Around midnight, Johan re-entered the space through translocation after having carrot soup made with the carrots he harvested that day. The effect worked well; at least he didn’t have to squint to read the ingredients on the back of ramen packs anymore.

  He also felt refreshed, like he had stepped out of a warm bath. And, a new wave of energy flowed through his body, which would normally be screaming for the bed around this time.

  “Does the sun not set here?” Johan muttered, stretching his stiff arms after a lonesome shift.

  This forest looked about the same, aside from the small piece of ground he had dug up before, along with the sack of compost and seed packets. However, what really caught his attention was the fog.

  It had receded substantially. Before, he only had about 70-80 meters of circular space. But now it had doubled. And, it revealed a different tree.

  With a trunk white as bone, it stood out compared to the other trees. Sunlight passed through its conical auburn leaves that swayed in the gentle wind. However, the fruit this tree bore had Johan slack-jawed.

  “I am not dreaming, am I?” Johan immediately used his skill after pinching his arm enough to turn it red.

  [Name: Golden Pear

  Rank: E

  Condition: Fresh.

  A fruit made by a special tree that feeds on nature’s life force. Used in healing potions and special salves, depending on their age and freshness.

  Note: To be used shortly after harvest, or the quality will deteriorate.]

  “Fuck… It's actually the golden pear!” Johan clenched his fist, excitement filling his heart.

  Golden pears were rarely found in the rifts, but when they were, auctions began. Even the wrinkliest golden pears, ones that had lost most of their vitality, cost as much as a decent sports car.

  The one in front of Johan would have alchemists around the world killing each other; it was in even better condition than the one they used in textbooks. The golden lustre alone made one feel healed, not to mention the sweet, enticing scent lingering around it. He just wanted to take a bite out of it, but held himself by a thread of reason.

  If I sell this, I will be swimming in money. Johan circled the tree and found five of them.

  After taking note of the location of the small farm, Johan reached for the pear hanging at his eye level. The fruit felt warm against his palm. Like holding a candle on a cold night.

  He carefully snipped the fruit’s stem off with scissors and walked back to the farm, his lips turning into a wide smile that bordered on creepy.

  “Selling this will be good… but I am not here to make chump change.”

  With translocation, he went back to the Hunter Mart and entered the potion workshop in the basement.

  The room smelled like burnt chemicals and spicy herbs that stung the eyes. However, it all disappeared the moment Johan cut into the pear. With the translucent flesh covered in golden skin, he turned on the burner, heating 100 ml of holy water.

  It was time to test his potion brewing skills.

  ***

  The moon drifted away, and the sun peeked over the horizon when Johan exited the workshop, crawling up the stairs with panda eyes.

  After drinking a bottle of chilled water from the fridge, he sprawled on the counter. His bloodshot eyes remained blurry, but the smile stretched ear to ear. The reason for that was the potion bottle before his eyes.

  The round glass bottle, a cheap item, however, the golden liquid swirling inside was worth more than what normal people would make in their lifetimes. Now, it rested in his palm.

  Name: Basic Healing Potion

  Rank: D

  Effects: 40% Hp and magik power recovery upon consumption.

  He almost slapped himself, wondering if he were in a dream. How could a normal guy, one that had only brewed low grade potions for herb cultivation, end up making a potion better than Mage Tower’s top product by 20%?

  40% recovery at rank D? What is Rank S gonna do, revive your nine generations?! Jokes aside, this was a product the market would go wild about.

  However, like all commodities, the money would come after the sale. The question was, who would buy such an expensive potion from a no-name Hunter Mart worker like him?

  No hunter in their right mind would even try this. Scams like these have surfaced multiple times. So, Johan decided on a different way, a way every well-established company uses when launching a new product.

  A young woman came to the counter, brushing her loose strand of blonde hair sticking to her glistening forehead. Her striking red eyes matched the crimson bomber jacket.

  This is what I have been waiting for. Johan took the basket full of low and mid-level magik recovery potions and kept his work smile. His eyes locked on the woman’s familiar face. There’s been a rise in rift activity, so they must be pooling up potions for the hunting teams. This is perfect for me.

  “Are these all the potions you have?” The woman asked after reading a message on her phone. “If there are some in the back, I’d like those too.”

  “We don’t have any more of the low and mid-level magik recovery potions, but I have a special healing potion if you are interested.” Before even waiting for an answer, Johan pulled out the golden potion from the drawer, placing it right next to the low-level potions.

  The brown potions looked like gutter water next to the liquid gold. But the woman’s eyes widened when she saw the paper strung around the neck of the bottle.

  “40% HP and Magik recovery in an instant? Is this a joke?” A frown took over her face. “Are you trying to scam me?”

