Yvlena left the apothecary with the potion recipes to review when she got back to the Rose Manor. She hadn't expected Thomas O'Leary's quest to be the hardest but, raising her Alchemy and Crafting would only benefit her as the Harvest Guardian.
She grumbled. Mars, being right about her production capabilities and the fact that she wasn't doing as much crafting as her occupation suggested, bothered her.
Aside from her sword proficiency, all her other skills involved making things and growing things but she hadn't been able to, so far.
"Well I'm going to put my mind to it now," she whined to no one in particular. There was still plenty of time to catch up with the player economy, she would review the list Mars had made for her when she was done with it.
----------
She once again found herself in the market district passing by Ricardo's caravan, in a flash Yvlena recalled she was supposed to ask him directions to Rosenheim, the very city Twyla had last been seen in.
From what she understood, Rosenhiem's path was open to her now that the miasma blocking the east pathway was clear. Ricardo had followed that path and she had a feeling he would know how to find it.
She made her way to the well travelled merchant and stood in front of his caravan.
"Well if it isn't my favorite adventurer," Ricardo said spreading his arms wide in an enthusiastic welcome. Yvlena smiled back at him. "What can I help you with?"
"I was wondering if you knew the way to Rosenheim," Yvlena asked him, Ricardo laughed, loud and boisterous.
"But of course, I passed it on the way here after all," He said. "Once you head far down the roads of the Outpost you will stop at a cave, I'm sure it'll be no match for a girl like you!" He said.
Yvlena gulped, she had heard from online forums that any cave section would be hell to pass through, not only was it dark but it was full of monsters and enemies at every turn.
Some were probably above her level, but there were a lot of valuable things in caves and even more treasure chests.
"And there's no other way but through the cave?" Yvlena asked. Ricardo sighed.
"I’m afraid not young miss. Unless someone clears out all the creatures within the cave and defeats the boss I'm afraid more will just keep spawning," the merchant said.
'A quest,' Yvlena thought, her eyes gleamed with possibilities before she snapped herself out of it. 'I'll put it on the back burner for now,'
The thought of going through any caves was forced to the back of her mind. She needed to raise her alchemy level and craft more before she went looking for Beatrice's daughter.
“And then where do I go once I exit the cave?” Yvlena asked. Ricardo thought for a bit before answering her.
“Once you leave the cave, you will pass many small towns, Rosenheim is toward the North East,”
"Thank you, Ricardo," she said. The man give a wide smile in response, pleased by her politeness.
[Affinity with Ricardo Increased +1]
"You're welcome anytime my dear!" He said.
----------
She returned to the Manor ready to water and Harvest the Ever Bloom she owed Mars. Yvlena hummed a tune to herself as she stood watering the plants and waiting patiently for the notification to tell her the Ever Bloom was ready to be picked.
"Ah, there we go," She said picking up one of the five Ever Blooms. The petals faced her, opening to receive the sunlight.
Yvlena opened her game menu and swiftly shipped the plant off to Mars' player account with a note on how to use it. Hopefully, the other girl would be able to make it work for her as well.
"But what if she does use it, does that mean I truly have a monopoly on the rarest Item in the game?" Yvlena asked herself.
After watering some plants and harvesting even more of the herbs from the wild seeds she had planted previously. Yvlena took a step back wiping her brow in the digital heat.
"Okay, now let's get a look at these potions," She said pulling up the menu to read each recipe one by one.
[Entanglia Potion recipe (Common)
***
Type: Recipe
An earthy potion made for battle, bottle it and throw at your opponent to bind them with vines. The higher the grade, the stronger the Vines.
Time: 30s
***
Star Root (Herb) x2
Fox Glove (Herb) x2
***
Vial or bottle
Cauldron]
She brought up the next one, a freeze potion
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[Freeze Potion recipe (Common)
***
Type: Recipe
An Icy potion made for battle, bottle it and throw at your opponent to freeze them in a block of ice, rendering them immobile. The higher the Grade the stronger the block
Time: 30s
***
Luna Orchid (Herb) x2
Star Root (Herb) x2
***
Vial or bottle
Cauldron]
"That would be awesome, maybe I could use these on those wild Boars for an instant KO," Yvlena wondered.
[Speed Potion recipe (Common)
***
Type: Recipe
Temporarily boosts speed, allowing the user to dash past enemies by working with the AGI stat to boost speed and agility.
