The path he took to arrive at the cat’s owner’s house was very long, and he couldn’t even put the cat inside the ring, for some reason, and ended up being scratched the entire way over there. The place was located on the outskirts of the city, where the houses were more packed together and older.

After a few more minutes, he arrived at the house that was his destination. Mold covered the walls and the paint seemed to be peeling off. The house had a glow around it, however, probably due to being part of his quest.

He knocked on the door a little hesitantly. Previously, he had imagined that the person who had lost the cat would be some rich snob that would give him bountiful rewards. Now he wasn’t sure what to expect, but the cat seemed to recognize the house and was even more eager to free himself.

The old wooden door opened up, and an old lady walked out. Squinting her eyes, she looked at him, and then turned her attention to the cat in his hand, her eyes widening.

“Satyel, where have you been, you naughty cat?” she scolded the cat and extended her hands towards it. Lucas delivered the cat to her, and only then did she turn to look at him again.

“Thank you very much for finding my cat. He usually doesn’t go far, and I find him on the block somewhere, but this time he…” She seemed like she was about to cry, and Lucas freaked out a little, not knowing what to do. Fortunately, he didn’t need to do anything, as she pulled herself together the next moment. “I’ll keep a better look on him from now on. Enter, enter, we’ll talk about your rewards inside.”

Lucas entered the house and saw a pretty tidy but cramped-up living room. The ceiling seemed to be a little tilted, and he feared the whole structure might fall at any moment, but he decided not to voice his concerns.

“Look, there’s no need to worry about the reward. I’m happy just to have found the cat. I didn’t even need to look for him all that much, so it wasn’t a problem,” he honestly felt kind of bad asking for a reward after only having found that poor lady’s cat. If his mother was there, she would probably scold him for it.

“Oh, you are very kind,” she replied, patting him on the arm. “But there’s no need for you to go away empty-handed. I might not have much, but I think I have something that can be useful to you.”

Lucas got curious hearing that, but her next words were a bucket of cold water.

“I have a few family recipes that I can share with you. It isn’t much, but it’s all I have. I hope it is enough,” she said, dragging him to what he assumed was the kitchen while Lucas thought of all the excuses he could give to get away from learning that old lady’s family recipes.

“Look, I don’t…” he began.

What he saw in the ‘kitchen’, however, shut him up. At first glance, he saw nothing wrong with it; there was a huge cauldron, lots of plants, fruits, and bits of beasts. However, on a shelf on the side, he saw a lot of potions of all different kinds. He looked back at her, expecting an explanation.

“Oh, I forgot to mention?” She said it mischievously. “You are going to learn some alchemy!”

Lucas never stopped to actually consider learning alchemy, but when he thought about whether he wanted to, he found no reason to refuse. It was a similar feeling to learning how to throw a fireball; that was literal magic, so of course he was interested. And this was another part of magic, so to speak, it was almost like witchcraft. Something he was more than willing to learn. He had been willing to learn way more boring things back on Earth, after all.

“Unfortunately, I can only offer to teach you the two most basic potions, health and mana. The others are a family secret that I wish to keep as such,” she said, and Lucas nodded. Those were the potions he was most interested in anyway, so he didn’t mind. Besides, it made sense for her to keep their formulas a secret; those things were worth thousands of coins. There was only one thing that didn’t add up.

“Do you sell those potions?” Lucas asked.

He imagined that as an alchemist she should be one of the richest persons in the entire city, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Oh, yes. I sell them to those nice gentlemen from the Alchemy Emporium,” she said while beginning to collect her instruments.

Lucas found that to be a little odd because he had been to that store yesterday. Weren’t they selling potions up to five thousand coins? However, he dropped the subject seeing her begin her instructions.

She went on to explain how the temperature of the flame was one of the most important things for an alchemist, and how he needed a good stove and cauldron if he wanted to do anything good.

“My stove may seem old, but it is very good. It was left for me by my great-uncle when he left. He was one of the best alchemists I have ever seen,” she said with admiration in her voice.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With her, he saw that alchemy was like cooking, but with extra danger involved. He had to put the right ingredients at the right time and always keep close control over the temperature of the flame, any mistakes might end up in an explosion. The old lady said that some master alchemists used mana to form the flame, creating potions with a higher potency, but that she wasn’t this skilled and was still level ten even after all those years.

“Where did you get those ingredients?” he asked, after watching her place the ingredients in the cauldron.

“Oh, the Alchemy Emporium provides them for me,” she replied, still focused on the flame. “But I believe they place quests for such things; they are very busy after all.”

