Chapter 024

  Lillian Lancaster

  Ethan walked away from the spot where Viri Valente had vanished.

  He glanced around nervously, still half expecting her to reappear and finish what she'd started. After a few minutes of cautious awareness, the streets seemed normal with no other players nearby. Regular NPCs walked about and cars passed by without any interruptions.

  He put Sadie's Fangs away and clutched his hands, trying to stem the flow of blood from the fresh cuts. His encounter with the goth cougar had left him shaken and confused.

  Whatever teleportation talent the player used to get away, it felt far too overpowered, but then again, he'd been able to randomly buy mysterious flying daggers that soul-bound to him. Each time he used them, he felt Sadie's powers infused with his own, and that was starting to concern him.

  Trying to focus, he let out a shaky breath and continued on his way to Sunflower Apothecary, his legs feeling like jelly with each step.

  As he walked, he spotted a rainwater puddle and knelt down to rinse his hands off. The water stung his wounds, but it provided some relief.

  After his hands were clean, the pain didn't fade away. His entire body felt heavy and fatigued, as if he was suffering from an Undead Fever. The wounds on his hands throbbed with each beat of his heart, and the gashes on his chest and arms from the Grimsborough Vampirs ached dully.

  He gritted his teeth and pushed on. He needed those healing supplies from the place Mia had told him about, and he wanted to stock up on something that could help heal faster the next time he got injured.

  By the time he reached the shop, he was practically staggering from the fatigue and the dizziness. He pushed open the door and stumbled inside. Already feeling sick, a thousand smells of herbs, spices, and brewing concoctions made him lose consciousness.

  Ethan fell to his knees and then to the floor, completely overwhelmed and too weak to catch himself. Despite his cool new weapons and a pocket full of cash, he realized he was still a weak. He was just a low-level character that could easily succumb to sickness.

  He woke up in a chair behind the sales counter, on the other side of the shop he’d entered. His eyes were foggy and his head groggy. He usually hated waking up. It always felt so sudden and strange.

  The place still had a strong odor he couldn’t escape, but it didn't seem nearly as bad now. As he yawned and rubbed at his face, he realized the wounds on his hands were gone.

  Upon closer inspection, he also found the many festering gashes on his chest and arms had also been healed. Looking at his profile screen indicated he no longer had the Undead Fever status effect.

  Someone had obviously healed him, but he appeared to be alone in the shop. He stood, and realized the sales counter wasn't even waist high to him. Most of the shelves and display stands in the shop also seemed to be quite low.

  To his left was a wide display of different colored elixirs in bottles like the one Mia had brought to him. A small sign next to the shelf informed customers they were eight ounces each, and they were two dollars individually or any three for five dollars.

  He inspected a few of the bottles as he walked over to the display. The first one he recognized, but it never hurt to read over the details again.

  Shadebreaker Serum

  This common elixir is created in small batches using honey, crushed sunflower, holy water, elderflower, bitterroot, and a variety of other less important items. It naturally slowly heals still-living beings of common afflictions such as Undead Fever or Plague Scurvy. Tastes as nasty as you might expect. May require multiple doses.

  Next to the yellow bottles of Shadebreaker Serum, he found ones containing blue and pink liquids. The pink one had a smooth, almost translucent quality to it just like the yellow one.

  Glimmering Veil

  This common elixir is created in small batches using moonlight dew, angelica root, crushed moonstone, creatine essence, and a variety of seeds. It helps to shield the mind from malevolent influences while sleeping, restoring tranquility and normalcy. May require two or more doses taken twelve hours apart. Naturally slowly heals Wretched Insomnia or Constant Cacophony.

  "Interesting," he said to himself.

  The base mechanics of these afflictions and the simple elixirs used to heal them became apparent to him. If the blue one was anything like the other two, it would also serve as an all-natural remedy to two different types of afflictions.

  Looking at the light blue liquid, it had swirls of thick sparkly blue gel mixed in that hadn't dissolved with the rest of the concoction.

  Memory Bloom

  This common blue elixir is created in small batches using forget-me-not petals, ginkgo biloba leaves, blue ginseng, crushed cacao beans, and other adaptogenic herbs, carefully swirled but not blended. May require two or more doses taken twelve hours apart. Naturally slowly heals Disassociation or Mind Unraveling.

  After only a few minutes of reading the summaries of three bottles, he'd learned more about basic dangers than he knew was even possible.

  Having some type of stock in these elixirs would be too expensive for now. It would cost him ten dollars to carry around two of each, and he'd also learned that he could be pick-pocketed from, not to mention his limited number of slots.

  It wasn't ideal, but for the time being he would just have to be careful and return to the apothecary shop for elixirs whenever necessary.

