Chapter 7 - Good Night

Author Note: Sorry it took so long for a new chapter. I hope everybody had lovely holidays. Without further ado here is chapter 7. Please rate, comment and point out annoying mistakes.

I woke up in the middle of the night hearing a howl in the distance. A pack of wolves was in the vicinity but because the fire died, I wasn’t spotted immediately. My wings were wrapped around my body and I probably looked like a giant bat. Because it got cold when the fire died, I unconsciously did that to preserve body heat. It was really convenient to have a have wings. Even if I couldn’t fly yet, I at least had a personal sleeping bag. It was fairly warm so it meant I didn’t have to create a campfire every time I wanted to sleep but building a fire would still keep the monsters away so I would still do it until I was certain I could beat any monster that comes my way.

I was still tired but the wolves’ presence made me anxious. It was strangely bright thanks to my Night Vision skill but it made me more anxious. Just because they were more active at night, didn’t mean that they could see in the dark as well as I did but I still felt like running each time a wolf would glance my way. The wolves weren’t as high level as the goblin but there were a lot of them, more than I could fight on my own without my weapons.

The wolves moved in unpredictable patterns and because my satiety was low and I didn’t have any desire to fight, I climbed a tree and watched as more and more monsters would wonder around.

I started reading “Death’s door” while I was trapped up in the tree. Because I read a few pages from the middle of the book, I thought it was a book describing the “Surgeon of Death” profession but it was more than that. Reading it from the beginning, I realized that it was Marbas’s memoir which told the story of how the profession came to be.

The story starts in the town of St. Germain, years before the holy war, when all the races lived in peace.

‘I remember the day I started on this path like it was yesterday. I was always a curious kid that asked a lot of questions and caused a lot of trouble but until that day nothing caught my attention for more than a day or two. I was a prodigy at magic and fairly good with a sword but I didn’t have any interest in them. I wanted a challenge. I wanted adventure. If that salesman didn’t walk through town that day, I’m sure I would have left my home and became an adventurer. What luck I had that day. Until this day I can’t decide if it was good luck or bad but that was the day I became an alchemist.

My father, the count of Saint Germain, requested that I join him for a walk in town. I, like any other kid my age, was causing trouble in the mansion and because some of the staff complained about it, father decided that I needed to get rid of my boredom some other way, specifically, with a hobby.

We went into the crafting district. It was the first time I went there. It was full of blacksmiths, leather workers, tailors, sculptors, armorers, jewelers, enchanters, carpenters and all sorts of buyers from wealthy merchants to little kid even younger than me.

I learned many things that day. My father took me to a tailor shop first. The person there thought me how to stich and cut different materials. My first attempt at making a pair of gloves was a success and the shopkeeper told me I have talent and he would be interested in having me as a disciple but unfortunately I wasn’t that interested in clothing so I refused. We went to a different shop to see if something else would pique my interest. To summarize the whole day, I had talent as an enchanter and I was unsuitable to be a blacksmith. I was a little good at carpentry and although I was a bit interested in music, father forbade me from ever singing or trying to play an instrument again. I apparently had a good voice but I was tone-deaf.

Father was about to give up until we came across a merchant that sold all kinds of items. He had a small stand that was filled with bows, swords, different kinds of books and small bottles with different colored liquid inside.

“Ah, costumers, would you like to buy a sword? It may not be the best sword will find but it will be high quality sword at a very low price.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not really interested in sword play” I answered.

“A boy who’s not interested in the sword!? First time I hear about such a thing. Perhaps you are soon to be magician? I can sell you some rare spells or maybe some common ones if you’d like.”

“No thanks. I’m not interested in magic either.”

“You’re a tough customer. In that case, how about buying a health potion? Everybody gets hurt from time to time. All you need to do is drink this little bottle and your wound will heal faster than a priest can utter his healing spell.”

“What’s a healing potion?”

“You don’t know what a healing potion is? Through the art of alchemy, people have developed a way to combine different ingredients to create potions that can heal, cure and recover. It is said that those that have mastered alchemy can change the very properties of elements. They can turn iron into gold, coal into diamonds and even develop the elixir of life that can grant you eternal youth. Alchemy is the profession of endless possibilities.”

“Are you willing to teach?” With my interest piqued, I was already curious about what alchemy could offer. Of course, back then I was thinking of using it to play pranks or earn extra money. You should never underestimate a child’s ambition to cause trouble. Father always said that I shortened his life expectancy by a fair margin.

