Izroth examined the cauldron sitting at the center of the room. It was bronze in color with magical symbols carved into its outer surface and had a height of around 1.2 meters. Below the cauldron was a flame that appeared to be produced by the cauldron itself.
Name: Bronze Cauldron(Magical Item)
Rank: D
Durability: 5,000/5,000
Usage: This bronze cauldron is used by apothecaries to create pills that are grade-two or lower.
Special Note: This item can be damaged or destroyed during pill crafting if its durability reaches 0.
'It's only a D-ranked magical item... It can create grade-two or lower pills hm...' Izroth discovered that pills, as well as the level of apothecaries, worked a bit differently from what he was used to.
In the Seven Realms, all pills created were given a rank based on how powerful and concentrate the pill turned out to be, with Spirit being the lowest and Divine being the highest. Each rank also contained 5 tiers which were Low, Average, High, Pinnacle, and Flawless.
Every rise in the tier of a pill was not as simple as two plus two equals one, but rather the effect of the pill was multiplied by leaps and bounds.
According to the information that Izroth acquired on the «Apothecary» profession within RML, which was very limited at the moment, is that pills were divided into different grades. The higher the grade of the pill, the stronger its intended effects would be.
One of the most fascinating characteristics of the «Apothecary» profession within RML was how unrestricted it was compared to other professions. For example, if a Blacksmith was not a high enough rank, there was no chance that they would be able to craft powerful gear.
However with an «Apothecary», the ranks were given based on what grade pills they could create, and it was not there to limit them in any way possible. Take Rigius who just left the room, he could only create grade-one pills so his profession showed as «Apothecary I».
If he were to create a grade-two pill, then it would be changed to «Apothecary II». Izroth did not know how far one could progress in this profession because no player had ever reached its limits.
Though it was like that for all of the professions, since beta testers only managed to get so far into the game and therefore no one knew what would be awaiting them at the end of their journey.
After studying the «Bronze Cauldron», Izroth decided it was time to view the ten recipes provided to him. This was so that he received a more thorough understanding of the process and steps of pill creation within RML.
As Izroth read through the ten pill recipes, a frown was slowly forming on his face. 'These recipes are all really low quality... It's a waste with the ingredients provided.'.
Izroth understood that this was just an aptitude test so that one may become an «Apothecary», however, he felt as if he should capitalize on this chance. 'The «Bronze Cauldron» can create pills that are grade-two or lower... After looking over some of the materials, I have an idea but...'.
Ever since Izroth completely fused with the original owner of this body memories, he learned that video games usually rewarded players for performing a difficult task. It was like back when he became the first Combat Master and was rewarded the «Nameless Blade».
Another interesting thing Izroth noticed about the cauldron was the flame beneath it. As he focused on that flame, he received an alert that showed separately from the cauldron itself.
Name: Two-Tailed Fox Fire Core(Magical Item)
Rank: D
Durability: 5,000/5,000
Usage: This fire core was extracted from a two-tailed fox beast and is used to provide a powerful source of flame for a cauldron.
Special Note: This item can be damaged or destroyed during pill crafting if its durability reaches 0.
'It appears that you need two pieces to successfully operate a cauldron... The cauldron itself and a fire core.'
After thinking for a brief moment, Izroth finally decided what to do. 'Most of the ingredients here have very similar traits to some of the herbs and materials back within the Seven Realms. The names are altered but the core concept still remains. If that's the case, then I should be able to recreate a pill with an identical effect to the «Five Cycles Pill»'.
The «Five Cycles Pill» is a Spirit rank pill that's infinitely close to becoming an Earth rank pill. Its purpose is to boost the natural basic five senses of the user. It was one of the most valuable pills within the Spirit rank and could even outshine some of those lower Earth rank pills.
Another reason Izroth wanted to make an attempt at creating this pill was that of its potential market value. This pill was ideal for any player, whether they were focused on combat or their respective profession.
'If I market the «Five Cycles Pill» correctly then it can turn into a stable source of income. After all, there are many things I plan to do in the future that will require some capital. Though for now, I should first see if this is even possible.'
Izroth was fairly confident in the ability of the system to accurately recreate the «Five Cycles Pill». The system was capable of comprehending heavenly laws so a pill theoretically should also be doable.
Izroth spent around 15 minutes familiarizing himself with everything and had approximately 45 minutes remaining for the aptitude test. 'Alright, I should begin.'
The first thing Izroth did was touch a magical symbol located on the right side of the «Bronze Cauldron». Even though he was not using any of the ten recipes, he still read through all of them. All of them explained various basic techniques on how to operate the cauldron.
The symbol on the side of the magical cauldron when touched, allowed for the user to have full control over the cauldron if someone else was not already controlling it.
Of course, this only applied for cauldrons that were not directly bound to the user. If it was bound then the user could skip this process entirely and control the cauldron without any issues.
Izroth raised the temperature to as highest possible point. 'The flames are weak, but it should be enough for a pill of the Spirit rank. The quality may suffer a bit though...' He walked over to the table and grabbed 5 of the ingredients resting on top of the table.
