Another chapter should be posted in a few minutes.
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With Meliae and Sino in hand, Garnet began to work on her Alchemy. One of the biggest restrictions in Alchemy was having the right type of spirit needed to create certain items. In general, fire, wind, and earth were needed for metals. Fire and water were needed for medicines. Earth and wind were great at controlling temperatures and heating. With this, she was finally able to create better medicine, one that was red in color. The liquid that made up the medicine almost looked like blood.
Garnet used Meliae to grind the Magic Grass into a powder. Nuria provided the heat. Mazu controlled the movement of the medicine. Sino, Mazu, and Meliae then all worked together to control the temperature. The results, were much better.
Name: Healing Potion
Quality: High
Effect: Increases health regeneration by 80 per second for 20 seconds.
Stat Increase: Intelligence +1
New Recipe: Remedy
It was signficantly more effective than the low ones. It healed for over 50% more and lasted twice as long. It could almost heal Garnet from a near death state to full health in a mere 20 seconds. However, this was still not the best. After all, she knew that Item Quality could reach the Exceptional level and that was still not the top.
As a result, Garnet continued to refine her process using the Magic Grass that she had created. The color changed from red to purple and white steam rose from it. Suddenly, she received a notification of a double skill level up and two stat increases.
Stat Increase: Dexterity +1
Stat Increase: Intelligence +1
New Recipe: Nectar
With a change like that, Garnet immediately inspected what she had created.
Name: Healing Potion
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Increases health regeneration by 100 per second for 30 seconds.
A Masterpiece quality potion. "Was this the highest quality?" Garnet thought to herself.
"It looks like poison," said Riley. "I would never drink anything purple."
"I think this might be able to save lives," said Garnet. The problem was that Garnet did not know anyone who specialized in making medicines, so she had no idea how good it actually was. She decided to take a look at the new recipes first.
Recipe: Remedy
Requires: 1 Healing Potion, 1 Antidote, Water Spirit
MP Cost: 500
Note: Heals status abnormalities
It was an item that was capable of healing almost anything, but Garnet did not have the Flower Nectar to create an Antidote yet.
Recipe: Nectar
Requires: 2 Drops of Flower Nectar, Water, Wood Spirit
MP Cost: 100
Note: Increases mana regeneration by 50 per second for 10 seconds.
A mana potion. Flower Nectar seemed to be an important ingredient for making medicine, but Garnet could not get her hands on it, so she could not make any progress. Even if the effects were useless to her, if it was needed for other recipes, the item itself was still important. For now though, she had purple potions that could heal significant injuries. With all of the potions bottled up, she had fifty potions in all. Twenty green ones, twenty red ones, and ten purple.
With nothing else to do, Garnet brought them to the Guild, hoping that Hagel knew someone who might be interested. "I haven't seen you for a few days," said Hagel.
"I was busy working on this," said Garnet as she took out three bottles. One of each of the green, red, and purple healing potions.
"What are these?" asked Hagel.
"Healing Potions," said Garnet. "Do you know anyone who might want them?"
"It depends on the quality," said Hagel. "Healing potions are rare because few mages spend time to make them, but the poorly made ones are nearly worthless because the results are insignificant."
"Do you know how much these are worth?" Garnet asked.
"I'm no expert on medicine," said Hagel. "But I can get someone to look at them if you're willing to wait."
"Sure," said Garnet. She and Riley sat down on the tables nearby.
"Looking for some help?" asked a man. He had a sword and bow on his back. He looked like some kind of soldier.
Name: Darril
Level: 10
Class: Ranger
Sub-class: None
Stats: High Dexterity
"No thanks," said Garnet. "We're just waiting to hear back from the receptionist."
"I can help you if you need any wild monsters slain," said Darril. "I also know someone who is friends with one of the King's guards."
"That's not what were here for," said Riley. "Just go away."
Darril reached his arm around Riley and put his left arm on Riley's shoulder. Immediately, Riley reached across her shoulder with her right arm and twisted his fingers.
"AH," Darril screamed.
Garnet looked around and saw that people were looking at Riley.
"She told you she doesn't need your help," said Riley. "Now go away before I break it. Am I clear?"
"Yes," Darril cried.
"Good," said Riley. She let go. Darril ran off holding his arm.