Every time she talked about the Alchemy Emporium, there was admiration clear in her voice, and he became curious to know how this partnership started. However, he wasn’t sure if he should meddle so much in other people’s affairs and was afraid that the old lady, who he found out later was called Hilda, might get offended. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help, the more he found out about her, the more curious he became; he was a curious person by nature after all. So, in the best way he could think of, he tried to get her talking.

“I’ve been to the Alchemy Emporium yesterday; they have a great place. Are all those potions yours?” Lucas inquired.

“Oh, not all of them. Probably just about 60% of the higher-quality ones. I simply can’t make more,” she said, sounding embarrassed.

Lucas couldn’t believe what he had just heard. That old lady was responsible for 60% of the fancy Alchemy Emporium supply? The higher quality ones too, to top it all off. If that wasn’t a major scam they were pulling on her, he didn’t know what it was. But he couldn’t tell her that straight or she might get angry. She seemed to have the idea that they were the ones doing her a favor. How that happen was what he needed to find out.

“That’s very impressive. They sell those for a great sum… the alchemist profession must pay well, right?” Lucas tested the waters, but immediately Hilda seemed to get defensive and kept quiet. So he continued. “I mean, I saw one of the best health potions, and they were selling for five thousand coins. Do they give you half?” He thought that he had gone too far, but Hilda wasn’t responding to his attempts, so he decided to be more direct towards the end.

She finally took her eyes off the flame and looked at him. “Yes, they pay well, why?” she asked, looking at him like he had just kicked her cat across the room.

“I don’t mean anything by it, I swear; I was just curious about the profession.” Lucas raised his hands and said it in an apologetic tone. She kept staring at him for a few more seconds before she sighed and turned to the flame and the cauldron again.

“Sorry, I know what you must be thinking. With me living in this house… but they pay me with something far more valuable than money, believe me.”

Despite his curiosity, Lucas kept quiet hearing that and didn’t talk about it again. Focusing solely on the craft of potions. He still felt like there was something fishy about the whole ordeal, but learning alchemy required a lot of concentration, he needed to remember every step to the minor details, so he couldn’t keep diverging his thoughts to other things. A few hours later, they stopped.

“Sorry, I have some things that I need to do now. We will continue again tomorrow morning, if that’s okay with you. Then you can do your first potion,” she said to him, sounding a little tired. Lucas agreed, said his goodbyes, and left.

It was already nighttime, but the weather was fine, and he didn’t feel tired. It was the first time he actually studied since arriving in Ponos, and he didn’t remember the last time he spent so long without studying. It felt good to get back to it. Despite enjoying all the action that had been going on, he didn’t want to go so long without studying again. That was just a part of him—he liked to learn new things. All in all, it was a pretty eventful day, but he still believed that there was one last thing he needed to do to make the day complete.

Let’s see what this bone blade is all about!

Lucas rushed through the empty streets, with a destination in mind. It was the training center he had seen yesterday when he was walking around with Aysha. He had wanted to check it out ever since he saw it, and after hearing something about it from the old man, it only raised his curiosity. It seemed as good a place as any to test his new skill.

After arriving at the Training Center, a place shaped like a football stadium on the outside, he didn’t see any receptionists in the lobby. Instead, there were a few electronic totems placed all around. Seeing another person go up to one of the totems, Lucas did the same and went to one that was empty.

Lucas was met with a screen that contained a few options, among them: type, number and level of opponents. He could also set up a general environment where the training would take place, and there was also the possibility of renting things like weapons and equipment. He could also bring someone with him to the training room if he wanted to.

There was also a message that assured that the training sessions would only be taped if the client desired to, but a fee would be charged if the client wanted access to the record.

All of those things were new to him, and he had no idea where he would watch the record of his training session if he requested one. There were no cellphones in this world, as far as he could tell, nor any of the regular technology he used to see on Earth. However, that wasn’t a big problem, as he didn’t need any recording at the moment.

He chose the options according to what he wanted and then saw how much it would cost: 2000 coins per hour, and the place took no responsibility for any potential deaths. Pretty expensive, he thought. But he had the money, so he deposited the coins through an entrance on the totem. Afterwards, a card popped out of the machine. Lucas took it and looked at it.

“202D,” he read what was written on the card and followed a couple of people who were going through a passage on the other end of the hall. There, he saw a large corridor filled with elevators that probably went all the way around the building.

At first, he didn’t know what he needed to look for, but he soon noticed the letter above each elevator. Finding the one that had a D above it, he stopped and entered it when the elevator arrived. He couldn’t wait to try out his new skill and see what this Training Center was all about. For the price, it better be worth it, he thought.

A few seconds later, however, when he arrived, his words were thrown to the wind, and a smile opened wide on his face.

That’s what I’m talking about!