ASS 7

~Part 1~

"And this is where I make my potions," William said as he led Erza inside his alchemy room.

"It looks... simple?" Erza noted as she looked around.

There was a massive fridge in the back, holding the ingredients that needed a specific temperature. The rest were neatly placed on a couple shelves that lined the wall. Next to those, there were a bunch of crates with empty bottles. A mortar and pestle alongside a few different knives and other tools sat on top of a table with two chairs, and finally, the alchemy table was the last thing in the room with a large jug of water sitting next to it.

"It's honestly all I need to brew potions," William shrugged his shoulders.

"Could use an upgrade or two, but it does the job," he continued as he started taking the ingredients he purchased from his pocket space and began storing them.

"Now," William scratched his head. "I usually spent my afternoon brewing potions..."

As much as he wanted to spend more time with Erza, he still had work to do, including the job for the Fortune company. However, just chasing her away didn't sit right with him.

"Can I watch?" Erza asked, staring at him with her brown orbs.

"Yeah, of course, you can," William replied with a smile. She looked so hopeful when she asked, so he couldn't refuse. Plus, he wouldn't mind the company.

Erza brightly smiled and sat down on one of the chairs to observe him.

Ever since William opened his store, he'd been practically working from morning till night every single day. And he was alone most of the time. Even if his mind was focused on his work, William was still a human, one of the most social species. He was starting to get lonely, and he couldn't help it.

Though the two wizards Twilight Ogre sent as his bodyguards did alleviate some of that loneliness. His lessons with Erza also helped, and come to think of it, they hadn't discussed if they would be continued or not. That was something they should talk about later, but for now, it was time to do his magic in front of a live audience.

"Let's start with a simple Heath Regeneration Potion," William walked over to his alchemy table. The top of it was round with lines engraved on it that led to an opening with a small platform just underneath it. Two round, glass flasks were situated on the table with a pipe connecting them. Erza noted one of them had a tiny valve.

"We start off by boiling some water." William grabbed and twisted one of the flasks, removing the top part before pouring water inside. He then closed it and hit a button on the side of the table. A flame burst from a small, oval-shaped hole right beneath the flask, heating up the water inside it.

Despite the flask being made out of glass, William wasn't worried that it would melt. It hadn't melted so far, so he trusted it wouldn't now.

"The water will start boiling in about 45 seconds, so I have to have the first ingredient ready by then," William said as he walked over to one of the shelves.

"The first one is the Red Dandelion. A pretty common flower around here since it grows on the plains near Magnolia," he continued explaining as he grabbed the Red Dandelion and moved to the table. Erza, who was comfortably sitting on a chair, watched him with interest.

"The petals are important, but the magical ingredient is right here." William tapped the stalk before flipping the flower upside down over the mortar. He then pinched it at the end and dragged his fingers down as if trying to squeeze the juice out.

"Now we cut it, leaving a bit of the stalk remaining since the juice is there." William expertly grabbed one of the knives and sliced it up, letting the flower drop in the mortar.

"And now we grind it up," he said, quickly grabbing the pestle before crushing the flower with circular motions.

"The water's just about done by now, so we can throw it inside." Opening the flask, he put the ingredient inside before hitting the button to stop the fire.

"Needs to rest for a bit; around 40 to 50 seconds, which gives me enough time to grind up the other ingredient," William continued his explanation as he moved over to the shelves again and grabbed a jar with pale yellow leaves inside it.

"Ippisley is a common herb around here, from what I gathered, though a bit rarer than the Red Dandelion. I heard it's actually used in a lot of soups, but I'm using it for a different purpose," he said as he tipped the jar over the mortar, which was surprisingly clean despite him having used it just a moment ago. The perks of it being an item that came from the system.

"I have about 10 more seconds before I need to add it, which gives me just enough time to stir up the liquid to make sure the water has absorbed the first ingredient." William grabbed a metal spoon, and with the mortar in hand, walked over to the flask, stirring up the liquid a few times. Afterward, he threw the ground Ippisley inside, closed the lid, and hit the button to start the flame.

"I need to keep heating the liquid at a boiling temperature for 30 seconds and stir it once it's done."