“I’m sorry but I can’t teach you.”

“If this is about money, I’m sure I can pay you more than enough for your trouble” my father quickly added thinking he could have a few days of peace if I developed an interest in it.

“I’m sure you could but I’m afraid that that’s not possible. I don’t know much about alchemy and even if I did, an alchemist’s recipes are a close guarded secret but I can at the very least sell you a book about the basic principles and a beginner alchemist set. If you want to make better potions, you need to find them yourself. That’s the fun thing about alchemy; different people can arrive at different recipes starting from the same point. ”

That was the first day I walked down the path of the alchemist that took me even further down to the path to that of “Surgeon of Death”.

The next day I started gathering ingredients for my potions. I finished the book the night before and learned the recipe for a healing potion. The ingredients I needed were cherry leaves, rabbit blood and salt.’

– You have learned the recipe for lowest grade healing potion

Up in the tree, Frost almost fell after the window popped up. After disabling the notifications, he continued his read.

‘Day – 1

I followed the recipe and created my first potion today. It was extremely bitter and salty and only healed minor cuts and bruises but it was still a healing potion. I extremely dissatisfied with the taste so I decided to make it one of my goals to make a healing potion that tasted like strawberries or cherries. After making a dozen potions, I discovered that some of them are stronger than others. I’m not sure if it’s because of the boiling temperature, the dosage of each ingredient or the order in which I add them. Further research is needed.

Day – 2

I haven’t slept last night and I barely ate anything since yesterday but I think I found the exact recipe. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to improve it further than this. The exact quantities are: two thumb size cherry leaves, 1 table spoon of salt (about 15 grams) and a 300 ml of rabbit blood. The rabbit blood needs to boil for 5 minutes before adding the salt. After 2 minutes, the cherry leaves are added and taken out when they turn brown before leaving the potion to cool down at room temperature. Following this recipe increases the potions potency by 15%. The taste has also improved from bitter-salty too just salty in general. Further research is needed to improve taste.

Day – 3

Today I slept until noon and ate a very late breakfast. Father was not happy about that. Fortunately, mother is coming back from her trip today and I’m sure his mood will improve given time. No research was done today but I went hunting because I ran out of ingredients. I brought home 7 rabbits, 3 of which were alive and a deer that was unfortunate to cross my path. After draining the dead rabbits and deer of blood, I gave them to the chef to make something out of them. Nothing must go to waste. The live rabbits which I named R1, R2 and R3, will help me with my research starting tomorrow. I do not wish to get attached to them because chances are they’ll die fairly quick. If they survive the next 10 experiments, I’ll set them free.

Day – 4

I learned a lot today. I substituted rabbit blood with deer blood and the potion was a lot stronger than a potion made with rabbit blood. I estimate it was 30% stronger. I cut R1’s paw with a knife and fed him a healing potion made of rabbit blood to see if the effects are the same to rabbits as they are to humans. After foaming from the mouth for 2 minutes it nearly died. I fed him the healing potion made with deer blood and he barely survived. I think that higher level beasts’ blood create stronger healing potions and drinking healing potions made from the blood of your own specie will have the opposite effect.

Day – 5

I was right. After catching 3 frogs and making potions out of their blood, I’m sure that my hypothesis regarding higher level creature’s blood is true. The 2 frogs that remained are called F1 and F2. F1 died after drinking the healing potion made of frog blood. The second hypothesis was proven true. R1, R2, R3 and F2 started shivering after F1 died and became more aggressive towards me. I have several bites and scratches but plenty of healing potions. The taste is still bad.

Day – 6

I replaced salt with sugar today and added cherries instead of cherry leaves. The potion replenished Stamina instead of Health. I wonder if there’s a way to make a Health potion sweet without it turning into a Stamina potion. Stamina potion’s taste: delicious.

Day – 7

By drying the cherry leaves and turning them into a powder, I combined it with powdered sugar at a 2:1 ratio. The resulting Health potion was sweet and salty. By replacing salt with sugar, a Stamina potion is created. I need to replace salt with something else otherwise the taste will never improve.

Day – 8

R1 bit me today and died. He fell out the window from the second floor and landed on his head. He fell by mistake as I was trying to pry his mouth open. On the plus side R2, R3 and F2 are now way more obedient than usual. I think I broke their spirits today.

