Age of Gods - A VRMMO Story

Thomas set the Morning Dew Mana Potion back into the rack with the rest of the batch and moved over to his work table. He looked over the remaining ten sets of ingredients. He still felt uncomfortable knowing that he had wasted five sets of materials in a single moment of carelessness. He needed to be much more careful in the future. Alchemy was not a game and failing to follow a recipe properly could clearly have terrible consequences.

Thomas started by crushing five of the mana crystals into powder and dumping them into the large beaker. After that, he added the necessary amount of water. The first two steps were simple and straightforward. He had briefly contemplated trying to extract the impurities from the mana crystal but just looking at them while thinking that sent a shiver down his spine. He didn't know why, but he felt like if he tried to purify them something terrible would happen. Feeling that dread he decided against it and just used the mana crystals as intended.

Thomas picked up the first bundle of Everdew Grass and went to work using his 'Transmutation' to remove the dew drops from the exterior and pull out the 'heart' of the plant. It took him a little over an hour and another mana potion to extract all of the essence of the plants and place it into the mixture for the potion. With every step necessary done he placed the beaker onto the formation plate and purified it just like the previous batch before pouring it into vials to complete the task. Once again he gained a large chunk of Alchemy experience and a small chunk of regular experience.

With the batch of potions completed, Thomas's rank in Alchemy jumped from 24 all the way up to 27 and was just 78 experience away from 28. Alchemy was officially his highest ranked profession at the moment. Thomas fully expected the next batch to bring his Alchemy just that much closer to rank thirty, so he got to work. It took him another hour and a half as well as another mana potion to finish the next batch of five Morning Dew Mana Potions earning himself yet another chunk of Alchemy experience and regular experience.

At the end of his work, he'd had a large amount of growth in his profession and abilities. His Alchemy had grown to rank thirty, his 'Transmutation' had grown to rank eleven, his 'All Seeing Eyes' had reached rank twelve, and his Mana Control had reached rank ten. All in all, it felt like his innate abilities had all been pushing him towards a path in Alchemy. While Thomas had no intention of becoming a full-time alchemist, it was good to know he could easily become one if Magitech Engineering or Blacksmithing didn't work out for him.

Since Thomas was out of ingredients he made his way over to Ricktor, "Aside from the materials I accidentally detonated, I've finished making sixteen mana potions. One basic mana potion and fifteen Morning Dew mana potions."

Thomas directed Ricktor's attention to the collection of mana potions. It was extremely easy to visually tell the two versions of the mana potions apart due to the difference in their colors. Ricktor walked over to examine the potions closely and after reading their descriptions he smiled and nodded, "You did well on the ones you didn't destroy."

His words were somewhat playful, though he gave Thomas a serious look. Thomas still felt a little guilty for wasting the materials and letting Ricktor down. No one could be harder on Thomas than himself. Ricktor went over to his lockbox and collected some gold coins to present to Thomas, "This is your pay for the potions you managed to finish minus sixty gold for the four sets of wasted materials."

Ricktor handed over 250 gold coins, completing the quest for Thomas.