Chapter 79: V2 Three

Heart pounding with nerves, I watched as the guild commanders settled into their seats around the stone table in the officers' meeting room. Darius, being the guild leader, was seated in front of the large wolf statue that sat at the rear of the room. Which was rather amusing considering the Ōkami guild leader was technically a wolf using magic to appear human. On Darius’s left was Corvus, the golden haired lion Bakeneko, while to his right sat the red scaled Draekin raid leader Roderick. The hulking beast of a Minotaur that was my half-brother Markion entered the room last, taking a seat next to Corvus. 

Shuffling through my notes, I read over them one last time before placing them on the table and clearing my throat to signal I was ready to begin. Getting a nod from Darius to proceed, I began what would be the first of many research presentations to the guild leadership.

“As you all may be aware, over the past weeks, I have been researching the effects of Scorcher venom.” I started, and moved forwards to pull the cloth covering off the tank where Sting and Scorch sat. “Scorchers are the bane of many fire drake hunters, and the effect of their venomous sting has proven unsurvivable. Until now.” 

Holding my head high, I gave a flick of my wrist in a signal for Leo to jump up onto the table. The days I’d spent working tirelessly to train the Leosaur cub not to attack the tank, and to respond to my command paid off, as the cub leapt effortlessly onto the table, sitting with pride beside the tank. 

“The Leosaurs are a creature that primarily hunt prey who possess venomous properties. Their blood and saliva can break down the toxins in a variety of venoms. The consumed venom also plays a part in the production of pheromones within the Leosaur’s body.” I explained and, taking hold of one paw, I pressed down on the paw pad of one toe, prompting a clear liquid to drip from the extended claw. “This liquid contains a diluted version of the consumed venom, and is pheromonal in nature. The Leosaur will scrap their claws on different surfaces in its environment, spreading this pheromone around to attract more prey. Which is why the encampment has been suffering a minor snake problem as of late.” 

Carefully wiping away the liquid coating Leo’s claws, I set down the paw onto the table. Moving to another tank, I pulled off the cover to reveal the cobra contained within. The cobra was writhing in the tank, pressing against the glass side closest to Leo. When I draped the cloth I’d used to clean Leo’s claw over the mesh lid of the tank, the cobra began pressing at the lid of the tank, forked tongue flicking out rapidly as it scented the pheromones in the air. 

“Using the Leosaur’s saliva and blood, I was able to create two viable experimental antivenoms named LeoV-12 and LeoS-9. Both LeoV-12 and LeoS-9, have exhibited comparable performance when tested in vitro. However, in vivo assessments with volunteers and the alchemic construct revealed substantial differences in venom neutralization. The experimental antivenom LeoV-12 created from the venom immunogen mixture outperformed the LeoS-9 antivenom in preventing the effect of venom lethality of the three tested venoms. These findings also indicate that the venom immunogens may be capable of broadly neutralizing a diverse array of venoms and potentially some poisons.” 

“How is the antivenom administered?” Darius asked. 

“Typically, an antivenom such as this is administered intravenously after being diluted in a saline solution and requires cold storage to remain viable. However, this is difficult to achieve in the field, and most would be dead before reaching somewhere set up to provide medical aid.” I said, inclining my head in the guild leader's direction. “Thus, prompting the creation of LeoP-1, which involved further processing of the LeoV-12 antivenom into LeoV-13. The addition of several other regents to the LeoV-13 Prima Materia has seen the creation of LeoP-1. This potion can be orally consumed or injected directly into the bloodstream. In the case of Scorcher venom, I recommend injecting the LeoP-1 as close to the site of the sting as possible. This potion can be stored without special requirements.” 

“How long will it store for?” This time it was Corvus who spoke, and I turned my attention to him as I responded.

“I have not yet been able to determine the shelf life of the LeoP-1.” 

“What is the dosage requirement? For someone like myself, a standard vial of pain relieving tincture doesn’t do much. Have you tested the dosages?” Markion asked, and I was admittedly surprised to find he was even paying attention, let alone asking questions. 

“The experiments on dosage showed the dosage amount needs to be calculated in accordance to the venom being treated, and the size of a patient is not correlated to the amount administered for successful treatment. Cobra venom was effectively treated with five mil injection of LeoP-1, and twenty mils orally consumed. Scorcher venom requires a ten mil injection or forty mils orally. In this, you can see that the direct injection of LeoP-1 is the most efficacious method of administration.”

“Why the different amounts? I get that orally the potion would be slower to absorb, but why does it require a higher dose?” Darius inquired, leaning back in his chair. 

“I do not have a conclusive answer to this, only theories.” I informed the guild leader, who waved a hand in a gesture for me to continue speaking. “I believe it may be an effect of the way our bodies in this world process food, and liquids. All test subjects who orally ingested LeoP-1 noted an increased feeling of vitality. This indicates the body absorbed the LeoP-1’s components in a manner not intended, leaving only the LeoV-13 component of LeoP-1 to fight the effects of the venom. This means a higher dose is required to ensure there is enough LeoV-13 in the system. As most venoms are transported around the body via one's bloodstream, injection of LeoP-1 allows it to interact with the venom at a faster rate.” 

“What about production? Marketability?” Corvus asked, and I grimaced, having known this was coming. 

“Production is difficult. Thus, I do not believe we should market LeoP-1 outside of our guild or allies. This will be something that can only be made in limited quantities, and while there would be a market for such a product, we can not meet the demand.” 

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“What if we assigned more people to help in the lab, took in more alchemists?” Darius suggested, but I shook my head. 

