[Book 1] [18. Alchemy is fun]
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I walked back to the tavern and carefully peered in. Thankfully, there was no Lisa lurking around. I slipped in unnoticed and casually walked to a private place in the back. It wasn’t a room, but a space with one table and a five feet tall wooden walls around it. I could still hear the conversation on the other side, but it was better than sitting in the open.

First, I ordered a pint of beer and bought another crate of wine and food for me and for Donovan. Where else to resupply than in a lovely tavern? Then I stacked all the cauldrons on the table; the waitress frowned, but hadn’t stopped me. While inspecting the cauldrons, I noticed a strange yellow crystal beneath them. With a bit of mana, the cauldron warmed up, and a small fire flickered to life. Sweet!

According to the recipe, for the preparation phase I only needed to have Rodumbine on hand, so I took out the ingredients, but ten times the numbers. To prepare the potion, I needed to fill the cauldrons with water as per the recipe.

Right, who casually travels with gallons of water? Me! I pulled out the big bottle from my bag and filled all the cauldrons, but not simultaneously. For the exploit to work, I had to choose five-second intervals.

When the water boiled, I threw the violet Alchemy thingies in. The name officially was [Alchemy Reagent], but Alchemy thingies sounded better. The author of the recipe said that after the thingies turned bluish, I should throw in the crushed flower.

Crushed flower? Why that wasn’t in the preparation portion, you damn idiot?

As I boiled the water, I crushed the black brittle petals of the Rodumbine flower in my brand new handy mortar, releasing a pungent aroma. System helped me count exactly five minutes, and the color finally changed, so I shoved it all in. The scent of bubbling potions filled the air as I stirred the ten cauldrons in rapid succession and that left me exhausted more than a boss fight. Terrific.

 

The table rattled slightly as I set down the potion bottle, its contents sloshing inside. All alchemy bottles came in two types - normal, with a volume of 10 ounces and small only with a volume of 1 ounce. When the first potion turned green, I immediately used the ring, and the liquid in the cauldron shrank.

Without a second to spare, I emptied it into the bottle. In quick succession, I had to repeat the same process with several other cauldrons. When I finished, I dropped exhausted to the bench and read the blue boxes with satisfaction.

[Congratulation! You have created the Agility Potion x10]
[Agility Potion]
Effect: +50 Agility for 10 minutes

“Yeah!” I jumped and cheered. My intuition proved me right, and it worked like a charm! The potion was originally a bigger one, so when I created ten smaller ones merged them together, the effect was ten times stronger. “Sweet,” I spoke out loud with delight.

The only downside was I had to create potions simultaneously; there was a window only of ten seconds after the creation. Easy.

“Princess?” I heard Lisa's enthusiastic voice from a distance, and then her quick footsteps as she rushed to greet me. She wrapped her arms around me tightly, like a child holding a toy. “You are amazing! Thanks to you, we could clear the second boss!”

As she hugged me, I felt her lips press against my hair in a sweet, affectionate kiss. I opened my mouth to protest, but my voice caught in my throat, and all I could manage was a weak squeak. It was only natural for me to react that way when a beautiful girl held me like this.

“What’s with these ten cauldrons? Don’t you need only one?” she asked after a while of involuntary cuddling. Despite being thought of as a cute decoration, I felt a warm sense of happiness inside.

“More-better. I am going to Duke’s ship. You coming too?” I asked her a question instead, because I didn’t want to explain to her the intricacies of multi-alchemy.

Well, it wasn’t my creation; I saw it something similar in a video, but that was in five years from now. With enough mental effort, anyone could identify a way to use the ring to their advantage, so I shouldn’t worry, right? With any luck, the system will fix it later rather than sooner.

“Oh, I would love to, Princess! I heard it is a hard quest. But I need to finish the dungeon,” she said in a dejected voice, but that elated me.

Well, no, I felt no joy when I heard that - in fact; it had the opposite effect. Why? No more of cuddling. “I get it. Good luck, friend,” I said, and she returned to her table. Please, Lisa, kiss me more!

With the goal of getting more kisses, I peeked into her ‘room’ and people around her table waved at me. No way too many people. I squeaked once more, quickly returned, and resumed my alchemy. Which resulted in 100 small potions - ten bottles for the emergency situations.

 

My slow walking speed and dejected look revealed how excited I was when I entered my mentor’s lair. “Princess! Come sit with us!” a loud voice of Donovan welcomed me. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

I nodded and came near the desk they were squatting around. A bizarre sight; tea party on the ground? At least they prepared furniture this time. After a brief consideration if I should just run away, I sat down and Donovan handed me a cup. The tea was lukewarm, but the aroma of blueberries was strong and inviting. The taste was mediocre, like a mouthful of dry, flavorless soil. Patrick had better flavors in his window cleaner.

“So, what’s the story with you and Donovan? How did you meet?” I said; my glorious attempt at conversation.

