Alter-Drug

Chapter 8 - Head Apothecary

Of course, Carl was just joking.

After all, he had no idea what the characteristics of this drug were or whether the concoction would be harmful to humans or not.

The rabbit and rat had both gone insane for a short period of time before losing consciousness and he had not done any investigations on whether the drug had any other effects on their bodies. He definitely was not going to test this on humans at this point in time.

"Sure." Milton took Carl's invitation seriously this time. "I'll try it."

Ralph ran to stand in front of Milton and said bravely, "Carl, give it to me! You can test it on me!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment before falling over one another to be the first to get their hands on this drug.

While the drug had its fair share of risks, the knights could see its benefits easily. One thing was for sure—both the rabbit and the rat had gotten a huge boost in strength upon consuming this mysterious liquid.

An ordinary person might be worried that the drug was too powerful for their bodies to handle, but a chance to increase their strength was too tempting to pass up. All of them were willing to bear the consequences, since opportunities always came with risks.

Besides, they did not think consuming this drug would be any more risky than taking the secret drug.

Their overly enthusiastic response stunned Carl so much that someone had snatched the bottle away from him before he even realized what the knights were trying to do. He panicked and yelled loudly, "Everyone, listen to me! The drug might be toxic! P-please don't take it yet!"

The last thing he wanted was a knight to die from taking this drug.

To his dismay, none of the knights seemed to have heard him at all. Instead, they began to fight each other even more fiercely than before.

Melissa's voice suddenly resounded, "What are all of you doing?"

"Your Ladyship…"

The knights stopped fighting each other and quickly straightened themselves up before bowing respectfully to greet the countess.

As they escorted her further into the lab, she glared at the knights with an authoritative look in her beautiful eyes and said in a displeased manner, "What happened here? The entire manor could hear your clamoring."

Milton quickly took a step forward to report the situation to her. "Your Ladyship, Carl has concocted a drug that managed to turn an ordinary rabbit and a rat into magical beasts!"

"What?" Melissa quickly lost her cool, just like the rest of the knights. The revelation was just that shocking. Her bright blue eyes widened as she stared at Milton in disbelief.

"It's true!"

"That's exactly what happened!"

"We saw it with our own eyes!"

All the knights came forward to affirm what Milton had just said.

Melissa snapped out of her initial shock and spun around to look at Carl. "Is that really what happened?"

"They didn't turn into magical beasts per se. They have displayed similar power, but it was only for a very short period of time," said Carl in a serious voice. "I will need more time to find out exactly what this drug does."

Melissa held her fair hand out. "Where's the drug?"

One of the knights quickly handed it over.

Melissa picked up the bottle and looked at it carefully. The color of the liquid alone already surprised her. As far as she knew, medicinal substances were always some strange color and often oddly sticky and gross.

None of the medicines she had seen in her life looked like the liquid in this bottle. This fluid was pinkish like pigeon blood, and a little milky like cheese.

The only problem was that the smell was rather unpleasant. She wrinkled her little nose to take a whiff and tried to analyze it further, but did not reach any conclusion. She walked to the corner of the room where other rabbits and rats were kept and asked, "How do I use this drug? Just feed them directly?"

"Yes, just don't give them too much," Carl warned her. "Just one or two drops will do."

Melissa nodded, then poured out a little onto her hand and fed a rat one drop. A few seconds later, the familiar process repeated itself. The rat started going crazy, so Milton quickly caught hold of it. The little animal clawed feverishly for two minutes before slowly returning to normal and eventually losing consciousness.

Melissa's eyes lit up after she finished watching the whole affair. Just like the other knights, she too wanted to know what would happen if a human consumed this drug.

"I have no idea. Anything is possible," Carl replied to Melissa honestly after she asked him.

Ralph clenched his fist and thumped his own chest. "Your Ladyship, your loyal knight, Ralph, is willing to use his own body to test the effects of this drug! Please allow me to be of service!"

The other knights did not want to lose this chance and stood up to offer themselves as well, hoping that Melissa would grant them this opportunity.

