The clouds overhead only seemed to get darker, stealing more and more of the day’s light, plunging the forest into increasingly thick shadows. From under the forest canopy, lightning could be seen flickering within the clouds, providing more light than the sun at times. The wind was picking up, too, making the forest louder as pine needles rustled and branches groaned. The winds blew around the scent of the forest, mixing it with the smell of rain while putting a definite chill in the air. Despite all this, there had yet to be a single droplet to fall from the sky, almost as if the clouds were holding their breath, waiting to release their payload all at once.

  Lukas didn’t mind a bit; he loved this weather. Back home, this was some of the coziest weather you could get. He remembered one spring day in particular, when he’d stayed inside all day as rain pounded down, lightning lighting up the blackened sky while thunder shook the walls. He’d just curled up on the couch and read a book while doing a puzzle.

  Things were different now compared to then, however. Aside from the obvious, Lukas had experiments he wanted to do, and those experiments required fire. He needed the rain to stay away for at least another day; otherwise, he’d be stuck waiting as things dried off. Judging by the clouds overhead, it would be a downpour—and not a quick one, adding an even longer wait.

  Knowing the clouds could ruin his plans at any moment, Lukas got straight to work after waking up. The first thing he did was check on the abomination that was his attempt at a waterskin. Naturally, Lukas was still covered in the sticky resin and couldn’t wait to get back to the stream to clean himself off.

  Checking the waterskin, Lukas found it exactly as he expected. It was all lumpy and gross-looking, but he didn’t care—it just needed to hold water. And if it couldn’t, then Lukas would just throw a hissy fit and find some other way to store and transport water.

  Throwing the waterskin into his inventory, he made his way towards the stream. Without any distractions or obstacles, Lukas was able to make it there in as little as ten minutes. It was a bit of a walk, but he had a feeling that having his camp any closer to the water would bring trouble he really did not want. It was probably why the Pine Brutes’ burrow had been where it was—as close to the water as it could get without causing problems with other beasts.

  Upon arrival, Lukas practically threw himself into the stream, once more cleaning himself of blood, sweat, and grime. Thankfully, the resin came off fairly easily as well, only pulling a few hairs in the process. This left Lukas feeling fresh, clean, and happy rather than like a cranky and sticky toddler after getting himself all gross during arts and crafts.

  With that important task out of the way, Lukas got on with his other reason for being there. Pulling out the waterskin, he submerged the thing underwater, air bubbles flowing out of the small opening as water began to fill it.

  Once it was full, Lukas pulled the skin out of the stream and observed the bulging, uneven thing. He looked over the entire thing, watching for any obvious leaks or for the water level inside to drop. When nothing changed after a few minutes, Lukas let out a relieved sigh, but still couldn’t believe the abomination actually worked.

  Taking a look at the thing, Lukas estimated the waterskin held just under a gallon of water, which was honestly a lot more than he expected. Then again, he wasn’t even sure if the thing could hold water a few minutes ago. Overjoyed with his success, Lukas headed back to camp, ready to do some testing.

  Plopping himself down between the rekindled fire and the hole he made in the fallen tree, Lukas pulled the waterskin from his inventory. Pouring the contents out and into the charred bowl, almost all the water he collected could fit. If Lukas had to guess, he’d say it held about three quarts. That left a small amount of water behind in the skin, which Lukas quickly drank.

  With water in his makeshift bowl, Lukas was finally ready to get started. Putting the waterskin back in his inventory, he pulled out some smooth stones he had collected at the creek. Stones in hand, Lukas set them in the fire to heat up.

  The plan was to use the rocks to boil the water—not because he needed to purify the water; it was already clean. No, Lukas wanted to boil the water so he could make some sort of tea or proto-potion. He wasn’t naive enough to think that he could actually make a potion with boiling water and a magic flower. There would have to be a much more complex process in the making of potions, and Lukas hoped he’d eventually figure it out with more testing and experimentation. Being able to regenerate his resources faster was a priority, after all.

