Herald Stone strikes gold again! I inwardly cheered, wary not to let it show on my face. Well, I did strike something. It remained to be seen if it was gold.

Questions and conjectures spawned in my mind. I had a hunch where this was headed but kept my mouth shut. My eagerness shouldn’t be noticeable, or I’d lose the initiative of prying secrets from Melonomi. I turned to Paritor. He probably had his ideas about Ichors. His wrinkled forehead told me he didn’t expect Melonomi’s revelation.

I raised a brow at him as if to say, what do you think?

To his credit, Paritor asked Melonomi the right question, “Did you come across that information as a Potion Brewer? Or, perchance, was it the reason you became one?”

“Perchance?” Nitana mumbled.

Megan elbowed Nitana on my behalf.

I tied into Paritor’s opening, “I doubt many people choose brewing as the focus of their characters. In my case, I make poisons for an easy source of damage as a tank—no need for investment in attack modifiers. Also, I sell them on the side. But I wouldn’t make it my main build… like some battle poison brewer. I’m not saying you made the wrong—”

“No, no, I’m wrong.” Melonomi sighed, deflating her posture. The bottles hanging off her garb tinkled like wind chimes. “It’s time to reveal how much of an idiot I am—”

“You’re not an idiot,” Megan automatically said.

“It’s not bad enough that I’m a potion brewer trying to match actual healers,” said Melonomi, “but I failed to achieve my reason for being one. When I started my new Mardukryon character, I was into exploring everything, uncovering secrets, and finding out the full stories of NPCs. Leave no stone unturned sort of thing. It came as second nature because I’m taking up journalism.”

“Sounds awesome,” said Kezo. “Shout us out when you’re on TV someday.”

Melonomi glumly shook her head. “I’d be lucky to land a job as a backroom writer—becoming a reporter is a fantasy—competition in the industry’s tough. I’ll likely work somewhere unrelated to my degree, like advertising or whatnot. But enough about my gloomy job prospects. While interviewing some NPCs for a healer quest, playing pretend-reporter, I picked up rumors of a potion that could heal all injuries and diseases.”

I jerked back after hearing it. My party mates stared at me. I disguised it as adjusting my footing. This really is connected to Bawu and Gula.

Paritor asked, “By ‘all injuries and diseases,’ does that include all negative status?”

“Every single one,” said Melonomi.

“Including Freeze? All forms of it?”

“I believe so.”

Paritor scratched his horns pensively. “The implications for the Great Hunt…”

Kezo snapped his fingers. “I’ve heard of that before. From Luds, I think?”

Luds, my Bawu Brother. We took different paths interacting with Mad Brewer Bawu; he learned to make explosive potions from her while I went the poison-brewing route. Nonetheless, he should’ve uncovered the truth of Bawu’s parting gift to Gula, as I did. Healer Gula was trying to recreate her older sister’s work—the same potion Melonomi was talking about—and Bawu gave her half of the ingredients without revealing their true nature as a cruel joke. All this time, Gula assumed those were dangerous chemicals.

Melonomi smirked. “Luds must’ve approached every player with a Brewer Ocadule to brag that he got info about the legendary cure-all potion. Ugh, acting like a kid with a secret, wanting to be asked.”

“Yep, sounds like something he’d do,” said Nitana.

“I don’t think he’s making stuff up, though,” said Melonomi. “His bombs are made with an Ocadule given by an exiled Brewer, from what I’ve heard, the same Brewer who supposedly came up with the recipe for this mysterious cure-all potion a long time ago.”

I raised a brow at that. Luds wasn’t shouting to the world that he got his Ocadule from Mad Brewer Bawu, the cause of the world quest?

Technically, I was the cause. Maybe that was why he wasn’t vocal about it—I imagined he’d be pretty loud now that his party was one of the four that ended the world quest. It could also be that Melonomi wasn’t up to date with Luds’ press releases.

“Luds knows something,” said Melonomi. She held up a finger, looking around the group as she wagged it. “But he doesn’t have the recipe.”

“How can you be positive?” asked Megan.

“We’ll know if Luds has it,” I said with a grin. “Everyone will; he’ll make sure of it.” That got a chuckle out of the party. “Anyway, Melonomi, what did you do after learning about this rumor?”

“I became a Potion Brewer,” said Melonomi, “to uncover the secret of the cure-all potion. Ichor, as one of its ingredients, makes it a big hush-hush secret among the NPC Healers because of the Great Quake matter. But I managed to gain the trust of an elder of the Healers Lodge who told me about it. I forgot how to trigger her dialogue.”

A lie. Melonomi wouldn’t forget about something like that.

“My party was forcing me to be a healer,” she said, “so I thought, ‘Hey, why not a potion brewer?’ I can support my friends while I do my investigation. In my mind, it will be a huge accomplishment if I reconstitute the long-lost recipe—I’m sure it’ll lead to a world quest. With that on my resume, I’ll apply as an MCO game correspondent after graduation. Idiotic plan… I know. But if I were good at planning in real life, I would’ve taken a different course.”

“Don’t put yourself down,” I said. “It’s a good plan.” And I genuinely thought that.

Even before I got into MCO, I was aware that esports companies covering MCO were raking in big money. If Melonomi got eyes on her because of a world quest, she could become a streamer and apply as a game correspondent if she got famous enough.

