It had been a full week.

During that week, our duo had been through deserts, mountains, and a huge outlaw-infested swamp. Actually, I would suppose we were a trio: Me, Chad, and the horse which Chad affectionately named Chestnut.

Now, the aforementioned outlaw-infested swamp was ending, and being replaced by a forest. Although, with this forest, I could vaguely see the silhouette of some giant tree on the horizon.

As we drew closer to the giant tree, the leaves on the trees beside us began to turn crystalline, and my mana regeneration increased threefold. Around three hours into the forest, a light mist began to settle in front of us, slightly obscuring the way forward and into the gargantuan tree.

After that, I saw a gate made of twisting, magical-looking wood that appeared to merge into one piece. And past that, I saw a huge, sprawling city covering what must be at least half of the forest. That must be Asora D’ameya, where the Magus Council was located. As we neared the gate, two heavily-armored knights in shining iron armor banged their staffs across the ground and cried: “Halt! State your purpose in this holy city of the Magus Council!”

“Aren’t you being a little- overdramatic?” Chad said calmly.

The second guard elbowed the first. “Sorry, it’s his first day on the job. You understand. You can pass,” he said in a more agreeable tone.

“But Gary, they could be thieves of the Magus Council’s holy knowledge!”

“That doesn’t exist, Frank. What does exist is-“

We rode past the gate, with the two knights still bickering behind us.

“Goodness, are you crazy,” the old man whom we had asked for directions to the Magus Council snapped, “All the youngsters are blind nowadays. Do you not see the gosh darn huge tree over thataway! Now, stop disturbing my bonding moment with my pet biscuit, Den!” He hobbled away, mumbling to the biscuit on his shoulder about the state of “young men’s bloody eyesight nowadays”.

As we walked towards the tree, we saw less and less peasants scrambling to pick up the crops they had dropped, and more and more young men in robes waving their staffs about.

After an hour of riding, we finally got to the tree, where there was an opening leading inside.

“Halt!” a guard cried. I was really getting tired of being halted. “Dismount your horse and state your name and purpose!”

“My name is Everlon,” I said slowly while getting off my carriage, “and I am here to see the Magus Council.”

“My name is Chad,” Chad said while shakily trying to gain his footing, “and I am here to- oof!” Chad tumbled down the steps, yowling in pain.

“He is here for the same reason as I am,” I stated.

“You both may pass. However, your unwieldy companion there better not break anything.”

We walked into the huge, hollow trunk of the tree, with Chad still stumbling over bumps.

As we ascended slowly up the huge spiral stairs made of oak, the ground disappeared below us. Chad was panting by the halfway mark, and he practically threw himself over the last stair. He looked up, then jumped, realizing that there was a circle of about twenty solemn-looking Magi.

“Is this one a candidate you are seriously considering?” a snooty, tall man with a significantly different style of dress than the others. “Well, I, Duke Vambal of the Sacran County, may reconsider my investment in your council.”

“No, sir, please do not. This one goes, if he displeases you.” The man at the head of the table was practically bending over to kick Chad out.

“What did I do?” Chad protested. Despite his protests, however, two guards marched in and carried him out.

“Now, this one, I like much better than the other one. This one may stay,” he ordered.

“But sir,” I said, “What did Chad do?”

“He did not respect me properly with the audacity to breathe audibly in front of me!”

“But-“

“This one is annoying me. Kick him out!”

Suddenly, two conflicting quests popped up.

New Quest: Down with the Council! (Exclusive with The Powerful Gain More Power!)

Reward: 300 Levels, the Lower Magus Revolution, automatic failure of The Powerful Gain More Power!

Failure: -3000 reputation with the Lower Magus Council

Accept: Failure of Become a Verified Magus (no consequences), cannot accept The Powerful Gain More Power!

(Note: This is a Tier Event. It will have severe repercussions to this Tier!)

Accept? (Yes/No)

New Quest: The Powerful Gain More Power! (Exclusive with Down with the Council!)

Reward: 200 Levels, automatic failure of Down with the Council!

Failure: -3000 reputation with the Lower Magus Council

Accept: Cannot accept Down with the Council!

(Note: This is a Tier Event. It will have severe repercussions to this Tier!)

Accept? (Yes/No)

It seemed like a better choice would be the latter. However, I considered how much of an asshole the magi had been to Chad and I, and I decided to accept the former. As I clicked Accept, however, a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time spoke: “You just got a Tier Quest? What is it? What did you pick?”

“Sarah, it was called Down with the Council.”

Sarah was silent for a while.

“Everlon, do you remember when I told you that accepting the other quest had ‘far reaching implications, the likes of which you cannot imagine’?”

“Yes, what does that have to do with this quest?”

“Firstly, the fail conditions are six times higher. If that’s not enough, it’s a Tier Event. That means that this event will alter the state of this Tier as we know it. And lastly, did you see the state of the city? How are you going to take that down?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was. Somehow.

Suddenly, the two guards carrying me dumped me in a spot behind the tree, then turned around and left.

I sold my carriage for a hundred Gold Marks, and my horses for a hundred and twenty each. Then, I rented an inn for about ten Gold Marks a month. Cheap now.

When I walked into my room, I saw something akin to a box, which had moving pictures on it. It was a woman speaking about an accident in the Merchant’s district. I happened to be in the Merchant’s District myself, and I looked out the window, and there it was. A wreckage, precisely where the woman said it was. What was this wizardry?

Apparently, it was called the “news”. And, as I was beginning to find out, a lot more was here that I had never imagined could exist than simply that.

The other thing was something called a Guild. Basically, a Guild was a group of people with a common goal, such as a Leatherworking Guild or a Mining Guild. People could sign up to make those guilds, who would then have a monopoly on the trades of their respective goal. Needless to say, I was interested.

