As much as I didn’t feel like it, I decided to do a more extensive check of my stat page. It’d be a while before I returned to it anyway. There were things I hoped to be available.
Nate Sullivan
Class: Potion Maker. Secondary class: **Divine Master Magician**. Third class: Unknown.
Magician rank: 3rd realm of the Saint.
Class rank: Established.
Ability: Can make up to SSS, divine-grade potions, and blighted potions.
Power: Low World-breaking Strong.
Defense: Low Absolute Titanium.
Dao of Creation. Rank: Divine. Stage: Awakened. This is a middle stage.
Physique rank: C.
Primary quest: Purpose. Progression: 39%.
Shop rank: D.
Heavenly attunement rank: E.
Lord Ruler Select as Raider; Friend of the Kingdom of Merridon.
Abilities:
-Super skill: Ultimate Identifier, stage 2. [Ability to identify everything, including its quality, ranks, people, so on. Improved identification of sentient races, along with additional details. Congratulations! It is not often a skill like this is ranked up by the few lucky enough to obtain it. Standard scans will never compare to it!]
-Dragon Magic Burst. [Evolution of Supreme Magic Bolt.]
-Potion Maker’s Insight (Low). [Grab any object and you may see the potential potion paths. You will need to manually cultivate high-grade earth or forest mana to increase its capabilities.]
Spell book: D rank. Yukihara.
-Blood Lightning.
-Blood Lightning Cage. Trap your enemies, prevent them from escaping! [Requires a large amount of mana.]
Secret abilities:
Domain claiming.
Double spell books.
Blood lightning tempered.
Philosopher’s Stone Fragment. Item rank: SSS. Item quality: Exotic. Fragment of a frighteningly powerful stone. 1/6.
Potions Unlocked:
[Current self-use potions: Health, Energy, General Medicine, Speed Booster, Sleeping, Clarity.]
[Special potions: Night Vision, *Mana Core, Water Breathing, Masking, Eagle Sight, Shadow, God Flame, Summoning, Blood Lightning.]
[Mid-tier Special potions: Water Spirits.]
[Complex self-use potions: Minor Luck.]
[*Grand-tiered potions: Storms.]
[Utility potions: Lighting.]
[Misc potions: Flavors, Basic Purification.]
[Blighted potions: Steam Blast.]
Other:
[Heaven’s Tears. Item grade: SSS. Item quality: Extraordinary. Effect: Rapidly heals and also repairs damaged mana channels within the body.]
Blights:
-Fire-element explosive blight.
Spirit coins: 114,900.
Heavenly spirit coins: 9.
Merits: 3/5.
Free upgrade point: 1.
Yeah, getting to the third realm naturally required enough mana to feed a nation apparently, but I finally broke through. Right as I woke up to feel multiple presences outside.
They totally showed up at my house early in the morning and were likely expecting wisdom. I couldn’t be mad at them. They were born and raised in the way of the arcane and this was a big part of their lives. A flicker of excitement.
It made training my apprentices in magic easier. Sure, the hero’s party had their problems too, but they weren’t beginners.
I glanced at my… stats, if one could call them that. It felt like the system body-shamed me for not being at its one-million-years-of-existing standards. Maybe not.
The third class being unknown still bugged me. The system planned to reveal it at some point, hopefully not at a bad time. Such as when I have a mouthful of coffee and it involuntarily forces me to spit it out in someone’s face like a goddamn cartoon.
By the way, I hadn’t successfully made a divine-grade potion. Not once. Not even a royal grade. How many above S-tier grades were there, and what did they bring to the table? I selected the potion maker class and wanted to be the best at it, so you bet your ass this struck at my pride.
Don’t get me wrong, having the cheating ability to make SSS potions all the time was nothing short of a miracle. The system dumping heroic energy into a class that nobody normally chose. At least, that’s what I theorized. If I was somehow born with these powers, my last moment on Earth shouldn’t have been staring down a mysterious electric currency seller but blasting him away before slamming the door shut.
I shuddered in bed just trying to remember his faded face. The fact that he kept coming back to mind when he should’ve been a random forgotten guy worried me. Would I see him in this world, or would I be sent back to Earth?
