Chapter 2 – Elixir
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It was night time. Steam rose to the ceiling of my room from a metal pot on the heater. The windows in my room were opened so I wouldn't suffocate to death. I noticed it earlier during day, but the amount of light that actually entered the room made them redundant as sources of light, hence why the magical light on the ceiling was always active.

The buildings around my room were tall and high blocking the sunlight from entering my room.

I had recently returned from a trip into the outer world. Many things were accomplished since I gallantly left this morning. 

Exia Academy was located in Remuria, it was an enormous city located within the Sagvin Empire

I could confidently say, I knew the streets of Remuria like the back of my hand, having spent many hours playing the game. 

Ok, the streets that were accessible in the game anyway.

Every other location I only had a vague idea as to its general whereabouts and layout, so it took me a while to reach my destination.

This was reality, unlike the game, a quick travel function I could use that would instantly teleport me to where I wanted to be did not exist.

So where was I going?

To make my hopeless situation somewhat more bearable, of course.

After mulling over my circumstances, I came to several conclusions.

Chronicles did not have a cheat item that could instantaneously grant me protagonist-level status and talent. At least not within the immediate vicinity of Remuria.

Every fate changing, item, artifact, or elixir was, as expected, located in extremely dangerous locations.

So as Mr. Weaker than a Fly, how could I dare to think of approaching these locations.

I would most likely be crushed to a pulp or ripped apart by the monsters on the way there.

And suppose I did miraculously manage to obtain said item, I should hope that it would not make my pitiful body explode into a million pieces.

Treasures are for the chosen they say.

Come to think of it, inside the Academy itself, an extremely powerful artifact lay dormant.

But that was meant for Faust to obtain and it would become one of his core weapons in the future.

There were also a few other reasons why it was not a viable option.

One, I am not sure if it is an 'only the fated one can wield it' situation. It likely was.

Two, I am certain the plot would be thrown off the rails, and I had no intentions of weakening my only weapon as of now.

Three, it was impossible to access it before a certain point in the story, which defeated the purpose of preparing for the Academy since I would have to wait until I was in the Academy. This did not take into account the number of surprises that would show up along the way. Thinking about it caused me to shudder.

Thus, I threw this idea away.

So what could I do?

Simple. If I couldn't obtain any of these powerful treasures, then I just had to make my own.

An elixir to be precise.

They were magical liquids that provided miraculous effects when consumed. In the game, these ranged from the standard recovery of health and mana, and some had the effect if boosting your strength temporarily. The range was extremely extensive.

What I intended to create was an elixir to permanently boost my stats.

Ordinarily, these kinds of elixirs would not be available until way further down the road and the ones that you could make had limited effects. Moreover, they would never match up to the natural born treasures or rewards from dungeons.

But.

What choice did I have?

This is where the other problem arose, I had no money, so even if I knew how to make an elixir, it had no use if I couldn't gather any of the vital ingredients.

Fortunately, I knew of a method of getting these ingredients without spending money. 

And no, this did not involve hunting monsters or travelling to hazardous areas. All I needed to do was walk to the outskirts of the city.

The ingredients for the elixir were the most common herbs and grass that could be found almost anywhere in the wild.

The outskirts of the city were extremely safe, so there was no problem in me going around foraging. It was something very commonly done when you started out in the game.

To think that such low-quality ingredients that you could get from almost anywhere could make something as heaven-defying as a stat elixir.

Almost too good to be true, right?

In the game, this particular elixir had a limited-time usage ordeal. Originally, the player would recieve the recipe as a reward. It was the invention of a famous Alchemist that Faust and the others would meet later on in the story.

This Alchemist had taken the formula to make high quality elixirs and simplified it.

But in exchange for being able to swap out and substitute a large amount of the high-quality ingredients, the elixir gained several drawbacks and side effects and weakened in effect severely.

It's efficacy would diminish greatly depending on how strong you were and you could only take a limited amount.

As the player, you would be warned with a message saying, "Faust cannot take anymore, his innards are about to explode." if you fed too many to Faust and his party.

Which made sense, if you could use this item limitlessly, it would be very game-breaking. I could only lament how useful that would be in my situation right now.

On the way home with the ingredients in my grasp, something I hadn't given much thought stumped me, how the hell was I supposed to make this elixir?

Chronicles had an alchemy system, meaning you could create your own concoctions. Most of the players saw it as a useless system so most of them ignored it, since it was faster to just grind and hunt monsters.

In the game, I could push this magical button that would automatically pump out the elixir for me as long as I provided the required ingredients. 

But... I had to improvise.

So the moment I returned to my room, I searched around the kitchen and took out an old metal pot.

I jammed all the ingredients into the pot and boiled it.

This brought me to the present.

A bubbly black goo greeted me.

[Notice]

The user has successfully created [Elixir of Stats (F-)]

The system's notification reassured me that I was successful in creating something.

I checked the description of the fruits of my efforts.

[Elixir of Stats ? (F-)]

A concoction made using various common herbs and weeds that can be found almost everywhere.

Supposedly, it has stat-enhancing effects.

It is not recommended for human consumption.

I am not an expert chef. However, it did not take one to see that the viscous and dangerous-looking substance in front of me was not edible in any sense of the word. And given the system's response, it seemed to agree with that notion.

I never had any expectations for recreating a powerful Alchemist's masterpiece.

There was no alternative, no pain no gain.

I laughed nervously, "What could go wrong, right?"

I scooped a spoonful of the substance and lifted it closer to my mouth.

My arm trembled as it drew closer and closer. I did not dare to breathe lest the smell kill me before I ingested the horrific looking monstrosity of an elixir.

With a cry to pump myself up, I threw caution to the wind and shoved the spoon into my mouth.

I swallowed immediately after the 'elixir' entered my mouth. I did not want to violate my taste buds.

But that should've been the least of my worries.

For the first few seconds, I felt nothing. In fact, I even thought that maybe it just looked, tasted and smelt weird.

So I took another spoonful, nothing strange happened.

I continued to eat until the pot was entirely empty.

I sat down on the ground with a burp and rubbed my stomach. I felt bloated as if I had devoured an entire cow to myself.

[Notice]

The user has consumed [Elixir of Stats ? (F-)].

The system's notification confirmed that whatever I drank indeed had an effect but...

I had half expected to feel a tangible effect like my body suddenly feeling invigorated as an indication that the effects 

"Did I make it incorrectly?" I wondered

Or was it different from the game?

Oh, what a foolish thought.

As soon as the foul liquid touched my tongue, I knew something was horribly wrong. My face twisted into a disgusted frown as a sudden, sharp pain blossomed in my stomach.

It felt like someone had punched me in the gut, and the pain only grew more intense.

Within seconds, my body felt like it was on fire. The pain spread like wildfire, scorching my insides and making it feel like I was being ripped apart from the inside out. 

I doubled over, clutching my chest and gasping for breath.

It was unbearable, like someone had thrown me into a pit of lava.

I let out a heart-wrenching scream, but it only made the pain worse. Writhing on the floor, I felt like my body was being consumed from the inside out.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Cursing in my head was the only way I could force myself to tolerate the pain.

I expected something like this, but even that did not prepare me for this!

Sweat came out of every pore in my body.

Unable to withstand it, I soon fell unconscious.

After all that talk about not wanting to die, I sure did something stupid huh...?

 

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