Chapter 40
Potion Making 101
As I enter the Apothecary Guild I am first met with a number of different cascading smells that all seem to be used to both hide the others, while simultaneously fighting for dominance. It is odd, there are hints of vanilla, and honey used to cover the distinct scents of rot and decay. Scents that can only be described as burnt hair and wet dog go hand in hand with lilacs and grapes.
“Hello, how may I help you?” The receptionist at the front desk greets me, when I appear to stand for too long at the entrance. Judging by the voice I can tell they are a male and their silhouette and frame let me know they are a human, that or a wider and more round elf. They too have an odd mixture of smells that seem to come from them, an odd mixture of mothballs and incense.
“Yes, I would like to sit in on an Alchemy lesson.” I say.
Groan.
“I’m sorry, is there a problem?” I ask.
“We don’t have an Alchemy teacher here. The most you could get in a back water town like this would be sitting in on one of the masters in back and seeing if they are willing to teach you.” The receptionist states.
“Thank you.”
“Any time, Ms?”
“Cass..” I begin, but then cut myself off as I realize I am in the form of Sabrina.
“Sabrina, Sabrina, Sab… ah here you are.” They say rummaging through a card deck of members.
“Ah, I see. You are a transfer from another guild, and your fees are a bit out of date.” The Receptionist states.
I inwardly grimace at this. While I did luck out that Sabrina was already a member of the Apothecary Guild, I lost miserably at the fact that she had outstanding dues. This made sense given that she was dead and likely couldn’t pay said dues.
“How much exactly?” I ask a bit hesitantly.
“Well, you should just be thankful for the fact that if you leave the Guild for a long time, there is a flat one gold re-registration fee.” He states, his tone all but showing he was going to hit me for a one gold renewal fee.
Grr.
“Fine.” I say, somewhat reluctantly. I did have cash on hand just for this reason. This game was terrible about gouging me for petty things like this all the time.
I hold up one of my nine remaining gold coins and watch as my buffer to poverty, as I like to call it, slowly gets whittled down even more.
“There you go.” He says, changing Sabrina’s status within the guild to once again show as active. “Now any skills you gain here will go towards your membership renewal and will not count against you, when trying to continue your membership.”
That of course was all just a way to remind me that the guilds were all still charging me, and that I needed to make sure I stayed within good standings of the guild. Hector should still be handling this for me, well the actual me, as according to him and our personal deal, he will cover these fees for the next ten years, so long as he doesn’t die, or lose his ability to enter said guilds to pay my fees on my behalf. This receptionist and the Mage guild all but seemed to prove that he was doing his part of paying my continued fees, while I am away. Of course, he is getting paid by the Thieves Guild to do this as well, that is where the ten years is coming from. My status within the Thieves Guild of going on every snatch run, and never getting caught has got me quite the high ranking within the guild. People have gone about asking me specifically for retrievals, which comes with a marked bonus in contract fees. To be named personally, is a huge honor, and something that very few thieves get. I am chosen primarily for the fact that I do two things, first I don’t get caught, and second I don’t kill. Not every Thieves Guild contract is an assassination, most are the lower hanging retrievals; a family jewel gets taken by some unscrupulous noble, and they want me to get it without drawing attention to the fact that the item was taken.
I am perfect for those types of challenges, as most thieves would break the cardinal rule and steal more than just the item in question. This of course causes most nobles to send out their guards to the people they know they acquired items from in the first place. So while those thieves might return the item, it is only a short lived reprieve as the same item often ends up back in the hands of the same noble shortly thereafter. My way means the item isn’t noticed as being missing, as most people will assume it was simply misplaced, especially when it is inside a perfectly full vault of treasures. Of course, I don’t take the extra gold because of my flaw. I have found that if I steal just the item in question, the quest goes by a lot smoother, and I can often get on with my life in a little under an hour. Just thinking about the Thieves Guild heists I have pulled off in the past makes me feel alive. It is at this time that I also make the mental note to go and find the Thieves Guild, especially if they seem to be a major player in this town. I will of course go there as my real self, only to then realize that I likely can’t go, at least not until I done with this whole Bloodline curse thing. Realizing that I am distracting myself from what is currently important, namely brewing potions to lower Zero’s internal brain hemorrhaging so she can be healed properly, I make my way past the receptionist desk and go to the back where all the labs are.
