′′ Hot and cold. ′′

The young alchemist’s mind began to make connections quickly: Heat and cold, endurance, vitality, enhancement, strength. . . hot and cold. It was only after a couple of seconds that she managed to remember that she had the solution.

When her mother and teacher died, she left quite a few things with her, including the cabin, a fully equipped alchemy laboratory, as well as an underground warehouse separate from the cabin where she kept all kinds of valuable materials and some of her best potions.

Among those potions were a couple of them that were intended to be used in tandem, a potion of an icy nature and another of a fiery nature, both potions used together could help to temper a person’s body and help raise their physical capabilities by a considerable margin; although they were more focused on increasing strength and endurance than developing other attributes.

They were high-level potions that her master had left for Sasha in case she wanted to use them, but Sasha never thought they were suitable for her to consume, after all, she was not a melee fighter but a magician.

Sasha told Desmond about the potions and asked him to wait for her when she was going to get them, Desmond waited at least five minutes before he saw Sasha again who now brought with them two bottles of potions the size of an apple each.

One of the potions was ice blue and had a small layer of frost on it, while the other potion was a deep orange and glowed slightly like a flame.

Using analysis on them, Desmond discovered that it was just as Sasha had said, the potions were intended to strengthen the body of its user and both potions were class a star level maximum.

Desmond was a bit surprised by the level of the potions but then Sasha explained that usually potions are not intended to provide long-lasting effects after consumption so those that did use to be very high level and had ridiculous amounts of energy in them.

In the end she Sasha told him to take both overnight so that the strengthening process would be complete by dawn, but she warned Desmond that it would be painful.

Desmond on the other hand was more concerned about another matter. . . the potions were too valuable and Sasha just gave them to him like that; which made him feel quite uncomfortable, but he also had no way of paying the alchemist for now so he kept quiet and decided that he would reward Sasha in the future.

Seeing that it was already quite late Sasha said goodbye to Desmond as she made her way to her room in a somewhat grumpy manner, poor girl had been enjoying an unfamiliar comfort while lying with Desmond and now she had to sleep alone.

Desmond went through something similar, feeling it was a shame that he couldn’t enjoy Sasha’s soft and sensual curves a little more as they lay back together, but he soon let go of that thought as he looked at the potions in front of him.

′′ well. . . This is going to hurt. ′′