This Weasel-folk man wasn’t the same young man from earlier. He did look to have similar features to the one he had met earlier, but this one looked more like he was middle-aged.
He too wore a white buttoned up long sleeved shirt with frilly edges along the wrists. He wore black leather pants and fancy and expensive looking shoes. Liam cringed internally as he saw the top buttons were opened allowing a golden necklace with a jade looking jewel attached to it to rest on some chest hair.
Liam noticed some golden rings on each of the man’s fingers on his right hand. Liam wasn’t entirely sure, but he figured this man could be Welchsire’s father.
The group of people who were standing around checking out the items Liam had already placed turned to see who was insulting him. Liam noticed some rolled their eyes while others took a few steps back away from the scene that was about to happen.
Mustering enough patience he could summon, Liam asked, “Now why would you say something so rude mister?”
The Weasel-folk man slowly approached the stall. He had a look of disgust as he looked at Liam and stated, “Well, for one, bone materials are just barbaric and are used by those who love making a living in the dirt. It doesn’t match real materials like Crocolisk Hide, Various Beast Leathers, or even scales.”
“Here we go again,” Liam heard someone whisper.
“Another crafter is getting hazed by the Armory Fashion Emporium,” another whispered.
“If they keep doing this then we’re going to lose more crafters,” a third whispered.
“Second, these items are just crude quality. Crude is the lowest quality anyone can make and since you have only these to show for your efforts then that means your quality as a crafter will be third rate at best. Probably like your mentor, if you have one.”
Liam’s eye twitched at the comment. He felt that sensation from earlier start to stir again. He bit his lower lip to focus on not channeling his mana so his Hubris Aura wouldn’t activate.
“I don’t know how many years you have put into your work, but I suggest you stop while you’re ahead and save everyone the agony of having your items fail them while in important situations. Also, if this garbage is the only thing you have to showcase then I suggest you stop wasting everyone’s precious time here and just close shop now,” the pompous Weasel- folk man stated as a wicked grin formed.
Liam let out a breath of air he realized he was holding in. He chanted the words Calm the Storm five times before calming his mind and body. As he did this, he noticed a few people had started to walk over.
Seeing this gave Liam an idea. This man was clearly here trying to make him look like a fool. However, his jeering could be turned around in his favor. Liam let his thoughts run as he tried to think up a plan.
A few came to mind. He decided to go with one that could not only turn this around for him, but also make the man look like an idiot.
Liam looked back at the man before giving him a slight smile and saying, “Thank you for the advice. I guess it makes me glad that I didn’t focus just on one type of craft to showcase.”
The man’s face frowned as he heard Liam’s response.
He was about to say something, but Liam held up a hand and stated, “You see, these nice folks over here…” Liam waved a hand over to the Rabbit-folks. He then noticed they took a step back looking like they didn’t want any part of this. “Had just inquired if these were the only items I was going to showcase. And also, thanks to you I can show them off to a few more people.”
Confused, the weasel-folk man turned and saw a few more people had gathered around. As soon as he saw how many people had come to see what was going on he grew even more confused as to what Liam had planned. To the man, he believed belittling him and his crafting wares would be enough to make people steer clear, but Liam didn’t look deterred nor panicked.
Again, he was about to say something, but Liam interrupted as he announced, “I’m sorry to all who have only seen the small bit of Blacksmithing I have done so far. I will now pull out the Alchemy crafted items that I have to showcase.”
Liam reached into his inventory and pulled out three tins. He spread them out and opened each tin for the people to see the contents within. After that, he reached back into to his inventory and pulled out a vial rack.
The vial rack had three rows with three different colored vials on each row. The front row had a light minty green liquid in them. The second row had dark blue liquid in the vials. The last row had a light orange color to the liquid.
After setting that up, he reached back in and pulled out a second vial rack. This one had medium sized flat bottom vials filled with three different colored liquids. Each one had the same colors as the ones from the smaller rounded bottom vials. He popped open a cork off of one of each colored vial to allow the scent of each potion and extract to waft out.
