Chapter 2: Potion Making…? – 1

Chapter 2: Potion Making…? – 1

It’s been two hours since I approached the shelf and cauldron placed in a corner of the house to make potions and started thinking.

…The system has gone off work, so I can’t see how to make potions.

“What the hell kind of system goes off work?! If you’re going to do this, at least let me see the encyclopedia!”

After fighting with the translucent window that says, ‘The responsible system is out of office,’ for a long time, I understand.

Whatever company this system belongs to, it’s not friendly to me.

And… it’s unnecessarily thorough with its identity verification!

“And what kind of offline mode requires identity verification? And multiple layers of it?”

*Since the responsible system is currently out of office, the answer to this question is…*

“Ah, I get it, I get it! How many times have I heard that answer?”

To be honest, I wasn’t too worried at first because it said there was an offline mode.

I was secretly worried about what to do if I couldn’t do anything when the system was out of office, but it was clearly written that it was a mode to prepare for that.

…I didn’t know that user authentication, that is, verifying that ‘I’ am ‘me’, was necessary for this.

I thought it would be difficult because it involved fingerprints, voice, and facial recognition, etc.

But since it wasn’t something I couldn’t do if I actually tried, I gladly started the offline mode.

In fact, the registration process was followed by a process of scanning the body, including the things specified.

The problem is… the body I had when I first fell into this world was different from the body I have now.

*Error. The user’s registered body is different from the body of the person trying to start offline mode.

…Special circumstances have occurred. Starting inspection.

…Confirmed, confirmed that there was a special body change. Therefore, we will strengthen identity verification.

There will be additional authentication procedures.*

That’s when it started. Suddenly, an authentication hell unfolded.

I don’t know if it even acquired the memories from when I was in my original world, but it started asking for information and past events that only ‘I’ could answer…

That’s how I’ve been struggling with this translucent window for 2 hours.

“Agh! Come on! Understand! It’s been enough! Who the hell made it like this?”

*Such words will return as a wound to the offline responsible system. The offline responsible system is also a system that someone put a lot of effort into making and is a child…*

“Don’t talk like a real-life counselor for no reason! And are these words that can be hurtful?”

*Such criteria vary from person to person, and the victim is the standard…*

“That’s enough. You messed up system. I wouldn’t even get angry at an automated response bot.”

If it just consistently said the same thing, I would just be frustrated, but this makes me wonder if it’s just teasing me.

No, if it really just said the same thing, I would just think that’s how machines are and just be frustrated, but this is subtly like a person but also makes it clear that it’s not a person, so it’s even more ambiguous.

*Authentication process, we will continue.*

“…Yeah, go ahead. What can I say.”

I just gave up on the system that was proceeding with authentication again as if nothing had happened.

It’ll work someday, right?

As more time passed…

A little more time passed…

For a long time, there was no news from the system.

‘Maybe it’s a test prepared to understand me, a new user? In fact, all of this was a test.’

Just when my thoughts about the system were reaching the realm of delusion due to the increasing annoyance, a translucent window reappeared in the air.

Along with the text introducing itself as an offline system.

*Hello, user. You have successfully completed registration. I am the offline system.

I play the role of displaying basic information registered in the system in a situation where your responsible system is out of office.

I do not have any functions such as questions and reward settlement, and the greeting I am doing now is just automatically displaying what has been entered.

Now, if you complete the final step, you can use the offline system.*

“…There’s still a step left?”

*It’s simple. Please enter your name.*

And a blank space pops up.

It was a space to enter a nickname, commonly seen in games.

“Name…? Ah, my body has changed and the world has changed, so I need to make a new one.”

The name I originally used was a male name, and it was also far from the naming conventions of this world.

So I combined the letters that came to mind to create a name.

“Lucia. I’ll register as Lucia.”

*…Completed. User Lucia.*

It was a name I liked, considering it was made on the spot.

It seems to suit this body to some extent.

…I don’t even know exactly what this body looks like yet, though.

As if my thoughts were none of its business, the offline system automatically displayed a translucent window again.

*The only thing that beginner user Lucia can currently view is the ‘Basic Potion Encyclopedia’.*

“Yeah, please show me that…”

It was clearly bright daylight when I first came here, but the sun is already setting.

…And I haven’t even seen the ‘p’ in potion yet.

I was originally planning to sell some potions from today… I think it would be fortunate if I could just make a potion today.

*Approved. Displaying the information in the encyclopedia.*

With those words, translucent windows rose up.

The windows, filled with information, contained the manufacturing methods, efficacy, and side effects of each potion.

There were several potions, but among the manufacturing methods sorted by difficulty, the two potions classified as ‘Basic Potion’ at the top caught my attention.

“Stamina potion and mana potion… They’re the easiest and also potions that will sell to some extent, right?”

Although it was quite annoying to do identity verification and user authentication on the offline system…

When I actually saw this, my heart was pounding.

This was especially true because I had been stuck in the hospital for my entire life, as far as I could remember.

“Then, shall we really start now!”

So I opened the manufacturing methods of the two potions with anticipation.

…Until I saw the side effects and effects.

***

*Potion Information

-> Stamina Potion – Restores the user’s stamina.

= Side effect: Mana is consumed.

-> Mana Potion – Restores the user’s mana.

= Side effect: Stamina is consumed.

*

“…? Is this a miracle of perpetual motion? If you drink a stamina potion, your mana decreases, and if you drink a mana potion to replenish the decreased mana, your stamina decreases again?”

Very simple effect and very simple penalty.

…The problem is that the penalty is not light.

In this world, mana is a precious resource. Unless you’re swinging with pure muscle strength in battle, mana is consumed for every action.

As for stamina… I don’t know exactly what the range of stamina is, but it’s a resource that is essential to manage during battle.

Even if I only played games in the corner of my room… no, the corner of the hospital, I would know this much, but the side effects are like that.

Clearly, you drink a potion for recovery, but a strange phenomenon occurs where you need recovery in other areas.

I don’t know how much is consumed… but it won’t be a small amount that can be ignored.

I just ate one potion wrong and my gender was reversed and my body became like this, so it’s definitely possible.

“Can’t I change these side effects? I think the system said at that time that I could alleviate or change the side effects…?”

*The information needed by the user is provided. It is possible to change the side effects of these two potions, and there is only one type that can be changed.*

“Should I be grateful for what I have…? Anyway, show me that one that I can change.”

Shortly after those words, the penalties of the two potions written in the encyclopedia changed.

*Potion Information

-> Stamina Potion – Restores the user’s stamina.

= Side effect: Slightly more stamina is consumed than the stamina recovered.

-> Mana Potion – Restores the user’s mana.

= Side effect: Slightly more mana is consumed than the mana recovered.

*

“…? Isn’t this just useless? It’s a potion that reduces stamina and mana when you drink it!”

*Would you like to switch back to the original side effects?”

“Of course! I could use it before, but now the very reason for its existence has disappeared!”

I wanted to ask the offline system a lot of things, but…

I’ve already seen the *Since the responsible system is out of office, please contact the responsible system later.* answer window too many times.

Offline mode was really just a passive mode that only did what I asked it to do.

“Ha… Still, I should try making it, right…?”

When I first heard the explanation from the system, I thought it would be a healing life.

My body was healthy… or rather, excessively strengthened, and making potions seemed fun.

…It didn’t take long to realize that reality wasn’t that easy.

I tried to ignore the ominous signs of life that were slowly rising and headed to the cauldron to make potions.

…With a very different tension than 2 hours ago, when I was lively with the joy of gaining a new world and life.