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“Is it better to eat this right away? It’s best when it’s freshest, right?”

Iarin, after thanking Jinseong, stared at the flower and posed this question.

“Normally, when it comes to stuff like this, freshness is key. Eating it fresh means you don’t have to worry about parasites….”

Well, it was a bit strange to classify it as a question.

A question is meant to be part of a conversation and is thrown out to get a response… Iarin’s words had some semblance of a question, but she wasn’t waiting for an answer. Instead, she was unfolding it as if she were answering her own question.

It was a sight reminiscent of a wolf staring at a piece of meat dripping with blood.

A particularly hungry wolf, if I might add.

Iarin looked at the flower in her hand as if she was struggling with the desire to pop it into her mouth, stealing glances at Jinseong as if silently asking if she could eat it.

That burning gaze was chock-full of unspoken pressure saying, ‘I wish someone would tell me it’s okay to eat it.’

“You can eat it now. From the looks of you, there shouldn’t be any issues if you do….”

“Oh, really? Then I’ll eat it!”

Permission granted.

She was allowed to eat it!

Before Jinseong could even finish his sentence, Iarin shoved the flower into her mouth.

Just like when she consumed elixirs before, she closed her mouth tightly, chewing diligently as if to not miss even a drop of juice or piece.

The reason for this meticulous chewing was simple.

While it would be easiest to just swallow without chewing, that would lead to a slight loss of nutrients.

Through her experiences with elixirs, Iarin learned that most elixirs needed to be chewed into tiny bits and swallowed to prevent any loss during the digestion process.

Of course, that loss was minimal and didn’t make a significant difference in reality, but…

She was acutely aware of the elixir’s exorbitant price and how difficult it was to acquire one after dealing with endless connections and shenanigans, so she didn’t mind going through the trouble.

Perhaps this showed her own love for family.

Even though she usually called Lee Yang-hoon “old-fashioned,” if one were to see her endure the abominable taste of the elixir just to avoid losing any of it brought from Yang-hoon’s hard work, one could feel the affection behind it.

But even so, despite having grown accustomed to it, the unique terrible flavor of elixirs… every time she tried different kinds, that nauseating sensation approached her like a whole new world.

Once again, she braced herself for the unpleasant taste to wash over her.

Like that horrid taste reminiscent of mixing thirty ounces of vomit into a nose-dripping blend when she ate mushrooms that helped boost her inner energy; or that mouth-numbing feeling from that horridly spicy and bitter taste when taking the Milky Way herb, almost like having her senses drift to the stars…

It was likely that the elixir that Jinseong brought had a similarly distinct flavor.

Since it was related to life force or yang energy, perhaps it might have a hot, spicy taste.

Iarin thought this way.

But suddenly…

“Huh? Why does it taste good?”

To her surprise, the flavor… was pleasant.

Instead of that horrid taste, she felt none at all, and the texture of the petals was even soft. It was a bit chewy, but not tough, giving it a feel like she was eating soft gelatin due to its smooth texture. Furthermore, as she continued to chew, a gentle aroma lingered in her mouth, reminiscent of a lotus yet also akin to that of wildflowers.

It felt as if she was indulging in a uniquely delightful snack rather than an elixir.

She thought that if the other elixirs could be just like this, that would be fantastic.

‘It’s no wonder France put this front and center.’

Jinseong nodded at the sight of Iarin enjoying herself.

Before the rewind, France had started with mandrake and created countless elixirs to sell.

But among those many elixirs, the most popular was undeniably this Yixian Qinglian.

Those wanting to purchase elixirs from France, whether they were warriors or mere folks, sought out this Yixian Qinglian above all else. There were even cases of people buying it just to resell it.

The reason being that this herb not only had great efficacy but was also a delicacy in itself.

The taste itself wasn’t particularly outstanding, but… the gentle scent of Yixian Qinglian lingered long in the mouth and refreshed the mind and revitalized the body each time one inhaled it. Moreover, its efficacy was to repel illnesses, invigorate, and boost one’s life force. To top it off, it embraced yang energy, making it great for tea, incense, and health food. It could even be used as a substitute for an aphrodisiac.

The downside was that this Yixian Qinglian was a blood-sucking plant and that creating high-quality Yixian Qinglian required human blood. Thus, many people hesitated to purchase it despite its remarkable efficacy and fragrance.

‘Everything in existence is cyclical. Humans die and become earth, plants grow from that earth, animals feed on the plants, and then humans prey on those animals. With such a perspective, what’s the big deal if it grows by consuming human blood?’

But that was merely a trivial shortcoming.

The fact that it thrived by consuming human blood was no major fault…

Before the rewind, it was even common to see humans eat other humans. It was a given to prey on travelers and to imprison other races, raising them like livestock to consume. In South America, they even recorded the taste differences between races or ethnicities and created recipes based on those differences like the Aztecs did in the past.

Not to mention, there were frequent occasions of feeding corpses to omnivorous livestock, rearing them, and then consuming them thereafter.

There was also the common occurrence of secretly using corpses as feed while promoting clean breeding, and as for the surfeit of corpses, methods for making fertilizer from human remains became widely shared. This fertilizer was effectively used for growing crops.

Thinking about all that, this Yixian Qinglian seemed almost angelic…

Jinseong thought this as he watched Iarin smile with joy after finishing the Yixian Qinglian.

‘Well, I’ve eaten it now… Hmm. Since it’s not purely a potion of yang energy, it should naturally awaken life force and harmonize yin and yang energy, thus fostering not only the development of the body but also aiding in the martial arts I’m honing. It seems all is well.’

There didn’t seem to be any problems.

Jinseong felt relieved at that realization and turned to leave.

He planned to head out to the garden to decompose his body, after all.

It seemed a bit off to unleash countless insects inside the mansion.

Just when Jinseong was about to say goodbye…

“Hey, this is weird. After eating this elixir, I suddenly thought of our school elevator!”

Iarin said something odd.

“Elevator?”

“Yeah. There are elevators where the clubs are… Oh, haven’t I mentioned this before?”

“Go ahead.”

“Our school elevators are categorized into several types, you see? It’s because of summon creatures or experiments and stuff. But there are quite a few stories related to these elevators.”

While somewhat tilting her head in confusion, Iarin continued her tale about the elevators.

She spoke of secret floors one could access by pushing panels in a certain order, bizarre events in elevators at midnight leading to other worlds, or creatures that looked similar to elevators appearing at night imitating them…

She kept going on about the countless tales she had heard about elevators, then frowned slightly, crossing her arms as if she simply found it all hard to grasp.

“But I don’t get it. It’s not like I had an epiphany or anything, why did I suddenly think of elevators? Normally, I’d think of beautiful nature or something when eating elixirs.”

Why was that?

What was going on?

It’s not like she had fallen in love with an elevator.

What could it possibly mean…

Iarin kept tilting her head.

And Jinseong…

‘Instinct reads the innate information. This information isn’t merely limited to a priori knowledge but encapsulates all experiences. So what information did Iarin’s instinct read, and what did it conjure up? Did it identify a commonality within the unconscious? What similarities made her connect Yixian Qinglian to the elevator?’

He understood that Iarin’s instincts had been honed to a sharpness beyond mere intuition, sharpened through her talents and the martial arts she was practicing. Furthermore, her rate of progress was even faster than before the rewind, leading him to conclude that her instinct was far from trivial.

The conclusion he reached was this.

‘Huh. So, it seems that a reason she wasn’t able to shine before the rewind was related to her school.’

 

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