Her tongue sat in her mouth like a curled-up dead snake, dry and slimy from dehydration, numb and aching like an overexerted muscle, so fresh the turgid sensation it brought to mind a just-ended colossal cramp. A familiar taste still lingered in her mouth, but she did not remember drinking anything with Viriditas in it the previous evening… Ah, yes. It all came back to her readily now, when she deigned to open her eyes in earnest and her train of thought stirred into motion.

The previous evening, the bath, Zef’s hopeless drunkenness, the bestial, grunting, sweaty, electric sex - both in figurative and literal terms - the then still-sharp pain of her wounds which only served as contrast to amplify the entire experience.

So it was that hungry, thirsty, and aching, she shifted in place and over the course of several minutes got out of bed, just as she had done before taking great care not to wake Zef up.

All in all, she felt great.

Zel then went through her morning routine, as always brushing her teeth with a dental hygiene ration and leaving one for Zef.

Entering the kitchen with the intent to remedy her thirst and hunger, she was met with Sigmund already stood by the stove, pulp in one hand and spatula in the other as he idly watched over some sort of sweet-smelling round cakes sizzling in pig fat. He gave her a look, smiling through his beard as he remarked: “Figured you’d be awake by now. Mind waking up the drunk for breakfast?”

“Mrrhm…” gravelled the slayer before she poured a tall glass of water in the sink, downed it, poured another, downed that one too, and then poured and drank a third one just for good measure.

And indeed she did, returning to their room and waking her lover as gently as she was capable, drawing in the tiniest breath of Fog to plant an electric kiss on her cheek. Zefaris stirred, her eyes fluttered open… And she groaned in pain, clutching her temple, uttering something about a hangover immediately followed by a tirade of mumbled swears. Zel couldn’t help but chuckle to herself as she let her know that breakfast was ready, taking her leave and grabbing her Tablet on the way out.

It sent a stabbing feeling up her arm, the familiar sensation of the device reaching deep as it tried to comprehend a major change such as a new trait. The glowing projection on its surface doubtlessly read something about scanning and a new trait.

She put down her tablet on the table and decided to make some more of that good Viriditas-spiked citronade while Sig worked on those weird-looking pancakes, only for him to notice and tell her to, “Look in the fridge, try usin’ the blue stuff instead. Think it’ll help with Zef’s hangover too.”

So she did, and indeed, in that cold-box there were two clear seal-bottles with weird new seal patterns and containing that blue liquid, labeled “Tireless Draught”. Mixing the citronade using the same ratios of ingredients just with the Liquid Vigor substituted by this would’ve resulted in an all to sour beverage, so she used a little less and added some extra sugar. A question crossed her mind: “Does the fridge run on Gelum?”

“...Uh, probably, you’d have to check to be sure,” he guessed, briefly looking away from his pulp. “There’s some industrial models that work differently, but those screech like an unoiled engine.”

A burned smell filled the air and he double-took, panickedly flipping the slightly charred pancake. Zel finished the citronade, put it on the table, poured herself a glass, sat down, and finally took a look at her Tablet, willing it to show her the traits list.

Two new traits were indeed present.

Essentia Gut Eternal Beast

“Essentia gut?” she wondered, double-tapping the trait. Was that the weird feeling in her stomach? An actual, physical organ for storing physical essentia? Immediately, numerous considerations ran through her head regarding how such a trait would affect and be affected by the others.

ESSENTIA GUT Type: Essentia Storage, Recombination, Expulsion Trigger: Circumstantial

Before the Effects and Advancement listings could render out, the projection flickered and changed, as if the Tablet responding to her inner questioning.

Synergies Detected: Storm Engine Metabolic Alkahest Osmotic Essentia Absorption ESSENTIA CRUCIBLE Type: Essentia Containment, Manipulation and Regurgitation Trigger: At-Will Effects: Essentia Containment B-, Improved Essentia Digestion A+, Internal Alchemy, Oral Essentia Expulsion B+ Advancement: Unknown

That was… More than she had expected. Internal Alchemy in particular brought to mind the image of perhaps quickly kicking back several different-coloured vials only to spew forth an elemental assault with a fraction of the exertion or preparation necessary for something like Dance of the Fireflies. Or alternatively, perhaps she could simply eat greenery and digest it for pure Viriditas. Now that she thought on it, it made perfect sense - how else would the Rot-bear have sustained itself by eating decaying things if it couldn’t efficiently extract the Nigredo that sustained its upside-down metabolism?

The subject of doing alchemy in her own gut would get plenty of time later. She checked the next trait.

ETERNAL BEAST Type: Damage Control Trigger: At-Will (Consumes Fog or Metabolized Essentia (Aether or Vitae)) Effects: Internal Blood Control C, Toxin Tolerance A-, Self-Reconstruction B+, Rapid Coagulation B- Advancement: Use this ability to survive lethal dismemberment.

A simple description that, in retrospect, made perfect sense. It was curious that instead of Fog - as it had shown when she first obtained Stormsurge - it now read Aether, perhaps because she had learned of the fact that Fog was merely a form of Aether. Only the word “Vitae” failed to ring any bells - or rather, she knew the word, but she couldn’t quite grasp what it meant, a buried memory. Sig placed before her a plate stacked with several of his pancakes, also placing a large bowl filled with a brownish, speckled substance in the middle of the table. The smell of the pancakes was…

“Potatoes?”