The Greatest Sinner

After Evan's words, Zak looked at him seriously and said quietly:" Bring your thing. I'll wait for you at my place."

Evan nodded, took one last sip of red wine and went for the bag with the dark green root. Evan knew it was at a valuable plant. He was sure he needed to show it to Zak for evaluation.

In his opinion, Zak must have known something for sure. Evan was naturally most interested in the effect of the root and its value.

The young man quickly ran to his room, picked up the root and headed for Zak. The root was in a small pouch, so none of the servants saw it.

Click.

Evan opened the front door and entered Zak's private quarters. To his surprise, there was pretty simple there. A table, a chair, a closet, a couple of paintings, and that was it. The only luxurious thing was the huge, solid bed. He walked over and sat down in the chair across from Zak, placing a sack of roots on the table.

"What`s there?" Zak didn't know what Evan wanted to show him.

"Look at this. I got it as a reward from a merchant for rescuing him from bandits. I'd like to know how valuable this thing is." Evan spoke slowly and clearly, while pulling a green root from the pouch.

Zak took the plant and inspected it carefully. From his gaze, Evan realized that the commander definitely knew something about the root and wasn't the first time he'd seen it.

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"Not a bad haul, boy, not bad at all. It's one hundred percent the "Fragrant Swamp Root". Zak said confidently, putting the root back where it belonged.

"And what good is it?" That was all that mattered to Evan.

Zak grinned and said slowly: "Well, there are two options here. The first is to turn it into an ointment, which is excellent for burns and poison. And the second is to make a pill that speeds up your mana accumulation rate by 10% for a week, and well, you can also make tea from it, ahaha."

Evan didn't answer anything, he was thinking about the best way to use the root.

<If I make a pill out of it, I can train more. Except the ointment might come in handy in an emergency.> Evan knew that Zak had many different herbs, too. But he needed to have his own resources, which would always be at him.

After a while, Evan made a decision, "Let's make a pill of it. And one more thing, I'm not going to sell it, of course, but how valuable is it?"

Evan wondered about the origin of this mysterious root that the trader had hidden so carefully.

"It is not a particularly rare plant. However, it is very difficult to obtain. The thing is that it grows in the marshes, more exactly, at the bottom. Moreover, it has a weak poisonous effect. The poison of the root itself is not able to harm a man. But water, which has been infused with poison for years can be deadly.

Zak let out a small sigh and continued: "Fragrant Swamp Roots" are quite plentiful. The problem is that they take a very long time to grow. It takes as long as fifteen years to be considered mature and have all the right qualities."

"Hmm, it turns out I was rewarded handsomely. I hope this root is ripe?" Because of Zak's story, Evan began to worry that the root might be completely useless.

"Yeah. I'm no expert, of course, but I think this root is at least twenty years old, it`s just you need."

"When will the pill be ready?" Evan didn't know how long it would take to prepare the cure. But he needed that information to make a training plan.

"Don't worry, I think it'll be ready in a week."

These words shocked Evan, causing him to frown slightly, "Does one pill take that long to prepare?" He thought it was rather strange.

In response, Zak only laughed out loud, "AHAHAH, no, of course, not. The process itself will only take a couple of hours. The problem is that you need an alchemist to do it. I have an acquaintance, but he lives very far away. So three days there and three days back, plus the process, that's your week."

Evan nodded and immersed himself in his thoughts. The existence of alchemists gave him many perspectives.<So, in addition to magic, this world also has a lot of medicine and alchemy. My new life is getting more interesting every day>

Evan has always had a taste for the unknown. In his past life, even though he was the strongest dark magician, for example, he could easily spend a lot of time researching an unknown insect. All because of a big interest and excitement.

"I'll leave the root to you and go practice." Evan was about to leave when suddenly Zak stopped him.

"Wait, Evan, while you're here, there's something else I need to tell you. It has to do with the "Void Liquid."

The young man quickly returned to his seat and began to listen him intently.

"As you know, when there is no room left for mana in the "Warp", it begins to condense in the "Void Liquid."

Zak's voice was quiet and his tone serious. Like last time, he wasn't going to tell Evan about his incredible speed.

"Your last result was 25 drops in four days, pretty good.

Now let's talk about the "Warp"`s ends. You only need a thousand drops to get the first end and turn the "Warp" into a One-Pointed Star."

Evan was surprised by such a large and small number at the same time.

<If you're unlucky and have absolutely no talent for magic, it can take several years to get a thousand drops and vice versa>

At that moment, Evan realized how important talent was in this world.

It seemed that Zak had read his mind: "Don't think about speed. You cannot get a talent for magic by force, but you can speed up the "Condensation". But it takes money and resources and connections."

This was good news for Evan, for he considered his speed to be quite normal. Evan thought that if there were any problems they could be solved with wealth.

"But it's not that simple. You can't break through "Barriers" with outside resources. And even if talent helps, nevertheless it doesn't help very much."

"Barriers?" Evan didn't know what the word meant. But he knew from Zak's voice that it was something important.

"Yes, on the way to the One-Pointed Star, absolutely every magician encounters what are called Barriers"". There are usually three of them before the first end. In short, once you get to a certain point, you're just no longer able to condense the "Void Liquid."

Zak told it that it wasn't a problem at all, but Evan understood the complexity of the situation.

"So, how do I break through the "Barriers"?"

Zak smiled and slowly replied, "You need to get better at magic. Money or talent won't help you. The better you understand the magic itself, the easier it will be for you to break through the barrier."

Evan didn't really understand what Zak meant, and it could be seen it in his face.

"It could be your experience, your skills, your spells, even your skills in alchemy. It all has to do with magic and can help you break through "Barriers"."

In fact, a talent influences how fast you will advance in a particular field. However, it wasn't uncommon for magicians with white "Warp" to outperform geniuses with purple "Warp" a hundredfold.

It was all about perseverance and the desire to be better. No matter how much of a genius you are, you won't get anywhere if you don't put in some effort. Geniuses can master a spell faster than other people, but if they're lazy they'll be banally overtaken.

"Well, you could just say I have to train like the damned."

"AHAHAHA, yeah, you're right. I told you that, so you could concentrate on training. You'll still have time to do the "Creation". It wouldn't do any good if the thoughts about the "Star" distracted you."

Zak intended to bring his plan to fruition, the denouement of which he would see at the Academy of Magic . So he tried to provide Evan with the most comfortable and efficient conditions.

Evan didn't answer anything, but simply nodded and left for the training ground.

Thus, a whole month had passed and it was time for a sparring session between Evan and the daughter of Zak's good friend.