  Turning to the many hundreds of other bottles around him, he realized this was only the beginning of a basic understanding. He saw many other types of elixirs, potions, and several that simply had question marks when he tried to read them.

  Only knowing a tiny bit about alchemy because of video games, he still realized there was likely a big difference between elixirs and potions. He didn't know or particularly care what that difference was, but if he had to guess, he figured elixirs were cheap but healed slowly, and potions were expensive but healed quickly.

  One potion in particular was a dark brown color. It was in a round bottle about three times the size of the elixirs, and marked as being twelve dollars. That pretty much answered his question.

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  Nectar of the Dark Ancients

  This uncommon potion requires days to prepare, but only minutes to take effect. It is made with blessed holy herbs, silverleaf extract, brightmoss, ambrosia essence, untainted human blood, starlight syrup, and elysian flower pedals. Usually provides a quick full recovery from physical ailments inflicted by denizens of the dark underworld, restoring the drinker's physical body. Due to its potent contents, consuming more than one in a twenty four hour period may have negative side effects.

  A girl child's voice said, "I don't like making those ones."

  Ethan turned quickly to see a short woman standing near the counter, at a doorway that went to the back room. She was four feet tall at most, had long unnaturally blonde hair, and eyes that seemed too big for her head.

  "They take too long and I don't make much profit. Fixed you right up in a matter of minutes, though, huh mister?"

  He took a second to look at her profile. Lillian Lancaster. Level Unknown, Alchemical Expert, A-class Specialist, Herbal Apothecarion.

  "Hi," he answered.

  The woman giggled at his response, then walked over to the display with bottles of Nectar of the Dark Ancients and picked one up.

  "You'll want another one of these if you plan on fighting more vampires."

  Ethan nodded, looking at the bottle. "I can't really afford that right now. Twelve dollars each? A bit much, isn't it?"

  Lillian shook her head, placing the bottle back on the display. "Healed you in a matter of minutes, and anyway the ingredients alone cost me about seven or eight dollars. Depends on the time of year and all that. Then the glass bottle and all my time and effort to brew the potion. Like I said, not much profit."

  "Well… Thank you, I guess. For healing me." He looked back towards the smaller bottles of elixirs. "I guess I don't need the second Sunflower Serum now?"

  "Nope, you should be all right as rain, mister," the short woman said, "except that you owe me twelve dollars for the potion I healed you with."

  He gulped and turned back to her. "What if I… What if I don't have twelve dollars?"

  She smiled, but cocked her head and pointed briefly to her back room. "Then I make you do some work to pay it off, mister. But we both know you have twenty seven dollars and eighty five cents in your wallet."

  Ethan's initial shock made his eyes furrow. When he looked in his inventory to make sure, that was exactly how much he had left.

  "How did you know that? You went through my pockets?"

  Lillian went over to the chair Ethan had been sitting in previously and sat down. It seemed slightly oversized for her short stature, but she didn't seem to mind.

  "I have a ton of talents not related to alchemy, but I'm no thief, I consider myself a fair business woman, and I see a ton of potential in you, Ethan Jones."

  "What's that mean?" he asked quickly.

  She laughed that little cackling giggle again. "It means, mister, that I think you're going to be spending a lot of money here in the future, so I'm willing to cut you a break on today's purchase."

  Ethan looked back to the elixirs. He knew they were far less effective than the potions, but they were also affordable. One of each would only put a five dollar dent in his pocket, and he would have the first dose of treatment handy for six different possible status effects.

  "What kind of break?"

  "First time buyer, I won't charge you for the potion I poured down your mouth when you was unconscious, and you can buy anything in the store at half price."

  Ethan smiled. "That's gotta be way below your cost. Why would you do that for me when you know I have enough to pay full price for a few of these?"

  She smiled. "I already told you, mister. My plan is to make you a happy customer so that when you go back out there and get hurt again, you'll come back and spend more money. I've been in business a long time, Ethan Jones, and I know a fighter when I see one."

  He nodded. "So, according to the sign, half price would mean I can grab the first dose of these three common elixirs and one of those Nectars of the Dark Ancients for eight dollars and fifty cents?"

  Lillian winced a small tick, as if the deal might hurt, but she kept her smile and nodded anyway. "Yes, that's what I promised. I might lose a few dollars, but you'll come back. From what I heard, you killed two Vampirs from The Second Moon Den, both above your level, and saved a woman as well. First of all I like that about you, mister. Not many people willing to get risky, let alone to help others. And when I looked at your inventory earlier, I of course noticed your special little daggers."

  He gulped again, feeling a bit awkward that she'd looked through his inventory so thoroughly.

