ASS 2

~Part 1~

WREEEEEEEEEEE

Getting an alarm clock was a good idea, especially one that guaranteed it would wake him up. Though William should've tested it out first since waking up to a sound akin to a wailing pig wasn't very pleasant.

"Stop, stop, stop!" William shouted as the round object kept screeching.

Most technologies in Earthland were based on Lacrimas, which were essentially crystals made out of Etherano, the name of the magical energy in this world. His alarm clock was created with one such crystal, and it was pretty advanced since it was voice-controlled. In a way, it was similar to Alexa, though very limited in what it could do.

Getting up from the bed, like a zombie raised from his grave, William stumbled over to the bathroom. He was dreadfully tired since he stayed up late to brew as many potions as he could. All of the Health Potions got bought out by noon the day before, so he expected the same to happen today.

Plus, one of the local guilds should be visiting, and making a good impression with them would be beneficial to William, even if they weren't Fairy Tail. Not to mention, he was greedy and wanted more credits and Jewels.

Which was also why William didn't open the shop immediately after fixing himself, but instead went to his alchemy table first. Two stacks of herbs appeared in front of him after purchasing them from the system store, and he went to work.

By the time he was ready to open the shop, William had 37 Health Potions on his shelves and 15 Mana Potions. He'd only failed three times, and two of those happened the previous night when he got tired and lost focus.

The moment William unlocked the door, he was greeted by the sight of a group of wizards eagerly waiting outside it. He recognized Dird and his little group, but there was no more person with them.

The man was just as tall as Dird with broad shoulders but not as buff as the beefcake. He was dressed in a suit and had weird facial features; a broad weirdly-shaped jaw, wide lips, thick nose, and thin eyebrows reaching up to his hair.

"Bro!" Dird excitedly walked up and introduced the new addition to the group. "This is Vice-Guildmaster Banoboster!"

"Nice to meet you, Vice-Guildmaster. Shall we enter inside?'' He would have a hard time doing business outside after all.

"Hmpf," was the only response he received. Rude much, but it was early in the morning. Not everyone was an early riser, and William certainly wasn't. He just had the practice of acting as if he was.

"Those are the Health Potions?" Banoboster pointed at the bottle with red liquid on the shelves.

"They are. There are 37 Health Potions in stock, and each one is priced at 7500 Jewels," William informed. "How much would you like to purchase?"

"7500? Weren't they 5000 yesterday?" Banoboster asked with an edge in his voice.

"They were, but the potions were discounted due to it being the opening day of the store. If I continued selling them at that price, I would be at a net loss, and I wouldn't be able to... acquire more of them," William quickly said, spouting bullshit as if it was the most normal thing.

Since he saw how well the potions were selling the day before, he decided to increase the cost. Plus, William did warn that they were priced at 5000 due to being the opening day after seeing the interest people showed in them.

The only question was how much to increase the cost, and 7500 was the number he decided on. Not too high and not too low since William wanted civilians to be able to afford them as well.

Banobaster stared at him for a few seconds before nodding. He seemed to have understood William's 'plight.'

"Give us 20," Banobaster requested.

"That would be 150000 Jewels," William said. The Vice-Guildmaster appeared more... competent compared to Dird as his crew. Nevertheless, he informed them of the exact price just in case.

"Now, since you are buying a batch of the Health Potions, I need to inform you of a few things to keep in mind," William said as he started grabbing the potions from the shelves.

"First of all, one potion will heal any minor injuries in an instant without any side effects. Wounds and sprains will disappear as if they were never there in the first place. More grievous injuries are a different case," William felt the need to inform them of that since he didn't want any misunderstandings to happen.

It would also be bad for business if one of them died due to having too much confidence in his potions. He would be losing on a paying customer, and that was a no-no.

"If, for example, you've fought against a beast that managed to slash open your stomach, then such an injury would take more than one Health Potion to heal. However, under no circumstances should you drink more than one of the same potion in under an hour because..."

William paused and looked at them with a grave expression. Dird and his group gulped, but Banobaster only lifted his eyebrows. William didn't know how it was possible to raise them even further, but the man pulled it off somehow.

"Nothing would happen, and you would've wasted the potion," William delivered it as if that was the harshest crime. Banobaster blew some air out of his nose while the others just stared at him dumbly.