“Nah, I’m being stupid.” She shook her head vigorously. Potion bottles jingled in rhythm. “I suck as a healer and haven’t discovered the complete recipe. I’m sure of only four of the dozen ingredients.”

I knew some ingredients too—those contained in the [Large Fragle Bundle] that I hadn’t given to Gula. I hadn’t even told her the truth about them that Bawu had revealed to me.

Was Melonomi a potential partner? Between us, we had a chance to recreate the cure-all potion. We’d first bag all the Ichor, then sell the potion while keeping its recipe secret. The profits would be huge, but this plan would need seed money. Kezo could be our capital guy. Or I could rope in my whole party to form a cartel. Plans, plans, plans…

“Does Luds know that Ichor is one of the ingredients?” I asked Melonomi.

“I’m going to say no,” she replied. “I mentioned I was collecting Ichors to him. Just let it casually slip while chatting. He scoffed and said it was a waste of effort because they had no use. For all I know, he can be the greatest actor, but I bet he would’ve reacted differently if he knew Ichor was included in the recipe.”

“He’ll grill you about it,” I said. “Believe me; he’d try to be your friend if he wants something from you.”

“So, that’s my sorry tale,” said Melonomi, clapping her hands once. “I’ve failed as a healer, failed to find the cure-all potion’s recipe, failed in—”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” said Megan. “If you were a strong healer and found a world quest, we wouldn’t have met. You found us, your new friends, because of those failures.”

“Uh, Meg?” Nitana grabbed her best friend's horns and shook her head. “What did I tell you about speaking without thinking? You’ve got a few people angry at you in the real world despite being the nicest person I know.”

“What did I say?” Megan pouted. “I like making new friends.”

Peals of laughter. Melonomi giggled unrestrainedly, the most relaxed I’d ever seen her. “I’m not angry at Megan. She’s also the nicest person I’ve met. She’s just telling me to look on the bright side… I should do that. My friends tell me I’m too negative.”

Kezo stepped forward, pumping his fist. “You fail only when you stop. If you continue, you’ll never fail. You’re already a great healer. We’ll help you complete the recipe.”

“We will succeed,” said Paritor. “A world quest will be borne out of our efforts and make your name resound.”

“Resound?” Nitana muttered.

“Paritor’s right, Melonomi,” I said. “I stumbled upon one world quest, and look at what it brought.” I gestured at the NPCs and players around us. A little bragging wouldn’t hurt; I was disguising them as inspiring words. “We’ve brought back vigor to the Mardukryons. We’re no longer a forgotten race because of the world quest. Our party is going to uncover more.”

“Seems like wishful thinking…” Melonomi slapped herself. “No! I’m being negative again. Yes, we’re going to find another world quest.”

“Something more impactful than the cure-all potion,” I said. “It’ll be good for the Mardukryon, uh… healthcare system. But we should aim for something that’ll really stir things up. Something big to gain you fame, something on par with the world quest that I did.”

Melonomi blinked fast as if confused at my words. “But… the potion will be very impactful. More than this Blighted world quest.”

“Wha-what…?” I was tempted to argue that this potion, even if it could cure monster cancer, wouldn’t make her famous. The flashy things, like Bawu’s bioterrorism, got the headlines. What could that potion change other than save Mardukryons from all diseases?

“Ah, this will be Herald’s first Great Hunt,” said Kezo. “He doesn’t know yet.”

“Know what?”

“Are you familiar with the story of the Great Hunt?” he asked.

“The lore? I am.” I recalled Pathfinder Gibil’s explanation. “The energies of the mountain periodically move around, powerful beasts follow the flow to absorb them, and the Hunter-Warriors hunt those gathering beasts.”

“Are you also aware that the areas where the energies end up, pool together, and concentrate, are currently unreachable to us?”

I nodded. “An NPC had told me. He also mentioned that monsters couldn’t get to them because the way was blocked, confirming that we were isolated on this side of the mountain. If there were a path of escape, the monsters would’ve found it.”

“And what blocks the way? Do you know?”

I don’t, I answered in my mind, hesitant to admit it. “Uh, rocks?” As soon as my guess left my mouth, I knew it was wrong.

NPC Miners could dig through boulders and even the hard face of the mountain if they wanted to. Some monsters, like the Maggroths, could tunnel through the earth. Why weren’t there tunnels going elsewhere, past the blockade, whatever it was supposed to be?

“There are plenty of rocks, yes,” said Kezo. “But the main issue is the breath of the Mountain Guardian that circulates in the heart of the mountain, throttling its golden energy of life. Streams of magical freezing air rush through deep tunnels, freezing and killing anything it touches.

“The Great Quake opened massive cracks in the earth where the Mountain Guardian’s breath gushes out like geysers, forming impenetrable walls. Digging below them is a no-go because you might open a leak and get flashed-frozen to death.

“Even the Great Hunt monsters?”

“Freeze Resistance wouldn’t work because the Mountain Guardian has massive Freeze Penetration. It’s probably level two hundred and fifty—the max level for boss monsters, compared to the hundred and five for players. Neither will Freeze immunity work because the Mountain Guardian has immunity piercing. But there might be a way to counter this powerful Freeze status.”

My eyes widened. “The cure-all potion…”