Episode 83 – The Potential of Potions
After handing over the Angry Wolf Fang, I left Iron Will and went straight to Elf’s Tears from there. I was really looking forward to this visit as well. At that time, I had divided the Magical Grass into different level categories before handing them over to the grandma, so I wanted to find out from what level the quality would start to improve.
After arriving at Elf’s Tears, I opened the door. As always, the opening of the door greeted me with a comforting bell chime. Today, the grandma wasn’t behind the counter, so I called out to her from the entrance.
“Grandma! I came to pick up the potions!” (Lewin)
“…Sure thing. I’ll be there soon, so wait a bit for me.” (Grandma)
When I called out to her, the grandma’s voice rang out from the back room. After waiting for a short time as promised, she came out from the back, carrying the potions with a smile on her face.
“Okay, thanks for waiting. Here are the potions you requested.” (Grandma)
The grandma placed the labeled potion flasks onto the counter. Since I wanted it divided into categories by level as it was brewed, it seemed that she put labels on the flask to make it easier to tell which one was which.
“Thank you! Could you tell me what the quality of the potions are?” (Lewin)
“Yeah, of course. The ones with the blue tags attached are the Minimum-grade Magic Potions, the green tags are the Low-grade Magic Potions, and the red tags are half Low-grade and half Medium-grade Magic Potions.” (Grandma)
I see… I had gone and divided the levels in a pretty cursory manner, but the results ended up being comparatively easy to understand. The bundles with a combined level of 100 or less ended up becoming Minimum-grade Magic Potions, and the 100 to 150 category all became Low-grade Magic Potions. And of the potions in the 150 and above category, the outcome was half Low-quality and half Medium-quality Magic Potions.
There was still some room for research on the potions in the 150 and above category, but from this, I had a rough idea of the criteria for Minimum-grade and Low-grade Magic Potions. The plants synthesized by [Plant Master] always came out to the lowest possible level, so, from the Magical Grass that I synthesized myself, I would only be able to make Minimum-grade Magic Potions out of them.
I thought about this matter a lot, but… if I could make my own potions, just how much would my horizons broaden?
Just off the top of my head, I could make a Potion of Poison that I could use offensively or a Strength Potion from Dumbbell Weed. Or, I could even make a Umami Component Potion using Glutamate Herb.
And… I could make that new potion that the Healer’s Guild had failed to produce. I secretly wondered if I could even brew something like that too.
In my opinion, [Plant Master] had an unrivaled compatibility with potion brewing, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to take the time to study it. But right now… my priority was to get stronger. There was obviously the fact that I wanted to quickly catch up with the [Azure Alliance], but, after my last fight with the Angry Wolf, I fully realized just how weak I was.
“Lewin, what’s wrong? Is there something you’re not happy about?” (Grandma)
After that, I told the grandma that from here on, I was planning to buy potions from her frequently, and that I hoped she would make mainly Minimum-grade and Low-grade Magic Potions for me. It seemed that the low quality plants in stock at Elf’s Tears were being sold wholesale to the Healer’s Guild, so when I asked this of her, she readily accepted. It seemed that she would instead reserve those low quality plants and herbs for me to some extent.
I didn’t know why the grandma was treating me so well, but I felt sincerely blessed to have met such great people. I still couldn’t thank Dantetsu enough for what he did for me earlier too.
“Alright, I’m going to head back now. Thank you so much for handling the brewing of the Low-grade Magic Potions!” (Lewin)
“It’s okay. I’m doing it because I enjoy it, after all. If anything, on behalf of the store, thank you for buying the Low-grade Magic Potions! Since they don’t normally sell, I usually force them onto the Healer’s Guild.” The grandma said while flashing that strange, crooked smile. But now that she mentioned it… that was true. I normally used Magic Potions outside of combat, which is why I was looking for lower quality, but most people would be using Magic Potions during combat, where the quality mattered. The only people who would be carrying around Minimum-grade Magic Potions were probably newbie adventurers. For that reason, the grandma seemed to be pushing the excess of poorer quality plants to the Healer’s Guild. It seemed like a bad situation for them, but… it was probably better for me not to think about it.
“I’m glad that I was able to help you clean out your inventory. Well then, I won’t be coming back for about a month, but I’ll definitely come back again after that! Grandma, please be sure to take good care of yourself.” (Lewin)
“Alright. Take care of yourself too, Lewin.” (Grandma)
After saying my parting words to the grandma, I left Elf’s Tears with the potions she had brewed for me. All that was left was to visit Clive’s place and finish shopping, then I could spend all my time training at the inn.