That was the first time Garnet saw Riley mad like that. In the past, she usually held it in. Riley did not. "Is something wrong?" Garnet asked.
"I just don't like being touched very much," said Riley. "I guess I kind of lost it."
"I've never seen you act like that before," said Garnet. "You're usually like a doormat, quiet and unnoticed, even when people are walking all over you."
"Ever since I became like this I don't like the way people look at me," said Riley. "No matter how much I get used to living as a woman, being stared at as one still feels weird."
"Would you like your body to be male when it is made?" asked Garnet.
"I think that would be even weirder," said Riley. "After all, I've been living as a woman for nearly as long as I can remember."
Riley had been affected by Garnet's memories. Even if Riley recovered his memories, he too would end up like Garnet. A combination of the two personalities though Riley seemed to have taken on only some of Garnet's traits.
With nothing to do, Garnet looked through the requests board. It was better than sitting at a table waiting for someone to harass Garnet or Riley again. There were still few requests that she was qualified to do. The low ranking hunts were practically non-existent.
Soon after, Hagel came out. "Come with me," he said to Garnet.
Garnet and Riley followed him upstairs to the second floor and into a quiet room with strange square like panels. She could not hear a single sound from the outside. "This room feels weird," said Garnet.
"This room is for special meetings," said Hagel. "The walls are designed to absorb sound. Not a single word spoken here will ever reach outside."
"What are we doing here?" asked Riley.
"I had someone take a look at it, but they were unable to analyze it," said Hagel. "So, he called for someone higher, a Court Magician, who now wants to meet with you."
"What's a Court Magician?" asked Garnet.
"A court magician is one of the mages that are employed by the King himself," said Hagel. "They are very strong mages."
"So what does this court magician want with me?" asked Garnet.
"I don't know," said Hagel.
The door opened and in came a man with a brown mage robe with a hood that covered him from head to toe. He removed his hood and revealed himself. He was a middle aged man with black hair and brown eyes. "I came to meet with the one who created those potions," said the man.
"That's me," said Garnet.
The man looked at Garnet. "Real funny," the man said. "It's you isn't it?" asked the man as he pointed to Riley.
"Me?" said Riley. "No."
"You give off the feeling of mana," said the man. "It has to be you."
Riley pointed to Garnet. "She's the mage your looking for," said Riley.
Garnet had the appearance of a fifteen year old girl. It would be difficult for anyone to believe someone who was so young to be a talented mage. Most of them spent their whole lives studying just to develop a few spells. Talented mages like Zedd was exceptional.
"You have no idea how much I want to hurt you right now," said Garnet. "But since this is business, I won't."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with do you?" said the man as he channeled mana. "I am Tim, a court magician employed by the King himself. One of the greatest mages in Anzio!"
It felt like the man was going to cast a powerful spell.
Name: Tim
Level: 22
Class: Earth Mage
Sub-Class: Alchemist
Stats: High Intelligence
He was not bad, but he was still much weaker than Garnet. Garnet could feel that most of the mana the man was gathering did not even end up in his hands. Instead, it flowed outward, which was why the room was shaking, not because of his magic.
"Stop!" said Hagel. "You're going to destroy this building!"
"Lightning Bolt!" BZZT. Garnet zapped Tim with lightning and watched as he fell face first onto the ground.
"Is he going to be alright?" asked Hagel.
"I think so," said Garnet. "I only used a low level lightning spell to paralyze him a bit."
"Ugh," Tim groaned.
"Oh he's awake," said Garnet. "Sorry about that I thought you would at least have something like a Mana Shield to protect you."
Tim slowly got up shaking his head. "So what do you want with me?" asked Garnet.
"Those potions you made where of very high quality," said Tim as he stumbled onto his feet. "I was told to invite you to be one of the Court Magicians."
"I'll take a look, then decide," said Garnet.
"Very well, that's good enough for me," said Tim. "We'll be off to the castle then."
Tim left with Garnet and Riley. This was the first time Garnet was heading inside the castle of Anzio. It was much larger than Antium's. People were usually unable to access the castle grounds outside of special circumstances, such as joining the city guard or festival days. There were numerous city guards who were undergoing training. Their average level, 20. It was much higher than the average of Antium.
"This way," said Tim. Garnet followed him to the gate of the castle where Tim presented a gold card with a brown staff on it to the guards. The doors opened and they were let through.
