Chapter 8: Powerful Pill

"What is wrong father and mother?" Jon concernedly asked as he furrowed his brows and tried to make sense of what was happening. "Please speak to me."

He did not receive a reply.

He instinctively touched their faces and hands. They were icy cold.

Jon was at a loss. He frantically diagnosed his parents using his basic set of medical tools.

To his dismay, he could not detect any symptoms that indicated the cause of their sickness. It was as if their parents were in a deep sleep—hibernating.

The memory of what had happened when his father had fallen ill suddenly flashed in Jon's mind.

"These symptoms are exactly the same," Jon reflected.

He then remembered the doctor's method of treating his father.

After checking the family's inventory, Jon realized he needed to purchase more medicine but could not afford it.

The little money they had left was reserved for buying daily necessities, which were quickly running out.

"I need to make the power-focusing pill and sell it," Jon desperately told himself. He had limited time so he could only make the most valuable pill with the items he had at hand.

He rushed to his room and studied the books he borrowed that were related to the pill.

At that moment, he was deeply thankful for the theory he had learned in school. If not for that, he could not have understood what was written in most of the books.

After pouring through the books and cross-referencing them, he came up with a list of ingredients and wrote down the procedures to make the pill.

While Jon had never made a power-focusing pill before, he had experience in making other types of pills. This meant that he knew what would work to ensure the pill as valuable as possible.

He then checked to make sure he had all the ingredients he needed. There were 35 in total, some of which included toadstools, lavender, and hibiscus leaves.

"I need to add five pieces of dragon scales to one spoonful of the rainbow-colored moss extract," Jon carefully gathered the ingredients and placed them in a large cauldron on top of a green fire.

It was a good thing that he had collected these ingredients yesterday or he would not have the components needed to make the pill.

He measured the other listed ingredients one by one and followed the instructions he wrote down to a T.

There were 100 unique steps and skipping them or mixing them up would result in a waste of ingredients.

"Stir clockwise 20 times while chanting," Jon executed the steps with ease but constantly felt apprehensive.

Before long, Jon was at the final step. He added the baby dragon's horn into the cauldron.

The mixture immediately bubbled and produced green smoke.

"I hope this is the right formula," Jon thought as he apprehensively waited for the pill to form.

After half an hour, a green star-shaped pill appeared at the bottom of the cauldron.

Jon used a spoon to gingerly scope the pill from the red-hot receptacle and kept it in a small transparent box.

"I did it," he affirmed himself as he rushed out of his cottage.

He was familiar with the route to the nearest alchemist's store where he could sell the pill. It was located in a big city 10 kilometers from Jon's hometown.

"I hope the alchemist's store is still open," Jon nervously thought to himself. "I hope it is not too late for me to buy medicine for my parents."

He flew with all his might down the bustling streets of his town while he looked longingly at the cars whizzing by.

He had no money to afford transportation and hitch-hiking was not a viable alternative since few people in his town trusted strangers.

"I need to focus," Jon chided himself. "I do not have much time left."

As he passed by bakeries with the wafting smell of freshly baked bread, his stomach grumbled.

Fully aware that he could not stop for a break, he continued flying on an empty stomach.

"I will have enough money to buy food and medicine after I sell this pill," he assured himself.

However, he could not help but see the happy faces of families enjoying their meals behind the windows of restaurants.

Feelings of loneliness and helplessness welled up in him. He was sorry for his family's plight.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" Jon's eyes brimmed with tears as he raced on.

He wiped his tears from his eyes and braced himself against the frosty night wind.

Although Jon was fatigued, he neither stopped to rest nor slowed down.

As time passed by, the streetlights lit up one by one as usual. The dimly lit streets now had fewer people.

He pushed on at his fastest speed and managed to reach the alchemist's store in an hour.

He made it in the nick of time. The alchemist was preparing to shut the store for the day.

As Jon stepped into the store, the doorbell rang. Alerted by the bell, the alchemist walked to the counter from the storeroom where he was packing his goods.

Still panting, Jon placed the transparent box on the counter, "How much can I sell this for?"

He looked expectantly at the alchemist who picked up the box and inspected it.

For a long while, the alchemist did not speak but repeatedly frowned and fiddled with the pill.

As the moments passed by, Jon's expectations raised and felt increasingly anxious.

However, he tried to maintain an appearance of composure since he did not want to look as if he badly needed the money.

He did not want to give the alchemist an upper hand in the negotiation.