There was a certain rumor spreading through the lands. One more impactful than the discovery of a valuable alchemy ingredient.
"Is it true?" Khal asked solemnly, perhaps due to the fact that he had run out of alcohol, Khal had been serious about doing his job lately.
"Yes" Miller replied with a somber expression. He could now more or less understand the reason for the Dynasty's sudden hostility. As a powerhouse, the dynasty could easily take over the Bosque kingdom and maybe even some of the other smaller countries surrounding it. The main inhibitor to this move had been the threat that was the Volcan Empire.
With the change of leadership came a period of respite for the tension between the two nations. Such a period was hard to come by as the two were used to fighting and guarding against one another.
Miller was then brought out of his solemn thoughts by a sniffle. Khal, the old man, was propping his head with both hands while looking down at his desk teary-eyed. Miller assumed he was heartbroken by the news of the risk his brother would be facing.
"I can finally rest!" But Miller was wrong. It was a tear of joy. Khal felt pure bliss.
What was the best period for adventurers? War! There were bound to be many deployment missions with decent pay and fair chances to survive. Sure, those chances of surviving were only fair when compared to dungeons but the reward was at least guaranteed!
When forced to pick between a known danger and an unknown danger most would definitely pick the known one, and if they were to regret this decision later on they could only grumble. The point being, most of the adventurers wishing to test their luck at Arbor town would be dissuaded. How blissful!
Khal really wanted to thank the Dynasty for picking their Bosque Kingdom as opposed to the Volcan Empire as a target. Realistically, the chances of them picking the Volcan Empire as opposed to the tempting morsel that was the Bosque Kingdom was slim.
The Volcan Empire was undergoing a change of powers and their forces were likely to be exhausted but their territory was well guarded by the wintery mountains. The place was a natural fortress. Losses were guaranteed.
Now, The Bosque Kingdom had many fertile lands and even had a relatively weak king in power. The resistance that they would pose would be negligible in comparison. Plus, the reward would be much better as well. Who would take dangerous cold mountains over fertile green prairies? Only an insane person would!
Still, it wasn't like the dynasty hadn't had its fair share of weirdos as kings so there might still be something for Khal to be thankful for.
"Sir…! Sigh..." Miller was simply disappointed, he couldn't even utter a word of admonishment.
"Oh, right, what other good news do you have for me hehehe" Khal was reminded of Miller's presence by his disappointment making him dissolve his giddy smile.
"...Well, the Freedom Union is reinstituting Samuel Oakley as the branch leader" Miller said reluctantly while holding a golden paper decorated with royal purple. The document seemed quite official and it was as it had come straight from the big wigs of the union.
"HAHAHA, You are bringing me more good news!!!" Khal practically jumped out of his seat and started celebrating. He would most certainly mark that day as a good day and proclaim it as a personal holiday. Whenever this date came he would drink like no other! ...Drink more at least.
The Freedom Union's decision was completely normal for two reasons. One, they had gotten in trouble with Eon for mismanaging the Arbor Town Branch. Two, the town was bound to become prosperous henceforth. Basically put, the town now had significance. The incompetent Khal was no longer fit as branch leader.
Samuel had on the other hand always done an excellent job. Were it not for the fact that the higher-ups at the headquarters were always looking to take him down a peg he wouldn't have been removed in the first place. On the contrary, he would have seen many raises.
"...Please read the letter" Miller reminded the happy Khal and handed him the gilded letter.
Khal, though not really willing, eventually sat down and began reading. There he found an important clause.
"What's this about?!" He yelled in alarm.
"Why am I getting fired!?!" Khal continued to scream in utter disbelief. In what way had he done a bad job? Wasn't it completely outrageous to fire him outright!?
***
Ed was completely fired up!
[You are burning. -5 hp]
It was because in an attempt to make a temperature preserving device he had blown up the fire crystals. The high vitality ogre blood could not be left idle for too long or it would spoil quickly. The fire was the best way to make it not turn into a dud.
Unlike the freezers formation used to keep things frosty, however, fire was really dangerous.
Soon after Nag woke up, Ed had actually gone straight to Vorgarag to tell him the good news. The latter planned to immediately head up and say some words of relief and greeting but then realized that Nag actually had no idea who he was.
"I'll just continue working on this" Vorgarag had said at the time while pointing at the large ice blockage in the tunnel. Ed couldn't force him out.
He therefore instead focused on getting Nag to go to Vorgarag and that implied performing further tests to deliver the highest quality potion possible.
With the alchemy skill, Ed could definitely work towards this goal. The healing potion was not outside of his capabilities as the mere fact that he could concoct it had proved.
Still, Ed was also not willing to expend too much effort on this. The boulder of civilization had a lot of useful knowledge that he needed to share with the rest. He had only prioritized the potion as it was a cheap way to up his tribe's combat prowess.
'Making good armor and weapons goes a long way' But a potion that could nearly bring a combatant back from the dead was far more useful if one were to assume both products were at a similar level.
While the armor could in theory prevent certain fatal injuries from occurring there were no guarantees. With the potion however you had a failsafe for that unwarranted outcome. It simply ranked higher up on the priority list.
Plus, the craftsmanship skill's two level-ups following the absorption of the boulder of wisdom were rather helpful for his current goal as well. The knowledge hadn't gone to waste.
Sparks started to emanate from a small fist-sized circular formation placed on the inside of a rock container. This was the main culprit for the explosions, the size.
Magic devices needed a skilled craftsman to make and what he was trying to create definitely fell under that category. Nonetheless, by working on something so small Ed was really bordering the limits of his wits.
The potion was quick to spoil, it needed to be taken out right next to the patient but Ed had no plans to act as a delivery orc. He needed to leave these tasks for others to perform but they wouldn't be able to outrun the spoil timer as he had.
'This looks promising' Ed thought as he continued creating the container that would contain the contained potion. It was contain-ception, especially if these containers containing potion containers were to be put into a large container for transport. Ed knew that wouldn't happen but it was interesting to think about.
After some more arduous trials, Ed was finally able to see success. His first real magic device was thus formed into being.
[Warm Maintainer]
A magic device that keeps things warms. After many trials, the orc Ed was able to come up with this perfect drink regulator.
'I-...' Ed was less than amused by the system's description of his first masterpiece but he had a hard time arguing against it.
'Having a hot cup of something like coffee readily available to be drunk regardless of when it was brewed is noble on its own' But Ed stuck to his guns and argued against it nonetheless.
After some more grumbles, Ed created a new potion and contained it inside of the warm maintainer, patent-pending. The name sounded really stupid and Ed was aware of this. The name choice was deliberate.
'The orcs might not be able to understand too well if I use too many strange words' Temperature regular didn't sound all that hard but for orcs who regulated nothing, it was already too much thinking.
[Potent Healing Potion (Warm)]
The potion's state was shown as its current temperature as opposed to the risk of explosion. This on its own meant that Ed had succeeded. From thereon, Ed could definitely focus on creating craftsmen amongst his people.
Of course, to create craftsmen, well orcs, he would have to pave the way. It was time to create a real forge, not one in his mind.
[Assimiliation is off cooldown]
....But that could wait for him to assimilate something new, like a certain book.