Hanne brought in new ingredients to place on the table next to the pot, still next to Tabitha’s bed, and got started with a simple recipe for her.

“Start with those there,” Hanne said, pointing at the bundle of tiny twigs that reminded Tabitha of cinnamon sticks. “Analyze them and tell me what you think they are for.”

Tabitha nodded and picked up the bundle of sticks to analyze them. She noticed that there was a thin layer of powder coating them before the window popped up.

Item Information

Name

Chocosticks

Sticks collected from a chocobush.

Rarity

D

Quality

39

Element

Earth

Bonus Tags

[Bitter III]

[Reliever I]

“Before I give ya a serious answer, I’ve gotta ask ya something incredibly important here,” Tabitha said. “These sticks… they’re named ‘chocosticks.’ They come from somethin’ named a ‘chocobush.’”

“That is correct,” Hanne confirmed.

“Choco… as in… chocolate?”

“Chocolate?”

“You know. Sweet, delicious chocolate. A fish yelled at a sponge about it once.”

Hanne tilted her head. “A fish… yelled at a sponge? The world you come from sounds very… interesting. As for the sweet and delicious part, I am afraid chocosticks taste anything but.”

“Listen, they wouldn’t be named chocosticks if they’re not meant to be like chocolate. Actually, hold on now. I haven’t tried gettin’ myself a frame of reference here yet. Did anybody in this world invent guns yet?”

“Guns?”

“You know, the things that made bows and arrows and castle walls useless. They use gunpowder and fire metal balls.”

“Oh, cannons? Yes, cannons have been invented?”

“What about fine arts? Anybody talkin’ with funny voices bein’ way too wordy putting on plays for people in theaters?”

“In the cities, perhaps.”

“Airplanes?”

“What?”

Tabitha stroked her chin. “How about… a printin’ press?”

“Could you explain it?”

“Machine that makes printin’ books way easier. No more copyin’ everythin’ by hand.”

“Oh! I heard of something like that spreading to the south!”

“So, assumin’ your world’s timeline is comparable to ours at all, that should put ya in… the fifteenth century, I think. What year is it?”

“We only recently finished getting used to the Fraelin calendar, but it is… I believe, the five hundredth and seventy-eighth year according to it? Using years is still a new thing for most of us up here. We only went by seasons before. Personally, I still prefer going by seasons, but who am I to resist the change the younger generations love? As much as we may love our traditions… I would rather not hold the young ones back if the rest of the world wishes to move on.”

Sounds like that won’t be a good comparison to use. “Nothin’ wrong with wantin’ to stick to tradition. What’re these seasons like?”

“Oh, nothing complicated. We had the season of frost, the season of growing, and the season of rain. That’s how it is up here. It gets cold, then it gets warm, and then it rains all the time before repeating.”

“Sounds like my kind of place. The less sun, the better.”

“You think? I love the sun. If there is one thing I dislike about living up here, it is that we rarely ever see the sun.”

“Well, different strokes for different folk an’ all. Anyways, I got distracted from my distraction. Ya don’t know anythin’ about makin’ somethin’ with the name ‘choco’ taste sweet?”

“Not in the slightest. Most can’t stand the taste of chocosticks for how bitter they are.”

Tabitha smirked and dropped the chocosticks into the pot. “Heh. Now, introducin’ this world to planes and giant robots might be a bit too advanced for me, but good, sweet chocolate? Now, I might be able to do that. Watched a video once on how they turn cocoa beans into chocolate. Not surprised at all nobody here hasn’t figured it out with how complicated it is. It’s the kind of thing that really makes ya wonder how the heck somebody accidentally discovered it.”

Just like that, Tabitha began fantasizing about amassing great wealth by introducing the wonders of sweet chocolate to the world. Though, considering that the chocolate process she knew of involved fermenting seeds and roasting them, and these were sticks, there might be some testing needed to figure the right process out. Then again, for all she knew, that powdery coating might already be close to unsweetened chocolate.