Bored with studying my stat page, I rolled over and blew into Milia’s chest, through her gown. She laughed, slapping me on my shoulder.
“Stop, that tickles,” she said. I looked up at her.
“We’ve got guests,” I said. Wolverine barked once.
“Your disciples,” Milia said as she closed her eyes, drifting back to sleep, snuggling deeper into me as if not intending to allow me to get up.
I sighed. “I may as well get up. Come on, Wolverine.”
“You should make them wait,” Milia murmured.
“As funny as that is, I’d better make things clear or be a proper teacher I guess. Breakfast is on me.”
I usually helped Chenzu with the farm work. Milia tended the large garden, which at times could be just as big of a pain in the ass for anyone that wasn’t a dryad.
“I’ll be out in… probably twenty minutes,” she murmured.
Cheetara yawned from above Milia’s pillow. She continued to sleep.
After brushing up and dragging ass outside, reminding myself again to see Serina about the coffee, I was thankfully greeted with the sight of Chenzu being aided by the disciples.
“Well, if you’re trying to brownnose me with a good first day impression, it worked,” I said. That wasn’t intended as a joke, but everyone laughed. I could only crack a smile as I shook off the morning tiredness. This was one of those mornings where I considered skipping exercise with a lame ass excuse, but forcibly beat back the lazy metaphorical demon within. “But we’ve got to make this clear. Jobs first. Disciple things afterward, maybe four days a week. Unless you’re looking to become farmhands. We could use more.”
“To be fair, this job pays far more than a farmhand should make,” Chenzu said.
I waved off his comment. “We don’t do slave labor around here. Even Milia gets paid, though she has tried to decline it. The monetary factor helps us discourage those around us from taking advantage of people.”
“I don’t—”
“I know, Nuwa, it’s a work in progress, but the townspeople are talking,” I said. “They ask the apprentices about working conditions here all the time. The pay sometimes come up before anything. Even I was surprised to hear that most apprentices only get paid in room and board, which is kind of lame.”
“Room, board, and knowledge,” Nuwa said, raising a finger. “For most people, just being guaranteed a meal is enough to keep them going.”
I nodded. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m aware that every situation is different. For here, I pull in a lot of customers per day. I’ve also gotten gold through dungeon diving.”
Iris frowned. “Dungeon diving is far too dangerous for most people. If it weren’t, everyone would be doing it. Gold would be plenty. I bet our ancestors learned that the hard way.”
“I agree,” I said. “If there were other ways for me to find exotic ingredients and spirit coins, I’d be doing that instead.”
“To get spirit coins, you’ll… probably have to start selling to sects and royalty across the world,” Maxus said as he emerged from around the corner, eggs stored neatly in a large carton. The disciples looked at them with interest in their eyes.
“So, eggs for breakfast, then?” I asked.
Iris frowned. “I shall decline—”
“Yes please,” Ronica blurted out.
Iris glared at her, but the twerp’s eyes essentially drooled over the eggs, reminding me they weren’t as accessible in this world. Salt, honey, rare sugar, cinnamon, and even cream was a chore to purchase and quite expensive.
I whistled, which summoned Wolverine. I fed him a fancy bowl of meat and some of Milia’s veggie mix. I filled his water bowl, but he probably went to the river within the domain to drink, anyway.
Chenzu had already fed the animals, of course, and Beakwing as well. Sometimes the griffin insisted on hunting in a forest miles away or snagged a few fish from the river. The beastkin believed that griffins sometimes ate whole fucking bears.
Harmony and her librarian friend, Shera, debunked it. But likely weren’t sure. It wasn’t like they could tell Beakwing to go hunt a bear.
Later that morning, when the apprentices came in to start the first batches, I headed to town to check on the mayor and remind him we were leaving tomorrow. He reasonably reminded me about his daughter’s safety and ensured he’d have guards keep an eye on the farm. Not that he needed to. Tom, our temporary farmhand, the elicrones, and the calf would keep it safe, but I didn’t tell him that. Well, except for the Tom being our farmhand part. I refused to allow the man to decline the pay. Half of it was upfront. That excluded extra for any emergency farm expenses and if everything went nice and smoothly, he’d be free to keep it.
