Chapter 37 - Not Yet Liam comfortably settled inside the small but adequate space and took out all the herbs from his inventory. He now had enough gold and had also crossed Level 10 so while he was taking care of the miscellaneous things, he also upgraded his inventory to hold 5000 items which was the maximum limit for the system inventory. To store more items or rarer higher grade items other storage artifacts need to be specially crafted or looted and bound. So he pinned that task for another time. "Hmmm… Let me see… Basic Healing potion, Basic Mana potion, Basic Stamina potion, Basic Strength potion, Basic Agility potion… It should be enough to start with these five for now." Liam stacked all the herbs neatly based on which herb was required for each potion recipe. Since these were all basic potions, simple enough to be concocted by a beginner alchemist, only herbs were involved in the recipes. Unlike his cleansing potion, they didn't require beast blood or bones or any other items. Liam then took out the cauldron from his inventory and started the heating by activating the rune on the side. He pressed his thumb and removed it, once again just using the automatic regulation. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 This was more than sufficient for the basic potions and only had the flaw of producing potions with 60 to 70% efficacy. This number could obviously be improved if he regulated the entire concoction process himself with complete focus and thorough control of mana. However, he didn't have any shortage of herbs or gold for now so he placed more importance on speed rather than concoction efficiency. After the cauldron started heating up, Liam added a pail of clean water into it, and in a single batch, he tossed in the entire first stack of herbs. He had already arranged the stalks in an appropriate ratio, so he didn't have to do much else. He just squatted near the cauldron and swirled the liquid inside using a huge ladle at regular intervals. Before long, a series of notifications rang loudly. [Ding: Basic Health potion created] [Ding: Basic Health potion recipe obtained] [Ding: Basic Health potion created] [Ding: Basic Health potion created] [Ding: Basic Health potion created] … … ... [Ding: Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased to Trainee Level] "Alright. Time to move on to the next one." Liam cracked his neck and stood up, to quickly empty the cauldron. He scooped out the huge amount of basic health potion within the cauldron into several smaller-sized glass bottles and stored them in his inventory. He then activated another rune on the cauldron which incinerated all the leftover dregs and everything was cleaned out for another fresh concoction batch. Liam once again heated another pail of clean water and this time as well he threw in a huge stack of prearranged herbs, without bothering to adjust anything. As he watched the things boiling silently, he couldn't help but lazily smile and lean against the wall. The things that seemed so easy and effortless now had once been a nightmare to him. As a slave and a weakling, he himself was never allowed to practice alchemy. However, he was forced to stand near the cauldron and act as a punching bag every time his 'owner' couldn't successfully concoct a potion. He had been whipped, he had been starved, he had even been held under disgusting piping hot liquid, just as a means for someone else to vent their anger. The memories of the past flitted past his mind and his smile was no longer lazy or amused. It was rather deeply disturbing. It was like the grin of a grim reaper as he was about to take a soul. "Not yet," Liam muttered and closed his eyes to calm himself down. [Ding: Basic Mana potion created] [Ding: Basic Mana potion recipe obtained] [Ding: Basic Mana potion created] [Ding: Basic Mana potion created] [Ding: Basic Mana potion created] … … ... "Mmm… Smells perfect. Next batch then." Liam ended up using the next three hours of his four-hour time slot and concocted huge portions of all the five basic potions. In the end, he even managed to bring his alchemy skill level to intermediate. Pushing it any higher using just basic potions was near impossible and just a waste of time and resources so he stopped. "I still have the recipes looted from the dragon's nest. Let me take a look." [Ding: Chrysanthemum Lethal Poison recipe obtained] [Ding: Nine-Color Paralyzing Poison recipe obtained] [Ding: Low-Grade Stealth potion recipe obtained] [Ding: Low-Grade Water Breathing potion obtained] "Four special and unique alchemy potions!" "Oh! This is a great haul." "Too bad I don't have the ingredients for these yet. Otherwise, I could have leveled the alchemy skill up all the way to master level today." "Well, whatever. No need to rush things.." He had finished everything that he could do here so he packed up the miscellaneous items and left the crafting room.