Duncan walked out of the bar with no sense of direction what he will do next.

“I really do know how to push the right buttons. First Bolgar, then Elland, now Wazsh,” he thought as he looked left and right. There was no one in sight as usual. He was half expecting to see tumbleweeds going down the main street with the eerie quiet.

Duncan wore his new leather armor but put his new sword into the inventory. The armor itself was surprisingly light, despite the leather being hard to touch on all the vital places. Most of the protection was centered around the front around the heart region. It also had a high collar which Duncan presumed was for stopping a sword cutting into the neck from the side. It was light brown yellow colored what you might call light ochre, with black leather straps where in two rows in the front.

The only distinguishing feature of the sword on the other hand was a bit longer handle which Duncan planned to use to hold it with two arms kendo style.

Looking at the dark monstrosity surrounded by a bright halo in the sky, Duncan could not help but wonder who could be powerful enough, to use this force of the universe in such way. Humanity has just begun to understand it’s nature. Yet they were harnessing and manipulating it for their own gains.

Shaking his head, he decided to try Bolgar again.

As he came to Bolgar’s door he didn’t hear that any work was being done. He tried to open it and it was locked. Then he pounded the door three times.

“Who is it?” came Bolgar’s voice from the other end.

“It’s Duncan. Let me in,” Duncan answered.

“Go away. You can’t persuade me,” Bolgar yelled back.

“Maybe I can’t persuade you but what about the mayor,” Duncan yelled back.

He heard the footsteps pause.

“Who told you the mayor has another key? It was Wazsh wasn’t it, that god damn coward,” Bolgar yelled in frustration.

“Wazsh is not a coward and neither are you. I know you have the best intentions for me but this is not the way,” Duncan replied, this time without yelling. There was quiet for a while.

“You know the mayor will give me the key and I will even owe her a favor.”

The door was unlocked and half opened.

“Owing favors to that woman is probably scarier than anything you might find in the mine,” Bolgar said and tossed out the key.

“Thank you. Here is your pickaxe,” Duncan said before he handed it over to the dwarf that was peeking out.

“I forgot to return it after we made it out last time. I still need the other one.”

“Keep it,” Bolgar said as he closed his door.

“OK. That’s settled, somewhat,” Duncan thought and scratched the back of his head.

“Now to check-in with Elland.”

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Soon he was inside Elland’s shop with the chimes ringing. The proprietor soon came from the back room.

“Took you long enough,” Elland said with a smirk.

“Good day to you too,” Duncan replied.

“Come. I have some ingredients prepared,” Elland gestured and went back inside the workshop as Duncan followed.

“Today we will be making a simple antidote potion. It has significantly more steps than the bug repellant from last time. Use your skill,” Elland said and got to work before Duncan could deny him.

He started weighing different ingredients. Most of them Duncan knew from the game, although they did look a bit different in three dimensions. Elland put the weighed ingredients into a mortar and crushed them with a pestle.

Then he placed them in a cauldron and added a full unit of water. He brought the cauldron to a boil, quickly turned off the heat and placed the cauldron into cold water to cool quickly. After it was cooled it was filtered and poured into prepared bottles.

There were five finished bottles of light greenish color left at the end.

Duncan identified one and it said Basic antidote – Superior quality.

“Did you get all that?” Elland asked Duncan.

“Yeah. I think I got it,” Duncan said as he touched his pounding head and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Try it!” Elland pointed at the ingredients with an open palm in invitation.

Duncan rolled his eyes but complied.

He focused on one of the ingredients and selected Bulk make five.

After what seemed a couple of minutes, he was standing in front of five antidote potions. Not all of them were superior though. His Alchemy level rose to 8 and his headache level rose to 9 out of 10.

“Are you alright,” Elland asked as he saw Duncan unsteadily swaying on his feet.

“I think I learned too much today,” Duncan said as he sat down on the ground breathing heavy.

“Here. Have some water,” Elland said as he gave him a glass.

“Do you want a potion?” he asked.

“No. But I think this is it for today. Let’s go eat something at Wazsh’s. My treat,” Duncan replied before he stood up. His stomach rumbled as he tried walking.

“I guess I am really hungry. It’s weird a couple of days ago I could almost go without food,” he explained as he patted his tummy.

“Nothing weird about it. You ate rat meat which was close to your level and now you are way above it. It’s just not satiating enough anymore at the same quantity,” Elland explained as he supported Duncan towards the door. They quickly locked up the shop and made their way to Wazsh’s bar.

As they entered, they spotted Bolgar at the bar.

“Good that you are here. He was just complaining about you and me,” Wazsh gestured towards the dwarf.

“Complaining about what?” Elland said.

“Duncan used the mayor as an excuse to extort the key from our poor Bolgar. Ohhh, and it’s my fault that Duncan knew the mayor has a key to the mine,” Wazsh explained as Bolgar glared at him.

“How did you extort him?” Elland asked.

“I told him the mayor would probably give me a key and then I will owe her a favor. Then he just tossed me the key,” Duncan said.

“I guess death by Shades, Wraiths or whatever is down there would be preferable to the mayor getting her claws in you. At least it will be swift but not necessarily painless,” Elland elaborated.

“Is she really that bad?” Duncan asked and the rest of them nodded in unison.

“Anyway, give me some stew. A beer. A beer for the angry dwarf. A glass of wine for Elland. Something for yourself and also if they want to eat anything,” Duncan said.

“Ohh. I will have me some stew also,” Bolgar quickly said, before he averted his eyes.

“I will just have wine,” Elland added.

“Coming right up!" Wazsh said and left for the kitchen and coming back soon after with two plates of rat stew. He also got three beers from the bar and a glass of red wine for the elf.

The dinner was quiet, before Duncan excused himself after paying.

“Be careful!” Bolgar said as Duncan was leaving.

“Here take these potions,” Elland said as he produced three healing potions.

“Let me pay you,” Duncan said.

“No. Return them if you won’t need them,” Elland said.

“Don’t worry. He will come back. He learned Swordsmanship so he won’t be defenseless anymore if something physical attacks him and we all know he is the walking antidote for death magic entities. He also has a new armor and sword,” Wazsh said and listed Duncan’s upgrades.

“I just hope that’s enough,” Bolgar whispered and made for the door.

“Take care!” Elland said before he likewise left.

“Don’t take any stupid risks or you will make them both apparently very unhappy,” Wazsh said before he picked up the empty dishes and left for the kitchen.

“I won’t,” Duncan sighed and went through the kitchen upstairs to bed.