"Even though a Health Potion might not be able to heal a grievous injury in one go, it could very well save your life since it could stop you from bleeding out or keep you alive until help arrives," William said as he placed the last potion on the counter.

"That... seems reasonable," Banobaster said while they packed their purchase.

"Thank you for your purchase, Vice-Guildmaster. Do make sure to come check out the stores in the future since I expect to have newer potions in stock," William wouldn't miss this opportunity to self-promote. Not to mention that if they do come to check out if he has new products, they might end up deciding to buy something even if he didn't.

"Oh? What kind?" Banobaster stopped in his tracks and looked at him in interest.

"If nothing goes wrong, I do expect to have a few that increase how quickly some recover from injury or their magic power. Not to be mistaken with the current potions I'm selling since they are instantaneous. The others would be cheaper and take more time."

Banobaster didn't seem too interested in that, but William continued on.

"Also ones that increase the toughness of your skin or the strength of your muscles for a duration. Those are perfect to drink before going into a tough fight."

Now that made Banobaster's eyes light up. A potion that increased someone's strength would make the guild members have an easier time taking more dangerous missions. Add in a Health Potion with that, and they can almost guarantee their success. Not only would they be getting more money for doing more dangerous missions, but they would also be getting more prestige.

"Send a message to Twilight Ogre's Guildhouse to inform us in advance of the new stock," Banobaster stated with hunger.

"Will do!" William waved them goodbye. 'Though I might just send a message to the other guilds as well.'

William wasn't going to play favorites with the guilds. Because if he did, Twilight Ogre wouldn't be the one that he favored. Fairy Tail would take that spot, despite how much trouble they would attract to themselves.

One way or another, those guys would become the strongest one of the biggest powerhouses on the continent. Plus, the fact that they had multiple very beautiful female members was a big bonus.

Still, William preferred to be on good terms with all the guilds in Magnolia Town, so they could all come and feed him Jewels and credits. The Twilight Ogre wizards, for example, earned him 7 store credits!

'Wait, what?' William was confused. He sold 20 Health Potions, so that should've been 5 credits, right? Unless William was mistaken.

'It's not the number of potions I sold, but the amount of money I earned that matters!' That made a lot more sense. And if William wasn't wrong - again - then 1 store credit equaled 20000 Jewels.

'That changes things! I would've priced the potions even higher if I knew!' William regretted his decision, but there was nothing he could do. If only there was some kind of tutorial, he might've planned differently, but alas, one didn't exist, and he had to learn everything on his own.

"Don't suppose you have a potion that can regenerate limbs, do you?" A voice brought him out of his musing, and William looked around. He hadn't heard anyone enter, and there was no one in sight.

"I shouldn't have stayed up so late. Now I'm hearing voices..." William shook his head and dropped on his chair. Hopefully, customers would quickly come and buy out his potions, so he could go take a nap.

~Part 2~

"Hey, I asked you a question! You should at least have the decency to respond! Have you not been taught how to respect your elders?"

This time, William heard it loud and clear, assuring him that he wasn't hallucinating due to lack of sleep. The voice came right in front of him, despite no one being there, so he stood up and looked carefully. When William looked down below the counter, a mischievous grin greeted him. The tiny old man was fully aware that he couldn't be spotted where he stood and was there on purpose.

"So? Are you going to answer me?" Makarov Dreyar - for who else could it be - asked him with playful eyes. The geezer was an extremely short and balding old man with a white mustache. He was dressed in a bright yellow attire with the Fairy Tail guild mark plastered in the middle of his chest area.

"A potion that regenerates limbs?" William asked, a delaying tactic just so he could observe the old man.

Makarov was one of the most powerful wizards in all of Ishtar despite his old age. He was a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, a group whose strength was known to be immense. The title of Fairy Tail Guildmaster was also his.

Despite all of that, Makarov looked like a harmless old geezer, one that would spend hours telling you how glorious the old days were while how useless the new generation was. There wasn't a single ounce of aura coming from him that would imply how much a monster he really was.

"Yes," Makarov replied and hopped onto the counter without care. It seemed the members of Fairy Tail picked up their uncaring attitude from him.