Milia wanted me to also include potion discounts, but I told her that was being way too generous.
Half of me did worry about any emergencies that could occur during our absence. The other half slapped away such nonsense. They took care of themselves just fine before my arrival. Potions were somewhat luxuries, at least to me.
But just in case, I left some with Anna, the mayor, and Shera. I deducted the cost of those against the log, but we were so far in the green this month that having a buy one get three free sale wouldn’t make me lose money. That was actually why I had a minor moment of worry. At the same time, I didn’t mind being relied on as the town’s potion maker.
My next stop was the bank. Thanks to our demonstrations, people actually used it, and Serina grew far friendlier with them.
“The coffee’s here,” she said cheerily, handing me a large bag. We didn’t ask for this size, but I sure as shit wasn’t complaining. She passed me a grinder and a medium-sized handled pot that resembled a cezve. Manual coffee making was a small price to pay to enjoy it again.
I stopped at the grocer to top off on things I needed, which included pie-making ingredients. Milia was currently picking fresh blueberries. Or probably asking the land to deliver them to her. With autumn around the corner, the season for the delicious treat was ending. With the original ice crystal, we’d be able to freeze as many as possible.
“Please don’t fill up the warehouse,” I half-jokingly reminded the dryad over the ring.
“I know, I know,” she said. “Remember, the forest does not allow one person to take everything for themselves. And the residents love the berries.”
I searched for Nuwa’s secret chapel for another ten minutes. She was inside with just few people either meditating, praying, and at least two in line to talk with her. She flinched at my sight and tried to hide, but eventually gave up as I continued to stare blankly.
“Welcome to the house of Wanda,” Nuwa said, attempting to switch to her welcoming nun persona. She wilted as I continued to stare at her.
The building itself probably seen better days. Worn down, a handful of chairs, and a mostly empty donation jar at the center of the room. It was then I realized she likely utilized her healing powers under the guise of Wanda.
Well, given how rare healers were according to everyone, maybe the goddess was responsible for their existence, the abilities that was, choosing to be picky. Then again, healing potions were a thing, so honestly, the world just would never know.
I gestured for her to follow me outside.
“Please don’t tell me this is your job,” I said.
“No, it isn’t,” Nuwa said nervously. “I run the chapel on my free time. This… is why I couldn’t take up the farmhand thing. Though I wanted to. On our journeys, I usually take care of all of the horses.”
Nuwa was not someone you could get or stay mad at, even if her decisions were very naïve. Her chapel looked as if it would crash down at any time. How did she even convince anyone to let her rent out the place? No scratch that, they probably gave it to her just to be rid of it.
“I know I’m saying this more and more, that is, I’m not your father, but I am your… teacher,” I said. My modern-day mind would not allow me to declare myself someone’s master. No, not because it seemed weird and appealing to certain people. I’ll leave it at that. “This place is kind of a disaster. And I don’t mean the very poor funding.”
Nuwa winced. “So blunt.”
“The feeling of helping people is addictive, but it can make you blind, ignore your problems until it’s too late,” I continued. “Anyway, I didn’t come out here to preach. Talk to the mayor. He’ll tell you where to find your new chapel.”
Nuwa’s eyes widened.
When I returned to the shop, I found myself staring at an entire yard of uninvited guests.
“Yeah, no,” I said, glaring. “What the hell do I look like, infinite money and ingredients?”
The flower nymph attempted to look innocent but deflated upon realizing it wouldn’t work on me.
Goddammit, Muiy. Milia hadn’t returned yet, so she took advantage of this, invited not only flower people, but fairies, pixies, that fucking surfing panda, a man-sized tree thing, a dancing horse with a bowtie, an uncomfortably ‘dressed’ rock woman that Chenzu would certainly try his luck with if he were here at the moment, a man of pure green and purple mana with chiseled features and rock-hard abs, and many other beings of ‘what the LSD.’
“I will count from five,” I said, my voice sounding like an angry parent. I was not about to go into the red right before a trip buying ingredients to make hundreds of pies. Scratch that, I wasn’t about to make hundreds of pies. “Five.”
My eyes probably glowed.