That day, as I sat watching the news reporter talking about riots happening in far-flung places and exciting new developments in some obscure field of research, I found myself thinking: “what now?” How do I topple a regime that has stood for hundreds- no, thousands of years?

Suddenly, the reporter said: “Breaking News. The Dapmon Dynasty in Anwar County has been reputationally destroyed by insurrectionists, unhappy with the dynasty’s restrictive policies in foreign trade and inter-county relations, and will likely never be-“

That was it. I had to find some way - not just to topple the council, but to expose them and tarnish their reputation forever.

Although, that couldn’t be achieved using 100 Gold Marks. So, I had to find some way to get money, and get it fast. Luckily, I spotted a poster across the corner of the street I was standing on that said:”WANT TO GET RICH QUICK? SIGN UP FOR THE ALCHEMIST’S GUILD!”

Yes, I did want to get rich quick. Guess I should sign up to be an alchemist then.

Across the corner of the Enchanter’s Guild and the Artificer’s Guild was the Alchemist’s Guild. Compared to the bright, flashing lights of the Enchanter’s Guild headquarters and the sheer size and the magnificence of the Artificer’s Guild headquarters, the Alchemist’s Guild seemed a bit… small. It was simply a small concrete building, with nothing out of the ordinary with it whatsoever.

That is, until you go down a small, seemingly insignificant hatch inside the building, which will take you to a sprawling underground complex, stretching out over seemingly the entire city. The guide leading me told me that this was the old Thieves’ Guild secret passageways, but, due to the Thieves’ Guild backstabbing the Magus Council, the entire Guild was purged and the main buildings were burnt down. However, the underground tunnels still remain to this day.

We walked past a gleaming gold door, a silver door, a bronze door, an iron door, and a wooden door, to finally arrive at the end of the main tunnel. Interestingly, I noticed that the room that was beyond the end of the tunnel had no door.

As I walked into the room, all I saw was a bunch of students, bent over cauldrons, cutting herbs, stirring potions, and failing to make an actual potion. Like, a lot. Everywhere I looked, at least one student was disappointingly holding a broken beaker with some dense tar-like liquid slowly dripping out of it.

My guide gestured towards an empty workstation and said, “This is where you’ll be working. Your goal is to make 100 Gold Marks’ worth of potions for us, and you will achieve Wood rank and gain access to another part of our organization. I’ll see you when you get in,” and after that, he simply walked out of the room.

Well, I’d better start trying. And try I did, again and again, for the next three days. We had a pile of three types of ingredients in front of us: Galapos, Elnoras, and Zalgor. I tried mixing the three in various different ways, heating the mixture with more heat, heating it with less heat, stirring it faster, stirring it slower - I had tried everything. Or so I thought, until I used Inspect on the three ingredients.

Galapos

Tier-1 Ingredient(Base)

Essence: Pyrol (10)

Elnoras

Tier-1 Ingredient(Modifier)

Essence: Invar (5)

Zalgor

Tier-1 Ingredient(Solvent)

Bonds: 10 Type-Fire + 10 Type-Invert + Type-Fire(2) Catalyst

It seemed fairly straightforward. Pyrol was obviously something fire-related, and Invar appeared to… invert? The only part I was unsure about was the 2 in Type-Fire(2) Catalyst. I was fairly certain it represented temperature or intensity - the problem was, how much? I was just going to have to experiment.

Two days later, I did it. I made a potion.

Potion of Fire Resistance

Quality: Abysmal (5% Efficacy)

Effects:

Fire Damage reduced by 5% for the next 3 minutes

Side Effects:

Fire Damage increased by 200% for the next hour

Potion Sickness - 20 Stacks

It may be Abysmal quality, but I had gained the Alchemy skill, and now knew how to make these potions. The scale next to me, which could tell how much a potion is worth, flashed 2 when I put the potion down. Two Gold Marks. Not bad.

I kept on honing my potion-making skills until I got to Good quality potions. My alchemy leveled up to 20, and I finally made 100 Gold Marks’ worth of potions. As soon as I did, I got escorted to the room with the wooden door, where my guide was waiting for me.

“Is he Connor? He’s been in there for three years and he’s up to 98 Gold Marks, so he should be out soon.” The guide looked up and exclaimed, “Hey! Aren’t you that guy who came in a week ago? What are you doing out here?”

“He passed,” my escort said.

“So soon?” he asked with surprise.

“Yes, and he made a Good quality potion!”

The guide turned to me and said, “Do you know my name?”

I shook my head no.

He smiled. “I am Casper Willis, the leader of the Alchemist’s Guild in Tier 12. Welcome to the Alchemist’s Guild.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Now, here is your badge for attaining Wood rank. Step through that door, and I’ll meet you the next time you advance in rank.”

I stepped through the door.

Wood rank. I had no idea what that means, but it sounded impressive. More so, if I got to learn the basics of alchemy without a rank, what would I learn now?

It turns out, a lot.

First of all, I got to learn about how the Alchemy system actually worked. Basically, there were 40 or so “base essences”, which were basically(no pun intended) determining the effect of the potion. Then, there were the 30 or so “modifier essences”, which modifies the effect of the potion. Lastly, there are Catalysts, which bond bases and modifiers together. Almost anything can be used as a catalyst, which makes a specific catalyst difficult to find, especially when they are rare. Also, the essences have tiers; the reagent’s tier is the sum of its essences’. Makes sense? No? Good.

The rest of my time was spent memorizing essences and types, as well as profitable potion effects. For example, not everybody wanted a potion of light protection. Healing would be much more profitable.

Armed with that knowledge, I started raking in the Gold Marks.