While things had been going well enough of late, there was one problem that was bugging Richard. He had been making what he could from the drops that he got. And yet his level of Alchemy didn’t show any appearance of leveling up at all. He knew that he had barely scratched the surface and was probably expecting progress too soon.

  Being that the world was in an information glut he checked out the usual websites and wikis looking for information. And as always there were scads of dubious and outright fake info everywhere. It took a bit of a fine tooth combing to find out what was real and what wasn’t. Even then there was no guarantee.

  Skills needed to be used a certain number of times before they leveled up. Whether that meant that they needed to create X items or X different items it seemed people were on the fence about. Reports came from all over, but one post was convinced that if the explorer visited lots of different dungeons for materials it was possible to get to the next level faster than just diving one dungeon.

  So far Richard had been careful about what he made and when. Not wanting to out himself as a crafter before he had some sort of protection in place. He shuddered at the idea that he might be kidnapped in the night and imprisoned underground somewhere. Churning out potions for 3 meals a day and only seeing sunlight again when his corpse was dumped outside.

  Richard went to the bathroom and washed his face with cool water. It sometimes helped and was probably better for him than slapping his cheeks. Though the slaps always seemed to center him for some reason. Probably not for a healthy reason.

  There were two tasks ahead of him. One, find out how to level up his Alchemy to the next level. Doing so would mean that he should be able to increase the number of things that he was able to make. Maybe even get a bump in quality, as he felt something was missing when he used a S-Rank skill to make a weak potion.

  And two, find something that will either allow him to avoid notice, or provide a strong deterrent against outside forces. This one was rather easy, as joining the Crafter’s Union should provide both. He would be able to buy and sell to the guild itself. Which would allow for him to hide how much and what he was making.

  Thinking about the guild reminded him that he would need to check the prices. Selling them at the Dungeon Center could somewhat be considered market value. Would the guild be better or the same price? Something to look into. Selling to individuals or another guild would bring in better prices, but it would also bring in unwanted attention.

  Looking at his recipe list Richard counted up the number of things he had created. There were the two vials, Black Carapace and Blue Core. The two potions, mana and healing. There was also a Cabbit Bone Vial that he could make. Then there was using each of the vials with each of the potions. He realized that he needed a better name. Catalyst? It might not be perfect, but it would do for the time being. Though making up his own names for things might let others mark him as an outlier. He should probably spend some time looking into common nomenclature alchemists use.

  So he had two catalysts, and three vials. Which meant that there were 6 potions that he was able to make. And with two of them already made it left only 4 with his current recipes. Black Carapace Vial and Healing Flower, Blue Core Vial and Black Beetle Stomach, and the Cabbit Bone Vial with the healing and mana catalysts.

  The idea of going to the Slime Dungeon again made his skin crawl. He didn’t like Calvin at all. How he pestered Richard to both join his guild and digging into Richard’s actions didn’t sit right. It would make sense to first go to Rowan City and see about joining the Crafter’s Union. Then he could farm for what materials he could. Maybe buy some materials to save time. Definitely make some potions and have a little more wiggle room with his expenses. All while trying for the next Alchemy level.

  Then he could hit up the Cabbit Dungeon and get a pair of bones for vials. With some luck he would be able to sneak into the Slime dungeon. Get some Healing Flowers, and then finish things up at the Beetle dungeon. He would need enough money in order to export the materials outside of the dungeons. There was the topic of smuggling them. But since everything he found in the dungeon was logged to his ID it would be clear that he was skipping paying taxes should any digging be done.

  With a whole deal of thinking done and out of the way Richard rewarded himself with another homebrew and called it an early night.

  ***

  Richard stepped off of the bus and was surprised to find that the Cabbit Dungeon was already busy at 9 am. The bus was full by the time that it had arrived and the lobby was packed. He had gotten up early and taken the train into the big city. In the hope that he wouldn’t have to deal with lines or competition for drops. But it seemed like all that was in vain.

  He made his way into the dungeon as quickly as the line would allow. And was rather relieved to see that most of the people were making their way towards the second floor. What was also surprising was that several groups were also coming out of the dungeon. Looking rather tired and travel-worn. Were they exploring the dungeon during the night?

  With a thump Richard finished off the first Cabbit of the day and was rewarded with a new drop. A Cabbit Heart. It was a red mass of muscle that squished in his hand. There didn’t appear to be any blood inside of it. Though there was something about it that made him feel as if he could use it for something. Was that a new hidden ability of the Alchemy skill? Or one that he just noticed?

