Chapter 61: Shop, Opening Soon! – 1

Chapter 61: Shop, Opening Soon! – 1

…The day after I went to see the fireworks with Christie, I caught a cold.

To be precise, it felt less like a cold and more like my body had gone on a general strike, declaring it couldn’t work anymore.

*Honestly, after suffering injuries like that, immediately running up a mountain, and standing outside in the cold night for so long, I think it’s understandable.*

“…I think so too.”

Because of that, as soon as I returned home from the Duke’s mansion, I think I was sprawled out in my bed for another half a day.

…It’s clearly a sturdy and strong body, but perhaps because its owner is me, it seems to be breaking down a lot lately.

Anyway, perhaps because I was sprawled out for half a day, my body feels somewhat normal again now.

“More importantly, how were the gold coins I put into the system used?”

*First, I bought ingredients that are easy to craft, and I focused on purchasing ingredients for potions that would be good for mass production.*

This morning, right before I collapsed into bed, I handed some of the money I received from Christie, under the guise of the Duke’s family’s sponsorship, to Ria.

…Even if there’s a bit of a markup, buying ingredients through the system is overwhelmingly faster and more convenient.

Plus, I’m not entirely sure which ingredients would be best to buy with this money right now… so I entrusted it to Ria for now.

“So, what kind of potions are they?”

*I bought a lot of ingredients for healing-type potions, including the ‘Potion of Memories’ I first made, and stamina potions.*

“Healing? Why specifically?”

*……You don’t seem to remember almost dying in that fight, do you?

Potions that can’t be registered in the ‘Alchemist’s Treasury’ can still be put in your inventory, so please, let’s make some recovery potions.*

“What, are you worried about me?”

*…I am merely doing my job as your assigned system.*

…At times like this, it’s a shame that Ria communicates only through messages and isn’t actually next to me like last time.

I’m sure if she were actually in front of me, her expression would be quite a sight to behold.

“But don’t stamina potions have a pretty severe flaw?”

*The stamina potions you can make now are the side-effect-removed version. I think I mentioned it once before.*

“Ah, right. I remember complaining when the crafting method first changed, asking why I couldn’t even make stamina potions.”

Looking back now, it was quite a perplexing experience.

To think that a potion I could literally make by breathing now requires expensive ingredients.

Of course… now that I have the Duke’s family’s sponsorship, it’s no longer a concern.

Sponsorship is divine, and potions are invincible!

“Alright, then, shall we try making some first?”

*All the ingredients are in the attic, so you can take them out and use them.*

As I went up to the attic where the potion crafting facilities were, familiar equipment greeted me.

Of course, there were also unfamiliar ingredients piled up in one corner.

In particular, there were a lot of warm white gems.

“…What is this? Ah, the ingredient name appears. The name is… ‘Trace of God’?”

*It’s a high-grade ingredient essential for healing-type potions. Originally, only priests who serve God could provide immediate healing effects, right?

So, instead, we use this ingredient called ‘Trace of God’, which contains divine power.*

“Let’s see… I only need this one ingredient for stamina potions?”

*The ‘Trace of God’ itself is quite a rare item. For stamina potions, which can be called the most basic of all healing potions, that one ingredient is enough to make it.*

So, as always, I put the ingredients into the cauldron and stirred them this way and that to make a potion… or rather, I didn’t.

As a result of receiving all the rewards for successfully completing the branch point, potion crafting had changed a bit.

“Hmm, it’s certainly convenient now that it’s centered around mana like this.”

*What a shame. Your arm-waving was quite a sight to behold.*

Before, I had to physically stir it this way and that, but now it’s a method of crafting using mana.

Of course, there’s the difficulty of having to supply and control mana at the precise timing… but it was still much more comfortable than physically struggling.

Another change was… before, the crafting method formally guided when, how, and at what angle to stir…

Now, it’s purely based on my senses and experience?

……Because of that, I had to waste 3 ‘Traces of God’.

I clearly remember making a lot of stamina potions in the past, but somehow, none of them were being made properly.

And only the side effects disappeared; the quality of the potion didn’t improve, so

the first potion, whose quality was abysmal because I couldn’t get the hang of crafting, turned out to be a stamina potion that *reduced* stamina when consumed.

No, the problem was that controlling mana itself was damn difficult.

Of course, thanks to those failures, from the 4th attempt onwards, I got the hang of it and produced satisfactory quality.

……Still, getting tired was unavoidable.

Each time I made one, I had to concentrate for 30 to 40 minutes, constantly doing the unfamiliar task of mana control, which was incredibly exhausting.

*You certainly do have talent. I didn’t expect you to get used to the tricky mana control in just 4 tries.*

“Is it that much?”

*…Are you saying that knowing exactly what level of effect the potion you’re holding has?*

“Of course… I don’t know? I’ve never actually used it, and it just says ‘excellent quality’ in the system?”

No, seriously, ‘Heals wounds and restores stamina.’ That’s the end of the description.

Other than that, the sentence ‘Excellent quality, additionally improves immunity.’ is the end.

…In this situation, how am I supposed to know the effects? Since I had a cold anyway, should I do a clinical trial?

