The Magic Expert Except in Offensive Magic

Chapter 21: Alchemy Troubles

"I never knew that!" Whitney exclaimed.

We were discussing ingredients that would be good for potions. So far, all the ingredients that Whitney was telling me she was using all seemed pretty ineffective.

For instance, Thorn Blossom, Braluce, and Moon Moss would make a stamina potion but the problem with those ingredients is they're not strong enough to recover a good amount of stamina.

If someone who wasted all his stamina tried a potion like that, it would only recover two percent of it. Not only that but all the other potions that she used were also pretty useless.

When Whitney told me that she ran a business, I was wondering how it was going. She said that it wasn't going very well so I figured it was because of her potions.

I felt bad for her about it so I decided to give her some tips on some potions. She looked interesting and was excited so I decided to keep giving her advice on the potions.

It wasn't just what ingredients to use but all how much you use, what do you do with it, and if there's some other ingredient that would be more effective. All these factors are what makes an alchemist an alchemist.

Alchemists search for methods to improve their creations. They're no different from crafters, tailors, cooker, or any other maker of some product.

"Now you see if you use this ingredient with this one, it wouldn't be effective because of its efficiency. In fact, if these two ingredients actually were to be used together, the efficiency would actually decrease rather than increase. Just because these two ingredients have good effects doesn't mean that they should be used just on that basis."

"Right!" Whitney seemed to be really into it.

I actually feel like a teacher right now. As we continued our conversation, we finally arrived at Kald Town. 

We were introduced by the guards, we gave our papers, and we went through the town in under three minutes. While we were riding through the town, we finally made it to Whitney's shop.

It was a little run down but it seemed like it would still be a pretty good shop. I didn't know where to put the carriage but Whitney told us that she had some kind of garage shelter in the back.

We parked out carriage there and went inside the shop. 

The place looked worse on the inside than on the outside. The floor was filled with empty potions, the place was dusty, and the shelves were broken.

Hang on a second.

Before I could see what just happened, Whitney screamed at the top of her lungs.

"My shop!!" She fell to her knees and looked at the carnage.

So that's the problem. She was robbed.

I figured that out when I noticed the broken shelves and broken potions. I saw Whitney run into the back and heard her scream even louder.

"It's all gone! All my supplies are stolen!!" 

She was on the verge of crying but I went towards her and helped her up. I took her to a chair so she could sit down and asked her a few questions.

"Who would try to rob you?" 

It was strange to be robbed when you're barely in the business. Was there some reason for this aside from competition?

"I-I don't know. I don't get that many customers and there aren't people that consider me a challenge in their business."

"Is there another alchemy shop?" I asked.