"Are you the head of a noble house?" Garnet asked.
"No," said Tim. "Why would you think I was a noble?"
"You had a gold card, in Antium, that meant you're the head of a noble house," said Garnet.
"In Anzio, anyone who is employed in an important position gets a gold card," said Tim. "If you were to become a Court Magician, you would get one as well."
Tim brought Garnet downstairs into the basement of the castle. It was lit with lightning magic that was kept in a tube and ran in a loop around the basement. It was artificial lighting. "This is one of the many things we have been able to do," said Tim as he pointed to the lightning. "To be able to see in the dark as if it were day."
The basement of the castle was very different from Antium's. There were no steel doors or secret projects. Instead, there were numerous rooms filled with books as if it were a study for a mage. While Antium had one room as a library that was curated by Zedd, Anzio had one that was put together by multiple mages. "If you become a Court Magician, you would gain access to all of these resources," said Tim.
"That's a lot," said Garnet. "But where are we going?"
"We're going to meet the Royal Wizard, the leader of the Court Magicians and adviser to the King," said Tim.
In other words, someone who was like Zedd, but for Anzio. As they headed further in, Garnet saw there were other mages dressed like Tim, who were all working on different things in their own rooms. The work rooms had transparent glass that could be seen through. One mage was working on a Summoning Circle of some kind. Another was writing in a book. There were some private rooms that were impossible to see inside of, but Garnet could tell that something was being worked on inside of it. In total, there were about twenty mages present. The whole time, Riley focused her attention on the ceiling instead of on what the other mages were doing. Garnet could see that Riley was following something with her eyes, but she could not tell what it was. "How many mages does the King employ?" Garnet asked.
"About a hundred," said Tim. "He also finances their research as long as they produce satisfactory results, too many failures or a lack of progress and your funds will be pulled."
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
In other words, the King wanted to invest in research to develop things for the country, but if you failed to show progress, then it was too bad.
"We're here," said Tim. Garnet, Riley, and Tim stood in front of the big double doors. Tim knocked on the door.
"Come in," said a voice. Tim opened the door to a large room.
The room had books lined on the walls. A cauldron sat in the center of the room with a blackboard at the back. On the blackboard were numerous numbers and letters. It was recorded data. The cauldron was bubbling. Next to it stood an elderly man with a large beard.
Name: Morgan
Level: 60
Class: Shadow Mage
Sub-Class: Alchemist
Stats: High Intelligence, High Charisma
"Have you brought the mage that made those potions?" asked Morgan.
"Yes, here she is," said Tim.
Garnet stepped forward. "Is she your spirit?" Morgan asked as he pointed to Garnet.
Morgan did not judge by appearances like Tim. He just wanted to learn.
"Yes," said Garnet.
"She's a spirit?!?" Tim shouted.
"It's a temporary condition I'm working to fix," said Garnet. "But to do that, I need to be able to find people to help me travel East to Constantinople."
"Is that your goal?" asked Tim.
"Yes," said Garnet.
"Well, if your contributions are enough, then the King may agree to such a request," said Morgan.
"I don't want to owe the King though," said Garnet. "There may be a time when what I find is what the King desires, and I want him to have no claim over it."
"I see," said Morgan. "If your contributions are great enough, then you might be able to get his majesty to agree to an unconditional request."
"So I can choose all the terms and conditions?" asked Garnet.
"Precisely," said Morgan. "Now, that potion. How did you make it?"
Garnet looked at what Morgan was doing. His cauldron was bubbling it was too hot. There was an awful smell coming from it. He probably tried to add other things to it. There were vials of red potions on his table, but he was trying to recreate the purple one.
"Set up a cauldron for me," said Garnet. "I'll show you."
Morgan took one out from his ring and cleared the way for Garnet.
"Call: Nuria! Call: Mazu! Call: Sino! Call: Meliae!" Garnet summoned all four of her spirits.
"So many..." said Tim who was surprised.
Nuria lit the flame under the cauldron and Garnet began to get to work while the water was being heated. She infused the Magic Grass with mana.
Name: Magic Grass+10
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Greatly increases the effects of healing medicine.
"That Magic Grass is so rich with mana," said Morgan. "How is that even possible?"
