Ruthless ~ 43!

Good morning everybody! Hope you’re all doing well. My schedule is a bit wonky, as I’m in London, but everything should be back to regular soon!!

~ 43 ~

“Come now, you admitted that you didn't know what this was. You have no way to use it to its full capacity. Sell it to me.” Jake demanded calmly.

“Jake, tell me what it is, or I’m going to take it somewhere else and get it appraised.” Joe replied quickly, reaching out to grab the cauldron.

“All that would achieve is you dying and this vanishing forever into the black market.” Jake slapped Joe’s hand away. “Fine. Listen, this is a true Morovian-metal cauldron. This… this is a true Artifact. I mean that both in terms of it's quality as well as it's historical significance. It provides three functions. First, it cleans and neutralizes itself. Second, it can be used to prepare potions, powders, and pills at any rarity. Third, every millimeter can be set to reach only a specific temperature. This part could be a thousand degrees, and still freeze whatever touches it here.”

“An Artifact?” Joe’s smile lit up the room. Even his most powerful book of rituals was only Artifact-ranked, and it had war rituals in it that could starve a nation or reshape the terrain of a huge area. “Those functions seem nice, but they don't seem enough to make something an Artifact…?”

Jake stared at Joe with a flat expression, then let out a slow breath. “This is why you should give this to me. You having this and wasting time making Novice and Beginner potions would be like a child finding a Radiant Core and using it to reach level ten ahead of their friends.”

“I will explain that again, but slower.” Jake held up a single scarred finger. “It cleans and neutralizes itself. Perfectly. I know that you have never seen the sludge that is created when a high-tier potion making attempt fails, but the setback means days, or weeks, of cleaning. It neutralizes itself. That means that the only things in the cauldron are what you want in there. No dust. No air. Nothing beyond what is needed for the recipe. This alone makes it worthy of being an Artifact. But it still does more. It can prepare any rarity of alchemical goods. Most cauldrons can make potions with a difference of a single tier, meaning that there could never be a possibility of a critical success.”

“Lastly, the perfect temperature control means that the only variables are our own motions and the quality of the goods we put into the cauldron. Knowing exactly what the temperature will be will increase the chances of success for an Concoction by thirty percent.” Jake cocked his head to the side. “Do you know what that means for me? What do you think my chances of creating a Concoction are, if I use this?”

“I… I have no idea.”

“That’s right, thirty point five percent.” Jake slowly nodded as if Joe had been the one to speak. “I have a half of a percent chance to create a Concoction naturally. For you, this would bring your chances all the way up to negative twenty-nine percent, since you are at Beginner rank one.”

Joe touched the cauldron and stored it in his ring. Jake, who had been leaning on it and hugging it, fell to the ground. “It seems that we need a different deal, if we are going to move forward. I’m not opposed to you having this cauldron. But.”

Jake was practically nose-to-nose with Joe as he waited for him to finish his statement. Joe nodded as he thought over the deal he wanted to make. “But… I would need you to become a crafter for my… no, for me directly. I have a land token, and I plan to use it to claim my own lands when we go to the next Zone. We already have a deal that I will bring you along when we create an area for our guild at the next Zone, and we can expand on that.”

“I’ll offer you at-cost for all items I can produce, half market value for your guild.” Jake offered instantly.

“For at least ten years.” Joe sternly demanded. “Also, I will remain the owner of this cauldron, but you will have exclusive rights to use it so long as you train me properly. At the end of that time, we can renegotiate. Deal?”

“Almost.” Jake looked at the ring on Joe’s hand. “A cauldron like that needs a proper home. You will need to build or buy a Unique - or higher - alchemy shop. So long as I have that, I am fine with the rest. My goal has always been to become the Alchemical Sage, and this cauldron may be the key to that.”

Quest updated: Homebrew. Jake the Alchemist has made a new deal with you! Make him a new workshop of at least Unique rarity in the next zone you make an outpost on, and give him exclusive rights to use your cauldron for ten years. Time limit: 364:23:59:59 Reward: Profession (complete), ‘at cost’ alchemical goods, and first pick on produced goods, for ten years. Failure: Full hatred with Jake and other organizations, and you will be added to a ‘Rob and kill on sight’ list.

