Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, Chemistry experiments during my days at highschool was such a fantastic time--but I also remember that there are differences between the things I learned in school and actual practice.”

It’s very stressful to be worried about such huge matters but there is no way to verify it without speaking to someone you have no idea how to get in contact with. Having no way of knowing if you are right or wrong, as your fear and suspicions build--

So, I have to hope for the best right?

The hero should win against the Demon Lord, like it usually goes--but even if they lose, I’ll take responsibility for defeating it in place of the Dragons--I may have been summoned to deal with the Dragons and Dragon God in the Demon Lord’s place--but that doesn’t mean they can control me, force me to fight for them any more than that.

Taking a few deep breaths, I manage to calm down.

It seems that having a high MDN Stat surprisingly has its merits.

***

I return to the room, to carry out a few experiments while waiting for the girls to return.

It’s time to do some testing with my Item Box skill and storage.

Since I have already verified that things kept in storage stay exactly the same no matter how much time passes, such as meals keeping their heat, and drinks their temperature--the ice didn’t even melt; but the food and drink I placed in the Item Box seem to have been affected by the passing of time--but at a much, much slower rate; the food is cool, instead of hot, and the ice has melted, but the drink still cold.

I quickly mark a copper coin with ink, changing it from a currency to an item according to my storage--I have no idea why; maybe because it has been ‘defaced’ it isn’t recognized as currency--some kind of anti-counterfeiting feature. I place the new ‘item’ into my Item Box, and then go back to my storage window; I notice that an Item Box tab has appeared, as though my storage or Menu has changed just by my intentions--which may need consideration in the future. I see the copper coin in the 4 by 4 Item Box tab, and drag it into my storage--the transfer is successful.

I try doing the same thin in reverse, and it can be moved without a problem.

Accessing the Item Box through the storage doesn’t consume any MP.

Well, lets quickly note this in a memo called ‘storage experiments’.

I’m not sure how any of this knowledge will be useful in the future, but it’s still good to know--I guess.

Next, I’m going to see what happens if I tap on a book in storage, instead of pulling it out. If I can somehow read them without taking them out, it would be very convenient; I can even sit in boring meetings and read without anyone noticing.

When I focus on the ‘Tourist Guide to the Royal Capital’, one of the books that I had bought from the bookstore, a drop-down tab options appears and I choose ‘search’. When a prompt pops up, I search for ‘Castle’, diagrams and explanations are taken from the book and are shown in different floating screens, each one about the Royal Capital’s Castle.

Not only did it search with no problems, it also arranged the information into screens and cut out unrelated information.

Ahh, I’ve always wanted this function in real life.

Then I try the next step, if I could search for a result, then I should be able to read the content of the book, right?

Since there doesn’t seem to be an ‘open’ or ‘browse’ option in the drop-down menu, I instead use search and leave the prompt blank. The entirety of the book opens on a floating screen, looking similar to a PDF, including embedded images. Since I can also search for words without closing the window, choosing to either scroll up/down or open other windows, it’s even more convenient than just reading a book.

Next, I move the book the the Item Box.

Unfortunately, it can neither open nor search.

I wonder what the difference between it and the storage is?

***

I take out the Alchemy set and put it on top of the table in the corner of the room, I keep the book in storage; so that, even in the darkened room, I could reed it through the menu.

Since I have already read most of the book, I keep it open to use for referencing if need be--though it is more of a pamphlet than a book, being around twenty pages long.

First, I take out the mortar and pestle. The mortar, of course, isn’t made from white porcelain like on Earth; its made from a material with a similar texture, but a pinkish colour. When I look at it with Appraisal, I see that it is made from Agate, which is a jewel known for its harness and chemical resistance.

Following the book, I grind one of the simple Alchemical reagents with one of the Medical plants, then put the resulting crushed mixture into a small bowl of water; stirring it carefully with a thin metal rod.

The procedure is a total five minutes from start to finish, since it’s the first thing beginners do, it’s very easy.

 

>>Skill: Compounding Acquired.

 

I immediately allocate the Skill Points to maximum and activate the skill.

The finished, watery, solution is called: ‘Antipyretic Medicine’; looking at it with Appraisal, ‘Antipyretic Medicine - Quality: Poor’ is displayed under the name, while the description reads: ‘Medicine used to lower fevers. The effect is very low’.

Well, this is my first time practicing Alchemy, so it can’t be helped that it’s low quality.

***

‘Those who have Magic Power, go to chapter 2--otherwise, go to chapter 4’ -- The book reads almost like a Choose Your Own Adventure.

Chapter 2 is about basic Refining, which means that I have to make actual potions. According to the book, Medicines and Ointments are created using Compounding and don’t require Magic or many years of experience, just following recipes--while Potions are made with a Magic catalyst and MP.

