Chapter 4: Rewards

"Inhara Makashka Peterlum."

For me, this man could as well recite the parts of the Vedic texts, and he would make just as much sense to me. Yet, to my pleasant surprise, the herbs in his hand instantly stopped wasting away, as if regaining their energy from his chant alone.

"Magic…?"

Uttering this word before I could stop myself, I attracted a curious look from the King himself. Yet, outside of the monarch's expression changing a little, the most powerful person in the room didn't bother to dig deeper.

"Here. Those herbs should be able to hold on for a while now. In order to use them, you can either plant them in a soil rich in magic or turn them into a potion by brewing them in pristine water. While the herbal drink would have a greater effect in the short time I would recommend keeping at least some of them as they can suck the magic from their surrounding. If our guess about the problem your target has, this could stall the progress of their sickness."

Taking a few steps forward and stuffing the fresh herbs into my hand, the mage smiled encouragingly. Maybe it was only my imagination, but for a moment I could feel that he was actually sympathetic towards my case… Yet, this feeling lasted only for a moment, before this young man with a particularly funny hat backed off, once again wearing a cold and unperturbed expression on his face.

"Your majesty, before I go, a silly question. While travelling through those lands, I took quite a liking to the area. Would that be problematic if I were to return sometime in the future, just to tour those lands? Back in my real world... "

Instead of finishing my sentence, I allowed the slight grimace of annoyance to reapear on my face. In reality though, I wasn't all that interested in touring those lands… But making a profit of them instead!

For people stuck at the medieval-like period, as long as I could bring some stupid playthings from the earth that they would be unable to produce locally, exchanging it for something as simple as gold or gemstones would let me live a little bit easier life back on earth! After all, even though the worth of the formerly precious materials was constantly decreasing due to the influx of the new, magic born ones, it went without a doubt that even now, gold was one of the most prized commodities on earth!

"Sure, we do not mind."

Sending me off with a single wave of his hand, just the authority of the monarch was easily capable of making me bend my knee before him. Not because I was scared of him, but because I could tell from the nearly tangible respect that the people in the hall had towards the man, that he was someone who clearly deserved it.

From that point on, I didn't dare to waste any time. As soon as I left the palace and the higher part of the city, I quickly found one of the deserted alleys before suddenly stopping.

[Open the gate.]

Standing in front of the random doors leading to some kind of workshop, I chanted with my voice muffled before confidently pushing those foreign doors open. And instead of entering someone's private property, I saw the familiar walls of my basement!

[Do you wish to claim the reward now?]

[Confirm]

Rather than bothering with the system at this crucial moment, I quickly changed my clothes, closed the gate and moved upstairs. With this bunch of herbs in my hand, I quickly split them into two batches. Putting one aside, I set electrical kettle in the kitchen before pulling out my favourite clay mug.

While I couldn't be called a herbalist or even claim that I had any herbal-related knowledge, I at least knew enough to cut the part of the herbs designed for the drink into the tiniest pieces possible before throwing them at the bottom of the cup. Without any idea how those herbs would combine with additions like sugar or honey, I didn't dare to enhance the taste of the drink at all, only relying on the power of those herbs to help my mother.

"I'm coming…"

After pouring the water into the mug and waiting for a few moments before stirring its content with a spoon, I quickly carried it all the way to the outermost part of the house. While my family wasn't rich, we couldn't be called poor either. At least, that was the case in the past, but with my mother now constantly in bed fighting for her life, the main financial support of this household, my father, no longer had his mind clear enough to keep working as hard as he used to.

The signs of the house degrading due to being left entirely to itself could be seen everywhere, yet no one bothered to fix them. Only the corridor that connected the detached part of the house where my mom was resting with the rest of the house held any resemblance of cleanliness, indicating that although weakened psychically, my father has yet to completely give up.

"Shh… She's sleeping. Let her rest."

Kneeling in front of the simple bed, the wreck of a man that once was a great father of mine was in a position that signified that he was in the middle of his prayers. In face of this incurable disease that my mother contracted, after everything else failed, this was the one thing that he could resort to.

