It turned out that with the increase to Endurance there was also an increase to alcohol tolerance. At home Richard always made sure to only have a beer or two at a time. Savoring the flavor of something that he had created himself. The fruits of his efforts so to speak.

  In Rowan city not only were there an absolute glut of establishments. There were also all kinds of craft drinks. And it was hard to choose between all of the beers, wines, mixed drinks, and straight alcohol. There were also non alcoholic counterparts for everything that they found. Which was a good thing since Mumford was living dry.

  Tina really did try to drink Gem’s share. And she had to have been a level or more higher than Richard. She put it away like water and kept going back for more. Brock was a little more dutiful as the party leader and only had one or two at each of the places they visited.

  All in all, Richard found that it was a fun night out. It had been a while since the last time that he had gone out with such a group. And he found himself forgetting to worry about red guilds and alchemy and potions and trying to keep safe.

  When the crawl came to an end he found the closest hotel, got a room, and just passed out. Not from all the drinking, more from the length of the day and stress from everything that had happened.

  Morning came and Richard blinked the sleep from his eyes as he lay in bed. He felt pretty good, which was strange considering everything that he drank the night before. While he did notice an effect in the past hangovers being lessened. It felt like something had changed from then. And when he checked his status he found the culprit.

  He had leveled up to level 4.

  ~Status~

  Richard

  Level: 4

  Skills: Alchemy (S-Rank) level 1

  Strength: 13

  Endurance: 13

  Magic: 18

  Wisdom: 18

  When it happened he wasn’t sure. Given the tense nature of the dungeon he didn’t have a chance to check after Gem was injured. Even then it was always a bad idea to get lost in one’s status. As who knows when something bad might be lurking just outside of sight. Waiting for a moment of weakness or a lack of guard to charge and attack.

  The extra stats would explain a lot. How Gem was light, and how he could handle his liquor and hangovers better. Richard extended his hand up towards the ceiling and looked at it. There was no change that he could see. He was still the same person as he was before. Just a little stronger. Just with a little more momentum in comparison to before he started all of the dungeon stuff.

  Richard checked the time on his phone and jumped out of bed. It was already late morning and he needed to meet with that sales guy in a couple of hours. He better get cleaned up and make his way to the guild. He didn’t want to be late for his first meeting with management at the guild.

  ***

  The downtime on the bus gave Richard a chance to look at the other thing that had changed in the Cabbit Dungeon. New recipes.

  Low-light Vision Eye Drops

  Darkvision Eye Drops

  Large Cabbit Teeth Bone Meal

  From the System name they were pretty much what one could expect. The Bone Meal used 3 Large Cabbit Teeth, and appeared to be a larger container than the normal bone meal recipe. Would there be a bump in quality at all? Or did it just produce more? The Large Mana Potion didn’t say that it was any better, it just seemed to be more potion. The large variants would need some testing in order to see if the effects had changed at all.

  The eye drops, something new and not really exciting, were different from any other recipe that Richard had so far unlocked. The effects were predictable, in that they gave the user the ability to see better in low-light or the dark. But it was the ingredients where they were unique.

  Both took Cabbit Pelts, a first for a recipe. But then they needed Cabbit Horns and eyes. A Cabbit Eye for the low-light version, and the Umbra Eye for the darkvision eye drops. Another change was that it didn’t create just one item at a time. Instead there was an x3 next to the name, which should mean that 3 items are created instead of one. It was also his first recipe that didn't use a vial.

  Richard was excited about making the new recipes. Only he still hadn’t heard back from the guild about prices for the bone meal and the other potions. And did the eye drops even exist? He checked using the Crafter’s Union app and then the Dungeon Center’s website. But he wasn’t able to find anything about them…

  If he couldn’t sell the eye drops then he would have to eat the cost of the materials. He would do some shopping after the meeting at the guild as there was no way that he wasn’t going to create them. Then he could create all of the new recipes at home and just stow them for the time being. He sighed at the thought of having toys to play with, but not being able to sell or otherwise get rid of them. Selling them could make some money for sure, but new items could also paint a target on him as well.

  Next level. When he reached the next level of Alchemy he would release some more items. Spread it out some. Make it harder for anyone to notice someone with a high rank skill had appeared.

  Richard thought about becoming a masked alchemist. Someone who made potions in the dark and sold them through a faceless organization with a puppet or VR avatar as the leader? He chuckled to himself about the idea. But pushed it away for the moment. Enigma would probably tease him mercilessly if she learned about such ridiculous goals.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  ***

  The market section of the Crafter’s Union was just as busy as it always was. And while Richard wanted to dive in and start looking for new materials for potions, he tempered himself, and instead checked in with the front desk.

  They took his name and after he waited for a moment led him to an elevator. “You’ll be going to the 54th floor. Where Chuck will collect you from the elevator,” she said. It was just his luck that the severe receptionist that reprimanded him over the Burner was the one at the help desk.

  Once Richard had entered the elevator she reached in and pressed the floor before stepping out. He noticed her giving him a look over before she turned around and returned. Richard was rather at a loss as to her motivations. Given the look on her face it certainly wasn’t any personal interest. In the end he decided to just put it out of his mind. It can’t bother you if you don’t think about it right?

  As the elevator ascended it reminded him how he felt rather nervous about meeting with a suit type. In his experiences they usually didn’t like hearing the word no. Which was something that he found harder to do the more that he had advanced in his last career. The boss was a real piece of work though, which may have been half of the problem.

