TL: I can’t remember if I actually wrote about the level 15-30 of professions in the past. In this chapter, well, there’s the plot dump where Brendel dumps his TP into his swordsmanship. I moved this section forward and it explains why he was able to beat Kodan in a one-on-one duel, which makes it shorter.
Chapter 115 – The treasure vault of alchemy (2)
The three judges were a little distracted. Gaspard and Scarlett could see that the youths were performing badly.
[A complete lack of strategy and a terrible mess of positioning themselves. They are far from ready.]
Kodan thought they were no better than children fighting with sticks.
Brendel also shook his head, but he knew that things required time. In fact, these newbies were much better than the first time they fought the creatures because they did not even dare to fight. The mercenaries back then had to kick them with their boots and forced them to advance. They eventually became brave enough to hold against them, and this current battle had been going on for ten minutes.
The improvement was very fast. The Dark Forest was indeed a good place to train someone.
He watched the battle a while longer before his head turned to the other direction; the Druids’ camp was there. The Druids who were supposed to meet up with Brendel only joined him on the second day due to their independent nature.
There were seven of them, including Grey Raven.
[Even though they are strange people, they are worthy of respect. They brought out a hundred veteran Druids and ten Elder Druids to help with my city’s defense and also promised to help out with Trentheim’s farm work.]
Although he did not know how many Druids lived in the forest, at least three hundred Druids were promised to permanently reside in Firburh, which meant there was a considerable number of Druids. This race was of an immense help to him as they aided greatly in defense. They planted thorny brambles that solidified the walls and even carried a type of fruit that acted like grenades.
One could say that a hundred Druids were more effective than an entire army in a defense.
[But they are still wary of me. The Druids went to the city are all fnature-based , probably from the Circle of Brambles, which is an outer Circle. There’s not even one Druid from the Circle of Beasts—]
Brendel smiled a little when he thought of that. Most would not be able to tell the differences. The Circle of Flames, Circle of Tempest, and Circle of Beasts were the strongest offensive groups amongst the Druids, but the Circles of Brambles were considerably effective in defense.
The Druids’ intentions were clear as day.
[Well, there’s no need to rush. Relationship points can be earned in the future.]
He packed away his journal and quill, then took out pale yellow leaves from the bag around his waist.
Moonlit Grass.
These were low-level materials within the Dark Forest but were appropriate for Brendel to train his side-profession. When he received the letter from the Regent Princess, the system acknowledged him as a Noble Lord instead of a commoner. He could not but help grumble in his mind about this fact when he looked at the materials.
[A worthless title, unfortunately. It allows me to raise up my Alchemy to level 8, but my Elementalist profession supersedes it and allows me to go up to level 10.]
The grade of the Moonlit Grass was perfect. The shape and luster of it were far beyond the same type from other areas. Even though the Dark Forest was dangerous, it was indeed a treasure vault for an Alchemist.
He concentrated slightly and a Magic Formation was formed with a color that was violently red. After spending several days and hundreds of tries, wasting countless materials in his attempts, Brendel was finally proficient in Blood Refinement Magic. It was a method that extracted the essence from a material and even formed a few Alchemy items. He did not need to waste time drawing up a Magic Formation and was simply required to let out a few drops of blood from his hand.
It was simple and convenient, and saved much time.
Though he was probably the only person who did this forbidden magic so openly, with the exception of the great Evils who hid in the shadows.
The Blood Magic showed itself visibly and the Moonlit Grass started to smoke. It was slowly converted into a transparent crystal orb.
Mana Essence.
Putting ten of these orbs into water would make a Mana Potion. This refinement appeared like a simple task, but it needed at least level 5 in Alchemy. Most commoners would never be able to cross this level. If a commoner was able to surpass their limits, then their title would be changed to ‘Alchemist’s Disciple,’ allowing them to reach level 8. A true Alchemist would be able to reach level 15.
And if they were able to surpass level 15, then they would be recognized as a Grandmaster.
In the game, level 15 was also the limits where the game’s system allowed the use of TP. Once a gamer reached level 15, they would find the buttons to be greyed out.
The hurdle with each increasing level was an exponential increase. The gamers had an analogy where each increase from level 1 to 5 was 1 point of effectiveness, and crossing level 5 to 10 gave 2-3 points of effectiveness. From level 10 to 15, one could be considered as a ‘Master’, and each level gave 5 points of effectiveness. However, the difficulty at this stage was ten times harder compared to the levels before.
One could only imagine the difficulty of an NPC attaining a Grandmaster’s level. It was at the stage where miracles could be created, and their names would be forever left in history. Gamers often joked that reaching level thirty would be close to the existences of gods.
After Brendel was done with the extraction of the Moonlit Grass, he moved on to the four-leaved Hop Clover to extract Luck Essence. But the extraction was of a higher difficulty, and he barely succeeded once after failing six times, but he tutted after reading the words on his retina.
[…… Incomplete Luck Extract. It’s not even a complete success.]
Brendel forced the gaseous extract into an empty bottle. Suddenly he felt his hair standing up behind on his back, and he turned around to see Felaern. She had been staring at him since his first attempt. Each Luck Essence required ten four-leaved Hop Clovers, and searching for them required a considerable amount of effort, even if they were quite common in the Dark Forest.
The Wild Elf was nearly unable to keep watching Brendel waste them.
“My lord, we have a saying, ‘We must learn to walk before we can run’—”
[Haha…… What a coincidence, we humans on Earth have the same saying. But I really can’t wait to raise my levels and pour TP into it. I just spent everything on swordsmanship.]
Brendel could only sigh when he looked at his empty TP bar. He had no choice but to choose such a silly method.