Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 1

by Shinobu Yuuki

  --- I think the effect's kinda overkill for a rural village emergency first aid kit.

  These legendary rare materials sure were something... So this was what the book meant. And that was only using the moss that grew all over this ravine. It was so powerful that even an amateur like me could make something 'Quality+'. Well, I didn't think the effect being too much could ever be a problem. This was when the delivery box came in handy. You could count on it to assess things reliably. I put in one of the potions I'd made inside the box and closed the lid. When I opened it again after listening to the usual sound of coins clinking inside the box... there were a few 100000 DL coins mixed in the bunch.

  "Hmm... Looks like there's 480000 DL here. It fetched a better price than I imagined."

  Excluding the glass container that cost around 9000 DL, it was still nearly 480000 DL in profit. I had mixed feelings about this being more profitable than working day and night digging up stone this whole time, but never mind that. Wasn't this price a little out of reach for a remote pioneering village?

  Villages that get their main income from agriculture and stock farming wouldn't have that much cash. If all I wanted was cash now, I could just sell it to the delivery box. I guess I could bring some to Mayor Hopper and consult him about it.

  ---Should I exchange it for other goods, or ask for a loan, or something? What a pain.

  After that I tried making stamina and recovery potions. I used both the mortar and the pot for the recovery potion, but I felt kinda unsatisfied with the result.

  "I managed to make the stamina potion well, so what's the problem here, huh?"

  I looked at the bright green stamina recovery potion bottle sitting right next to a clear deep dark green bottle that was supposed to be the recovery potion. I put my hand on my chin and thought. The UI's semi-transparent appraisal window in front of me displayed 'Grade 5 Stamina Potion (Quality++)' and 'Grade 9 Recovery Potion (Quality+)', respectively.

  ---That's probably enough, as far as medicine goes. But it's kinda underwhelming compared to the vitality and stamina potions.

  When I actually made it, the recovery potion got a lower rank than the other two types of potion somehow---Grade 9 quality.

  There were many standards for grading magic potions that I didn't know anything about. After looking at the Tundra review page and comparing the recovery potion classifications, I noticed that the Grade 10 potions were more like a cinnamon infusion, and were used more often than not as prophylactic medicine to fend off diseases before they could set in. The Grade 9 potions were used more like vaccines or antibiotics because of the weak effect. I was interested in what effects the more advanced potions had, but the problem was that despite using overwhelmingly high quality material, I couldn't manage to do anything but the most basic things, still.

  ---It's times like these that made me wish I had something that displayed my skill levels. If I was told the quality dropped because I tried taking on a high-level recipe with almost no skill, I'd at least be able to understand why.

  I took another look at my 'Labyrinth Manager Status' screen, but the translucent window only displayed the usual three stats: Vitality, Stamina, and Willpower. It almost made me regret my minimalistic UI love. Have I been too corrupted by MMORPG games after playing them for so long?

  ---If I'm not being limited by a skill tree or anything, then it's simply technique in the end. I guess the materials and the mortar alone can only carry me so far.

  I looked at the fresh ingredients and the mortar on the table. Even in that realistic alchemy simulator I was talking about earlier, simply mixing wasn't enough even in the tutorial. I didn't think that game's potion making was all that similar to this world's method, but it couldn't hurt to use it as reference.

  ---But I didn't make any errors making the actual medicine, did I? Then it must be the conditions and the utensils.

  For example, the materials were one variable; like the way they were picked up, the degree of freshness, whether they were dried in the shade or the sun---maybe they were even boiled. Then there were cases in which ingredients were seeped in chemicals, with their properties extracted and such. There were more ways to produce potions outside of grinding with a mortar; there was filtration, high temperature and pressure heating, stirring, separation, et cetera. A lot of methods came to mind all of a sudden.

  ---I would really like a recipe now... I didn't think having only legendary rare materials would backfire like this.

  I ordered a small pamphlet-sized book from Tundra called "Do It Yourself! Vitality Potions for Dummies!" that happened to have more information on the actual manufacturing process. There were various ways and materials to make vitality potions. All the different methods were described down to the last detail, like boiling down medicinal plants and heating up mineral ore to extract its components. Then it really was a problem of material and manufacturing techniques? This book confirmed my worries.

  However, the book actually listed about 20 kinds of materials to create various grades of vitality potions; even then, I couldn't figure out how to process the materials I could get from the ravine. I bought another book from the same series called "Do It Yourself! Recovery Potions for Dummies!" as well. But just like last time, all I managed to figure out was that you could make them out of various materials, and there were various ways of making them depending on that.

  ---No one's selling recipes to make potions out of legendary class materials, huh...? Figures.

  I sighed as I browsed through the 'Pharmaceutical Literature' section of the Tundra catalog. The regular ingredients were way more popular and user friendly. That seemingly obvious truth was incredibly underwhelming and painful.

  ---Well, this is fun if you think of it like a game. Fumbling around for recipes is what makes an alchemy game entertaining... I guess I'll take a break for now...