Joe blinked as he saw the changes in the quest. He had a year until it failed? He hadn't put that stipulation in! Jake cleared this up right away, “Now that I know that you have this cauldron, I can only hope that you will work quickly to ensure that I am able to use it. Otherwise, my desire to grow might overgrow my fear of retaliation.”

“I see… in that case, shall we get to work? I’d love to do some training while I’m here.”

They got to work, and Joe winced when he saw how roughly Jake was treating his cauldron. Before, he had always treated it like a favored child, yet now he was carelessly whacking his whisk against the edges of it like it was a pan he had gotten in a bargain sale. “Jake, easy! There is a long time between now and when you get an upgrade, treat this correctly!”

“Hmm?” Jake realized what he was doing and yelped, patting his gigantic green cauldron sheepishly. “Indeed. Well. Let’s get to work.”

Over the next few hours, the two of them created various Trash-tier potions for Joe’s rituals. Only once was Joe able to make a Common-ranked Ritual Strengthening potion.

Ritual Strengthening Potion (Elixir). Adds 1% effect to the main target of a completed ritual.

“Wait, it says that my potion is an Elixir?” Joe looked at the small amount of fluid he had been able to scoop out of the bottom of Jake’s cauldron. “I don’t understand.”

“Oh, you made an Elixir already? You’re progressing exceedingly quickly.” Jake looked at the bottle, and held it up to the light. “Yes, that’s an Elixir, alright.”

“But it’s a potion?” Joe tossed the small bottle into his ring storage space.

“Correct.” Jake pulled out a list that said ‘alchemy for dummies’ at the top of the page, and handed it over. “Here is a reference guide. There are three different types of alchemical goods. Potions, powders, and pills. A ‘potion’ is actually a Trash-tier ranking, but it is so common that it became the name for all liquid alchemical goods.”

“In terms of rarity, the rankings go: Potion, Elixir, Draught, Vial, Philter, Tonic, Brew, Ichor, Injection, and finally Concoction. These rankings are used on all alchemical goods. But…” Jake cracked his neck, sharply yanking his head to the side, “A powder is made by taking a potion, distilling and reducing it until all that is left is a powder. The failure rate for this is astronomical, as even a single degree difference can turn a success into a failure. Also, a powder can only be created by reducing a potion two ranks higher than the outcome of a powder.”

Joe listened attentively, then waved at his list. “Then how could you ever make an Injection-rarity powder? That’s not possible?”

“It is, but only by combining powders that have the same potency and make-up.” Jake gave Joe points for realizing that issue out of the gates. “Now, if you have a powder and a potion of the same ranking, which do you prefer?”

“The powder, clearly.” Joe’s words made Jake nod again. “Even though they are the same rarity, the powder will be as effective as a potion two ranks higher, yes?”

“Correct. Now, as for pills…” Jake shook his head. “The difficulty rises to an entirely new level. You need to combine powders of variable strength and effect in order to make a pill. I have never seen a recipe for a pill that reaches above the ‘Vial’ rank. In fact, I only know higher pills exist because the King once gave a Philter-ranked, or ‘Rare’ rarity if you go off the general rarity rankings, to a war hero once upon a time. Part of the reason I want to go to a higher Zone is that there will be a higher chance of finding recipes that will allow me to increase my abilities.”

Their conversation lapsed, and Joe focused on increasing his alchemical abilities once more. By the time he left the shop, he had increased his Ritualistic Alchemy skill to Beginner three. Even though it was only two ranks for over six hours of work, Joe’s eyes were shining. He had been able to make a Basic Ritual Strengthening Elixir that increased the effects of a ritual by five percent. They had even accidentally added too much liquid silverleaf to an attempt and made an Elixir called ‘Ritual Draught’.

The draught, when added to a ritual, would make the entire ritual into a liquid. The ritual, though fully ready to go, would wait to activate until the liquid was swallowed by someone. The best part? The target would have already been set by the ritual, so the person drinking the liquid would not be impacted or have any negative side effects. Unless they were the target, of course. They had spent over an hour attempting to replicate the potion, and now had a working recipe.

Of course, there was a trade-off for these Elixirs; they would only work on rituals at the same rank. That meant that these would only work on Beginner ranked rituals, but… Joe sighed happily as he arrived home and placed these potions for sale in the Grand Ritual Hall. “It’s a start.”