Erza watched him quietly as he stood above the liquid. She enjoyed the sight of him moving around and acting with confidence while brewing. Though she didn't forget to note a few things to ask him later.

"It seems to be done," William said as he hit the button to stop the flame before quickly stirring the liquid.

"Now it needs to cool down for about a minute." William then tapped another switch. The pipe connecting the two flasks suddenly opened and sucked the liquid, transferring it over to the other one.

While waiting, William grabbed a glass bottle and uncorked it before placing it on the small platform. Once the liquid cooled down, he twisted the valve, letting it drop on the engraved lines of the table, freely flowing over to the bottle he just placed.

"And we have our first potion for the day," William said as he popped the cork back in position and placed the potion to the side.

"Now I have to do this at least a hundred more times," he finished with a chuckle and turned to her.

"You have a very accurate sense of time," Erza praised him.

"What do you mean?" William asked with a tilt of his head.

"You did not look at your watch even once, but you precisely knew how much time had passed," Erza explained her observation.

"Well," William scratched his head. "I can't say I knew exactly how much time had passed, but... I did it on instinct?"

William wasn't even sure about that. He just knew when he had to do it. But why did William know, he had to ask himself?

Sure, William had brewed thousands of potions by this point, but was that enough for him to instinctively be able to judge when it was the right time to do what he needed?

'My system... isn't a useless bag of bones?' That was the only thing William could think of. He might not be able to absorb books and get their knowledge uploaded to his brain, though it seemed his system came with its own perks.

'It doesn't help me directly, but it points me in the right direction.' Instead of instantly learning a skill, William had to learn it on his own, but the system helped him out by nudging him on the correct path.

'Was it like this from the start?' William asked himself. He wasn't quite sure, but maybe he hadn't noticed it back then. He did end up failing quite a bit, but he quickly got the hang of it.

"Then you must be a very talented... potion maker?" Erza praised, a bit unsure what to call him.

"Alchemist," William corrected before continuing with a grin, "and I do have to be good at something to match your talents."

"I'm nothing special," Erza quickly replied.

"Ah, but here is where you are wrong, princess," William strutted over to Erza, leaning down to look her in the eyes.

"You are very special and never forget that, okay?" William stole a kiss, unable to resist her cute, shy expression.

"Want a strawberry cake?" He then asked her with a grin, knowing how to make her happy.

"Yes, please," the words left Erza's mouth before she could even stop herself.

"Ta-da," William intoned as he took one from his pocket space. It still wasn't that big, but he always made room to store a strawberry cake inside it.

"Your Requip still needs work. You need to be able to take out items faster," Erza said as she took the offered treat.

"I haven't had that much time to practice it," William replied with a thoughtful look. He wanted to increase the size of his pocket space to be large enough to fit an alchemy table inside alongside a bunch of other stuff.

That was something William needed to work on, but he also wished to learn Archive as well. Reducing his sleep and abusing Stamina Potions might be the only way to achieve everything he wanted in a timely fashion. He had to brew more potions as well and complete his side of the deal, after all.

"We will continue our sessions in the evening then," Erza said, nodding to herself.

"And... we will be hugging during those sessions," she continued with a timid look, avoiding making eye contact with him.

"Huh?" William muttered, a smirk growing on his face. "Erza, you do know that you don't need to make an excuse if you want to cuddle with me?"

"Training with a distraction will help you activate your magic even under pressure," Erza quickly replied. She wasn't wrong per se, but she didn't deny his accusation.

"Aha," William muttered, nodding his head with a knowing look and a grin on his face.

"And... when you get better, we will replace the hugging with kissing," Erza continued, still avoiding looking into his eyes.

"Don't stop! Keep going. What comes after?" Despite his eyes widening in surprise, William urged her to go on.

"I... haven't decided yet," Erza said with cheeks as red as her hair.

"Well, now. I guess I have to work really hard on my Requip to find out what's the third step of our training," William felt very motivated at that moment.

"Mhm," Erza mumbled as she stuffed herself with the cake, avoiding replying to him.

"I really can't wait to find out," William continued, watching as her blush spread to her ears.

