Alchemy was a blast!
I spent my time grinding for Experience Points by crafting all sorts of items.
"Still, I can see why Penpen called it quits after reaching the Beginner level..."
The thing was, Alchemy offered a massive variety of medicines. There were far too many, honestly, and the Beginner level already covered the essentials like recovery potions, Plant Nutrients, and fertilizers. In fact, you could say almost every medicine useful in combat was available at the Beginner level.
The Intermediate level, on the other hand, was full of medicines that used rare materials for incredibly niche purposes.
Breath-Sweetening Medicine: gave your breath a vanilla scent for two hours.
Sneezing Medicine: triggered a single, massive sneeze.
Forgetfulness Medicine: made you incredibly forgetful for a while, though you would eventually remember everything.
...Seriously, what was with this "Useless Medicine" series?
You might think a Sneezing Medicine or a Forgetfulness Medicine could be useful if applied correctly, but you had to drink an entire bottle for it to work. It wasn't like I could force an enemy to chug a potion in the middle of a fight.
"They’re only Intermediate because of the material rarity and the crafting difficulty, but they’re totally useless... Maybe they’re just items for a Delivery Event at the guild?"
"What kind of event would even want these medicines, uo?"
"No idea. None whatsoever."
Since they didn't seem to have expiration dates, I just tossed them into the Warehouse at Home for the time being.
"It's like they researched common grass to make useful medicine, but when they tried experimenting with rare materials, they just ended up with weird junk."
"...I mean, who’s to say when or how anyone confirmed that rare materials actually make for effective medicine anyway, uo?"
"I bet the Advanced tier is where it counts. Advanced Medicine Recipes are probably created by masters who can predict effects based on a material’s components and attributes. Probably."
I hoped so, anyway. Not that I’d know, since I only had the Intermediate recipes Penpen had passed down to me.
"Let me see that Intermediate Recipe Book, uo... Whoa. Yeah, these are all pretty weird, uo."
"Right? Oh, here’s a Fish Slime Removal Medicine."
"Is it just vinegar or salt water, uo? If it’s actually useful for cooking, you should give it to Penpen, uo."
For now, I decided to work my way through the recipes I had materials for, starting with the ones I hadn't made yet. Apparently, I received a First-time Bonus to my Experience Points for every new item I crafted.
...Let’s see. Oh, this one was an incense. Pleasant-smelling Incense. Hmm.
And this one was the Foul-smelling Incense. ...It attracted Fly-type Monsters? That was a thing. It might actually be useful depending on the situation.
The ingredients were nearly identical... The pleasant one smelled like bananas.
"Oh, my Alchemy level went up. ...Yeah, even if the items are weird, that First-time Bonus is great."
"Which one is the Pleasant-smelling Incense, uo?"
"Crap. I made them look exactly the same."
Since the only difference was a single ingredient, the physical appearance was identical. It was a fifty-fifty shot... wait, I could just smell them. Sniff, sniff—gross! That was the foul one. Blegh.
"...Alright, I’ve made at least one of everything I can for now."
『I'm so tired...』
"Good work, Miti-chan."
"Oh, are you finished, uo? We should head over to Penpen's place soon, uo!"
It was a good stopping point, so I decided to head to Penpen's for a change of pace. I was pretty curious about the Ranch, too!
＊ ＊ ＊
I switched control to Tria-chan and headed for Penpen's Ranch with Miti-chan in tow.
It would have been a long trek on foot, but Fast Travel made it a breeze.
At Penpen’s new Home, wooden fences and a stable had already been erected. And there, standing in the middle of the Ranch and energetically brushing a cow, was Penpen herself!
"It’s a white cow with black spots! I’ve only ever seen these in games and anime!!"
"Penpen, we came to visit, uo. How’s the Ranch looking, uo?"
"Ah, Tria-shi, Alto-shi! Welcome, both of you, ssu. It’s not mealtime yet, is it, ssu?"
"Tria reached a good stopping point with her Alchemy, so we decided to drop by, uo. Is there anything we can help with, uo?"
"Maybe hunting the monsters nearby, ssu? No matter how many I kill, they just keep spawning, ssu."
Apparently, Gin-chan was hunting them non-stop in Auto Mode. They were racking up Experience Points, but Penpen wanted to give Gin-chan a chance to rest.
"Can't you use a Production Skill for that? Like a Monster Repellent?"
"If I use that, it stresses out Cow-kun, ssu. You see, Cow-kun is technically a monster too, ssu."
Oh, so the cow was a monster.
"The stable and fences were fine at first, but the raids started as soon as I brought Cow-kun here, ssu. By the way, if I turn off the VR Display, a Tower Defense mini-game for protecting the Ranch pops up, ssu!"
"Heh. That sounds kind of fun."
"I only have Gin-chan as a unit, and the first Cow-kun already got killed, so I’ve only played it once, ssu. This one is actually the second generation, ssu."
I see. So there was a risk of losing the livestock if you failed. Not to mention the repair costs for the stable.
"That’s why I’m focusing on training Gin-chan right now, ssu."
"If it's a Tower Defense game, can't you add more units? Maybe you could craft something."
"I want to develop some Automated Turrets, ssu. ...Actually, the cow and the stable were both bought on credit, ssu...!"
"Debt again? Of course."
"I'll pay extra for my food, so put that toward your debt, uo."
"Thank you so much, ssu! I'll put my heart and soul into cooking up some meat from the first Cow-kun’s remains for you, ssu!"
If it was just a matter of intercepting attackers, maybe we could jump in and help too.