System Change

“I thought you would never ask,” Roman said with a cheery grin on his face. “When the prince came flying in on that beautiful beast, I just knew that there had to be more. And here you are!”

“Go figure,” Derek said with a snort. “But yes, you’re right. During the raid, we were able to get quite a few different types of material.” He held up a ring that he’d filled with an assortment of materials. “This has some claws, hides, organs… basically a bunch of different parts of multiple kinds of dragonkin inside.”

Both Freia’s and Roman’s eyes went wide, and Derek saw the halfling lick his lips in anticipation. Roman reached out toward the ring, but Derek pulled it back out of his reach.

“Not so fast,” he said, to Roman’s dismay. “I wasn’t finished. It also has a variety of other materials from monsters in the dungeon—including beasts like griffins and lynxes, along with a few other things.” During the last trial—the one before they fought the Starfury Leonarus, they’d fought multiple beast types, and Silvi had been meticulous in collecting material from them.

Basically, if she thought there was any possibility that a material could be used in cooking, then she was sure to have picked it up. To that end, she’d already cooked up some of the weird octopus they’d fought during the trial, and it had been delicious. Unfortunately for Roman, Derek didn’t have a lot of those materials, as Silvi was pretty serious when it came to her ingredients.

Finally, after watching both alchemists stare at him like lost puppy dogs, Derek gave in and flicked the ring into the air. The halfling alchemist jump multiple feet off the ground and snatched the flying ring before coming down and examining it.

“Oh… Amazing…” Roman muttered as he went over the items inside the storage device.

“So, do you think you can make anything good with them?” Derek asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman looked up and replied. “You can never know what’s waiting to be created until you run tests. But I can only imagine that materials from beasts such as wyverns or wyrms will be full of possibilities. Perhaps strength or vitality potions, even. I do doubt they will be able to help produce and fertility potions… such a shame, considering those are best sellers. Dragonkin are well known—at least in legends—to have very low fertility rates… rates even lower than full-blooded elves.”

“Oh… I didn’t need to know that,” Derek said.

“Everyone should know that,” Roman said. “Fertility rate is even worse once a dragon grows powerful. It is the same with all powerful creatures. The more power you gain through the great system, the harder it is to conceive. Of course, that power usually also comes with increased longevity to counter that problem, and luckily, we can produce potions that increase the success somewhat. Which is why, as I told you before, my virility and competence potions are best sellers and allow me to afford materials for my passion projects.”

“Still not something I need to know,” Derek said.

“He is very proud of his virility potion,” Freia said from behind Roman.

“And why shouldn’t I be?” Roman clicked his tongue and moved over to a table.

“Yes, yes,” Derek said as he watched Roman pull out a couple of the smaller materials and set them on the table in front of him. Freia quickly rushed over with her notebook. “We are all very proud that you can create potions that help old nobles create more snotty nosed heirs…”

“Not just nobles,” Roman corrected as he took out a weird-looking lens and examined the materials more closely. “Usually, if someone is powerful enough to need one of my potions, then they are easily able to afford it. So, though nobles create most of the market, as they are worried more about having heirs than most, there are many adventurers, both active and retired, that also have need of my potions.”

“If you say so,” Derek said. “Anyway, what is all that worth to you?”

“What is it worth?” Roman looked up at Derek and blinked rapidly. “You mean…”

“What? You thought I was just going to give it to you for free?” Derek asked while shaking his head. “You should know better than that.”

“What do you want?” Roman finally said after a few moments of silence.

“I don’t know,” Derek said. “I certainly don’t think I need any gold, though.”

“No, I guess you would not,” Roman said. “What if I give you half of anything I produce from the materials?”

“What happens if it all ends as failures?” Derek said. “Then I would just be out materials and cooking ingredients for Silvi with nothing to show for it.”

“Hmm…” Roman bit his lips. “Fine… Half of anything I produce with your materials, and free production on a number of orders of any potions I can already craft as long as you buy or provide the materials.”

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“How many?” Derek asked.

“I don’t know,” Roman said. “Each recipe is different, so some potions are much harder to produce than others.”

“Alright,” Derek said with a shrug. He really didn’t care much about it—he just didn’t want to lose in any deals.

“Really?” Roman asked. “Just like that?”

“Yeah,” Derek said. “Why not? If you want, I can try to think of something to counter with…”

“No, no, no… That’s good. It’s a deal,” Roman said as he reached out with his hand to shake Derek’s.

“Good.” Derek shook the halfling alchemist’s hand. “Get with Malorie and Rudy and they can sort out all the details. I don’t do any of that stuff,” he said, but what he was thinking was, At least until Malorie decides to take that vacation… I better get any deals done quickly—before that happens.

“Ugh…” Roman sighed. “Can’t we just do it here? With a basic contract? Those two are so difficult to deal with.”

“Nope,” Derek said. “Either them, or I can take back the materials and you can pretend that you never saw them.”

“Fine…” Roman sulked. “Is there anything else you wanted?”

“Other than that,” Derek replied. “How are things going?”

