Potioneering
Sarah paced around her room with quick steps.
It had been two weeks since Zain rented the lab. Her room was next to it. The design was intentional so that the shop owner could rush to the lab in case of emergencies.
"It will be fine. It will be fine."
Sarah tried to calm her trembling heart.
It was as if she was waiting to hear an explosion from the next room any second now.
Her worries weren't unfounded.
In the current era, the monster cores were no longer a rare valuable resource. They were commonly used to empower weapons and array formations, but only by master crafters.
After all, if anything went wrong, monster cores could create a violent accident! They were highly volatile!
Sarah had seen her fair share of eccentric Potioneers after being in the business for years. Even those weirdos wouldn't use monster cores for potion making.
"I would've thrown him out if he hadn't given 50,000 Coins as a deposit."
In fact, renting a potion lab normally costs 2,500 Coins to 3,000 Coins for a month.
Sarah took 10,000 Coins for the rent as she was doing business on Planet Falco, which was one of the leading trading hubs in the White Spiral Galaxy, causing the price to inflate.
The security deposit of 50,000 Coins was no small amount.
Crash!
A loud noise came from the next door.
Sarah's eyes widened. She ran to the lab with hurried steps. As expected, the lab did explode.
She pushed through the door.
"What happen…!?"
Her eyes nearly popped out when she saw Zain.
"Hehe, my hand slipped. Sorry," He answered nonchalantly.
However, Sarah continued to stare with a dumb expression.
Zain was holding five flasks in each hand and downing them like water. The colored liquid inside the flasks and the aroma proved that they were potions.
"You nutjob! Drinking that many potions at once is dangerous!"
She rushed up to him and snatched the potions. The room was filled with the smell of herbs. Broken flasks and failed potions were lying all around.
Her face paled as she realized that allowing Zain to experiment with potions wasn't the best decision.
"What will you do if you get afflicted with Sleep Disease or something worse?!"
"Hehe, don't worry. I took only the prescribed amount."
Sarah frowned and stopped cleaning the room.
She stared at Zain suspiciously. He spoke slowly, with heavy breaths and an airy expression. Almost as if…
"...Are you high?"
"Yes?"
"You were doing drugs!? That's it! I'm calling the cops!"
Sarah dialed the number on her intercom.
Just as the call was about to connect, Zain appeared before her and disconnected the call.
"Hehe, it's nothing like that. You can try it yourself."
He held her wrists and stood close to her. She could feel his breath against her skin.
"It's not narcotics." She said after sniffing the smell lingering on Zain.
Sarah's talent was [Analysist]. The moment a person awakens they gain an instinctual understanding of their Talent. [Analysist] increased her perception and allowed her to gain extra information through her five senses.
"I told you." Zain continued to smile innocently while chugging another potion he took out from his pocket.
Sarah shook herself out of Zain's grasp.
She stood near the door while staying as far as possible from Zain.
"Explain. If I don't hear a good explanation, I'm handing this matter to the authorities."
"Hehe, I was making potions."
"I don't think there is any potion that uses monster cores."
"This batch is the first of its kind." Zain pointed at the three crates lying in the corner of the room.
His gesture made Sarah wonder if those crates were filled with potions.
She denied the possibility.
Creating so many potions in two weeks was hard for Master Potioneers, let alone someone who was not even an Apprentice Potioneer. He said he had invented a new potion formula?
Ha! What a joke!
"Why are you high?" She asked.
"That's a good question." Zain explained while laughing weirdly. "I'm using the Astra potion to train my perception and Mind Potion to increase my dexterity and perception."
"Why are you high?" She asked again. Zain's exaggerated motions made him seem like he was under heavy dosage.
"The Astra Potion is for the Astral Weaver Class. It increases their unique stat 'Psi' by strengthening their connection to their contractors. While the Mind Potions accelerates the thought processing speed and increases the thinking capacity for Genius Class. It increases their special stat 'Spiritual Sense'. But since I'm a Magician, these potions don't increase my stats but my training efficiency for Dexterity and Perception…"
"English." Sarah interjected Zain's monologue.
"Astral Potions make you high and Mind Potions turns you stupid."
"You said that mind potion accelerates the thought processing speed. If you can think faster, you should be smarter."
Sarah felt like she was going in circles. Zain was getting on her nerves by the minutes.
"Yes. Now, I'm stupid.. faster!"
"What…?"
Anyone without Genius Class would grow light headed after consuming Mind Potion. Genius and Astral Weaver were two of the five main classes one could awaken.
Zain was under the potion effect and couldn't think clearly. He was spouting the first thing that came to his mind.