  While the stones started to heat up in the fire, Lukas got started on something else. The large stone he’d used for cooking the Swipe-swatter meat was pulled from his inventory and placed in the fire, where it, too, began to heat up. Then the grinding stones came out, along with a flower he hadn’t experimented with yet. Due to necessity, Lukas had only messed around with the red flowers that gave health points and the pink ones that helped regenerate health points faster. Now, it was time to test some others.

  A yellowish-orange flower appeared in Lukas’ hand, one he knew was stamina-related just because of the color and the effect he got when smelling it. He wanted to make some useful meats—one for stamina, one for health points, and one for regeneration. He’d make some for the other strange magic plants he’d gathered, but he wanted to have his bases covered first.

  Grinding the flower down into a paste, a rich smell of mango wafted about, filling his body with a burst of energy. ‘Definitely stamina,’ Lukas thought as he rubbed the paste into the meat.

  With the meat thoroughly covered, it was placed on the slowly heating cooking stone. With that taken care of, Lukas turned his attention to the rocks he’d placed in the fire. By now, over ten minutes had passed, which should have been plenty of time to heat them up enough. Grabbing two sticks and using them as chopsticks, Lukas took a rock and dropped it into the water.

  The water began to hiss and churn the moment the hot stone dropped in. Lukas knew that one stone wouldn’t be enough and slowly added more as the water grew hotter and hotter, closer to a boil. All the while, he tended the meat, trying to cook it better than last time.

  Eventually, the water was brought to a boil, and Lukas readied a regenerative flower. After grinding it down into a fine paste, Lukas scraped it off the stone and into the churning water. Quickly grabbing a stick, he began stirring the water, trying to get the paste to dissolve as much as possible.

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  To Lukas’ surprise, he barely had to do anything—the pink paste dissolved as easily as salt or sugar. It was almost as if the paste wanted to mix with the water. As the water continued to roil and take on an increasingly pink hue, the aroma hit Lukas. It was stronger than when he’d cooked meat with the flower or when smelling the flower on its own, the scent soothing the lingering wounds from the Mystic Stag. Just as the smell hit Lukas’ nose, the water began to churn and bubble more than before.

  ‘The paste and the water must be reacting in some way,’ Lukas thought, backing away slightly in case the scalding water decided to explode all over him.

  Once the mixture had settled down, Lukas felt it was safe to check it. Looking down into the pink water, he saw that it continued to churn, but there was something else there. He could see strange swirls in the water. They weren’t a result of convection—the movement of cold water sinking and hotter water rising. No, they were something else. What they were, Lukas didn’t know, and what was frustrating was that when he tried to focus on the phenomenon, it disappeared or shifted. It was like trying to look at those squiggly things that float in the eye—every time he tried looking at them, they moved, evading his gaze.

  Despite the annoyance, Lukas continued staring into the liquid, trying to understand what was happening inside it. Ultimately, he couldn’t grasp much of anything, but he knew that those wisps in the water were magic. He didn’t know anything about magic or how it worked, but what he had seen was raw magic made visible. He could feel it in his gut. Once he realized that, Lukas couldn’t pull himself away, watching for more of the strange wisps of magic. Filled with awe and wonder, he desperately wanted to understand what he was seeing.

  Lukas wanted to understand the magic; its raw form was laid bare right before his eyes, and yet he couldn’t grasp what it was, what it was doing, or what to do with it. The desire only grew the longer he watched, growing to match his desire to get stronger. Lukas wanted to learn; he wanted to understand the new reality he found himself in more than ever. He hungered for knowledge—to learn, to understand.

  Lukas was caught in a trance, hypnotized by the strange concoction. His mind raced with possibilities and yet was blank. Was this something that the people of this world did on a regular basis? What was he doing? Was this alchemy? All Lukas knew about alchemy was stuff about a Chinese emperor using mercury to try to find an elixir of immortality and some stuff about turning objects into gold. Alchemy was also used to make potions though, right? Was Lukas doing some kind of caveman alchemy?

