The sun had already gone down when Zach and Nessa were on their way back to Alzara's lab with their last shipment of materials, ranging from being as useful as a broken straw of hay to a rare monster organ that could increase a person's strength when ingested raw. It wasn't without consequence or drawback, but it was a potent resource nonetheless.
Nessa yawned repeatedly, and while she was curious about what Zach and his familiar were up to, she decided she wouldn't even ask. She had a feeling that Zach liked his secrets, so she left with a wave.
She was also slightly impressed. Zach had been awake for at least as long as her, but he didn't seem like he was going to sleep any time soon. She, on the other hand, was about to fall asleep standing after last night.
Zach looked at the door after it closed behind Nessa and turned to Alzara until she nodded.
"No eavesdroppers?"
"Not that I can tell, no."
Zach glanced at Yanael to double-check. She also shook her head.
"Great." Zach grabbed the nearest flower and held it in his hand. There was no need to waste more time than necessary.
He looked closely at the flower with a gaze of deepening concentration. He brought it closer. The peach-colored petals overlapped and created an upside-down, multi-layered dome. They were slightly pink at the tips. There were some flower parts that Zach didn't know the names of in the center.
It was not contaminated with underworld power.
While inspecting it, Zach thought about his second skill, Material Extraction, and wanting to use it. He mentally expressed his desire to extract the materials from the flower.
He wasn't sure it would work. It was similar to how he used Blessed Defense. But he had learned how to activate his first skill through instinct and reflexes.
An emergency had forced him to use Blessed Defense to try and protect himself from a falling chandelier. Yanael had saved him, so he would have been fine without it, but it didn't hurt to have protected himself from any shards or fragments that shot around from the crash.
After that, it had been a simple matter of recalling the feeling of activating the skill and getting more familiar with the sensation to the point where he controlled it.
He didn't know what the feeling of using Material Extraction was like.
Blessed Defense was a slight warmth in the center of his chest. It was only a degree or less above his body temperature, but by tapping into that heat, Zach conjured and controlled his barriers like they were extensions of his body.
On an instinctual level, it made sense that he felt the source of his barriers in the center of his chest. He couldn't explain it, nor could he understand it. He also could not reliably guess where he would feel Material Extraction.
That was when he saw past the flower and noticed his hand on the other side.
'Is it really that simple?'
Alzara had said that his skill might be one that extracts the essences of resources and brings out the materials in a purer form that makes them easier to use.
Zach didn't know much about potion-making, but it made a lot of sense if that was similar to an initial stage of refining the ingredients to get only the properties one needs.
That was something most likely done with one's hands or magic.
Alzara probably knew magic. She was a witch, after all.
But Zach didn't know magic. He only had his hands.
Zach cupped the flower with both hands before frowning slightly. Holding it with both hands felt wrong. It was too vague of a feeling for him to say certain, but he felt like he could do better.
Zach moved one hand. One above and one holding it. Discover more stories at m,v l'e-NovelBin.net
Zach closed his eyes and focused on feeling the flower in his palm and the petals lightly touching his upper hand. He focused on his hands.
'A slight heat…'
Zach imagined his hands warming up, similarly to what his chest did when he used his barriers. He frowned as he realized that it made his hand want to close. He listened and slowly began closing his hand, his fingertips brushing against their petals.
When his fingers reached the center of the flower and touched each other, there was something between them.
Without hesitating, Zach slowly pulled away his hand. He wasn't sure why, but there was a slight resistance to the movement. But he didn't dare raise his eyes and look since he was worried about losing concentration.
Eventually, however, he had moved his hands so far apart that he was showing off his full wingspan, and he couldn't feel any resistance anymore.
He opened his eyes.
He blinked.
There was a worm dangling in front of his face.
"Yah!" Zach yelped and let go of whatever was in his hand with a flick of his wrist, dropping both the dried, grey, lifeless husk of a flower and the dark pink, slightly brown worm to the floor.
The flower turned into a pile of dust with a couple of clumps. The worm jiggled and rolled slightly before coming to a stop.
"Uh…" Zach looked at it for a moment. The worm that was the thickness of a finger and the length of his forearm was clearly what he had extracted from the flower. The appearance had just surprised him a little.
Alzara picked it up with a quick squat and gave it a close inspection.
"...I see. Indeed. Material Extraction." She nodded while appraising the worm.
"It seems I was right, Master." Alzara smiled at Zach after putting the worm on her workbench.
"Looks like it. So, is that more useful than using the plants directly?"
"Yes. But if I'm honest, I think there's room for improvement, if you don't mind me saying so, Master."
"No. I expected as much. It is my first time using the skill after all."
"Then, I will let you practice without interfering, Master." Alzara nodded and waited until Zach grabbed another resource before starting her experiments on the jelly-like worm.
Zach looked at the next flower with a hard stare.
He was not getting surprised this time.