บท 19: Enhancement

"So you can even make this potion better?" Amelia looked to Mark who was sitting on the other bed in their room. After they got their item, they went straight back here. She was going to take the potion, but Mark said that he wanted to improve it first.

"Yes. My ability works on all potions, but improving them uses my Mana, so if I don't have enough Mana, then it won't work," Mark explained his ability, Potion Enhancement.

"Does this potion need to be improved," Amelia asked, wondering if it was necessary for him to use his Mana.

"I don't know, but it certainly won't hurt. My Mana will always regenerate, but getting another one of these potions wouldn't be so easy, so I don't want to take any chances," said Mark.

"Okay then, I'll leave it to you," she felt that waiting a little longer didn't matter. 'Plus, there could be unknown benefits,' she thought.

Mark got to work after he got her approval. The way his ability worked was by placing his Mana into the potion and enhancing all of its properties. He would lose the Mana, but the potion would become stronger. There was a limit though, the materials used to make the potion and the level of his ability determined how much he could enhance the potion.

Since the Limb Regeneration potion was a potion someone had to at least be rank 3 for, enhancing it drained his Mana quickly. For normal rank 2 potions he would be able to enhance five to ten with all of his Mana.

He used all of his Mana, but the potion still wasn't completely enhanced, which showed how extraordinary the potion was. It would probably be one of the hardest rank 3 potions to make.

"It looks like I will have to meditate and fill my Mana again before the potion is completely enhanced," Mark told Amelia in an apologetic tone. She had to wait even longer now, but he didn't want to just give her the potion now. It was originally only able to help regenerate limbs, not completely regenerate them. If it was able to do that, then it wouldn't be a rank 3 potion, so he was hoping that once it was completely enhanced, it would be able to.

Amelia didn't mind. She didn't get many chances to see the front side of him, so she just studied what he looked like. Mark meditated while Amelia stared at him. She noticed that his hair had grown longer since the first time she saw him, now it reached to just below his chin.

As she looked at his face, she reminisced about their journey. At first he wouldn't even talk to her. Later on she lost her legs to protect him, but he took care of her for months afterwards. The longer she stayed with him, the more she didn't want to leave. He was her best friend, and the only one. Everyone she met before him either needed her help, or treated her like trash.

She once had happiness when her mother was alive, but that ended when she was only four. After her mother died, everyone in her village tried to take everything from her. The last thing she had after leaving the village, her mother pendant, was also stolen.

Amelia then thought about Mark. He seemed like his life was even harder than hers. From the way he acted around people, to the reason he tries to get stronger, all of it reeks of a hard life. She wanted to know what had happened to him before he met her, maybe she could help, she hoped.

......

Mark opened his eyes and saw Amelia staring at him. He ignored her stare and began to enhance the potion again. When it drained almost half of his Mana, it finally couldn't take any more.

Now the liquid in the bottle, which was red, became more translucent and shined a faint red color.

"I finished," he told Amelia, and then passed her the potion.

She brought the potion up to her mouth, but paused before she drank it.

"Um, c-cou-could you," Mark interrupted before she finished,

"What is it?"

"Well, this potion will heal my legs right?" She looked at his eyes as she spoke, which looked to be confused.

"Yes, that's right," Mark said, still not understanding why it matters. That was the entire point of getting the potion.

"So, um, the thing is," Amelia's face grew redder as she spoke," m-my legs will come back, an-and so will the r-rest of my body, right?" As she finished speaking, Mark could swear he saw steam form around her face.

"It should. It might not have before, but with all the enhancement I've done, your body she be back to new after you take it," Mark tilted he head at her in confusion. 'Haven't we already been over what the potion is supposed to do?' He thought.

"The-then, can you p-please leave the room!" Amelia's voice grew louder at the end of her sentence and she stuttered from embarrassment

"Why?" Mark hadn't felt this confused over something ever.

"Just get out!" She shouted, shooing him away with her hands.

"Bu-" He was cut off before he could finish

"Out!!"

Mark didn't understand why she was yelling so much, but it wouldn't hurt to leave the room, so he did. He walked outside and looked in from the entrance.

"Close the door!"

He closed the door and stood outside of it. 'Sheesh, I wonder if this is what all of those men outside the alleyway called a period. Amelia has all of the symptoms, moody, loud, and unreasonable. Maybe I should talk to her about it,' he thought while he waited outside the door.

Inside the room, Amelia was drinking the potion. It felt warm and the energy inside of it traveled throughout her body. The warm energy eventually reached where her legs once were and started to rapidly regrow her limbs. From the stump of her lower body, two pieces of flesh formed.

She was a little disturbed by the strangeness of it, but she got over it. The pieces of flesh quickly down to the point where knees started to form. It continued growing all the way down, making two feet. Then the feat grew toes.

Her new legs were small, a fleshy red color, and weak, but the energy hadn't even been half way used up. The energy from the potion circulated through her body, everytime through making her more healthy. Her legs grew back to their original size and slowly lost the fleshy red color in turn for jade white skin.

Now there was only one thing she was worried about, which was also why she had Mark leave the room. The remaining energy, which was one third of the total, moved to the spot in between her legs.

Every other part of her body had been reformed and reforged into a much healthier state. The process didn't even involve any pain, instead it was a numbing sensation.

She anxiously waited as the energy gathered at her private area. She was hoping that it would be made just like her legs were, but she was sadly mistaken.

Extreme pain filled her body starting from her private area. She wanted to scream, but she was afraid Mark would rush in if she did, so she clenched her teeth. The pain didn't stop, but pulsed instead.

The pain continued until all of the energy was used. She could finally let out a breath of relief from her tear covered face.

"Is it down yet?" She heard Mark call from outside the door.

"Not yet! Wait outside until I open the door!" She yelled before he opened the door.

Looking around the room she saw what she needed. Since they had planned on healing her legs ever since they got here, she had prepared new clothing for herself.

It was a dark red dress with silver and light red outlines. The dress was long sleeved and traveled down until about ten centimeters from her feet. It was an expensive dress for what they earned, costing fifty grade 2 Mana stones.

She put the dress on and thanked herself for remembering to get clothes for herself before she got new legs.

Amelia opened the door and allowed Mark back in. When he entered the room, he looked at Amelia. He was going to ask her why she had him leave the room, but was stunned by her beauty before he could ask.

Amelia twirled a little to show off her dress, enjoying the stunned look on his face.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

"I-It looks great," he stuttered as he answered.

"Don't tell me your to afraid to talk to me again, are you?" She looked at him with a pout. They should at least know each other well enough that he wouldn't be too scared to talk to her, Amelia thought.

"Of course not," he turned his face as he blushed, cursing his tongue for stuttering in his mind.

Amelia smiled, "You better not, it took me two months to get you to talk to me."

'What are you talking about. You didn't do anything except sleep for to months,' complained Mark in his mind. "So what do you want to do now?"