Roy: Should I Get My Glasses Appraised?
"Magic, materials, money, stamina, and spirit — everything an Alchemist possesses exists for the sake of Alchemy. And Alchemy will surely reward your devotion. Remember, Alchemy is omnipotent!"
— Albert
Aria slept very soundly that night.
She even dreamed that she was soaring through the sky with her arms stretched wide, looking down at countless struggling figures below her. The sight was strangely beautiful, filled with a calm and quiet sense of power.
The next morning, Aria woke up feeling refreshed. Without wasting any time, she brought the little snow owl downstairs and began her daily work.
The first task, as always, was ordering breakfast from Rogers.
A bowl of hot soy milk, fresh fried dough sticks, and about half a catty of wolf meat were soon delivered. Aria and the little snow owl ate together happily, thoroughly enjoying the meal.
After eating, Aria went to check on the two "little darlings" soaking in the wooden barrel. As expected, the potion inside had turned back into plain water.
She poured it out and appraised the items again. The medicine bag's storage space had increased from one cubic meter to roughly 1.1 cubic meters, while the moonstone dagger remained unchanged.
Aria wasn't discouraged.
She had already planned for this to be a long-term process. Powerful items always required patience.
After discarding the now tasteless potion, Aria turned to the items she had received from Natasha the previous day.
There were sixteen fist-sized pieces of obsidian.
It wasn't much, but Natasha had risked her life to get them, so Aria had no intention of complaining. She placed all of them carefully into the storage room, planning to wait until she had collected at least a hundred pieces before attempting to upgrade them.
Next came the herbs.
According to Natasha, these were supposed to be "interest" for the potions.
"Interest, huh…?" Aria muttered to herself as she looked at the dirty, unwashed herbs. "At least clean them first…"
Still, she began sorting them.
After handling herbs for so long, Aria could now recognize most of them at a glance.
Her hand paused when she picked up a strand of red, bell-shaped herbs that resembled lily-of-the-valley.
"Wait… isn't this a flame bell?" she murmured. "First volcanic worms, now flame bells, and even fire poison… Did this woman go fight inside a volcano?"
Where Natasha trained or fought was none of Aria's business. What mattered was whether the materials were useful.
Without hesitation, Aria went to her desk and sent a message.
Aria: "Do you still have any flame bells?"
Natasha: "Flame bells?"
Aria: "The red herb that looks like lily-of-the-valley."
Natasha: "Oh, that one. I don't have any left right now, but once my injuries heal, I can bring you a hundred catties as compensation for the delay these past few days."
Aria blinked.
"So she's already awake…? Did she not sleep at all?"
She grumbled inwardly but typed out a reply.
Aria: "Alright. Rest well."
Though Aria needed help urgently, she couldn't force an injured person to overwork themselves. High-end combat power like Natasha's was worth waiting for.
The real reason Aria was so impatient was simple.
Flame bells were a core ingredient in explosive potions, fire potions, and fire resistance potions.
With fire potions and her flying Talent, she could practically become a flying bombardment unit. Although she disliked fighting, she liked the idea of being untouchable even more.
If anyone dared provoke her, she could just hover in the air and rain destruction from above.
While sorting the herbs, Aria found herself smiling as she imagined her future as a human bomber.
As if it could feel her good mood, the little snow owl — who had been pecking at herbs by itself — waddled over and rubbed its head gently against her leg while chirping softly.
"Are you happy too, little one?" Aria said, reaching down.
She gently rubbed its round, fluffy head.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
"Calling you 'little chick' feels a bit insulting to your B-rank Talent…" she mused aloud. "How about I give you a proper name?"
She looked down at it thoughtfully.
"Let's call you Gang emima."
The little snow owl looked up at her with an oddly intelligent gaze. Whether it understood or not didn't matter.
From that moment on, its name was decided.
Gang emima.
After finishing the sorting work, Aria began brewing potions.
She focused on Magic Potions.
Now that she had two major mana-consuming "big shots" to support, she couldn't afford to be careless. If she didn't maintain them properly, they wouldn't be able to help her later.
She had also noticed something important.
Almost all of the potions she brewed were being sold, leaving very few for herself.
So she made a new plan.
One-third of the potions brewed each day would be sold. One-third would be stored as "strategic reserves." The remaining one-third would be used to feed the two mana-hungry entities.
To increase efficiency, Aria had purchased two 21-liter stockpots from Roy.
With this setup, her daily potion production could now reach around 1,000 bottles.
Roy had even larger stockpots available, but Aria's Alchemy Workshop didn't have enough space for them yet. She would have to wait until the next workshop expansion.
As she had planned earlier, Aria no longer went to the stream to fetch water.
Instead, she ordered it directly from Roy.
When Roy first received her water order, he thought something was seriously wrong with her health. Why else would someone start buying water in bulk?
But Aria insisted, and as a professional merchant, Roy naturally didn't refuse good business. He simply assigned the task to one of his subordinates.
Although selling water didn't bring in much profit, it was still better than nothing.
The truly big profits would come when Aria approached him with serious business deals.
"Chirp chirp chirp…"
Gang emima's soft chirping echoed through the workshop.
Aria turned around and saw it wobbling toward her from the entrance of the Alchemy Workshop.
It chirped continuously as it walked.
"What's wrong, Gang emima?" Aria asked. "If you want to play, go over there. Don't disturb me while I'm working."
"Chirp chirp chirp…"
Normally, Gang emima never bothered her while she was working. It would just play quietly by itself on the empty first floor.
If it was coming to her now, something was definitely going on.
Aria glanced at the clock on the table and understood.
"Oh… it's mealtime already."
That explained everything.
She immediately ordered food from Rogers.
In the past, Rogers would deliver food and the alarm on her desk would remind her. Now, she had Gang emima as her personal reminder.
It actually felt… nice.
While eating, Aria casually checked her shop and noticed that someone had sent a trade request.
The request was to exchange a book of demonology knowledge for thirty +50 Magic Potions.
Aria welcomed this kind of request.
Although she had raised the price compared to before, she didn't mind. Knowledge was priceless. If knowledge could be traded, she would always be willing to buy it — especially when the price wasn't outrageous.
The only problem was that she didn't currently have any +50 potions ready.
She would have to brew them later that evening and deliver them.
The other party had no objections. The request had already been sent, after all.
And Natasha would need several days to fully recover anyway. The materials weren't arriving immediately, so Aria could take her time.
Just as she was thinking about this, a call notification suddenly rang from her friends list.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Aria glanced at the sender.
It was Roy.
She felt a little curious.
Why was he contacting her at this hour?
She opened the chat.
Roy: "[Appraisal Glasses] Do you want them?"
Aria stared at the message for a long moment.
Appraisal glasses?
Her heart beat a little faster.
If those glasses were real, they could change everything for her.
She leaned back slightly in her chair, eyes narrowing as she considered the message.
"Should I… really get my glasses appraised?" she murmured softly to herself.
The workshop fell quiet again, filled only with the soft bubbling of potions and the gentle breathing of Gang emima.
Something told her that this simple message from Roy might be the beginning of a much bigger change.
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