*Just try drinking one. Your body isn’t in great condition anyway.*

“…Are you really doing a clinical trial on my own body?”

*Don’t say strange things. It’s already a verified medicine by the system.*

“Alright, alright.”

Saying that, I drank the freshly made pure white stamina potion.

……It tasted like milk tea, just as it looked.

No, seriously, for a moment I thought I had recreated modern milk tea instead of a potion.

But… feeling my mind quickly clear, my scratchy throat becoming normal again,

And my body, which had been complaining of muscle aches everywhere, returning to normal, I realized this was definitely not milk tea.

Most of the fatigue accumulated in my body was gone, and my body felt much lighter.

*See? I told you it was amazing.*

“…It would be good for all-nighters.”

*Actually, we sometimes call it ‘All-Nighter Potion’.*

“……You guys are AIs, aren’t you?”

*Our minds are, but when we use humanoid bodies, we still accumulate fatigue, you know? Of course, if physical fatigue accumulates, we can just use another body, but that takes a long time.

So we use it a lot to endure the constant overtime and all-nighters.*

“……I really don’t understand what kind of company you guys work for.”

I wondered why Ria was always singing about leaving work on time… it seems they use real human-like bodies, not just empty shells, unlike what I thought.

Well, it’s a company that can even bring the dead back to life, so nothing that happens would be strange, I guess.

*Anyway, as you’ve experienced, that potion has the effect of greatly alleviating fatigue and injuries accumulated in the body.*

“When you say injuries, to what extent does it recover?”

*It varies depending on the wound, but usually, moderate to severe wounds, meaning not deep ones, can all be healed at once.*

“…In other words, it’s not effective for deep wounds.”

*It has the effect of accelerating recovery, but it’s impossible to recover solely with this.*

Indeed, if this is the basic healing potion and it had such an overpowered performance, that would be strange in itself.

Anyway, even this much is amazing and worthy of being the main product of my potion shop, which I plan to open soon.

*A shop?*

“Ah, I’m planning to open a shop in a suitable building with the gold coins I received this time. I can mass-produce potions now, right?”

*What are you going to use that money for after you save it up?*

“Well, to buy ingredients to make other potions, of course?”

*And what will you use those potions for? The potions you can make now should be enough to live on, shouldn’t they?*

Actually, Ria isn’t wrong.

If I turn all the ingredients I bought now into potions, I’ll definitely earn more than the investment.

But… I’ve developed a slightly different goal.

“…I saw this time that the fates of the main characters can change because of me, it seems? So I’m going to use the main characters as much as possible to end the war peacefully.”

*You’re going to openly intervene in the lives of the main characters now?*

“To some extent? I need to get stronger for that too.”

The war between humans and the Demon King’s forces, a destined catastrophe in this world.

But… just as I changed Christie’s fate and prevented her death, if I intervene in the fates of the main characters, I might be able to stop that war or end it with minimal damage.

…Besides that, my potions definitely have areas where they can contribute to the development of this world.

Even just this stamina potion alone, if I can properly supply it, it could greatly reduce the number of poor commoners or adventurers who die because they can’t find a priest.

……And more than anything, if I don’t do that, I’ll have nothing else to do.

I also have to repay the Duke’s family who sponsored me.

Additionally… I also need to make a ‘Wish Potion’ for Christie.

A potion whose crafting method can only be known by making a specific potion. The fact that it doesn’t even tell you what that specific potion is was truly malicious.

Anyway, for these reasons, I will continue to make potions, and I will sell those potions.

The system openly gave me the ability to mass-produce potions, so not utilizing it would also be a loss.

*Well, okay. But shouldn’t we deal with the stamina potions you just made first?*

“Hmm? Oh, right! Now I can make multiple bottles of potion every time I make a potion concentrate, right?”

*You just said you could mass-produce and were going to open a shop, and you forgot that?*

Ignoring Ria’s nagging, I brought a potion bottle to the freshly made potion concentrate.

Unlike before, the potion concentrate didn’t disappear even after filling one bottle.

Before, for some reason, when I put the concentrate into one potion bottle, all the other concentrate would evaporate, which was strangely annoying, but not anymore.

“Four bottles. If I include the one I drank earlier, it’s about 5 bottles at once?”

*The efficiency is quite good, isn’t it? In that sense, I’ll give you a quest!*

“…Hmm? Oh, no. If I just make them comfortably……”

*Quest! – Opening Preparations!

-> We have confirmed your will to open a potion shop! Therefore, we are giving you a quest as a reward!

=> Prepare 100 stamina potions within 24 hours! All qualities must be excellent or higher!

+> Reward: When decorating your potion shop building, the system will decorate it for free!

+> Failure: ???

*

“No, what kind of quest is this…?”

*By the way, there’s no refusing, so good luck? lol*

Thinking that the ‘lol’ I couldn’t erase was truly annoying, I quietly picked up the stamina potion next to me.

…I now understood very well why this potion’s nickname was ‘All-Nighter Potion’.

It takes about 30 minutes to make one potion, and the current time is 6 PM.

……That’s enough to keep going until 4 AM without rest.

Hmm, this is definitely an all-nighter.