Meliae ground the Magic Grass into a fine green dust. The four spirits regulated the temperature as Garnet added the ground Magic Grass to the cauldron and watched as the spirits controlled it on their own. Garnet occasionally stirred it, but it was still left to the spirits to do most of the work. It reduced to a viscous purple liquid. "Done," said Garnet.
Name: Healing Potion
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Increases health regeneration by 100 per second for 30 seconds.
"So the entire process is done with just spirits," said Morgan. "That would allow for perfect control of everything, allowing you to produce the same results every single time."
"Yep," said Garnet. "I assume you don't have four spirits though."
"Of course not," said Morgan. "Even one is amazing. Most mages still do it by hand."
Spirits were not necessary for Alchemy, but they definitely made everything better. "So, what are the duties of a Court Magician?" Garnet asked.
Morgan was too busy looking at the potion to answer. "There's two," said Tim. "One, produce satisfactory results, but with a potion like this, I think you can convince the King of that. And two, swear loyalty to the Kingdom of Anzio."
"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that," said Garnet. "I'm already loyal to another King."
"No..." said Morgan. "Who is this King?"
"He is King Charles," said Garnet.
"Wait what?!?" shouted Tim.
"That's alright," said Morgan. "Anzio and Antium have been on very good terms since the King opened trade routes with us a few years back. It won't be a problem if I speak with the King."
"Alright, then I agree to producing satisfactory results," said Garnet. "But I have a request of my own too."
"What is it?" asked Morgan.
"I want to participate in the next Expedition sponsored by the King," said Garnet.
"That's fine," said Morgan. "A few of us usually goes anyways since the outside recruits are only if we lack the manpower. "Tim, go help Garnet set up," said Morgan.
"That's alright," said Garnet. "Just show me to my room."
Tim brought Garnet and Riley to one of the empty rooms. There was an empty bookshelf and a cauldron. "So lets go get your stuff," said Tim.
"I got it," said Garnet. She laid down a Teleportation Summoning Circle onto the ground. "I'll be right back, Teleportation!"
In a flash Garnet disappeared. She reappeared with some of the tools from the house. There was not much, but still something.
"You can use Space Time magic too?!?" shouted Tim.
Mages at the level of Zedd were very rare and everything she was doing was surprising Tim who seemed to be a newbie that barely met the requirements to become a Court Magician. "Do we have to gather our own materials?" asked Garnet.
"No," said Tim. "Come with me."
Tim led Garnet and Riley down a hall. There were two guards in front. They stepped aside when they saw Tim approach. "This is the vault," said Tim. "The materials are here and you just need to write down what you took."
"Alright," said Garnet. She looked around and used inspect to see all the items that were there. There were tons of different ones, but she was looking for Flower Nectar. This was the key to making better medicines. She finally found it. It was in a small ceramic bottle with a cork. She took ten bottles of it. There were no metals. Even though Garnet had the ability to refine metals as well, it seemed like most mages could not do it. There were only medicinal items. "This is all I need," said Garnet as she wrote her name down along with ten bottles of Flower Nectar.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked Tim.
"I'm going to make some medicines," said Garnet. "So go away and let me concentrate for now."
"Alright," said Tim.
It was so easy for Garnet to enter the castle as a Court Magician. All she had to do was show off a few bottles of medicine. But, there were things about the system that she really wanted to learn. After all, Antium was trying to copy Anzio. This information could be useful in the future, so she wanted to get in on an Expedition as soon as possible to see what it was like and what they did.
For now though, all Garnet could do was show off her skills as a mage by making high quality medicines.
Name: Nectar
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Increases mana regeneration by 100 per second for 30 seconds.
Name: Remedy
Quality: Masterpiece
Effect: Removes all status abnormalities
Stat Increase: Dexterity +1
Stat Increase: Intelligence +1
With this, she would become known as an expert on medicines and would earn favor with the other Court Magicians and the King. And, she was the only one who could do it because of the conditions necessary to make such things. Garnet would become something valued that they could not afford to lose.
