Arika and Orion’s trance by the fire was broken when the armored form of Shadow emerged from his tent with all the finesse of a bull wearing a metal shed.

“Good morning, guys.” He stretched, his metal armor shifting and making soft noises. “Thanks for stoking the fire, Arika. I’ll get started on breakfast.”

Honeypot emerged from his tent, his hair looking even more disheveled than usual.

“You know, Shadow, it’s pretty damn hard to get my beauty sleep with you sounding like a washing machine with a cinder block inside every time you bend down to get in and out of your tent.”

“Sorry.” Shadow winced. “I just don’t want to be caught with my pants down when there’s a possibility of enemies being around, so I keep my armor on at all times out here.”

“Don’t worry about it, Shadow. Honeypot would need a lot more than one night to get beauty sleep.” Arika smiled wickedly at Honeypot, all too happy to slip back into their good-natured ribbing.

As Shadow continued preparing breakfast, they discussed their plans for the day.

“I need to go see Carl about the cure for Azeria,” Orion said as he packed up his tent.

Arika looked up from dismantling her own.

“Do you really think he’ll have a cure that’ll work? I mean, I hope he does, but what are we going to do if he doesn’t?”

Orion shrugged.

“We’ll deal with that when it comes, but if anyone has one or can help me create one, it’ll be him.”

Unlike everyone else, who were studiously packing up or preparing breakfast, Honeypot lounged by the fire.

“While you’re off talking to your poison senpai, should we seek out some professions of our own?”

“That’s what I was going to suggest, yeah,” Orion responded. “I can ask Carl more about the professions and send you a message if I learn anything—until then, that’s probably the best use of your time.”

Honeypot nodded sharply, and Arika raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re willing to go do something productive? No sausages to hide? No babies to punt off of bridges?”

“Well, I have never!” Honeypot leaned back in his chair, the very image of affront. “I’ll be speaking to your manager!”

He turned to Orion.

“Orion, handle your employees. She’s bringing down the name—nay, the very image of—”

His theatrical diatribe cut off as Arika threw a rock at him. He tried to dodge, but leaning back in his chair as he was, it caused him to fall backwards, spilling to the ground in a jumble of limbs and regret.

With everyone laughing at him, he got to his feet and brushed himself off, once more radiating indignation.

“I, uh, meant to do that. You were all sad and ugly, and you needed the laugh.” He walked over to his tent and started packing it away. “You’re welcome.”

***

Orion split from the party when they arrived in town, heading straight for Concoctions by Carl in search of his teacher.

As he entered the store, the familiar acidic haze that permeated the room assaulted him.

“WHADAYAWANT?” Dave’s grizzled head popped up over the counter as he looked for the intruder in his domain. “Oh. Hello, lad. Wanting to see Carl?”

“Hey Dave.” Orion tried to smile through the acrid smell. “Is he in?”

“You know the way, lad. On with ya.” Dave kicked the trapdoor open, gesturing impatiently at the entrance to the laboratory below.

Orion made his way down the trapdoor and through the tunnel that led to Carl’s dwelling. He emerged into the laboratory, quickly spotting Carl at a workstation across the room. As Orion approached the man, he was about to call out when Carl turned and looked directly at him.

“Your eyes are right creepy with that blue glow, lad.” Carl let out a weary sigh. “I was hoping you’d give me a few more days of rest before coming back. What can I do for ya?”

Orion hadn’t even realized his ability had kicked in, already becoming used to the ability to see in the dark.

“There are a few things I wanted to inquire about. First, as someone who can teach professions, I was hoping to pick your brain a little about them.”

“Out with it, then. I’ll answer your questions if I can.” Carl had already looked back down and was focusing on his workstation where he seemed to study a beaker that was slowly bubbling over a magical heat-source.

“While I was out on my recent adventure, I got the Herbalism profession by harvesting herbs. Another adventurer told me where to find them, and he hadn’t learned the profession despite harvesting there multiple times. Is that because Alchemy is a prerequisite of Herbalism?”

