Chapter 13 - Buy and sell (2)

Alchemy trial room did not have many people. Few players, even less NPC apprentices. NPCs had families, so they would go home unless they were working in complex potions which could not be stopped in between.

Players... well, not many would choose alchemy as lifestyle style unless they were mad about chemistry . Or curious. Or mad about money. Or did not like hunting.... okay, only a small portion of players would choose alchemy unless they had support of many people, either guild or friends, because early levels of alchemy was literally money burning process. Binding powder, Viva water could be purchased only by alchemist who would ask for an arm and leg as payment and behave as if he was doing a favor, which you have to return later. Source fire - ordinary ones would be available as part of alchemy rooms. But these essential items burned a big hole in wallet. Even if friends or guild people gave herbs freely, the Alchemist had to pay these by his own pocket. So few might try but the ones persisting would be those who loved the craft or were paid for the craft.

Manual handling of herbs became 1st obstacle for Saachi even before handling fire. Separating the petals, yet keeping them intact. Removing root hairs completely. Dividing the leaves along the pattern in the middle. Taking out the essence. Boiling the solution for 5 breaths only, because by 6th breath the solution would burn but by 4 th breath it would not have heated completely.All had to be done manually and there was no monitor to say which step turned wrong. Even dipping the leaflet in viva water was to be calibrated to seconds.

1st try --> fail

2nd---> fail

...

...

...

15th attempt---> potion made, but fail. clearance rate less than 50%.

18th attempt ----> level 1 small HP potion made, clearance rate- 50%.

Ding.

Multiplier effect - 20X

...

Just like that, Saachi got 20 potions after working throughout the evening and night (in game). Thanks to super bonus multiplier, it was just like he had 100% completion rate, no...even more than 100% rate.

In fervour, Saachi repeated the experiment, oops... potion making few more times.

He tried till all herbs were used . A total of 35 tries.

He still had time in alchemy trial room but no raw materials. He came out to see beautiful dawn but before he could appreciate it, he had to pay for items used in trial room (fire, water, powder). (A/N- call me lazy, I won't mind).

Bonus effect was maximum of 20X, minimum and most common was 2X. Total number of potions in inventory - 31

So, did Saachi with near 100% completion rate, earned back the money spent? It could be only known after selling these potions. Good thing was his alchemy skill was slowly leveling up too. It meant he was learning more, comprehending more, so completion rate or effective rate would become more. So instead of failing 17 times, he might fail only 15 times or 13 times. But the completion rate increased only for this recipe. New potion, new page, new stats.

He happily ambled over to playground, the make shift market after making a small detour and window shopping.

He eavesdropped few bunches of players. Some exaggeration, some false boasting, some fear, some thrill... monster hunting in night was not for everyone's palate. Only few enjoyed it by the looks of it. Common theme heard was, "Thank the company promotion which waived off death penalty in wild for first 48 hours."

There was no penalty - no EXP loss, no item and coin loss, no gear loss. But.... consumables were completely used up, durability of weapons had drastically used up. For next venture into forest or other areas meant paying extra in Smithy (to increase durability) and in shops(purchase potions, food etc). After making sure that that was not isolated talks, he boldly opened his makeshift shop. 'Selling small basic HP potions. First come, first serve. Limited stock. PAY LESS THAN SHOP PRICE.'

And technically, Saachi had indeed reduced the price, but by 1 small bronze coin. One wonders why he did not sell at same price as in shop or at higher price (more and more demand - present).

Even before 2 or 4 casual player groups surrounded him and started bargaining in earnest, few sharp eyes guild people informed their superiors. So, these bargain hunters had to go empty handed. Within a minute, all of the stocks were used up. Then... the real bargain started.

"Join us xxxx of xxxx. We belong to famous guild. It's hard for normal people to join but you can join now."

" Join clan xxxx. We will pay you cash monthly or weekly, that means salary, in real life. No need to worry about conversion fees and as such. Who knows when the conversion center even opens? Isn't cash at hand better?"

" Join" " Join" "Join".....

" I don't mind if you take your time to decide which place to join, but can you sell us more potions?"

"Sell" "Sell" " Sell" " Sell"....

" I am ready to pay market price for exclusive deal."

" Exclusive" " Exclusive" " Exclusive" " Exclusive" ....