He noticed people’s faces grew confused as they watched him set up his Alchemy showcase. Their faces grew even more confused as the different scents floated around the area, filling their noses.
Liam started to reach for the last two items he was going to show, but then stopped as he heard people start to buzz around excitedly. What they were saying gave Liam pause.
“Am I seeing and smelling what I think it is?” someone asked.
“Are those flavored potions and scented salves?” a female questioned with some hope in her voice.
“Is he an idiot or is this a message letting us know they are allowing it now?” another inquired.
“Oi, is he serious? Or is he some idiot?” someone whispered.
Liam was confused as he looked at everyone. Their reactions were not what he was hoping for. Instead, their mummers created even more questions for him.
His attention then landed on the Weasel-folk man as he let out a loud cackle.
“You had me worried there for a moment,” the man started. “Not only are you some poor excuse of a crafter, but you’re also a criminal now. You broke one of the many Crafter rules for potions and Alchemy related items.”
“I’m sorry, but what rule are you talking about? I was never told about any rules,” Liam stated.
“A likely excuse,” the man countered. “Allow me to remind you of the rule that every Alchemy Crafter has to abide by. Unless you are the originator for flavored or scented items no Crafter is allowed to make flavored or scented Alchemic items with the intention to sell without the proper documentation showing proof they were given permission. And I doubt someone of your caliber has the connections to be allowed such accommodations.”
Is this guy serious? Since when were their rules about what you were allowed to make? Liam thought to himself as confusion and a bit of panic started to mix inside of him. Galin never mentioned this to me when I made these potions. Why wouldn’t he have said anything?
With a wicked smile the man went to turn his head and said out loud, “Security!”
Liam turned to look at Elatrix. She shook her head, not looking at Liam.
Liam thought more about the situation he was in. There was something in what the man had said that gnawed at the back of his mind.
Galin was always someone who was a stickler for rules. Liam started thinking. He didn’t look too happy at first when I said I wanted to make flavored potions. If this rule was the case then why didn’t he just tell me about it? Why did he tell me in a round about way and say there weren’t any known recipes? Not only that, but why was he so excited when I found a new recipe and was eager to help me sell them in the Tutorial Area?
Something clicked as he began connecting the last part of what he thought with something the man had said. Unless you are the originator for the flavored or scented items…
Liam was about to say something, but stopped as someone called out, “Isn’t calling the security over something like this too much, Morshire? Have you really taken the time to assess the situation fully?”
Liam turned to see Farry approach from the side towards Liam’s stall. Next to him were both Abby and her older sister Cindy. He noticed the looks in their eyes as they stared at the Weasel-folk man. It seemed like they too didn’t like this man.
“Calling security to arrest this man for his criminal act is not too much,” Morshire stated as he glared. “In fact, it is a service to the Crafter’s Association. This filthy half-breed has broken the rule, and we all know the consequences for that. Especially when showcasing them here.”
Farry let out a sigh. “Have you assessed the items yet to determine if there is even an originator for these items?”
Morshire scoffed. “I don’t need to assess the items. Everyone knows that all flavored and scented items have already been discovered.”
Farry raised a brow as he stared at him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes I am,” Morshire stated confidently before pointing a finger at Liam and demanding, “Tell us what flavors these items contain so we can identify who it is you tried to steal from.”
Liam took a deep breath calming his nerves. He then looked at both Morshire and Farry while announcing, “Mint, Blueberry, and Orange.”
Both men stared at Liam.
The area grew quiet as everyone thought about those three ingredients.
“Repeat those flavors again?” Morshire questioned.
Liam let out a sigh before repeating, “Mint, Blueberry, and Orange.”
“Impossible, those flavors must be made up. I haven’t heard of them before,” Morshire stated with a flustered expression.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Mr. Liam, I am sorry to ask, but what ingredients did those flavors come from?” Farry asked.
“Mint came from Moss Mint. The Blueberry flavor came from the Blueberry Cluster and the Orange flavor came from Orange Spheres,” Liam answered as he looked at Farry with a confused look.
