Karl stared at the potion for a little longer. He was going to modify it. He could apologize to the Archbishop later if it didn’t work.
Or maybe run away with Lord Nacht. Whichever seemed safer at the time.
Fortunately, the runes were simple for what he wanted to do. So, he moved the potion to Remi’s space and carefully portioned a little bit into another beaker. One third of maximum power flow for three times the duration was one complex compound rune that attached smoothly to the Power Surge rune. Karl took that as a sign that he had done something right, and carefully modified all the runes in the smaller vial.
As the last one was completed, Karl got a notification.
{[Vial of Overlord Potion] Part 1 of 3}
Interesting.
So, he made two more, and watched as he got the notification two more times. Then, he carefully mixed them into one larger potion bottle, though still half the size of the original.
{Runic Overlord Potion}
Chance of Success 4%+5%
Chance of Partial Success 40% +5%
Chance of Failure 54% -10%
Chance of Critical Failure 2%
{Warning: Runic Potions are incompatible with some species.}
Karl considered that for a moment. It didn’t say what species, so this might either be flat out better, or totally useless to the GDN if it didn’t work on humans.
He opened his eyes and realized that everyone around him was sitting and eating dinner as the sun went down.
“How long was I out of it? I lost track of time.” He asked.
“About six hours?” Tessa guessed, and Overlord Drath nodded in agreement. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
“Well, at least I have something to show for it. Here, the modified potion. It should have a five percent better chance of both one and three Rank increases, with ten percent less failure chance as a result. However, the system says that some species can’t use it, and I have no idea what ones.” Karl informed the Bishop. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Before he could move, the potion vanished from his hand, and Lord Nacht was beside him, staring at the bottle.
“Oh, this is good. We should test it.” The Ancient Black Dragon announced.
The Bishop who had brought the original potion looked like he was going to argue for a moment, then thought better of the notion. Fighting with a Totem Rank Dragon wouldn’t end well for anyone.
“Oh? Do you have a baby dragon in mind?” Karl asked.
“Why in the seven hells would I give this to a dragon?” Nacht asked.
He had a point. Dragons didn’t need it, and they weren’t worried about growth rate.
A portal formed near Nacht’s left hand, and he pulled an old woman in black robes through by the neck.
One clawed hand tilted the woman’s head back, and the dragon poured the potion down her throat.
Slowly at first, then with increasing flow, power began to gather in the area. The disturbance had caught the attention of every powerful Elite in the city, and Karl could sense people running their way, as well as a half dozen portals opening nearby.
This had better work, now that they had so many onlookers.
Karl spun the [Ring of the Beast Lord] on his finger. It increased his Luck stat, and that had to help somehow. Avoiding embarrassment was a form of luck, right?
The black robed cleric gasped and collapsed to her knees, surrounded by a mist of dark power that had every bit of Rae’s attention. But the process wasn’t over, more power was still flowing into her body as her magic reacted wildly, restrained by Lord Nacht so that it didn’t kill all of the lower ranked Elites in the area.
“Hmm, it appears that you did it right. She’s not dead.” Nacht noted, sounding dismayed.
The Cleric rolled over on her back, twitching in pain as the power flowed into her. She managed a single second worth of glare at the dragon before she was wracked with pain again, and the power gathered by the process began to merge with her body.
“Your god has an odd way of showing their favour.” Karl noted as the woman’s power grew.
“Divine Favour? I was betting on the two percent chance it would kill her outright, and I wouldn’t have to listen to her whine again.” The black dragon replied.
Rae giggled quietly, while everyone else in the area looked horrified. He had picked her because he didn’t mind if she died? That was unexpected.
As the effect faded, the cleric passed out. It didn’t matter to the onlookers, or to Lord Nacht. They could all sense the Overlord Ranked aura coming from her.
“Nine percent chance of success, her luck is pretty good.” Karl noted.
The ancient dragon nodded. “Yes, it was thoroughly satisfying. Now I have a new Bishop for the Black Dragon.”
“Who is going to hold a grudge.” Karl added.
“Irrelevant. She’s from here in the city, and I will be headed home once my business is done.”
The Archbishop came over with a smile. “Is it true? The potion’s effectiveness could be increased?”
Karl nodded. “Not the effectiveness, exactly. But the chance of success increased by five percent for both stages of success. Now the base success rate is over fifty percent before modifiers and luck.”
“A week well spent, then. Come with me, we need to discuss this in private.”
Karl didn’t even have time to react before Nacht was shoving him through a portal, followed by the two Totem Rank leaders, and the unconscious Bishop.
“Start from the beginning. What did you do to my potion? At your Rank, you shouldn’t have even been able to mix in a single ingredient without it fading.” The Archbishop began.
“I actually didn’t add ingredients, or remake the potion itself.
There are magical runes in the potion, but they were incomplete. No, that’s not the right word. They were unregulated. I added a runic phrase to slow the effect. That way, the users were less likely to explode, as my friend Remi so eloquently put it.” Karl explained, then drew the rune in the air with his finger.
The Archbishop took him to a large oak desk and sat him in the plush leather chair in front of golden writing tools and a stack of paper. He had pens, pencils with various cores, paint brushes and various paints and inks to choose from.
But he wasn’t making a skill book, it was just a rune, so he chose a small paint brush and plain black ink, which the Archbishop appeared to have ground from an ink stone and not purchased as a liquid.
“This is the part I added, and this is the compound rune that I formed.” He explained a few seconds later.
Nacht leaned over the desk. “Oh, I see. And you said that this additional part was already in the potion?” Both Karl and the Archbishop nodded in unison, and the Archbishop gestured towards a wall full of runic writing.
“It’s one of the power runes for holy items of all sorts. This potion is my own creation, but my Runecrafting skills are limited. I know the language fairly well, but I don’t have it as a System Skill.”
Karl considered that, then pulled a jar of silver ink and a stack of paper over.
“We might be able to fix that. I have the skill, and a skill for creating Skill Books. Let’s see how this goes.” He suggested.
Lord Nacht laughed, and the Archbishop sighed, then gestured at the book case. “I already considered that. But I won’t turn down a spare copy.”
Karl saw that there was a [Runecrafting] book on the shelf, but it was ancient and damaged. Not an active Skill Book.