A storm raged within Elara Stonefield's mind, the energy in her magical conduits pulsing almost uncontrollably. Just as she was about to be swallowed by the churning vortex of her mana core, a flash of insight pierced the chaos, illuminating her consciousness.
She rushed towards the grass by the stream, where her discarded amulet pouch lay. A few strides, and she was kneeling, fumbling to open the pouch. Her trembling hands retrieved the protective charm her mother had given her—a talisman carved from a wild boar's tusk. The instant her fingertips touched the charm, a cool, soothing energy surged from her palm, washing over her soul like a clear mountain spring. The violent turmoil within her immediately subsided. The surging waves in her mana core receded, and the ominous throbbing in her magical conduits vanished without a sound, as if it had never happened.
Elara had no time to heed the astonishing changes within her body; she merely stared at the charm cradled in her hand, holding it up before her eyes. Her fingers traced its rough texture, her mind completely immersed, as if seeking an intangible answer.
After a long while, she let out a lengthy sigh and stopped her caressing. She did not know that the crisis she had just narrowly avoided was not the simple "mana imbalance" she had imagined, but something far more insidious: a mind-devouring dark art, a form of dark magic specifically designed to torment spellcasters. Had she not, at the critical moment, drawn upon the charm's pure power to dispel it, her soul's essence would likely have been consumed, her consciousness lost in illusory phantasms, and her physical body would have self-destructed in a frenzy, ultimately leading to her demise. Of course, the truth of this peril was something she would only gradually come to know in her future in-depth studies of the arcane arts.
Elara closed her eyes, using the Inner Sight technique to examine the flow of energy within her. To her surprise, her mana core was not only unharmed but seemed to have grown a little stronger. Although she hadn't broken through from the third layer of the Nameless Incantation to the fourth, she had reached the peak of the third layer, only a hair's breadth away from a breakthrough.
This unexpected gain brought a faint smile to her lips, but she quickly suppressed it, fearing that emotional fluctuations might once again ignite magical instability. She carefully picked up the amulet pouch, preparing to properly store away this charm that had rendered such great service.
"Huh?" She paused slightly, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. There was another item in the pouch—that long-forgotten mysterious little phial. The emerald-green phial, intricately carved with deep green vine-like patterns, was exceptionally heavy to the touch and had long since been cast from her mind. Had she not rediscovered it at this moment, she probably would never have remembered its existence.
The Elara of today was no longer the ignorant and naive girl of four years ago. In Physician Morus's study, she had read widely, greatly expanding her knowledge of the world. Cultivating the Nameless Incantation had further sharpened her mind. She easily deduced from the phial's past peculiar behavior—absorbing stellar essence late at night and condensing a green liquid—that this item was no ordinary thing; it must conceal an extraordinary secret.
She was determined to uncover the true value of this phial, to see if its properties could be of use to her. She couldn't let such a peculiar treasure continue to gather dust in the amulet pouch, failing its mysterious potential. She took out the phial, not opening it immediately, but re-examining it with her now more knowledgeable eyes. The phial's body remained the same, its green light faint, the vine-like patterns seeming to emit an extremely weak, almost imperceptible energy fluctuation. However, despite her repeated observations, she failed to find any new clues.
Elara carefully unscrewed the phial's cap. The soybean-sized, emerald-colored droplet still lay quietly at the bottom of the phial, exactly as it had four years ago. She was certain that the secret of this phial lay within this verdant droplet. To ascertain its function, she needed to experiment with a living creature, no matter how unsettling the thought.
Night had fallen deeply, and it was pitch dark outside the valley, making it inconvenient to find a suitable test subject. Besides, the various exertions of the afternoon and evening had left her physically and mentally exhausted. Even if she could find an animal, it would be difficult to discern any subtle changes in the dim light. Considering these factors, she decided to rest for the night first, recuperate her strength, and conduct the experiment the next day. As she drifted into sleep, a hint of anticipation for the phial's potential discoveries lingered in her mind.
The next morning, after Elara had washed up, she went to the communal kitchen outside the valley for her meal. When Physician Morus was present, the kitchen servants would deliver meals to Quietstream Valley, saving her the trouble of going back and forth. Now that Physician Morus was absent, the meal delivery had stopped. This made her sigh inwardly at the steward's attitude of fawning on the powerful and trampling on the lowly, and also made her appreciate the conveniences that came with power.
After breakfast, she didn't leave immediately. She found the kitchen steward, spent a few silver pieces, and bought two lively, grey-furred wild rabbits, bringing them back to Quietstream Valley.
Returning to the valley, she tethered the rabbits with ropes to a wooden stake in an empty corner of the medicinal herb garden, leaving them to bake under the increasingly scorching sun. When the rabbits were listless and parched from the heat, she fetched a simple earthenware bowl. Carefully, she poured the green liquid from the phial into the bowl, then diluted it with fresh water. The soybean-sized droplet dissolved rapidly, and the entire bowl of water instantly turned a vivid emerald green, exuding a refreshing, cool sensation.
She carried the diluted emerald liquid to the rabbits and placed the bowl on the ground. The rabbits, already extremely thirsty, immediately gathered around, vying to lap up the liquid in the bowl. Elara didn't want them to drink too much; after about half the water in the bowl had been consumed, she took the bowl back. She stood to one side, observing patiently, anticipating strange changes in the rabbits.
Before long, about a quarter of an hour later, the rabbits began to grow restless, their movements becoming increasingly frantic and wild. Then, egg-sized lumps began to bulge under their fur, sparse at first, but soon covering their entire bodies. The lumps even merged, causing the rabbits' bodies to swell by a size, appearing comical and bizarre compared to their small heads.
The rabbits' plump bodies maintained this state for only a moment before they began to slowly inflate, the speed of inflation accelerating with the passage of time, as if an invisible gas was being pumped into their bodies. Eventually, their bodies swelled into two round, large balls, shaped much like ripe, giant pumpkins. Accompanied by painful wails, the rabbits' appearance became increasingly horrifying.
Elara's eyes widened in utter shock. The scene before her far exceeded her expectations. If this green liquid had been a deadly poison, or a spirit elixir that could enhance magical power, she could still have accepted it. But this current strange transformation—the rabbits inflating grotesquely like balloons—made her scalp tingle, completely beyond her imagination.