  He was experimenting with magic flowers that could most likely be made into potions, so did that count as alchemy? He had just made some strange concoction or tea with a magic flower, and he had cooked with a flower before. Thinking it over, Lukas liked the thought of doing alchemy. He had a lot of questions and liked doing experiments and tests with all the new things he found, and that sounded like alchemy to him. Lukas wanted to go further with more experiments, but this had just been the first real test and attempt at something close to a potion. He had no idea how far he could go with what he had, but he didn’t plan on stopping.

  Eventually, Lukas was pulled from his reverie by the smell of burning meat. His gaze shot toward the meat he was cooking, and he flipped it hurriedly. After doing so, he found the bottom side blackened and burnt, looking utterly unappetizing. Sighing, Lukas slumped and just stared at it.

  “At least I got a good char,” he grumbled.

  Shaking his head, he just hoped that he hadn’t ruined the effect of the paste he’d rubbed on the meat. He’d definitely find out eventually—he still needed to cook the other side, after all. Hopefully, it would taste better than the last thing he cooked. Swipe-swatter didn’t taste great when mixed with a plant that gave it a hint of strawberry. Then again, the bitter taste of burnt meat would probably overpower everything else.

  Glancing back at the cooling water, he noticed something he hadn’t before. He was able to identify it. Realizing this, Lukas did so immediately.

  [Regenerative Water] - The product of one with an inquisitive mind and a thirst for knowledge about the world around him. This water has taken on some of the properties of a natural treasure with regenerative powers, allowing those who drink it to regenerate health points at a rate marginally faster than their natural regeneration.

  Lukas gaped at what he saw, and there was a lot to take in. First and foremost was the fact that the water had been given any identification tag at all. Up to that point, Lukas had never done or made anything that resulted in a product that could be identified, not even the meat he cooked or butchered.

  Second was the fact that ‘Identify’ recognized him as the creator and how it had mentioned him. It brought up the question of how the identification worked. What exactly provided the information displayed? It sure as hell wasn’t Lukas as he had identified a lot of things, and only knew what they were because of said ability.

  Last was the mention of a natural treasure, which kind of made sense in Lukas’ mind. A magic flower that can be found in the wilderness could be considered a natural treasure, but he didn’t think it was necessarily a high-tier one.

  It was definitely an interesting revelation, that was for sure, and it told Lukas his test had worked and that he was on the right path. He also hoped that the fact that the water was identifiable meant that its healing properties were stronger than the Swipe-swatter meat he’d cooked before. Well, he could easily find out.

  Taking his waterskin in hand, Lukas held it up to a small notch he’d cut into the bowl he’d made. He just needed to be careful to avoid spilling it all on the ground. Throwing his arm over the log, he began to roll it over slowly, the regenerative water flowing towards the notch.

  As carefully as he could, he poured the water into the empty skin, grimacing whenever any spilled or splashed out. It was stressful as hell, and every one of Lukas’ muscles was tensed up as he went, trying to keep as much as humanly possible.

  After a few minutes, it was finally done, and Lukas had collected all the regenerative water he could. When it was all said and done, he had about two and a half quarts, losing half a quart through evaporation or spillage. All in all, Lukas was happy with the haul. Sure, he could’ve gotten another mouthful or two, but had he been too slow and too careful, his meat would’ve burned—at least more than it already was.

  Throwing the “meat” into his inventory, Lukas turned back to the waterskin. The contents were still rather warm, but not too hot, and it smelled rather pleasant, like warm strawberries. Wanting to try his creation, Lukas checked his health. It was still below half, though it had recovered from its pitiful state after his fight with the Mystic Stag. With plenty of room to test the effectiveness of his creation, Lukas took a swig.

  It was a strange and awkward experience drinking from the waterskin, but Lukas managed well enough. Swallowing a small mouthful of the warm liquid, he savored the taste. It tasted of faint strawberry, as if he were drinking a diluted juice, and it was good. The best thing he’d tasted in what felt like forever. But that was nothing compared to when it hit his stomach.

  His whole body was filled with warmth, and not just because the water had been warm. It was the effect of the water's regenerative properties. The constant twinge of pain from his bruises and cuts was usurped by the soothing feeling. The feeling was so pleasant that Lukas couldn’t help but smile, a smile that only grew as he watched himself gain one health point after another.

  ‘A great success,’ he concluded.