MMA: Chapter #13 (Patreon)

The soft chirp of the birds was a welcome sound to Alph as he trod through the heavy woods. He was headed north east from his master’s cottage, toward a village nestled in the Old Woods. It had been three months since he had elected to enter Nova Terra full time, and so far, he had not regretted the choice for even a moment. His days were filled to the brim as he learned alchemy from Master Nordem with a fervor that surprised even himself. Early mornings were spent organizing material, after which he would cook breakfast, begin his morning studying session, and portion out the materials he would need for his afternoon experiments.

After a light lunch, he would typically practice potion crafting all afternoon, taking a break only for dinner, which was followed by more studying. His days were packed full, but were rewarding, and he was finding his studies fruitful. Some of that fruit was in the large chest he carried on his back as he headed for the village to set up his first stall. Master Nordem, undoubtedly concerned about his reputation, had given him a letter to hand to the village elder, asking if they could set up a stall in the market. Armed with the letter, a chest full of his best work, and a couple of sticks and a cloth, Alph was excited to get the chance to sell his potions.

The village was comprised of two dozen houses, a dozen public buildings of various sorts, and a wide square that doubled as a market. There were already close to twenty stalls set up around the square, each hawking a local delicacy or some good brought from Thilvena. Taking a few minutes to look around, Alph found a location beside someone selling cloth that he thought would work well for his stall and made a mental note of its location. Heading for the village hall, he found the village elder engaged in the important work of a mid-morning nap.

“Excuse me..”

Knocking on the table where the village elder was slumped over, drooling, Alph almost felt bad as the elderly elf awoke with a start, nearly knocking over his chair in the process?”

“What? Where are they?!”

Wild eyed, the village elder looked around, failing to find the enemy that he imagined. After a moment he seemed to come back to his senses and gave Alph an embarrassed cough.

“Ahem, hello. Welcome to Oak Hollow, traveler. I am village elder Korris. What can I do for you?”

Silently handing over the letter from Master Nordem, Alph watched as Korris read it. The village elder was of average height for an elf, and had the same slim build as most of them. Despite his age and the slight bulge at the village elder’s waistline, Alph could tell that Korris had once been a warrior. Those days were clearly long past, but he still carried a long dagger on his waist whose well worn handle spoke to the use it had gotten.

“Oh, you are Master Nordem’s disciple? Wonderful! It’s been some years since we’ve seen any of his potions. Almost twenty, in fact. He hasn’t been making the circuit any more, though given his age, I can’t really blame him for wanting to take it easy. I’m starting to feel a bit of that myself,” Korris said with a chuckle. “Let me get your badge and I’ll take you to the market where you can set up.”

After rummaging through a nearby cupboard, the village elder held up a tarnished silver badge triumphantly and waved for Alph to follow him.

“It’s a light market day, so there should be plenty of spaces, but on full market days you’ll have to get here early if you want a spot. What sorts of goods are you planning on selling? I mean, I know that they’re probably potions, you being Master Nordem’s disciple and all, but do you have a focus?”

“A little bit of everything,” Alph said, following along behind the village elder as they walked down the village’s dirt street.

“Well, like I said, it’s been a long time since we’ve had an alchemist around here so I’m excited to see you. I’ll probably be around once I’m done with my duties to do some shopping myself. Got to stock up when you can, you know?”

Mutely nodding along as the village elder chattered away, Alph soon found himself back at the market. Following Korris’ pointing finger, he began to set up his impromptu stall in a space near one of the entrances to the market, next to someone selling vegetables. Rolling out the cloth he had brought, he set down his chest and got the sign he had stored in his inventory. It was a simple sandwich board sign that stood at the edge of the cloth he spread out. Unsure about the best way to arrange the potions, he left them in the chest and sat down on a small stool he had brought.

This was his first time selling anything, let alone selling potions in a fantasy world, and he didn’t know what to do, so Alph simply sat there, staring at everyone who walked by. There were a surprising number of people in the market considering the size of the village, and the new stall attracted quite a bit of attention. Most people, upon seeing the sign that Alph put up, would pause for a moment and then look at the empty cloth in confusion, and finally a curious passerby stepped forward to ask Alph where his wares were.

“In the chest,” Alph said, jerking his thumb at the big box. “It’s annoying to get them out and put them back in.”

The villager asking the question, a burly elf with sawdust peppering his hair, scratched his chin as he stared at the chest for a moment.

“What kinds of potions do you have? Anything for stamina?”

Nodding, Alph flipped open the top of the chest, revealing nearly a hundred potions all lined up nicely. There were potions of all sorts of different hues and shades, each neatly held in a glass vial with a cork top.

“Sure, I have stamina potions,” Alph said, taking a golden yellow potion out of the chest. “Twenty silver per potion, limit two per day.”

Frowning, the burly elf looked closely at the potion that Alph was holding, as if he could determine its characteristics by examining it.

“Twenty silver? A bit expensive, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Aph nodded. “But I didn’t set the prices. If you read the sign, you’ll see this is Master Nordem’s shop. He set the prices, so there is nothing I can do about it. Most of these potions are his, anyway. He said that if you want a cheaper potion, you can go to Thilvena, but here the potions are twenty silver apiece.”

“What a ripoff,” the burly elf grumbled, reaching for his pouch. “Nordem was a skinflint when he came around before as well. Sad to see his disciple following in his path.”

Ignoring the barb, Alph traded the two potions for forty silver coins and nodded his thanks. With the first purchase under his belt, more villagers started trickling in to get potions. Stamina potions could be used for a pick-me-up when consumed in small quantities, or taken outright to help with large projects, while health potions were used in the case of injuries. There were not many people interested in the mana potions that Alph carried, and the fifty silver price scared most of the villagers off, but Alph wasn’t worried.