And as much as I could understand the desperation of a man who was losing the love of his life and was unable to do anything about it, I couldn't forgive him for not trying even harder to find a way to save her!

"Dad… I'm not sure if it will work, but I managed to buy some herbs from the passing cultivator…"

Coming up with some kind of random excuse on the spot, I quickly realised what this kind of story could imply. Being a simple student with no way of earning serious money nor any talent to compensate for it, only some quite disgusting methods of earning the favours of people powerful enough to obtain rare resources were coming to my mind as I thought about it now…

Thankfully, my dad didn't seem to notice this conjunction, focusing instead of the cup that I held in my hands instead. Given a concrete object he could latch his hopes on, it didn't seem like he would care for anything else.

"Okay…"

Instead of letting me wake my mother up, my dad leaned above her once again, only to put just a single finger of his on her shoulder.

"Dear… Could you wake up for a moment…?"

Not daring to use any more excessive movements, my dad continued to lightly poke his finger at my mom's shoulder. Only after a long while, long enough for the drink to already start turning cold, did the eyes of my mother started to slowly open.

"Hmm…?"

Already too weak to even utter a word, just by being unable to act in more energetic fashion my mom made my heartache. But if I had just a tiny bit of luck and the guesses of the people from that world were right… If this drink could do anything…

"Mom… I obtained this great drink. While I can't guarantee anything… Please, drink it."

Bringing the cup closer to my mom's head, I could see how the long-lost sparks reappeared in her eyes when she heard my voice.

"Kris…"

Just uttering the short version of my name sapped her strength, making my mom's head heavily fall back to the pillow after she attempted to raise it in order to look at me. In the very next moment, my father helped his wife to regain a position where she could drink something, finally empowering me to place the cup at her lips and slowly angle it up.

Watching as the thick liquid filled with the herbal scraps flowed down my mom's throat, I could feel a strange force grasping me by my heart. If this drink could save her or at least buy her some more time…

Even though I was already determined to do my absolute best to help, feeling this heart-shattering hesitation about how effective this drink would be only served to steel my resolve even further.

Even if it wouldn't work, I would find some other way to save her!

As soon as the last drop of the rich fluid disappeared behind my mom's mouth, I quickly rose from my knees and stormed out of the room. Taking a slight detour to steal some pot-plants from the window, I quickly and brutally deprived them of their home and life, before putting the still energetic stalks of the herb that I brought back to the earth that housed those pitiful flowers just a moment ago. After watering them up and infusing them with all the energy that my cultivation would allow, I felt my knees giving up under the weight of my body as if I suddenly turned heavier.

Only thanks to my relentless determination did I manage to bring those pots back to the resting room of my mom, before returning to the safety of the basement.

For some reason, as soon as I crossed the doorstep, it felt as if all the worries and desperation disappeared from my heart. Maybe it was the aura of safety that this basement gave me, or maybe it was the inner working of the system. I was in no place to judge what was causing it, but I didn't have the time to dawdle on it either.

[System, I'm ready to receive my rewards.]

This entire system thingy was also quite puzzling. Even though I learned how to live with it already, I never get to understand why it appeared in my basement. Was this something that some god sent here to help me save my mother? Was it something that appeared completely randomly? Or maybe the same thing that caused my mother to be completely incapable of absorbing the everpresent magic was the reason behind this system appearance?

Sadly, for now, I still knew way too little to even attempt finding out the true answer.

[Granting the reward for the completed mission.]

[Cultivation cap moved to the pinnacle of body cleansing stage.]

[Host can now completely cleanse his body from all the impurities contained in it]

[Granting enrichment herb]

[By planting the herb in an area with huge amounts of the magic present, the host will be able to condense it into the herb and consume it whenever it sprouts its petals. Each petal allows the host to raise his cultivation by one small stage within the bodily training realm]

Just like expected, no surge of energy entered my body, casting all my tiredness away. While it was great to know that my daily training would once again start bearing more fruits that they would back in the earth without magic, it didn't mean that my cultivation would raise completely by itself either. At least, I could be happy that my current limit approached what was considered the major border that one had to pass in order to become a true cultivator!