Chapter 12: Chapter Eleven: Winter

"Hm… hm. I see. So the enhancement magic can only be cast on one target at a time. Moreover, there must be physical contact, otherwise, it wouldn't work…" After reading a few more sentences from the book on his right, Kai moved his gaze to his left where lies two medicine pills.

One is a poisonous pill and the other is the antidote.

Kai picked up the poisonous pill with his left hand protected with a black glove. And shifted his gaze to the yellow pill left on the table. Although it is an antidote, this poison pill requires two to three antidote pills to detoxify. Kai's plan is to enhance the antidote. If the enhancement works, then detoxifying the poison will require only one antidote pill.

The poisonous pill was put down back in its container and Kai took the antidote pill this time. While holding it with the gloved hand, Kai used his other hand's index finger to lightly tap the pill. He cast the enhancement he wanted inside his mind and waited patiently. There were still no indications of it working at all. Like some glowing or something… nothing at all. How unfortunate. But that's why the book says, there's no such thing as a sign of it working.

So Kai just shrugged it off and pulled the cage of the experimental mouse closer. It's not like he could just do it to himself. Since whether the enhancement worked or didn't is unknown, he couldn't risk himself. Although it only takes two or three antidote pills, the numbness given by the poison pill will make the digester lose their senses one by one. Starting from the taste, smell, sight, touch, and hearing. The digester would lose all their senses within one minute and would die a numb death.

It would be bad if he dies from his own creation after all.

Kai opened the cage and grabbed the white mouse with his bare hand while grabbing the poisonous pill with his gloved hand. Kai sighed with pity as he shoved the pill into the mouse's mouth. He concocted the pill so that it would be smaller but still had the same effect.

Since it couldn't reject the pill, the mouse had no other choice but to swallow it. Since it would lose its senses soon, Kai took the antidote pill, and as soon as the mouse loses its sense of touch around the forty seconds mark, Kai would feed it the enhanced antidote. So the counting started inside Kai's head.

He saw the mouse stop struggling in his hands once it reached the forty-second mark. He immediately fed it the antidote pill and made sure it was properly consumed before putting the mice down on the table and waiting for another twenty seconds. The mouse, at first, didn't move from its position where he was placed but after a while, it started to move its feet and move around. There didn't seem to be any signs of losing any senses anymore. 'I guess it worked.' Kai smiled satisfyingly and took out a few berries from his pocket and offered it to the mouse, a token of apology and gratitude.

"Alright, sorry for making you my experimental subject." The mouse seems to have trust issues with whatever he gives now, it seems. Understandable, even mice have instincts. Since the berry resembled the poison pill he fed, the mouse refused to accept it. So Kai had no other choice but to take out a single herb from the containers and offer it instead. Since it didn't look like accept anything from him anytime soon, Kai smiled helplessly and left it alone.

"Alright. Since I was wrong, I'll let you go. I'll go now and let you eat that herb in peace, it restores vitality." he doesn't even know why he's talking to a rodent that does not understand human language… This is probably because of the lack of communication with someone for three months, isn't it?

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry and simply accepted his fate of slowly becoming a madman.

Kai stood up from his seat and left the room, leaving the small white mouse to look at his retreating figure, black eyes gleaming.

Walking into the long hallway, Kai moved his gaze and stared at the sunset from the windows. Who knows if it's because of the fact that he just poisoned a mouse (although he gave it the antidote too) but Kai really doesn't have any appetite today. He sighed weakly and made a decision to skip dinner for tonight. He has also been staying up late to read, sleeping sounds good too.

Instead of heading to the kitchen to make some food for himself, Kai changed direction and went back to his room instead. Since he achieved something today, why not reward himself with rest? Kai smiled happily as he pushed open the door of his room. He swiftly changed his clothes to a more comfortable bedroom robe before pouncing on his bed. It's still too early to sleep, the sky is still crimson and the sun has yet to go down completely. Kai was not that sleepy either, perhaps from his constant reading and staying up late for three months, his sleeping cycle has messed up beyond repair already.

The ceiling of the room looked really fancy. Kai noted that again more than ninety times already. Then he turned his head and stared at the glass door that leads to the balcony. The balcony showed fully the sun, it was positioned very well. The green-jade eyes reflected the deep crimson-orange hues of the setting sun as silence filled the room.

Spring has come but winter stayed.

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This place suffers from winter for the whole year.

Such cruel conditions made it impossible for anyone to live. But a castle was built here. After all, this region is a crucial place for the kingdom. The south of the castle is an empire that the Rukadius Kingdom, and most of the continent is at war all year long. To prevent a sudden and silent invasion from this hostile empire, the first Duke of Zein was ordered to live in this castle.

According to history books, this castle is apparently older than the kingdom of Rukadius itself. Nobody exactly knew when it was built but it had existed for more than what people remembered.

Kai shifted slightly to be in a more comfortable position and continued his thoughts. He felt that if he continues thinking, he'll just fall asleep eventually.

Going back to the previous topic, the empire was named Lunos. And speaking of Lunos, wasn't a certain spartan, master, former 'villain', the dark mage, and first Prince of Rukadius actually associated with this kingdom?

Although Kai could no longer rely on the information he has from the novel, he still remembers Helix Vernon's affiliation with the hostile empire.

After leaving Rukadius Kingdom, Helix completely abandoned the kingdom he was supposed to rule and grew up in. The political conflict among the aristocrats was not something he could ever get used to. He was portrayed as a coward without a will to change the corrupted kingdom when the author briefly showed the backstory of the hateful villain. 'Does the author actually have something against Helix though?' Kai mentally questioned although he knew that he would not receive any answer anyway.

So, with nowhere to go, Helix, who was still young and a bit naive about the world, didn't know that his name as a talented mage and a user of dark magic reached even the neighboring kingdoms. Of course, even the notorious Lunos Empire caught wind of Helix's brilliance. So, when the Lunos Empire heard that Helix officially left his kingdom, they took the chance to bring him to their empire. There, Helix was coerced to be their mage. It was all good at first, Helix was willing since he was given shelter and food. But as time passed by, the empire's demands became too much for him and he wanted to escape the hands of the empire.

The author didn't put too much detail around these parts but from what Kai had remembered, it seemed like the empire threatened Helix. That they were going to invade and annihilate Rukadius Kingdom if he tries to leave. Kai found it weird, Helix left the kingdom, he wouldn't have cared whether the kingdom was invaded or not. But the threat actually worked and Helix stayed. Kai thought that perhaps, he might've just had some kind of lingering feelings for the little brother he left in the kingdom and the teacher he looked up to when he was a child.

After that, Helix was forced to drink a poison enchanted with a curse. Moreover, it was Helix who created it. It was a curse that would activate the moment Helix does something that goes against the order of the empire. Once he does, the poison will spread throughout his body and kill him in just a few minutes.

Though, the poison would be detoxified once Helix learns the second classification level of dark magic, the blood, and flesh. He would be able to manipulate his own body to be immune to the poison. But that happens in the middle of the story, still far from today.

Thinking about this, Kai's eyes darkened slightly and his hands unconsciously curled into fists. "Looks like in the few days I spent with him, I've gotten a little bit too attached to my master." The thought of that person being manipulated by the empire for their own needs made his blood boil. Perhaps, the reason why he left in a hurry was the empire?

Thinking about it, Kai sat up and stared at the wallpaper for a while. "Poison…"

That's his current specialty. Creating poison and creating the antidote.

Kai looks at his palms in silence.

"I think I can do this."