Kays Translations

Chapter 30: Intermediate Healing Potion

The antler we’d found at the Tradel River was the only one we managed to collect. Male river elk channel mana into their antlers to cast lightning magic. For that reason, when their antlers renew themselves, they always replace them one at a time.

On the game’s message boards, people had speculated that the mysterious something lost when an antler was forcibly cut off was mana. Perhaps that theory hadn’t been far from the truth.

By the time we returned home safely, the sun was beginning to set.

“Big brother, where have you been until this hour?”

“I went to the Tradel River for a while.”

“What were you doing there?”

“I suppose you could say I went to see the river elk.”

“River elk?”

I explained to my adorable, head-tilting little sister what river elk were like and how they lived. She said she wanted to see them too, so I decided to take her with me the next time I went.

River-elk antlers could only be collected during this part of spring. I intended to make several trips rather than search only once, so taking Rosalia along on one of them should be fine. I played with her until dinner.

After dinner and a bath, I shut myself in my room as quickly as I could. From here on, it was magic-potion-making time. I finally had a river-elk antler, which meant I should be able to make an intermediate healing potion.

As usual, there wasn’t a single proper potion-making tool in my room. In other words, Father and Mother wanted to conceal the fact that I could make magic potions.

Being able to make magic potions must be an extremely sensitive matter in this kingdom—perhaps even in this world.

Unfortunately, House Heine’s library contained no books on the history of magic potions. I had searched the bookstores in the territorial capital too, but they didn’t even carry ordinary books about magic potions, much less their history.

Apparently, I would have to wait until I attended the academy. I could ask Grandmother, but I was afraid that doing so would make her suspicious.

Grandmother was a dutiful magic pharmacist. If she realised I possessed unusual talent, she would probably report it to the kingdom, and I had no idea what would happen after that.

Magic potions had some dark history I knew nothing about. Depending on what that history involved, there was a very real possibility that I could be disposed of.

Even if things would go back to normal if I died, dying was still frightening, and I wanted to avoid it if I possibly could. That was why, once again, I chose to make my potions using the Laboratory skill.

“This is a reasonably good river-elk antler. One antler should be enough for roughly forty intermediate healing potions. I don’t have enough medicinal herbs to make that many at once, but I can make about ten for now.”

I activated Laboratory. A mysterious circular space traced in geometric patterns appeared before me. Inside this magical space, I could nullify all kinds of restrictions.

“Come to think of it, I also collected this mysterious water from the Cassius Mountains. I’ll test it. It would be wasteful to risk an intermediate healing potion, so I’ll begin with an elementary healing potion.”

I placed the Cassius Water inside the magical space, turned it into vapour as usual, and then condensed it back into water. The result was high-quality Cassius Water.

“That’s strange. Ordinary water becomes top quality. Perhaps another condition must be met. Oh well.”

Next, I added dried medicinal herbs that had been crushed into fine pieces. I heated the mixture until it was just short of boiling, then stopped and filtered the liquid.

The elementary healing potion that emerged was the usual transparent green, but tiny points of light glittered inside it.

“What’s this? It isn’t poison, is it?”

With that thought, I activated Appraisal.

Elementary Elixir: High Quality. Heals wounds and restores mana. Effect: Minor. Astringent.

Whoa. This was a type of magic potion I’d never seen before. In the game, there had been no potion capable of restoring both health and mana at the same time. Magic pharmacists had made plenty of money because players needed to buy the two kinds separately.

The great advantage of a potion with both effects was that it reduced the amount of luggage a traveller needed to carry. This world had no convenient game inventory capable of holding an almost unlimited number of items.

Anyone setting out on a long journey had to carry a large amount of luggage. Healing potions were essential when your life might depend on them, and mana-restoration potions were equally important as a last resort in an emergency. A single potion that did both would surely be in high demand. Even if it was astringent.

“I think I’ll refrain from using Cassius Water for now. I need to find a way to remove this astringency, but I don’t have the time or spare materials for more experiments.”

I had very few ingredients available. Improving the elixir would have to wait. I carefully placed it in my preservation container.

Right. Next. This time I was finally going to make an intermediate healing potion.

The process was almost the same as for an elementary healing potion. The only major difference was adding powdered river-elk antler to the ingredients. The antler we’d found mustn’t have been lying on the ground for long, because Appraisal rated it high quality. That should allow me to make at least a high-quality intermediate healing potion.

I used Laboratory once more. The result was a high-quality intermediate healing potion: a clear orange liquid.

“Hm. Top quality is still a long way off. If Laboratory can’t improve it any further, I’ll have to raise the quality of the ingredients themselves. I hope I can harvest top-quality medicinal herbs soon.”

There was no point wishing for ingredients I didn’t have. I went ahead and made ten intermediate healing potions, then collapsed from mana exhaustion. I hadn’t expected intermediate potions to consume this much mana.

I considered testing the elementary elixir’s effects, but decided against it.

The astringency frightened me. I’d have to test it on someone else first.

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