  He stowed it in his satchel, checked around for monsters or people, and then opened the recipe list. Cabbit Heart Essence was a new entry and it was different from the others recipes as it took two hearts. They were rare enough that they had a high buy price and the taxes were probably going to kill him.

  It took the better part of the day before Richard had found the materials he wanted. He found the two Cabbit Bones that he needed in order to create the mana and healing potions. But assuming that the System was consistent he still needed another. As once he made the heart essence he had the feeling that it would unlock a potion that used it. While it was a big assumption to make, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.

  The problem with that was that he still needed a second heart. And if he wanted to create potions with each of the catalysts and vials then he needed another 5. The idea of hanging out in Rowan that long was longer than what he had planned or wanted. Maybe it would be best to just buy it from the market or guild? If the guild bought what the potions from him it wouldn’t put him in a loss. The Cabbit Dungeon was also quite the money maker so he would have some funds to start out with.

  With that decision made Richard exited the dungeon, sold the 17 teeth and 7 pelts. Cried inside at the 25% tax to export the heart and 2 bones. All in all he had made $14,025 and then spent $2,906 on the heart and bones taxes. And then the $10k for equipment rentals. Which left him with a profit of $1,119 for the day.

  With his pockets feeling a little fuller he hopped onto a bus and headed towards the Crafter’s Union. To spend money. That would empty his pockets. He sighed to himself and hoped that he would be able to turn his fortunes around soon.

  ***

  Joining the Crater’s Union was less painful than Richard had expected it to be. For some reason he thought that there was going to be layer after layer of bureaucracy, tests, and proving himself. But really it was like signing up for a credit card. Just a simple questionnaire about his goals, the skills that he wanted to develop, and signing more forms than what was probably necessary.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  There were however lots of things to go over, discounts when buying from the guild, though it also meant that selling things was only slightly better than at the Dungeon Centers. The guild would fill its contracts with the goods bought from the members. Any fees went to the building and management of the guild. But it also came with protection. Those guilds that were buying from the Crafter’s Union promised to treat union members fairly, defend them in times of need, and always be willing to provide assistance to union members in the dungeons.

  One part that made Richard disappointed was that the market was considered to be outside of the guild’s control. And that his discount wouldn’t apply to anything he purchased there. It really seemed like it was just a way to get sellers into the building and have materials move around. As anything that wasn’t sold at the end of the day would often end up in the guilds coffers anyways.

  Before Richard waded into the market he made sure to affix the guild emblem onto his satchel. Maybe he would be able to get some extra points when bartering if the seller knew that he was part of the Union? It couldn't hurt right?

  From pursuing the Market and the Union’s own stores Richard was able to find everything that he needed to craft except for the Black Beetle Stomachs. It seemed like they were considered to be a dead drop, as no one had figured out how to use them yet. How were the others making mana potions? Were they even making them? Or did the supply only come from the dungeons? Given that the cost of them was lower must mean that there was either a difference in supply or demand. Were there so few casters that mana potions didn’t have much of a use?

  The second problem that Richard ran into was the amount of money that was needed. He had enough for some of the materials. But not all of them. Any money that he made in the dungeons was taken up by his food and rent costs. And it was really only the bonuses from the potions that put him ahead at all. He did have his emergency fund. But it was something that, once he built it up, he always made sure not to touch. As who knew when a bout of funemployment would end? And it was with a heavy heart that he reached into the fund to buy the remaining materials. Which he planned to top back up as soon as his potion selling got off of the ground.

  It was possible to rent crafting rooms at the Union. Which made sense to Richard as he had no way to buy, store, or even stage all of the Alchemy equipment that was available. Not that he needed it of course. But it helped him to at least keep up appearances.

  First up he crafted the 3 Cabbit Bone Vials he needed. Then he crafted the Cabbit Heart Essence. Which hurt considering that the hearts cost a whopping $5,000 each in the market. And he needed two of them. Vitality potions better sell high….

  When the essence finished crafting Richard pulled it from the System window. It was a strange thing, a red blob of energy both felt like it stuck to his hand like gum, while also feeling like it was trying to fly away. There was a small almost electric tingle where his skin came into contact with it.

  Once he had the essence another recipe opened up as he expected it to.

  Vitality Potion

  Increases Vitality for a short period of time.