With my Angel’s Sight, I can see many different Alchemists hard at work all over the place. At this, I decide to see if I can get the skill I need for free. I am cheap after all, and while I might have been willing to pay for said services before paying my renewal fee, I find the idea of spending even more money appalling. So, I begin slowly laying out my ingredients in the manner I see others around me doing. There seems to be a system to the placement of said ingredients, as if having them out in a form of ritual format is necessary to this whole process. I don’t believe this to be the case, but I feel that doing things in a set way, at least at first, is the number one way to unlocking new skills. Once a skill is unlocked, and only after you begin learning can you deviate from the ritual nature of the skill. Basically, you have to crawl before you can walk, and only while crawling can you realize the different mechanics needed to begin changing so you can stand. With this mentality, I first start seeing the similarities that everyone has, then I start trying to see the deviations that everyone has.
Another thing to go off of, is the Alchemical mixtures they are all trying to create. While everyone is in their own independent lab, they are all visible to my eyes, meaning I can see them. In a way, so long as I can split my focus properly, I get to see a dozen teachers all working at once in unison.
Once I have my ingredients laide out in the starting way that most others around me do, I ignite my burner, and am preparing to make my first ingredient sacrifice to the flame of progress, when I am met with a system notification.
New Skill Gained: Skill Alchemy has reached level 1. Skill Alchemy is a Dexterity, Endurance, Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
Seeing that message, I let out a sigh of relief. Then I take a few minutes to observe the different Alchemists all around me going through their different processes. Why wait, well now that the skill is unlocked, I can have it go up by observing others, at least for the first few levels. Realizing this, I turn off my burner and begin reading the different recipes that everyone is brewing, or at least trying to create.
New Recipe Learned: Minor Detox.
New Recipe Learned: Mid-Level Detox.
New Recipe Learned: Detox.
New Recipe Learned: Greater Detox.
Seeing the different alchemists all performing the same variations of the recipe showed me a few things. First it showed how minor variations of ingredients and times needed to mix the different components changed the overall efficacy of the recipe. It also showed that for whatever reason this town had a major need for Detoxification potions, seeing that I made a mental note to check on why exactly that was.
Then just as I was thinking of that very question, guards came into the guild and spoke to the receptionist. After a few moments, a bell rang overhead. The bell meant that everyone who could come should come.
At that everyone who had completed any number of detoxification potions, quickly grabbed them up and brought them to the front room.
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Curious, I creep along the walls and try to listen in to the conversation that is going on in the other room.
“Next.” One guard calls out, as he takes the supplies from the person who was working on the Greater Detox potion. The inspector grabs the vial and holds it up to check for purity.
Seeing the potion, I use my own Analyze skill on it, to see what it states.
Item: Greater Detox potion, weight 1, efficacy 67%, Effect: can remove a substantial amount of toxicity from a person or location at a rate of 1,000 times efficacy rating.
Looking at the efficacy rating, I couldn’t help but assume it was going to be thrown away. Even the fact that it was made from a Master, or at least someone pushing themselves to be a master in the field didn’t increase the potency of the potion.
“Pass.” The guard said, as he took the terrible potion and put it into a box. “Next.”
At that, the master was paid an unknown amount and then went back to his shop, where he continued to begin his next batch of terribly inefficient Greater Detox potions.
The next person came forward with regular variants of the Detox potion.
Item: Detox potion, weight 0.8, efficacy 58%, Effect: can remove a substantial amount of toxicity from a person or location at a rate of 100 times efficacy rating.
Seeing the lower efficacy, I thought for certain that this one would be discarded, but to my surprise there was another, “pass.”
Given as bottle after bottle of the sub-standard Detox potions were accepted.
Now to put it into perspective, I was no expert, not by any stretch of the imagination, that said, I had come across a few potions in my time. In fact, I used to collect them to earn money. When Hector and Golum caught me doing that, they made sure I threw away anything that was below 85% efficacy, as the lower the efficacy meant the greater toxicity poisoning one could expect from the potion. Given that these were being accepted so readily, meant that whoever, or whatever they were using the potions on was suffering greatly from toxicity poisoning. Just as I had this thought, the system let me know that my assumptions were indeed correct.
