CHAPTER 509: UNDERWATER BREATHING POTION [II]

Air socket fruit looks like a gelatinous slime, only in a smaller shape, and looks like a balloon filled with water at first glance. One can even see the liquid swirling inside the fruit itself.

"Careful, handling it. If it explodes on its own volition, the liquid inside will become a corrosive material, making it unusable as a result. So make sure not to shake it a lot or disturb the liquid inside. It is very volatile, and one wrong move and the fruit would be gone to waste."

Elaina glanced at the Almanac, and the real name of the fruit soon appeared.

"Ah, and here I thought it was something else, it was the Gelatinous Dynamite Fruit. No wonder I don’t have any idea what it was," Elaina said as she grabbed the fruit carefully.

"Oh? You know this fruit?" the Grand Sage was surprised.

"I have the pleasure of seeing it once in the past when I was still the Empress of the Luminiera Kingdom. Back then, I didn’t know what it was used for, but to think it would be an ingredient for Underwater Breathing Potion. But how does it work? I thought it was just used before as something used as corrosive lobbing weapon by some adventurers to monsters?" Elaina quickly spun a small lie that she knows about it while also reading in her almanac what it was usually used for.

"The liquid is not corrosive itself when it isn’t triggered, making it an ideal liquid that will be used to create the air bubble that will store the air that one should need underwater. And thanks to the other ingredients, it would compliment one another, creating a perpetual air pump underwater for the divers, allowing them to freely breathe underwater and act like they live underwater for years. Of course, the potion has a duration but considering how long the duration it gives, one can breathe underwater for a day with only two potion bottles."

Elaina looked at the fruit in her hand. Despite the texture being too soft, it is also the main reason why it is so volatile. One wrong move and the fruit explodes and can cause serious damage that is much similar how acids work.

She carefully hold the fruit in her hand and looked at the other ingredients and aside from this new fruit in her hands, the rest are easy to obtain considering that some of them are being sold directly on Dr. Fey’s clinic as part of the herbs that she sells for people.

"Is that the only fruit you needed, farmer?" The Grand Sage asked.

"Yes, thank you for this, Grand Sage. I will make sure to repay you after this," Elaina bows in gratitude.

"No need. I am happy to help out. I would even be happy to join the expedition myself and have a good look at this Leviathan but considering my old age and my desire to remain in a peaceful time, I would rather avoid to do that and just leave the matters to other people willing to shoulder the burden themselves."

After talking with the Grand Sage, Elaina left the tower and returned home to tinker on the fruit and see how she can use this to grow the fruit herself and have it produce necessary fruits for the supply of Underwater Breathing Potion. She had plenty of time to grow the fruits and the other herbs herself which means the next thing she needed to do is buy saplings directly from Dr. Fey with the herbs she needed to ensure that she can grow them and does not need to keep on relying to Dr. Fey for herbs. She needed a large amount of herbs and she can’t afford to keep emptying the stocks she had.

But that is not what she was going to be having a problem. Her problem is how to grow more of the Gelatinous Dynamite fruit. After contemplating for a while, she decided to ask the God of Farming for help. Instead of wasting the fruit, she needed to get a God to handle and help out on how to deal with the problem the fruit has.

"Are you there, God of Farming?" Elaina asked.

"[Yeah. What’s the problem?]"

"Can you help me with something? I needed to propagate a fruit that I needed for the task that the Goddess of Taming issued to me. The problem is that the fruit is very volatile and one wrong move and the fruit would explode and expel corrosive liquid that can melt many things in the process."

The God of Farming went silent for a few seconds before he responds.

"[Oh, that fruit. I have done that many times before. Here, let me teach you the steps to get its seeds to be planted. Make sure to have some container where you can place the liquid inside.]"

"Do I need a knife?"

"[No. Don’t bring any tools. That is a recipe for disaster as the fruit will explode the moment you try to slice it with a knife. We do it barehanded. Don’t worry, follow my instructions and you won’t have to worry about the fruit and its liquid becoming corrosive.]"

Elaina trust the God of Farming and quickly followed his instructions by grabbing a bowl deep enough to hold lots of liquid. Once the bowl is there, the God of Farming issued the first instruction.

"[Alright. First, put the fruit gently to the bowl and make sure to hold the top tip of the fruit while doing so. That way, the liquid inside will not shake and the fruit safely drops inside.]"

Following the instructions, another followed.

"[Next, pinch the side of the fruit, the one near tip you are holding. You can tell it was that part since it has a more opaque texture compared to its whole body. Pinch it so that you can pull its skin off. Lightly drag the skin down like how you peel a banana and let the liquid flow from the peeled skin.]"

She did as she told and the liquid slowly flows out of the fruit. It was like water compared to how one can see the liquid when it is still inside the fruit. The sweet smell of the liquid is like honey for some reason. But she is pretty sure the fruit isn’t contained with honey. It’s just that this fruit smelled sweet.

"[Alright, repeat the process until all the liquid is fully drained. As long as the entire fruit shell is still on the bowl, don’t shake the liquid just yet and let it flow. The shell will slowly float from the liquid, making the separation of the liquid and the shell, easy.]"

As the instructions continue, Elaina also continues to follow it. And soon enough the fruit was fully peeled, leaving behind the blue transparent shell floating in the liquid.

"[Lastly, pull the shell slowly from the liquid. Don’t rush and pull it quick as the shell will trigger the volatile nature of the liquid and your progress will be ruined. Don’t rush it. Don’t worry if some liquid falls from the shell, let it do so. It won’t ruin the liquid, just don’t quickly pull it out of the bowl.]"

Slowly lifting the shell out of the liquid, the remains of the fruit is now a shell that is more of a gelatin than a shell and devoid of its previous look. It doesn’t look like the fruit it once was before.

"[Now, don’t throw away the gelatinous part of the fruit. Pull it out from the tip of the fruit. Don’t worry, you can now confidently pull it out violently, it will not become corrosive nor it will explode. Just pull it out completely from the tip.]"

Following the instruction once more, Elaina realizes that the gelatinous texture of the shell is slowly drying up now that it has no longer held the liquid it once has. It was like it had dried up. As soon as the shell is out of the tip, the next instruction followed.

"[Alright, now this is the final step to find the seed. Put the gelatinous shell into a bowl of water and soak it there. Make sure to soak it real good to make the seeds appear. The shell will prevent it from getting exposed in the water making it hard. It’s seeds are currently inside its gelatinous texture and the only way to remove it for planting is by soaking it with water.]"

"That’s it? How many seeds does it yield per fruit?" Elaina asked.

"[Three to five seeds depending on how big it is. Based on the size on your fruit, it should be around three to four. Could be more though.]"

The shell seems to be hydrophobic since the water seems to just slide through after putting it on the water. It even floats there and can’t sink. Still, Elaina made sure to put more strength in washing up the gelatinous shell as much as she can and it didn’t take long for a small green ball popped out of the shell.

"[Congrats, the seed is now out. Now, plant this seed near the water and watch it grow by itself for the next few days. That’s how you do it.]"