  Requires 1 Cabbit Heart Essence

  Requires 1 Potion Vial

  It sounded different and wasn’t straightforward like the Mana and Healing potions. Maybe someone in the guild had a better idea as to what it was used for? Richard guessed that it was good for either taking damage or healing from it faster. Though if it was the latter did that mean it might combo or somehow overlap with the healing potion?

  Moving on Richard made a Healing Potion using the Cabbit Bone Vial. Using the Bone Vials for the healing potion created a Lasting variant. Did lasting mean that the healing effect would happen over time instead of all at once? Another difference was the quality seemed to have taken a hit, instead of being weak it was poor.

  Next with the Blue Core Vial Richard created a Vitality Potion. Unlike with the Bone Vial Potion he had just made, they came out as weak quality instead of poor. There was also a plus symbol next at the end of the name. Did the Blue Core Vial’s increase the potency of the potions made with them?

  Finally the Black Carapace version of the Vitality Potion also came out as poor, but as a Burst variant. Since burst suggested some urgency did that mean that the healing effect would happen quicker?

  That was it for creating the new potions. As without having access to the Black Beetle stomachs Richard wasn’t able to create the rest of the potions he needed to make. He also would probably need to pick up a new notebook soon, since he had already written through about half of his first one already. There was the option of just using his phone, but he liked using analog methods at times. It allowed him to step away from their always connected culture that had started so long ago in the 20s.

  Once he finished the potions Richard placed them on the crafting bench in front of him. He hadn’t used any of the many tools that scattered the room. He felt a little bad for the other crafters who would need to prepare, process, and otherwise painstakingly create items. There he was standing over completed products that took almost no time or effort on his part.

  They all had the same look to them, A round diamond like shape with the color of the stopper indicating what was inside of them. Red for Healing and yellow for Vitality. If he had the stomachs for the mana potions Richard was sure that they would be blue like the first one he crafted. He laughed after a moment, the potion vials kind of looked like rounder D8s.

  Richard surfed on his phone for about an hour. Just to make it seem like he had been working longer than he actually had. Just in case someone was paying attention. After he felt that enough time had been wasted he left the room and found the found section of the guild where they bought items.

  There were several desks lined up in a wall with one line feeding people to them. 3 of the desks had people working in them and it didn’t take long for Richard to sell his potions. Once it was all said and done he thought that they would have been more excited to see what he had created. Only it was just the buyer looking up the price for the potions based on the guild list and the System identification. There was one good thing to come of it all. And that was the price.

  The two Weak Vitality Potions went for $16k each and the Burst Vitality went for $18k. While the Lasting and Burst Healing Potions went for less than their normal prices, at $26k and $24k instead of $30k. From what the buyer said they didn’t have as much demand due to being harder to use. It seemed like a bit of a copout to Richard. But it was money in his pocket. Money to put back into his emergency fund. To take that stress away from him.

  Counting it all up he had just made $100k from selling the potions. He still needed to count up everything that he had spent to make them. But that was a problem for future Richard. One that could deal with the stress better than the current one that just wanted to ride the high of almost 3 months of expenses coming in all at once.

  One good thing about the new potions was that he managed to learn the effects for them from the buyer. Lasting was thought to reduce the total effect of a potion to 75%, but then apply the effect over 5 minutes. While the Burst variant spread the potions effect over an area. Apparently the total effect would be divided by the number of people within the area of effect. And Vitality potions caused the drinker to take less damage for a time.

  Lasting was as Richard expected it to be, though he was surprised by the reduction in effect. Having a hot up could be helpful if the one taking it knew that they would be taking ongoing damage.

  While the Burst was something different than Richard expected. He supposed it might have some use if the party had taken an area of effect attack and needed to recover quickly. Though how would a potion like Burst Vitality potion be useful if it were spread over many people?

  With the potions sold Richard jumped onto transit to return home. Tomorrow would be the Beetle Dungeon again to see about getting the stomachs to make the rest of his alchemy recipes. He just hoped that it wouldn’t take too long for them to drop.

  ***

  Calvin picked up the phone as it rang. “Good. You’ve gotten the message?”

  “Yes,” the voice on the other end was low and muffled. As if they were holding their phone close while covering it with their hand.

  “Alright. Keep an eye out for the target. Go through the usual tactics to get him to join.”

  “What they want to hear. Got it. What if they already joined a guild?”

  “Then press gang them. It won’t be an issue once you get them out of the dungeon. We have people in each of the locations he tends to go to.”

  “Understood,” the voice said and hung up.