The sun shone brightly up in the sky, uninterested in the world below; The wind softly blew between the trees and shrubs carrying the spring's fresh scent. Ignoring the beauty of life all around them, stood 3 men squatting behind some brushes, their eyes making it clear they weren't just travellers taking a break, in their callous hands, chipped swords and axes, clashing against the whetstones in a rain of sparkles.

Soon the faint sound of whistling reached their ears carried by the wind, they perked up and stealthily took a glance from behind the brushes. A lonesome traveller wearing commoner's clothes and with a bag on his back was walking the path leading straight to their ambush. The trio gripped their weapons harder and prepared to give a meaning to the day.

Finally, the unaware wanderer reached that bush and, without wasting the chance, the bandits jumped out of their hiding spot blocking the way forward and the way back. The poor victim looked with startled eyes to the men and noticing the weapons in their hands he realized they weren't just looking for a fright.

The tallest of the three took a step forward, his dagger aimed at the throat of the victim; However, before he could speak or do anything else, the traveller threw both of his hands to the air and kneeled down. “Please milord, don't hurt me! I'm just a novice alchemist, travelling to the capital to sell some potions!” his head bent down as he pleaded, too afraid to even look at his aggressors in the eyes.

The bandit leader was taken aback for a moment; they were robbing an alchemist! If anyone were to know of this, knights would be dispatched immediately to hunt them down to hell if necessary. With some regret the bandit leader sheathed back his chipped sword and gestured his men to do the same, they were here for some easy money, killing a few farmers wouldn't attract any troubles, however, an alchemist was akin to a noble in status.

“Milord, please... No need to kneel down like this, we mean no harm, right guys?” the leader immediately tried to somehow fix the situation; the alchemist raised his head and stared at the bandits now armed with awkward smiles instead of daggers and greed.

“Weren't you trying to rob me just now?” spoke the alchemist with a slightly shaky voice, and to answer him the bandit behind him almost cursed his damn curiosity out loud. “Of course not! Hahaha...” some cold sweat dripped out of his forehead, “It's just a misunderstanding, we are actually farmers from a nearby village. A few days ago a thief stole some of our crops and we heard he was passing by here today, so we wanted to confront him and get our crops back, unfortunately, we mistook you for him!” with an 'it's all just a big mistake' face, the bandit lied through his teeth.

The naïve alchemist nodded through the story muttering “ I see, I see...”, he looked thoroughly convinced as he stood up dusting off his pants with a few pats. “I'm really sorry I doubted your reasons, as an apology,” he picked his bag and took out a vial of milky liquid “Let me offer you one of my potions, it can grant a man the strength of a bear for up to a month!” he exclaimed excitedly while extending the vial to the bandits' leader.

“I- I cannot accept such a precious gift!” the bandit leader wasn't an idiot, what if that was poison? Who would be stupid enough to drink a mysterious liquid offered by a stranger?

“I insist! You are obviously good and righteous people fighting to make a living, how could I remain passive and not help you? There is enough for the three of you, and if you are still feeling bad, in exchange you can give me one of your weapons. After all, I'm but a defenceless traveller, who knows who or worse, what, I might meet on these dangerous roads...”

Unable to contain his greed for power any longer, one of the bandits stepped forward and took the vial. Under the expectant gaze of the alchemist and the worried eyes of his friends, he took a quick sip; the lukewarm white liquid was witness to the ability of a leather bag to absorb and retain the sun's warmth.

A weird feeling spread from his throat, like a wave of fire it engulfed his whole body; his heart started beating faster like a drum as adrenalin was produced, throwing his head in a state of euphoria. Veins swelled up on his body like snakes coiling around a skinny tree, even his skin got a little redder under the influence of the accelerated blood circulation.

The other two bandits looked at their friend in worry, ready to take out their weapons to avenge him, however, against their worries a big smile widened on his face, “Dvartos be damned! i feel like a new man. You have to try this!” the buffed bandit threw the leader the vial and then unable to stay put any longer, he threw himself on the ground doing push-ups like a madman, sweat was already in his eyes but he didn't even notice, he felt too energetic and had to do something, anything to waste that energy.

“I see it's working already.” The alchemist was watching in interest the effect of his concoction on another human. The other two bandits seeing the state of their friend were convinced decided to drink the rest of the potion; soon they were all either running around like kids high on sugar or punching the trees. Under their dreamy status, they didn't notice how their knuckles had actually got broken by hitting the trees, the pain thankfully suppressed by the adrenaline.

