Chapter 61: The Elixir’s Enigma

“That… it… it mutated, you see.”

Ellis and Larry frantically waved their hands, their faces etched with panic, fearing the little girl might misunderstand.

“Why are you so nervous?”

The little girl glared at them, clearly annoyed. “I saw it.”

“Phew”

A collective sigh of relief escaped them.

The little girl, though momentarily saddened, didn’t dwell on it. She then untied a bundle from her person, declaring, “I retrieved your rewards. They’re all yours.”

Ellis and Larry leaned closer, only to find the sizable bundle filled with precious materials. There were Origin Stones even purer than before, rare minerals from the Mazesli Continent, and sacred, glowing herbs they had never encountered.

Despite their extensive knowledge, many items remained unfamiliar. Yet, they instinctively knew these treasures were absolutely priceless.

“Oh, you are far too kind, esteemed elder. We simply acted out of a desire to help, pushing ourselves to the brink.”

Ellis uttered polite pleasantries with a beaming smile, all while securing the bundle and placing it beside them.

The little girl surveyed her infected kin, her voice flat. “Should such a situation arise again, continue to strike them down. Don’t prolong their suffering. As for the black miasma after their demise, leave it to me.”

It was evident the little girl was in low spirits, a sentiment Ellis and Larry could readily comprehend.

After all, these were her kin. Witnessing them succumb to madness in agony before her eyes, then having to personally end their lives, was an undeniably harrowing ordeal.

From that point on, Ellis unconsciously curtailed her rest, working tirelessly day and night.

Approximately ten days later, every infected Thunder Kun Bird had been purified.

Ellis lay sprawled on a beautiful azure blanket, awaiting the little girl’s inspection.

This soft blanket had been woven by Larry from the fallen Thunder Kun Bird feathers. Larry’s unexpected craftsmanship had utterly astonished Julia and Irene; they had never imagined he possessed such a skill.

Ellis felt a pair of fingers cover her temples, gently massaging them.

She closed her eyes, a contented smile gracing her lips. “Excellent. Your attentiveness continues to improve.”

“Under your tutelage, Big Sister, how could your little brother not strive for improvement, right?!”

Hearing Ellis’s teasing retort, Larry’s grip inadvertently tightened.

Ellis hissed instantly, then growled, “Are you trying to murder me?!”

She immediately turned her head, snapping at Larry’s hand.

As the saying goes, ‘ten fingers connected to the heart.’ Ellis’s fierce bite made Larry yelp, “Are you murdering your own husband?!”

A flush instantly crept up Ellis’s neck, and she bit down even harder.

‘I’ll kill you, you scoundrel!’

After a good while of bickering, the two finally quieted down. At this moment, the little girl approached, casting a peculiar glance at the panting, flushed, and disheveled Larry and Ellis.

“Have you two entered your breeding period too?” she inquired.

Their faces instantly reddened, and they exclaimed in unison, “Certainly not!”

The little girl didn’t dwell on the matter for long. Instead, she clapped her hands with satisfaction. “You’ve done an excellent job cleaning. The air around here is much fresher, and all my children have recovered. You may leave now.”

A collective sigh of relief escaped the group. While the little girl had shown them no malice, the sensation of their lives being held in another’s hands had weighed heavily on their hearts like a mountain.

“Then, esteemed elder, please continue with your work. We shall take our leave now.”

Larry and Ellis chuckled ingratiatingly. Just as they prepared to slip away, the little girl’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Wait.”

Their faces instantly froze. Ellis, looking utterly dejected, asked, “Is there something else?”

“You look quite exhausted. I’ll have my child escort you down.”

The Thunder Kun Bird King’s thoughtfulness nearly brought Ellis and the others to tears.

“Thank you.”

The Thunder Kun Bird King flew before Ellis and the others. It seemed this majestic creature would be their escort, leaving Ellis and the rest overwhelmed with unexpected honor.

Irene was still clinging to the Thunder Kun Bird chick, reluctant to part. Their bond had deepened significantly over the past few days.

“Don’t be so sentimental. If you like it so much, just take it with you.”

With a casual wave of her hand, the little girl gifted the Thunder Kun Bird King’s chick to Irene.

Irene was overjoyed, but after glancing at the Thunder Kun Bird King and then the chick, she hesitated. “Perhaps not. It’s better for it to stay with its mother.”

The little girl shrugged indifferently. “Its mother isn’t dying. When it grows up, you can visit whenever you like. It returns every year anyway.”

At these words, Ellis thought she saw the Thunder Kun Bird King’s beak twitch slightly.

“Really?!”

Irene excitedly looked at the chick before her, hugging it as she asked, “Do you want to come with me?”

The chick, remarkably bold, actually nodded in agreement right in front of its mother.

And so, the Thunder Kun Bird King, feeling rather vexed, had to escort them all down.

Once the Thunder Kun Bird King vanished from their sight, Ellis and Larry finally relaxed completely.

With Larry’s help, Ellis lay down on the soft bed inside the house. As her body and mind experienced an unprecedented sense of relaxation, her eyelids grew heavy.

‘It’s finally done. What a relief.’

‘That climb up the mountain was truly perilous. If not for my minor skill, I would have perished there.’

‘Wait, why did I brave a thunderstorm to go up the mountain in the first place?’

Ellis fell into deep contemplation.

‘Damn it!’

