"What a long day… Finally, I'm logged back in! Whooaaa!!!" Yuuki shouts with joy from within the forest which he had previously logged out from. They already had quite a handful of school activities when it's just the second day and he was pretty tired from it. Especially the P.E., now that he's back in the game, he will be grinding it out once again. He hopes to reach Floor 3 by the time he's done. He then began walking towards the nearby city which he had seen before previously logging out.

While walking on the way there, Yuuki came across a river and saw a person bent over, picking up something along the riverbed. He scrutinized that person's appearance as while they wore a hooded robe, their head is not covered and possesses a maroon colored hair with a bob cut hairstyle. Yuuki feels like this person is somewhat familiar.

"Alchimie…?" Yuuki uttered hesitantly.

He then jumped towards the other side of the river by imbuing his legs with mana, "Hup!" As he landed with an audible thud, the person looked at him, turning their head towards him while still bent over.

Yuuki looked back and his suspicions were right, as the person in front of him is the 10th-Ranked player in the Eternal World, Alchimie. And just as his name suggests, this man is production-class player heavily focused on the art of Alchemy: Potions and Elixirs to be exact. He's even often cited as the "God of Alchemists" during the Eternal World's golden age.

"Oh...? Samurai-san?" Alchimie exclaimed. "Oh, it really is you! You're already in floor 2!?" The man, despite looking middle-aged, still possess a pretty youthful tone. Another thing is that he's a few centimeters taller than Yuuki.

Yuuki smiled awkwardly as that's supposed to be his question to this man. "That's what I should be asking you…"

"Well, as you can see! I am already in floor 2! I've been pretty lucky in the Floor 1 trial... So, here I am!"

"Yeah, right…" However, despite Alchimie being primarily a production class player, he's still pretty good in combat and specializes in Earth Magic. Furthermore, he is never alone when fighting because he specializes in golem creation as part of his alchemical expertise, however, Yuuki's not sure if he currently have his golem creation skill this time around, but most probably, even if not, Alchimie will just find a way to make golems in this game too.

"So… Why are you here anyway? What are you picking out from the riverbed?"

"Oh, these!?" He then lift his arms higher so that Yuuki can get a clearer look of the plants that he's holding.

"Are those river grass?"

"Nien! These are alchemical plants. Take a closer look!" Alchimie then walked towards him to present them. "Here."

As Yuuki scrutinized the specimens, he found out that they are quite different from the usual vegetation found in rivers. Sure, they look the same when together with the other ordinary river grasses, but they have a very small and hard to spot difference; a small area of their tips have a dark bluish hue.

"It really do look different… For what are these, anyway?"

"Quest."

"Hm…? From who?"

"The Orcs, they live pretty far from here. Would you like follow me there?"

"Oh… Orcs, huh…? Sure, I don't have anything to do yet anyway."

"Okay then…" Alchimie then proceeded with putting the plants into his [Inventory]. Since [Tower of Eternity] doesn't have an automatic identifier for all objects in the game alongside its descriptions, most objects doesn't invoke this feature, as it is the motif of the game: Exploration and Discovery. However, this feature is still available to all Equipment and Items from all over the Tower, and Materials that came from Dungeons.

"So… Samurai-san, where's AbsoluteZero?"

"Well… he's still in Floor 1, helping our friend, and secondly… please… stop adding the "san." The auto translate's pretty wonky when it translates your words from German to Japanese because of that..."

"Is that so…? Okay, I'll stop that."

The two, Yuuki and Yohan are pretty close with Alchimie during the era of Eternal World. The latter is actually their go-to when needing the expertise of an Alchemist. The guy is also often with them during raids and the tougher bosses, providing a much needed support for the two when tackling bosses with a recommended number of participants being sixty players.

"Alchimie…" Yuuki hesitated. "How 'bout your golems? Do you still have them?"

"Well, yeah, I do have them. But they're still prototypes, they don't possess autonomy yet, which is my goal with getting this quest."

"How will this quest's reward allow you to give them autonomy?"

