“So… Why did you ask me to meet with you? What are we doing? Why are you carrying that large backpack?” Ririna asked me to meet up with her now that our lives are not at stake anymore, but then she showed up with a big backpack. I was hoping that she was planning something more romantic, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Ririna said it was better if we left the town, so now we’re heading somewhere more open.
“Remember when we first met? You said I was the first alchemist you’ve ever met, right?” Ririna walked slightly ahead, full of energy.
“Yeah… I sort of remember that…”
“If that’s the case, that means you’ve never seen what alchemy can do! There are so many cool things I wanna show you! You’re gonna love it! As an alchemist, it’s my job to make sure the general population understands and appreciates the work we do. Which is why I want to show you some of the coolest things I’ve made! Unless you don’t want to…” Ririna looked up at me with puppy eyes… How am I supposed to ever say no to that adorable face of hers?
“It sounds fun. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Ahahaha! Thanks, Iroha! You won’t regret it!” Ririna shook my hand before she got behind me and pushed me forward. “Let’s go then! Let’s hurry up so we can get started!” She’s so excited… How cute!
“You like alchemy a lot, don’t you?”
“Ahahaha! I love it! Did you only notice it now? I thought I made it pretty obvious.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve known for a while now. I was just curious about why. Why do you like alchemy so much?”
“Haven’t I told you my story before? It’s because of my father.”
“Your father, huh? You’ve mentioned him before.”
“He used to be a high-level alchemist before he retired.”
“Retired? Did something bad happen?”
“He just got married.” Oh… Huh… “When I say he retired, I mean he stopped working as an alchemist. He still uses alchemy around the house, and that’s why I got interested in the first place. It looked really cool, so I asked him to teach me alchemy, and then I got hooked. I pestered him to teach me more all the time, so he spent most of his free time teaching me everything he knew. I’m still young, so even now I’m not at his level just yet.”
“Is that why you like alchemy?”
“It’s part of the reason. Those were fun times. But I only started taking alchemy seriously later, when I helped some of the people in my village with what I had learned. That’s when I realized how nice it felt to help others, and that alchemy was something I wanted to continue doing.”
“Wow… Y- you’re a kind person…” It almost makes me feel guilty about how impure my desires are… She’s a really nice girl…
“Thanks. Now I want to carry the torch my dad left me and reach even higher heights. You see, I think alchemy can change the world for the better. It’s a bit of a pipe dream, and it’s probably not gonna be me, but if I can invent something that makes everyone’s lives better, I’ll be happy. Uhmm… Iroha? You’re staring…”
“Sorry, that’s impressive…” She sure is aiming high. I had already picked up some bits and pieces, but hearing her say it like that was something else… We walked through the open fields until we were far enough from the town. We can do whatever we want here without bothering anyone.
“This should be good enough.” Ririna stops and places her backpack down.
“Do you need help with anything? What am I supposed to do?”
“It’s fine, Iroha. You can just take a seat.” Ririna took a small box out of her backpack and placed it in front of us. After taking a step back, the lid opened, and a human-sized ball of fluff appeared on top of the box. What the hell? It looks like an airbag. Is that cotton? Wool? I have no idea. It’s just fluff. That’s the best way to describe it. “Go on, Iroha. Take a seat.” Ririna gestured towards the fluffy ball.
“Uhmm… How?” Am I supposed to sit on top?
“Ahahahaha! You look so confused.” Ririna turned her back to the ball and opened her arms before jumping into the ball. “Are you seeing this? What do you think?” The ball started shrinking until it started resembling a chair. “It’s your turn, Iroha. Give it a try!” Ririna got up from the chair, and it went back to being a ball.
“Alright…” Ririna grabbed my shoulders, and we swapped places. I touched the ball with my hand to try to understand what it’s made out of. I still can’t tell, but it looks really flimsy. It’s the type of thing you think can hold you but disappears and makes you fall if you actually trust it. Does it harden when someone’s on top of it? It did catch Ririna… “Here I go.” It’s not like I have a choice. Ririna is eagerly waiting. I can’t let her down. Please don’t let me fall, fluff ball! “Oh?”
