"I can't believe how good the food here is! You shoulda warned me, I'm... stuffed."

"Come on Jay you eat like 12 year-old girl, you barely even got through the lasagna! Just hurry up already you oaf, we need to get to an alchemist before we go out, stocking up on potions is important, this place is surrounded by goblins and they love harassing people till they drop, the annoying bastards!"

"Oh, goblins? Standard fantasy?"

"Somewhat... some of them look like the bog-standard little green men with sharp teeth and claws, but then there are the elemental goblins, which look about the same but made of rock, fire, air... you get the gist. There's also all sorts of weird subspecies, there's these annoying red ones called Redcaps that act like wannabe ninjas, they're not the only ones either. Some of them can be quite dangerous if they catch you off guard."

"Or if you suck in a fight?"

"...Sure... so, here we are! The Bubbling Cauldron is probably the best alchemist shop in the hub."

"Come on Ele, why don't we just pick up the ingredients and I make the potions myself!?"

"You are aware that a chemistry degree doesn't automatically make you an alchemist right? You need training and the actual skill before you can start making half decent potions. Well, that, and the recipes."

"Fiiine, I'll figure it out later!"

"Haaah... Excuse me! Elyin! Are you in?"

"Ah? HUH? Oh Elai... Ele! It's ah... been too long? What, what day is it?"

After Ele calls out I hear loud bang from bellow the sales counter before a thin and deathly pale young girl with long pointed ears and light blue, nearly platinum, hair pulls herself, with more than a little effort, up on her feet. Whoa, she looks like the victim of car crash, she's covered in bruises and burns from head to tow, has nasty bags under her eye's, and looks more than a little drunk... or high, I honestly can't tell.

It takes her a while to gather her bearings before she takes a good look at us and we lock eye's, me with my makeshift blouse and still more than a little hung over from the... situation in the third challenge of the first floor, and her clearly in much the same condition, just more recent.

"Huh, Ele, I didn't know you... knew other alchemists, who's he? You're not... replacing me right?"

Ele takes one look at me before her eyes pop wide open in realization and she starts giggling like a maniac.

"Hehehehe... ha, hahaha, no, PFT! No, no... Elyin no... hahaha... This is Jay... heh, Jay's not an alchemist, at least not yet, more of an alchemist hopeful."

"Oh... OH! Jay, can I call you that? You wana be alchemist? REALLY? REALLY REALLY?"

"Y-yes, I have 'some' experience with chemistry and alchemy seems similar and, well, FUN!"

Before I even have time to blink she jumps on me and pins me to the floor... Damn she's strong for someone shorter than even ME!

"PLEASE BE MY APPRENTICE, I NEED ONE BUT EVERYONE HATES ALCHEMY AND I NEEDTOTAKEANAPPRENTICESINCEIMAMASTER... *INHALE* AND MY BIG SISTER IS BEINGSOMEANTOMEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!"

*PANT, PANT, PANT, PANT*

"Ok, ok, sure, I'll be your apprentice, just BREATHE!"

"REALLY? You're not just saying that? You'll really let me teach you, you're not tricking me right?"

"No, no, really, I need someone to teach me the ins and outs of alchemy so I don't need to spend the next few years figuring it out through trial and error, I mean, trial and error is fun and all, but actually learning from someone competent before getting to the trial and error is a FAR better way to manage my time."

"YES! I HAVE AN APPRENTICE, SUCK IT NELAN! Oh, oh I'm so sorry I d-didn't mean to say that, oh I hope no one heard that."

Did she forget that we're still here? And it looks like she just noticed that she's still sitting on to of me.

"OH! I'm so so sorry! I-I'll get off you right now, I'm so sorry!"

"Elyin... hey Elyin! We're here to buy some potions, need to stock up before going out."

"Oh, s-sure, what do you need?"

"6 health, stamina, and mana potions each, standard recovery, oh, and throw in a single dense mist, always good to keep one on hand."

"I don't need stamina potions, or health really, make it 3 health and 15 mana, I need that stuff BAD!"

"No stamina? You sure Jay? If you run out of stamina in the field you're done for!"

"Yeah! I have really high recovery."

"That... actually makes perfect sense, I need to hear that story later."

"Um, ok, so... 9 health potions, 6 stamina, and 21 mana right? Here!"

Where did she even get all those potions so quickly, I don't see any space under the count... storage items... right. I wonder how many of those she keeps stocked, do storage items keep their contents fresh or is it the potion bottles.

"Hey, are these bottles enchanted to keep the contents fresh or something?"

"Oh, yeah! Look here..."