“You’re lying. Those ingredients do not exist. The green one is definitely from an Apple while the blue one came from grapes, and the orange colored one comes from tangerines. Do not think you can get away with this by making up…,” Morshire started to argue.
“Miss Elatrix,” Farry interrupted as he looked at her.
Elatrix turned her attention over to Farry.
“Can you tell me if there have been any records showing proof any of those ingredients have been discovered or been used in any Alchemical crafted items?” Farry inquired.
“Ah, if you give me a moment I can request an inquiry because I do not have any knowledge on any of those materials,” Elatrix replied as she started to walk away.
“No need,” Morshire stated swiftly. “Miss Elatrix is a member of the Crafters Association. Members who work here have extensive knowledge on all materials that been discovered as well as used in any crafting. If she says she doesn’t have any knowledge on those ingredients then clearly…”
“You’re grasping straws there,” Liam suddenly stated, feeling his irritation start to fill.
“Excuse me?!” Morshire glared.
“You’re excused,” Liam quipped before adding, “If you expect someone to remember each and every material used in any given craft then you’re giving them way too much credit. If I am correct there are literally thousands and thousands of materials out there. And if what I was told recently was correct then there are new ingredients popping up every now and then. It would be hard to remember everything.”
“You’re only saying that because you don’t want to get in trouble,” Morshire commented.
“I’m not in trouble though and I can prove it,” Liam stated.
“Do you have the ingredients you stated?” Farry questioned.
“Yes. Here let me show you,” Liam said as he pulled out three items from his inventory.
The first item was a jar full of light green moss. The second was a jar full of carefully picked blueberries while the last jar had a few unpeeled oranges resting within.
“You can assess these materials,” Liam stated.
Farry, Elatrix, and Morshire approached the jars and assessed them each one.
“Oh wow,” Elatrix muttered before looking back at the potions and assessing them as well. “The materials do match the description of the potions.”
“Of course, they do. I haven’t lied nor done anything wrong,” Liam stated. “To be honest, I am quite shocked that a veteran crafter like Morshire hasn’t used the most important ability we crafters have.”
Farry raised a brow as he asked, “Oh and what ability is that?”
“Item Understandance,” Liam replied.
Farry let out a chuckle as Morshire suddenly turned bright red.
“What? What’s so funny?” Liam asked.
“I will tell you later,” Farry replied.
“This only proves he wasn’t lying about the materials used. This doesn’t prove that he hasn’t used someone else’s recipe without their consent!” Morshire glowered.
“Dude you’re trying too hard,” Liam commented as he shook his head. His irritation was growing as his annoyance of the man kept growing. This guy was trying too hard and Liam was just done with it.
“I will not accept this behavior from someone as filt…,” Morshire started to say.
“That is quite enough!” a loud commanding voice yelled out.
Everyone turned to see who the voice belonged to. Liam heard people let out gasps and begin to make room for three individuals to walk forward. One stood in front while the other two stood close behind the person.
The one standing behind on the left was a slim female with long silky black hair tied into a bun and milky white skin that brought out her bottle green eyes. She looked slightly older than Liam. She had a tannish tank top that was tucked into a dark brown corset that covered her waist and stomach stopping under her average sized breasts. Her leather skin-tight pants hugged her waist and legs while tucked into a pair of tanned leather boots that ran up mid-calf.
She had a potion belt that had four pouches that sat two in front and the other two to the side. She wore matching colored leather fingerless gloves that ran up to the middle of her forearms. On top of her head was a pair of well crafted googles. Over the left eye lens were several other lenses that grew smaller and smaller. She had an aloof look as she kept her gaze forward.
Liam could smell several different herbal scents coming off of the woman’s clothes making him believe she was an Alchemist.
The individual on the right was a man with short black hair with specs of red mixed in. The mixture gave him a fiery look that matched the fierce expression he held on his smooth shaven face. His tanned skin made his ocean blue eyes stand out. He wore a black short sleeved shirt that hugged his well-toned biceps. His shirt slightly hung over his slightly baggy black pants. Some of the bagginess from the man’s pants draped over his dirty boots that ran up to his mid-calf. A pair of black leather gloves covered his hands entirely and most of his forearms. A medium sized hammer hung on his right side. The hammer and the smell of the forge made Liam believe he was a blacksmith.