  “Why would I do that?” Johan laughed it off, though the pressure from the woman did make his legs tremble; that’s what he expected from a B-rank Hunter.

  He might’ve been in trouble if he were a scammer; however, he had made that potion with the best ingredient, and his skill confirmed its effects.

  All he needed to do was push it a little, and his plan would work perfectly.

  “I plan to give this potion to Miss Hunter as a trial product.” Johan sprinkled the sugar. “You don’t have to pay for it, just use it, and you’ll know its true value.”

  “You sound like a shady drug dealer right now.” The woman shrank back.

  “That’s true, now that you say it. How about this? You can have it tested by your guild’s alchemist before using. I am just trying to make a name for myself in the market.” Johan said with a genial smile.

  It feels too good to be true. But as he said, there is no loss for me if I have it tested. And if it turns out to be real, the guild would have a connection with an unknown master alchemist. The woman must be thinking that, Johan smiled.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “If something is wrong with it, you will have to face the consequences.” She said, swiping the potion with a blush.

  “You know where to find me if something is wrong.” Johan, still smiling, handed over the bag full of potions and bowed. “I look forward to meeting with you again, Miss Rosewood.”

  “Sure…” Surprised by the recognition, Rosewood paid for the potions and left the store.

  Confirming that she had entered her car through the glass door. Johan pulled out his phone and searched for the keywords ‘Cara Rosewood’ on the net.

  Articles about the Red Bear guild appeared on his screen; most of the articles talked about the guild’s participation in joining the effort to clean up the increasing rifts alongside their parent clan, Agni Clan. It took a while, but he found another article on a less popular portal site.

  [Cara Rosewood, last year’s valedictorian from the S.K. Hunter University, is set to join her first big mission with the Red Bear Guild.]

  The Agni clan had scouted her, so how did she end up in the Red Bear Guild? Are they trying to give her some experience in a less dangerous situation? Johan thought she was still with the Agni Clan.

  It would be a lie if Johan wasn’t scared; he could still taste the magik aura from Cara Rosewood. At the end of the day, he was but a non-combatant. But fortune always followed the bold. And he was willing to be as bold as necessary.

  “I hit the jackpot with this one.” He could already see the long lines that would wrap around the block three times.

  “Please advertise the product well for me, Hunter Rosewood!”

  ***

  Inside a B-Rank rift on the fifth street of the G.S. housing complex, the Red Bear guild advanced through a narrow path unwinding through a mountain.

  Only two men could walk abreast without scraping their metal armour on the sheer rocky walls. The rift had landed them in the middle of a green forest. It had long trees with bitter green leaves and gloomy brown trunks.

  They had fought a herd of bulls the size of aurouchs in that cramped space. Now, they had to chase after the runaway boss with the help of their tracker.

  With two tanks in the front and mages in the back, Cara found herself in the rear to watch out for a possible ambush as the tracker led the way.

  How did that minotaur even fit through here? She grumbled at the narrow, uneven walking path, pebbles crushed under her steel-toed boots. However, her eyes stayed peeled for any sudden movement.

  “The exit is before us, just hang on a bit more,” The team’s leader, Adrian, following after the tanks, said.

  “Yes, boss.”

  “You got it.”

  The hunting party of 10 people answered back; they had barely broken a sweat. They had hunted over a dozen minotaurs by now; that’s why they could stay so casual in that situation. However, the situation changed when they exited the narrow valley.

  Before them was a wide green plain that stretched into the horizon, meeting the azure sky. To the right was a small pond with a giant rock shaped like a tombstone. Squiggled words etched on it without rhyme or order. And beside that tombstone was the minotaur, his heart pierced with a knife made of black stone.

  “It killed itself?” The tanks inched closer, as confused as the rest of the team.

  “But if it's dead, then why isn’t the rift clear message here?” Adrian muttered, his serious brown eyes even sterner.

  The whole situation seemed strange. Almost like a setup. And the first to notice it was the mage. The magik in the air behaved strangely and started to concentrate at one point, the minotaur’s heart.

  “It’s a ritual, everyone retreat!” He shouted, clenching the wand in his hand.

  “What?” The tanks looked back at the mage, but saw a shadow looming over them.

  Before they could even turn around, the minotaur's muscular arm struck them at the waist. The metal armour crumpled and bit into their chest, tearing through the boiled leather underneath.

  Seeing his tanks flung away like toy soldiers. Adrian jumped back to avoid a sweep from the monster. The wind from the attack made him grimace. His eyes turned grave at the sight of the beast before them.

  Unlike before, the minotaur had grown over 15 feet, almost doubling in size. Its skin burned red, releasing pure magik from the pulsating muscles. The beady black eyes looked between them as the crooked maw drooled with blood.