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“How does it feel? Pretty comfortable, right?” The ball was able to catch me and started turning into a chair. It’s soft and feels great to the touch…
“It’s nice…” Though it seems kinda useless… “What’s the purpose of this thing?”
“Geh! Don’t start with that kind of conversation, Iroha. We do it for the love of the game. It’s cool and comfortable, and you can sit anywhere since it fits into that tiny little box. Just don’t place it near any fires. It burns really easily.”
“I can imagine…”
“It also serves the very important purpose of giving you a place to sit while you watch what’s coming next.” Ririna took out what looked like stick a of dynamite and tossed it up gently. Is she serious? Dynamite now? I’ve seen other explosions from her, so that’s nothing new. The dynamite she tossed floated in front of her face before slowly landing on her hand. Is it not being affected by gravity? It’s like it was on the moon or something. “This one would have been great if it was nighttime, but it should be visible enough. You see this floaty thingy, Iroha? Try to follow it with your eyes, okay?” Ririna lit the fuse and threw the dynamite into the air. It was so light that it was pretty much impossible to see. Ririna jumped into the fluff ball and sat down next to me. We’re so close…
*Pop pop!* The dynamite turned out to be a firework, and it covered the sky with light for a brief moment. “It’s pretty, isn’t it? That thing is called a firework. You can occasionally see them during celebrations in some of the bigger cities, so maybe you’ve seen them before. It looks much better when the sky is dark, so I’ll have to show you some day.” Ririna turned away from the sky to look at me. So that’s what passes as a firework in this world… It’s just a stick of dynamite that is not affected by gravity, and they just throw it into the air. I can’t decide whether that’s cool or barbaric…
“Wow… It’s incredible that you can make something that’s not affected by gravity…”
“That’s the part that gets you?!” Ririna seemed almost offended that I commented on that instead of the firework itself. I mean, I’ve seen fireworks before… Sorry… “Whatever. Get up, Iroha. I want you to try something next.” Ririna grabbed onto my arm, and we both got up from the pseudo-couch.
“You want me to try something?”
“First off, drink this.” Ririna gave me a flash with a transparent silver liquid. It looked far less threatening than the Torn Violence Potion, so I drank it without hesitation. In a few seconds, my vision became sharper, and my eyes started to zoom in. Is this a potion to see farther away? Woah… That’s trippy. “Is it working?”
“I think so… I can see farther away now. Is that what it’s supposed to do?”
“That’s right. It’s a simple potion, and it’s going to wear off pretty soon, but I wanted you to try it before… Iroha, are you alright?” The effect of the potion was disorientating, and I lost my balance.
“I’m not alright! I- I think I’m gonna fall!”
“Just stand still. If you don’t move, you’ll be- Watch out!” I couldn’t stay still, and Ririna tried to catch me. “Ouch…” We both fell, and I ended up on top of her. The potion wasn’t supposed to last for very long, and when I opened my eyes, the effect was already over. Her face was right in front of me, and we were just on the verge of kissing. So cute… “Sorry, Iroha… I should have told you what the potion was gonna do.” Ririna blushed and turned her face to the side. “The Eagle Eyes potion is a simple potion with a simple effect that anyone can make. I didn’t explain anything because I wanted to surprise you…” With her face still to the side, she looked up at me with an adorable, bashful look. “So… Can you get up? Please…”
“Ah! Sorry!” I got off Ririna, and we both sat up. That was close… I almost lost control back there. That reaction of hers… It was a good one, right? I tried to look at Ririna, but she diverted her eyes… She’s still blushing! That’s love… isn’t it? Am I going crazy? Is this my chance?