The one standing in front of the other two was an older gentleman with long black hair tied into a ponytail. He had on a pair of rounded black lensed glasses covering his eyes. He wore a navy blue button up shirt, burgundy vest with intricate designs, and an opened black jacket. He also wore navy blue dress pants that covered the tanned boots over his feet. His right hand gripped a well crafted cat’s head cane. Around his waist was a belt that held many different types of small tools Liam had never seen before.
The one thing that really stood out amongst the three though were their ears. They had the same kind of ears as Cat-folks. Liam looked at the man and woman standing behind the older gentlemen and confirmed they were Cat-folks as the irises and pupils switched back and forth from being normal to thin slits just like his eyes did when he focused and unfocused on things.
Liam heard people whisper as the three made their way closer.
“What are they doing here?” someone muttered with curiosity.
“It’s rare for them to come to a showcasing,” another commented sounding awed.
“I wonder if there is someone who has caught their attention,” Liam heard another mention with some excitement laced in their voice.
Morshire looked both confused and shocked as the three stopped in front of the group. “It is rare for you to come out of your neck of the woods, Xander. I thought you might have croaked since I haven’t heard any news of you lately. What brings you here?”
“I’d watch your tongue if I were you, you Crapweasel,” the blacksmith looking Cat-folk man snapped as he narrowed his eyes on Morshire. His voiced was rough and stern.
“Issac,” the alchemist looking woman scolded. Her voice was soft yet sharp.
“What Amelia? You heard what this…,” Issac was about to finish until the older man in front of them put a hand up to stop the two from bickering.
“Now, Morshire…I know you and I have not been on the best of terms, but is that any way to address an old friend?” Xander asked. His voice was calm and collected. It didn’t show any hints of annoyance or anger towards Morshire’s comments.
“Ha, you’re no friend of mine. We may be on the same Council for the Kingdom’s State of Crafting Organization, but you would be a fool to think we are friends,” Morshire spat. “For starters, your ideals when it comes to Crafters and their work are so vastly different from mine and many of the other council, I am shocked people of the association still go to you for crafting work.”
Xander slowly shook his head as he said, “If that is how you see things then I will not push it and that topic is for a different time. To answer your question, I recently met an old friend of mine and he suggested I go to see the showcase today. He never told me why, but now I feel I do.”
“What do you mean by that?” Morshire questioned, still upset at the old man.
“I have a rule that we must always be up to date with all new materials discovered as well as new recipes created that are on the Exclusively Claimed to Make List,” Xander started. “I have brought one of my highly knowledgeable and well trained Alchemists who can answer whether or not the recipes for these items have been processed to the Exclusively Claimed to Make List or not along with whether these materials have been reported as discovered yet or not.”
Morshire suddenly grew a wicked grin. “If it is you saying this then I will believe this. You have no reason to lie. Go on then. Reveal this man’s crimes.”
Xander slowly shook his head before turning to Amelia and motioned her to inspect the accused items.
As she approached the items she pulled down her goggles over her eyes and pulled out a giant book from her inventory.
Liam saw the cover of the book and read the title.
“Crafters Association’s Book of Alchemy materials discovered and Flavored/Scented recipes claimed.”
She then assessed the completed crafted items, the extracts, and the materials. After she spent some time looking everything over, she opened the book and started flipping through each page at a fast pace.
Liam wasn’t sure if she was really looking at each page with how fast each page was being flipped. He was about to say something until she suddenly stopped on a page and placed a finger down on a spot, midway down on the right page.
Morshire’s grin grew and was about to say something until Amelia announced, “Material, Blueberry Cluster discovered in select Green dungeons. Materials have been reported to be used in several Food recipes. No Extract recipes reported for any Alchemy crafted items. No fully Alchemical crafted items have been reported nor claimed with this material as an ingredient.”
“What…” Morshire started, but was stopped as Amelia continued.
