The Status Enhancement Potion was a special grade of magic, so many of its ingredients were quite valuable. That said, most of them were relatively common materials often seen in requests at the Adventurer’s Guild. They were "precious" in terms of cost, but not so rare that I’d never heard their names.
My rarest ingredient was Goldidilla—the Golden Four-Leaf Clover. I’d harvested a mountain of them on the road from Cygnil to the Royal Capital. I had so many that the guild wouldn’t even touch them, so they’d just been sitting in my Storage Ring, gathering dust. This was the perfect opportunity to use them.
"Can you really make the potion with just these?" I asked.
"No, there is one final element," Pearl replied. "In fact, you could say this single ingredient dictates the potion's final potency. That ingredient is... a Magic Stone."
I see, a Magic Stone!
The Magic Stone was essentially the core of a monster. It made sense that a portion of the creature's power would be stored within it.
"But is it safe?" I asked, hesitating. "Based on the letter from the Destiny God, there's a deep connection between monsters and malice. I was worried that Magic Stones might actually be concentrated clumps of malice..."
We used them as fuel for magic tools all the time, so maybe it was a bit late to start worrying, but after learning about the nature of malice, I couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Malice, hmm..." Pearl mused. "Perhaps if one fails to properly process that malice during the brewing process, it manifests as a negative side effect?"
In other words, if the medicine making was successful, the malice was no longer a concern? I wasn't entirely sure I bought that, but...
"Besides," Pearl continued, "I’ve heard that absorbing power from a Magic Stone is fundamentally the same as defeating a monster to level up. You hear stories about high-level adventurers going mad, sure... but usually, those are just cases of people becoming arrogant because they got too strong. Most high-rank adventurers show no ill effects, so I doubt there’s a problem."
Is that so...?!
I’d often wondered what "leveling up" actually entailed, but it turned out we were already absorbing something from monsters. I’d heard that the boost in ability from a level-up was massive compared to mundane training. If the process were truly dangerous, the Destiny God would have warned me, so it was probably fine.
Thinking about it that way, maybe malice wasn't inherently "evil" despite the name. Perhaps it was just a form of energy that promoted growth. After all, dungeon treasure chests were generated by malice, weren't they? For that matter, the Pandora Gifts that the Destiny God sent were also dungeon-born, meaning they were made of malice too. It was all getting very confusing.
Well, whatever. I was a little concerned, but if it worked on the same principle as leveling up, then using it once or twice shouldn't cause any lasting harm. If it were that risky, the Destiny God would have intervened! Besides, the idea that Magic Stones were pure malice was just my own theory anyway.
And so, I decided to take the plunge and brew the potion. For the core, I chose the Blue Dragon’s Magic Stone. I decided to use it without consulting the rest of the party, but it wasn't like we had another use for it. We’d originally planned to sell it, so if anyone felt slighted, I figured I’d just reimburse them out of my personal funds. Though, to be honest, no one in my party really cared about money...
The potency of a Status Enhancement Potion scaled with the strength of the monster's stone. The Blue Dragon was an A-Rank monster. As a result, this was essentially the highest-grade stone a human could ever hope to obtain—since S-Rank monsters were categorized as being beyond human capability.
Even though it was a forbidden potion, the manufacturing process wasn't particularly unique or overly difficult. Plus, I had Pearl’s expert assistance.
"Done!"
The process went off without a hitch. I didn't feel like I’d been hit by any curses or negative energy. The brewing was a total success.
"Hmm. It looks perfect," Pearl said, inspecting the vial. "You pulled it off after all. Truly impressive, Tort."
Hearing Pearl confirm there was nothing wrong with it was a huge relief. I immediately pulled out my Appraisal Loupe to check the results.
The item name was Status Enhancement Potion (Special Grade). The description read: A magic potion that permanently increases all abilities. High potency. I wouldn't know the exact numbers until I actually tried it.
The liquid was a deep, somewhat unsettling shade of purple. It was meant to be swallowed, but honestly, if I hadn't known what it was, there was no way I’d let it anywhere near my mouth. Maybe if I just pretend it’s grape juice?
I’d made it myself. It was only right that I be the one to test it first.
Alright, here goes nothing!
Wait—before that, I checked my current status with the Appraisal Loupe.
I’d certainly become a lot stronger lately. I’d taken down big game like the Plague-Cursed Black Wolf and the Evil Dragon, so it was only natural I’d grown. But it still wasn't enough. I’d only barely managed to beat the Evil Dragon because it was pinned down and unable to move. I needed this boost if I wanted to keep the party safe.
I knocked the potion back with a sudden burst of resolve. A flavor that defied description exploded across my palate. To be blunt: it was disgusting. It wasn't completely undrinkable, but it had a heavy, medicinal aftertaste that reminded me of some particularly pungent herbal remedies.
"Well?" Pearl asked, leaning in with intense curiosity.
She’d said this was for our sake, but I could tell the researcher in her was dying to know the results. It was a legendary, forbidden medicine, after all. I could relate to the feeling.
"I don't really feel any different, but..."
There was no dramatic flash of light or sudden surge of power. Then again, leveling up didn't feel like much either. I took another look at my status to see if anything had changed.
"...Wha?!"
I’d only drank a single vial, but the stat increase was even bigger than a regular level-up!
――――――――――――――――――――――
Name: Tort Race: Commoner Age: 12 Level: 18 Vitality: 123/123 [20 up] Mana: 116/116 [20 up] Strength: 56 [10 up] Stamina: 64 [10 up] Agility: 77 [6 up] Dexterity: 99 [6 up] Magic Power: 96 [10 up] Spirit: 79 [10 up] Luck: 125
Divine Protections: 【Divine Protection of the Job God: Dungeon Explorer】
Skills: 【Destiny God's Smile】【Dagger Lv17】 【Shadow Strike Lv14】【Throwing Skill Lv9】 【Lockpicking Lv10】【Trap Disarming Lv10】 【Sense of Direction Lv10】【Sense of Balance Lv1】 【Cooking Lv14】【Medicine Making Lv8】[1 up] 【Light Magic Lv12】【Water Magic Lv10】 【Dark Magic Lv13】【Non-Elemental Magic Lv5】 【Wind Magic Lv8】
Traits: 【Cooking Talent Lv1】【Great Luck】【Dexterous Fingertips Lv1】 【Magic Aptitude Lv2】
Magic: 〈Clean〉〈First Aid〉 〈Create Water〉〈Dehydrate〉 〈Decomposition〉〈Night Vision〉 〈Shadow Hiding〉 〈Breeze〉〈Wind Cutter〉 〈Shredding Storm〉 〈Detect Magic〉