Nozomu looked to where Taisetsuna was pointing, and on the right side of the door, there was a small shelter with logs. He grabbed as much as he could carry and went to the kitchen.

In there, Taisetsuna was already pouring water from a big bucket into two pans.

When she placed the ten leaves on the table over a metallic tray, she pointed at the stove, "Put the wood inside and light the fire, I am going to dry these leaves."

"Wait, let me take another look at those leaves, first."

Nozomu Shinchaku put the logs inside the stove, and for those who didn’t fit, he put them on the ground. Taisetsuna looked at him as he was inspecting the leaves.

He bent one a little and after smelling it, he asked, "Are you sure you need to dry these? Because they seem to have some sort of liquid inside, and if you dry them, it will evaporate."

"That’s what the book says. I don’t think the book has an error."

"Where did the Priest find this book? Is it rare?"

Taisetsuna grabbed the book and flipped the pages, "It’s just a normal book. I think he got it from a shop owner, like many others we have. Why?"

"No, it’s just, you don’t think it’s weird such a detailed recipe is in that book if a Healing Potion is sold for such a big price? I could bet the recipe has some deliberate mistakes, or else everyone would be able to make High-Grade Potions and gain a fortune."

Taisetsuna shook her head, "I don’t think so, because the plant that makes these leaves is so rare, there is no need to hide the recipe."

Nozomu took the leaves from the plate leaving only two, and said while pointing at them, "You said you need two leaves for a try, dry these. I will use two without drying them. You can also put in your pan the blueberry branch, and I will put the black tea leaves."

"Ok, we can try that. If it doesn’t work, we know where to get more leaves, right?"

While Nozomu was lighting the fire inside the stove with the flint, Taisetsuna created a small Fireball in one hand and one small Wind Tornado in the other. She joined both hands and mixed the Magics. By approaching the metallic tray, she surrounded the two leaves with a Fire Tornado and counted backwards from five, dispersing it immediately when she reached zero.

Nozomu saw flames coming from the holes on the top of the stove and covered them with its lids while Taisetsuna went to grab the other ingredients from the kitchen cabinets and put them all on top of the table, together with a small hourglass. Nozomu waited for the logs to burn completely so that only hot coal was inside the stove, but he got bored with the wait, going to the table to take a seat.

Taisetsuna glanced at the stove, and she flipped the pages of the book while she waited and Nozomu pointed at the hourglass, "What’s the hourglass for?"

"The book says to boil the ingredients for two minutes straight. This miniature hourglass counts down to one minute. With two turns, it takes two minutes."

Nozomu nodded and looked at the recipe, frowning, "I am going to boil for three minutes because two minutes is not enough time to make the leaves soft so that the liquid inside mixes with the water."

"You are making too many changes, you want to make a poison or what?"

Nozomu pointed at the recipe, to the time written in the text, "This recipe looks too fishy, it looks as if someone deliberately made it impossible for someone to make High-Grade Healing Potions by following it. If my hunch is right, you will only be able to make a Medium-Grade Potion with this recipe, or a Low-Grade if you make an error."

"And you think yours will be a High-Grade Potion with so many changes? I am not going to try your Potion for sure! I might end up with three eyes!"

Nozomu spoke with a kinky smile, "Three eyes with that colour would be nice. Or three boobs! That would be even better!"

Nozomu immediately closed his eyes when he saw a downward punch coming to his head. He slowly opened his eyes when he didn’t feel anything and got a poke in the middle of the forehead.

"I am not going to punch you so soon, but if you keep on mocking me, I will make a list, and you will pay for it in a few days with pain!"

Nozomu noticed that the sound of the logs cracking with the fire consuming them came to a halt, and he lifted the lids to check. Seeing only hot coal inside, he placed the two pans with water on the top circular openings of the stove.

While Nozomu was looking at the water inside the pans to check when they started to boil, Taisetsuna asked, “Aren’t you nervous about this? If we succeed, we will be able to sell the Potions for good money.”

Nozomu nodded without looking at her because he was checking to see when the water started to bubble, “I am because having money in our pockets will make things easier at the beginning of our new lives as adults. Do you have everything? How do we take the ingredients from the pans when the mixture is ready?”

Taisetsuna pointed to a long wooden spoon near the small blueberry branch, “With that, of course. Maybe it’s better if you don’t touch the Potion or your strange ability might ruin everything.”

“What, this Potion is magical? Because judging by the ingredients, it looks like a simple energy drink. Except for those weird leaves, of course. Oh, it’s starting to boil! What does it say in the book?”