It seemed it was time for him to become a master Requip user.

~Part 2~

There had been a steady increase in traffic as more and more people came through his store. However, most of those customers were from Magnolia, with maybe the odd visitor from out of town.

William's store was gaining renown, but it was mostly locally. News just didn't spread that fast on Earthland compared to Earth. That was both good and bad for William.

Good because it allowed him to prepare when someone with truly malicious intentions came. A regular civilian causing a scene was nothing compared to a dark wizard that had come to wreck his store and steal from him. The longer it took for Dark Guilds to hear about his shop, the more time he would have to prepare for their inevitable arrival.

And it was bad because it would take time before William received big commissions like the one with the Fortune company. The only reason that even happened was because he got lucky Mr. Fortune saw his presentation on his opening day. His fame would have to grow more before such deals become common.

William hoped that maybe one of the crafters in town would come to form a contract with him since he learned most of them were wizards. However, they really didn't have a reason to do that. They've sustained their business without the need of his potions so far, so why would they suddenly require them? And even if they did, they could always pop in the store and buy whatever they wanted.

Wizards and large companies would be the ones to make him really rich once he gets better known throughout Fiore. William couldn't wait for the day people from all around the kingdom came to Magnolia specifically to visit his shop.

For now, however, he had to be satisfied with Twilight Ogre being his biggest purchaser. And the other guilds in town? William hadn't seen hide nor hair of them. Something, something, Embers - he couldn't remember the guild's name - was already chased out of town if Twilight Ogre's Guildmaster was to be trusted. He hadn't seen a single wizard from Metalbears, so they might've already left as well.

And Fairy Tail? Erza had come by to get at least one of each of his potions. As someone who wanted to be prepared for any situation, that was to be expected from her. Mira had also visited one and grabbed a bunch of Health Potions. Knowing her history, he could understand why she would want to have a few of those on hand.

No one else from Fairy Tail had visited so far - no, William didn't count Makarov. Until now. His first Fairy Tail wizards entered his store, and even though there was a queue in front of them, their presence set them apart.

A flash of greed passed through William's eyes, hoping those guys would make him a lot of money, but... 'Oh, please dear lord all mighty, I beg of thee, please let my shop survive this day in one piece.'

William was a bit antsy as he served the people in front until his nose picked up on something. He leaned to the side, spotting one of the Fairy Tail wizards, who looked to be cosplaying as Johnny Bravo with his ostentatious hairstyle, smoking a cigarette.

"You," William pointed at Wakaba. "Leave the store. No smoking inside."

As someone who used to smoke before, William could understand the need for some nicotine. However, he'd worked hard to get out of that habit and quit smoking, so he preferred to stay as far away from them as possible to not get tempted to start them again. Smoking in an enclosed space was also one of his pet peeves. The smoke just got everywhere, the smell absorbed by all the furniture.

"Huh?" Wakaba looked at William with a raised eyebrow as a smirk grew on his face.

"Who's gonna make me?" Wakaba asked, taking the cigarette from his mouth and tapping it, the ash falling on the wooden floor. "You? Or those two behind you?"

William frowned. He didn't remember Wakaba's magic, but the man was still a Fairy Tail wizard. Forcing him out of the store was outside of his abilities. The feat was also above the paygrade of the Twilight Ogre wizards. As good as they were handling the regular citizens, they'd get stomped by Wakaba. Not to mention what might happen to his store.

However, William was unwilling to let that go. Inside smoke was something he really hated. Though he didn't have a lot of options here.

William planned on talking with Makarov soon, but threatening Wakaba with the Guildmaster wouldn't do him any good. The old man treated everyone like they were his family. Wakaba would just laugh in his face if he did that. However, there was one person in Fairy Tail that almost everyone was scared of.

"A Fairy Tail member not following simple rules? Why am I not surprised?" William shook his head. "I wonder what Erza has to say about that?"

Color visibly drained from Wakaba's face; his smug look replaced by one of horror.

"You wouldn't," Wakaba replied. A man hiding behind a woman? Even in a world where magic existed, where women could become terrifying beings, men still had their pride.