“Ahem! Back to where we were. What did you think of the potion? It’s a bit disorienting when you first use it, but it can be helpful.” Wait! Don’t switch gears so fast! We were in the middle of something important. Ririna shook her head and got up. She wasn’t blushing anymore. At least not as much as before. “Do you want to try making one yourself? It’s very easy.” There goes my chance…
“Well… Sure… Why not?” Ririna had clearly been enjoying this opportunity to show off her talent, and I was interested enough not to ruin things for her. Alchemy sounds interesting, and if I’m really able to make a potion, that will be one of the most ‘fantasy game’ things I’ve done so far. Ririna already had the materials ready, and it was just a matter of mixing them together. I followed her instructions until we arrived at the last step.
“Now imbue it with a bit of your magic, and it will be done.” Imbue it with a little of my magic? That’s easy for her to say. How do I do that? Maybe it’s not that hard… When Ririna was looking for the core of my magic, she was looking for the VISS Driver. Skills use MP and MP is related to magic, right? That means it should be like using a skill. I held onto the flask and focused like I was using a skill. It seemed to work and the liquid glowed for a moment. “That’s it! You did it, Iroha!” It’s incredible how easy to is to make a potion with an effect that we can’t replicate with our world’s science… This really is a magical world.
[New skill available.]
[Alchemy – Elementary Alchemy (Cost: 10 Skill Points)]
Oh! And now I got a new skill! Awesome! I’m not really aiming to become an alchemist, so I’m probably never gonna get this. It’s from a new skill tree, and I don’t want to waste one of my two remaining slots. I’m happy to have it unlocked, though. It’s always nice to have more options. It really paid off to play along with Ririna.
“The last thing I have left to show you is this!” Ririna pulled out a weird-looking axe from her backpack. It looked like a chainsaw in the shape of a lumberjack axe. The handle was that of an axe, but the head was bulky and strange. It was undoubtedly a chainsaw because instead of an edge, there was a chain with teeth instead. Seriously… What am I looking at? It’s so cursed… “Can you tell what this is for, Iroha?”
“Uhmm… Cutting wood, maybe?”
“Y- you’re right… How did you know? I guess it kinda looks like a normal axe, doesn’t it? Don’t get it twisted, though! This is not a normal axe. This one is better! Watch this!” Ririna grabbed a small log and cut it with her invention. “See? Wasn’t that awesome? I confess, it’s still a work in progress… It’s a bit hard to use as it is right now.”
“Did you design it yourself?”
“Yeah… I wanted to find a way to make it easier for weaker people to cut trees, but it’s not there yet…” I’ve never used a chainsaw myself, but things are shaped the way they are for a reason. I wanted to help her, so I tried to describe to her what our chainsaws look like. Her axe… saw… tool… whatever it is, works with magic, so just copying our chainsaws might not work., but maybe it will give her some ideas. “Hmmm… I see what you’re saying… I think that might work… A- are you a genius, Iroha? Were you a master alchemist in your past life?!”
“Ahahaha… I don’t think so… It was just a random thought…”
“It makes sense, though. Wow… I’m glad I showed you my inventions… I don’t use a sword, so what you said about the center of balance is not something I would have figured out on my own. You’re incredible. You were able to tell just by looking at it!” Sorry, Ririna, but I’m just cheating… I’m not a genius of any kind.
“I’m glad I could help… If the new design ends up working out, you should try turning it into a weapon next. I know you care more about helping people, but it might be interesting…” I know chainsaws are not actually good weapons, but we’re not talking about real chainsaws here. Ririna might be able to make something that works.
“Don’t worry about me. Give me all your ideas. I may not be interested in making weapons, but even if it’s just for my own self-defense, it’s worth looking into! Oh, Iroha… You’re giving me so many ideas… What if I made it like this instead…” Ririna was so excited that she kept asking me for my thoughts of various things for hours. We’d be talking about one thing, then she’d notice something, and ask me about a completely different topic. I’m no alchemist, so I couldn’t exactly answer everything, but I was able to give her a few tips whenever the topic overlapped with the knowledge from my world. It was a bit exhausting to keep up with her for so long, but it was worth it. Ririna looked really satisfied at the end. The romantic mood from earlier was completely gone, but that’s fine. Just because she was blushing and being bashful, it doesn’t mean she’s head over heels for me. There’s no need to rush.