Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 608 - Poisoned Wine
Chapter 608: Chapter 608 Poisoned Wine
Chapter 608: Chapter 608 Poisoned Wine
The Maze Lock ended, and Shard once again became the spirit-deprived state he was when he first entered Night Manor. Fortunately, in this peculiar space, the recovery speed of spirit was even faster than in a normal state. Of course, this could also be because the Fifth Era was more suitable for Transcendents.
“I seem to feel that my power has become stronger,”
Shard thought to himself.
[Due to drinking Elemental Wine, the effects of Sorcery – Firestarter and Sorcery – Water Summoning have been enhanced.]
As the voice whispered in his ear, Shard nodded, and the surrounding witches, old men, and twin girls whispered their thanks to Shard. Of course, the girl in the white dress seemed a bit shy, so it was the girl in the black dress who thanked Shard on behalf of her sister.
The Ring of Fate reconverged within the soul, and Shard continued to look towards the end of the long table at the deity:
“God, please reveal the next Blood Brew.”
“Very well, the fourth Blood Brew, the Turin Poison Bug. These damned bugs are extremely annoying; in the distant past, I eradicated all of their kind from the material world. This bottle is actually an entire tribe of the Bug Tribe.”
With a pop, the fourth wine bottle cork shot out on its own, immediately spreading the smell of alcohol mixed with stench throughout the hall. The stench was hard to describe but worse than the mix of garbage and feces Shard had smelled in the alleys of Tobesk’s Lower District. However, as that stench wafted into his nostrils, Shard, who was not much of a drinker, also detected a very pure fragrance of alcohol.
The two scents fully mixed, yet one could easily distinguish them by smell. The body was repelled by the stench but desired more of the alcohol fragrance; with every inhale, both scents rushed in, and with each exhale, both were simultaneously blocked out. This caused the mortals at the table to fall into a bizarre state where they could not control their breathing.
The Outlander from the Sixth Era had not heard of the name “Turin Poison Bug,” but the witch obviously had. After the Vampire God gave his introduction, she hesitated a moment, then signaled her intention to share the drink with the deity.
Because of the recent boost from the Maze Lock, and his own understanding of sorcery, Shard thought about it and agreed. The armored old man followed suit, again taking out an exquisite silver flask, likely a Magic Potion, indicating he too wanted to share the drink with the god. As for the twins, they eventually nodded in agreement.
“Excellent, this will be everyone’s first shared drink here; I look forward to your appraisal of my collection.”
So the Blood Brew, sanguine with drops of dark green, was equally divided into six cups. Probably due to the large number of people, each cup was only shallowly covered at the bottom with the liquid. As the wine bottle automatically filled each goblet, the witch carefully prepared a Detoxification Potion, the old man held his silver flask with uneasy hands, knowing it only held enough for one sip, and Shard restored a handful of branches from his pocket and laid them at his feet—they were casually picked at Sicarl Mountain, and the city near the mountain was never short of wood.
The Saint swirled his wine glass, and immense spiritual pressure followed his gaze, pressing down on each person in turn. The body He was using was that of a middle-aged man with a determined face. Judging by the combination of clothes, the owner of the body must have been of very high noble standing. According to the information Shard had obtained, the Old God Vampire Duke Lowell, when descending in Saint Form, always preferred using the identity of a noble.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Seeing that the others were hesitating to lift their glasses, but not drinking, Shard took the lead and sipped.
As a minute amount of liquid entered his throat, he felt the entire line from his mouth to his stomach go numb. He tried to speak, only to find his tongue seemed to have swollen:
“How do I look now?”
He asked the old man on his left. The deity had given the people of the Fifth Era the ability to understand Shard’s words, but due to his swollen tongue, it took the old man a while to comprehend what Shard meant:
“Your lips are turning purple, and there are some blue scars on your face—a classic symptom of poisoning.”
“It’s a bit better than I imagined,”
Because at least he was still conscious.
Setting aside the wine glass for a moment, Shard bent down to pick up two branches from the ground, while his empty left hand pressed on his heart:
“Elf’s Detoxification.”
Emerald light appeared in the palm of his left hand, transforming into dots of light that entered Shard’s chest. He distinctly felt his tongue swelling down, while the branches he held in his right hand turned bit by bit black as though completely charred.
“Detoxification also works.”
Shard was pleased in his heart, continued to take another sip of wine, then detoxified once again. Although the liquid could have been consumed in one gulp, it took him a full two minutes to finish.
Meanwhile, the others also made their move. The witch was different from Shard; she first drank the Magic Potion she had concocted on the spot, and then immediately gulped down the Blood Brew.
Pop~
She almost instantly slumped onto the table, startling the twin girls beside her. It was a full ten seconds before the middle-aged witch in the dark blue dress propped herself up using the table with her right hand:
“Indeed worthy of being called the most poisonous bug of the Fourth Era.”
