System Change

“Shall we get started?” Derek asked.

Roman nodded. “One second. If I’m going to teach… what was your name again?” He asked Brandi.

“Brandi.” She answered.

“If I’m going to teach Brandi Alchemy, I’m going to do it right.” Roman walked back over to his workstation and stuffed everything into his storage ring. Then he walked over to a desk and pulled a ring out of a drawer.

Back at his workstation, he began laying out different items and materials. There were beast parts, plants, and other components. Once finished with the materials, he summoned a different cauldron out of the new ring.

“This is a beginner cauldron. It can handle potions and poisons good enough for those at level 40 or so. It should be just about perfect for someone just on the path, like you.” He said to Brandi. “Now, are you able to recognize the materials here? How much information has your class given you?”

Brandi walked over to the workstation. She ran her hands over the different materials laid out. Finally, she nodded. “I know most of them. The materials over here are used in basic health potions, right?” She pointed at a set of materials. “Those are for stamina, and those are for mana, right?” She had sparkles in her eyes as she asked Roman.

The halfling nodded. “Exactly. It seems the information provided by your class is good. The materials are all for the basic versions of the potions. Now, are you able to see anything else of note?”

Brandi focused hard on the materials. Finally, she picked up a plant and moved it closer to her eyes. “This… I feel like I should be able to use it along with the other materials.” She furrowed her brows. “It’s like… if I use this, I could make more than one potion at a time?” She looked up.

Roman smiled. “Close. That is the root of a Furgrave Plant. If you use it, you can actually combine everything here to make one low level basic potion that restores health, stamina, and mana. Of course, the effects are not as good as using a single potion, about 80%. Still, sometimes you only have enough time in battle to take one potion.”

“Anyway, I’m surprised that you were able to guess anything about the root.” Roman walked over and put away two materials. “Those didn’t have anything to do with these materials. I added them as a test. They were actually high level materials, used for potions for those well over level 100.” He laughed.

“Now, let’s get started.” He motioned for Brandi to stand beside him. “Do you know the basics of using a cauldron to make potions?”

“I do. I need to process everything first, then control the heat as I add and combine the materials, right?” She asked.

“Putting it simply, yes.” He answered, then waved his hand over the workstation. He set multiple copies of the previous materials out. “This is enough materials to make 20 of each potion. What I want you to do is practice making each potion. Stop after using five sets and I will come and view your progress. After that, I’ll see what you need help with. You are free to use my workstation.”

Finally, Roman turned back to Derek. “Please wait a moment while I go fetch Freia.”

Roman walked through the door Derek and gang had been brought through. Not long after, he reappeared with a tall, dark-skinned woman with purple hair pulled back out of her eyes. A pair of purple framed glasses that matched her hair covered her hazel eyes. As she trailed behind Roman, she wore a bored expression on her face.

“Derek, this is Freia, my assistant. She’s quite the Alchemist herself, but she’s more interested in researching and Herbology.” Roman introduced her. “Freia, this is Derek Hunt, a new Onyx Ranked Adventurer. He’s here in Shae’s place to help us with some testing.”

Derek carefully watched the woman’s face. Even when Roman announced that Derek was Onyx Ranked, she didn’t change her bored expression. However, when he told her that he was there to help with testing, her eyes lit up.

“Is he as good as Shae?” She asked in a hopeful tone.

“You know, it’s rude to talk about me like that when I’m in the room with you.” Derek said.

“Don’t mind her.” Roman said. “She’s very… tenacious when it comes to her research.”

Derek wasn’t actually offended. He just wanted to see her reaction.

“Sorry.” She said. “Are you as good as Shae in testing?” She directly asked him.

Derek shrugged. “I should be pretty good. I’ve never done it before, so I can’t tell you for certain. We are about to find out, though.

“Great!” She flashed a smile. “Let’s go.”

“Hold on.” Roman said, as he focused on Brandi. “Remember my instructions. I’ll be back soon. I’ll know if you slack off.”

Brandi nodded sharply before looking at Derek. “What kind of testing are you doing?” She asked.

Derek waved her question off. “Oh, it’s nothing to be worried about. It won’t take too long. Don’t squander this chance. You heard how much gold that potion he created was, right? You’ll be able to do something like that soon.”

“Come on, I have a testing room in the back.” Roman told Derek before heading through another door.

Derek turned and looked at Mal, who was holding Silvi. “You two make sure she doesn’t blow herself up.”

Malorie smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t take her out of my sight.”

“Then we go get dinner.” Silvi chimed in.

“You just ate a bunch of street food before we got here. Besides, it’s not even close to dinner time. It’s barely lunch time.” Derek said.

“We missed lunch?!” Silvi half screamed inside his head. “We have to get extra to make up for it.”

Derek rolled his eyes and followed through the door behind Freia. Silly gluttonous rabbit. He thought.

Derek followed the Alchemist and his assistant through a short hallway and into another room. When he entered the room with him, he examined it. Surprisingly, the room was made out of the same obsidian the hotel was made out of. The room was pretty bare. There was nothing but a table in the center, surrounded by chairs, and a shelf on one wall. The shelf held many vials of different color potions or poisons.

“Surprised?” Roman asked. “I had a lot of gold on hand when I moved from my previous location to this one, but not enough to make those whole building out of the stuff. Besides, it’s just not a material that is practical.” He said. “So, I only used it to enforce this one room, which eventually became my testing room. The Dragon Forged Obsidian is able to handle a lot of abuse that may come from potions that just happen to… explode.”

“Wait, are you saying that there’s a possibility of a potion exploding inside me after I drink it?” Derek asked hesitantly.

“No, no. That would never happen… probably.” Roman said. “I’ve already given the potions ready for testing the drop test, so unless you have something that hasn’t been digested in your stomach that interacts with the components of the potions, you should be fine… probably. Besides, are you really afraid of a little explosion?”

“Yeah! If it’s inside of me.” Derek answered.

“Nonsense.” Roman walked over to the table, which was also made out of the same obsidian material as the room, and sat down. Derek had to hide his laughter as the man jumped into the chair and let his feet dangle like a little kid. Finally, Roman pulled three different vials out of his ring and sat them on the table. “We’ll start with these three.”

Freia walked over and sat beside Roman, taking one of the vials in hand. The liquid inside was a bright blue, almost neon. “This possible potion has some ingredients that are used for Intelligence and Willpower. We’re hoping that we were able to increase the effects of those materials.”

She then took the next potion, which was a brown color. It looked like tap water that had come out of a faucet with rusty pipes. “This… may increase your Endurance.”

That’s reassuring. Derek thought. Nothing is more encouraging that ‘may increase.’

Finally, she grabbed a potion that was actually changing colors on the fly. “This potion may do something.” She said.

“Something?” Derek asked. He couldn’t believe that they didn’t even have an idea about the rainbow potion.

“Well…” Roman put his hands up. “I created this potion four years ago, but I haven’t been able to talk Shae into testing it. I had a bunch of rare ingredients left over from some orders. The problem was that anything ingredients that I didn’t use within the timeframe would have to be returned to the clients. I couldn’t let that happen, and I didn’t have a lot of time left to make multiple potions. So, I combined them all into this one potion.” He grinned. “It was successful.”

“And you want me to test it?”

“Very much so.” Roman replied. “If you do, I’ll treat that girl in there as if she’s my own disciple.”

Derek frowned and ground his teeth. “We’ll see.” He finally said. “First, let’s start with he Willpower one. It shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll make my decision once I’ve tested the other two.”

“Great!” Both Freia and Roman shouted at the same time.

Derek walked over and grabbed the ‘possible potion.’ Here goes nothing.