"Try me," William said with a daring look. Pride? What's that? Could he sell it for store credits?

"Just wait for me outside," Macao, a man of average height with short, straight, slicked-back dark blue hair, tapped Wakaba with his elbow.

He might not be one of the stronger members of Fairy Tail, but Macao could still beat 19 Vulcans on his own. For a comparison, Dird and his boys managed to take down 12 and had to use Health Potions to recover.

"That was a cowardly move if I've ever seen one," Macao said when he reached the counter.

"Should I've tried to force him out then and risk the destruction of my building? I heard you guys are pretty good at that," William calmly replied. His shop, his rules. He didn't want people smoking inside, and he would enforce that rule.

"Tsk," Macao clicked his tongue, but he didn't deny William's claim.

"How long have you been in Magnolia?" Macao asked afterward.

"Just under a month, why?" William replied with scrunched eyebrows, wondering where this was going.

"And your store is making good money?" Macao continued asking, looking at the sign with the prices of his potions.

"I don't see how that concerns you, but yes, it does," William answered.

"Look," Macao turned to William, eyes staring at him intently. "I watched Erza grow from a... scared kid to the woman she has become now."

"Ah, I see," William nodded. This was supposed to be a shovel talk.

"If-" Macao got interrupted as William raised his hand.

"And you will continue watching as I make her happy," William stated with certainty as he truly meant that.

"But this is not the place and time for that. Will you buy something, or will you keep holding the line?" William asked, pointedly looking at the people behind Macao. The Fairy Tail wizard just stared at him for a very long moment before nodding as if he had seen what he wanted to.

"Give me two of your Health and Magic Potions," Macao said, throwing the Jewels for them on the counter.

William heard the two Twilight Ogre wizards sigh in relief after Macao walked away with his potions. He couldn't even blame them since he felt the same way. At least William dealt with that situation and wouldn't have to think about it for the time being. Or so he thought.

More Fairy Tail members came as the day continued. All of them subtly asked William a question or two about him or tried to give him the shovel talk in their own way. As annoying as that was, at least they bought something from him, so there was that. Though a couple of them came for different reasons.

"Hello, how can I help you," William greeted his next customer, doing his best to stare at her brown orbs and long eyelashes. It would be so easy to just lower his gaze by a bit and enjoy the view of the large breast she put on display by wearing only a bikini top.

"I'm here to see what kind of potions you have to offer," Cana said, her eyes moving over to the sign next to the counter.

"Do you have any that have permanent effects?" She then asked.

The S-class promotion was coming up, and Cana wasn't confident in making it. Three years ago, Erza beat her, becoming the youngest S-class wizard. Two years ago, Mirajane won it, and last year, the mysterious Mystogan got promoted.

This S-class promotion test would be the easiest compared to the previous ones, but it would still have members like Natsu and Gray participating. Her Card Magic wasn't weak - it was pretty versatile - but it didn't bring the same firepower as Dragon Slaying Magic, for example. If she wanted to win, she needed whatever edge she could get her hands on.

"No, I don't believe so," William replied with a shake of his head.

Such potions did exist, but he wasn't sure if he would even sell them even when he had the ability to create them. William would give them to those he cared about - Erza would definitely get them - but making them public? That seemed like a very good way of putting a massive target on his back.

"Figured," Cana said with a tired sigh.

"I'll take three of the Physical Resistance and Strengthening Potions," she continued.

"Here you go," William said as he handed them over and stored the Jewels.

"Thanks," Cana replied as she took them and turned around to leave, but she stopped herself. "I heard you might be knowledgeable about magic. You don't happen to have any suggestions for me?"

"Card Magic?" William asked.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I might have some ideas," William replied slowly, trying to remember what he could about her type of magic.

'There's that dude that could capture others in his cards. Maybe that could work?'

"If you wish, we could talk it over later since I will be visiting your guild after I close the store," William continued.

Last night, he bought the more expensive alchemy table or alchemy lab as it was called. It was much bigger, and he absolutely loved how quicker it was to brew potions with it. The alchemy lab was so good, he was left with practically no ingredients in his storage. He needed to get more, but buying them from the market just wouldn't be enough anymore.

