Joy prepares five beakers of Purity ability potions.
He has written down the symbol on five papers before hand and now he just has to dissolve it inside the potion.
As he put the piece of paper in salt water.
The paper disappears inside the potion immediately.
This surprise him a little as he didn’t expect this to happen at all.
He thought that potion would have some paper floating in the beaker.
But instead, the paper disappears and gave the beaker a little reddish tint to it.
Where did this color come from?
He has no idea.
This also made him thing that why does magic or mysticism has so much emphasis on symbols.
Is the core of magic these odd symbols?
He knows that there are symbols, emblems and other shapes are used to donate Gods.
But could symbol be a link to the domain?
He shrugs his shoulders as he has no idea.
While makes these potions, he thinks of the last three ability ritual that he knows of the dark domain.
All of them are not possible for him to gain as they require things that he doesn’t know how to get.
First is night vision which had mentioned before and needs affinity ritual of the blackened one.
Second ability name is Pressing light.
With this ability, the person can pick of the light and mold it into sharp sheets.
If pressed correctly, the sheets can be sharp can used like a knife.
This ability made him question what even is dark domain?
Like shouldn’t this ability be pressing darkness into different shapes?
However, instead it is pressing light itself which just sounds quite incredible and impossible.
It would be a useful ability to have.
But it requires him to find a creature named Lightless bird.
So, without it the ritual is already impossible to do.
Third ability that he knows of the dark domain is called Shadow pocket.
With this ability, you can hide in a pocket of shadow.
However, you can’t move or bring much inside of that pocket of shadow.
This ability is just the most useful one.
If he had this then he won’t have to worry about not having a house.
He can live in the shadow and leave it afterwards.
It is not sure if he can hide objects inside the shadows.
That can only be known if he gains this ability.
Unfortunately, this ability requires affinity ritual of Darkened one.
His disappointment is immeasurable and his day is ruined.
Joy rolls his eyes and gets ready to drink the potion.
Firstly, he calms himself.
Then he checks that the potion is correct and there is nothing wrong with it.
it doesn’t look wrong and everything else is also quite good.
There are only two ways a ritual can go wrong.
One is an error done by oneself and second is interference of an outside party.
There is no one to disturb his ritual and he has check everything.
No mistakes on his part as well.
So, with caution and a little bit of bravery.
He takes the sip of the potion.
Immediately as he does it, he feels a strong urge to spit it out.
But he fights that urge and drink the whole liquid in his mouth.
In just few minutes, he throws up the potion in the bucket that he had taken in his hut beforehand.
Joy spits five or seven times, trying his best to throw all the taste out of his mouth.
The potion is incredibly bitter.
He even had a feeling that he might even vomit his guts out.
‘How did it get so bitter?
I only added salt and water…also that piece of paper.
Is this because of that symbol?’
It changed the whole taste of the potion and even bring out red coloring to the potion.
This isn’t just unnatural but bizarre.
Joy takes a breather and gets ready to put another potion in his month.
It will not give up.
Having poison resistance isn’t that incredible.
But if someone were to poison him.
Then it would give him a little chance to run away.
This ability is will also help him eat everything without making him feel disgusted.
It is also for his own self.
He wants to step into this world.
Even if that step is so small and insignificant.
It is important for him to feel it now.
As the liquid enter his mouth, the bitterness returns.
It is hard to keep it in his mouth and it seem to even burn his tongue.
All of his taste buds are burning or melting.
The more he keeps it in his mouth, the worst the feeling becomes.
The time seem to slow down and his head he hurts.
A headache so deathly that he wishes to just give up.
His eye becomes heavy and then it gets harder to keep his lips close.
After thirty minutes, he throws the potion out again.
This means he failed again.
He is tired and his body feels weak.
But it seemed to more of a psychological attack then physical.
A little rest is needed before he tries again.
Next try begins and it last for only ten minutes.
Worse than before.
He has been counting the time in his mind.