“When my mother died, she wished for me to be a knight! Like in the legends, when humans were only a lower race!” Donovan's battle cry echoed through the lair as he flourished his sword.

Before I could comment on how stupid he looked, Teorn scolded him, “Donovan, get that out of your head. The past is in the past.” When he glanced my way, I felt a knot form in my stomach. “Hero, you are just in time. Duke’s fleet will be here shortly. I spoke with our harbormaster; you have a spot on the third ship. You need to convince the Captain, or Duke himself, to fulfill your destiny.”

“I knew there will be a catch. Wonderful,” I complained while sipping the tea. A dash of rum would have been perfect to cover up the rocky flavor. Blah. Before I noticed, the old man pressed himself on me from behind, patting my head.

“You will be fine, you are a hero!” He peaked into my cleavage from the top view and I could feel his saliva on my hair. A sense of despair spread through me, gradually overtaken by a growing rage. Fine. I poured the rest of my drink onto him, then slammed the cup onto his head, causing him to recoil away from me.

“Let’s go, Donovan.” Unexplainable anger was boiling inside me, and I fiercely stomped with each step. Why am I like this? My feelings were a jumbled mess that I couldn't make sense of. The not-yet-knight joined me just when I was leaving, as he hastily grabbed his stuff.

“Good luck!” the damn mentor shouted at us with a laugh and healed himself.

Choosing this village turned out to be a mistake. Stupid Teorn.

 

It wasn't until Donovan led us on a stroll through the Village that I finally saw the river that ran through it. The builders hid away the harbor down and around the mountain, so when the river came into view, I let out a surprise yell, “No way.”

Unlike the calm streets above, the area was filled with a flurry of activity, like a beehive. Elves were running around, shouting, selling wares, boarding ships, and whatnot. The master of the harbor was an older man with a loud voice. My calm feeling dissipated with each step we took towards him, and anxiety took over.

So, I slowed down to a crawl and walked around aimlessly.

Donovan blinked at me with a puzzled expression, and because he thought I didn’t see the unmistakable man, he grabbed me by my hand and dragged there. Wait!

“Mister Teorn said we can sail with the Duke!” His characteristic yell finally had a good use in this loud place. The master eyed us and nodded.

“That’s right. Wait,” he yelled as well. Terrific. As I was shielding my pointy ears, he called a young boy and ordered him to guide us. That was a good thing, because with hundreds of people around us, my concentration was abysmal. The sounds of countless people talking over each other, the sounds of ships, the ugly smell of rotten things... Everything overwhelmed the poor me.

The kid guided us to a big dock area, which was off-limits and supervised by the town guards. After the young guide proved we belong there, they let us behind a rope hanging on old rotting columns. We found a secluded place near the point where the mountain met the river and I finally rested by leaning on the rock.

“We are here!” The boy held out a hand and grinned. He wanted a tip? I looked at the Donovan, but he was admiring the female guards standing nearby. After I scanned the dirty boy, I gave him one silver, but judging by his widened eyes and thanking me ten times over, I overpaid again. Whatever.

“Don’t look at the girls and rather tell me, how long did you train?” I slapped Donovan on his back, which was a mistake. The armor was no joke, and my hand pulsated with pain.

“I have been in services of my master for over ten months!” he yelled and grinned at my cleavage.

“Don’t yell, and that wasn’t the question. What can you do? What sort of training have you had?”

“I followed my master! When I had to, I received a hit; he always healed me afterwards,” he said proudly. Damn old man! This kid was so useless.

“Show me how would you strike an enemy, okay?” I tried to stay calm and asked him in a neutral voice, and he nodded. His lack of proper stance and technique was clear as he swung his sword with no movement - feet or hips.

After I cursed the old pervert a thousand times in mind, I said, “Let’s have a bet, okay?” I took out my staff and pointed it at him. I haven't tried the whip yet, and this wasn't the best place to train. “If you can stand for ten seconds, not fall even once, you win. If you hit me even once, you also win.”

He eyed my staff with a scornful look. “What are the stakes, Princess?”

“When you win, I let you touch my butt. But if I win, I’ll call you Don and I’ll teach you the basics of swordsmanship.” He agreed to that uneven condition the moment I said his win prize. What a fool.

[You have used the Agility Potion]
[Agility increased by 50]

After I nodded to start the match, he took an initiative. The idiot's grip tightened on the sword as he moved it closer to me, then thrust it directly at my chest. Thanks to my great agility, I side-stepped and gently touched the sword with a tip of my staff and directed his attack to the left.

He almost fell from just that and presented me with his wide open right side, so I touched him with one finger. The impact was enough to make him lose his footing and fall.

“Again!” he shouted as he scrambled back to his feet. So we faced again. For the entire duration of potion, I spared with him and defeated him every time, but I couldn’t understand his unyielding spirit.

“Okay, Don, that is enough. So, what do you think?”

He looked at me with eager eyes and said, “Your butt is amazing!”

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