Alchimie shrugged, "Cause the Orcs are going to teach me shamanism, you know... spiritualism and stuff…"

"I see… that's great then! How'd you pass the trial, anyway?"

"I used my prototype golems… earth magic… and a ton of elixirs I've made in the first few hours of the game! It's not that complex, I only used simple buff elixirs on the golems."

Hearing this, Yuuki was astonished. "You really are the God of Alchemists—! You seriously made elixirs when the game just started?!"

"Yup. I'm cool, right?" Alchimie boasted,

"Hell yeah."

They walked upstream for quite some time towards the nearest Orc settlement which is also where Alchimie got his quest from. There were no enemies at sight, it was a relatively quick and safe trip, warranting no combat preparedness from both of them.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Soon, they've spotted a tanned-skinned individual who's picking out some herbs.

"Oh? Is that them?" Yuuki squinted, trying to see his best despite the distance.

"That's right, come on." Alchimie's walk then hastened into a sprint as he headed towards the individual Orc.

The kneeling male Orc sensed Alchimie's approach and instinctively raised the wooden spear he had by his side towards him with blinding speed. "Who there?!" He shouted with deep, but startled voice. His way of speaking is very rough, as if he's illiterate.

Alchimie halt his sprint and raised his hands. "Whoa! It's me!" There's not a hint of fear in his voice, as if he's just being playful.

"Oh… The human…" The Orc lowered his spear and apologized by prostrating himself and bowing down.

"Oh please… you don't have to do that, I've startled you, after all…"

"You have grass now?" The Orc asked after standing up.

"Yes, and by the way, this is my friend, is it fine for him to go into the tribe too?"

"Hm… He okay..." He grumbled, grabbing the basket full of herbs from the ground, the Orc led them inside an area surrounded by trees.

When they arrived, Yuuki was astonished. The Orcs are not that much in number, maybe four to five dozens of them here right now. They do not have any house, but instead tents made of leather and bones. Their clothing are very simple too, just a bunch of animal furs stitched together rudimentary, they are made more for practicality and there's not a hint of aesthetic in mind with the designs.

"Wow… this place is great!" Yuuki exclaimed excitedly.

Later, a elderly male orc dressed with loose garment who is walking slowly with a wooden staff, approached them. His back was bent forward due to his old age, yet chooses to walk all on his own when the other younger Orcs are trying to give him some assistance.

"Human… Have you found… the special herbs?" He spoke slowly with a shaky voice. He extended his hand towards Alchimie, asking for the plants, which the latter promptly gave from his Inventory.

"Good… These are good quality." The old man proceeded to put it inside his own Inventory and then signalled Alchimie to follow him.

"Can this guy follow…? He's a friend."

The old man turned around and gave them a cold stare before answering. "Hm… just this time…" and then continued walking. Unlike the previous Orc, this elderly Orc's way or speaking is way more refined. He led them into a tent and then asked them to sit at the floor with a gesture.

He went into a table made out of bones and on top of it are objects that had been readied beforehand, such as a mortar, a large wooden bowl, a bowl of water, and some small liquid vials with different colors.

"Are you ready?" The elder Orc asked as he grinds down the plants down into powder.

"Yes…" Alchimie answered.

The elderly Orc then began the process, he first grinded the gathered plants into fine powder after quickly removing all of the moist surrounding it using water magic and quickly smashing it.

The process was speedy and unrealistic when a real world standard was applied to it, that is however, if an ordinary person is doing the job.

The Orc then filled up half the wooden bowl with water and added varying number of drops of each vials.

At this point, the liquid now had bright colors of green and yellow, existing together, but not mixing. At last, he added the powder from the plant and the liquid suddenly boiled as vapor rose up.

The Orc took a wooden cup then scooped the liquid. He walked toward Alchimie which he then handed it to him.

"Drink. It will take you to your goal." Alchimie took it and then drank the boiling liquid. However, pain is not really an issue, because while every player accesses the game with their consciousness and their five senses are intact, the game tones down pain to almost nonexistence.