“The process requires a mixture of Alchemy and Transmutation, in addition to harvesting the venom immunogens from a Leosaur. LeoS-17, which was created from LeoS-9 and other more attainable regents, is much easier to produce, though somewhat less effective. If it is the guild's intention to release either of these to the public, I would recommend LeoS-17.” 

“What is the difference between LeoP-1 and LeoS-17?” 

“As I said earlier, LeoV-12 outperformed LeoS-9 greatly. The same can be said for the LeoP-1 and LeoS-17, which were produced as a result of those experiments. LeoP-1 is able to effectively neutralize Scorcher venom within a ten-minute period, dependent on the administration method. Subjects who were administered LeoP-1 were fully able to return to normal duties within an hour of administration. LeoS-17 is slower to fully neutralize the venom, and the subject will remain in a feverish state for up to an hour. Subjects who have been administered LeoS-17 have noted feelings of fatigue, and flu-like symptoms for up to three days.” 

An hour later, after answering several more questions about both LeoP-1 and LeoS-17, we called an end to my presentation. In three days, several of the hunting teams currently residing in the encampment would depart for the canyons where the fire drakes nested. During this time, we would search for more Leosaurs and Scorchers in order to further my research. I wanted to harvest the organs of a Leosaur, and fully investigate the internal functions of the creatures, but doing so on Leo was out of the question, even though I could reform him after. 

It was decided that for the time being, we would not distribute either antivenom publicly. For now, the guild would hunt the fire drakes, stockpiling as many fire stones as we could before releasing LeoS-17 to our allies once we’d departed the area. Darius had decided that we would not be providing LeoP-1 to anyone, and that even our own guild would be using the LeoS-17 variant, due to the difficulty in producing LeoP-1. 

The commanders were also concerned that if the hunting teams knew they could recover from a Scorcher sting in a short amount of time, they would become careless, and incidents where stings occurred would increase. If anyone questioned why the faster acting variant was not used, we would simply inform them that those who recovered faster were injected with a diluted venom, that being the reason for the difference in recovery times. Those who’d volunteered to act as test subjects were not informed what I was injecting beyond that I was testing an antivenom, so it was unlikely anyone would even know there were two variants. I’d also kept the subject pool restricted to only a few trustworthy people who’d been vetted by Corvus. 

 

With Leo trotting along at my heels, I carried both my specimen tanks back down to the lab. Placing the Scorcher onto a high shelf, I filled the water bowls before retrieving a pair of juvenile desert locust from a second tank. The cobra’s own water bowl was filled through the mesh, as I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the feisty snake, who’d be extremely temperamental until the effects of Leo’s pheromones wore off. 

“You did such a good job, Leo! Everyone was impressed with how regal and handsome you were.” I praised the Leosaur cub, who was sitting patiently beside his bowls, waiting for his turn to be fed. 

After filling Leo’s bowl with some fresh meat from the ice chest, I added a tiny drop of scorcher venom mixed with beef tallow to the bowl, mixing it around to coat the chunks of the goat meat to make it more palatable. I’d noticed that the cub wasn’t all that fond of goat meat, but it was the most common meat product available, aside from camel or snake. Truthfully, I didn’t like goat much either, but luckily the encampment cooks were skilled enough that the meals were tolerable. 

Leaving Leo to his meal, I headed out of the lab to perform a cursory inspection of the student labs before I started on my own work. The first lab was assigned to Sadie and Helvara. The pair were given a long list of experiments I wanted them to conduct, each with clear instructions on how to go about each experiment. So far I was pleased with the ability and work ethic of the two, both appeared to be well suited to working together, with each one able to compensate for the other's weaknesses. They were intelligent, but in very different ways. Sadie was inquisitive and full of ideas, while Helvara was more technical and precise. He lacked the spark of creativity that Sadie possessed, but was very good at following directions. 

The next two labs I’d merged into one larger lab, and was where the remaining three students worked. None appeared to have much initiative, and were relegated to the task of mass-producing various concoctions. Despite not being able to step up into the role of alchemist, each of them seemed content to carry on as potioneers. They didn’t seem bothered by the dullness of repeatedly brewing the same things each day, whereas I would have gone mad by the second day of such a boring endeavor. Perhaps it was the fact that now I’d declared them qualified as potioneers, each was receiving a monthly salary that exceeded the stipend trainees were given. What they failed to consider was that, while as trainees Sadie and Helvara earned less, both would soon be earning far more than a potioneer’s wage once I promoted them to apprentices. 

Reaching the final lab, I wasn’t surprised to find Kip and Roswyn hard at work creating a variety of different glass ornaments. The mercantile Dwarf was able to convince his fellow transmuter to aid him in his quest for luminous orb fortune, and both had been hard at work building up an inventory. Since first learning to transmute sand to glass over a week ago, they’d managed to create several hundred glass orbs, and now having refined their skills, were creating glass figurines to be sold. 

The few orbs Kip used to test the market in the nearby settlement of Sēkrit were sold within the first hour, but after the second day the demand for the orbs died out, as most of the population had already purchased one. This didn’t deter the dwarf, however, as the sales he’d seen in Sēkrit were an indication that the product would be easily sold in the larger cities. 

Inspection finished, I returned to my own lab, mentally ordering the door to close and lock itself behind me. There was a bell installed just inside the door, with a rope hanging on the other side that could be used to get my attention if anyone needed me. Most knew by now that if the door was closed, any attempt to knock was potentially fatal if it was feeling peckish. 

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