I arrived in front of the mistress's bedroom and knocked on the door.

Knock* Knock* Knock*

"Mistress? I came as you requested!" - I said.

"Come in! The door is unlocked!" - The mistress's pleasant voice sounded from behind the door.

Without wasting time, I entered the room.

When I entered the room, I saw the mistress sitting cross-legged on a chair, with small white particles around her fading from existence as she stood up.

The mistress looked upon me, smiled, and said, "My little Mog, were you so eager to see me that you forgot to bathe and get dressed?"

It was only then that I realized my blunder.

"Ah... My apologies, mistress. I will bathe and change right away!" - I said as I backtracked to exit the room.

However, when I was about to exit, the door shut itself in front of me, and runes lit up.

"No need for that, my little Mog. Clean." - The mistress chanted, and the dry grime on my body evaporated into white particles that vanished in the air.

"Now then, as you might have guessed, I completed a batch of three regular intermediate warrior potions for you." - The mistress said as she motioned to three glass bottles with milky white liquid on her table.

"Not one, but three?!"

"Thank you, mistress!" - I said in glee.

"Well, as long as I can restore your damaged talent to normal, although it might not restore it completely." - The mistress said with a gentle smile.

I nodded to the mistress and asked, "So, how do I use it?"

I already knew about two types of intake, drinking, and bathing.

Speaking of bathing, I tried testing the vitality potion that was diluted in the bathwater. The energy didn't degrade in the end; it was just less concentrated. Perhaps the only reason why bathwater is used is that it slows down the time it takes for the body to absorb its properties.

"You drink it. You will drink one vial per hour. Normally, drinking this potion repeatedly will have no benefit, but it is perfect for recovering a talent. You just need to digest and absorb its medicinal properties." - The mistress explained as she handed me one of the bottles.

I took the bottle into my hand.

"I drink it? Just like that?" - I asked. The last time, I vividly remember that I needed to be tied up to a torture table.

"Yes, just like that. This potion is exceedingly safe, and it has been tried and tested, with the only side effect being fainting for around an hour to absorb the medicinal properties. I was the one who made it, so there is no room for error, go ahead and drink." - The mistress motioned to me to potion.

I didn't immediately drink it. Instead, I checked its properties with predatory instincts.

The potion in my hand: Mixture of Grade 6 Regular(21%), Mana(15%), Soul Energy (0.4%) Energy with Grade 5 Regular(36%), Mana(27%), and Soul(0.6%) Energy, Can form a talent via regular ingestion, Can't digest into energy yet but can ingest regularly, Can cause short-term induced coma for approximately an hour without further repercussions - Recommended to drink in a safe environment.

"Hah... That's new." - I thought to myself.

"But, it is made from Grade 6 and grade 5 energy? I wonder how much that costs?" - I wondered.

"Hey, mistress, can I ask a question please?"

"Hm? Yes, what is it, my little Mog?"

"How much does a bottle of this thing cost?"

"Hm? Are you worried about the price? It is far from the worth of the cheapest ingredient of the Paragon potion, I assure you." - The mistress smiled.

"No, I just want a measurement of its worth."

"Ah, well, for a regular quality intermediate warrior potion, the ingredients are C-rank ones, only around 3,500 silver coins at market price. As the worth of a potion is generally three times that of the ingredients price, the market price is 10,500 silver coins, but if made by an overqualified alchemist like me, its price can inflate to around 25,000 silver coins because we can refine high-grade potions with the materials of a regular potion." - The mistress said nonchalantly.

"I understand." - I nodded, satisfied.

"Now, then. If there is nothing else, drink the potion, and lay down on the bed afterward. I will be in my room meditating until you finish all three bottles." - The mistress once again motioned for me to drink.

I silently nodded, opened the first bottle, and drank the milky-white substance. The potion had a mellow taste on my tongue, being both sweet and sour.

After I finished the potion, I lay down on the mistress's bed. After a few minutes, I felt my body turning weak as my consciousness faded.

 

 

 

 

I Woke up to the sound of mellow music in my ear. It didn't sound like a wind instrument like a Tuba or a winged instrument like a Kithara. It sounded more like an Organ, just far more pleasing to the ear.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw myself in an unfamiliar place.

It was a large candle-lit room, covered in too many unknown decorations. All the furniture was carved out of fine wood and polished to the point they reflected light. The chairs had exquisite white cushions on them. The walls were painted light purple, with black marble pillars and golden decorations on them. On the side, there was a burning fireplace with orange fire burning inside it. On the ceiling, a few large crystal things shone with candles, brightly lighting up the room. On the walls hung square picture boxes, with lifelike depictions of people or events. In front of me, there was a long table with a fine cloth covering it on top. There were silver platings and utensils on it, and fancy golden candle holders held exquisitely carved white candles.

To the side of the room, I saw a figure with short black and straight hair, white skin, and of unknown gender wearing some sort of full-body tight-fitting purple clothing sitting in front of a large black wooden box with its lid half-open. He(?) was currently moving his hands skillfully and gracefully, pressing down on some white and black blocks, producing the music I was hearing. I decided to call the large box a music box for the time being.

