[Level 15 has been reached. A new skill can be selected for the player and their summon.] The message rang out and Leon couldn’t wait to dive in. The more skills one had, the more utility there was. He first selected himself to reveal the three skills that he could learn.
[Thunderbolt] (Active Spell)
Requirement: 15 Intelligence. Convert your mana into electricity and fire it at the opponent for 120% additional electric-elemental damage. Cost 20 mana. Cooldown 5 seconds.
[Bestial Boost] (Passive)
Requirement: 15 Wisdom. Grant your beast-like familiars a 15% boost in their damage.
[Summon Elemental] (Active Spell)
Requirement: 15 Wisdom and 20 Intelligence. Contact one of the elemental spirits and have one of them strike a blow for 150% of your magical damage. Elemental spirits will demand a price for their powers.
That last one is extremely vague, but powerful. Leon frowned as he read the last one. A price based on the mood of an elemental spirit was a gamble Leon wasn’t willing to take.
Bestial Boost is nice, it could help in the future. However, I want to have more damage as I will be the DPS. Leon made his choice. Beans’ damage wasn’t great and even with the boost, it wouldn’t help much. Thunderbolt gave Leon another attack and increased his DPS.
After selecting his own skills came the next set of skills, three more skills for Beans were shown for Leon to deliberate on.
[Scent Identification] (Passive)
Increase the sensitivity of the nose, giving the ability to smell and identify beasts and other points of interest.
[Rock Throw] (Active Spell)
Requirement: 20 Intelligence and an Earth elemental soul. Grab a piece of rock from the ground and throw it at the opponent for an additional 150% of damage. Cost: 25 mana. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
[Sand Splash] (Active Skill)
Requirement: 10 Strength, 15 Intelligence and an Earth elemental soul. Soften the earth into sand and throw it into the face of the opponent, blinding them for up to 5 seconds. Cost: 15 Mana. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Leon’s first instinct was to pick Sand Splash and have Beans get more CC skills. However, in a surprising moment of alertness, Beans spoke up for himself and requested to use Rock Throw. "Damage isn’t your strong suit. It’s also not the path I’d suggest for you." Leon said to Beans.
Beans chirped a little as he conveyed his message, and although Leon couldn’t quite understand him, he could read Beans’ emotions to understand him. Damage is still important even for the support? Leon thought about it for a moment.
Beans currently had two CC skills and only one attacking skill, and that skill used his physical power, which was nearly half his magical power. If Beans’ damage was higher, then the elites and even the super elite would’ve been easier.
And my damage still overpowers his, so I’m still the main DPS. The more Leon thought about it, the more he felt like Rock Throw was the better decision. Scent Identification was too broad and vague for Leon’s liking.
After a while, he picked up Rock Throw for Beans. Leon’s biggest problem was damage before he picked the skills, but now his entire team’s damage had increased. If I find a super elite now, I probably could handle it easier.
Having settled skills, Leon had a choice. Oddly enough, he still didn’t feel tired, so he could go back to alchemy. But if he became sluggish during alchemy, it could ruin his entire stay in there and cost him tons of money.
Another job? No, Beans is tired enough for him to sleep until morning. Leon eliminated idea after idea until he realised he could train his mana technique and meditation. Going back to the inn, he decided to not use the fast service this time. With some free time, he scoured the forums.
[Souls Online Forums! The official forums for all players!]
You are logged in as Tempest. You have 853 new mentions.
What!? 853 mentions? Leon’s anxiety spiked as he felt a formless pressure around him. He looked at the forums on why he had so many mentions; it turns out his reply went viral on the forums.
Home—>Professions—>Alchemy—>Impossible Test?
>Nightkin (Original Poster) [Verified Alchemist]
Replied on Jun 15th 20XX:
@Tempest Wow I can’t believe that tip was the key! Thank you so much!
>Emberage [Verified Alchemist]
Replied on Jun 15th 20XX
@Tempest Why did you give away the secret for free?
>Deadgate [Verified Alchemist]
Replied on Jun 15th 20XX
@Emberage Piss off, @Tempest Thank you for your selflessness in sharing.
>Runereign [Verified Alchemist]
Replied on Jun 15th 20XX
@Tempest Has awakened all the alchemists, a boom will come.
The messages kept going, and Leon’s tip was more effective than he had expected. Did he regret giving that tip now? Not at all. If anything, seeing all these people engage in alchemy makes me feel proud. Leon loved alchemy and seeing everyone enjoy it filled him with happiness and warmth.
Seeing all the positive messages reduced Leon’s anxiety and stress, he felt more comfortable replying to the messages. After a bit, he typed out.
>Tempest [Verified Alchemist]
Replied on Jun 15th 20XX
Thanks everyone for the kind messages! I love alchemy and seeing it thrive like this fills me with joy!
