[Quest: Paul has succumbed to the warring state between his human and vampire blood. He needs a potion maker more than ever. Combine the Health, Energy, and General Medicine potion. Afterward, use a healer’s heal or curing magic as an additional ingredient before you finish it with your own mana. You may want to do something about the raging man first. Reward: 2 S-ranked chests, and a Potion Maker’s chest.]
My mouth watered at the loot opportunity.
Paul took that time to summon his spell book. It was a tome about twice the size of an F-ranked and, aside from some aura, it didn’t look that different.
“I should be able to cure him, but you guys are going to have to keep him busy,” I said. “Nuwa, you’ll be my assistant for this one since you’re the healer. Milia, I trust you’ll lead the fight.”
Milia nodded, summoning her own spell book, Flamie. Nimni’s eyes widened. Then she stared dumbly at the magic cauldron that I pulled out of my storage ring.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t just blast everything with holy magic?” Nuwa asked.
“That’s the old plan,” I said as I started the cauldron, dumping potions into them.
Magic cauldrons were amazing. You didn’t need fires, nor much of your own mana. They heated themselves like an electric stove. They always maintained a perfect temperature.
The sound of the battle began. Thankfully, the blonde vampire woman actually joined in to help out.
“Is there anything we can do?” Lucas asked as he and the apprentices joined us around the bubbling cauldron.
“Keep an eye out on the fight and witness a potion that I didn’t know existed until a moment ago come to life. It’s made of the health, energy, general medicine potions, and a healer’s heal or curing magic. After that, I’ll finish it just like normal. This should be easy.”
[After the liquid is created, use your alchemist’s wand to manifest the potion into existence. Form the most basic gate, something that even a beginner of advanced alchemy will have no problem doing. Hope you’re ready to form a diagram!]
System, why are you the way you are? I thought. Just lead me through the process and I’ll do my best.
I pulled my alchemist’s wand out of my inventory or soul space. The pressure from the exotic tool exerted and just holding it flooded me with… nervousness, pride, curiosity, and even a little confidence, all at the same time. There was nothing like a mid-journey round of curing someone from a curse.
[Absolute World of the Mythic Alchemist’s Wand. Item rank: S. Item quality. Exotic. This wand can only be used by just one master magician not born of this land. It is indestructible and cannot be thrown away. One spot in your inventory/soul space will always be reserved for this wand. It will automatically reflect any magic intended to destroy the wand or tribulation from the heavens, and they cannot impose their will on you, nor anyone considered a lover, friend, or family. You may use this wand to help create diagrams anywhere. Diagrams created with this wand will always be stable and not explode. Warning. This is a crafter’s tool, not a combat tool. Leave that unruly mess to the barbarians. However, it can be used to defend all that you love. Just try not to destroy your lab with it. Warning! A Magic Lab is required for this tool to create super diagrams.]
“Wanda’s great jiggling bum, may she seek the Shadow Mistress!” Nimni exclaimed as she returned to bug me about the progress. “That’s an exotic tool! Who are you? First the absurdly powerful aura, now this.”
“Should we tell her?” Nuwa asked, her eyes staring down at the pot. The trust we had in Milia and the others keeping Paul under the wraps was far more than it should be without years passing by. They had the hard part, but with Wolverine assisting and Chenzu’s buffs and debuffs, the group should be able to contain the half-vampire.
“Could you please return to helping them?” Mandi asked Nimni. “Huh? She’s already gone.”
“Half-vampires are almost as fast as normal vampires,” Nuwa told the redhead.
Harmony frowned down at the cauldron and then turned to watch the raging battle. I summoned Onix, the rock golem, to guard us.
“Big Brother Woofy, on your left!” Cheetara shouted.
Wolverine dodged the half-vampire’s burst of purple magic. The sunlight wolf returned that attack kindly with a Cosmic Sunlight Flash. It pushed Paul back some, but not enough to deter the out-of-control man from attempting to punch Ramon into oblivion. Mistress Milia’s vines shielded him.
“Cheetara, now!” Wolverine commanded.
“You got it, Big Brother!” the kitten said as she hopped onto Wolverine’s back, then leapt into the air. She unleashed a mighty beam of magic, perfectly striking her target, filling the sunlight wolf with a sense of pride.
However, half-vampires were no joke. Despite the sheer power of that attack, it did little damage. Wolverine wasn’t sure if Cheetara needed to evolve to overcome the power gap or simply meditate more. She was still the sunlight wolf’s student. Perhaps time and training would help.
Wolverine dove at Paul, attempting to rake a mana claw across his face, only to hit empty air. In midair, he blurred out of the path of a kick meant to down him, and then countered that counterattack with another Cosmic Sunlight Flash.