Day – 9

By replacing rabbit blood with spring water I made a Mana potion. I felt bad about using any more rabbits for my experiments after what happened to R1 so I decided to free my “pets”. F2 and R3 left in a hurry but it appears that R2 got attached to me. After confirming her sex I named her Money. (Money the bunny.)

Day – 10

I went to the butcher today and got myself a steady supply of blood for the cheap price of 1 copper per litter. I experimented with different substitutes for salt today and I think I’m close to discovering it.

Day – 11

Because I didn’t leave the house in over a week, mother ordered me to go for a walk. I took Money with me and we went for a hunt. She attacked and killed 11 rabbits and got to level 2. I didn’t even order it to do it. Rabbits are such cruel creatures.

Day – 12

I finally found a replacement for salt. It appears that lemon juice is just as effective. My Health potion is now sweet and sour. I made a potion out of my own blood today and created an elixir that gives both Mana and Health but because it is poisonous too demons, I couldn’t drink it and had Money do it. The extra effect was probably because of our (demons) high affinity to mana. I think that I can make a strong elixir by using creatures that have an affinity to mana but most of them are hard to catch or incredibly dangerous.

Day – 17

I finally found all the properties of rabbit blood. They are Health replenishment, Health regeneration, Stamina replenishment and weakness to ice element. I discovered the last property by creating my first poison. It is called Frostbite Poison. If you drink it, for the next half hour you will be more susceptible to the cold. I discovered the Health regeneration property by mistake while using it together with lemon leaves and spring water and made a Health regeneration potion. It is clear by now that you need at least 3 ingredients that have the same property to stack them over each other to create a stronger effect, thus creating a potion. I’m not sure why but no common ingredient has more than 4 properties. I wonder if higher level ingredients have more properties. I heard that dragon blood can be used in any numerous ways but I don’t know anyone who ever seen a dragon let alone hunted one. For now it will remain a rumor.’

In the middle of reading, a blue circle appeared near the tree in which Frost was siting. A substance similar to smoke but darker than tar started appearing in the middle of the magic circle. As the runes on it were shining, the smoke like substance started changing shape over and over again until it settled in the form of a demon similar to that of Frost himself. This person had an effeminate face and was smiling but his eyes painted another picture. They had a sharpness that was penetrating. Frost felt intimidated but also charmed by him. He had an air of nobility but the sharpness of eyes of a warier.

“I am King Paimon, one of the kings of hell. Demon Lord Frost, you have succeeded Demon Lord Barbas also known as President Barbas, the master of the mechanical arts, the healer and harbinger of plagues, he who has a thousand faces, the Surgeon of Death.”

Frost was speechless. He didn’t know what exactly to do. Jumping down from the tree he got on one knee and bowed. The atmosphere quickly changed. There was an incredible pressure coming from Paimon and the look on his face changed to one of displeasure.

“What are you doing?” asked Paimon in a voice that tried to sound calm but contained anger. Frost was puzzled.

“Isn’t this how one greets a king?”

With a sigh, Paimon started talking again, the pressure he was emitting subsiding.

“You are not my servant. You are my equal. You have gained Barbas’s title along with everything he possessed in this world. You are a Demon Lord. We do not bow our heads to no one, not even to the gods.”

Frost quickly rose to his feet. Putting his left hand behind his back, resting about his waist while his right hand was brought to his front also positioned at his waist he tipped his upper body forward.

“Did you not hear me when I said we do not bow to no one?” Paimon said while raising his voice a bit.

“It is but a greeting. Although I may be your equal in terms of position, I am far younger and very inexperienced. It is but natural to show respect to my senior.”

Paimon started releasing even more pressure to the point that Frost started shivering.

“Are you calling me old?” Paimon’s voice was dry and full of hostility. Because he didn’t know how to react, Frost started babbling. The sound he was making didn’t form any known words.

“Pahahaha. The look on your face! PRICELESS!” Paimon started laughing. “We do not bow our head to no one, not even to the gods.” While making a semi-serious face he started speaking again with a voice, mocking his previous seriousness. After about 2 minutes, his laughing fit stopped and he finally faces Frost who was yet again speechless but because of another reason. While floating in the air, cross legged with his hand behind his head, Paimon spoke in a gentle voice.

“Relax junior. Demons have always been mischievous pranksters. Tricking people is what we do. Barbas and I used to cause so much chaos that kingdoms ranked us 7 on the natural disaster ranking. We were ranked between dragon attacks and enemy invasion.”

“What did you do get ranked that high?”