The two are very similar, but Potions react much faster and have much stronger effects.

Since I have MP, I begin work on Refining, following the instructions in the book.

Placing the Antipyretic Medicine, which I made earlier, into a metallic beaker--I mix it with two other reagents. It seems that I have to pour in Magic Power before the reagents dissolve, I take the beaker in both hands and focus on making my Magic Power flow from the right to the left.

It was also like this with the spinning top, you pour in Magic Power by making it flow from right to left--I wonder if this is some kind of Magic Law, or just some simple custom.

The two reagents begin to shine faintly when I pour in Magic Power, since the room is dim, the glow is nice--the process is complete after the reagents completely dissolve and the potion stops glowing.

 

>>Skill: Refining Acquired.

 

So, its not the Alchemy skill, huh?

I also put the maximum number of points into it, activating it.

The completed Potion is an ‘Antipyretic Potion’, of the poor quality.

Since I don’t want to discard it, it is the first potion I made in this world, I put it inside the pot I bought at the Flea Market and place it in storage.

***

Opening the menu, so as to save the compounding recipes into a similarly named memo, I notice that there is a new tab, Production.

I open the tab, and ‘Compound: Antipyretic Medicine’, and ‘Refine: Antipyretic Potion’ are there--but not only them, there are also: ‘Woodcraft: Club (Improvised)’, ‘Composite: Insect Leg Spear (Improvised)’, and ‘Composite: Insect Leg Spear (Improved)’.

I’m sure that it wasn’t there before, like the Item Box tab--I wonder if my wishes change Menu, or if I am just unlocking new tabs?

Well, Arisa did say that the god said that Unique Skills need to be mastered; so maybe parts of them are locked until experience is gained or prerequisites are met.

But, since it’s a Unique Skill, I have no way how to find out, for now, so I stop worrying about it.

When I focus on the ‘Compound: Antipyretic Medicine’, I see that there are four sub-menus, which are: Compound, Inspect Recipe, Delete Recipe, and Details.

Compound seems to be disabled, as it’s grayed out.

I thought that maybe I could do compounding inside the storage, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem so. Even after I store the tools and reagents, it’s still disabled; there are probably some conditions.

Closing the storage, and to take my mind off it, I continue practicing until I have completed six chapters. Because there is only one recipe per chapter, I also got: ‘Compound: Painkiller’, ‘Compound: Ointment’, ‘Refine: Lower Recovery Potion’ and ‘Refine: Lower Painkiller Potion’.

Probably because I’ve maxed out the skills, all of the Medicines and Potions after chapter 3 are attached with ‘Quality: High’: ‘The effect of this Medicine/Potion is extremely high.’

I’m considering verifying what the difference is at another time.

***

I’m about to start practicing the sixth chapter of the introductory book, but I notice two dots showing up on my radar, and they haven’t moved for a while.

One is green, the other is white, so they aren’t anyone with bad intentions.

I stealthily approach the door, feeling slightly mischievous, and suddenly open it.

Arisa and Martha come falling in--Arisa lands on top of Martha in a tangle of limbs, soft bodies pressed together--I quickly look away from them, looking at the floor near them.

“So, what are you girls doing?” I deliberately flatten my voice.

“N-Nothing,” Arisa says with a grin.

“I-I was just curious, since I saw Arisa listening at the door--” Martha puts on an innocent expression, still laying under Arisa; and yet she had also been leaning against the door for more than five minute too.

Arisa quickly gets up, pulling Martha’s hand to help her, and turn; it looks like the two girls want to innocently walk away.

I quickly grab their shoulders, stopping them.

“What were you really doing?”

“I’m sorry, I was tempted to see you in an embarrassing moment, so I peeked,” Martha apologizes, but there is a small smile causing her lips to twitch.

“Uhh, because--You spoke to me so calmly, yet I was shirtless,” Arisa pauses when Martha next to her lets out a strange noise, then continues, “Well, you stayed in your room when we went out, so, I was curious about what you would do--all alone.”

I originally knew that they didn’t have anything bad planned, because Arisa was my slave and couldn’t betray me according to the contract; and they couldn’t see through the door, only hear.

Neither was I doing anything I wanted to hide. Which was why I wasn’t mad at the two.

“Well, there’s nothing to see or hear here.” I say with a smirk, releasing Martha--because she had bothered to apologized.

Arisa, however, I pulled close, pressing her back against my chest.

While she let out an inquisitive noise, Martha walked out and closed the door with a blushing face.

I turned Arisa around, and scrubbed her hair, “Just ask next time, if you want to see that.”

She blushed, “Whaa--”

While she still looked confused, I released her and walked out the door.

Recovering quickly, Arisa followed--but she was muttering very quietly to herself and seemed to have fallen into a delusion, following me more on instinct than anything else.