"Where am I? Why am I here? Who is that figure? I think I should ask him."

Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, I heard the figure speaking with a pleasant yet androgynous voice.

"So, we meet again, little Mog. A bit sooner than I anticipated." - The figure said with his back facing me, a hint of mockery in his voice as he kept playing the music box.

"Grith? Is that you?" - I asked while looking at him(?).

The first time I met him, he was a bunch of dark tentacles with mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth. The other times that I heard him, he sounded either male or female, old or young. I couldn't discern what he is, and I don't know what that Schizo-something whatever he called it is. Also, every time we spoke, it was for a short duration and on his whim.

"Ah, I see you are a bit confused. Yes, I am Grith as you may call me, a good nickname for my tedious and hard-to-pronounce name for a mere mortal like you, I am sure." - Grith said while still playing the music box.

"Grith, Where am I? Why am I here? Why can't I talk to you normally?!" - I shot multiple questions.

"One question at a time, Little Mog." - Grith said casually.

I stared at Grith hard for a few moments before calming down my nerves and asked, "Where am I?"

"You are at a part of my inner space, or, as you would call, my inner mind. What you see before you is an illusion, a product of my imagination and memory. Although I can make it as I want, this persona of mine likes it the most."

"This is his inner mind?" - I looked quizzically at the surroundings. This didn't exactly fit my image of the inner mind of a huge planet-eating monster.

"Why am I here?" - I continued asking.

"Well, after you drank that trashy potion, you entered a state of coma, a state even deeper than deep sleep, so it is easy for me to drag you to my inner mind without wasting energy. Now, we can talk, just like you wanted. For every potion you drink, we will have around 50 minutes to chat, so two and a half hours, give or take." - Grith said while still playing.

"Okay, then why can't I talk to you normally?" - I asked, already starting to calm down.

"As I said before, I am too weak. As you raise my talent, I will be able to speak with you more and more frequently. Now, since I answered a few of your queries, how about you answer some of mine, hm?" - Grith asked while he was still playing.

I frowned a bit but still answered, "That's fair. Ask."

"What do you think about my talent so far? Do you like it?" - Grith asked while playing.

"I guess so... I can eat and assimilate talents of other creatures, store energy for later use, check my own status in detail, and even change the color of my skin. There is also the Language affinity and that obscuration thing. But, isn't this talent impractical?"

"Hm? Impractical? How come." - Grith asked in a confused tone.

"Well, to activate the devouring and assimilating, I need to eat the creature, and not just kill it or something. What would happen if I wanted to assimilate the talent of an owlbear? Wouldnt I need to eat the entire Owlbear? That would take weeks! Not to mention that I can't eat the bones. Also, it takes me so long to nourish my talents, and on top of that, I can't digest some foods, so I cant get higher grade energy to speed up the process." - I listed some problems I found.

"Hm... I see. I never really had those problems before. I was born with the strength of a god, and a strong god at that, the size of a moon. My innate eldritch physiology and my humongous size allowed me to eat and digest whole planets, not to mention a little mutant bird or mammal. Also, as a godly being, my soul and willpower were countless times larger than yours at the time, so it was easy to nourish my assimilated talents. Even if I assimilated another chaos grade talent, I could just wait for a few million years in space while eating a few planets along the way, using low-grade soul energy until I finished nourishing it. You see, I was very much immortal." - Grith said as he kept playing, but noticeably slowed down his pace.

"Hm... Well, about your plight of not being able to eat and digest food, I have a solution. We shall talk about it later. Now then, it is your turn to ask a question."

"Okay, so why do I need to drain a talent before I can assimilate it? Cant I just assimilate a talent as is? Wouldnt that save me time?" - I asked a question that bothered me.

"Yes, you can, but that brings with it the risk of Soul Contamination. The talents themselves carry the remnant will of their owner. By taking in a talent seed that you didn't drain, it can influence your soul, slowly, yet gradually. Even that golden will of yours is not impervious." - Grith said while still playing, his speed returning to normal.

"Hah? Wait a minute, doesn't that mean..." - I suddenly caught on to a point.

"That I am contaminating your soul as we speak? Yes, I am. I am irreversibly painting your soul with my colors as we speak. Didn't your appetite increase slightly? Don't you find things slightly tastier?" - Grith asked as he stopped playing the music box.

The moment he said that my expression turned ugly. I did not like the sound of my soul being turned into another Grith!

"Arent you afraid that I will now seek to destroy you!? Aren't you afraid that I will eat you like before!?" - I asked with an ugly and angry expression.

"Destroy me? Eat me? Don't make me laugh. Haven't you heard of the saying that..." - Grith said and turned his face to me.

However, to my horror, the face I saw was no face at all, but a huge maw with razor-sharp teeth, lacking any human features!

The maw spoke with the same pleasant androgynous voice, "...If you invite the devil in, be prepared to entertain him."