“Quick! Quick! Someone test it with the other health potion!”

“Don’t have any uses left for today.”

“Same.”

“Damn, me neither. Percentage-based healing could turn out to be ridiculous as well.”

“Pah, even if you had any uses left. Who cares about the other health potion? You guys are damage dealers, are you not? So, who cares about leeching some health? Aren’t you forgetting something else? Might as well try …” The [Brawler] was interrupted as one of the others finally caught on and finished the thought.

“Mana leech! Someone try the other combinations!”

Even without having confirmed their theory yet, the group who was still excited from their previous outburst just a few moments ago once again started to make a ruckus, riling each other up.

“Someone tell me what’s going on.”

“Right! Being able to passively heal the damage of some smaller AOEs is nice and all, but is it really worth it? In comparison, I mean.”

“I wouldn’t even get hit anyway.” The [Stalker] was more than confident in his evasion skills. “At least when it comes to the small stuff. For the big hits, there are potions.”

“But it’s not like you have any use for mana either!”

“You forget! The potions don’t just replenish mana! They’re not like the usual stuff. That’s why we’re here, to begin with.”

“And even if they didn’t, the shopkeeper mentioned that it’s usable with items from outside of the store as well, anyway!”

“What is usable with what? Someone tell me already!” Again, Andreas demanded the attention he was used to receiving. No one would dare to talk over him like this. At the very least not in a guild setting.

“What? Really? Think about the possibilities! Do you think we could combine it with an antidote or a cleansing potion? Might be able to somewhat bypass their cooldown that way and save the healers some mana from all the dispelling!”

“Great idea! Remember in the Rotten Garden? The end-boss with the toxic cloud ability?”

“Right! Spider Queen Esina! Yeah, imagine being able to keep that stuff from stacking up!”

“What do you guys mean, ’combine’?”

“No, no! You guys. You aren’t thinking big enough! Listen to this. You could…”

“STOP IGNORING ME ALREADY!”

…

“Right! You still have all of your activations left! Come here, quick!” Xander let two items appear out of nowhere and shoved them into Andreas’s hands.

“Now, put them into that thing over here. And then…”

“Pay forty-two gold. Yeah, I get it.” He didn’t wait for an answer. The price indicator was clear enough. The confirmation shortly followed as an item appeared in the output tray.

Plop

“Hey, lets me see! Get your hands off it!”

“It worked!”

“The leech rate is horrible though. Four per hit. That’s only what? One percent of the potions’ base value? Compared to a ratio of five percent for the health pots.”

“True, but don’t forget that most melees don’t have such large resource pools as you. I only have 200 Energy in total. Should be similar for Xandi as well.”

“Again, the percentage-based potions might still be an option, even for the resource ones.”

“Haha, what are you also so excited for? Planning to swing those sticks of yours around?”

“Can someone finally explain what the hell is going on here? In detail, I mean. What’s with this machine? And don’t you dare to ignore me again!”

“Ha Andi! What happened to you? Did one of the monsters hit you too hard after all? Normally you aren’t that slow on the uptake.”

Andreas didn’t even bother with that remark.

“So, it truly just…fuses…items together into one?”

“Sure does.”

“Combines.”

“What?”

“It doesn’t fuse. It combines.”

“…“

Andreas obviously wasn’t so slow that he didn’t already understand at least the gist of it. Even before using the mysterious box, and sure as hell afterward. It was just too unbelievable of a thing. It just didn’t make any sense. Especially for a machine. If it was some master alchemist, some unique crafter. Maybe. But he doubted it very much. Not to speak of the absurd amounts of gold these services, if they even existed, would require.

“Show me what other combinations you’ve found so far.”

“Here, let us show you what we got so far!” Though it wasn’t them who were addressed by Andreas with that question, it was Timothy and Miriam who took this chance to show off their knowledge and findings. They did have a bit of a head start, after all.

They backed out of the corner with the combinator and headed towards the customer side of the counter, before emptying out their inventories for all to see.

“Those leeching oils might be the most impressive stuff,” Timothy had to reluctantly admit, “but some of these potions here aren’t too shabby either.” While impressed with their effects, the newly discovered items put a bit of a damper on his mood, making him feel more and more sympathetic with the two other casters present. For once, though, he was grateful for Miriam’s snide remarks, having seen how much worse it could get.

Snort

“’Not too shabby’, eh? No need to pretend those things aren’t insane in their own right,” Andreas said while reading through the tooltips.

“And then, of course, there are all the possible combinations involving two oils.” Tim had continued without acknowledging Andreas’s statement, knowing it was true. He also didn’t mention that he thought the result of combining two of the elemental conversion enchants, into one, was pretty useless; The amounts of these things laying on the counter, compared to all the other items, was evidence enough that Miriam agreed with him on this point. Sure, twenty-five percent damage conversion, twice, still resulted in a net gain of ten percent compared to the original base items. But in Tim’s mind, it was only ten percent. And then split into two elements, at that. That surely couldn’t be worth it.

Well, considering the shimmer in Andreas’s eyes, the guild officer would surely disagree.

“That’s pretty much it. We don’t have any other stuff on hand right now. Only the products Severin is selling. Didn’t need anything else recently,” Miriam added. “To try combining them as well, I mean. Reminds me. I’m pretty sure he said that combining items not purchased here would cost extra. A ‘premium’ he called it.”

Severin himself was too distracted with observing Samuel combining a batch of brownish jellies with an equal amount of liquid enchants to dignify that comment with an answer.

“Hmm. We didn’t have any time to restock yet either. Used up everything that was even just remotely useful in that damned dungeon break.”

The [Berserker] quickly finished his business before moving back deeper into the room and made way for Andreas, who was finally sufficiently calm to decide on the most important item-combinations he would craft a good supply of.

“What?! Is it broken? Why doesn’t it work anymore?”

Xander didn’t even try to hide his delight when answering. “Only ten uses per person, per day. Thought you had caught that. Or didn’t you listen? Otherwise, the whole store would already be empty by now, no? And then poor Severin here would have to work himself to the bone, just for you. Just so you can carry around your own personal stockpile of items. Is that what you want?”

The shamelessness of the words left Severin gaping in amazement.

Was this a twisted kind of déjà vu? Weren’t those his own words? Wasn’t that what he had told Xander when the [Duelist] asked the very same question?

“Hmm. That’s still enough for one-hundred-forty more items. And another two-hundred tomorrow.”

The shopkeeper went pale all of a sudden, with beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Wasn’t this exactly what he had originally feared? But then, he was so sure that he had already dodged the bullet. But now…

‘Please, no. Did the map lull me into a false sense of security?’

“What’s with these numbers? You don’t mean…” As much as he feared the answer, as much as he already knew the answer, he had to ask.

One-hundred-forty. Two-hundred. Double these numbers and one had the number of items Severin would actually need to replace. And that wasn’t even considering the sale of items for regular use.

“Yeah, the others are waiting outside, setting camp.”