‘I came here to turn back into a man!’

Upon this realization, Ellis instantly became alert, sitting straight up.

Ellis’s abrupt movement startled the others in the room who were tidying up.

Larry asked curiously, “What’s gotten into you?”

“What’s gotten into my grandpa’s nerve!”

Ellis leaped down, grabbing Julia by both shoulders. “Where’s my medicine?! It’s been days! What have you been doing?!”

Julia was shaken dizzy, and it was Irene who rescued her.

“I finished the medicine long ago.”

Ellis rolled her eyes. “Then why didn’t you give it to me sooner?”

“Weren’t you busy with ‘cleaning’ at the time? I was afraid something might go wrong if you took my medicine, and if we couldn’t continue the cleanup, wouldn’t we be doomed? So I didn’t tell you.”

Ellis suddenly recalled that Julia’s medicines always seemed to come with more or less side effects.

Of course, it wasn’t that Julia couldn’t make normal medicine; rather, she always insisted on treading paths no one had before, constantly altering existing prescriptions.

And the biggest victim of this, Ellis glanced sideways.

Larry was currently trembling, cowering in a corner. He had once been Julia’s primary test subject because his robust constitution meant he suffered far fewer side effects than others.

Ellis even suspected Julia pursued him because she was fond of his ‘indestructible lab rat’ physique. She eyed the bubbling liquid in the test tube, inquiring, “You… you didn’t add any more strange things to the medicine, did you?!”

Julia hastily shook her head. “Of course not.”

Ellis breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s my first time making that medicine. I barely managed to concoct it by following the prescription. It’s not at the stage where I can modify it yet.”

Ellis felt her heart clench.

Seeing Ellis’s ashen face, Julia realized the poor impression her medicine had left on them. She then asked, “Do you still want to drink it?”

“I… will!”

‘Either become a man or die trying!’

Ellis snatched the potion from Julia’s hand and poured it into her mouth.

“Ellis, maybe you should…”

Larry’s hesitant persuasion came too late; Ellis had already swallowed all the liquid.

The unbearably bitter taste blurred Ellis’s already weary consciousness, and her vision went black as she fainted.

In her dream, Ellis reverted to her male form. She even deviously poured Julia’s remaining potion into Larry’s mouth, then chuckled wickedly…

Time in the dream did not synchronize with reality. Just as Ellis was about to do more, her consciousness gradually returned to the present world.

Slowly opening her eyes, the bright candlelight of the stone house was the first thing she saw.

‘I’m awake.’

Ellis still felt a lingering enjoyment from her dream. Suddenly, something struck her, and she abruptly sat up, rushing to the mirror, looking at her reflection with eager anticipation…

“Julia, you liar!”

What followed was an earth-shattering roar and the sound of things being smashed inside the house.

“Strange, the prescription isn’t wrong, and the steps were correct. Why can’t I change back?”

Julia, being questioned by Ellis, was now reflecting before her, but it seemed even she couldn’t understand why this had happened.

Ellis challenged, “Could your medicine be fake?”

“Impossible, look.”

Julia casually grabbed a male and a female humanoid rat, which were used for experiments, and fed them a bit of the potion on the spot.

After drinking it, the two humanoid rats convulsed, immediately collapsing to the ground unconscious. During this unconscious state, their bodies underwent a dramatic transformation: the male rat’s body became female, and the female rat’s body became male.

Ellis and Larry stared, stunned. Humanoid rats were creatures with body structures very similar to humans. Essentially, human medicine, when scaled down proportionally, could be used on humanoid rats, with effects identical to those in the human body.

This meant that if the medicine worked on the two humanoid rats, it should work on Ellis. It could only be that there was something even more peculiar about Ellis.

Ellis’s face alternated between green and white. She had initially thought Julia could solve everything in one go, but the most crucial part had failed.

This left Ellis, who had been busy for so many days, feeling rather depressed.

Larry’s voice, tinged with a hint of joy, offered comfort. “It’s alright. Don’t forget the Adventurers’ Guild. It records information from all over the world, from ancient times to the present, and there are so many companions with various unique skills and abilities. Let’s go back and find them.”

Ellis detected an unusual cheerfulness in Larry’s tone and asked suspiciously, “Why do you sound so happy?”

“Do I? Haha, not at all.”

Larry vaguely brushed off the question.

‘Sigh, it seems I need to go back quickly, but…’

Ellis grew wary of Larry’s reaction, while also glancing sideways at Julia and Irene. ‘These two women still need to be dealt with.’

“Are you leaving? When will you go?”

“Uh, I’ve pretty much recovered now…”

Seeing Ellis’s stammering, Julia smiled. “Then, until next time.”

Irene also nodded. “See you later. We won’t see you off.”

“Huh?”

Ellis and Larry were taken aback by this response, looking at Julia and Irene in disbelief.

Only when they saw the genuine smiles on their faces did they finally offer relieved smiles in return.

‘They seem to have let go as well.’

Larry broke into a smile brighter than the sun. He had finally escaped his ordeal. His only regret was no longer being able to tell outsiders that Ellis was his fiancée.

Since it wasn’t a matter of life and death, the few embraced each other. Then, under Julia and Irene’s gaze, Ellis slowly disappeared over the horizon.

Thus, they bid a complete farewell to their companions from the Demon Lord’s expedition and embarked on a journey meant for just the two of them.

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