"Could you tell me the extent of the injuries?" William asked while trying to think of who might be in need of such a potion.

At first, he thought of Erza since he knew she was missing an eye, which had been replaced with an artificial one. Unless Erza had just arrived at the guild, but that didn't make sense. She should be around Mirajane's age, and William was sure the white-haired beauty wasn't a kid.

And how did he know that? Well, he happened to have a Sorcerer Magazine with Mirajane on the cover of it. Why did he have it? Personal reason no one should butt in.

"Serious enough that he barely got to safety," Makarov answered with a grave and saddened tone.

William's mind was running wild trying to figure it out. It had been a long time since he had watched Fairy Tail, and he didn't have a convenient wiki to check for any detail he wanted to.

"Elaborate, please," William urged him to continue.

It took him a moment, but Makarov answered, "Missing arm, leg, and severe internal injuries, one of his organs might be destroyed."

'Gildarts?' The Shanks-wannabe was who came to William's mind. The only reason he remembered Gildarts lost two limbs was because someone had made a comparison between the two online.

'So Gildarts had recently encountered the black dragon, Acnologia? This means I'm a few months up to maybe a year before cannon starts,' William thought and felt relieved since he had time to prepare. Because when the cannon starts, shit will hit the fan and will ramp up incredibly quickly. Like a Porsche going from 0 to 100, the story went from fighting some weak monster to powerful demons.

"For the internal injuries, the Health Potions will help. If the organ isn't completely destroyed, enough of them might even restore it back. But for the limbs... I don't have anything at the moment," William told the geezer.

"At the moment?" Makarov jumped up in his face, staring at him with hopeful eyes.

"When can you make the potion?" There was a hint of desperation in Makarov's voice. To him, the guild was his family, and all of the members were like his children. He was not willing to stand by while one of them was hurt.

"I do- make it? I never said I can make them," William quickly said. It would be better for others to believe that he was the supplier and not the creator of the potions.

"Oh, please. Yesterday you sold 40 Health Potions from what I gathered. Today, you have 37 of them in stock. Quite the unusual number, no?" Makarov rolled his eyes.

"Not to mention how exhausted you are. Did you spend the entire night brewing them? You have a heavy scent lingering on you, you know?" Even if William had hidden it better, Makaravo might've still figured it out. The old geezer wasn't someone that was easily fooled.

"I'm not going to rat you out if you are worried about that," Makarov said after seeing William tense up. "But I need to know when you can make that potion."

"I don't know. I can't give you an exact time frame. Could be in a month, or maybe a few months, possibly a year as well," William answered honestly. He would need to purchase the next alchemy book, but he didn't even know if the recipe for such a potion would be there. It could very well be in the third, or maybe the fourth book.

Though there was also the option of buying it directly from the store.

"What's the issue? Do you need specific ingredients? Or is it skill-related?" Makarov asked while William opened the system store mentally and looked for the potion.

"Both," William replied and finally found what he was looking for.

[Regrowth Elixir: 250 store credits.]

William didn't even have half of that number at the moment. And if he did purchase it from the system store, he would have to sell it for 5 000 000 Jewels at the bare minimum.

"What if... what if there is someone skilled enough to make it? What would you trade the recipe for?" Markov was confident in his healing specialist. The old woman might not have any magic, but she knew herbs and how to use them better than anyone else. As for the ingredients? He could always send out the guild members to gather them.

"I don't have the recipe at the moment, which is why I couldn't give you a specific time frame," William said with a shake of his head, causing Makarov to deflate and mumble something incoherent.

"You said the Health Potions would help with the internal injuries? I'll take ten of those for now," Makarov said with a sigh as a stack of bills appeared in his hand.

William was more than happy to grab the potions from the shelf, though there was a hint of envy in his eyes by the casual display of magic. Especially so since it was a type of magic William desired due to not having an Inventory. He would feel much better if his valuables weren't left out in the open, even if they were in his building.

"Thanks, kid. I'll owe you one if you can inform me when you have the recipe of the potion," Makarov stored the potions away and turned around to leave.

William hesitated as he watched the old geezer. There was an opportunity there, and he wasn't sure whether to speak up or not.