  “Attackers, get ready!” Adrian commanded as the minotaur got on all fours like a savage.

  It burst forward like an arrow released from a bow. Straight and true. The attackers hesitated. They didn’t have the defence to take that charge head-on. Their only defense was boiled leather armour and metal shoulder guards.

  So, they attacked. Metal flashed. Swords bit into flesh. Streaks of purple blood flew.

  “What! This beast!”

  “It’s not stopping!”

  Even when swords and spears impaled him, the minotaur rushed forward without a flinch. Dragging the hunters along like ants clung to an elephant.

  “I can’t pull out my sword. He’s contracting his muscles around it!” Adrian groaned, his sword snapping.

  Panic set in as the Minotaur’s horns turned towards the mages. With its excellent physical resistance, the only thing it feared was magic.

  The three mages in the back trembled in the face of that charge. Their legs turning into jelly. However, Cara jumped before them.

  “Start your spells, I’ll stop it somehow!” She growled, summoning every bit of courage within her.

  This isn’t gonna be easy. If I mess up… I might die. She took a deep breath and allowed her magik to run.

  She had fought a minotaur before, but this one was on a roid rage. Cara didn’t have strong attack skills. She could barely kill a C-class monster in one strike. However, she had something else that made up for it.

  “[Aegis], activate.” A seven-layered barrier sprung up in front of her, glowing an emerald green, each layer thicker than the last, as she stared down the crazed charge.

  Other hunters jumped off the minotaur before it clashed with the barriers. The horns brimming with magik tore through the first shield. The second barely lasted. The third showed some resistance. Fourth slowed its pace. The fifth made it falter. Sixth made it stumble. And, the seventh halted the rush.

  “Attack it now!” Adrain commanded, plunging his broken sword into the beast’s left knee.

  “So, it came to this.” Cara cursed as the seventh barrier cracked.

  The minotaur roared. It blasted the magik gathering in its horn into the barrier. Shattering it like a pile bunker. The sharp horn came closer to Cara. Instead of running away, she embraced it.

  The horn that felt like cold, hardened steel pierced through her stomach. But she wasn’t pushed back.

  “That hurts, you son of a bitch.” She growled, holding the struggling minotaur in place with a headlock. “Now!”

  “Binding vine!” Ropes of green vines jumped from the grass and tangled around the minotaur’s limbs and body.

  “Ice lance!” Precipitation in the air gathered and formed a ten-foot ice spear above the beast.

  With a swing of the mage’s hand, it fell like a guillotine. The spear blasted through the source of the Minotaur’s magik, the heart, and slammed it into the ground.

  Still enraged, the beast thrashed in pain but couldn’t break out of the suppression. Finally, it breathed its last and went limp.

  “It’s dead right?” Cara asked the mage over her shoulder.

  “Yes… The magik has scattered.” The mage confirmed, and along with it came the system window.

  “Thank god.” Cara stumbled back, blood gushing out of her gaping stomach.

  “H-Healing… you need healing!” The mages panicked, but Cara just waved it off.

  “Just magik recovery potions will be fine for me, my skill will heal me. It might leave a scar, though.” It was another Tuesday for her.

  The mages looked at the wound and saw the minute tendrils of flesh wriggling about. They had already stopped the bleeding and were working on the regeneration of organs and flesh.

  Watching them hold back their hurls, Cara just scratched her head and stumbled away. Just because it was healing didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. It burned so much that she wanted to cry, but she lay down nearby and decided to drink some magik recovery potions to replenish her skill.

  However, unlike the brown potions she had prepared in advance, she opened the golden potion in her dizziness.

  Were potions always this sweet? It was like a glass of warm milk after a hot spring. A cloudy blanket enveloped her body, tickling her from head to toe. It felt weird, but also good. Too good.

  By the time she fixed her sloppy expression, everyone had their eyes on her.

  “W-What?” She blushed fiercely.

  “What potion did you drink?” Adrian asked, surprise on his monolith-like face.

  “What do you mean?”

  Cara became even more confused when they pointed at her stomach. But when she looked down, the potion bottle slipped out of her hand. The injury she expected to take half an hour to heal vanished in an instant. And there was no scar to boot. Only fair, unblemished skin.

  It was only when she saw the round potion bottle that she realized what she had done.

  I drank an untested potion!!! She jumped to her feet, touching her body for any weird reactions.

  “Hey, where did you get that potion?” The mages pressed, their eyes shining brighter than the sun.

  “W-Well…” Cara shrank back in the face of those expectant eyes. “From a handsome scammer?”

  “Huh?”

  Thus, the hunter society came to know of a healing potion that didn’t just heal fast, but also tasted super good.

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