Custom-made for Cha Seoyun (2)
Custom-made for Cha Seoyun (2)
Cha Seo-yun instinctively tensed up as the stranger's hand approached.
After paying for her eyesight, another person's approach had always registered as a cold, sharp sensation for her.
So when the man before her reached out, she could only flinch with tension.
But the moment the man's two hands carefully covered both of her closed eyes, Cha Seo-yun was startled in spite of herself.
Because unlike the chill she'd expected, a warm comfort flowing from the man's palms spread gently from the corners of her eyes.
'...!'
The man's touch was the first warmth she had felt since her Awakening.
The warmth enveloping her eyes, as if softly melting the body temperature that had always run as cold as a block of ice, soaked pleasantly through her skin and into her whole body.
It was an unfamiliar yet cozy feeling, like a long-lost sense faintly, very faintly, flickering back to life.
Cha Seo-yun wanted to feel that warmth a little longer.
She was unconsciously holding her breath, just on the verge of fully leaning into that comfort.
Then, all too soon, the man's hands, having finished his analysis, detached from her eyes without ceremony.
"Ah..."
As the brief warmth withdrew, a small sigh thick with regret slipped out between her lips.
I carefully pulled my hands away.
Whenever I'd attempted Custom Production on Hong Chae-yeon or Cassia before, it had taken quite a long time to grasp the full-body musculature or large scars.
But this time, perhaps because it was solely an eyesight issue, it felt like the fastest custom manufacturing I'd done yet.
When my hands left, a faint flush had crept onto Cha Seo-yun's white face.
It was a far cry from her usual cool, expressionless demeanor.
But I was too busy scrutinizing the custom manufacturing recipe that appeared in a succession of system windows before my eyes to notice Cha Seo-yun's state at all.
[Attempting 'Custom Production' on target 'Cha Seo-yun'.]
[Reading target 'Cha Seo-yun's' information.]
[22%]
.
.
.
[98%]
[99%]
[100%]
The moment the analysis was done, I clearly directed the system toward the result I wanted.
I provided additional information, both in my mind and out loud in a small murmur.
"I want to restore her sight."
[Additional information confirmed.]
[Analysis complete.]
[Confirmed the acquisition of the skill 'Sixth Sense' at the cost of eyesight.]
[Searching for a suitable recipe for a subject who can regain sight...]
.
.
.
-Ttiring!
[Liberation Eye Drops Recipe]
[Materials]
[Purified Crystal Tears]
[White Phoenix Feather]
[Pure White Crystal Flower]
I carefully read through the list of three materials that appeared in the system window.
The two at the bottom were names I'd never seen before.
But the material written at the very top caught my eye instantly.
It was a familiar material I had seen somewhere many times before.
I tilted my head and immediately opened my inventory to check.
In one corner of my inventory, crammed with countless items and materials, my eyes landed on a brilliantly shining, pure white crystal.
[Purified Crystal Tears]
Grade: Epic
[A crystal that naturally formed and hardened over many long years deep within the imperial vault. In a completely purified state with no impurities whatsoever, it possesses the property of returning clouded or blocked things back to their original transparent state.]
The moment I read the item description, I remembered.
Aurelius's Secret Vault, which Cassia had opened for me after her ascension to Empress.
I must have swept it in alongside the rest when I practically emptied the treasury.
At the time, I had been disappointed that there were no Ice Crystal Flowers and just snatched up whatever caught my eye, but to think it would be used like this here.
The material that looked the most difficult to find was already in my hands.
The problem was the other two.
I turned and asked Hong Chae-yeon, who was looking at me with a tense expression.
"Chae-yeon-ah, do you know materials called the White Phoenix Feather and Pure White Crystal Flower? They're unknown to me, so are they obtainable?"
At my question, Hong Chae-yeon seemed to search her mental database for a moment, then nodded and answered in a bright voice.
"Yeah, I've heard of them. They're both fairly rare, but... not completely impossible to get. If we put our guild's information network and capital to work, we can definitely buy them through the auction house or black market."
Hearing her answer felt like a clogged pipe in my chest had been cleanly unblocked.
I had money to spare—rotten with it, even—and combined with the Red Scale Guild's intelligence power, procuring the materials was only a matter of time.
I looked at Cha Seo-yun with a face full of confidence.
"If we just acquire those remaining two, I'm certain we can heal your eyes for good."
At the firm declaration that came out of my mouth, Cha Seo-yun's face, which until now had been devoid of any emotional disturbance, was shaken greatly.
She, whose expression had always been frozen like ice, asked me in a trembling voice, as if she had flinched in shock.
"...Really?"
To that desperate question, afraid it might be a false hope, I answered with a bright smile and full confidence.
I received the two remaining materials from Hong Chae-yeon.
The information network and financial might of a major guild were truly impressive.
I thought it would take a few days to get them, but as soon as we parted ways, she put people on it and thrust them into my hands in an instant.
"I'll contact you right away once it's all made."
With that promise, I went straight home.
The moment I closed the front door, I activated a skill into thin air without hesitation.
As I entered the primeval workshop, the familiar heat and the smell of iron rushed over me.
Instead of the anvil where I usually hammer, today I stood before the alchemy worktable set up on one side.
I carefully took out the Purified Crystal Tears, the White Phoenix Feather, and the Pure White Crystal Flower from my inventory in order and placed them down.
[Starting the crafting guide for the Liberation Eye Drops.]
Along with Guide-nim's calm voice, a blue system window appeared before my eyes.
