Novel Full Chapter 2106 A Mysteriously Increasing Problem
Chapter 2106: Chapter 2106 A Mysteriously Increasing Problem
— Kat —
Kat found the poisonous water and was exceptionally confused. Not only had the ice melted but she was almost certain there was MORE poison inside. Kat grimaced but decided she needed a direct comparison. Wading in Kat waited until it covered as much of her body as it could and then flicked through her memories to determine how it compared… and the answer wasn’t good.
For some reason the poison was INCREASING here. Despite the fact that it seemed to have grown in the air over night. Something was definitely wrong and Kat soon made her way out of the liquid poison, freezing it off her body to remove it swifter then it would naturally, even going so far as to swap her outfit out just to be sure no poison was lingering. She didn’t want to spread it outside and find out that the shit was naturally multiplying somehow. Then she realised if it WAS multiplier she might need samples.
Kat flew over to a nearby house and grabbed one of the cups inside, silently apologising for the theft but not too broken up about it. From there, Kat filled the glass and headed back out of the poison to show everything off. “So the poison is higher then it was before… and I have this glass filled with a sample of it,”
Appoline frowned and glanced at Tweedle. “Nothing in your notes gave any indication that it could multiply… did you see any evidence of such things?”
Tweedle shook her head rapidly. “There were no signs at all that it could multiply. As far as we can tell that’s… just not a feature the poison possesses. Because it’s made up of a bunch of poison that can have different effects its possible we missed that part… but that seems like a pretty big oversight… Fred?”
Fred shook his head, “To the best of my knowledge it SHOULDN’T be able to do that. Even with this new evidence I’d say it’s more likely that someone or something is replenishing it somehow rather then the poison gaining the ability to multiply. Surely if it was simply reacting to a reduced amount of poison in the air we would trigger that function after removing it from the barrier to study.”
“Hmmm… I did design a few potions that were meant to hide things under laboratory conditions but I don’t think this has any of the signs. Leave it here and I’ll examine it. Could you do a quick run to a different pond to see if it has similar levels of poison?” asked Appoline. “Rush over if you need to. Clean up what you can but checking the level of poison is far more important right now.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t slow me down too much,” agreed Kat as she gently placed the cup of poison down on one of the tables. Collecting another round of cleaning potions Kat headed out and made a beeline for the next poison pond, or at least the second closest that she knew of.
The poison was cleared up along the way but Kat winced at the inefficiency of it. She’d even let one of the bottles shatter against a wall to see how much less poison got cleaned up. The answer was about forty percent less, which was an unacceptable drop when she could just take the extra time to hit it with a rock. Annoying sure, but Kat was aware that they didn’t have endless ingredients for these things.
When Kat made it to the pool she found it in a similar state. It had increased in size, but only slightly. If she didn’t have a perfect memory Kat wasn’t sure she’d be able to tell. Rushing back with another sample Kat relayed what she’d heard. Tweedle was still making clean-up potions while Fred and Appoline were examining bits of the poison. Appoline was looking at it under a microscope while Fred was looking at some of it inside a glass box. Probably enchanted.
“Here’s the next batch, and it was also higher then before. Just a little bit but higher for sure,” explained Kat.
“Is it the same amount of extra poison?” asked Appoline.
Kat thought about it for about half a second before shaking her head. “No. The first one was noticeably higher. The second was basically the same size, just a tiny bit higher then it should be and I really had to compare memories to double check. Complete with flying into the same position and everything to compare my memories with the present. Honestly you could dump a moderately sized rock in and get about the same result with the second one.”
Appoline nodded, “I don’t think this was natural then. None of my tests have shown any sign at all of a multiplication ability, and neither have Fred’s I don’t believe?”
“Nothing so far. I’m currently trying to see if it’s the cool of night that triggers the expansion but it also doesn’t seem to be having any effect,” explained Fred.
“Wouldn’t my ice be enough for that?” asked Kat.
“Not the same,” insisted Fred. “I already checked if flash freezing it adds mass, same with slowly heating it up in a way reminiscent of the fake morning sun we have inside the dome and I’ve run a few oxygen related tests that have so far gone nowhere.”
“Hmmm… could it be demonic fire specifically?” asked Kat.
Appoline paused and turned to look at Kat. “Hmmm… maybe? I’d need to see it in action… so yes please help test it,”
Kat summoned up a tiny bit of fire and moved it over towards them. Appoline dripped a few drops of the poison through Kat’s fire and caught them in a beaker below it. From there she started to examine the frozen poison. “Hmmm… doesn’t seem to be reacting oddly… can you make the flames more potent for the next run?”
“Sure,” agreed Kat and the process was repeated.
Appoline moved the frozen droplets under the microscope and looked them over once again. “Hmmm… no, I don’t think this has anything to do with it. We’ll have to wait for it to melt again to be certain but as far as I can tell, while the demonic energy does have some effects especially in higher concentration its not one that should multiply the poison already there,”
“So… does this make it more likely that someone is looking for something in the area?” asked Kat.
Appoline shrugged, “Well they might not be looking through the poison for it. It’s entirely possible they just want the guards concentrated in the area. Remember, they’ve got guards on that new hole out of the city, guards here, and guards in their normal spots. They could be using this as a way to avoid needing to bribe so many people, for sneaking past some guards, or plenty of things. Though yes, I suppose it is possible they want the poison for something specific,”
Kat chewed on her lip for a bit. “So what does this mean? Someone’s adding the poison back in? Should I be checking for tracks that show their passage? Or should I be looking for some sort of hidden pipe or enchantment that dumps more poison into the area?”
Appoline shrugged, “Either is possible. Nothing in my examinations gives an indication of how they’re refilling things. Perhaps once Steel comes around at lunch with more information from those assassins we’ll have a clearer idea of what’s going on.”
“So… what should I do then?” asked Kat.
Appoline shrugged, “It’s really not my call to make. I’m being told to clean up the area, and these potions are they way to go about it. With a full day of work we can probably still make progress even if the ponds are refilled. Is it the best way to do this? No, but it seems to be the way Steel wants it done, or maybe the way he was told to get it done?”
“Why wouldn’t we just use the best way?” asked Kat, already having an inkling of the answer.
“Trust me, I have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. It’s important to LOOK like we’re doing something more so then it is to ensure that something is actually being done about the problem. Though… hmm… with the fact that the poison is returning and the pools are filling up perhaps we’re not making good progress?”
“Regardless, if I was to make something to clean everything all up at once it would take research using valuable ingredients. Ingredients I’m not even sure we have in large enough quantities for something like this. Heck, I’m not even sure what all of them are. Plus the time commitments and… no best just to have something that works…”
Kat sighed, “I guess. Hopefully at the very least we’ll get a clearer direction when Steel shows up. While I’m fine if he wants to keep going with things as they are it isn’t exactly a great time to watch as the all the work you’ve done over the past day gets removed…”
Appoline shrugged, “More chances for me to brew potions.”