"I might not have the recipe right now, but I do have a guide on alchemy, in which you might find a clue about what you need," in the end, he decided to take a shot. "I would be willing to trade it. For a fair price, of course."

Makarov was in his face once again, "How much?"

"100 000 000 Jewels at least," William offered with a sweet smile while Makarov's eyes bulged out.

"100 000 000 Jewels?! Are you crazy?" Even though he was the Guildmaster of Fairy Tail, that didn't make him filthy rich. In fact, his financial state wasn't that great, considering how often he had to pay for reparations. His kids were a wild bunch that often caused quite a lot of damage during their jobs.

"You're right. I am crazy," William said, making Makarov sigh in relief. "That's too little, right? 500 000 000 should be a better price. After all, I could make 100 000 000 in about half a year more or less," and Makarov felt like fainting.

"Too much, too much. That's unreasonable!"

"I think it's pretty reasonable, but if you think otherwise, maybe we can come to a different agreement," William replied.

He wouldn't have minded selling the book to Fairy Tail if it got him at least 5000 credits. With that amount, he could grab a bunch of useful things from his system store. Plus, William wasn't too worried that Fairy Tail would 'steal' his business. A few of the potions could be reproduced with ingredients available on the market, but his main products, Health and Mana Potions, would still be made only by him.

"Come on, brat, just say what you want," the geezer urged.

"In exchange for me lending you the book for some time, I want the store to have the protection of your guild for some time, and I want to be taught magic," William made his offer.

The protection would be nice since people will soon catch on to how much he was making with his sales. No one had tried to steal from him yet, but that was only a matter of time. It was only the second day since the store had opened, after all.

The magic, however, was what William was truly after. The cheapest magic in his system store cost 500, and it was Ring Magic. The price of it was very misleading since it was only usable with magical rings. The next cheapest were Sword Magic, Gun Magic, and the like. All of them cost twice as much, and again, they required some kind of equipment to be good.

"What kind of protection?" Makarov first asked.

"I won't specifically request for guards to be stationed around the shop, but if I'm in need of help, I would like Fairy Tail to have my back."

Guards he could always hire on his own, but Fairy Tail having his back was more important. As long as they didn't destroy his shop, which now that he thought about it, could very well happen. Good thing he didn't ask for permanent guards then.

"Fine," considering what William was offering, Makarov didn't mind accepting that part.

"And what kind of magic do you want to be taught?" Now that was the more serious question. Makarov would have to outright refuse if it was something unreasonable.

"The one you displayed a moment ago-"

"-Requip?"

"And another that would help me increase my memory and information processing speed."

"Sounds like Archive... Hmm, I can send you a tutor for Requip, but not for Archive. The best I can do is to lend you a book to learn on your own."

"And when can I expect to get the books?" William asked while quickly checking the cost of the two magics in his system store.

[Requip: 3000 credits.]

[Archive: 4500 credits.]

Considering beginner alchemy cost 500 in his system store, William thought that was a good deal.

"I will be back shortly," Makarov left while William dropped on his chair.

If the ingredients for the Health and Mana Potion were available on the market, William wouldn't have made the offer to Makarov. Not to mention how hard it would be for someone to reproduce the potions without an alchemy table. So the Fairy Tail members would still have to come to him for Health and Mana Potions.

Another reason William wasn't too bothered by the deal was that the alchemy book was at risk in his hands. If a thief came by and decided to pay him a visit, well, there wasn't much he could do to prevent them from stealing it from him. This way, he at least got a lot of value from it.

As promised, Makarov returned quickly, and they made the exchange.

"Our Requip specialist is currently on a mission, but I'll ask her to give you a lesson or two once she is back."

"And if you have any alchemy-related questions, you can come visit," Makarov was gone before William even finished his sentence.

'Now, I just hope customers come in quickly so I can sell the rest of the potions and close the shop for the day.' One of the best parts of being his own boss. If the stock ran out, he could always close the store.

'The weekend is coming up, and I think I won't open the shop during it. Instead, I can focus on brewing potions and studying magic.' Archive and Requip weren't the flashiest of magic, nor the strongest, but it was exactly what he needed. One would give him an Inventory, while the other would improve his memory and information processing speed.