He also keeping track of the time of each attempt.
What is time and how to count it was understood by him in his last life with the help of Olla.
Knowing that he has to read up to one hour and thirty-seven minutes is quite disheartening.
It is like he is torturing himself.
But it doesn’t matter, what is more torturing that knowing how it feels when you die?
Death is still much more terrifying than this torture.
He picks up another beaker and tries again.
This time his attempt goes further than his second time.
But it is still not enough.
However, if he adds the time of all his attempts then he has passed one hour and thirty-seven minutes easily.
If there was a short cut method to this ritual then the book might have had it written with bold text.
“THIS IS HOW YOU CHEAT THE RITUAL”.
But nothing like that existed.
Even if it did exist.
He doesn’t know anything.
When it succeeds, the person supposed to feel a little numbness in the mouth.
But instead, he just feeling bitterness.
The ritual isn’t completed.
Now he only has last beaker left.
If he fails then he has to do this whole thing next week.
That is because he had been saving for salt for a week.
Salt is expensive and hard to get.
He might not even get it next week and then he has to do this ritual next mouth.
This makes his mood even bitter than his mouth.
‘I refuse to fail…’ He takes a breather and empty’s another potion.
One second, two second…ten minutes and later half an hour.
Time moves slower and slower.
This processed seemed to timed within the potion.
When certain time pass while the liquid is in his mouth, this body seem to act is a pattern.
Just like how he gets headaches and psychologically attacks.
All he does is ignore the pain and continue counting down.
His determination doesn’t break or waver.
However, it is weakening bit by bit.
His lips are giving up and he is still not close to where he is supposed to be at.
Here is still forty minutes or so left.
To not give up, he holds his eyes and gets into a prayer position.
He doesn’t say or do anything.
He has only in a position where he usually prays to the Goddess.
But it is enough to make him not give up.
It isn’t like he is getting blessings form the Goddess.
It is just a familiar peaceful position that always makes him feel better.
So, this helps him calm him down and keep the liquid in his mouth.
He counts and continues counting.
The time continue to pass.
It is still middle of the night and everything is quiet.
Joy might be the only one who is awake at this time of the night.
Everyone is peacefully asleep and he is here trying his hardest to not vomit out his guts.
In the quiet with his struggles, a thought surface in his mind.
‘If I die nobody would care.
Then I will be born again and soon die again.
It will happen over and over again until I can find a way out of this cycle.
But what if there is no way out?
What if I am supposed to suffer forever?’ These thoughts weren’t thought by him.
He had them in the back of his mind but they are brought out by the potion.
More thoughts surface in his mind.
‘What if there were past lives of mine.
Maybe my 1st life wasn’t my first and I have forgotten what happen before the 1st incarnation.
Will I forget it again?
And then have to figure out everything again?
What have I done to desire this?
Why is this happening to me?’ These thoughts were despair inducing.
He wanted to give up so much and just spit this potion out of his mouth.
However, something different also climb out of this mind.
This thought also never properly surfaced before.
‘But this life isn’t that bad.
Who can say that they remember their past incarnation?
Or someone who can say that they once lived in a giant mansion before?
Not anyone from here at least.
If I can live a proper life then I might be able to enjoy these incarnations too.
I just have to live and so I can’t give up.
This is only a prison if I left it be.’
Then the taste of the bitter potion disappears and his mouth becomes numb.
This is the signal for them to swallow the potion and he does.
In just one of swallowing it, he is forced to vomit it out too.
Whole of his body is emptied out and he suddenly feel fresh and anew.
But the numbness is still there and there is no taste in his mouth.
Everything feels odd to him and hard to adjust.
During this feeling of anew, he also come to a conclusion.
‘The potion was trying to making think of thoughts that I never paid much attention too.
It was turning make me give up.
But it didn’t distinguish between good or bad thoughts and so what surface in the end was something a little positive.’
He sighs and laughs at himself.
This night makes him feel hopeful for the future for some reason.