Chapter 266 \[Chapter 60] Frost Flame Potion
“Miss Verafia, do you happen to have some free time, and would you mind if I bothered you for a bit?”
Verafia’s gorgeous golden eyes flashed, and on her exquisite little face, she quickly composed herself. Her delicate, pure white little feet hopped off the windowsill and landed in the pair of cotton slippers placed beside her. She grasped her loose, white nightgown with one hand and stepped onto the floor, making rustling sounds.
“Is that you, Dofiraia? Coming to find me at this hour… Hmm, my door isn’t locked, Dofiraia, you can come right in!”
Verafia lifted her small face, her crisp voice echoing in the spacious room. A moment later, the door was gently pushed open a crack, and a Mage girl dressed in a frost-blue skirt with hair like an ice lotus entered the girl’s line of sight.
Dofiraia closed the door and looked at the girl who had run up to her, her skin tender and smooth, her graceful golden hair slightly tousled, her big eyes gazing at her. Clearly, Verafia had just bathed not long ago, and her fair, tender little face still had a faint blush of moisture.
“Miss Verafia, I’m very sorry to bother you so late.”
“Tch, what’s this about? I’m not even asleep yet! If you need anything from me, just say it!”
Verafia pulled a few strands of stray hair with her slender hand, lifted her eyes to look at the Mage girl with a gentle smile, and said indifferently.
However, even as she said this, Verafia’s eyes casually surveyed Dofiraia’s exquisite attire.
Compared to when she first met Dofiraia, the Count’s daughter known as the “Flower of the Ice Lotus” in Rubiel City, the current girl had undergone a considerable change in both demeanor and personality.
If before, whether conversing with her or accompanying her, Dofiraia, despite her extraordinary beauty, exuded an aloof coldness that kept others at bay. Now, her personality was clearly much gentler and more subdued.
As for why Dofiraia’s personality towards ordinary people had changed so much in just over a month, Verafia mostly guessed it had to do with her father, Count Linton, who had been executed, and her experiences after inheriting the title of Duchess in name.
Of course, the girl didn’t really care. Verafia walked to the side, pulled over a chair, and swayed her delicate white feet. She tilted her head, thought for a moment, then raised her scorching gold eyes: “Back then, I remember in Rubiel City, you seemed to have asked Elishia to call me. Was there something you needed to tell me?”
Verafia was referring to the last day in Rubiel City, when Elishia specifically sought her and Ig. Although the girl was curious at the time, she didn’t wait for Dofiraia to return, thinking that she was Vicena’s disciple.
“As you expected. I did want to ask for your help then, but it wasn’t convenient, and I happened not to meet Miss Vera.”
Dofiraia looked at Verafia, who was fiddling with her golden hair with her slender jade fingertips and blinking her big eyes, a faint smile appearing on her face.
The girl with ice lotus long hair, her slender white palm shimmering with frost-colored light, suddenly produced a delicate staff flowing with ice. The ornate staff was inlaid with expensive magic crystal gems, and its beautiful blue frost engravings shimmered. Dofiraia looked at the girl before her with her translucent ice-crystal-like eyes:
“Miss Verafia, do you remember, in Rubiel City, that Fire Spirit Crystal… that we competed for?”
Before Dofira could finish speaking, Verafia’s fair, tender little feet jumped off the chair, and her golden big eyes instantly filled with vigilance.
“You mean that Flame Crystal Jasper? I’ve already used it up!”
Verafia’s big eyes looked at Dofiraia suspiciously. “You came all the way here just to try and rob me? Let me tell you in advance, if you want to fight, I’m not afraid of you!”
“Of course not. Miss Verafia is Senior Elishia’s friend, and besides, I have a favor to ask of you.”
Seeing the girl’s state, Dofiraia couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. She handed the ornate staff to Verafia with her fair jade hand.
“You’re…?”
The girl blinked her big eyes in confusion, but still took the staff offered by the girl with her little hand and attempted to inject magic power into it. Soon, the magic runes inscribed on the staff lit up with a lustrous glow, and frost-blue elemental particles condensed in the air.
Verafia’s slender jade fingers touched the condensed ice crystal runes, feeling the icy coldness, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“This staff doesn’t seem particularly powerful, but it’s designed very cleverly. It doesn’t feel like just a simple staff. Moreover, even from the perspective of the staff itself, I feel something is a bit off…”
Verafia suddenly raised her scorching gold eyes and looked at the girl before her with some confusion. “Could it be that the magical core of your staff is incomplete?”
“As expected of Miss Verafia. Actually, this staff was designed by my teacher for me, and besides you, no one else has been able to notice it so clearly.”
Dofiraia smiled slightly, her exquisite face and her pair of translucent ice-crystal eyes looking at the girl. Suddenly, a half-moon-shaped magic core appeared in her jade hand, shimmering with frost-blue light. Under the slightly floating ice-crystal-like magic crystals, dense magic inscriptions displayed abstruse auras.