«Yellow Roots», «Charity Leaf», «Oak Treant Powder», «Isolated Water Droplet», and «Basic Binding Agent» were the name of the five ingredients that Izroth chose. The listed description of each item was a close match to the original five ingredients that would form the «Five Cycles Pill».
'Time to begin.' Izroth approached the cauldron with the ingredients within his inventory, he was ready for his first attempt at creating a pill within RML.
...
Rigius was sitting at the receptionist desk reading the same book as earlier. 25 minutes had passed since he took that fellow to perform the «Apothecary» aptitude test. This was around the time that most people realized how challenging it was to become an official «Apothecary» and threw in the towel.
Why would players want to waste their time in a profession that was impossible for them to further progress in without investing a tremendous amount of effort?
They wanted to fight monsters, clear dungeons and do other fun things, not just sit around trying to make pills all day. Where was the fun in that?
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire building shook violently as the sound of an explosion spread throughout the area.
Rigius was startled and nearly fell off the chair he was sitting on. What was going on? Did one of the apothecaries fail to create a grade-two or grade-three pill? But there were only a handful of people capable of creating pills at that level and they were all on the second or third floors.
The sound of that explosion originated from the first floor, however, it did not make any sense. There should be nothing on the first floor that could cause such an explosion, even if someone failed in creating a grade-one pill.
Rigius knew this because he'd failed many times before obtaining the title of «Apothecary I». The explosions were more like a little fireball, not a cannonball barrage followed by an intense tremor.
Rigius was not the only person who heard or felt the explosion, all of the apothecaries on the second and third floors did as well.
This caused some of them to mess up on the pills they were in the middle of creating which in turn infuriated them. They were marching out of the room to protest the matter.
"Rigius! What's going on down there?!" one of the apothecaries on the second floor shouted. They were one of the individuals whose pill was messed up by the explosion that just occurred. It was a middle-aged man with an average build, black hair with streaks of gray mixed in and sharp eyes.
"Senior Malcolm!" Rigius became a bit gloomy when that middle-aged man spoke to him. Rigius was in charge of everything that took place on the first floor and an accident occurred on his watch.
Not any small accident either, it appeared to have interrupted many of the apothecaries in the middle of their pill creation process.
Rigius had to discover whoever was behind this explosion to avoid all of the consequences falling onto him. Right now, he was receiving death stares from many of the apothecaries who stepped from out of their rooms to see what was going on.
...
Izroth coughed a few times as he waved his hand in front of his face, fanning away the smoke from his nose. 'That was also possible?' He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. Everything was going perfectly smooth until the finished product was about to be formed that is.
The «Five Cycles Pill» was only a Spirit rank pill, even if it was close to becoming an Earth rank pill it was still not one at the end of the day. With that in mind, Izroth figured that there should be no problems, but the last thing he expected was for the «Bronze Cauldron» to explode!
However, the end results were not what he'd expected. Izroth received a series of system alerts.
〈System Alert: Warning! The magical item «Bronze Cauldron» is reaching its limit.〉
〈System Alert: Warning! The magical item «Two-Tailed Fox Fire Core» is reaching its limit.〉
〈System Alert: The grade of the pill being created exceeds the «Bronze Cauldron» parameters.〉
〈System Alert: The skill «Breaking Parameters» has been activated.〉
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have successfully created a grade-three pill.〉
〈System Alert: The magical item «Bronze Cauldron» has been destroyed.〉
〈System Alert: The magical item «Two-Tailed Fox Fire Core» has severely damaged.〉
Izroth was pleased that he successfully created the pill, however, he just destroyed a magical item. From the knowledge he'd recently acquired, he understood that even the lowest grade magical item was worth at least 50 gold coins.
If Izroth had to pay for the destruction of the «Bronze Cauldron» and the damage done to the «Two-Tailed Fox Fire Core», then he would only be able to do so after selling another piece of his rare equipment. He expected to at most created a grade-two pill, but a grade-three pill was beyond his expectations.
'It appears that I've miscalculated... Grade-one pills are most likely equal to the lowest of Spirit rank pills, and so a grade-two pill must be somewhere around the middle.' Izroth shook his head, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.
At the location where the «Bronze Cauldron» was previously sitting, floating in midair were three pills with a gentle aura surrounding it. They were light purple in color and gave off a strong sweet medicinal scent that was almost comparable to candy. Izroth reached out to grab the pills and received another system alert.
〈System Alert: Congratulations Player Izroth, you have successfully created a grade-three pill, please name it.〉
"Five Cycles Pill" Izroth did not have to think about a name since the pill already possessed one.
〈System Alert: You have received x3 «Five Cycles Pill».〉
When Izroth viewed the effects of the «Five Cycles Pill», he felt 50 gold coins would be nothing if he made and sold more of these properly. Even though he was unsure of the value of the ingredients he used, it should not be too high considering that it's used for an aptitude test.
'This system never ceases to amaze me.'