Taisetsuna flipped the page to the next step, and pointed at a paragraph, “We need to wait for the water to bubble, and then put all the ingredients one at a time. The leaves will be the last ingredient, and that’s when we count the time with the hourglass.”

Nozomu kept on looking at the water, and when the bubbles were coming to the surface at a steady rhythm, he signalled Taisetsuna, and she helped him on putting the ingredients. When they both had two leaves on their left hand, Taisetsuna grabbed the hourglass, and at her signal, they put the extremely rare magical leaves inside the pans, as she flipped the tiny hourglass.

They nervously waited, glancing at the hourglass from the corner of their eyes. After the sand stopped at the end of the second flip, Taisetsuna quickly removed the ingredients and took her pan from the stove, placing it over a wooden board on the rocky counter.

While she was looking at the liquid inside, Nozomu flipped the tiny hourglass again, for another minute. When the last grain of sand fell, he quickly and carefully removed the ingredients from the mixture and placed the pan next to the one of Taisetsuna.

They looked at the two mixtures, and Taisetsuna spoke with surprise in her voice, “No way! Yours is glowing! The book says a perfect High-Grade Healing Potion glows in a yellowish colour, just like yours! Mine has just a faint white glow! You were right! This is so cool!”

“Yeah, it really looks magical. How do we test this? We have to wait until it gets cold, right?”

Taisetsuna immediately created a small Wind Tornado on her hands and placed it around both pans. A few seconds later, the smoke from the heat of the pans disappeared, and she dispersed the Tornados.

She carefully touched both pans with a finger and nodded, “Yes, perfectly safe now to drink.”

“It looks fine to use. How do we test it?”

Taisetsuna quickly took a dagger from her belt and slashed Nozomu’s hand. While he was complaining of the pain, she grabbed the wooden spoon and took a sample of the yellow glowing Potion. She poured a few drops over the wound while holding the separated skin between two fingers to unite it. In less than two seconds, the skin healed, and the wound closed. Not even a scar was visible.

She made a big smile and pointed at the glowing pan with a trembling hand, “You were right! That recipe was misleading! I did a Medium-Grade Potion for sure, but yours is unbelievably powerful! Let’s go make some more with your method!”

They spent the rest of the morning making Potions, and when the Priest arrived after his service in the City’s Church to make their lunch, there were several vials full of yellow glowing Potions over the table. Nozomu gave him four vials, and the Priest warned them not to disclose to anyone how they did it, not even to him, because as soon as everyone found out they made those, for sure a shady group would go after them, to learn their method.

…

After cleaning the kitchen, the Priest went to the City again, to the Healing House, and Nozomu followed Taisetsuna to the stable to get the Unicorns. He looked around and found a small rope that he put around ‘Rampage’ belly and tied it. While the white Unicorn was frowning, Nozomu used the rope to help him mount, and he then put both feet between the rope and the sides of the Unicorn.

Taisetsuna asked with a puzzled face, “It’s a nice idea, to use the rope to mount, but why that strange way of seating?”

“Just to make sure I am not sent flying if he makes a hard stop again. It will also help me to be steady when he runs, without a saddle.”

“He doesn’t look very happy with that.”

Nozomu grabbed the mane of the snorting Unicorn, “It’s his fault, he was the one that almost broke my neck, last time. So, what is your idea, after all? You want to go get more leaves in the forest?”

“No, I thought we could train a little in our usual spot, to see if you remember something.

Nozomu followed her lead thinking that it was no use, he was not Nozomu Shinchaku anymore, and he never used a weapon on Earth or learned how to fight with that strange small shield she gave him.

While running after the happily screaming Cat-kind girl, Nozomu couldn’t hold his laughter. She enjoyed high speeds, that’s for sure. When he noticed, they were already in an empty space, the same spot where he was last time when he opened his eyes and found himself in a strange new World.

As he dismounted, Taisetsuna was already stretching her arms and legs, and Nozomu disguisedly smiled when he saw her tail stretching as well.

He averted his face and looked at the shield on his hand when she turned to him and asked, “Are you ready? I am going to throw a few slow slashes at you, try to avoid or defend yourself with the buckler or your gauntlets.”

Nozomu nodded with doubtful eyes, and for the next ten minutes he did his best to avoid being hit, but unfortunately for him, even Taisetsuna slowest movements were too fast for him, most of the time he couldn’t even see her arm moving, and the sword was again next to his body, almost piercing him.

Taisetsuna jumped back with a graceful flip and tilted her head, “You know, I think your problem is that you are overthinking. You think about me, about my sword, about your buckler. Don’t think! Trust in your muscles’ memory. We have been training these movements since we learned how to walk. Even if your head doesn’t remember, your body does! Let’s go again, don’t think, react!”