Chapter 64:

Chapter 64. Skill Improved

Want to live? Level up

I left the city with a huge backpack on my back and an equally large bag in my hand. Most of them were stuffed with food, especially meat dishes. I had been recommended a particular street where meat was cooked especially well, and it seemed I had bought far too much.

At the guild, I sold enough potions to earn about fifty gold coins, plus a bit of silver on top. Most of them were second- and third-rank health potions—it was far more profitable that way. Selling first-rank health potions made no sense; I would have had to sell far too many of them.

I immediately spent thirty gold coins at the Adventurers’ Guild, buying fifty fourth-rank mana potions. Each one cost sixty silver coins. This once again confirmed what Rem and Sherial had said earlier: mana potions were much cheaper than health potions.

For comparison, a single fourth-rank health potion would have cost ten gold coins. That was almost a sixteenfold difference in price. So the decision was obvious—I would only sell health potions.

I also bought several large bags and backpacks, after which I headed to a well-known restaurant and ordered a large number of meat dishes. Then I stopped by a couple more places—even street vendors—and stocked up on food there as well. In the end, I had accumulated a respectable amount of supplies. I figured it would last me at least a month.

In the near future, I planned to eat a lot. A very lot.

I didn’t leave the city for no reason. There was about an hour or an hour and a half left before nightfall, and I planned to return after it got dark. Simply put… I had a very good idea.

I moved farther away from the city and found a small stream. The road was far from here, and there were almost no people nearby. I thought this place would do.

I set the bags down by the stream and teleported into the Training Room. For several minutes, using my Module I skill, I began improving Origin Mushrooms—until I completely ran out of mana.

Alright. Based on my previous experience with health potions, I could use potions eleven times a day before losing consciousness. That meant it should be the same with mana potions.

Yes, eleven times—after that, I would black out.

Alright, let’s begin.

I opened a vial of mana potion and drank it.

Whew…

The sensation was completely different from that of a health potion. It felt as if there was emptiness inside me—and it began to fill. Quickly. Very quickly.

I took a deep breath and opened my status window.

Yes.

My mana had fully recovered.

[Attention!
The user has gained access to a more efficient type of existing potions.
Changes have been made to the special skill “Alchemy.”]

The status window flickered and was replaced by a system message informing me that my Alchemy skill had changed.

What? That was unexpected.

And if I thought about it, the only possible reason was the mana potion I had just drunk.

“So… what exactly changed?” I muttered.

With slight unease, I quickly opened the status window to check the changes. Of course, there was a tiny chance that my Alchemy skill had somehow become worse… but I was really hoping that wasn’t the case.

[Mana Potion (Rank 3)]

[Requirement: 25,000 MP] → [Requirement: 200,000 MP]

[Effect: Restores 12,500 MP → Effect: Restores 100,000 MP]

Whoa… yeah, that was definitely an improvement.

Percentage-wise, everything remained the same, but now it was obvious: the potions I created using the Alchemy skill were different from those found in dungeons.

And now—apparently—they had become identical.

Which meant there was a chance that health potions and experience potions had also originally been different. Although… health potions probably weren’t. Rem would have noticed if their effect differed from dungeon potions.

Either way, this was good news.

Very good news.

Although… not entirely.

On the other hand, now I could no longer create third-rank mana potions. I simply didn’t have reserves of two million mana right now. Well then, let’s continue.

[Special Skill “Ascensio” has been upgraded.
Rank 1 → Rank 2]

[Special Skill: Ascensio
Type: Active

Rank 1:
Upgrade magical items Rank 1 → Rank 2
Cost: 10,000 mana]

Rank 2:
Upgrade magical items Rank 2 → Rank 3
Cost: 100,000 mana]

This happened earlier than I expected. I had only used four mana potions.

Well then, let’s try it.

I took an already upgraded Origin Mushroom and applied my Ascensio skill to it.

So… oh!

Looks like it worked.

Without hesitating, I immediately ate the mushroom to check the effect.

[Mushroom of Origin (Rank 3) eaten.]
[Gained: +44 Free Attribute Points]

Forty-four free attribute points.

That was massive.

Far more than I had expected.

Rank 1 Origin Mushrooms gave between 1 and 10 free attribute points.

Rank 2 gave between 11 and 20.

I had assumed Rank 3 would give somewhere between 21 and 30—but I was wrong.

If I had just received forty-four free attribute points, then the range likely started at 21 and went at least up to 50.

Possibly even up to 60.

This was… very good news.

Now the question was—should I return to the city?

No.

I still had too much food and a large stock of mana potions. Mana potions wouldn’t spoil, but food was another matter. I couldn’t just show up at the inn where Rem and Sherial were staying with this many bags.

And leaving everything here was out of the question—that would be pure waste.

So the decision was obvious.

I would use all the resources I had.

Besides, I hadn’t trained properly in a long time. If I kept postponing training and limiting myself to short, rare sessions, I would never complete the next task of the special skill “Training Room.”

And the experience points I gained there were the largest amount of experience I was capable of obtaining at all.

On top of that, it was also the safest way to level up.

Better not waste time.

Finally.

I finished the last portion of meat. Over five days, I had eaten all the food, and the last portion was still warm. Of course, I kept all the food by the stream. And considering that I appeared there roughly every fifteen to twenty seconds, no animals ever dared to approach it.

All this time, I trained in a brutal regime. As soon as my mana recovered, I used it again to upgrade Origin Mushrooms. By this point, the mana potions had already run out. However, I still failed to further increase the rank of my Ascensio skill.

Well, of course.

If skills leveled up that easily, it would have been too simple. Everyone would have long since had no low-rank skills left.

Still, during this time, I discovered something important.

Rank 3 Origin Mushrooms grant between 21 and 60 free attribute points.

I didn’t get the maximum 60—but I did get 59. That was the highest value out of the five mushrooms I consumed.

So the range was confirmed.

And most importantly—my gift was ready.

A gift for Rem and Sherial.

To be honest, this was exactly why I had spent all this time here. My main goal was to prepare a gift for them. And of course, that gift was Rank 3 Origin Mushrooms.

At first, I thought about giving one each. Then I decided—ten each.

But that still felt too small.

In the end, I settled on one hundred.

One hundred Rank 3 Origin Mushrooms for Rem.

One hundred Rank 3 Origin Mushrooms for Sherial.

And I made a final decision—I would not sell Origin Mushrooms.

Yes, they could fetch a good price. But their quantity was limited. It was far wiser to use them for strengthening—both myself and my allies. Especially now, when I could already upgrade them to Rank 3, and possibly soon to Rank 4.

And if Rank 4 really gave even more attribute points…

Then selling them would simply be foolish.

I could always earn money by selling health potions. That wasn’t a problem.

Alright. Decided.

That’s it.

Time to return to the city.

I took a few steps in that direction, but after less than twenty steps, I suddenly stopped.

I thought… why not rest first? Maybe even sleep.

I’ve been eating a lot lately.

Had I gained weight?

No. I trained constantly. Besides… even if I slept for eight hours in the Training Room, only about thirty seconds would pass in the outside world.

So it wasn’t a problem at all.