Curse the Mainframe! 55 Thank The Mainframe I'm Not A Main Character

Luckily for the both of them, Alec was not a Main Character. Thank the Mainframe. Alec never thought he'd ever say that in his lifetime.

With a mix of Alec's non-Main Character aura, and Henry's exceptional and honed instincts from being a hunter, the man stopped just as his hand was about to brush the plant in front of them, his quick reflexes saving him.

Alec projected an aura of calm, but only he knew that inside he was sweating at the close call.

"Henry, no," Alec repeated in a calmer and softer tone, almost a whisper. Too quiet, and they would attract more attention. Louder, and do the same.

The few creatures and animals that perked up hearing Alec's softly urgent shout earlier went back to drinking, unconcerned as they heard a few softer noises. They treated it as part of the background noise.

"What's wrong?" Henry whispered back. "Isn't that the plant?" he said, squinting harder at the green before him.

"It looks identical, except for the fact that the shade of green is wrong. See?" Alec said, producing the sheet of paper yet again.

"Does that matter?" Henry was puzzled. "Don't all plants have a bit of variation anyway?"

"It may not for other plants, but for this specific one, around the area it grows, there grows a corresponding herb which is a different shade of green. Though both of them contain medical properties, the one which has the brighter shade of green is quite poisonous. They're usually referred to as Viridian Herbs. It's slightly confusing because one of them have distinctly medicinal properties whilst the other is used as poison."

Henry eyed the innocuous looking herb, moving a bit further from it.

"As long as you don't touch it, it's fine. Though the poison won't kill you immediately if you do touch, the spread of it releases a scent into the air that attracts creatures. Which we don't want right now."

Henry felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up straight hearing Alec's words. Though he honestly couldn't be said to know all the plants and such that this forest had, he liked to think that he knew what to avoid.

Actually, the thing that scared him the most was the way the boy still had a light, gentle smile on his face as if he was talking about the weather. As if he weren't talking about something that could lead to potential death, pain and suffering.

He didn't know what scared him more. The fact that he couldn't read Alec at all, or the fact that the boy seemed to think that it was fine and even amusing even at this point of time.

However, how was it that he'd never heard of this herb before?

As if hearing his question, Alec continued explaining. "They're only found in areas like this, and if I'm right, most of the hunters don't come around here since there's a high possibility that they'll get ganged up on by the creatures."

Henry nodded. That made more sense. He heard that a few years back, there'd been one of the hunters who died after months of prolonged pain and suffering. He just wasted away until there was nothing left. There had been nothing the town's doctors could do since they didn't even know what caused him to end up that way in the first place.

As Henry was thinking, Alec pulled on a set of specially treated gloves, made for his (unfortunately) kid hands, reaching out for the poisonous half of the Viridian Herbs.

Henry jerked, making as if to stop him.

"As long as it doesn't come into direct contact with your skin, there will be no adverse effects," Alec said for Henry's benefit.

The man relaxed a little, but still kept a sharp eye out. In case something happened. Accidents weren't ever expected, after all.

He left the herb gathering to the kid, keeping an eye out for the creatures that were around the lake. Any overt reactions from them, and he would pick up the kid and dash away, no matter if he protested or not.

By the time Alec finished gathering to his satisfaction, it was time for them to leave.

As luck would have it, they were neither accosted by creatures nor animals, which Henry found slightly puzzling.

Even on a good day, usually a creature or two would have faced off with them, which would guarantee his kill for the day.

Thus, Henry was stunned to find that he'd made it back to the town without a single kill that day. This hadn't happened in the history of… well, ever. What just happened?

Before he could think about it any further, Alec already started heading towards Stanley's flower shop, leaving Henry behind.

Now that he had a bunch of herbs on hand, he wanted to do a couple of experiments. He also wanted to try his hand at growing some.

At the flower shop, Alec waved to Tom across the street before he headed into the shop with well-concealed eagerness.

Alec finished his duties by watering all the plants before he went to the back to borrow a couple of pots from Stanley. Hopefully the man wouldn't mind.

Taking a few of the seeds that he'd procured from the herbs earlier, Alec planted five of each half of the Viridian Herb, both medicinal and poisonous.

If Alec had to be frank, then he was actually a lot more interested in the poisonous herb and what it could do than the medicinal one, but that was just personal preference talking.

Touching one of the pots, Alec slowly inserted his magic into the dormant seed, closing his eyes.

He sank into his mindscape where he saw a ball of light in front of him.

Instinctively, Alec knew that he would be able to speed up the growth of the herb by a few folds.

Carefully guiding his magic inside the seed, Alec Awakened it, making sure to grant it a bit of sentience. It was just enough for him to form a bond to it.

Speeding up the growth process, Alec felt the seed germinate, bloom and grow rapidly in front of him in a matter of minutes. Feeling the process through their bond caused him to feel a faint awe.

It was almost like he'd watched a fast-forwarded video instead of seeing it live. Alec simultaneously felt the process bloom within him. He felt the intake of water, the first respiration of the seed, the slow blooming of a new bud…

Well, if all else failed, Alec could become a gardener or something. He'd make a killing doing this.

For the first one, he Awakened stronger properties in the herb.

For the second, durability.

Third, adaptability.

Fourth, he changed the properties they contained a little.

Fifth, increased reproduction ability.

Then, Alec repeated the process in the other half of the Viridian Herbs.

After two hours, Alec stood in front of a row of ten plants, feeling a sense of accomplishment course through him. Now, he just had to wait a couple of days before he could see the results in full.

Having done all of that, Alec turned his attention to the readily procured herbs that he'd picked up.

Sorting through the two bundles, Alec could tell that most of them maintained a rather uniform growth. Interesting.

However, what was piquing his interest more was the small line of information that he'd read in the Plant encyclopaedia. Apparently, the poison only applied in full when it was on skin contact, but consumed it was less than a tenth of the poison.

Easily bearable.

Making sure he was wearing the gloves properly; Alec took out a mortar and pestle from the interspatial dimension he'd taken with him just in case.

It was always one of the compulsory items that a Rune Master carried around, so his mother had insisted he take one with him. Though he was far from being a Rune Master, it was coming in handy right now.

Taking one of poisonous herbs, Alec started crushing it. Then, he added one of the non-poisonous ones and crushed it together.

Before long, there was a faintly green liquid at the bottom, which Alec extracted and mixed with a bit of water.

The resulting mixture was a white substance that looked akin to salt or sugar.

Alec raised a brow. How interesting.

He poured the Viridian Poison mix into a small container not unlike those used to store spices.

What if… he consumed this? Would he eventually gain some sort of poison immunity eventually?

Before Alec could muse further, the bell that was attached to the front door rang, causing Alec to head out from the back. He paused, seeing that it was just Philip and Henry.

"We brought lunch!" Henry held up the box of food in his hand.

"Thank you," Alec said politely surprised. He discreetly looked at the clock on the wall. It was only ten in the morning. But he wasn't one to refuse someone's goodwill.

Since Philip and Henry were acting so attached to him, then if doing little things like this would allow them to be less attached, then by all means. He would have to part from them eventually.

"So, what'd you do with all those herbs?"

"They're in the back," Alec replied, taking his small container of Viridian Poison and sprinkling a bit of it over his share of the food.

"What's that? Some sort of spice?"

"Something like that."

Chapter end

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