[Conventional eyesight recovery potions work by directly regenerating damaged optic nerves or ocular tissue.]
[However, in the case of subject 'Cha Seo-yun', there is no abnormality in the visual organs themselves.]
[When the skill 'Sixth Sense' was activated, eyesight was set as the price, and the system enforced that price, resulting in a state where the eyesight is sealed.]
[Therefore, an approach that treats the optic nerve or the eyeballs would have absolutely no effect in this case.]
[These eye drops operate not by directly releasing the seal, but by incinerating the very foundation upon which the seal is maintained.]
I nodded.
So it meant her eyes weren't injured, but that the system had forcibly veiled her vision.
No wonder the Salvation option on the Orichalcum Dagger didn't work either.
The approach itself was completely different from the start.
"Alright. So, what do I need to do?"
[The first step.]
[Purified Crystal Tears is a crystal that has hardened in a state where all impurities have been completely removed over a long period of time.]
[If mana is applied to this crystal from the outside, its nature will become contaminated and its purification effect will drastically decrease.]
[It must be melted with heat alone, in a state where mana is completely blocked.]
I took out a glass flask and carefully placed the gleaming crystal tears inside.
I lit a flame and set the flask above it.
[The target temperature is 36.5 degrees.]
[The crystal must melt at this temperature so that the eye drops will react instantly the moment they touch a human eyelid.]
[If the temperature exceeds even one degree, the crystal's purifying property will denature, so please exercise extreme caution.]
I gulped, kkulkkeok.
I had to hit a temperature exactly matching human body heat, relying purely on my visual estimation and senses.
But my dexterity stat had long since soared far beyond the realm of humans.
I placed my hand close to the flame, reading the minute heat, and adjusted the lamp's flame size as if wringing it out.
[The crystal must not be stirred. It must melt naturally through heat alone so that the properties inside the crystal are fully dissolved into the solution.]
I held my breath and watched the inside of the flask.
I don't know how much time passed.
The solid crystal crumbled into clear water, then began to ripple with a faint silver light over the surface.
[Once it begins to ripple with a faint silver light on the surface, melting is complete.]
"Hoo...."
I extinguished the lamp's fire and picked up the next material, the White Phoenix Feather.
It was a pure white, dazzling feather.
[The second step.]
[The White Phoenix Feather possesses entirely different properties depending on the part of the feather.]
[The closer to the base, the stronger the properties related to vitality and flight. The closer to the tip, the more concentrated the properties related to the permanence of the senses.]
[What is required for these eye drops is the property of permanently fixing the recovered eyesight, so you must use only the very tip of the feather.]
Following Guide-nim's explanation, I took out a sharp knife and examined the tip of the feather.
[A 0.5-centimeter segment from the tip of the feather is to be cut and used.]
I stopped breathing and precisely cut exactly 0.5 centimeters from the tip, without even the slightest margin of error.
I plopped the tiny feather fragment, small as a snowflake, into the solution I had just melted.
At that moment, the once-clear liquid turned as pure white as milk.
[Await natural cooling in this state while blocking mana. Forced cooling will cause the fixation property to distribute unevenly.]
"No forced cooling, huh...."
I had no choice but to wait for it to cool on its own down to room temperature, 20 degrees.
After a little over 15 minutes, the pure white liquid, as if by magic, became clear again.
And within it, white light particles like snow began floating around like fireflies.
[Once the liquid clears again and white light particles are suspended on the surface, this step is complete.]
"It's finally the last one."
I put the last remaining material, the Pure White Crystal Flower, into a mortar and began grinding it.
[The third step.]
[The Pure White Crystal Flower has no efficacy on its own.]
[However, because it is in a completely neutral state with no mana imbued in it, it acts as a medium between the two materials without any clash of properties.]
[The seal-incineration property of the Purified Crystal Tears and the permanent fixation property of the White Phoenix Feather have opposing directional forces, and if simply blended, they will cancel each other out.]
[The Pure White Crystal Flower binds both properties together in the middle and integrates them into a single direction.]
I ground the crystal flower with care until it became a fine powder.
[Once the crystal flower is finely ground into powder, the entire amount is to be added into the liquid from this completed step all at once.]
[If added in small portions, the mediating reaction will occur unevenly, and the eye drops' efficacy will drop to less than half.]
I tilted the mortar and poured the white powder into the flask all at once.
[The moment the powder is added, the entire liquid will react violently and emit a strong white light.]
No sooner had Guide-nim's warning fallen than a white light so intense I couldn't open my eyes exploded forth from inside the flask.
[Do not touch it until this reaction has completely subsided.]
I furrowed my brow, clasped my hands behind my back, and stepped back.
After about three minutes, the surging light slowly died down.
Inside the flask, where the light had completely settled, a clear and lustrous silver-white liquid had taken its place.
-Ttiring!
Along with a crisp notification sound, a system window appeared.
[Liberation Eye Drops]
Grade: Unique
[Eye drops that permanently reverse eyesight sealed at a cost. A single drop incinerates the root of the seal, so that the eyesight will never be lost again through the same method.]
Volume: 1 single use
"Hoo... Still, maybe because my skills have improved, I made it in one go without any failure."
I wiped off my sweat and cheered.
It was a tricky process, but I had pulled it off perfectly accordingly.
Once I applied these drops to Cha Seo-yun's eyes, she would be able to see again.
With a joyful heart, I carefully packed the completed eye drops and contacted Hong Chae-yeon.