~Part 3~

Since there were only 7 Health Potions left in stock, they quickly got bought out by people that came to check if perhaps he had some available. Only 3 of the Mana ones got sold, but William was happy to call it a day, even though it wasn't even noon. Sure, the dozen remaining could've netted him almost 100 000 Jewels and about 4 store credits, but he had enough funds for what he planned at that moment.

William's first destination was a butcher store. There was a type of ox called Ironback Ox in Earthland. It had tough skin, as its name suggested, but its meat was tender and delicious. William wasn't after some good beef. Instead, he was interested in the tail. That was one of the ingredients for the potion that increases the toughness of one's skin.

It wasn't part of his original plan, but William decided to make a deal with the butcher as quickly as possible now that he lent his alchemy book to Makarov. He was making a good amount of money with his sales, but he couldn't compare to the Fairy Tail members if they decided to pool their money. William wasn't even sure if those guys would go out to buy all the ingredients in Magnolia, but he wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

Convincing the butcher to part with something he usually threw out was very simple. It didn't even cost him that much, just 300 Jewels per tail. The price was even that much due to William paying for the delivery of the items.

The butcher didn't even question why he needed what he considered garbage and was quick to offer for them to sign a contract. He didn't want to miss out on some easy money.

William received a happy surprise when his mute of a system sent him a message alongside a reward.

[For signing your first business contract, you have been awarded 30 store credits.]

William had to stop himself from embarrassing himself by jumping in joy. His store credits were practically doubled by that reward.

The day was shaping up to be a great one. William figured out exactly how he earned store credits, made an okay deal with Makarov for some protection and magic, and he almost earned back the 80 store credits he purchased the alchemy table with.

William's next destination was the market, but he suddenly stopped himself. Some of the ingredients could be kept at room temperature, but most of them needed to be preserved in colder temperatures. So far, he didn't have that problem since he simply purchased whatever he needed from the system store and promptly used them.

'I need a fridge. I should also order a table and a pair of chairs, start furnishing my home,' William's second floor was practically empty, only having the mattress as a form of furniture. Now that he had some money, he wanted to make it a bit more livable there.

'200 000 Jewels. 200 000 Jewels. 200 000 Jewels,' William kept repeating in his mind. That was almost all the money he earned from the day's sales, but the fridge was precisely what he needed. It was big enough to hold many ingredients and had a freezer for some that would require a colder temperature to be preserved.

'Maybe I don't need furniture. Yeah, why would I need a table and chairs when I have a perfectly fine wooden floor to sit on?'

William took one good look at the remaining Jewels in his wallet, 'I'll see you back on Monday,' a lone tear dropped his eye as he prepared himself to spend most of his money on ingredients.

In a treehouse located in the East Forest, just outside of Magnolia Town, an elderly woman with pink hair was quickly skimming through William's alchemy book. A pair of special glasses were on her face, allowing her to read at inhuman speeds.

"So, what do you think, Porlyusica?" Makarov, who had been restlessly moving around, asked.

"Where did you get this book?" She asked, taking a deep, calming breath.

"A youngster lent it to me. Why? Is it a hoax? I might be getting old, but I can still teach him a lesson if it is!" Makarov was as impulsive as in his younger days.

"The author is... an unparalleled genius when it comes to medicine," it hurt to admit that.

Ever since she arrived on Earthland, Porlyusica has been studying herbs and medicine. She had no magic, and that was the only way she could assist Makarov, who had helped her in her time of need, and his gang of troublemakers. Not that she would admit that to him.

Porlyusica wasn't arrogant enough to consider herself all-knowing when it came to medicine, but the book she read made her look like an uneducated monkey. She understood a lot of what was written, but she couldn't help but feel like that.

"Really?" Makarov asked in surprise. 'Maybe the brat wasn't speaking out of his ass when he asked for 500 000 000 Jewels.'

"Hundreds of different types of medicine, potions with all kinds of effects, from healing, restoring magic power, to increasing someone's physical strength for a time, and even ones that could give resistance to the elements," Porlyusica paused and took a deep breath.

"Hundreds of different types of poison, how to concoct, identify and spot, and cure them," her voice grew more passionate as she continued her rant. Makarov looked at her in wonder since he hadn't seen Porlyusica act like that in decades.

