CH 19

I go to the guild early in the morning and accept a medicinal herb picking quest.

Magic energy herbs are still bought at a high price. Will they pay a bit more for vitality herbs than they do for medicinal herbs?

Today I’m thinking about picking the medicinal herbs I need to complete the quest, and use the rest to practice alchemy. It doesn’t make sense to buy medicinal herbs for alchemy when I can just pick them myself. Although I have to resign myself to doing that when I don’t have time to spare.

Around here, medicinal herbs are picked on a plain. Medicinal herbs seem to be growing as far as the eye can see, but actually, they’re hiding among the overgrown weeds.

Since there is nothing to identify where they are, there’s no other option than to just look for them. That’s what raises the difficulty.

That probably has to do with why this isn’t a very popular thing to do, even though there’s demand for it and it’s close to town.

I concentrate, and look around while activating Appraisal.

Words appear like speech balloons, showing me the names of the herbs.

I pick medicinal herbs, magic energy herbs, and vitality herbs in that order. I see a lot that are still sprouting, but I pick ones that are ready to be picked one after the other.

But there are still plenty, probably because not many people come here.

I put the medicinal herbs I’m going to deliver in a preservation bag, and put the rest in the Item Box. I’ve been using Spatial Magic this whole time, so it’s now level four. As the level goes up, so does its power to preserve degradable things for longer. Is it right to say time moves slower in the Item Box?

I have some time, so I try doing alchemy.

I make potions and stamina potions with medicinal herbs and vitality herbs until I’m out of MP. Magic energy herbs are expensive, so I’ll use them when my Alchemy level is a bit higher.

Also, if there is room in the Item Box, it won’t expel the items inside it even if my MP reaches zero. It’s important not to over-stuff it.

As I use Alchemy and see proficiency going up, I notice that how much it goes up varies depending on the materials I use. Does it actually depend on what items I make?

There are a lot of items that can be made with alchemy. When I activate the Alchemy skill, a list of what I can make pops up inside my head, and by using Appraisal here, I can see the materials I need.

I can still make them even if I don’t have the materials, but if I try to force it to make them, it always ends in failure. Even if I have the right materials, I can create a poor item if my Alchemy level isn’t high enough.

But if my level isn’t high enough, I can still sometimes make a good item if I focus and pour in a lot of MP. But there’s no guarantee that it will work, and it’s pretty much a gamble. And if my level is high enough, and I pour in a lot of MP, I create a good quality item. So far, this has produced 100% good items.

“But what is this that’s being displayed?”

I’m pretty much done making items for now, so I look at the list of what I can make again.

The word ‘NEW’ in the middle grabs my attention. I use Appraisal on these items, and see a line ‘items never before created’. They don’t have names, but their effects and necessary materials are displayed.

Among them, the effect ‘contact people far away’ catches my eye. Is this like a smartphone? It might be an item with functions similar to a telephone or e-mail. And the items necessary to make it are high quality magic stone, high quality ore, and a large amount of magic energy. It’s kind of vague.

I look at the effects of other items marked with ‘NEW’, and notice they’re very similar to things from Earth. Are they based on my knowledge or memories?

I use Appraisal on the high quality magic stone listing, and it says ‘magic stones from high level monsters, or synthesized by combining many magic stones’.

I check out the list while looking for something, a magic item capable of transmissions. Ah, but surely my Alchemy level is way too low.

But what I find requires a minimum of Alchemy level five, and I’m at level three. The real problem is the magic stones and ore. Both can be bought in the merchant guild, but I don’t know at what cost.

“Is a magic stone more important than ore for this item…”

I should go back, check the price, and see if I have the money to buy it. And since I might fail, I should buy spares. I also need to raise my Alchemy level.

I summarize everything I need in my head.

I put the potions I made in the Item Box, and walk back to town quickly. I don’t get the blessing of my Walking skill if I run, so I don’t run even if I’m in a hurry.

I deliver medicinal herbs and vitality herbs to the guild. Then I have lunch with Rurika and Chris, and we go shopping together to buy what we need for our travels.

While we’re shopping, I neglect to really pay attention to them, probably because I have alchemy on my mind. Rurika is exasperated and Chris sulks, and they gradually start speaking less.

“You need to apologize tomorrow and make up for today.”

Rurika says with kind of a scary face, after we have dinner and before we say goodbye for today.