Leon’s attention was drawn to the innkeeper as a room became free. He closed the forums and paid 5 copper to stay for the entire night. Leon placed Beans on the bed and practised his mana technique and Meditation for a few hours. Once he was tired, he tucked himself in.
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Rose currently found herself in a small village, which was just outside the capital. The reason she was there was because she had got a quest from the Adventurers’ Guild. [Hard Quest Goblin Assualt!] Quest Detail: With the goblin’s initial plan failed, they decide to go with the more forceful approach. Objective: Defend the village of Redham. Optional: Capture the leaders alive.
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She had learned of this supposed plan of the goblins from the reports she had read. The goblins wanted paralysing venom from some snakes and one adventurer stopped them. From the handwriting, it was the same adventurer who discovered them.
Goblins and paralysing venom, that’s not a pretty sight. Rose felt a shiver run down her back as she realised the implications. Goblins had two ways to reproduce, one was with a dark blood ritual that allowed them to clone themselves. The clones were weaker than the original, so this wasn’t the preferred way.
The second way was to capture and impregnate other female species. This way, they could inherit traits and talents from the other species and train from birth, allowing much stronger goblins. With the venom, it would be easy to capture others.
“Tch,” Rose couldn’t help but feel disgusted by them. She had heard rumours in her past life of female players being taken by goblins during the siege, but she thought those were just rumours. She never expected to have those rumours to be truthful.
“U-Um, is everything alright? Miss Titania?” A meek and young female voice sounded out from Rose’s side.
Rose looked at the girl and smiled. “I’m fine Ruby, no need to worry. Didn’t I tell you to drop the ‘Miss’ part?” The girl gasped a little and looked to the ground as she forgot that detail.
The young blonde-haired girl next to Rose was named StarRuby. She was dressed in white robes and held a small staff in her hands. She was, as one would suspect, a cleric. Rose’s sister-like instincts kicked in and she rubbed Ruby’s hair a little.
I still can’t believe I ran into her here. Rose knew who Ruby was, or more specifically, she knew who Ruby would become in the end. In Rose’s past life, Ruby was an exceptional figure. She was hailed as a saint and a miracle creator for her exceptional healing skills.
And even with all the talent in the world, Ruby had led a tough life. She grew up in a sheltered life with no friends and her parent’s expectations were crushing her every day. During her time in Souls Online, she had found a guild, a place she could call her home, a place where she was happy.
That was until one dark day ruined it all. She had got a legendary quality item that shook the world. And instead of celebrating it with her, the guild turned on her, instantly backstabbing her and robbing her of the item.
Ruby disappeared not long after, and it wasn’t until her parents came forth with the information that she had taken her own life. Ruby’s diary got leaked, and it detailed all of her most private thoughts, including the ones leading up to the suicide.
I won’t let that happen to her. Even if she gets tens of legendary items, I’ll never betray her. Rose recalled Ruby’s fate and was determined to help her. “Are we going for the optional task?” Ruby asked Rose with a nervous tone.
“We’ll try it. If it doesn’t work, then we kill them,” Rose said as she took out the item given to her by the Adventurers’ Guild. It was a bottle with a clear liquid in it.
[Mossback Venom] (Green)
Paralysing venom from a Mossback Serpentling, strengthened by a master alchemist.
If Leon could see the item, he would be star-struck. He had sent a tiny amount of venom to back up his claims, but an alchemist created more and of greater quality as well.
She couldn’t help but be reminded of Leon as she looked at the bottle. He had become an alchemist, and Rose wasn’t surprised at all. She always suspected that alchemy would fit Leon like a glove, and she was happy when she got given the potions.
Rose put away the bottle as she turned to Ruby, “Get ready, these goblins are nasty things, so be mentally prepared.” Her tone serious. Ruby nodded nervously as she adopted a serious look as well.
They heard sounds coming from the horizon as goblins were coming in droves. Ruby could see tens, if not hundreds, of them approaching. “T-There’s so many!” Her morale was already falling down.
Rose took a deep breath and ran at the goblins at a speed that Ruby couldn’t fully see. Rose slashed every goblin and with each slash, they all fell dead on the floor. Ruby was stunned. Was this the power of the first player to reach the mainland?
“Focus Ruby, these small fries are not what we came for.” Rose broke her train of thought through the group chat and looked again to see tens of elites coming and three big ones.
[Hobgoblin] (Super Elite)
Level 20
HP 1,000/1,000
Ruby took a sharp inhale. Could they even defeat one of those, let alone three? Oddly enough, Rose didn’t seem to be worried as she looked calmly at the hobgoblin. “Have confidence in yourself, Ruby. Just keep me healthy.” She said as she looked at the rest of the goblins.
Ruby nodded and got more confidence the longer the battle raged on. She felt a connection with Rose, a connection she had longed for as long as she knew.
