Age of Gods - A VRMMO Story

On his way to The Swans Nest, Thomas stopped at Zella's Fashions to buy some cotton, cotton cloth, a needle, and some thread. Since he still had a couple of hours left in the day, Thomas intended to sew up some cushion inserts for his boots to make them marginally more comfortable to wear. After spending eleven gold on the supplies he continued to The Swans Nest and made his way to his room. He still had tomorrow night paid for, so tomorrow he would just pay for another week up front. He had more than enough money and wouldn't have to worry about that for a good long time.

After entering his room, Thomas got to work making the cushions for his boots. It was extremely simple work that didn't take him very much time at all. All he had to do was cut the cotton cloth into shape and place two layers of cotton together with a layer of fluffy cotton in between. He made sure the layer of fluffy cotton was as uniform as possible so lumps would be less likely to form. After that, he stitched the layers together by sewing along the edges. He even stitched a small pattern into the interior of the cushion to help keep the cotton from shifting around. For his efforts, he earned 74 Tailoring experience which was more than enough to overcome the two experience he needed to rank Tailoring up to 26.

Thomas slipped the inserts into his boots and tried them out. They were nowhere near as comfortable as a good set of memory foam molded inserts in the real world, but they were a hell of a lot better than nothing! Thomas lay down on his bed for a bit to stare at the ceiling with his 'All Seeing Eyes' focused to the maximum. To his surprise, his vision felt like it had gotten a little sharper and a little clearer. He also felt his mana draining a little faster than before, he couldn't say exactly how much faster though. When he felt his mana falling dangerously low he stopped his efforts and relaxed letting his mind drift into the state of 'Serenity'. He kept himself awake for a couple of hours until he felt it was time to sleep, then drifted off for the night.

After waking up refreshed the following morning, Thomas enjoyed his breakfast and paid Martha 189 gold for his room and laundry service for the next week. With that, his on-hand funds dropped to just 152 gold coins. He'd blown through about 400 gold in just two days, the majority of it on a single meal. However, yesterdays meal had been completely worth the price so Thomas wasn't the least bit disappointed. Besides, by the time he finished working on his Alchemy rank, Rock would have another payment for him.

Thomas got directions from a guard to Ricktor's Potions and wasn't surprised to find it on the same street as all the other places he had worked at. Hekrin seemed to know all the artisans on the main boulevard. After stepping into the shop, Thomas was surprised by the sheer variety of items for sale. Despite being called Ricktor's Potions there were other items that Thomas was having trouble identifying for sale as well.

Behind the sales counter was a young man appearing to be in his late teens. He had short brown hair and light hazel eyes. Thomas walked up to the counter and introduced himself with a smile, "Hi there, I'm Thomas and I am looking for Ricktor. Hekrin sent me over to learn Alchemy from him."

After listening to Thomas the young man's expression turns slightly disgruntled. The young man looks Thomas up and down before speaking in a flat tone, "Wait here."

The young man turned around and opened a door leading into the back room. As soon as the door opened Thomas's nostrils were assaulted by several different scents all mixing together. Medicinal scents, earthy scents, and foul scents all combined into something ridiculously weird and disturbing. The young man stepped into the room for a moment before exiting while accompanied by a man that could only be described as a stereotypical wizard!

Ricktor was over six feet tall with straight white hair hanging down to the middle of his back and a long white beard that hung all the way down to his waist. He even wore a freaking robe! However, the robe was modified to have tight sleeves, which made sense. No one would want to have their sleeves dipping into what was being mixed. Ricktor looked over Thomas with grey colored eyes. The look was intense, like he was trying to discern everything about Thomas with his look. When he finally spoke his voice was a deep baritone that rumbled with power, "So, you're the boy Hekrin has been sending up and down the street. Rock, Zella, and Hyde have all spoken well of you when I have seen them these last few weeks." Ricktor's eyes brightened as he smiled broadly, "Rock even informed me about what you've done for him. Being able to make magical weapons without even using magic. Truly phenomenal indeed. I look forward to seeing what you can do with Alchemy."

As Ricktor spoke to Thomas, the young man's look turned more hostile towards Thomas. Like the young man resented him for something. Thomas chose to ignore the young man, his goal was to learn Alchemy from Ricktor, not to make friends with the sales clerk of the store. Ricktor gestured for Thomas to follow him and led Thomas into the back room. The room was filled with all kinds of beakers, tubes, and apparatuses that Thomas wasn't familiar with. Ricktor closed the door and smiled at Thomas once more, "Tell me what you know of Alchemy."

Thomas thought for a moment before speaking, "You will have to understand that I have not studied Alchemy in this world so what I am going to say comes from previous experiences in my original world."

Ricktor nodded and gestured for Thomas to continue, so he did, "Alchemy is a profession that takes various things, such as herbs, and combines them with mana to create potions." Thomas frowned for a moment, it was actually harder than he thought to describe everything Alchemy was capable of. Taking a breath he continued, "Alchemy can cause subtle, or extreme, changes to the properties of materials. Such as the Hardening Solution making leather harder than it could become through traditional means. If I had to say, I would say the ability of Alchemy to cause transmutation is the most powerful, and important, part of the whole profession."

Ricktor listened to Thomas and nodded along with his words, "Well, you're not entirely wrong. Or entirely right. While potion making is an integral part of Alchemy it's merely the beginning. High-rank Alchemists can change the very foundation of the world!" Ricktor's eyes glowed brightly as he spoke with passion in his deep voice, "At a high enough rank an Alchemist can completely change one material into another. That is the realm all Alchemists dream of reaching."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Ricktor focused back on Thomas, "Come, I will teach you how to make a basic potion that will help heal wounds. A health potion."