  There were many games that centered around alchemy as a theme, but there weren't that many games that tortured you with recipe gathering as well. The difficulty curve was so high that they were hard to sell. I decided to take a break to pull myself together while I thought about how nice it would be to play a game like that instead.

  I'd been warming up the water from the spring I usually drew water from. Drinking hot water was kind of my current obsession. I didn't know what was causing it, but the water smelled kinda nice when you warmed it up.

  Do It Yourself! Vitality Potions for Dummies! == 300000 DL

  Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #315

  Rating : ★★★★☆

  Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #601

  - A introductory book on potion making, couldn't be easier to use! This is the first alchemy book of the series. It explains the process of making vitality potions with different materials in an easy but thorough manner. The great amount of illustrations that come with the explanations makes me really happy. This is one book I can't recommend enough for those looking to step in the world of alchemy.

  Rating : ★★★☆☆

  Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #552

  - i heard you could squeeze potions out of rocks but it turns out you need an special ore to do it. i was surprised to discovers theres ways to make potions that dont have anything to do with medicinal plants. unfortunately we dont have any of that ore near my house but i reckon the challenge is nice!

  Do It Yourself! Recovery Potions for Dummies! == 620000 DL

  Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #315

  Rating : ★★★☆☆

  Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #601

  - Finally, I've been waiting so long for the new one! My only gripe is that difficulty level this time is kinda... As usual the instructions are detailed and the illustrations are always appreciated. But making recovery potions is so hard I ended giving up anyway. It might be difficult to handle if you're a beginner, despite what the title says.

  Rating : ★★★★☆

  Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #172

  - I'm always looking for new books
as a potion maker, potions are always priceless as a bargaining tool outside the labyrinth. Purchase it so you can help fight off the eternal stock shortage! The production can't catch up. There's men collapsing because of overwork, this is no laughing matter people! Let's all make more potions!

  "Aoi! Aoi!"

  I sat on a chair and basked in the sunshine while watching over the greenery and the moss spreading across the ravine, while sipping on my warm water elegantly, when Ann jumped up, calling for me excitedly.

  "Hey there... Ann, calm down first."

  I rushed to hug Ann and patted her head to help her calm down.

  For a second the options flashed inside my mind... 1) "What happened!?" 2) "Help her calm down first."

  So I chose the second option. I found that I was now rather used to the excessive skinship with Ann... She must have had a good reason to get riled up like that, so it'd be better to calm down first instead of getting worked up over it together. After a while of patting her head, she gradually calmed down.

  "Aoi! Sara is... Sara is... Ah! Sara's my best friend."

  After she'd finally stabilized, I carefully listen to Ann while I tried to soothe her, as the tears pooled in her eyes. It seemed like Sara had fallen ill and collapsed.

  Apparently it wasn't that unusual for her to fall ill because of her weak constitution, but it seemed she caught something really bad this time. According to the elder elf that worked as the mayor's counselor diagnosis, the sickness Sara had was called 'cursed cold' or 'thinning disease', and it specifically targeted humans; kids, and people with frail constitutions, got it more often.

  It wasn't really infectious, as it didn't infect other species, and it only attacked once. But it was still a serious disease that killed one in every five people it did infect, and it seemed like Sara would be in a dire situation if her fever didn't break within two or three days.

  "Ever since I fell here, she hasn't been sleeping well, Aoi... Please save her! I'll do anything if you do it!"

  ---The second offer to do anything I say today...!

  Calm down, black beast of mine. Please make my self-control stay in place. So both of them would do anything for their best friend, I was really jealous now. I understood how Sara felt a little better.

  Well then... Ann seemed to think she was partly responsible for this. I didn't think so, though.

  "Yeah, let me see if I can do anything for her. Can we use medicine to cure that?"

  "Thank you, Aoi!"

  ---Umm... Ann... It's pretty serious when you glue to me like that...!

  "Erm... It really would be great if we had a doctor, but maybe we can make a special medicine for this particular disease. Oh, right. A Grade 7 potion..."

  I did have a few recovery potions on me, but making a Grade 7 would be... challenging.

  "Let's check out Tundra together, Ann."

  "Okay!"

  I searched for 'cursed cold medicine' on the Tundra catalog and... it was sold out. Looking at the reviews, it seemed the materials used to make it were sensitive to the season and couldn't be harvested all the time. On top of being scarce, it was rare for there to be stock in the first place. I doubt there would be a restock anytime soon.

  If the recovery potion we needed was Grade 9, then I had enough of those. But the quality of this one seemed to be way higher than the ones I made, since the potions out of stock were Grade 8 and above. The price was high as well, but since these potions were so versatile, the supply couldn't meet the demand.

  "Now this is a problem. Looks like we won't have much luck with Tundra."

  "What about the medicine you said you were gonna make?"

  "Sorry, I couldn't make anything higher than Grade 9 recovery potions."

  "What can we do...?"

  "Ann, it's too soon to give up. I taught you that the first time we played games, right? You can always regret things, so let's try doing everything we can right now."

  I handed over a bag with eight bottles of dark green liquid I'd made to the crestfallen Ann.