Time: 1m
***
Bloom Lily (Herb) x1
Luna Orchid (Herb) x3
***
Vial or bottle
Cauldron]
"This one lasts a lot longer than the other two, I guess it's more of an enhancement type, I've got to brew these and try them out at the Outpost with the tougher enemies," Yvlena said, she sighed.
"Seems I don't need a special type of cauldron to brew these potions," Yvlena said setting out her plain black cauldron and getting ready to brew.
She looked through her inventory and noticed she was running low on Bloom Lilies, Luna Orchids, and Star Roots, having about only 15 each.
"That's true I haven't really been foraging either, which I need for my Herblore skills, ugh I've really been lagging behind in playing for my class Mars was right!" she said clutching her head.
"Okay, okay so I have about 35 of each common herb, let's brew,"
The cauldron bubbled to life, allowing Yvlena to toss in the ingredients for the Freeze Potion. The black pot bubbled and bubbled until the liquid cooled allowing her to bottle it up.
[Yvlena Acquired
***
Freeze Potion (Common) x1]
The game told her. She nodded and bottled a few more, reasoning she could always get more small bottles from Risel.
[Yvlena Acquired
***
Freeze Potion (Common) x5]
Equipping the Adiri specs, she examined the potion she had just crafted to see how much better it was than the stairs, now that her Alchemy skill was at level 2 it should have been much better right?
[Basic Freeze Potion (Common)
***
Type: Crafted Potion
Grade: F+
An Icy potion made for battle, bottle it and throw at your opponent to freeze them in a block of ice, rendering them immobile.
Time: 30s]
"F+ Well that's an achievement at least, it's no longer just an F," Yvlena said to comfort herself, crafting needed to come first from now on.
The player made Items on the auction house that sold for 100 Gold and up were those of A Grade or Higher. B and C were great too, while D was passable.
F Grade and E Grade were just lame.
"It'll be a while before I can hit A Grade but I know I can finish a few skill quests in that time and work on the manor," Yvlena said to herself.
"What about my dress?"
[Willow Dress
***
Type: Equipment (Rare)
A strong and flexible but stylish battle dress favored by daring heroines who prefer swift movement in battle.
Worn by ladies of nobility it remains a treasured Item among many, making it quite hard to obtain.
Boosts [DEX] [DEF] [AGI] [CHA]]
"Wow I didn't know this was a rare item and it does make me feel faster in it, I guess I'll have to be if I'm throwing all these potions around now," Yvlena said.
"I do have a lot of Items to examine, I haven't even looked over the rewards from beating Viseli yet," she said.
She read through the description of the Storm Stone, noting she had never bothered to read the entries for the magical stones before.
"They could have had lore all this time and I wouldn't even have known," Yvlena said shaking her head.
[Storm Stone (High Grade)
***
Type: Spell Stone
Harness the frightful and magnificent power of the storms with this stone, contained and preserved through magic, the storm element's fearsome attack power calls to anyone daring enough.]
"Stones do well on the auction house but something tells me I might want to start holding onto these, the Grass Stone really helped me when I was in a bind fighting Viseli," Yvelna said placing it back into her inventory to continue looking through her numerous rewards.
[Ancient Ring
***
Type: Equipment (Epic)
Worn by many a knight, this item carries the mark of a warrior. Forged by one of the great blacksmiths of Alquisia, unlock your strength in battle and release your might.
Boosts [STR] [DEF] ]
Lowers [DEX] [AGI] [WIS]]
"Alquisia? That's where Mars said she didn't want to return to right, and if it's so far away what's it doing all the way here?" Yvlena said. She put the ring back in her inventory deciding to sell it later.
The equipment wasn't right for her class and it wasn't right for Mars' either. Being an epic item meant it would have a higher bid on the auction house, giving her more gold in return.
[Viseli's Bracelet
***
Type: Equipment (Epic)
A beaded bracelet blessed by the gods, worn by the titan Viseli into numerous battles. Gifted to her by the Harvest Guardian Rael, she kept it close to her even in her dying moments.
This Item has some plot significance.
Boosts [INT] [WIS] [CHA]]
Yvlena read through the description a few times, nearly tearing up at the final part of the description. Even as she was losing her mind, Viseli kept fighting on.
If only she knew what corrupted the titan, did Rael know?
"If they were friends, was Rael trying to find a cure for her once the corruption started,"
[Story of the Harvest Guardian 13%]
[Congratulations!
You've reached 10% of a world quest]