With a groan Savani began to regain conciousness. His body felt strangly numb, like every cell had been exhausted and drained of any energy the previously held. Which made sense since he did just bathe in acid and force his body to regenerate over and over for who knows how long. "Chip how long was I out?"

[Host was unconcious for one hour and twenty seven minutes.]

Hearing that he had passed out for over an hour Savani wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand an hour was relatively short and it could have been worse. On the other spending over an hour on the floor naked with a healing body was not a good feeling to wake up to.

Shakily he stood up and walked to the bed to properly rest. As nice as his new room was, the floor was still a floor and not very comfortable to lie down on. With another groan, Savani lied down on his bed. His body was filled with a tingling sensation as it slowly regained feeling. That was the worst form of pain Savani had ever felt, across both worlds. The only thing that made it worth it was he could sense that as his body shook off the numbing sensation brought by the whole process his body was filled with a newfound strength. Curious Savani asked the chip to bring up his new status.

[Host name: Savani

Race: Human (beginner apprentice)

Affinities: Darkness, Space

Attributes: Strength: 3.12 Physique: 3.37 Vitality: 2.04 Agility: 2.68 Spirit: 7.01

Status: Healthy

Skills: Magic Language Proficiency (Basic)Spells: Acid Shot (Proficient), Create Undead (Proficient), Control Undead (Adept)....]

Looking at his stats Savani noticed that he gained roughly 0.2 in both Strength and Agility with another 0.35 in Physique. However he lost about 0.1 in Vitality from the stress and the toxicity of the solution. Glancing at that Savani couln't help but feel worried. From what he gathered during training Vitality was directly tied to lifeforce. The smaller the stat the shorter his life would be. Not to mention that it made it easier to kill him. Not only that but he felt a strange sense of danger.

Waiting until his body was able to walk without swaying Savani quickly went to the library. There he used his last 4 contribution points to look up books on general knowledge for an apprentices advancement. From what he found Savani's face went pale. According to the books he read, during an apprentices journey to a Sage it was very important to balance the various attributes as closely together as they could. At most that apprentice could have one or two leading attributes, but these attributes could not exceed five points over any other attribute. This was because the human body was meant to be balanced, and though an apprentice had stronger abilities than a normal human, they still had to keep within a certain range before the body started to tear itself apart.

Looking back at his status Savani saw that he was right at this range. His Spirit and Vitality were almost 5 points apart. Any increase in Spirit or decrease in Vitality would result in catastrophe! No wonder he felt a sense of danger the last few times he trained himself. With an increase in Spirit meant an increase in Savanis sixth sense, and this sense kept warning him about the impending danger! "Chip is there anyway to increase Vitality quickly?"

[Searching databanks. Results found. Quickest way to alleviate the problem is to drink a potion designed to forcefully increase an apprentices Vitality. Such potions are often increadibly expensive based on data derived at the bazaar.]

Hearing that Savani's eyes glinted. "So there are such potions at the bazaar?"

[Correct. From data gathered from background conversations a potion called Gaia's Tears. This potion costs about 10 magical crystal shards and is in short supply. From gathered data this potion has a small chance of appearing for sale.]

Hearing that it only had a small chance at appearing Savani frowned. He couldn't gamble on a mere chance. The lack of a constant supply would slow down Savani's advancement. From what he found out the age an apprentice transformed into a Sage directly tied in with how easy the process would be and their talent afterwards. Savani knew that even Sages had different tiers and he had no wish to mearly be on the lowest rank. It was the main reason he had been working so hard the last few weeks.

Savani spent several minutes trying to think how he could get a constant supply of Gaia's Tears. Naturally the best way would be to brew them himself, however even with the chip it would take several weeks to become a decent Alchemist. The complexity of potion refining was leagues ahead of simply using one spell over and over to refine a corpse. So while he was learning he would still need an external supply from somewhere.

Suddenly Savani remembered someone who might be able to help. However he wasn't sure how he should go about asking for assistance. Apprentices were taught to be pragmatic above all else. The only way you would find one willing to help without anything in return was to either catch them in a good mood or to call in a favor. Looking around the room Savani's eyes stumbled across the pile of herbs he had gathered. Seeing them gave him an idea.