Hidden Quest Found: The Toxic Nature of Crossroads: You have found that the guards of crossroads have an open contract with the Apothecary Guild to create Detox potions. You can either create Detox potions to turn in for money, or you can investigate the cause of why so many Detox potions are needed in the first place. Reward: variable.
At that quest prompt, I realized I could go one of two ways, either I could contribute to the symptom, i.e. just create Detox potions blindly for a means of continual fast cash, or I could investigate what exactly the potions are being used for.
Shaking my head, I decide to do neither for now. Zero is in trouble, while the doctor has their condition mostly stable, I want to heal them as quickly as possible. With that in mind, I go back to my table. Judging by the way the guards seem to be content with staying in the reception room, I focus on my own tasks at hand.
Pulling out my four different recipes that the doctor gave me, I focus on memorizing their contents.
New Recipe Learned: Refined Lizard Bonemeal Paste.
New Recipe Learned: Mild Blood-Thinner Potion.
New Recipe Learned: Plasma Volume Expander Elixir.
New Recipe Learned: Toxicity Strip.
Those are the four recipes that I will need to help heal Zero. The first one is one that I only have one lizard skull bone for, which is why I will decide to do it last. Granted that one skull can be used multiple times, as there are more than enough components of it to make multiple attempts at the paste, I can’t help but feel that it being a paste will dry out too quickly compared to the two other liquids. The Elixir will of course be the most complex of the three, but I will make it second. That leaves the blood-thinner as my only real option to begin with. But before that happens, I start by making my Toxicity Strips. These are simple items that basically tell the ph level of the different items being tested. I can use these to get both a baseline of where I start off at with each individual recipe, then how two mix with each other, then how three mix with each other. I make sure to make a lot of these strips. First, they are important, second, they are easily meant to help grind out the initial levels of my skill. Which is why I make sure to make as many of these as possible.
Item Gained: Toxicity Strip (x100)
Surprisingly, I make all one hundred strips right off the bat.
Badge Beginner’s Luck (50) has increased -> Beginner’s Luck (75).
Huh, well look at that. I guess this is the game’s way of rewarding me for being overly cautious? Or at least letting me know I did something unexpected. Granted it was just focusing on each task specifically, and then executing without letting my mind wander, but it seemed that this success was being chalked up by the system as falling under Beginner’s Luck. In a way, I guess it made sense to lump them all together, my first hand at poker, my first 100 alchemical creations, luck was luck. I also wasn’t going to refute a perfectly good badge increase, particularly when I could likely keep using it to increase new skills with some form of subtle background manipulation magic going on. I wasn’t going to refute this, also if anything it made me want to go out and learn new skills and try doing new things immediately. But I stopped myself, focusing on the immediate task at hand, namely saving Zero.
With the testing strips out of the way, I began focusing on creating the blood-thinner, the item that seemed to be the easiest of the three that I still had ingredients for.
Focusing on the recipe once, then twice, I let out a breath and then began. Come on beginner’s luck, don’t fail me now. I thought to myself, as I began carefully adding the ingredients.
It was in the mixture phase, the moment when I was to add in a solid green onion to the mixture that I noticed the problem. There was a gaping hole filled with a few particles of dirt, at the center of the object, one that threw off the mass and distribution of the item. As soon as the onion and the errant dirt were in the mixture and began burning away, the added agents caused reactions to happen both quicker and slower than expected by different elements. I wanted to stop, as the solution began bubbling, while the recipe never said anything about bubbling. That was likely a sign that the dirt was causing undue reactions, thinking quickly, I decided to see what could counteract dirt in this particular instance. I knew the dirt wasn’t much, but this was a small potion, I didn’t have enough ingredients to make infinite tries at this, so I thought about the nature of earth and how that would cause a solidifying effect. Not something that I necessarily wanted with a blood thinner, realizing this experiment was likely a wash, I try to come up with something that is less substantial than the earth. With that, I immediately am drawn to the alternate of water. Realizing that there is plenty of water around, and that diluting a blood thinner might not be the worst of ideas, I grab a beaker full of water. I am about to pour in said liquid when I pause.
Remembering back to my time trying to channel spirit mana directly into Zero, I decide to try something. My logic was that this mixture was already a wash, that the ingredients were wasted and that nothing valuable would come from this mixture. Realizing I had nothing else to lose, all except the possible experience, and maybe a limb, though that was unlikely I channeled a minor amount of spirit mana into the beaker.