“We built a golden statue that sings and we sent it to the dragon that lives in the dwarves mountains.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

“OH, it gets better. Everything that touched the statue got cursed as well. When dragon put it his treasure room and all of a sudden the whole room started singing. Can you imagine the look on his face when he realized that the singing will not stop?”

“What happened to him?”

“I’m not sure. Barbas dispelled the curse after a year for the price of a bottle of dragon blood. I don’t remember if he gone insane and started talking in rhymes or he went deaf. Ah, that’s right. The dragon went insane. The one who got deaf was the elven king or was he the one we turned purple? Maybe it was the orc chieftain? Anyway, you should hide your form. We have really bad reputations. Not just me and Barbas, every demon lord caused some kind of great disaster. I think it’s better if you change shape for the time being. ”

“I can’t change my shape.”

“Of course you can. Didn’t you get his profession?”

“You mean the Surgeon of Death? Aside from being a bit better than that of an alchemist, I don’t think I can change my appearance. ”

“The name of the profession is chosen by those that created it. My profession is similar to that of Barbas. I know all arts be it mystical arts or martial arts but I choose the name Chef of Beginning because I like the culinary arts. As I said, mischief is in our nature. Even the names we choose for our professions are designed to trick people.”

“So, what does my profession actually do?”

“Changing shape is one of the abilities of your profession otherwise tricking people becomes harder. Marbas was also a master of the mechanical arts. You can probably learn tailoring, agriculture, architecture, martial arts, trading, cooking and blacksmithing. Obviously you can learn alchemy and healing magic but not healing magic that comes from the power of a god. They’re a bit upset with us at the moment. You should probably gain the blessing of a demon god otherwise they’ll continue to harass you with incredible bad luck until you die.”

Because there was something blinking in the corner of his eye, Frost enabled the notifications and a cascade of information

You have gained 7 intelligence and 2 wisdom from reading “Death’s Door”

You have learned the secrets of you profession. Restrictions of the profession have been lifted

- The skill “Shape Shift” has been unlocked

- You are able to learn tailoring

- You are able to learn farming

- You are able to learn trading

- You are able to learn cooking

- You are able to learn blacksmithing

- You are able to learn architecture

- You are able to learn Mystic Arts

- You are able to learn Martial Arts

Shape Shift (Active, Beginner level 1)

You are able to change form to that of another being. Because of Mana Affinity, Mana consumption is reduced by 20%.

Mana consumption: 400 MP

You have learned about the curse that was placed on you.

“Wrath of the gods”

Your presence attracts monsters and makes them twice as aggressive. People will see you as a monster if you reveal yourself to them. NPC’s will treat you with hostility if you reveal yourself to them. Luck: -50. Killing you will increase fame and give the blessing: ‘God’s favor’

Frost was conflicted. On one hand, he gained an OP profession. On the other hand, the game was seriously trying to kill him.

“It looks like the magic circle is starting to fade. It was nice meeting you Frost Demon.”

“Wait, I still have questions.”

“When you learn summoning magic, draw this magic circle and face northwest while calling my name or travel to the Isles of Dupree and look for the temple with a golden roof. I’ll probably see how you’re doing from time to time so cheer up. One more thing before I leave. This whole forest is surrounded by knights from all directions. You should increase your strength and stamina so that you can fly better or increase you intelligence and wisdom so that they can’t recognize you when you Shape Shift.”

“By how much?”

“I think you’ll need about 70 strength and 2000 stamina to fly for about 20 minutes or about 60 intelligence and wisdom and intermediate level Shape Shift to fool them.”

Flustered, Frost quickly asked: “How much time do I have?”

“Probably about a week or so. If they think you’re Barbas, they won’t charge in recklessly.”

“How the hell do I get that many levels in such a short time?”

“I didn’t say you need to gain levels. You just need to raise your stats.”

“How?”

“You have Barbas’s book: “Death’s Door”, right? There should be ways to increase stats written in there. If you can’t do it until next week… well, at least your kind can’t die.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“Time’s up. Good luck with the knights.”

“Wait! Paimon! PAIMON!”

When the magic circle disappeared, Paimon blinked out of existence, with an evil looking smile on his face. While he was standing near the now gone magic circle a growl came from behind Frost.

- You are Starving.

- Your Health will decrease by 3% every minute until your Satiety rises.

“Shit!”

Faced with a wolf while his health started to decrease, Frost cursed Marbas again while equipping his sword and dagger.

- Killing Intent +5