“We’re out of Void Beast material, if that’s what you’re asking,” Roman answered. “We made are final deliveries a while ago. Your manager should have all the accounting for it.”

“Did crafting all that help you out?” Derek asked.

“My skills and level have never been better.” The halfling grinned. “Crafting so many potions created by materials not of the Great System was a huge boon on my skill levels. And the experience was just as good—though, I have hit the bottleneck on crafting such potions, so any leveling experience or skill experience I earn is almost nonexistent now. Still, those potions and the stats they give are more than enough to make up for no longer receiving experience for crafting them. And, since I have taken a break from creating those Potions of Permanence, there is a good chance that the next couple I craft will give me at least some experience again.”

“That’s great!” Derek said.

“Yes.” Roman nodded. “I am now level 235, and very close to achieving 236. And almost all of my main crafting skills have achieved the elusive level 20. For that, I am thankful.”

“Then this new batch of materials…”

“Could be vital to my leveling,” Roman said. “Also, do you plan on… obtaining more Void Beast materials?”

Derek thought about his promise with Avery to take him hunting and nodded. “I do. I’m not sure when I will be doing it, but I definitely have plans to tackle some more Void Beasts. Why?”

“I was hoping to get your permission to allow Freia here to try her hand on making the potions,” Roman asked, and Derek saw Freia’s eyes widen in shock at the declaration.

“I thought you were all about not sharing your recipes,” Derek said.

“I am, but she is my apprentice. Since I have personally obtained all there is to out of the recipe, it is time to pass it on,” Roman explained. “Under a strict contract, of course.”

“Of course,” Derek laughed.

“It is not usual that I receive enough of a single material to… grind the experience into the ground, if you will. My plan has always been to begin passing recipes down once I achieve level 250, but now is as good a time as any with Void Beast materials.” Roman then walked back around the table, close to Derek, then leaned in conspiratorially and gestured for Derek to do the same. Finally, with Derek bending down and his ear close to Roman, the alchemist whispered, “Not to mention her research has been vital in the creation of new potions. Her work with herbology is second to none.”

“I see,” Derek said as he pulled back away. “Well, it will be a shame to lose materials, but that can’t be helped. Who am I to keep your apprentice from increasing her skill level? Go ahead.” What he didn’t say was that Void Beasts were the easiest and most abundant material that he could come by since he could summon them at will, and since his last foray with his Void Call skill, he’d become much stronger and was no longer scared he’d call one that he couldn’t handle.

“Great!” Roman said.

“Just work it into the deal with Malorie,” Derek said, instantly deflating Roman once again.

“Very well,” Roman replied.

“Now,” Derek started. “How did Brandi do while I was gone?”

“She is a fantastic alchemist and a very fast learner,” Roman said. “She also has a multitude of alchemy skills that I have never seen before. It’s a shame that she has been stopping by less and less. She seems to be intrigued by movement potions lately—as that is all she’s questioned me about. Though, I have not seen her make any progress on that front.”

Roman still didn’t know about Brandi’s real class it seemed. It wouldn’t be terribly hard for someone like Roman to find out about it if he really looked into it, as Alanah had done, but the halfling didn’t have a reason to. And since she had sort of specialized her class into smithing, Derek suspected Brandi would be spending even less time with Roman.

“She’s very into doing things on her own,” Derek said.

“As I have found out,” Roman replied. “Still, she is an amazing talent. I even had thoughts about taking her in as a full apprentice instead of just a student, but I actually believe that would hinder her amazing progress. She has a talent for making unusual connections and instructing her in only in my process would hinder that creativity.”

Derek smiled. He enjoyed hearing one of, if not the, best alchemist in the entire kingdom praise Brandi for even more than her work ethic. Anyone could look at the time she spent crafting and know that he was a workaholic, but only someone who truly spent time teaching and observing her would see her creativity.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for her,” Derek said with a bow. “I’ll make sure to let Malorie know to go easy on you during your discussions. Since Brandi is her daughter, I’m sure she’ll do so.”

“That would be great,” Roman replied happily.

Derek nodded, then decided it was time to leave. “Well, thanks for the talk. You can go ahead and get started with those materials. I trust that you won’t try to pull one over on me. Just go see Malorie whenever you have time.”

“Will do,” Roman said.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Hunt.” Freia came forward with her notebook and bowed deeply. “These new materials are much appreciated.” She turned her head and eyed the ring on the table.

“Don’t mention it,” Derek said with a wave. “I’ll catch the two of you later. I look forward to see what new potions you create this time.”

With that, Derek turned and left the room. Behind him, he heard Freia half shout, “Oh no! I forgot to have him test my potions!”

Then, Roman’s voice sounded out, “Stop moving, don’t chase him. He’ll be back soon enough.”

Derek shook his head and smiled wryly. He really didn’t feel like being a guinea pig today. He’d have to move his next visit to Roman’s Potions and Brews to the bottom of his list. Unless he finds a way to make a new brew that will work for me. That would be nice, he thought as he walked out the door to the shop. “Where to next?”