The Alchemist at Hell's Gates

3

^^ Sam ^^

Buying a small piece of the Plains to build a workshop in was relatively easy, once I'd sold all but the 25 Healing Potions that I sent to Hellen via the Trading System, a Marketplace/Quorum/Chatroom that you gained access to at Level 3; it could also be used to trade gear and distribute loot over distances, or to send requests and invites to someone who wasn't logged in, so they had all their stuff waiting for them when they got back.

My total 'winnings' consisted of 20 Basic Healing Potions, (minus the 25 I gave to Hellen,) 20 Sleeping Potions, (minus five that I kept,) 5 Smoking Bottles, (one I kept,) 15 Antidotes and 15 Poisons, (I kept two of each for myself,) and five 'Thunderstones', which turned out to be literal impact grenades full of shrapnel and sound waves that deafened me for several hours and very nearly killed me; if it weren't for my new Health of 20 and the fact that I'd had the sense to throw it away from me as soon as it glowed, I would be very dead. (I kept Ten of those, for combat purposes.) The Thunderstones sold for 20$ a piece because of their low offensive power and utility, but it was still 100$ in my pocket, so I was alright with that; the Sleeping potions went for 50$, so that was 1000$, plus another 1000$ from the healing potions. The Antidotes and Poisons were both worth 100$ each, apparently, so there was 3000$, plus the 5 Smoking Bottles, totaling 5,600$.

I paid my Rent and Energy Bill in the real world for the month, instead of the week, (cackling happily the whole time while also cringing at 5,000$ leaving my account all at once,) and then spent 350 of my remaining 600$ for a small plot of land on which I built a sturdy little 20x20 house with a loft and a basement, just outside the walls of the Beginner Town. Inside the basement, there was a wrap-around desk that I filled instantly with all the equipment from the dungeon, placed deliberately in the order in which they would be best utilized, with a chest in the middle that had cost me 100$, but was worth every penny; much better than an Inventory, the Everchest could hold an infinite amount of materials, and could be locked with an Expert-Level Lock, as well as trapped in several different ways. The main floor was a small greenhouse which I would fill in over time, and the loft held a bed to sleep in and a small alchemy station to fake-out would-be robbers. The door to the basement was hidden in the loft, (the central column of the house was hollow and held a ladder,) not in the main floor like people would expect.

Outside the cottage, however, I needed to protect my home from monsters, not people, so I had a twenty-foot wide and twenty-foot deep moat, currently full of sharp spikes and traversible only by way of a thin wooden drawbridge that only came down when I commanded it to, because I was the owner of the house. Small-Time Magic, apparently, didn't cost much at all, and was mostly just Coding; what kind of game would allow you to get locked out of your own house, right? Still, I had originally planned other dangers for the Pitfall, in the future, but they would have to wait for me to level up and gain more useful skills, I supposed.

With 8 hours left of the day before I needed to sleep, I settled into my lab and began familiarizing myself with everything, taking stock of all of the Materials and Loot I had left, and what I could make with that, according to my Formulae Cheat-Sheet I'd written out and placed on the wall.

Basic Healing Potion: Red Willow Herbs (3)
Smoking Bottle: Skeleton Ash (0), Pig Iron (44), Glow-Stone (88)
Sleep Potion: Wildflowers (24), Green Willow Herbs (3), Glow-Stone (88)
Thunderstone: Glow-Stone (88), Pure Iron (0)
Basic Slime: Glow-stone (88)
Clockwork: Pure Iron (0), Copper(0), or Bronze(0)
Arcane Static Emitter: Glow-Stone (88), Tungsten(0), Pure Iron(0)
Antidote: Green Willow Herbs(3), Glow-Stone(88), Catalyst(5)
Poison: Green Willow Herbs(3), Glow-Stone(88)
Catalyst: White Willow Herbs(2), Pure Water(99).

Of that list, Clockwork, Basic Slime, and Arcane Static Emitter were the three I hadn't made yet, and I didn't have Tungsten or Pure Iron, yet, but I was sure I could buy some soon, once I'd rebuilt my Capital. As such, Slimes it was, I suppose... but what if I couldn't fight it? That'd make for a mightily pathetic eulogy; 'killed by a slime she made in her own home because she was stupid'. I'd need to be capable of dealing 30 points of damage, minimum... I glanced at my character sheet, selecting my only combat ability, if it could even be called that.