Tabitha brought her finger with a bit of powder on it up to her lips for a quick lick.

She never cringed so hard in her entire life from tasting something.

“That just convinced me the devil’s real!” Tabitha shouted before remembering that Runa was asleep. Placing a hand over her mouth, she watched as Runa mumbled something before trying to roll over onto her side, not being able to because of the cast, grumbling, and then going back to gently sleeping. “Whew. Remember, Tabitha. Try and be quiet for once. Anyways… wow. Yeah. That was one of the worst things I’ve ever tasted. Raw cocoa beans are supposed to taste kind of citrusy, but that powder? That was… that was somethin’ else. I don’t even know how to begin describin’ how horrible that is.”

Hanne sighed and shook her head. “Now you know why to never taste anything with the Bitter III tag on it. Even Bitter II is going to make you regret it for few minutes at least.”

“Right, right. Lesson learned. Definitely gonna need to work a lot with those sticks if I want them to taste anythin’ like chocolate. Blegh… alright. Now that I’ve dealt with my distraction and my distraction’s distraction, let’s get back to the point.”

“Yes, please. I do have other things I need to do.”

“Sorry, sorry. I appreciate ya dealin’ with me. I won’t waste your time. You asked what it’s for, right? I reckon that the Reliever tag is what’ll help my head out.”

Hanne nodded. “It’s a pain reliever. Not as strong as what I used for the numbing potion, but still effective.”

“Wait, couldn’t we just rub that numbin’ potion on my head?”

“Would you like a bald spot?”

Tabitha looked down at her arms. While her arms were never too hairy, she did have some thin, light hairs on them. And now, when she looked at where Hanne rubbed the potion onto her, there wasn’t a single hair anywhere to be seen. “Ya know, I’m not sure if that potion was more for numbin’ or to be a lady’s product. Can help with cramps, gets rid of hair… you’d be rich back where I’m from.”

Hanne chuckled before shaking her head at Tabitha. “I will have to pass on even fantasizing about that. Now, next. Put that,” she pointed at what looked like a regular apple, “in the pot once you’ve analyzed it and told me what you think.”

Tabitha picked the apple up and rolled it around in her hands while waiting for the window to pop up. It really did just look and feel like a normal, albeit very yellow, apple.

Item Information

Name

Sunshine Apple

An apple known for its bright, yellow color.

Rarity

E

Quality

31

Element

Earth

Bonus Tags

[Sugary I]

[Reliever I]

“Don’t look too special,” Tabitha said. “I’m guessin’ the Sugary tag might help counter the Bitter one? Would Sugary I make a Bitter III turn into a Bitter II?”

“Yes, actually, but what else?” Hanne asked.

“Well, they’ve both got the Reliever I tag… will usin’ two items with the same tag power it up? Get Reliever II?”

“That’s exactly it. Now, put it in. Gently, please. Try not to make a splash.”

Tabitha rubbed the back of her head with a totally-not-innocent smile as she gently placed the apple in the pot. Hanne must have figured out that she was the type of girl who was absolutely going to just drop it in there and probably make a splash.

Next, before Hanne even had to say anything, Tabitha picked up the final ingredient on the table. They looked like blackberries except for the fact that they were green rather than black. The rest of the appearance was the same, though.

Item Information

Name

Sweetbush Berries

The berries from a sweetbush.

Rarity

C

Quality

44

Element

Earth

Bonus Tags

[Sugary I]

[Reliever I]

[Healing I]

“So… two Sugary Is, so those’ll combine for a Sugary II, and that’ll reduce Bitter III to Bitter I?” Tabitha asked.

“Correct,” Hanne answered. “Go on.”

“Reliever I will combine with the other two for a Reliever III?”