"Hundreds of different types of herbs and ingredients, with explanations of their effects and how to process them all. Some of the herbs I've never even heard of, but with the vivid pictures and descriptions, they can't be anything but real," hope was starting to grow in Makarov the more he listened.

"All of that is written in simple and straightforward words. Even a kid will learn something if you hand him over this book. That's how well it's written, and it's just the INTRODUCTION to Alchemy! This is just for beginners!" This was what hurt the most. Porlyusica had spent decades studying, researching, and experimenting with medicines. Yet, despite that, she was not even considered a beginner by the author of this book.

"Just for beginners?"

"Yes!" Porlyusica said and took another deep breath to calm down. "The recipes are only with two ingredients, while it's hinted that more could be combined. I'm assuming the next book will be about that and guidance on how to create new recipes. I don't know what the next step will be after that, and even if there is one."

"Soo... do you think you can figure out what we need from this?" Makarov asked with hope.

"I don't know. I can't promise anything. There's too much to take into account," Porlyusica shook her head.

"Hopefully, you figure it out, or we will have to wait for the brat to get his hands on the next volume," Makarov lamented. He regretted his words after the look Porlyusica shot at him. She was obviously interested in getting her hands on the next volume, and Makarov didn't even want to think what William would ask for it. The brat asked 500 000 000 for this one, so how much more would he request for the next one?

The afternoon, and the day after, William spent the majority of his time just brewing potions. His alchemy skill was getting better and better, and he almost had a 100% success rate with the Health and Mana Potion.

The newer potions he was trying out didn't have the same success rate, but he wasn't too worried about that. At least William hadn't used his store credits to buy the ingredients for them.

Magic was what he focused on during the rest of the time. Requip was the first one William looked into since he wanted to store his valuables in a safe place. The book wasn't very long, but he got a headache from reading it. He had no idea how to create a pocket dimension and link it to himself with his magic. Hopefully, his teacher would be able to shed some light on how to do that.

On the other hand, William found some success with Archive. The principal ability of the magic was to convert information into magical data, and that included memories as well. Effectively, one could turn his brain into a magical computer with Archive. Though it had other useful abilities as well.

For example, a user of Archive could create hard-light constructs that took the shape of flatscreens. Those screens were durable enough to be used as shields or even platforms. More advanced users could even use a form of telepathy.

William was a college dropout, but he had studied programming for a year. That greatly helped him with learning Archive, even though he hadn't finished his education.

However, William encountered one major problem in his magic studies. Despite being able to learn magic, he had very little magic power. One way to solve that was to make use of the Mana Potions he had in stock. Though he was reluctant to do that since he would be losing on store credits.

Another way William discovered required him to increase his alchemy skill and get the next volume. There was a type of medicine in the system store that increased someone's total magical power. Multiple different ones were available for him to buy, but the cheapest one cost 50 credits.

If his store was making that much a day, William wouldn't have minded buying as many as he could. Unfortunately, he was still scraping by, and if possible, he would prefer to make it on his own. It would be cheaper that way, and he was an alchemist, after all.

Sunday morning came, and William was busy brewing more potions. He just finished making the Physical Resistance one when he heard loud banging coming from the front door.

"Not again," William grumbled as he walked over. A few people had come by during the weekend to check if he had new stock available. He informed them the store won't be open on Saturday and Sunday, but it seemed he would need to place a sign for that.

"The store..." William paused mid-sentence and took a gulp.

Generally, the women of Earthland were all good-looking. William guessed it was due to magic because he had no other explanation why. Those women could very easily become models back on Earth.

But what about those that were considered beauties even for Earthland standards? Those women were at least two to three times more beautiful than the most attractive supermodels from Earth. One such beauty was at his doorstep.

She stared at him with brown eyes through a pair of glasses. Her scarlet hair was tied into a ponytail that flowed behind her. She wore a black dress shirt that revealed her impressive cleavage, alongside a black pencil skirt that showed off her long legs.

Erza Scarlet was standing at his doorstep, dressed like he imagined his teachers during his high school days.

William had assumed Erza would be sent as his Requip tutor, but he expected her to be wearing her normal armor. Though he had to admit, this was much more pleasing to the eye.