  "Deliver these to Sara's home. They're far from a Grade 7 potion, but it's way better than no medicine at all. Tell them to give it to her if she looks in pain. Can you give these to the person that's taking care of her and come back?"

  "This many? Even though they may not work?"

  Ann raised her head. I could clearly see the worry in her eyes.

  "It's okay. Truth is, I became Sara's friend as well today. Of course I'd want to save your best friend, and my friend, right?"

  Well, we were more like rivals for Ann rather than friends, and we just met today. And thinking calmly about it, I really didn't have any reason to go this far for her, but I couldn't help but do anything but try to help. I wanted to save her, too... Oh yeah, if I could manage to cure her, I'm sure the expression on Sara's face when she found out would be priceless. With something as fun as that on the line, there was no way I couldn't get over a bit of a hard event like this.

  "Thank you so much! What should I do when I deliver these?"

  "It might be a little tiring to run back and forth so much, but can you help me make the medicine when you come back? I wanna try making a Grade 7 recovery potion."

  "Yup, got it!"

  Ann leapt out of the cabin, potion bag in hand, and I begin clashing with the potion making.

  "Let's confirm first... Will I always get the same quality with the same procedure?"

  I did it just like last time, and slowly ground the phosphor buds for the potion in the mortar. The sound of the pestle grinding against the mortar echoed across the ravine. It was unusually loud without Ann around.

  ---It's like a fairy tale... A sweet little girl collapses, and the medicine I make might save her life.

  The one that collapsed was my rival instead of a heroine, though, if I may add.

  ---Normally I would be so frightened by the pressure I'd want to just run away from here, but I promised.

  "This is not a game. This isn't an NPC in some quest. This is a real person. A real life on the line."

  I grumbled to myself about it for a while.

  "Man, I hate this kind of thing. You can kill any NPC like it's nothing in regular games, can't you? Oh well... No point in getting worked up about it. It's just business as usual."

  Some people might get angry I was comparing games with reality, but I didn't really like it when games took reality too lightly to begin with. Of course I won't spout some garbage about how I wasn't not scared because I had done this in games before. I was worried about Sara, and Ann as well, after seeing her so sad because of her friend.

  The thought of not being able to make the medicine came to mind. The anxiousness, frustration, and panic of not knowing if the medicine would even work were wreaking havoc on my mental state, but my pride as a gamer wouldn't let me even think about escaping a trial like this. People usually talked about how life was just like a game. Well, then, people had to do their best with this game called Life.

  When I'd finished grinding with the pestle, I mixed what I had on the mortar with water, poured it into the pot, and set up the fire to boil it down. I let the green liquid boil until it gained the consistency of matcha, and its green color darkened. Then I took it off the fire, let it cool, and filled one the bottles with it.

  "Execute Appraisal... 'Grade 9 Recovery Potion (Quality+)'. So it's the same..."

  I had a faint hope, but the quality didn't change. It might be useful for something, so I filled some glasses with it.

  "I'm back! I'm gonna help you now!"

  Ann had returned.

  "Welcome back. I put some mats with medicinal herbs around the cabin, can you bring them here?"

  "Sure!"

  The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sound of medicinal plants boiling on the pot below the stove we used inside the cabin. The moss started lighting up the ravine as day turned to night, and everything was painted blue except the blazing orange of the stove taking over the inside of the cabi
n. As night drew on, I got to my fourth attempt ever since Ann arrived. It'd only been a few hours, but apparently letting them dry was the right answer, though the highest quality I'd managed to get so far was Grade 8.

  After giving it her all gathering phosphor buds and firewood, Ann had wrapped herself up in a blanket and used my lap as pillow. She looked so comfortable. We were way past bedtime, so I understood why she was so tired. She went back and forth between here and the village two times today, and she worked really hard up until a moment ago.

  "Good grief... Is there even anything bad about you?"

  When I looked at Ann's sleeping face, the way she entrusted herself to me made me want to keep doing my best. It was a burst of energy more than even a thousand cracks of a whip to my back could have mustered.

  "Ah... Mm... Zzz..."

  It made me feel like a fool that was being led around by the nose, so to calm down some I patted her hair. She seemed to enjoy it as she had let out some cute noises. It was kinda scary how naturally cute she was...

  "Execute Appraisal... So increasing the boiling time or the amount of material doesn't help, huh?"

  After my fourth failure... I took a deep, long sigh while I stuffed the bottles full of 'Grade 8 Recovery Potions (Quality+++)'. The wall between Grade 8 and Grade 7 was larger than I had expected. It wasn't something you could force yourself to improve upon in a day or two. It took time and experience, both of which I didn't have the luxury of right now.

  "Whoa, there... Looks like I'm tired, too. I've gotten so used to sleeping as soon as it gets dark these last two months. Guess I can't do much about that."

  I ground some more phosphor buds in the mortar in preparation of another attempt, when I was suddenly struck with a bout of drowsiness, and noticed the thing that was pouring into the mortar wasn't water. I ended up mixing in a stamina potion instead. I didn't want to wreck my sweet little vocal cords or wake up Ann, so I gave up on trying to exclaim my displeasure. Suddenly, I noticed something.