  There was a ding that saved Richard from other dark thoughts that he had also promised not to think. And when he exited the elevator he found Chuck was waiting. He greeted Richard with a warm smile. “Hello and welcome, thank you for agreeing to meet with us.”

  Richard followed Chuck into a meeting room that had a wall of windows looking out over the cityscape. He had never been so high before and was amazed by how the city looked. Pockets of ruins were still present. And groups of newly built buildings were huddled together. While some sections of land were still wild, having been reclaimed by nature.

  There was a cough at the meeting room table and Richard gathered himself. “Sorry about that. It’s quite the view,” he said and looked at the other person. She was older, with blond but mostly grey hair, but it was done up in a trendy looking style. She wore a white blouse with a grey skirt. A grey jacket rested on the chair next to her.

  She stood and approached. “Hello, my name is Ellenora, I usually go by Nora though. So please use that instead.”

  “Hello, and I’m sure you already know, but I’m Richard,” he said with a laugh.

  He didn’t know if she found it funny or not. But Nora at least smiled. “Has Chuck told you about today’s agenda?”

  “Uh, not really. Just a meeting to go over the new items that I’ve submitted to the guild,” Richard said. It seemed like they had already caught onto him. Though just how much he would need to find out. Nora seemed like a tough cookie, and he may not be able to find out much. In the worst case he could always sic Windry onto them. Though he probably wouldn’t be able to afford her fees… that is assuming that she would even agree in the first place.

  “Let's take a seat first, and then we’ll go over each item.” She nodded at Chuck and he closed the door. It beeped once it latched in place.

  They took seats so that the windows were to Richard’s right with Chuck and Nora across from him. “I didn’t get your title?” Richard asked as he looked to Nora.

  “I’m the President in charge of the Buying and Sales departments. While I delegate a lot of the day to day work to people like Chuck, I’m still at the helm at making sure the guild makes it through any rough waters that might appear.”

  “I see.” President level? Richard pinched his thigh. He might be in trouble.

  “Let me start by saying that here at the Crafter’s Union we value the freedom and individuality of those that join. Not only as crafters, but in all roles at the guild. You are not required to offer any information that you don’t want to or would make you feel comfortable doing so.

  “And you aren’t in trouble. This isn’t an interrogation. We just want to make sure that the guild is serving your needs. While making sure that you are working towards the guild's interests. Which, in our case, is pretty simple. Protecting and providing materials for those creating items to be sold into the market.”

  Richard nodded along as she spoke. So far so good. But it felt like the other shoe was still in the air.

  Nora tapped away at the tablet in front of her before she asked, “Are there any problems that you have with the guild so far?”

  He shook his head. “No. Everything has been great. I have a place to get the materials I need as well as someone who is always willing to buy them. I had been wondering about when I would hear about the appraisal results from the potions and bone meal that I had left here the other day?” Though he already knew the price of the Soul Purifying Potion, he still hadn’t gotten the money from the first one.

  “That is part of what this meeting is about,” she looked at the tablet, flicked through a couple of screens, and then turned to the wall opposite of the windows. The screen hanging there hummed to life. And showed an image of one of the Red Drake Carapace potions. Given the light glowing from the stopper, a grayish purple, it was probably the Soul Purifying Potion. “This isn’t a potion that we, or the Dungeon Centers, had any knowledge of. It is a potion that has, at least as far as we can tell, appeared in the world for the first time by your hands.”

  Richard pinched his thigh again, just with both hands. He had really done it, didn’t he? Though since they were asking about it, maybe he wasn’t outed yet? “It’s that rare is it? I’m sure that new items appear from time to time?”

  “That’s true. Yours is unique in both form and function. What does the Soul Purifying potion do?”

  “I…” Richard said as he looked at the screen. It wasn’t on the recipe list. And it was something that came about from using the Healing Flower catalyst with the Red Carapace Vial. He glanced at his satchel for a moment. Inside were the scales from the other drakes. Did that mean that each potion would be as new and unknown like the Soul Purifying one?

  His fingers hurt from pinching himself too much. “I can’t say that I have any proper idea. It was something that was identified by the System. And so I figured that it wouldn’t be a problem to sell it.” Hadn’t even occurred to him really. With his autocraft Alchemy the System was providing the recipes even. So there should never be an issue with the potion or its effect.

  “We sent the first one out for testing to the Sword Soul guild,” Chuck said. Speaking up for the first time. “Which went well, as they then requested 20 more. It also seemed like they were in luck themselves. As the potion at least has the ability to remove curses.”

  Richard tilted his head to the side. “I would have assumed that there would be a potion dedicated to the removal of curses. Though hearing about its effects,” he tapped his lip with the knuckle of his index finger, “I can’t say that I’m surprised. Purifying suggests removal of foreign matter or I guess energy. Though I wonder about the soul part of the potion?”

  “The information we have is slim, but it was suggested that curses might be a malady of the soul. So such a potion would be able to remove the curse from a person. Since you were able to make a second batch it would mean that the first one wasn’t a fluke-” Chuck said. He stopped short when he noticed Nora was glaring at him.

  “As I said before, you don’t need to share anything with us. We just wanted to meet and discuss. This isn’t an interrogation,” Nora said. From the tone in her words the last bit wasn’t directed at him but at Chuck.

  “Sorry. I was being unprofessional,” Chuck said and bowed his head. “It’s hard not to be curious.”