  "What level are you?" Ethan asked, "and what can you tell me about the daggers?"

  She giggled. "You'll find out one day. Just don't let yourself get too carried away, follow the storyline, and get stronger. Oh, and use my concoctions to keep yourself healthy, of course. As for the daggers? I wouldn't use them. But I have a thing against vampires."

  "So do I."

  "Eh," she shrugged. "Is it justified to use magical vampiric items to kill vampires? Probably. But I stay clear from all that. Personal choice. I don't know anything specific about your weapons, mister, but I can sense part of Sadie's soul within the blades. You'll need to be careful, but I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle."

  Ethan nodded again. He checked his inventory to make sure he had four empty slots. He only had two empty, with two being taken up by the unopened letters he'd received from Raymond. One still had his apartment key in it and the other was taken by Sadie's Fangs.

  Just to be courteous to the NPC, he closed out his screen.

  "Is it okay if I make a bit of space in my inventory? It might take me a minute to stand here and do that."

  "Sure," Lillian said. "I'm open all day."

  "Good."

  He went back to his inventory and opened the first letter. It was from Jason McArthur, and it was from the day before.

  Hey, bro!

  I'm runnin late to lunch but I'm on the way!

  Ethan smiled, realizing that Jason had made the same assumption he had the day before. They'd each sent letters to one another thinking they would arrive instantly.

  He quickly went to the next letter, also from Jason. It was delivered just minutes after the first one.

  This is such a stupid postage system, bro! any ways hope ur still there when I get there!

  Ethan laughed at the second one. The frustration was clearly shared by him as well.

  At least he knew he could trash both of the letters in order to make room for the potions. It was kind of odd in a way that the letters didn't have their own inventory system like the wallet did. Players who sent and received a lot of postage would have no way to keep any archives.

  "Mind if I throw these away?" Ethan asked, holding up the two letters. "They're not worth keeping."

  "Sure, mister." Lillian said. "Ready to make a purchase now?"

  He pointed at the three elixirs and then the brown potion. "Yeah, I'll take one each of these and one of the potions."

  "Great! That's eight dollars and fifty cents."

  Ethan quickly paid and gathered up the bottles. His inventory was completely full, but he now had a means of keeping himself alive in case he ran into any more status effects.

  "Don't die out there, mister," Lillian said with a wink as he left. "Otherwise I lost money on you, and that's no way to run a business."

  He smiled. "I don't plan on it."

  The door closed behind him, and Ethan stood on the streets outside the apothecary. He glanced at his watch. 1:34 p.m. He still had a few hours to get some missions accomplished before meeting up with his friends at Emma's Kitchen.

  Having been restored to full health with the Nectar of the Dark Ancients, he felt completely reinvigorated. There were no more blisters on his feet, festering claw wounds on his chest and arms, and his hands were smooth and free of all the cuts from Sadie's Fangs.

  I still need some gloves. No offense, Sadie, but you cut deep, ma'am.

  Unsurprisingly, his internal thoughts received no response from the blades. He could feel their source of power, but he only truly connected with her when he had them equipped.

  Deciding to get back on his storyline as Lillian suggested, he pulled up his missions screen for a quick update.

  Explore Grimsborough Heights

  Get to know your starting district by exploring everything it has to offer.

  Current Progress: 11%

  Ethan smirked at the percentage. He'd been doing a ton of walking and it still wasn't going up that high. Shrugging, he moved on from the passive mission and went to the more interesting ones.

  Copper Topper

  After speaking with Officer Packley, you learned that Billy Sadler is currently in county lockup, awaiting a decision by the judge, who does what The Cortez Family wants. Sadler's connections with The Borrells are likely protecting him while inside the jailhouse. Pass along the information to Samuel Donovan.

  Current Progress: 50%

  That one seemed simple enough. All he had to do was go talk to the old detective again. It would probably string along the mission to some new one, but he was sure the experience and possibly some money might prove beneficial.

  Regular Mr. Handyman

  Your work for Thomas Gallagher is always incomplete. Things need repair over the course of their lifetime, regardless of why. You were hired by Mr. Gallagher to fix things, and for some reason you slacked off for a full week. It's time to catch up. With Ms. Harmon’s window fixed and Dead Ned's steps replaced, now it's mowing time in The Green Yards. Mow at least two lawns belonging to Mr. Gallagher.

  Current Progress: 50%

  This one, Ethan decided, was quite a bit overdue. Did he want to mow some lawns? No. But he also didn't want to make Thomas Gallagher angry with him.

  He hoped that if he completed the initial string of handyman jobs, he could also figure out a way to get out of them. With that in mind he started walking towards The Green Yards.