"...let's not think in that direction" Although Ed was also intrigued if the potion explosions could be used as weapons.
He could already see the orcs charging bravely into battle throwing potion flasks. Some even going as far as taking the hit just for the chance to reach the alcoholic gates of Valhalla.
'Wait… there is no alcohol here!' Ed thought things having dawn upon him. How could he have a happy civilization without the invention of alcohol?
'I'll need to train a chemist' Ed planned to concoct potions for the time being but he couldn't take a piece out of every pie or he would end up with an upset stomach. For the time being, however, Ed had to settle with doing things by himself.
Having already stored everything he needed, Ed ran out of the cavern and while he was at it picked up some more Alivio Herbs and their seeds. He wasn't sure if the botany garden that the old chieftess left behind had Alivio samples although he found it unlikely for there to be none.
'At the same time, there isn't any sign of the sacred tribe interacting with Blurak and the cavern' The other ancestors had somehow managed to leave the boulder of knowledge in the boss room but they obviously weren't Sarfu or his people.
'maybe Sarfu was more conservative in nature' His people never ventured out meaning that they never encountered other orcs or even Blurak.
Sarfu had made sure to kit out the sacred tribe orcs but ultimately their lacking experience made it so the battlefield remained even. While Ed fought them he was able to tell they had the vigor and spirit but none of the skills. At most, they sparred amongst themselves but never to the extent of life and death. That made for a valuable lesson.
'I'll have to host a sort of tournament' That was on the condition that the humans allowed them to live peacefully which didn't seem all that possible. Ed was still astonished by their lack of actions.
'I didn't scare them away, right?' That might be giving himself too much credit but without being able to walk outside or even just getting a glimpse at their hierarchy it was impossible for him to determine whether or not he had already faced all humanity had to offer.
While Ed pondered on these casual thoughts, he didn't forget to continue heading back to the settlement. After about an hour of tireless running, Ed ran out of the dark forest and into the light of the clearing.
He climbed the aged walls with the earth as per usual and went over to find Sharog. He found her eating a weird fruit sitting at the cathedral steps.
[Orc Blood Fruit]
A fruit watered by the blood of orcs. It is juicy but when eaten in large quantities makes the consumer prone to rage.
Ed casually scanned it and found its existence to be a curious one.
'If it was the blood of the sacrificed it would probably have been eaten up by the dungeon' That meant that the old lady used her own blood or had the believers donate some of their own blood in droves.
"Ed" Sharog noticed his approach and after wiping the blood-red juice, she greeted Ed with a warm smile.
"How is everything?" Ed asked her casually. Even if he didn't intend to deal with any of the problems she brought up, being in the know was important for a leader. After hearing his request, Sharog frowned slightly and told Ed her thoughts.
"The food situation is alarming" She said grimly while looking at the half-eaten fruit in her hand. This was all she would be having for lunch.
"Pregnant women eat double and the growing kids are also rather burdening" Sharog wasn't in favor of keeping them.
As an ex-tribe leader, she knew to prioritize her tribe first and foremost. If it were up to her she would kill all of the women leaving perhaps only the children. Youngblood was important for any society.
Ed was opposed to this however mainly due to his wariness against the humans as well as his own morals. He didn't believe the yet to be born children were at fault for being born to the wrong mother at the wrong time, and it wouldn't hurt to have more future fighters.
'But if this persists… they'll have to go' He could prepare for the future but not at the expense of the present. While such a saying didn't apply to everything, it was true for this scenario.
This meant that to solve this food problem Ed would have to ramp up food production or cull his people. War could work for the latter and simply planting more fruits could do for the former.
"Take me to the garden" Ed presumed that the now deceased chieftess Lagakha performed her alchemy there. Ed was hopeful that he would be able to get some notes. For some reason, the civilization boulder didn't contain much on alchemy outside of the basics.
"Don't you want to hear the rest?" Sharog stood up and asked.
"Sure, on the way" Ed replied and signaled for her to take the lead. Sharog took a bite out of the fruit and started to lead him away.