Carl stopped what he was doing, turning to squint at Orion.

“You fuckin’ with me, kid?”

“No?” Orion squinted back. “I’m being sincere.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Of course you are.” Carl rolled his eyes in obvious exasperation. “It’s not enough to have just latent ability in Alchemy, but Herbalism, too. You little demon. To answer your question, no, Alchemy isn’t a prerequisite. Just like how you learned Alchemy by way of a feat, you did the same with Herbalism. Did you feel a pull, or a desire from the herb, just as you did when brewing the potion?”

“I did…”

“Well, there’s your answer. You instinctively knew what to do to harvest the herb correctly, and in doing so, were granted the Herbalism profession by the System.”

“Does that mean I can teach others Herbalism by showing them what to do?”

Carl scoffed. “Not by a long shot. There’s a world of difference between instinctively knowing what to do and being told what to do by someone who does. The System knows the difference, and grants professions accordingly—which isn’t a regular occurrence, by the way, despite your constant spitting in the face of convention.”

“How do you usually get a profession, then?”

“From a trainer like myself.” Carl added a pinch of pink dust to the beaker in front of him, watching intently as he stirred the contents.

“So, you could teach other people Alchemy too?”

“Could? Yes. Would? No. You usually have to do something for the teacher to be taught a profession. It’s a time intensive and frustrating endeavor for most of us. You showed great promise and intrigued me, even learning the profession from the System, so I’m happy to offer you guidance here and there. For me, you are the exception. I’m too old for anything more. There are other Alchemy teachers in town, though, if one were to look hard enough.”

“What other professions can be learned? And where would one look?”

“What other professions? Well, everything. Any tradesman or qualified crafter knows a profession. Find them and inquire what it would take to be taught by them. Herbalism, for example, can be taught by any number of the growers that work in the greenhouses on the northern side of town. They grow all the herbs that are cultivated in Valbrand, and most of them could teach Herbalism to an adventurer if they were convinced to do so.”

“Alright, thank you. Let me just relay that to my friends.”

Carl waved the comment away, still focusing on the beaker he was stirring.

Orion quickly composed and sent off messages to his party about all that he had learned, and instructed them to learn different but helpful professions if possible. He was met with sincere thanks from Arika and Shadow, and a series of offensive yet surprisingly creative strings of ASCII art from Honeypot.

Next, Orion began composing a message to Tallon about Herbalism, and all that he had learned about professions. Before he could hit send, however, Orion was surprised when a message arrived from him first.

Tallon: ORION!!! I THOUGHT I WOULD FIND YOU IN TOWN. I JUST ARRIVED BACK FROM THE PATCH. YOU FUCKED IT COMPLETELY YOU UNGRATEFUL PRICK! NEXT TIME WE MEET WILL BE ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON STIM LEAF AND DIE!

Orion: It’s not what you think. I learned Herbalism from the first Stim Leaf I harvested. With the Herbalism profession, I was able to discern how to trim back the patches to the optimal level for growth. They’ll grow back stronger than ever in the coming days and weeks. I also left patches untouched if you need to harvest some.

Tallon: BULL. SHIT. YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT YOU GOT HERBALISM FROM THE FIRST PLANT YOU PICKED WHEN I’VE BEEN PICKING THEM FOR DAYS WITHOUT LEARNING IT? I WILL KILL YOU UNTIL YOU ARE DEAD! YOU DON’T MESS WITH A MAN’S VICE YOU LIMP-DICKED LEAF-PICKER.

Orion couldn’t stop himself from laughing at being called a ‘limp-dicked leaf-picker’, despite how angry Tallon was. Orion sent a message explaining everything that he’d learned so far about Herbalism and professions in general. While waiting for a response, he was once again surprised when he received a message from Fener instead.