Spoiler :
Name: Garnet
Level: 30
Class: Chaos Mage / Queen Consort / Hero
Sub-class: Temptress of the Night
Stats:
HP: 2290/2290
MP: 7080/7080
Fame: 130
Strength: 57 (+5)
Dexterity: 51 (+7)
Intelligence: 205 (+22)
Vitality: 64 (+5)
Agility: 64 (+7)
Charisma: 37 (+20)
PROFICIENCY:Weapon:
- One Handed Sword – 7
- Hand to Hand – 3
- Staff - 1
Magic:
- Fire – 7
- Lightning – 12
- Wind – 4
- Summoning – 12
- Blood – 6
- Spatial - 0
SKILLS:Weapon (One Handed Sword):
- Horizontal Slash (Level 3)
- Double Slash (Level 3)
- Crescent Slash (Level 1)
- Triple Slash (Level 1)
- Delta Attack (Level 1)
- Spiral (Level 1)
Weapon (Hand to Hand):
- Palm Strike (Level 1)
- Wind Palm (Level 1)
- Explosive Palm (Level 3)
- Lightning Palm (Level 1)
- Sweeping Kick (Level 1)
- Horizontal Kick (Level 1)
- Uppercut (Level 1)
- Ki Burst (Level 1)
- Demsey Roll (Level 1)
Weapon (Staff):
- Thrust (Level 2)
- Swinging Smash (Level 1)
- Double Strike (Level 1)
- Triple Strike (Level 1)
- Quadruple Strike (Level 1)
- Vertical Smash (Level 1)
Class (Dark Mage):
- Fire Bolt (Level 5)
- Fire Ball (Level 1)
- Lightning Bolt (Level 8)
- Chain Lightning (Level 4)
- Lightning Ray (Level 2)
- Light (Level 1)
- Air Bullet (Level 4)
- Wind Blade (Level 1)
- Heat Wave (Level 1)
- Lightning Fire Bolt (Level 1)
- Crimson Lotus: Blade of Lightning (Level 2)
- Mana Armor (Level 2)
- Call: Cerberus (Level 1)
- Call: Revenant (Level 1)
- Call: Death Knight (Level 1)
- Call: Romulus, Knight of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Sylvia, Priestess of Blood (Level 1)
- Call: Lilith (Level 1)
- Call: Nuria (Level 1)
- Call: Mazu (Level 1)
- Call: Sino (Level 1)
- Call: Meliae (Level 1)
- Recall
- Dismiss
- Enhanced Mana Regeneration (Level 4)
- Lightning Fire (Passive)
- Blood Absorption (Level 7)
- Blood Bind (Level 1)
- Blood Scythe (Level 2)
- Blood Sacrifice (Level 1)
- Blood Bullet (Level 1)
- Transformation: Blood Reaper (Level 1)
- Dance of Blood (Level 1)
- Teleportation (Level 1)
- Teleportation Summoning Circle (Level 1)
Sub-class (Temptress of the Night):
- Enhanced Body (Level 3)
- Captivation: (Level 3)
- Mind Read: (Level 1)
- Pleasure Inducement (Level 3)
- Sexy Walk (Level 1)
- Stealth (Level 2)
- Shadow Walk (Level 2)
- Sonic Scream (Level 1)
- Illusion (Level 2)
- Alluring Song (Level 1)
- Flight (Level 1)
- Aura of Fear (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1, Passive)
- Transformation (Level 1)
- Partial Transformation (Level 1)
- Transformation: Temptress of the Night (Level 1)
Tradeskills:
- Hunting (Level 5) - Hunter
- Cooking (Level 9) - Cook
- Inspection (Level 5)
- Sewing (Level 4) – Tailor
- Magicraft (Level 5) – Alchemist
- Item Enhancement (Level 5)
- Disassemble (Level 1)
- Inventory Expansion (Level 4)
Passives:
- Hand to Hand (Level 1)
- One Handed Sword (Level 1)
- Staff (Level 1)
- Reflex (Level 5)
- Haste (Level 2)
- Scale Armor (Level 1)
- Aura of Leadership (Level 1)
- Aura of the Hero (Level 1)
- Summoning Commander (Level 1)
- Queen's Presence (Level 1)
- Fire Mastery (Level 1)
Unique:
- Hero System (Level 3, Passive)
- Otherworldly Knowledge (Passive)
- Golden Tongue (Passive)
- Mana Compatibility (Passive)
- Quick Learner (Passive)
- Channeling (Passive)
- Charging (Passive)
- Night Vision (Passive)