The nonsense spoken by Zain struck Sarah like a lightning bolt. She felt enlightened.
"An idiot who can think fast won't become smart." She mumbled under breath, dumbstruck.
Zain opened the largest crate out of three and rummaged through it.
He took out a potion flask covered in silver aura.
"Hehe, you see this?"
"That silver aura. Is it….?" She spoke while barely suppressing the tremors in her tone.
"Hehe, it's an exotic potion. This one increases Qi permanently for Grade 1 Fighter Class metahumans. If other Classes took it, they wouldn't get permanent effects, but temporary increased training efficiency for Stamina and Constitution stats."
"Wait! It had additional effects on top of being an exotic potion!?"
The small vial in Zain's hands could be sold for 20,000 Coins at the bare minimum.
Moreover, it was created through a new potion formula.
The companies in the market would buy it and experiment on the potion to find its recipe. The price of the potion would keep increasing until others found its formula.
"Yes."
Zain placed the entire crate in Sarah's hand and packed the other two smaller crates for himself.
A gasp left Sarah's lips after she peeked inside the crate. It was filled with exotic potions!
"...What are you doing?" Sarah felt strength leaving her limbs. She was holding several hundred thousand Coins in her hand!
"You can sell those. I'll take 95% profits."
Zain took the smaller crates and walked towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To train."
'He is talking about weird things again! How could training be more important than a crate full of exotic potions!?' She hurried behind him.
When she realized that Zain wasn't going to stop, she spoke, "Ninety-five percent profits is too much, you aren't even sharing the potion formula. I could just cheat you out of this deal and not give you a penny."
It was Sarah's attempt to have Zain stay back. He had to negotiate after all.
"Hehe, you can do that if you want this to be our last deal."
Sarah froze after hearing words. Zain was planning to return?
She suddenly realized that Zain wasn't as simple as he seemed. He was younger than her yet his skills in potioneering were undeniable.
Was he a high-grade metahuman who was also a reclusive Potioneer?
It would explain his potion making skills despite looking so young.
She had heard that peak level powerhouses could manipulate their physical age at will.
Sarah shuddered when she recalled her earlier actions. She had insulted such a powerhouse so many times in the previous weeks!
"Maybe he is a magnanimous person?" Sarah prayed in her heart.
She decided to never insult Zain again in the future.
"I should do as he asked and sell the potions."
While it was dangerous, it was an opportunity too. A connection to a hidden powerhouse like Zain came with its benefits.
…
[We will be reaching Stellar Academy shortly.]
The announcement echoed throughout the space shuttle.
I relaxed on my comfy seat as I looked back at the last two weeks. There were several reasons I met with Sarah.
One was to check if I could receive Quests.
The short answer was no. Similar to Inventory, the game interface had lost its Quests feature.
I could only hope that this wouldn't happen with the Class Advancement Quests. They were necessary for my growth.
The meeting was also for my personal satisfaction. Sarah was one of the characters I favored in the game.
Her 3 star talent [Analysist] had helped me find the weakness of monsters and escape desperate situations when I was a newbie.
I knew that behind her outspoken personality she was a caring and kind person, perhaps a bit foolish too.
[Talent] was the most important factor when choosing a character.
It was divided into 5 ranks: 1-star to 5-star
Over 90% metahumans had 1-star Talent. They reached their limit at Grade 2 Power level.
The 98% of the remaining 10% had 2 star Talent. A 2 star Talent could reach peak Grade 3.
One 3 star Talent metahuman existed for every 10,000 metahumans with 2 star Talent. These metahumans could reach Grade 4, or Grade 5 if they trained for a lifetime.
Only a hundred would have 4 star Talent in a galaxy with millions of colonized planets. They were future leaders of their races. These characters had a small chance of reaching the OuterGrade Power Level.
Lastly, 5 star Talent.
These characters were as rare as a hen's teeth. Even with all my knowledge, I knew less than 10 metahumans who had 5-star Talent.
In the Destiny Fall, I was one of the few players who used low star characters. Most simply used 4 star characters until they could recruit 5 star characters.
My diligence had allowed me to find many hidden rewards, equipment and much more that appeared on the story routes of these low star characters.
The training potions that I created were one of these hidden rewards.
Since we had to restart the game after ever Game Over, I used these potions frequently and had their formulas remembered.
As for why I was chugging many potions at once when Sarah saw me, it was to create the Awakening Potion.
Awakening Potion was created by mixing the 5 types of potions I made.
However, I was unable to find the correct ratio.
I unlocked a subclass though.