Looking back on this moment, what I failed to consider was just how potent my spirit mana was. I mean I was after all constantly refining my mana over and over again with my Spirit Mana Potency spell that had effectively been active since I first taught it to myself. This of course meant that over time I was cycling purer and purer spirit mana into my body, the longer I had this spell active. Not that this purity of mana increased my overall percentage of mana available, but that the mana was far easier to focus and wield. I also noted that my other spells were seeming to work slightly easier. For instance, my Spirit Sustenance spell seemed to be leaving me filled with more and more energy as the days went on.
All of that was supposed to be a reaction that I should have well been aware of, still I poured the ingredients like a moron.
Whoosh.
The moment I did, a thick purple mana filled fog began bubbling up from the mixture. I only added a few drops of the substance, but that was apparently more than enough to create a volatile mixture. Well not quite volatile, as there was no explosion, at least not at first. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something to the way the mixture expanded out and began coating everything.
I of course, did what any sane scientist would do in the exact same situation, I panicked. Jumping up from my seat, I shuffled back, only to see the magically infused gas cloud billow up and over the table. It began covering everything quickly.
The Toxicity Strips that I had neatly arranged on the table began to first get covered, and then spark to life as they began reading the toxicity level of the gas cloud.
Panicking I ran forward and scooped up a handful of the strips, before they could be fully affected by the cloud. They were one time use only strips, and losing them all here and now would be catastrophic.
As it is, I manage to save just over twenty of the precious items in my hands, and dart back to the back of the room. I am about ready to just pop out of the lab entirely, but the cloud seems to stop there for a moment, and I swear I can almost see the cloud breathing in its discontent that it didn’t get a hold of me.
Finally the gas cloud dissolves, leaving behind a faint purple film on the table and coating the remaining strips with its toxicity level.
I make a note to pack away my remaining 20 or so Toxicity Strips for now, then go over to inspect what I had done.
Looking at all the wasted strips, I can’t help but also feel angry, as all of my carefully laid out ingredients are also covered.
I don’t think it is a complete wash, at least I hope not, as all I likely did was coat the ingredients in a layer of film that looks like it can mostly be washed off. I am about to go over, when I realize something is odd about all the ingredients.
Item: Spirit Energy Coated Green Onion.
That’s it, that is all my top tier Analyze skill gets me. I also note that the Toxicity Strips that were coated with the spirit energy fog all show up as completely neutral. Of course, they are now useless as they have all been used, but I have close to eighty tests that all reveal the same thing over and over. The fog while infused with spirit energy is not toxic.
I also look at the potion I created, the one that generated the fog in the first place and realize I have created a new concoction.
Item: Spirit Purifying Distilling Water. Weight 0.5, efficacy 92%. Effect, when heated will create a gas that coats everything in a spiritual energy cloud.
Seeing that, I realize that I created something entirely new. Only now do I also realize that I have a completely different item from the blood-thinner as I still have to complete the other three steps needed for this recipe. As it is, I am done messing around with this mixture, turn off my burner, and move the half filled vial to a different table. After which, I grab cleaning supplies and clean up my table.
During this, I am met with a new system message.
Hidden Quest Found: No Accidents, Only Happy Mistakes: While the title is not true, you prove that it was. Rather than blowing yourself up with your experimentation, you managed to create a completely new recipe that might be perfect for the spirit realm. Reward: Experience, New Alchemical Recipe, Spiritually imbued ingredients. New Recipe Learned: Spirit Purifying Distilling Water.
Reading the quest description, I can’t help but wonder if this was supposed to be found, or if it was an accident. I did end up wasting a good deal of my Toxicity Strips from this little fiasco, but I can’t help but wonder if this is the system pushing me in some direction.
Also the fact that the cloud has a neutral toxicity score bodes well, as that is what I have been told is the most important part about my generating the three different concoctions for Zero.
Looking at the mess before me. I ultimately decide that Zero’s life is not the time nor place to begin testing new chemical properties on ingredients. With that, I spend the painstaking time needed to first wash, then dry each and every item so the spirit film that coated them is no longer there.
Only once that is over, do I scan the items one last time for any signs of spiritual energy residue. Once they all come back as being back to their base forms do I go back and this time working from a different table, begin crafting one of each item needed for Zero, this is going to be a long day.