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Leon woke up hours later to the already familiar feeling of his alarm. He stretched a little and recalled his last experimenting session with his mana technique and Meditation skill.
Meditation: Active Skill. Requirement: 15 Wisdom. Draw in the ambient mana, helping to recover your own. Recover 2MP per second. Skill Level: 2 (Mastery 20/200)
His Meditation skill had gained a level, and it became easier to draw the mana in. His mana technique was developing much faster because of that level-up as well. Leon was excited to see if his training with his technique would make alchemy a little easier.
He exited the inn and walked into the dark of the night. The streets were empty and lights in the houses were off. Only the sounds of a few owls were echoing through the streets. Soon Leon reached the Alchemist’ Guild, which thankfully was open a full 24/7.
It was more busy in there than Leon had expected. Although now that I think about it, alchemy also had an element of inspiration. If you’re suddenly inspired, you’d want access right away. He realised as he noticed some looks the alchemists were giving, like they couldn’t wait to get into a room.
Leon paid the guild member 10 silver for supplies and a few hours of room time, he sat and waited for a free room. It wasn’t much use for him to look at the board since nothing much had changed.
Waiting only took a few minutes, and soon he entered a room. He started with some health potions as usual, but he soon changed it up a little. Bloodgrass was crushed into powder even though the recipe didn’t ask for it.
The biggest change was once the bloodgrass was crushed into powder. Leon extended a mana tendril of sorts and enveloped the powder. Soon it was sucked up and floated inside the tendril, making Leon smile as he knew he had succeeded.
Although the game didn’t say he created a skill or technique, Leon knew it was a step in the right direction. Soon I’ll be able to create full-fledged techniques. Leon had read of some techniques and couldn’t wait to experiment more.
Leon continued his alchemy session and made minor changes here and there to see if he could change and optimise the recipe a little. The result surprised him.
[Basic Health Potion] (White)
Instantly recovers 25% health. Cooldown 30 seconds.
25%? Not 22%? Leon had expected his talent to increase the power of the potion by 2% but it had actually gone up by 5%. Because of the changes I made? Leon changed the recipe a bit just to test and experiment with it. He didn’t expect such a big change.
How much will this even go for? Normal health potions were currently going for about 60 copper a piece and had stabilised on that price. Leon’s potions were better, which implied a higher price.
Leon carefully placed his potion on the marketplace at a ridiculous 2 silver. Fortunately, the marketplace remained anonymous as the forums quickly became chaotic once the potion was discovered.
Luckily for Leon, he was completely unaware of the outrage on the forums. Leon lowered the price to 1 silver and 75 copper after seeing that no one would buy it at 2 silver. Slowly but surely, he lowered the price until it was sold at 1 silver and 25 copper.
That’s over double the normal price! If you included the price of water, it was around 27 copper per potion. Leon had earned nearly four times that in one go. This was too good to pass up. The original plan was to only do a few to get warmed up.
Taking a quick look on the gold trading platform showed Leon that 1 silver was currently going for 2,000 credits. That much?! Leon was stunned. 2,000 credits were nearly a month’s salary for many people, and he just made that in a few minutes.
Leon didn’t hesitate any longer. He split half of his resources into health potions and the other into anti-paralysis as an investment for the future. After crafting for three hours, he had got 20 basic health potions and 20 anti-paralysis potions, increasing his level to 16.
[Basic anti-paralysis potion] (White)
Cures minor adverse effects of paralysis. Gives minor resistance to paralysis for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
Once the player base reaches the dungeon, I’ll have over a hundred of these. Guilds will eat these up at insane prices because of the prestige that comes with a first clear. Leon had it all predicted. Little did these guilds know he had no intention of giving them the first clear.
I don’t really want to team up with sis, but I don’t want to screw her over, either. Leon had decided he would give Rose the green-quality potion to give her an edge over the rest. He didn’t want the fame that came with it, but Rose did.
Leon put 15 of his basic health potions on the market and they were all gone fairly quickly, earning him 18 silver and 75 copper. Just that little transaction already covered all my costs and profited me. Leon was glad he studied economics in his past life and did some accounting to know some trade secrets.
He then put up 8 of his silver for sale for 16,000 credits. The insane thing was how quickly that sold, as it only took a few seconds for that to be transferred. Now I can support sis and myself a little better. Leon guessed Rose had sold no silver because she of her wanting to save it for future operations.
Making a guild costs money and buying land to build the guild base costs money. That wasn’t even mentioning building materials, and more. Guilds cost a ton of money. But if done successfully, they could return the investment infinitely.
[Time remaining until servers close: 00:12:39] Time was approaching quickly for the servers to close so Leon cleaned up and left the alchemy room to sit on one chair in the hall and waited to come back to reality.