[We've reached Stellar Academy. Docking successful. Customers can now unboard.]
The announcement brought me out of my thoughts.
The passengers lined up for the exit.
A gust of fresh wind hit me when I stepped outside.
"I thought Planet Helios was advanced. But this place makes it look like a village."
Neon lights weaved through gravity defying skyscrapers.
Floating gardens hovered above, suspended in anti-gravity fields, while buildings adorned with holographic displays pulsed with information.
I took a flying taxi for Sector A, the city where dormitories of the first year combat department lay.
Stellar Academy Boasted a count of nearly 300,000 students spread across four years, thousands of professors, facility members, and many more workers.
It was located on Stellar Academy Planet. The Academy ground covered the entire planet.
Unofficially, it was the best Academy of the White Spiral Galaxy.
The number of applicants would reach hundreds of billions every year.
Out of those, only 100,000 were allowed entry as students.
There was no need to explain that these 100,000 students were elites out of the elites.
Merryman was Grade 2 Power Level at this point in the story.
He had entered the Academy through a backdoor.
It was on Maestro's order, the leader of the villain organization [Carnival].
I reached the dormitories in a few minutes. It was a colony of 10 buildings with 200 floors each.
Approaching the leftmost building, I went straight for my room on the 3rd floor.
[305]
A hologram of my picture appeared in front of the door as it scanned me.
—
Welcome, Zain Pierrot
Power Level: 18 [Grade 2]
Combat Department: First year
Academy Rank: 68,421
Class: Magician
—
The door opened with a swoosh.
I placed the crates I had been carrying on the bed and looked at the dorm room.
It had one bedroom, a bathroom, and a personal training room. We had to go to the cafeteria for food.
I changed into the training clothes.
"Status."
===
Name: Zain Pierrot
Race: Homo Sapien (+1 Stamina Regeneration per level)
Class: [Novice Mage] Lvl.0 (0/100) (+1 Mana per level)
Subclasses: [Apprentice Potioneer] Lvl.0 (0/100) (+1 Perception per level)
Power Level: 2.58 [Grade 1]
Experience Points: 400
Stats:
Strength - 1/10 [Grade 1]
Agility - 3/10 [Grade 1]
Dexterity - 5/10 [Grade 1] → 6/10 [Grade 1]
Stamina - (2/2) /10 [Grade 1]
Constitution - 1/10 [Grade 1]
Stamina Regeneration - 0.4/10 [Grade 1]
Mana - (2/2) /10 [Grade 1] → (6/6) /10 [Grade 1]
Mana Regeneration - 0.2/10 [Grade 1] → 2.4/10 [Grade 1]
Perception - 1/10 [Grade 1] → 4/10 [Grade 1]
Charm - 0/10 [Grade 1]
Unused Stat Points: 0
[You have grown! Let me bring a microscope to measure it!]
Disposition: Eternal Smile, Compulsive Liar, Unreliable, Hardworking, Mischievous, Stubborn, Cheapskate
Talent: [Clown] 3 stars
Skills:
[Harlequin's Dodge] Lvl.1 – Execute an agile dodge or leap, allowing the Clown to avoid attacks with acrobatic flair. (+10) Agility when dodging attacks.
[Ephemeral Euphoria Elixir] Lvl.1 – Create an elixir that induces a state of bliss, providing temporary resistance(small) to mental attacks.
===
The evaluation... let's ignore it.
I gained [Apprentice Potioneer] Subclass after successfully creating 15 potions.
The subclass unlocked the skill [Ephemeral Euphoria Elixir]
The four hundred experience points came from potioneering.
One of the basic mechanics of production classes was that a character receives experience points when they use their class to create a class related product.
An Array Master would receive experience points when creating Array formations. A weaponsmith would get the experience points by producing weapons.
It was the same for [Apprentice Potioneer].
"My stats…" I murmured.
Repeatedly consuming a potion makes people resistant to it, causing the potency of the potion to fall.
The same happened to me.
My Mana increased by 0.5 when I consumed the Magicule Potion for the first time. Now I rarely get a 0.1 increase with each vial.
There was still room for growth.
I needed to push my body to its limit before consuming the potions to see an improvement.
I came to the academy early for this reason.
Other than [Astra Potion], [Mind Potion], [Magicule Potion], I had [Warrior Potion] and [Gene Potion].
Astral Weaver, Genius, Magician, Fighter and Mutant. These were five main classes of Destiny Fall.
I had a potion for each class. With them, I could train all stats except for the Charm Stat.
'Damn, that Charm stat.'
I clicked my tongue and carried the potion crates into the training room.