“And there is the trap most fall into their first time. Wrong. Two of them will combine to make Reliever II, but that is it. You can only combine natural tags. Upgraded tags cannot be combined with others… without the Advanced Fusion skill, but you require the Alchemist path for that. So, even if you were to combine two Reliever I items to get a Reliever II, and another item in the brew has the Reliever II tag, you would still only have Reliever II.”

“Then how come Sugary II will take down Bitter III?”

“The process of tags upgrading is different from the process of tags canceling one another out.”

“Huh. Alright. So, until I’ve got that skill, I can basically only upgrade tags once per craft.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, in theory, couldn’t I make two items that both got Reliever I upgraded to Reliever II, and then combine the two new items into somethin’ with Reliever III?”

“You could, yes, but that requires even more materials, and there may be items where simply combining them with another copy of themselves is not an option. Such as most things. You should only expect to get away with that workaround for liquids.”

“Makes sense. Anyways, I’m guessin’ this Healin’ I tag can heal hit points?”

“Right. That is not too important right now. I mainly just wanted to teach you about upgrading tags with different items.”

“Got it. Thanks.” Tabitha carefully dropped the berries into the pot and then picked up the brewing stick. “And now I stir?”

“And now you stir.”

And so, Tabitha stirred. She stirred until the liquid began swirling around on its own within the pot and then pulled the stick out, letting it finish its fancy process of glowing while she picked up the ladle just like Hanne did before. As soon as the glowing ended, Tabitha was left with a green liquid with brown specks of powder spread throughout it sitting on top of the pot’s base liquid. She carefully scooped that up with the ladle, poured it into an empty vial that Hanne prepared for it, and analyzed it.

Item Information

Name

Healing Relief Potion

A potion that both relieves pain and heals the body.

Rarity

D

Quality

51

Element

Earth

Bonus Tags

[Bitter I]

[Reliever II]

[Healing I]

System Menu

Congratulations, you have acquired a new Achievement!

Rookie Potion Brewer

Awarded for brewing your first potion.

Reward: 5 Intelligence

“Everythin’ looks right, and I got an achievement for it!” Tabitha announced. “But I’ve gotta ask. If I can do alchemy without even havin’ the Alchemist path, do I really need it? Don’t get me wrong, I plan on gettin’ it regardless, but I wanna know just how big of a deal it is.”

“If you want to use advanced alchemy techniques, it is an extremely big deal. Advanced Fusion, Enhance Base, Multiply Brew—those are just some of the useful skills off the top of my head. The city alchemists know far, far more about advanced alchemy skills than I do.”

“So if I really wanna min-max my craftin’, I’ve gotta get all those skills. Got it.” With that being said, Tabitha brought the vial of her first ever potion up to her lips and drank the liquid down. It tasted as bad as it looked, but there was a slight sweetness now to counter most of that horrifying bitterness from before.

System Menu

Health restored to full.

Oof. Guess it wasn’t full before. Makes sense if I was hit on my head. But if I was hit last night and am only just now restorin’ it to full… “Hey, how long does it take for somebody to heal?”

“Natural health regeneration,” Hanne answered, “without any skills or racial traits, typically sits at around a hundred points per day. If you ever have something like a broken limb, or if you outright lose a limb, you won’t be able to fully regenerate your health until everything afflicting you is gone. A broken leg, for example, might lower your health by ten percent until it is healed.”

“Interestin’. So, I’m guessin’ somethin’ like small attacks that just bruise or cut somebody will only do set points of damage while somethin’ like cuttin’ an arm off will do a percentage of their health?”

“More or less.”

“Good to know. Also, thanks for uh, everythin’. Thanks for puttin’ up with all my questions, walkin’ me through alchemy, and takin’ care of me and Runa. Headaches gone now too, by the by.”

“It’s my pleasure. Just know that now I will be ignoring any more questions you may have because I have spent enough time away from everything else I need to do. So, unless it is an emergency, please just stay in bed and rest.” Hanne’s words might have sounded a bit cold to Tabitha, but that warm smile from her made everything better.

“Yes, ma’am.”