“Material, Orange sphere discovered recently in select Green and Yellow dungeons. Materials have been reported to be used in several Food recipes. No Extract recipes reported for any Alchemy crafted items. No fully Alchemical crafted items have been reported nor claimed with this material as an ingredient.”
“That can’t be…,” Morshire tried again.
“Material, Moss Mint discovered in select Black Dungeons. Materials have not been reported in any recipes known so far outside of Alchemy use. No Extract recipes reported for any Alchemy crafted items. No fully Alchemical crafted items have been reported nor claimed with this material as an ingredient.”
“Hold up,” Morshire shouted. “Are you telling me that none of these three items have been claimed in any Alchemy crafted items? I do not believe that.”
“And yet it is the truth,” Xander commented. “In fact, we had just updated it before walking over to the showcase.”
“Nonsense! It takes almost half a day to update a book like that,” Morshire argued.
“Not if you have the right sub-stats,” Amelia replied with an uninterested tone of voice.
“What kind of,” Morshire started to say until Amelia raised a hand with three fingers up.
“Knowledge, Mental Absorption, and Perception. I will not explain to you why or how those three make it possible because I feel that it would only hurt your narrow mind,” Amelia stated as she turned around and made her way back to Xander’s side.
Liam tried his best to suppress a chuckle.
Morshire glared at Liam before looking back at the woman. He was about to yell at her, but was once again stopped as Xander lightly scolded, “Amelia, that was not nice.”
Amelia shrugged, looking like she didn’t care.
Morshire’s face turned beat red. He looked like he was about to explode, but then let out a long irritated breath before whirling on Liam and demanding, “Fine, I will acknowledge that you did not break any rules…However, I will demand you tell us what Dungeons you got these materials from!”
Liam gave Morshire an incredulous look. He was appalled that this man had the gall to demand something like that from him, especially after accusing him of breaking a rule he had no knowledge about.
“No,” Liam flatly stated.
A few people that were still around watching the scene happening were shocked.
Liam heard a few gasps but paid them no mind. He did notice the slight grins that were barely noticeable on Farry’s, Amelia’s, Issac’s, and Xander’s faces. He heard the light snicker escape Abby’s lips as Cindy, who was also trying hard to suppress a laugh, covered her little sister’s mouth.
“What do you mean no?” Morshire questioned, giving Liam’s a look like he had just slapped him. “Do you not know who I am?”
“Aside from probably being Welchsire’s relative, which by the way is a horrible name… No, I do not know who you are,” Liam answered honestly. “I literally just arrived at this world just yesterday.”
Morshire’s mouth dropped as it mixed with a look of utter shock. He then caught the last bit of what Liam had said and commented, “Liar! If you had just arrived yesterday then that means you had received these materials from the Tutorial Area. There is no way that can be true. Especially since you are displaying those barbaric weapons.”
Liam let out a sigh as Issac’s left eye suddenly twitched.
“I know it is hard to believe and you probably will think it is even more impossible that I just came from the Tutorial Area yesterday when I pull out the last two items I was about to showcase,” Liam said with a tired and annoyed tone of voice.
“What two items do you have left?” Xander questioned as he grew curious.
Liam looked at the old man. After studying his body posture, he figured it was alright to pull the items out and show them.
Liam reached into his inventory and pulled out two medium sized flatbottom vials. One was filled with purplish-yellow liquid with small flashes of lightning appearing here and there throughout the liquid. The other was filled with clear liquid around the edges of the glass while in the middle the liquid was purple and circulating up and down in an even pattern.
“Is that a Liquified Lightning Mana Extract and a Liquified Gravity Mana Extract?” Amelia suddenly asked with a look of shock.
“That just further proves that what you have just told us is utter bullshit. There is no way you could have recently came out of the Tutorial Area if you are already able to make those Mana Extracts!” Morshire shouted.
“As unbelievable as it is, I can prove that he is in fact telling the truth,” a female suddenly said.
Everyone turned to see who this newcomer was and were surprised.
However, it was Morshire who gave the biggest reaction upon seeing the newcomer.
“Or am I someone who looks like they would bullshit you,” Lucy commented as she narrowed her eyes on the man.