Fener: Orion, Tallon is babbling about Stim Leaf, professions, and murder. He said he can’t talk to you right now because you’re a lying prick. You really pissed him off with what you did to his patch. He’s not making sense, but can I understand that you’ve learned a profession? I didn’t say anything, but my ability saw your title ‘the Alchemical’ when we first met. I was going to ask you about it at some point. How did you get them?

Orion again wrote out everything that he had learned so far and sent the message to Fener.

Fener: Wow. That’s huge, if true. I’ll choose to believe you, but Tallon might need some more convincing. He just stormed out of the southern gate to go ‘blow up trees and curse your name’, if we can believe him.

Orion: It’s true. I’m with my Alchemy teacher right now, and my party is off searching for professions in town. Tell Tallon he can learn Herbalism too when he calms down. I can’t teach him, but there should be several herbalists in town that can. I’ve been told there is a greenhouse on the northern side of Valbrand where he can inquire.

Fener: Okay. Thanks for the information. This is a game changer. I’m sure Tallon will come around if he learns Herbalism and can boost his chance of harvest and the quality of his precious Stim Leaf. I’ll keep you posted if we find out any other information.

Orion: No problem. I’ll keep you guys posted too. Take care.

With all the information relayed, Orion closed his contact list and returned his attention to Carl. The alchemist was still stirring the contents of the beaker, which had turned a lighter shade of pink and started bubbling a little.

“Okay, that’s all sorted,” Orion said. “I also wanted to ask you about a potion that could heal corruption.”

“What kind of corruption are we talking?” Carl was still listening despite the focus he was giving his work.

“We were given a quest by a giant, sentient fox named Azeria. The corruption of a boss we killed infected her and her family. She kept her sanity, but her family is succumbing to the corruption. Is there anything I can buy from you that could cure them, or is there anything I could make?”

“Hmmmmm.” Carl lifted his free hand and began stroking his long beard in thought. “We sell potions that can cleanse corruption, but they wouldn’t be strong enough to help in this situation. We would have to make one, but I don’t think we could scrape up the supplies.”

“What would we need?”

“Well, it’s quite a basic potion. The issue is the strength and rarity that you would need to upgrade the potion to. The herbs used are low level, so finding the herbs in a high enough rarity is unlikely…” Carl trailed off, and Orion was unsure if it was because he was thinking more about the corruption cleansing potion, or if it was because he was focusing on the bubbling mixture before him.

“What herbs could I use if we had them?”

“Fire Root, Stim Leaf, or Cranium Bud would be the most likely, though others might work with a little experimentation.”

“Stim Leaf, you said?”

“That’s right.” Carl looked up from his mixture. “Why?”

“Would this work?” Orion pulled a handful of the Stim Leaf out of his inventory and held it out for Carl to inspect.

“Hmmm. Uncommon? That’s still no good, lad. You would need thousands of that rarity, and you’d struggle to buy or gather that much.”

“Thousands, you say? Exactly how much would I need to heal twenty-seven corrupted foxes?”

“I’d say at least three-to-five thousand. You’d want five to be safe, though. That would make a cauldron worth, which should be enough for thirty doses.”

Orion smiled. “In that case, I have enough on me. Would you be happy to help, or at least tell me what to do?”

Carl didn’t answer, holding up a finger and staring intently at the beaker full of pink, bubbling liquid. The bubbles were now finer, looking more like a carbonated drink. He turned off the heating device and put the beaker in what looked like a steam-punk fridge with a deft motion.

“Alright.” Carl brushed his hands on his apron and relaxed as he turned to Orion. “Now, you expect me to believe that you harvested five-thousand Stim Leaf of Uncommon rarity in the last two or three days since I saw you?”

“Nope.” He gave Carl a sly look. “I harvested them in about ten hours yesterday.”

“How many do you have?” Carl asked, brow furrowing.

“Just over fifty thousand.”

Carl stared at him, looking more annoyed than impressed.

“You’re being sincere again, aren’t you?”