But because it is boiling, Alchimie will still surely take damage but it maybe wouldn't be a lot. "You madman…" Yuuki exclaimed.

After drinking the concoction fully, his head suddenly drooped down with the cup rolling away after falling. Veins all over his body had welled up and are now visible too, especially on his head.

Yuuki's eyes widened and suddenly sprang up onto his feet. "Hey!" He was ready to retrieve his katana from the Inventory if ever this Orc was an enemy. "Shit, do I have to fight...?"

"Fuck this, there's two hundred floors, I don't want to lose a revival so early… Why the fuck is this a thing?! Eternal World don't have this bullshit!"

"Easy, human. That? It is normal, he will come back." The Orc picked up the dropped cup and filled it up once again. "You want?" He offered nonchalantly to Yuuki, who's bearing hostility towards him at the moment.

"No, I don't want that." Yuuki answered adamantly.

"Gasp!!!" He suddenly looked at Alchimie who had regain consciousness while not disengaging his stance.

"Wha… What happened?" Alchimie asked with a confused expression.

"You lost consciousness, man…" Alchimie looked at Yuuki who's currently assuming a fighting stance without his weapon and was quick to explain what happened to him.

Alchimie got up and stopped Yuuki "Wait! Wait! What are you doing?!"

"I thought it's poison..."

"No, let me explain, let's go out, my quest is done here." He started gently pushing Yuuki out. "Elder, thank you for that." He smiled to the Orc who also smiled back.

After they are far away from the Orc settlement, Alchimie began explaining. "Well… first, that's a quest… to… get a skill… I tried making golems, which are the prototype. I made it using the same method as I did in Eternal World, but they don't have the autonomy, I have to control them manually with my mind."

"Well first, how about you shut the fuck up and use a potion first, your lips and mouth are burnt."

"Seriously? That's how you address people older than you? Oh well… I'm damaged, so that's why my HP's kinda low…" He quickly retrieved a potion in his Inventory and drank it.

"So, that's why… I came here. According to the articles of GND in [Eternal Library], Orcs are good at spiritualism, and I figured, maybe adding something else to my golem core skill will give my golems that lacking feature, I asked the Orcs how can I achieve that, and their Elder answered. They said, maybe I just need to learn to harness my own spirit, and the only way to learn that is to experience an out of body experience. And… the only way to do that, is to enter the Spirit Realm!"

Yuuki asked with confusion, "Spirit Realm?"

"Yeah, realm of spirits, it's kind of in the name…"

"I know, I understand the name, I'm not stupid. But no one knows about that thing yet, and surely, you're first guy to go to that Spirit Realm. I'm sure you don't even a plan to put it in [Eternal Library]."

"Why should I? I want to reap the benefits of knowing it first... So back to the topic. I entered the spirit realm, and oh shit! It's beautiful. The place is very vibrant, but… there's a lot of enemies. I don't think any player can explore it yet, even you. However! I gained the ability to draw from my life force, from my HP basically, to make my skills much more powerful, lemme show ya."

Alchimie popped out a simple pre-made armored humanoid golem model from his inventory which weighs quite a lot as it's made of dirt with armor made out of stone.

"Is your Inventory just full of these things?'

"Nope, full of potions and elixirs, want some?"

"You don't need to ask me that, just give me some later."

Alchimie then placed his right hand on his chest and mana began gathering on his palm.

Swoosh—!

As he pulled away, a green energy came out of his body and mixed with the cyan ball of mana, making it green. He then injected it towards his golem and moments later, it came to life!

"Finally! My golems are back!" He screamed in joy with his arms wide open, happy that his golem creation skill is now perfected as it was before.

He began testing the autonomy of the golem with Yuuki by first giving it simple commands such as jumping, running, throwing punches, and finally he asked Yuuki to destroy it without using the blade of his katana.

"You sure? You just made this with out HP, didn't you?" He was hesitant.

"Ehhh… I can make more later, go on, fight it."

"Fine."

Yuuki managed to destroy the humanoid golem rather easily but they still goes on to conduct more experiments with Alchimie's newfound power.