Elyin lifts up one of the bottles after Ele pays her and shows the bottom of the bottle to me. Scrawled at the bottom is a series of symbols that clearly look machine etched.

"These looked mass produced, interesting, do you have factories here?"

"No no, it's a tool, some alchemists specialize in making bottles, but we all have the tools to make them look!"

Elyin opens a door at the back of her store, the scents of countless plants and medicines suddenly wafts out as she walks in and comes back soon after while holding a strange tool that looks somewhat like an oversized stamp.

"You pour mana into this, it heats up, and then you press it to the bottom of the bottle and it leaves the enchantment in place... it's a form of lesser stasis by the way."

"Come on Jay, you two can talk about this after we come back from the outside."

Dammit, this is way more interesting than messing around with some dumb goblins or whatever, if we don't run into a dragon I'm going to be extremely disappointing.

---

"... I'm extremely disappointed!" Walking out of the elevator we're greeted with what looks like the lobby of a bog-standard government building. Ele starts walking towards a counter staffed by a VERY short young woman with bronze skin and blonde hair. She kinda reminds me of Gray... wait, are they like Dwarfs or something... Gnomes, that... yeah definitely Gnomes.

"Jay would you stop complai..."

"Yeah yeah, is that staffer a Gnome? Actually same with Gray."

"...Yes, they're both Gnomes Jay... Took you long enough to figure it out!"

"E-excuse..."

"What, was I supposed to just KNOW with one look at Gray!?"

"E-excuse m-me..."

"That's the IDEA Jay, it's called deductive reasoning, maybe you've heard of it!?"

"M-mam c-can I..."

"Riiiight... because just guessing something with next to ZERO information besides a few stereotypes and just happening to be right is deductive reasoning!" That poor receptionist has been trying to get our attention for a WHILE now, I wonder when Ele's gonna notice... she can be so inconsiderate sometimes... heh.

"There was only zero information if you're a blind idiot!"

"You're calling ME blind? Hahaha... sure Ele, suuuuure." And she finally notices... HAHAHAHA, oh my god she looks like a tomato, her is SO RED, HAHAHAHA, I c-can't... Hehehehe, this shit is comedy gold, need to make sure I memorize this... Yup, I'm good.

"Oh, I am so sorry! We didn't... I mean I... we-we just wanted to check in... we'll be going out of town..." The receptionist, now looking a little miffed, types something into what looks like a holographic keyboard and then pulls out two holographic cards that she presses into out hands, where they disappear into our bodies.

"Those are your identification cards, they'll let you in and out of the city legally. If you run completely out of mana they disappear for good and you'll need to pay a fine to get back in."

"Thank you very much, we're sorry to bother you... isn't that RIGHT Jay!?" Woah she looks pissed... heh.

"Yup!" And that made it WORSE! Hehehe. She gives me the stink eye before grabbing my wrist and practically dragging me away.

"God Jay, you're such an asshole... why didn't you say anything!?"

"I thought it would be funny... I was right!"

"... Just... fuck you! I hope you get jumped by goblins!"

"I'd rather get jumped by a dragon but I appreciate the thought."

"... There aren't even any dragons here... I don't even know if they exist at all."

"... Well damn!" And now I'm even more disappointed... THANKS. As we walk outside I see a small... town? village? It's small enough to be called a market! It's just a few shops and an inn on either side of a road ending in the administrative building we just walked out of, with a slightly less glowing version of the recovery fountain from the last tutorial directly in front of us. Past the point where the street ends stretches what looks like an grassy pasture which ends abruptly a few dozen meters past. There are countless other similar structures rising from the ground bellow and they look to be tightly packed, separated by about 3 dozen meters and occasionally connected by rocky bridges. I remember this from college geology... what was it called? They where carved from limestone... limestone? A Karst! But WAY too big... and consistent... and tightly packed... and connected by natural bridges? OK, a REALLY weird Karst.

"Holy... shit! This place is..."

"Amazing? Unbelievable? Yeah, I know!"

"... Yeah."

"You know it's easier to look if we get closer right? Stop gawking from afar and lets move! You can gawk while we move... let's hunt down a goblin camp to get you used to this place... there was one overrrr... I forgot... It doesn't matter, there are goblin camps everywhere on top of these mountains, lets go hunting!"

Well, I'm back writing again... this chapter was a bit of a test for length and I feel like I should push it above 2000 words. Next one will be somewhere in that range. I think I'll start posting twice a week from now on so next one on Friday... I hope.

PS: Spellchecking chapters this long is kinda hard and takes a while so if you spot any typos please tell me.