His master had coached him extensively before he came to sell the potions at the market, and true to his words, a group of dusty, armored humans and elves soon stumbled into town, practically carrying one of the members of their team. They were hurrying by toward the town’s small shrine when one of them caught sight of Alph’s sign and stopped, causing their teammate to bump into them. Saying something in a low voice, she split up from her party and headed toward Alph.

Dressed in a green robe that looked like it had seen better days, she wore a set of metal pauldrons and a partial chestplate, along with armor that ran down her arms. A staff was clutched in one hand while a short sword hung from her belt. Stopping at the edge of Alph’s cloth, she squinted at the sign and then turned to peer into his box. It was still more than half full, and he could see her swallowing, as if suppressing her excitement.

“Hello,” she said, trying to sound cheerful despite her exhaustion. “Are you selling stamina potions?”

“Yup. And health potions, mana potions, general antidotes, and even a variety of combat potions.”

With every potion that Alph listed, her eyes grew brighter until they were practically blazing.

“Combat potions? Like what?”

“Flame Breath, Frost Breath, Bark Skin, Lynx’s Agility. You know, stuff like that.”

Each of the potions that Alph listed off were based on basic spells that magic users learned early on, but were still effective, and more importantly, could be used by people without the mana or training to cast them.

“To start, let me have three antidotes and two health potions,” she said, a slight frown on her face. “But I’ll return with our team captain for some of the combat potions. Oh, and I’ll take a stamina potion too.”

“Twenty silver each for the stamina and health potions, and ten for the antidotes. That’s ninety silver.”

Groaning a bit at the steep price, the female elf counted out ninety silver from her inventory and gave it to Alph. As soon as she got the potions, she downed the stamina potion, drinking it down to its last drop. Almost immediately she perked up and let out a long breath as her exhaustion melted away.

“That feels great. Okay, I’ll go talk to my team captain. I’ll be right back.”

Watching her hurry off, Alph took a variety of potions out of the chest and set them down in front of him. He had three offensive potions available, and six defensive potions, so he organized them into groups. He was just finishing when the adventurer returned, accompanied by a male elf who was wearing dented platemail. A kite shield was slung across his back with a broadsword underneath it. Stopping in front of Alph, he shifted his equipment with a practiced hand and crouched down.

“Potions for sale? Marissa says you have combat potions.”

Nodding, Alph pointed at the neat row of potions, reciting the names as he touched each one.

“Fire Breath, Frost Breath, Acid Arrow. Those are the offensive potions. Then, on the defensive or support side, we have Haste, Bark Skin, Lynx’s Agility, Bear’s Toughness, Eagle Eye, and Grease.”

“What sort of effect do they have?” the adventurer captain asked, picking up the Fire Breath potion and looking at the swirling crimson liquid.

“The three attack potions are good for between five and eight attacks, depending on how efficient the user is. The defensive potions differ. Haste is a minute, the three buffs last for between three and five minutes, depending on the user’s activity level, and Eagle Eye is six to ten minutes. Grease is permanent.”

“What do you mean by a user’s activity level?”

“Potions use mana to power their abilities,” Alph explained. “So if you are using them more frequently, the mana gets used up faster. Over time, you can get better at manipulating the potion, which can increase the efficiency of the potion, making a basic potion more effective.”

“I see. Okay, that makes sense. How much are they? And what about the mana potions?”

“Fifty silver for the mana potions. Forty-five for the three attack potions, and thirty-five for each of the defensive potions.”

“Any discount for buying in bulk?” the captain asked, hopefully, only to swear under his breath when Alph shook his head resolutely. “Fine. I want three mana potions, two Bark Skin, two Bear’s Toughness, and three Flame Breath.”

Doing the math in his head as he got the potions out of his chest, Alph set them out in front of the adventurers.

“Four gold, and twenty-five silver,” he said, earning himself a groan.

“That’s practically highway robbery. I should have picked a production class,” the captain mumbled, paying Alph and picking up the potions.

“Nice doing business with you,” Alph said, grinning. “Come back soon.”

“Hah, we’ll see. Thanks.”

Watching the two adventurers leave, Alph felt like standing up and doing a small dance. He had only been at the market for half a day but he had already made almost eight gold from selling potions. He had been keeping an eye on the gold to UC conversion out of habit, and a single gold was selling for nearly five hundred UC, meaning that he had earned almost four thousand UC. Granted, all of it was going to go toward buying more materials to make more potions, but Alph was perfectly happy with that.

The deal he had signed with Myst had been complex, but Alph had not paid any attention to the details. Currently, the only thought in his mind was learning more about alchemy and he had only listened long enough to verify that they would let him play the game the way he wanted to. Seeing another villager coming over, Alph put on his best smile and began to put the combat potions away.

That night, he stayed in the village at the public house, renting a room for a single silver. Only a fourth of his stock had been sold, but according to the chatter he heard, the following day was a market day, which meant that there should be more customers. Alph was planning on getting an early night, but after eating dinner, he started reading through his notes and five hours passed quickly. When he looked up, it was one in the morning so he grabbed a couple hours of sleep and then got up to claim his spot in the market.

There were a few other people there already, constructing large stalls or unloading produce from carts, but for the most part, Alph had his pick of locations, so he took a spot close to the center of the market and spread out his blanket. Sitting there with his potions, he soon grew bored, so he tried to read, but that just put him to sleep, so he got out one of his stamina potions and popped the top off, intending to drink it. The sound attracted the attention of a few of the workers who wandered over to see how much they cost. Hearing that a single potion was twenty silver, they just scoffed and were about to go back to their job when one of them happened to glance down at the dingy cloth that Alph’s wares were spread out on. Stopping the others, he glanced at the stand they had been building and then turned back to Alph.

“Hey, what would you think about a trade?”