Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"And then, you drank a cup of potion that would cause blindness in the left eye, but because it was diluted hundreds of times, the effect was not obvious. Some mint was added to the potion to mask the unique stench of the concoction, quite a clever idea,"

the Saint said with a smile.

The second potion did sound like it was being prepared as a magic potion. However, the fact that the potion was diluted by a hundred times and deliberately mixed with mint seemed problematic. Combined with the first potion, the first two seemed designed to mask what she truly intended Shard to ingest...

"Oh, the third one is a very ancient concoction. It appeared back when I was much younger, and to think it's still around in the next era,"

the Saint chuckled again:

"It has many names, but it has only one main purpose, to identify gender."

"Identify gender?"

Shard asked hesitantly, then began to think about more.

"Yes, male creatures that drink it will tremble all over, but females will have no effect. In very ancient times, well, during the Third Era, some terrible and strange things dominated the world. To distinguish them from humanoid intelligent beings, people back then invented a series of potions, this being just one of the less conspicuous ones... Looking at you, you seem to have realized something."

"Yes... a conspicuous target masking the real objective... I see, that means the mission to retrieve the cargo..."

Shard squinted his eyes.

Miss Galina's cargo retrieval mission, looking back, seemed reasonable yet always felt odd. That strange feeling now finally made sense at this moment; maybe, this mission was akin to that one. The main focus might not have been to bring back the makeup box, but for Shard to try opening it.

He still remembered when he had handed over the makeup box to the maid in the carriage, she had asked him to try opening it once.

"Using the makeup box to determine I'm not a woman, using magic potion to determine I'm a man... what is this for?"

He pondered for a while, then looked up to ask again:

"Sorry, I may be a bit greedy, but I want to know if I am a man."

Getting a direct answer was much simpler than guessing. He believed both his soul and body were, but given the current situation, he needed confirmation to be at peace.

The Saint said cheerfully:

"That's an interesting question, but I can answer it. Your body, your spirit, they are both purely male, and I assure you of this myself."

Shard felt much more reassured.

What exactly the red-haired Grand Witch intended, Shard still had no clue. Nor was it a good opportunity to analyze the clues at hand.

There wasn't much time left.

"God, I come to fulfill the final wish,"

he steadied his mind and said, lifting his head. The young man wearing the ridiculous Jester hat clapped his hands, and only then did three children finally emerge again from the aisles between the toy shelves.

They recognized Shard and understood he was there to fulfill a wish, so they showed genuine smiles.

Shard hoped these smiles could continue, especially for the boy who wanted to grow, after tasting the magic potion.

The magic potion hadn't carried over to the past Space-Time, which Shard had anticipated. Though the situation was less than ideal, at least he was not unprepared. Shard planned to concoct the magic potion himself, having never learned but having inquired about the techniques from Priest Augustus; it was not a complicated magic potion recipe.

"Do you have the ingredients for the magic potion here? I've learned of a recipe that can help children grow,"

he asked the Saint, who nodded lightly:

"What do you need?"

"The pistils of the Nine-Leaf Star Flower."

"Available."

The Saint took out a whole flower from the drawer of the counter, and the boy yearning for growth watched them with expectant eyes, holding his toy wooden sword. It seemed the Saint had blessed them once more, allowing them to understand Shard's language.

"Two live Star Jumper Worms."

"Available."

He took out two live worms from the drawer.

"Juice."

"Possible."

With a squeeze, a green, disgusting liquid oozed out from between his fingers, falling into a small bottle that had appeared on the table at some unknown time.

The boy's complexion turned pale.

"Nine drops of genetic material from the Barefoot Fire Ape."

"Such horrible stuff."

Still, he took a small bottle from the drawer; it contained a transparent liquid with some white matter.

The boy turned completely pale:

"Wait, sir, is the Magic Potion to be taken orally or..."

"Of course, orally. Also, adult Fire Tongue Sheep dung and saliva."

"Interesting ingredients."

The bottles were placed one by one on the counter; just looking at these things could make one retch. The youngest boy and the eldest girl had already moved far away from the counter, while the boy holding a wooden knife seemed to be trying to say something as his lips moved.

"Earwax, eyelashes, hair, and blood of ordinary people of three different sexes and ages."

"I'm quite looking forward to the finished product."

More and more small bottles appeared there.

"Gentlemen..."

The boy spoke softly, Shard was seriously recalling the formula so he didn't hear, while the Saint was cooperating with him.

"Finally, the green phlegm of a hybrid animal between a horse and a donkey."

"Ugh~"

The girl made an exaggerated retching sound and hid in the middle of the shelves with the youngest boy. The latter was truly scared, while the former seemed to be enjoying the spectacle.

As for the boy with the toy wooden knife, he now showed an almost collapsing expression.

Spirit brought out the materials, Shard looked at them solemnly, knowing he faced a huge task. With only seven minutes left, he planned to try twice; if both failed, he would change the strategy and use Wordplay to fulfill the boy's growth needs.

"Gentlemen, I..."

Although the boy holding the toy knife was young, he was aware of the lethality of the items on the counter at his age.

"Oh, and the rotten sour milk! I actually forgot about this!"

Shard slapped his head, and the Saint also laughed as he took out a bottle of milk from under the counter. It wasn't just sour; Shard saw a terrifying layer of brown and green stuff floating on the surface of the milk.

"Gentlemen, I don't want to..."

"Is that all the ingredients?"

God confirmed with the detective from the future, Shard pondered:

"Honey is not necessary, it's just for flavor adjustment."

"Alright, then I'll help you mix it."

God smiled happily, the so-called powerless deity pointed at the items on the table, and they merged together in the light, forming a terrifying potion inside a teacup.

Not only was the taste terrible, but the color was also quite frightful. The color matched the one prepared by Priest Augustus, God could not be mistaken.

At this point, Shard finally took a deep breath. Although God asked him to fulfill the wish, it seemed He was not unwilling to help; He merely needed Shard to find a way.

"Yes, that's it, the Magic Potion - The Price of Growth."

Saying this, he turned away from the counter, waved at the boy with the toy knife, and tried to show the kindest expression he thought he had:

"Come and experience the growth you desired; it will be truly unforgettable."

Because the smell was so bad, Shard had to speak in a muffled, grumpy voice. Seeing Shard looking at him, the boy opened his eyes wide, stepped back, and subconsciously raised his toy wooden knife in front of him:

"No, I don't want to drink it, you're a liar, this isn't the growth I wanted!"