Once again, it only pushed the half-vampire backward, barely dealing damage. Nimni’s spin kick was quick and swift, knocking Paul into the air. Milia aided the attack with a flurry of her divine magic spheres. The power difference between the peak Lesser Dragon half-vampire and the dryad showed itself as Paul got up from the ground, leaping back into the fray as if nothing happened. Even Ronica’s draining lightning had little effect, at least not to Wolverine’s preferred speed.
The problem was, holding back from killing weakened everyone’s overall combat strength. Milia had to resort to restraining him with numerous vines at every opportunity, but even that began to drain her.
A peak Lesser Dragon magician was much too powerful to hold back on.
Wolverine barked a few times at Nate. “Hurry up, Best Buddy! We can’t hold him back forever.”
Wolverine supercharged himself with mana and lurched at Paul. To everyone around, he appeared to be a glowing specter of mana, like the sun in the shape of a wolf. He collided into the powerful half-vampire, tackling him to the ground. Milia’s vines secured the man once again, but it wouldn’t be long before he broke out, enraged further.
“Just in case, everyone get back,” I said to my helpers. “I need as much space as possible. If I fucked this up and it explodes, well.”
Wolverine’s barking served as another reminder of the battle’s ferocity. The damage to our side racked up and soon, I’d be forced to intervene. A health potion couldn’t heal death.
The system didn’t walk me through much, not that I would suddenly stop the journey. We weren’t heading to the big city for just an alchemy book, but help for Kyushu and even putting my merchant’s license to use.
After finishing the main mixture, I got Nuwa to insert healing magic into it, then followed that up with my own mana. I used the wand to create the diagram.
[Form the basic gate, the Blank Gate, by drawing in non-elemental mana from the environment into your wand. Or you may use stored non-elemental mana. This will be the easiest gate.]
I did so, focusing a bit too hard, but drawing mana from the environment felt like second nature to me. The most important part of mana meditation was the ability to do so.
[Now imagine the symbol of nothing, a blank state, or even a world of nothingness.]
[Without accidentally summoning the Gate of the Void.]
TOO FUCKING LATE.
A motherfucking black hole the size of a fist emerged and immediately devoured all of the potion inside the cauldron. The white light of an explosion was all the warning I got before the blackness overcame me.
I came to as the feeling of warmth surrounded my body. A moment later, I recognized it as Nuwa’s healing. Eventually, a potion was shoved into my mouth. I drank greedily until the raging headache I felt vanished. Onix was in pieces.
“Uh, fuck,” I muttered. “Only an insane person wouldn’t immediately quit, but here I am.”
I opened my eyes, shaking off the blurriness. Fortunately, not much time passed. The cauldron was still intact, the warning I gave for everyone to back the fuck away had actually come into play, and… we had to start all over.
“What were you trying to do?” Harmony asked.
I sat up, ignoring the worried gazes.
“Apparently I summoned the Gate of the Void and it exploded in my face,” I said. “Set the cauldron up, we have to try again.”
“Why!?” Nuwa snapped. “Nate, this is much too dangerous. We really should wait until you receive the proper advanced alchemy training.”
“No,” I said. “I know what I did wrong. I’m going to try again, or all of this would have been for naught.”
I pushed through my body’s protests, standing again, glaring at the cauldron. “I’ve got this. And while it sounds weird, I think I kind of understand what forms the Blank Gate.”
“I wish I could understand what you’re referring to,” Harmony said.
“It’s best not to worry about it for now,” I told the teenager while making my way over to the cauldron. “You can relax and truly learn the basics before so much as thinking about touching this shit show here. I’m envious.”
Harmony gave me a skeptical look before sighing. “Just… be careful. I hate being so useless.”
“An apprentice is an apprentice. Your time will come, believe me,” I said. “I just hope you choose peace over violence.”
Harmony nodded.
“Master Nate… you…” Nuwa paused, struggling with her words. I poured in the ingredients, then motioned for her to insert her magic. She did so. “I don’t know if you’re wise or just tired.”
“How about we call it determined?” I said with a chuckle. “I’ve never been so passionate in my life. Ranking up the town, the shop, training up you lot, and while in the process, learning many new things for myself.”
The prompt returned again after the mixture was at its peak simmer.
[Form the basic gate, the Blank Gate, by drawing in non-elemental mana from the environment into your wand. Or you may use stored non-elemental mana. This will be easiest gate.]
I swallowed my internal fear and motioned for everyone to run the fuck away. They hesitated, but upon my insisted gesture, did so. I proceeded to following the prompt’s instructions.
[Now imagine the symbol of nothing, a blank state or even a world of nothingness.]
[Without accidentally summoning the Gate of the Void.]
Instead of rushing this time, pressure aside, I carefully shaped the neutral mana, using air instead of nothingness. Since nothingness could be associated with the void, making it way too easy to blow myself up again, I settled with invisibility.