Meanwhile, the alchemist didn't move away, he took out a metallic watch and started writing notes on a notebook while checking the trio. After a few minutes, they finally seemed to be running out of juice as they collapsed under the shade of a tree breathing heavily. The alchemist approached them and started asking questions every few minutes.

“How much is five plus five?” To which the bandits would answer between a heavy breath and another, “Ten of course!”

Five minutes later "How much is three plus three?”, the bandits took a second before replying “Five... no six!” he noted down something and waited a few more minutes.

“How much is two plus two?” The bandits just stared blankly at him trying to find an answer, “Seven!” answered one after pondering deeply and the others seemed to agree nodding sagely. This continued until they could no longer answer coherently.

“After 30 minutes the asphyxia has reached the extreme level, two of them have fainted outright. Meanwhile, the last subject is still able to fight it off, probably due to his stronger looking physique.” The alchemist muttered while checking the time on his watch, he took their pulses and timed the breathing, “Rapid pulse, check. Hypertension, check. Coma, check.” he slapped the still conscious leader with enough force to leave a red mark on his cheek, but he still couldn't muster enough strength to fight back, just staring at the alchemist with his pale face, his purple lips tried to move and ask something but in the end, he remained mute. “Paralysis, check.” He noted down with a wicked smile.

Finally after some convulsions two of the bandits stopped breathing, their leader instead was slowly regaining colour and consciousness, “The mortality rate has been found to be around 66%, need more testing samples and variables to confirm its effects.” taking a dagger he had rummaged from one of the corpses, he slit the throat of the bandit leader, a red jet of blood shoot forward missing the alchemist who started to rummage the rest of their belongings without giving the trio another look.

After gathering some money and food he stood up and extended his right arm, “progress bar.” he spoke drily to the air, and suddenly some numbers appeared in the air like magic.

[579801] [0] [3]

He sighed in a tired manner and resumed his travel to the capital while muttering curses to someone called Var'Kharzot. From inside his bag, the noise from dozens of vials clinking together was the only music following him.

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“Ahhhh, finally here,” I exclaimed in a joyful tone, from my starting point it had taken me three whole days to find the fucking city in front of me. Giant walls made from white marble surrounded the city like the arms of a guardian deity intersecting in a gate wide enough for three carriages to pass through side by side. The archers on top of the gate were laughing and pointing to the people passing below while their colleagues on the ground were grimly checking the people's belongings.

A merchant I met while coming here told me it was illegal to bring any kind of weapon inside the city without registering it at the gates. Luckily for me, I had no such things, nor I needed them, I had other stronger means than steel to kill.

I approached the gate and as expected one of the guards stopped me. “Your name and the reason for coming here?” he spoke in the monotone voice of someone who asked the same thing too many times, I felt a little pity for him.

“Hello milord, my name is Adrian and I'm here to sell a batch of potions in the market.” The guard straightened his back upon hearing my mention of potions, apparently, around here alchemists were treated like Vip, “What kind of potions? If I'm allowed to inquire.” his tone already getting more respectful.

“Oh, nothing much, some low tier healing potions, with a nasty side effect of causing impotence.” I added the last line as a joke, but I could see he was affected by the way his grip on the spear tightened.

“W-what kind of side effect is that?” He asked in a slightly upset voice. Chuckling inside I answered, “Just a precaution in case of theft. My potions are meant for women, and if a man tries to steal any of them... hehehe.” I could see his face pale as he took a step back, he even had to cough once to regain his composure, “You are free to come inside, as long as you can pay the toll of four grindias or 5% of your merchandise, also remember to pay your share of the sales to the city administration.” I took out 4 middle-sized coins from the bandit leader's pouch and placed them on the guard's hands, from the way he smiled I understood I had given him more than the actually required toll, and that he was gonna keep the change as a tip.

He stepped aside and I finally walked inside while winking at him; the sight of marble roads and buildings immediately assaulted my eyes. I had imagined a more standard medieval city with dirt roads and people throwing poop from the windows; but I wasn't that disappointed in being wrong for once.

Ok, priorities; first, find a place to stay. After walking around aimlessly I finally found an inn with a nice name “the drunk cow”, the first floor was basically a tavern with people drinking away their problems or spitting on the ground while the second and third floor had rooms to sleep in. Paying the owner, a middle-aged man named Horace, with all the money I had stolen from the bandits I had managed to rent the room for a week, no meals or mead included, tch, cheapskate.

I finally entered my room, but instead of going to rest it was time to work, as the saying goes “Evil never rests.”, I placed all my vials on the ground building a nice little castle of crystal. “Time to work.” I said with a toothy grin.