"Done," Ren declared with satisfaction, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "Now I just need to cultivate with the correctly processed crystals."
Without wasting a moment, Ren took one of the special crystals he had prepared. Unlike normal crystals, these had a distinctive internal glow, as if they contained liquid light.
"Are you going to absorb it now?" Taro asked with surprise. "Shouldn't you rest first? You already took that large crystal for your mushroom this morning, and we spent a good while at considerable depth."
"I don't want to lose time," Ren responded, his fingers caressing the crystal's surface. "Every day that passes without advancing the cultivation is a day wasted."
Without further preamble, he began the absorption process, closing his eyes while the crystal gradually dissolved and was absorbed into his body. The mushrooms in his hair pulsed with renewed intensity, and for a moment, they all could see lines of light forming under his skin, following a specific rhythmic pattern for the hydra.
When the crystal completely disappeared, Ren opened his eyes. For an instant, it seemed a flash of light gleamed in them before fading away, leaving behind a momentary afterimage.
"How do you feel?" Taro asked, leaning forward with concern.
"Good," Ren responded with a small smile. "The crystal is small for what I'm used to and had exactly the type of energy I needed. The hydra is responding positively."
"How long will you need to maintain this one?" Liu asked.
"One hundred days as always," Ren responded without hesitation. "With the proper crystals and maintaining the correct pattern, any beast Bronze 2 or lower should evolve completely by then."
Liu shook his head with both disbelief and admiration while looking at his eccentric roommate.
"I never thought I'd say this," he murmured, "but I'm genuinely curious to see what you'll do with that head tomorrow."
"Skip the exercises? Again?" Lin arched an eyebrow, her arms crossed as she observed Ren with a skeptical expression.
"Just today," Ren explained, his mushrooms pulsing with what he hoped was a calm and persuasive rhythm. "I need time to prepare the cultivation materials for Taro and get some weapons for our outing with Zhao."
"Weapons?" Lin studied him for a moment... Finally, to Ren's surprise, she nodded.
"Fine I wanna see what kind of weapons you'll prepare... But this afternoon you'll do double exercise."
As she walked away, Ren couldn't help wondering if Lin was softening since he gave her the potion. For an instant, he imagined a smiling and understanding Lin, forgiving mistakes in postures and reducing the intensity of training sessions.
He violently shook his head to dispel that absurd image.
No, Lin surely hadn't become softer. She was probably just accumulating reasons to torture him even more later. Getting his hopes up would be a mistake.
With the first hour free, Ren headed first to the exchange storehouse. Jessy was organizing some bottles when she saw him enter.
"Ren!" she smiled, accidentally knocking over a small flask that she caught at the last second, her catlike reflexes betraying her nervous energy. "What can I do for you today?"
"I need cleansing liquid, the foamy nymph blood one," Ren responded, his mushrooms pulsing softly. "Undiluted."
Jessy's eyes widened with surprise. "The pure extract? That's... unusual. It's quite dangerous undiluted, it can dissolve skin with simple contact, you know?"
"I know," Ren nodded. "That's why I'll also need the special container."
"Okay but... I'll have to register this," Jessy murmured while searching the back shelves. "Not many students request such reactive substances."
While Jessy prepared the order, Ren added other materials to his list: several meters of resistant thread, basic Iron-rank beast feathers, and perfectly straight and resistant sticks produced by wood beasts. Nothing particularly expensive or flashy, but exactly what he needed.
"Here you go," Jessy placed a specially sealed container on the counter. Through the reinforced crystal, Ren could see the bubbling liquid with iridescent hues shifting like oil on water. "Be very careful with this, okay? And, uh..." she hesitated a moment, "may I ask what you need it for?"
"Material processing," Ren responded vaguely, paying the corresponding crystals, which weren't even half of what he obtained yesterday. "Thanks, Jessy."
With his purchases secure in his specially compartmentalized backpack, Ren headed to Isaac's workshop on the third floor. The craftsman was polishing his tool when Ren entered, the rhythmic scraping sound filling the otherwise quiet space.
"Well, well," Isaac smiled beneath his thick beard. "If it isn't the mushroom boy. More hides to process?"
"Something different today," Ren placed his materials on the workbench, adding a bag full of worm teeth that clinked together with a sound like tiny chimes. "I want to learn how to make arrows and a spear."
Isaac examined the materials with a critical eye, lifting one of the worm teeth to study it in the light, turning it over between his calloused fingers.
"Arrows with worm teeth?" he frowned. "It's feasible, but uncommon. Most shooters prefer to use feathers, spines, or scales from their own beasts. Better cadence, more precision, less uncomfortable, lower monetary and energy cost..."
"I know," Ren nodded, his mushrooms pulsing while he explained. "But for now I need something with range, and I don't have any of those options. My beast doesn't offer good options for distance attacks yet either, and throwing rocks is not that effective."
"You'll have to make a bow too," Isaac pointed out. "And aiming isn't as easy as it seems, especially in combat."
"I'll learn, and... I was hoping you could suggest the best material for the bow," Ren smiled slightly.
Isaac scratched his beard, thoughtful. "For someone of your build... I'd use cartilaginous bone from a marine beast. And for the string, nothing in bronze rank beats the black fiber from marine Sarracenia."
"An aquatic carnivorous plant for an aquatic bone," Ren understood. "Its fiber will naturally adhere to the bone, I suppose it would be resistant and relatively easy to work with."
Isaac nodded. "Not cheap, but not exorbitant either. It'll be hard for it to break."
Ren pulled out the Deep Assassin's proboscis that he had brought with him, its gleaming surface catching the workshop's lights.
"I also wanted to ask you about this."
Isaac's eyes opened with surprise and professional respect. "You killed a Deep Assassin? Impressive for your age. But if you're thinking of making a spear with this, it won't work. They rot quickly once separated from the beast."
"It won't get damaged," Ren clarified. "But I need a way to inject this into its acid sac."
Isaac studied the proboscis and the nymph liquid with new appreciation. "Would this neutralize the internal acid? Interesting approach. We could create an injection mechanism with the container... But, I still think it won't work."