Sweat dripped from my head, from both nervousness and concentration. At first, nothing happened, but as moments passed, the air began to twist above the magic circle or diagram. A glowing orb of light-blue mana the size of a baseball manifested and continued to float with no signs of destabilization.
If it wasn’t for the wand, the diagram itself risked exploding in my face too. I was far more appreciative of that specific clause in the description now than before the blackhole nearly killed me.
[You have created a C-ranked Blank Gate.]
[Wand upgrade. It is now a B-ranked Blank Gate.]
I went through all of this, and the system wanted to take the time to tell me how shitty my work was. The fucking nerve of it. It reminded me of an old crusty manager.
[No symbols required for a Blank Gate. Next, place your cauldron onto the diagram, beneath the Gate.]
I followed the instructions. Normally I’d be amused at the reactions of my apprentices and disciples, confused over the unexplained matter, but this just wasn’t a fun time. Magical explosions weren’t fun.
[Ingredients integrating. Forming… Failure…]
I froze, ready to give up, done with this shit. I just wasn’t cut out for advanced potion maker.
[No.]
[Basic Potion of Holy Cleansing completed! Congratulations!]
[For completing your first complex potion, you received 50,000 spirit coins. Total number of spirit coins: 205,100. Heavenly spirit coins: 10.]
“Nuwa, Harmony, Mandi, Lucas, Alexander, bottle this for me please,” I said, sitting down, chugging a general medicine potion. The phantom pain of the explosion retreated into nothingness.
I quickly dunked an empty vial into the concoction without a care in the world and supplied empty medium-sized vials to the apprentices, as well as ladles. There simply was no time to rest. I had to get out there.
Without hesitation, I blurred into the chaos.
Harmony sometimes questioned reality, particularly any that revolved around her teacher.
“Wanda’s… jiggling bottom, what just happened?” she asked Mandi, her eyes on the spot he vanished from.
“Madness,” Mandi replied.
Lucas laughed. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.”
Nuwa shook her head. “I’m so confused.”
“As you should be, lass,” Alexander said, grinning. “As you should be.”
“He’s not human, I say,” Opal said. “There’s no way you humans are capable of…”
“Don’t make me bonk you,” Nuwa said. Opal hid behind Mandi’s neck, peeking adorably from behind, only to stick her tongue out. “Pixies. They’re like children.”
Alexander gave Nuwa a knowing smirk.
Harmony chuckled, patting the kid on his head. His annoyance only made her smile.
I was right on time. Milia was dangerously low on mana. In fact, all of them, including Nimni, were running close to dry. Where did Paul generate his? This rage state was insane.
With him barely restrained for the hundredth time, I practically shoved the potion down his throat. After all of the deadly work I went through to make it while under pressure, I made sure not a drop went to waste.
He roared for a second before passing out. The others collapsed to their asses or backs, panting. Wolverine dove into me, tail wagging. Cheetara did the same, licking my cheek and cat-hugging my face.
“Good work, you two,” I said. “All of you. You were fucking amazing.”
[Quest completed! Reward: 2 S-ranked chests and a Potion Maker’s chest.]
The mention of rewards brightened my mood again, but of course I wouldn’t be opening them here. The Potion Maker’s chest could be an exotic. I’d wait until camp tonight.
“How can I repay you?”
I looked up to see a bowing Nimni, the sight of tears dripping to the ground. I stood up and offered a hand.
“Shall we start this over?” I asked. “Potential new friends and customers. Also, you wouldn’t be interested in selling those golden apples per chance?”
“You know about the fruits?” Nimni asked, her eyes lighting up. Pulling them from her storage ring, she passed the apples to me. “Will you accept these as payment? Or gifts?” She wiped tears from her eyes. “I… I’ve never felt so relieved in my life. I didn’t want to kill my brother.” Her tears wouldn’t stop.
“This is what I hoped to see,” I said softly, patting her on the shoulder. “A good ending. You could probably tell, I hope, but I prefer not to kill people, especially if there’s a better way. I said since the beginning of my career that I’d use my potions to help people.”
Tears seemed to fall harder and then Nimni broke down. Seeing this only reminded me just how fucked up some families were in this world. Not that Earth was on a high horse. “I’d recommend not going home if you can help it. Find a way to not get tracked by your folks.”
“I bet he wouldn’t care what happens to us,” Nimni said after recovering a few minutes later, standing up and looking somewhat proud again, aside from her red-rimmed eyes and now somewhat messy hair. “I have a cousin up north who will temporarily take us in until we find our own permanent living arrangements. If we run low on money, we’ll do some adventuring in the dungeons. We’re licensed with a few guilds.”
After cleaning up and saying our goodbyes to Nimni with her promise to order from the shop, we left ahead of the half-vampire siblings, collected the ingredients, and then exited the dungeon. I allowed the reality of complex potion making, even the lowest difficulty of them, sink in.
Shuddering, I vowed to take each creation as seriously as possible.
Each would have a purpose.