Melissa's gaze flickered as she hesitated for a few moments. She turned to ask Carl for his opinion. "You're the one who made this drug, so it makes sense for you to decide. Which one of them would make a suitable candidate?"

Carl looked at the eager faces in front of him. These men really are unafraid of death…

After taking a short while to think through this carefully, he suggested, "I think it's best that Ralph and Milton don't try it, since they're the strongest of the lot. That way, even if the one who tries the drug goes out of control, Ralph and Milton will be able to hold him down."

Melissa agreed with Carl's logic and immediately decided to give the drug to the skinniest knight among them.

That knight was so delighted, it was as if he had won the lottery. He poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth as quickly as he could, like he was afraid someone else might snatch it from him if he wasn't fast enough.

Everyone's eyes were now on him.

Several seconds passed and a red flush crept over his face. He clenched his fists tightly and his forehead broke out in perspiration, as if his head was about to give off steam.

All of a sudden, he started roaring like a wild animal. Ralph and Milton swiftly took their positions in front of Melissa and Carl to protect them, while the other knights stood in a semi-circle formation to make sure he was surrounded on all sides.

Surprisingly, while he looked like he was in pain, it seemed like he had not lost his mind.

At the same time, Carl overheard Milton muttering to himself, "This looks like… when a warrior pushes themself beyond their usual limits…"

Almost immediately after Milton made that remark, a halo rose from the knight's body suddenly, illuminating the whole room as yet another star slowly took shape.

The other knights looked on in amazement.

"Brian has made a breakthrough!"

"He became a stage one Starlight Knight just a year ago and he's already made a breakthrough to a stage two Starlight Knight!"

"That drug actually worked…"

All the other knights could not contain their excitement and were even more excited than the one who had actually made a breakthrough. Melissa's eyes lit up as she asked in a gentle voice, "Brian, how do you feel right now?"

"I feel better than I ever have before. This feeling is simply fascinating!" Brian raised both arms and exclaimed very excitedly, "This feeling is a little like how I felt when I first became a knight, the first time I felt this supernatural power coursing inside me…"

Before he could finish speaking, the two shining stars behind him disappeared. Everyone exclaimed as his body swayed and his knees gave way, and he collapsed onto the floor.

"Brian! Brian!" All the other knights ran over to see if he was all right.

One of them touched Brian's neck and let out a sigh of relief. "He's fine. He's probably just fainted."

"Let me take a look at him." Carl walked over to check Brian's pupils and listened to his heartbeat for a while before confirming that Brian's vitals were perfectly normal.

Brian opened his eyes again after a short while.

Everyone was happy to see that he was awake again and quickly asked how he felt.

"I'm all right, just a little tired, weak and giddy." Brian tried to stand up, but his body did not seem to have enough strength to do that. He was, however, beaming from ear to ear. "I've gone back to being a stage one Starlight Knight, but I remember how the second stage felt…"

"Brian, you've really benefited from this!"

"The experience of breaking through to the next stage is something that's really hard to come by."

"Once you've accumulated enough power to reach the next stage, you won't have to worry about getting stuck or anything like that since you already know what it's like to be at the next stage…"

The other knights could not stop talking over each other and their words were oozing with envy. Of course, none of them had forgotten the person who made this happen.

They turned around to look at Carl, their gazes burning so brightly, they nearly melted Carl on the spot.

"Carl!" Melissa herself was really impressed and realized she had underestimated him. She did not think that he would surprise her again in such a short time. "From now onward, you shall be my head apothecary. I am extremely pleased with your performance, so go ahead and tell me what you want as a reward. I will try my best to fulfill your requests."   

Carl's heart skipped a beat as he seized this chance to ask for a little more, "Can I go to the dwarf's metalwork shop and get them to make some equipment for me?"

"No problem!" Melissa was very magnanimous. "Go ahead and get them to make whatever you want, I will pay for everything."

Carl instantly lit up. "Thank you, Your Ladyship!"

"No need to thank me," said Melissa with a twinkle in her eye. Her smile was so elegant and mesmerizing. "You've earned it."