"I'd like that," Cana replied as she walked away and raised her hand to wave him goodbye. "Thanks!"

"Gonna have to visit Twilight Ogre as well," William said to the two wizards sitting behind him to reassure them that no, he wasn't replacing them. He would be putting a job offer for ingredient gathering at both guilds. This relieved them, judging by their sighs of relief.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's the man that conquered the steel heart of Titania!" Loke, the second notable Fairy Tail wizard, swaggered over, placing a hand on the counter as he rested his head on it, a playful smirk on his face.

"Loke, one of the top-ranked wizards you'd want as your boyfriend," William replied with a smile of his own.

"Oh, no, no, no, I don't swing that way," Loke backed away, both hands raised up defensively.

"And neither do I," William chuckled before asking. "How can I help you?"

"Well, I wanted to meet the man that somehow managed to get Erza on a date with him," Loke teased him before getting serious.

"But I'm also interested in the potions. I wonder how good they are?" Loke asked.

"They work as intended," Willliam replied.

"Well, I'm gonna take one of the Health, Magic, and the regeneration potions..." Loke paused. "You can even throw a Weak Antidote in there."

"Here you go," William handed them over as he took the Jewels.

"I'd appreciate it if you could inform me how helpful they are with your situation for future reference," William said as Loke's face turned ashen, and he slowly started backing away.

"W-what? Y-you?" Loke was rightfully spooked.

"Look, I can keep your situation a secret if you want," William quickly said, to which Loke responded by rapidly nodding his head.

"Or I can try to find a permanent solution," William continued. Loke froze in place before lightly shaking his head with resignation. He'd already accepted his fate.

"But in both cases, I would ask for a small favor in return," Willian replied.

"What do you want?" Loke questioned as he steeled his expression.

William leaned on the counter and placed a hand next to his mouth. Understanding, Loke walked over to hear him out, and William whispered his request.

"Woah, really?" Loke stepped back, his face a mixture of astonishment and respect.

William just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Damn! Well, we can talk it over a beer or something, but only if you promise not to tell anyone about my situation," Loke demanded, placing his foot down.

"My lips are sealed," William replied as he made a gesture with his hand over his mouth as if zipping it up.

(Bonus Scene)

Porlyusica very carefully moved the boiling liquid from the pot over to a cup on the table. For one minute, she intently stared at the dark orange color, daring it to change.

"Finally," Porlyusica grumbled, her voice laced with annoyance. She turned over to her stock of ingredients and pursed her lips as she found it empty.

Her head ached in pain as she had the urge to pull her hair out. She didn't even know how many times she had attempted to brew a potion, but Porlyusica knew how many she succeeded in making, a grand total of five potions!

Five potions! All of the ingredients she had on hand were gone, with barely anything to show for it. Despite following the instructions in the book word for word, she failed countless times.

Too much water? The potion failed. Too little water? The potion failed. Wrong ratio of ingredients? The potion failed. Moved the liquid a few seconds late? Failed. Moved the liquid a few seconds early? Failed.

Failed. Failed. Failed. FAILED!

The equipment Porlyusica had on hand also didn't help with her chances. She used the pots she usually made her medicine in, while the book suggested she use an alchemy table at the bare minimum.

From where was one even supposed to get an alchemy table? Porlyusica had never heard of such a thing, and neither had Makarov. She'd ask him to try and get her one, but Porlyusica hadn't heard from Makarov ever since.

How was she supposed to experiment and work on a more advanced potion when she couldn't even make the basic ones? It seemed almost impossible without having an alchemy table.

Porlyusica took a few deep breaths. She had to calm down. Getting angry wouldn't help her. She picked up the book to read through it for the nth time when she heard the door to her treehouse creek open.

"MAKAROV!" The door slammed shut as her voice echoed through the house. Very slowly, it opened again, and the old man peeked at her with one eye as he hid behind it.

"Y-yes?" Makarov asked with a trembling voice.

"Where's the alchemy table you promised?!" Porlyusica asked, breathing hard.

"Umm, you see," Makarov started before quickly closing the door and booking it from there.