2 days later.

“I did it! Finally. I knew I could do it!”

Miriam looked just as pathetic as always after their duels.

But this time, she was actually the winner. It was a hard-fought-for victory.

Timothy was panting hard, trying to get back onto his feet, but stumbled and fell over again.

In an attempt to seem more composed, he decided to instead sit down in a cross-legged position and pretended to wipe away dirt from his robes.

But as much as he tried, he couldn’t manage to keep his facial features under control.

He was sulky and felt cheated. Those potions were just too potent. And those were just small ones.

What would the more powerful versions look like? He didn’t dare think about it.

Instead, he wanted to vent his frustrations.

‘But since Master said it was okay for her to use them…’

He wouldn’t question Samuel’s decision, so instead, he decided to play through the fight once again in his head, trying to learn from the experience of a rare loss.

When Samuel saw this behavior, he was proud of the boy. Despite having a powerful class, a lot of talent, and being rather young, he was still a hard worker.

‘Who knows what would’ve become of him if he grew up in a city, spoiled by people trying to butter him up.’ A warm smile crept onto his face.

At this moment, Timothy asked a question that Samuel himself was rather interested in.

“What did you do there at the end? That was more than 20% health that you gained there.” His annoyance had turned to confusion instead.

“I know you didn’t use your Regenerating Shout there, so how did you do it?”

Miriam was still quite content with her performance, but she knew better than to gloat.

She answered honestly.

“I was kinda desperate there. I knew I was gonna lose again if I didn’t do something.

So I just tried to take all the other potions I still had, so yeah...”

Timothy just looked dumbfounded. Samuel’s reaction, on the other hand, was more extreme. He basically jumped at her and shouted.

“What do you mean you just used other potions? What about the cooldown?”

They had never seen the old man so excited before. It was almost scary seeing him like that.

He moved at a speed they never witnessed before.

Even when the two of them were in hairy situations before and Samuel had to step in, he never moved like this. The enemies in their level range just never warranted it.

With his savage look and the huge claws on his hands, if they weren’t familiar with him and had a rather close relationship, they would’ve been scared shitless.

“I. Eh. The cubes seem to have their own cooldown. Like in, each has a separate one. So I could still use a red one and regular one as well.”

“That can’t be true!” He exploded.

“You know that as well as I do. Something like that is unheard of. It’s common knowledge that all potions share a cooldown!”

“Ma-Master Samuel! Those jelly things certainly aren’t just normal potions, though.”

Timothy knew it was kind of a big deal, but compared to a successful and experienced adventurer, who was basically at the apex of his class, he didn’t quite understand the gravity of the matter.

He somewhat quickly accepted what Miriam said and instead thought of ways to incorporate that into his fighting style.

‘If I don’t need to keep the potion cooldown ready for a health potion, in case of an emergency, I can just do full damage from the very start. Just keep chugging mana potions on cooldown. Hahaha. That’s amazing!’

“You two! Don’t accept this so readily! Haven’t I taught you not to take things at face value? Gimme some of your remaining jello-pots.

Do you have any idea how big this would be?”

Both reluctantly handed over some of their potions.

“What about the other ones? The brown ones?”

“That was the last one, I’m afraid.”

Samuel was slightly annoyed, but it didn’t matter too much.

A regular potion and a red cube would be good enough to confirm Miriam’s findings.

“Tim, you test it with a mana potion as well.”

The tests concluded quickly.

Both were in a daze.

Timothy was still thinking mostly about the implications for his own combat style.

Samuel’s thoughts were on a larger scale.

He tried to predict the reactions and the developments that would follow once this knowledge spread, but even as a seasoned and well-connected adventurer, he was unable to reach a conclusion. At the very least sooner or later, those potions alone would have a strong influence on what the big players would call ‘meta’.

Miriam was previously the one who was the least impressed. She was too busy celebrating her victory. Now, she was annoyed at herself.

‘And I call myself a merchant’s daughter. What a disgrace.’ She started thinking as well.

“Well, that at least explains why they are limited to 20 at a time! The profits a scalper could make with it otherwise…

Maybe we should stay in the area for the time being. Who knows what other products the shopowner will come up with in the future.”

“Agreed. Might as well do some harder quests in the vicinity if we have such a backup.

Tomorrow we’ll resupply. Get the whole 20 of both. Especially you, Tim, get the brown ones as well!”

“Sure thing, Master Samuel.

Why don’t we spar until then, Miriam?” Timothy suggested with an innocent smile on his face.

“Fuck off.”

***

Severin had been somewhat busy.

After the ferocious-looking man left his shop, two little red stars popped up.

First was the appearance of a follow-up quest.

[Building of a customer base

Quest description: Serve 10 unique customers.

Quest reward: ???]

The other star indicated a change in his inventory.

The System graciously granted him enough herbs and liquids to replace the 40 units he had just sold.

Crafting these rewarded him with just enough experience to gain another level in his [Alchemist] subclass.

This time he was rewarded with two new recipes. When checking out his recipe book, Severin was a bit disappointed.

‘Wow, very creative.’

Still, it was better than the last reward of increased crafting speed.

At least it gave him something to do.

The System naturally provided him with the necessary reagents.

Compared to last time, where he was still somewhat optimistic about his future prospects, he took it slowly this time.

Who knew how long he’d have to wait until something would happen?

Sure, the [Berserker] seemed kind enough and had told him he’d be back. But let’s be real.

Who hadn’t said something like that before, just to be kind? Severin wasn’t so easily fooled.

Now, three days later, he shelved the last batch of jello and went over to his trusty chair.

‘Enough excitement. Back to the boring days.’ Severin mocked his situation, opting for a nap.

His head had not yet reached the counter when the door opened.

“Back already? Sam, was it?” Severin was pleasantly surprised.

“So the potions were to your liking?”

“That’s one way to put it.”

The big man answered with a stiff smile on his face while revealing two more guests.

“The carrying limit is a pity, though. So I brought these two with me to carry some more.”

Severin had a pretty good idea about their classes just by looking at them.

The pelt around the young woman’s shoulders was a dead giveaway.

At first glance, she looked like a human-sized copy of Samuel.

A closer examination revealed some differences, but it was still his best guess.

The most glaring one of those differences was the plain shirt she was wearing, not unlike Severin’s own.

And based on what he was told, he guessed that it was lacking any form of defensive values or stats, also just like his.

‘No Bikini Armor, huh?’

She was obviously very fit but still clearly lacked her mentor’s battle-hardened aura.

Samuel had probably more scars on one hand than she had on her whole body.

Her blonde hair was bound into a short ponytail as to not be a hindrance while in heavy melee combat.

The green eyes looked determined but not cold.

Severin could only inwardly laugh at his foolishness when he caught himself being surprised by the lack of makeup or other beauty products.

‘A future business opportunity! Surely…not?’

The third person looked like a typical cliché of a mage.

Simple black robes, a tall black floppy hat, and a staff that was as tall as the person holding it.

But instead of a wizened old man with a long white beard, it was a boy with an annoyed-looking babyface.

With most of his body hidden, it was hard to say anything more about his appearance.

“Maybe you’d like to take a look at my newest creation as well?”