Happy to spread the joy of potion crafting to someone else, Gilda started going into details, ushering Zen to her back room, where the magic happened.
Zen found himself taking comfort in this potion brewery for someone familiar with the chaotic scene in a kitchen. It was somewhat similar to cooking in some ways, so when Gilda taught him about ingredient preparation, Zen did it faster than her.
Thrilled that Zen was so talented with his hands, Gilda moved on to the proper equipment required for brewing potions.
“There are a few steps in creating any kind of potion. The first was extracting the potion base by boiling ingredients into mush over low fire for a few hours. The ingredients will be strained and removed from the potion base and treated with customised ingredients for different potion effects.”
Exhausted, Zen sprawled out on the yard as Paul chuckled. He managed to work on his client’s orders while Zen prepared all the slime skins diligently without a break. The youth carried a fresh basin of water after each batch of skin. Every piece of hardened skin separated from the dried slime skin was washed and checked thoroughly that nothing remained stuck on it.His earnest attitude touched Paul, who decided to reward him with homemade lemonade.Zen accepted the lemonade gratefully and wondered what the last quest was.===Quest: Heart of a Crafter Part 3Requirements: NAObjective: Help Paul Make Beginner Armour10/10 P
[Liu Feng “Seer” sends a party message. “Do you need me there?”]Zen smiled and replied to his party that he wanted to try clearing the first floor’s boss alone. After all, he didn’t need to clear it only once. Zen did not want them to know he intended to kill the pink slime ten times by himself.===Beginner Cure Potion Recipe:0/1 Pink Boss Slime Hair4/2 Dewy Grass===Zen already collected the dewy grass that was required for the beginner cure potion. He had no idea how useful it was for dungeons but seeing how he would kill big pink ten times, it would not hurt to make spares.
Groaning, Zen did not want to wake up. He was starting to get familiar with this smell, sound and feel. There was no other place that would give him such a peaceful vibe after that horrific death.“Welcome back, Zen. Did you rest well?” Father Clarence’s gentle voice drifted to his ear, and the young chef sighed. There was no use pretending to be dead when the clergyman was here already.“Sorry about that,” Zen apologised as he crawled out from his respawn coffin. “I’m alright.”Feeling vexed by the death caused by an area attack, Zen wondered if there was a way he could survive that second wave. Usually, there are several ways to overcome such patterns.Area effect attacks did not discriminate between tanks or healers. How
Several deaths later, Zen had all the splash poison potions he needed. This time, He wasn’t here to observe how to beat big pink. He was here to prepare a big pink killing spree.It turned out that potion crafting was a skill that gave him perks. The more he did it, the more efficient the potion was. The only downside was the amount of materials Zen needed just to become better at crafting potions. Gathering the red spider flowers was harder than smashing yellow slimes for their poison sac.Thankfully, sleeping potions were easier to craft than poison potions. Zen made a moderate batch of sleeping potions and dipped his shortsword into that foul-smelling liquid to deal with the spiders. It was disrespectful to a sword as well made as his, but Zen wasn’t a swordsman. He was a gamer, and it was the only logical thing to do.
All night. Zen spent the whole night just trying to kill the pink slime, but he failed no matter what he did.He was woken up two hours after he rage quitted by Liu Feng, who wanted to make a breakfast request.Not in the best of moods after last night, Zen growled at the blind assassin before his mind cleared. Realising that Liu Feng woke him up, Zen quickly apologised and tried to explain the situation in a muddled way because his brain refused to work coherently with only two hours of sleep.“It’s alright,” the Seer chuckled. “You stayed up very late last night. Did you manage to clear the first floor yet?”Zen slumped back onto the bed glumly. “I wish I did. I’m out of tricks.”