While they headed to the outskirts of the settlement, Sharog told Ed about the issues they encountered when settling the homes. Some orcs preferred one house over the other and that would sometimes result in physical conflict.
There was also the issue of many of the houses lacking maintenance. Though they looked stabled from the outside, they were anything but from the inside. The decadence over the years made finding the homes hard and also scattered the population.
"So I think we will need to fix them" Sharog said in conclusion as they finally came across the open-air garden. Ed was tempted to call it more like an unkempt lawn of strange plants and flowers though.
[Serenity Bud]
[Orc Blood Sapling]
[Cura weed]
[Fort Flower]
Ed scanned over each seemingly unique tree and got some quick understanding of what each flower or weed might be useful for. The system did also provide a description so it was almost a given that he would find some use for each.
'The Serenity Bud can be used in tandem with water to make the solution that much calmer' The system also suggested that the potion potency would be affected by this however making Ed reluctant to commit to using them in large doses.
'Not that I can if I want to make my ingredients last' Ed thought as he and Sharog entered a fairly decadent building next to the garden. It functioned as both a small home and a rustic study.
The inside was dark and humid making Ed somewhat uncomfortable but he quickly ignored it after managing to spot some wooden tablets stacked next to a desk. He hurried over to them and quickly scanned them.
[Body Supplement Recipe (Orc)]
Carvings denoting a nonstandard body supplement recipe with both harmful and helpful long term side effects. The negative outweighs the positive, however.
The first wooden tablet held knowledge on a completely useless potion. It used both Fort Flower and Cura Weed as well as Orc Blood Fruit juice. There were some other weird solvents like saliva involved which made Ed completely disregard the mere thought of concocting the thing.
'Taking it isn't helping anybody and it also has such weird ingredients' Ed would still study the process and composition of this potion but there was no way he would concoct it.
[Meager Healing Potion (Orc)]
Ed moved on to the next tablet of the stack and the carvings denoted what was essentially a garbage Alivio potion. The Cura weed used for the potion did not have any magic elements and was also a weed. While not all weeds were useless this one did not form part of the exception.
Ed continued to shift through the tablets under the curious gaze of Sharog. She had no idea how Ed was reading the tablets especially since he would only give them a glance. She chalked it up to something to do with his god-given benefits.
"These are all just kind of bad…" All of the potions were either ineffective due to the excessive use of Serenity Bud or were riddled with insufferable side effects. Ed now knew why the big orcs were so stupid.
'Too many of these potions would make anyone's brain rot' Without the enhancement made by the runes usually drawn on their bodies Ed was certain that none of the burly orcs would have even been able to move. Their lifespan had also been shortened for sure which was perhaps not a bad thing for the Sacred Tribe.
"What are you looking for anyway?" Sharog who had been watching approached Ed from the side and asked while curiously peering at the nonsensical tablets.
"Oh, nothing really, just inspiration" He couldn't afford to waste the ogre blood. Which reminded Ed that he had yet to bring it out of his storage. He needed to make a large freezing array as well or the blood would spoil.
"Well… I'll get back to work then" Sharog walked towards the door before turning around and asking.
"Thank you for that." Ed said as he stacked up all of the wooden tablets again. Sharog was then ready to leave but Ed was then reminded of something.
"Right, if we are going to provide more food we will need a plantation. Hmm… Just inform me of a place with many useless buildings later" Ed turned to Sharog and said. He only looked away after she nodded and carried on her merry way.
Ed planned to personally bulldoze the area she selected later and perfect the terrain for planting Orc Blood trees or other types of plants. So far, the only that Ed thought had a chance of being good to eat was the Cura Weed. It would work well for a salad.
'Let's start the process' Ed thought as he headed into the garden to pick some weeds. He planned on mixing both the Cura Weed and the Alivio Herbs to make a slightly better potion.
'I'll first get an alchemy skill and then make a super healing potion' Ed thought forming a barebone roadmap in his head.. It was now just a matter of getting his hands dirty… to pick herbs of course.