“Mmm, if you add this one, then it’s almost there… But, I always feel that although your magic core is still of the ice element, it seems to touch upon the traces of time. Could this be related to your talent?”
In the blood domain of Rubiel City, Verafia had seen Dofira display her talent. Under the blood-blade sword at that time, the icy magic power surging from the girl’s body almost froze time in an instant.
Even though Dofiraia’s frost only lasted for a few breaths, in terms of quality, it was likely even higher than the Ice Snow Dragon Princess Ophi’s domain of space control talent.
“If what you say is true that your teacher designed it, hmm, it seems that your human Court Mages are not just for show.”
Verafia looked at the staff in her small hand, which seemed to resonate, and had some guesses. She tilted her little head, appearing to be in deep thought.
The girl suddenly raised her scorching gold big eyes and looked at Dofiraia before her, speaking in a clear voice.
“But you showing me all this, it’s not like you’re giving it to me, right! Then tell me, what does all this have to do with trying to snatch my Flame Crystal Jasper back then, and coming to find me?”
Dofiraia wanted to correct that she wasn’t trying to rob her back then, but seeing the girl’s clear and beautiful golden eyes, which showed an extremely serious expression, Dofiraia thought it was better not to contradict this young lady, who looked naive and cute but was actually still a child in personality—Miss Phoenix.
Dofiraia’s pupils showed a serious expression as she looked at Verafia.
“Miss Vera, as you just saw, this staff was designed by Teacher Vicena to resonate with the magic within me. Since I left the academy, I haven’t just been completing the homework left by my teacher, but more importantly, I’ve been perfecting the core of this staff…”
“Are you using the completion of this staff and the resulting magic resonance to achieve a breakthrough in your magic level?”
In Dofiraia’s eyes, the ice-snow-smart Miss Verafia instantly understood.
Verafia tilted her snow-white tender face, and the girl beside her exuded a slight aura. Although still far from the boundary of a crystal, she was vaguely on a strange plane.
The girl gently pulled a strand of graceful hair with her slender hand, blinking her eyes: “Hmm, it can be like this? It seems that this woman named Vicena is indeed not simple… But if that’s the case, your magic is entirely ice-attributed, why did you want to snatch the Fire Spirit Crystal from me!”
“Miss Verafia, at that time, I was looking for materials to refine the ‘Frost Flame Potion’.”
“Frost Flame Potion?” Verafia’s voice held a hint of confusion.
“Yes, ice and flame are diametrically opposed, so the hotter and more intense the flame, the more likely it is to cause a qualitative change in the frost. That’s what my teacher told me.”
Dofiraia looked at the girl, her clear voice full of confidence, “Moreover, Teacher Vicena and I have also researched that if, by relying on the boundary of opposition between the flame and frost in the potion, not only can the core of this staff be tempered, but the extracted potion can also greatly change the limitations of the magic within my body.”
Can you actually change the attribute of your magic with a potion?
Verafia blinked her eyes, thinking that during the hundred years she slept in the Flame Abyss, had human potionology made significant progress? How could even that young girl Vicena be messing with such strange things?
“So, then…? It’s been so long, you should have refined a suitable potion by now, right?”
“Hmm… No. The flames I found were either not of good enough quality, contaminated the potion, or simply extinguished in the frost. I tried many times, and even the Fire Spirit Crystal that my teacher helped me find didn’t succeed.”
Speaking of this, Dofiraia, who usually maintained a composed and dignified demeanor of a noble young lady, showed a rare look of dejection. However, the girl quickly regained her spirits and looked at Verafia, who had sat back down on the chair, her fair slender hand propping up her rosy cheek, her slender feet swaying.
“Miss Verafia, to be honest, this is why I came to ask for your help. I wonder if you could…”
“You mean you want to borrow my flame?”
Verafia rested her small hand on her chin and suddenly raised her big eyes and said crispily. Dofiraia hadn’t expected the girl to point it out so directly and nodded somewhat awkwardly, but before she could say anything else, the sweet and childish girl’s voice rang out.
“Hmph, you’ve got some sense. If we’re talking about quality, my flame is of course the best flame in the entire world. Even if you went to the King and the Emperor, you wouldn’t be able to get it! However, if I give you one…”
Seeing the tense expression on the ice-haired girl’s face, Verafia’s fair tender face suddenly revealed a mischievous smile. She bared her small white canine teeth and said crisply:
“It’s not impossible! After all, you’re Elishia’s friend, and Elishia helped Ig. If I don’t help you, it wouldn’t make sense…”
The girl jumped off the chair, making a crisp sound on the floor. She then raised her scorching gold big eyes and said seriously.
“Hmm, wait, I think I’ve heard of this Frost Flame Potion you’re talking about. Frost Flame Potion… If I remember correctly, doesn’t this potion also have the effect of tempering the physique and eliminating impurities in the body?”
—
Umu, I spent the whole day at my hometown… Happy New Year everyone!