Armed with coffee, Zen tried the coffee shooting technique on all other slimes. It turned out that slimes were actually allergic to coffee. After getting sloshed on by enough of that dark liquid, they would explode into gooey bits. Then again, only the orange slime behaved differently after getting hit by coffee. They turned rigid into a stone-like structure that Zen could easily smack until their health vanished.He did not know how much coffee he needed to battle big pink, but if there was one thing Zen knew, the pink boss slime’s hair did not need killing to obtain. He checked his inventory after logging in again and found that he had a few locks already.===Beginner Cure Potion Recipe:2/1 Pink Boss Slime Hair0/2
Ben gave Zen a warning look as he handed the repaired wakizashi over. The young cook promised that he would be careful with the weapon even if he did not know how long he could keep his word.Leaving the town once more and hunting green slimes along the way until he reached the spot where he accidentally birthed a green slime, Zen reached into his inventory and rearranged the items. This time, he prepared a lot of coffee. He wanted to know how much coffee it would take to paralyse or kill a boss slime. The area boss was slightly smaller than big pink, but Zen thought he could calculate how much caffeine would be an overdose for a slime that huge for preparation.Gilda generously sponsored almost five gallons of coffee for his experiment, and Zen improved on that spit gun. He decided to borrow some things from Paul’s armoury and fashioned a coffee tank usi
Liu Feng and Akiko stared at the slime pudding Zen passed them. It wasn’t even an hour since Zen started his diving session when he found something miraculous.“Do you have more of this?” Liu Feng asked, barely containing his excitement.Zen shook his head. “It’s a daily item that I can claim so that’s all for today, although if I had the ingredients, I could make a less effective slime pudding. It’s half as effective in the boost, and the ingredients are a hassle to obtain.”Akiko held Zen’s hands so quickly that Liu Feng could not stop her despite seeing her vague outline rushing over to his sworn brother. The long-haired assassin hissed when she touched his cook.“Tell us what you need. I’ll get the oth
After entering the boss dungeon den, Zen shivered. It wasn’t similar to a wolf’s den. If anything, it appeared closer to an actual dungeon, as if someone had deliberately attempted to imprison the boss here. The stale smell of dogs and many broken chains of different sizes on the ground spoke volumes about John’s cousin.Unlike the short werewolf, who remained in his werewolf form constantly, the boss was a monster who could transform. Depending on the moon cycle, it could be a violent and bloodthirsty monster or a broken man who lived in constant fear and misery of his curse.“He changes according to the moon cycle once the rampage begins,” Akiko explained. “I took a while to figure out how to kill him, even on the first run. He’s immune to damage on a blood moon. We need to finish it as soon as possible.”With a full party participating in a boss battle, Zen had faith they could conclude it before even the blood moon p
Finally approaching the final boss’s cave, Zen wondered if the storyline would change because they had let Han murder John brutally. His body had been hacked into pieces and scattered around the rotting forest. The maggots would get to it soon and reduce it to bones. Yet, the cruel butchering session remained fresh in Zen’s mind.Everyone in the party knew that feeling all too well. Having lived in the underworld, they sympathised with Zen, who had lived like a civilian his whole life. Although not everyone participated directly in the act of murder, they knew what it meant to take a life. Even Damian had seen it happen. He knew how to interrogate for information and was quite adept at the craft when required.“Don’t think too much about it,” Liu Feng was the first to break the silence. “He wasn’t even real. This is a game designed by the Godfather to find the next successor. It’s just another test.”Even if it wer
Even after many years of not being on talking terms with the rest of the family, Hans fitted right in when delving blows at the cowardly werewolf. Mai ripped out chunks of flesh with her teeth, snarling at it the whole time while Laura expertly force-fed the werewolf with different herbs with particularly nasty effects.Even with regeneration abilities, John could not recover from herbs that tasted nasty, gave him muscle cramps or made him itch all over. Laura truly knew how to make someone suffer, and Zen watched with morbid fascination at their different uses. Her apothecary skills were no less effective than those of Herbologist Hernie.“Can you heal him again?” Damian asked. “Han needs another round. Mai roughed him up a little too good.”With a priest in the party who did not worship any known religion, the torture session became smoother and more effective. No apology from John would appease the family’s anger. Although Zen did not