She also exhibited symptoms of slurred speech but no abnormal complexion. Clearly, this Witch of the Fifth Era had a much greater resistance to poisons than Shard.
After the witch, it was the twin girls’ turn. They hadn’t prepared anything and even clinked their glasses before drinking the Blood Brew. Like the witch, they too drank all of the liquid in one go. Holding hands, they hummed in pain for a moment, then returned to normal.
Shard was greatly surprised when the witch sitting beside the girl even inquired,
“If we all make it out alive, would you be interested in becoming my apprentices?”
In the end, there was only the old man with graying hair left, probably because there was too little Magic Potion in the silver flask he held, so he did not alternate a sip of Blood Brew with a sip of Magic Potion. Instead, he frowned, drank down the Blood Brew, and immediately consumed the Magic Potion from the silver flask in his hand.
But clearly, his Magic Potion was not as potent as the witch’s, nor was his body as resilient as hers. Therefore, even after promptly drinking the antidotal Magic Potion, he still immediately grasped his throat, as if cyanotic gas under his skin was surging towards his head, and he made a “ugh~ugh~” strange noise from his mouth. If it wasn’t for the Maze Lock protection Shard had given out just before, he might have died on the spot.
“Elf’s Detoxification.”
Because the old man was on his left, Shard reached out to grab his hand and then used Sorcery to assist him. It was effective; the cyanotic gas on the old man’s face slowly receded, and although his features still showed he was in pain, at least his life was no longer in danger:
“Thank you.”
Shard could barely make out this word due to the swelling of his own tongue.
Shard shook his head to indicate it was nothing, but after thinking it over, the old man reached into his pocket at his waist and passed Shard a ring.
Shard’s eyes slightly widened when he saw that the ring was brass-colored, with a simple, long rectangular Black Iron face, slightly convex around its perimeter, and the pattern within the rectangle also raised.
It was both a ring and a seal, an ancient metal seal ring, and Shard was familiar with the pattern on the seal:
“Demon Hunter Seal?”
He also had an identical ring, never expecting to encounter a second one in the Fifth Era. But he could not bring supernatural items from the Fifth Era into his own time, so he shook his head and declined. The negative trait of such a relic was merely attracting demons, which was not too great a problem for Shard; he wouldn’t mind owning a second one if it were encountered in the Sixth Era.
With that, the fourth Blood Brew was consumed. Up to this point, both Shard and the witch had drunk twice, while the girls and the grey-haired old man had drunk once. But since the old man had permission from the Vampire God, he only needed to drink twice, so aside from the girls, the other three could choose from the remaining six bottles of Blood Brew.
Even Shard, because he brought the blood containing the “Death Angel” power from Priest Augustus, had been granted an exemption. Therefore, for him, there was actually nothing to worry about for the second use of the key from the Fifth Era, 3014.
[It seems that, according to your theory, those who think this way don’t end up with a good fate.]
She whispered softly in Shard’s ear, followed by a chuckle.
“Don’t curse me, please.”
Shard responded.
“The fifth Blood Brew comes from a demon of the Third Era, a truly interesting time when even demons dared to propose deals to deities. Thus, I stuffed that being called ‘Demon of Blood’ into a wine bottle, added some mint and raspberries, and then stored it in a Subspace closest to the sun for a full 3000 years to produce the fifth bottle of wine. So, this wine is not only delicious but also never runs dry; it is even very warm due to its proximity to the sun.”
The Saint continued, and as His words concluded, the cork popped off automatically.
Scorching wisps of air rushed towards the ceiling, which had at some point turned crimson red, and then coursed along the ceiling throughout the room. Blood mist emerged, and the teeth hanging from the crystal chandelier quickly turned yellow and brittle, waves of heat billowing. Even the twin girls exclaimed in astonishment at the intense heat.
Moreover, Shard heard the demon’s pleas for mercy coming from the bottle, but clearly the Deity paid it no heed.
He took a deep breath, inhaling all the blood mist into His lungs, and then revealed an intoxicated expression, not wasting a single bit:
“Would anyone like to try it? Drinking this wine not only grants powers related to blood but can even give one a touch of the sun’s majesty, which is that of an Ancient God…”
He paused and didn’t continue, whereas Shard and the witch immediately shook their heads.
“Cherish your soul, stay away from demons.”
Shard murmured softly, and the middle-aged witch gave him an unexpected look, replying in a lowered voice:
“Sir, a distinguished person I know once said the same thing.”
“Miss Mana Feliana?”
“Yes, you know her, too?”
“If you can make it out alive and remember me, you can go to Miss Feliana and tell her I appeared; she’s a very generous person and will likely give you a gift.”
Shard whispered back, noting that Miss Feliana’s reputation had grown considerable by the twelfth year after their last encounter in the Fifth Era, 3002.