Savani quickly packed up the herbs and loaded one of the zombies before heading back to the quest registration booth. Luckily only about two hours had gone by at this point so he was able to find the same apprentice that registered his quest completion.

"Hello. A few hours ago you registered a quest complete for me do you remember?'

The boy looked startled at Savani rushing up to him before asking him such a question. Looking Savani up and down the boy responded "You were the ones with the frogs right?"

Putting on what he hoped was a friendly smile Savani replied " Yeah I turned in the frog quest for a senior. I was wondering if you had that senior's contact information? I managed to stumble on some alchemy ingredients and was curious if he would be interested in purchasing any?" With that Savani took out a herb from one of the bags and placed it in front of the boy.

Hearing Savani ask for information on another apprentice, whats more a powerful senior, the register apprentice couldn't help but go pale. "I'm sorry sir but we are not allowed to give out any information on other apprentices. If you want I can send a message to him."

Smiling again Savani agreed to the compromise, sliding the herb over to the boy. "Here is a token of my appreciation. I'm sure you could sell it for something useful. Sadly I don't have much else to express my graditude." Seeing Savani give him a herb for his troubles the apprentice quickly too the herb and hid it under the desk.

Savani waited by the registration desk for about a half hour before Nick came walking into the room. Spotting Savani he quickly walked over and asked "I got a message saying you had some herbs you wanted to sell?"

Seeing Nick was interested Savani started his sales pitch he had been working on. "Yes I do but I was wondering if instead of selling them to you we could work on a different arrangement?"

Hearing Savani's pitch Nick began to frown. "What kind of arrangement?"

Waving his undead over Savani continued, "Well as you may have guessed I'm one of the new apprentices that were admitted into the tower a while ago. Because of that I am in dire needs of resources but don't really have the assets to trade for much. With what I managed to get I began to learn Necromancy and found I have a decent talent for it along with herbology. Using my new toys I have gone out and started gathering a large number of herbs from the surrounding area. I was wondering if you would be interested in buying these herbs using potions?"

Hearing Savani's suggestion Nick went over and inspected the various herbs. He was surprised by the amount Savani managed to gather. Some of them were even rather dangerous to pick. With the amount here Nick estimated it would be enough to practice several new potion recipes he had managed to get his hands on. "I'd be willing to trade for these herbs. You were looking for Plagues Draught right? I'll trade 10 of them for these herbs."

Hearing Nick was interested Savani inwardly cheered. "While it's true I need Plague's Draught I have come across some problems with my advancement and need something that will increase my Vitality. I heard of a potion called Gaia's Tears that could be useful. Do you perhaps know how to make this potion?"

Nick couldn't help but stare at Savani after hearing he wanted a bottle of Gaia's Tears. This potion was often used to distinguish average potion brewers from true Alchemists. Not only was it increadibly difficult to make, but the advantages one got drinking it also made it increadibly valuable. Looking back over the amount of herbs Savani brought Nick replied "Thats a rather valuable potion. In all honesty I can make it but it requires a vast number of magical ingredients and my sucess rate is only about one in five. If your asking for a vial I can only offer you one for all of this."

Hearing Nick could actually brew Gaia's Tears Savani couldn't help but become excited. Quickly he said "I would be happy to trade these herbs for a bottle. In fact that is only part of the reason I wanted to innitiate this trade. I was hoping since I often go out and gather such herbs perhaps we could come to some form of arrangement? I could go out and gather herbs you need for your potions and in return I get paid in potions. This way you don't have to worry about your supply of ingredients and I have access to the various potions and elixers I'll need to get stronger. You could even tell me herbs you particularly need so I can keep an eye out while I am out gathering."

Listening to Savani's suggestion Nick began to think. One of the biggest problems with Alchemy was the intense need for resources. Simply to become competent at a new recipe an Alchemist would have to go through a small room full of herbs. If he managed to get access to a continuous supply of ingredients his Alchemy could grow and he would be able to accumulate more wealth.

Nodding Nick agreed to Savani's proposal. Why wouldn't he it was a win-win for the two of them. Nick would get access to a large number of resources he needed to continue practicing and Savani would get access to potions he would need. Shaking hands on the deal Nick had Savani wait while he went back to his room to get a vial of Gaia's Tears.