After listening to the story about John, Laura’s expression hardened. “That son of a bitch!” she spat. “How dare he prey on my granddaughter! Where is he now?!” Slightly terrified by the murderous aura, Zen reported that Sasha and Damian had the werewolf at Gabrielle’s hut. Mai had been ripping him a new one each time he regenerated. The girls had been doing a great job of making him miserable. Han was already there. “I can’t believe I’m last at the party. That wolf deserves to die. Even death is too cheap a price to pay after what he did to my husband and son.” For once, Zen agreed. Even if John was merely a character in the game, he deserved death. The fact that the game administrators did not grant John invulnerable stats meant that it was possible to kill the cousin of the floor boss. While waiting for Laura to pack her ‘tools’ and herbal surprises, Zen approached Liu Feng and thanked him for accompanying them. In real time, it was already past regular l
Studying advanced herbalism from Laura took more time than Zen expected. Thankfully, the game had a way of providing cheats for him. Instead of cramming all the knowledge into his head that would give him a splitting migraine, it provided a useful guidebook that would prompt him on what a particular herb does upon location and what combinations he could use it for with other known herbs. The problem was, to truly master this skill, he had to pass the final test. Laura’s pop quiz only had ten questions. However, there was a timer. While Zen could attempt it infinitely, there were thousands of herb combinations to remember. Not having any formal education in either of his past lives, the young chef faltered. “You may use anything in this cottage as a reference for your test,” Laura smirked. “All the best. I hope you won’t disappoint me.” Stressing over the best method to find what he needed, Zen tested a few things. Firstly, when Laura said that the new skill would inst
While the other party members gathered the family members for a reunion, Zen and Liu Feng finally found Laura’s cottage after taking a wrong turn. Funnily enough, it was the Seer who pointed out how they had been going in a circle before Zen realised he had misinterpreted the map. Knocking on the cottage door, Zen waited with his sworn brother. From inside, he could hear someone coughing badly. “Who is it?” the cranky old lady hacked as she cracked open the door. Instead of seeing her sloppy son or nosy granddaughter, Laura saw a cute priest and a handsome, long-haired warrior. The new adventurers surprised her. Were they lost in the forest? “What do you want?” she asked briefly before launching into a new coughing fit. It was a particularly nasty cold that had persisted for a week now without any signs of recovery. Despite all the herbal medicine she made, Laura did not see any signs of improvement. Perhaps she was getting on in age. Smiling, Zen show
It was a shame Zen was not with them. Sasha would have gone for a few more rounds, using the cowardly werewolf as a punching bag after Zen healed him. The more they dug information out from the pervert, the worse Sasha’s temper was. Damian did not stop her. The draconian needed somewhere to vent her anger, and it was best for it not to come his way. In truth, the cyborg felt a little sorry for Gabrielle, even if she were just a fictional character created for this virtual dungeon game. The cowardly cousin of the floor boss was no different from lowly thugs borrowing the influence of their powerful relatives to cause mayhem. Whimpering in fear and pain with his tail tucked in between his legs, the werewolf defect who could not transform into a human no matter the moon cycle kept a close eye on Sasha. Under the watch of the merciless draconian female, there was nowhere for him to run. He told them what they wanted to know and was alive for now. Given how tightly they w
Using hand gestures, Sasha signalled the countdown and Damian prepared his stunning spells silently. They only had one chance to catch the secret admirer off guard. Whatever he was doing was disgusting enough. Han wasn’t lying about the obsession. The stalker werewolf was plucking flower petals and chanting Gabrielle’s name to see if she would love him back. Each time the flower petals ended on a no, he would crush the flower, stomp on it and pick a new one, confessing his disturbing love to her before plucking off the petals of a new flower.“Oh, Gabrielle! What sweet rosy cheeks you have, all the better for me to bite into them when they are ripe! They were pink when you were a babe. They were red when you had a fever. I wonder if they’d bleed if I bit them… would you cry in pain and fear? It makes me so excited to think about it! Just wait a little more, my angel. You’d soon be an adult, and we could finally be together!”Disgu
As soon as Zen and Liu Feng departed, the remaining assassins pulled themselves together and got to work. Oritha opted to remain in the same room as the sleeping mother and daughter. However, Akiko went outside to share the information she learned last night about the stalker while patrolling the perimeter.“More brown hair?” Damian asked. “I could examine the cuticle to determine its genetic composition.”Handing the tuft of brown fur or hair over, Akiko also told Sasha the stalker’s route. Liu Feng only sensed the area where the unknown man was hiding last night. His lack of vision made him miss out on the obvious tracks. The stalker was not an expert. It must be how Han knew the foot size of Gabrielle’s secret admirer.Showing Sasha the tracks she found in the night, the Death Princess explained her hypothesis. The night hounds and wolves did not approach the house due to an invisible barrier.“It was as if they were t