Age of Gods - A VRMMO Story

After arriving at The Swans Nest, Thomas placed his new portable Alchemy kit inside of his room before heading back to the ground floor to enjoy a much-deserved dinner. He planned to head to the bank tomorrow to deposit the alchemy kit. For the time being, he had no real use for the kit and instead just wanted to make sure it was safe. He was positive it would come in handy in the future, he just wished it wasn't so large that it would make carrying it around a pain in the ass. He needed to find some time to look for something with spacial storage so that he could easily carry his items on himself without having to worry about them. He intended to go shopping after finishing his Alchemy training, given his current rank he figured he could get to rank 25 today easily.

After a nice warm dinner that, surprisingly, was comprised of boar for the main course, Thomas retired to his room to relax. Though his body still felt energetic, his mind was in a quagmire and demanded that he get some sleep. Not one to argue with the demands of his body, Thomas closed his eyes and used 'Serenity' to help himself drift off to sleep more easily. He was just too tired to spend time staring at the ceiling, besides he had practiced using his 'All Seeing Eyes' ability enough during the day.

The following morning, Thomas enjoyed his breakfast before lugging the alchemy kit over to the bank to deposit it with the goblins there. The process was simple and straightforward. After paying the five gold fee for the deposit of the item the goblin made a record of it on his bank card and deposited it in, Thomas assumed, their vault. After the deposit was made the goblin teller informed Thomas that he could retrieve his item at any bank location.

Thomas was fascinated by that and wondered what the principles behind it were, but he didn't have time to grill the goblin to see if he could glean any information. He wanted to finish training up his Alchemy skill today. Today was the first day of week four in the game and his pod would soon run out of nutrients to feed his body. He needed the time to log out of AoG and swap out the module before ordering a replacement to be delivered to his home. He also really wanted to take a break, eat some normal food, get some exercise, and, most importantly, take a real bath! The dirt in AoG might not be real, but it sure as hell felt real and just wiping himself down with a wet towel wasn't doing it for him.

After arriving at Ricktor's Potions, Thomas was greeted by the same disgruntled young man as the day before. Ignoring the man, Thomas made his way into the back room and greeted Ricktor. Inside of the room was another individual, a woman. She was wearing a robe similar to Ricktor's and was busy making a potion of some sort at one of the spare tables. Thomas only took a quick glance at her and noted that she appeared to be in her late twenties to early thirties and had a nice figure. Not quite his type, but still rather nice. Thomas didn't really get much of a look at her face as he was distracted by her long and fiery red hair.

Ricktor gestured to the woman as she worked, "That's Esmy, another otherworlder, like yourself, who came here to learn how to create potions." Ricktor leaned forward and whispered in a conspiratorial voice, "Sadly she's not as talented as you are."

The woman spun around and glared at the two men, her face coloring red with rage, "I am plenty talented! It's only taken me three days of work to get my Alchemy skill up to rank twenty!"

Thomas frowned and retorted to Ricktor on top of Esmy, "I'm not talented, just lucky. Anyone summoned with the same abilities as me would be able to do just as good, if not better."

Thomas really didn't believe he was talented, instead, he believed in his experiences and previous knowledge. Once upon a time he had been a complete newbie like anyone else and had worked hard to get to where he had arrived. He disliked terms like 'talent' and 'genius'. Even people who could be labeled like that still had to work hard and using those labels denied them their hard work.

Ricktor looked between Thomas and Esmy before frowning and nodded, "I understand."

Esmy huffed and went back to her work. Thomas kept his attention on Ricktor and nodded, "So, what am I working on today?"

Ricktor stroked his long beard and then smiled, "Given your capabilities, let's have you make some mana potions today."

Hearing the words 'mana potions', Thomas facepalmed himself hard. How the hell could he forget something as simple as mana potions?! If he'd just bought a few of those he could have saved himself a lot of time yesterday and maybe even finished his Alchemy quest in a single go! Thomas groaned at his own stupidity and shook his head in exasperation. He'd been doing mundane professions non-stop and had just simply forgotten the basics in his desire to get everything done. Thomas decided to slow down and think more before he acted, to remember what he needed to remember and take advantage of the money he'd earned from Rock's sales.

With a sigh at his own stupidity, Thomas nodded to Ricktor, "Let's do it."

Ricktor grinned at Thomas's reaction to his words. Ricktor had noticed that Thomas could use some mana potions yesterday, however, he decided not to say anything. Part of teaching someone was allowing them to make their own mistakes and learning from those mistakes. Ricktor walked over to the ingredients cupboard and selected a few things before placing them down on the same work table Thomas had used the previous day. Ricktor gestured for Thomas to come over and explained the ingredients and process to make a mana potion. He pointed to a small container that contained a bundle that looked like grass covered in dew, "This is Everdew Grass. It contains a fair amount of mana within the dew that clings to it."

Next to the bundles of Everdew Grass were more of the familiar mana crystals that Thomas had worked with the day before. Ricktor continued to explain, "Making a mana potion is rather simple. Start by powdering the mana crystals and placing them inside of the large container."

Ricktor picked up a smaller glass beaker and set it next to the larger one, "Once you do that, fetch some water from the well and add it to the powder, then add the Everdew Grass last. Once you do all of that, just use the formation plate and purify it. The purification process will remove the unusable parts of the Everdew Grass. That's all there is to it. I'd like a batch of twenty. If you can make an improved version like you did yesterday then I will increase your pay accordingly."

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.