Chương 16: A Pleasant Date (2)

After finishing our meal, we decided on going to the department store. We didn't have a particular place in mind, we planned on just walking around and visiting anything that caught our attention.

"We're getting a lot of attention." I said, looking back at all the gazes on the two of us.

"Obviously," Mouse replied as if she was used to it, "Two attractive girls are walking together, it's only natural to draw some stares."

"Hehe, it's funny when they look away after I look at them."

"Haah…" Mouse shook her head, "You're a problem."

"Eh?" I tilted my head.

"Just how is your internet persona so similar to your real life persona? Shouldn't there at least be some difference?"

"Me no know nothing about that." I replied with a smile, "Oh! This way!" I took Mouse's hand and led her into a store.

"Why this store?" Mouse asked as she looked around. It was a miscellaneous store. Random objects sat on shelves, toy swords were bundled in barrels, some clothes were hung on racks…It was like a random gacha store.

"No reason." I shrugged, "Hm…Doesn't that toy look kind of funny?" I asked.

"It does look kind of stupid…" Mouse nodded in agreeance. We walked through the store a bit longer before ending up at the barrel of swords.

"Hehe," I slowly turned to Mouse, "Let's sword fight!" I said with a bright smile.

"Haah…" Mouse face palmed and shook her head, "You're such a child." But she couldn't hide that smile on her face as she grabbed a foam sword. …

"That was unfair." I protested with a frown, "How am I supposed to beat a combat-class as an alchemist?" I complained.

"Sounds like a skill issue?" Mouse smugly said.

"Gah!" I exclaimed, "If this was a battle in potion-making, I'd win."

"What did you say? Loser? I can't hear those beneath me."

"Wah!" I clutched my head, "Unfair! Unfair!"

"Haha, excuses, excuses." Mouse smirked.

"Grr…" I growled, "Why are you so good at melee anyway? Aren't you a mage? Shouldn't you be on the backlines?"

"You need to be prepared for any scenario in the tower." Mouse explained, "Sometimes magic doesn't work; Sometimes monsters focus on attacking the ranged fighters first; Sometimes you're in a situation where you have no choice but to fight up close."

"Grr…I hate logical explanations." I frowned.

"Haha. Well, as an alchemist, you'll probably have to learn sooner or later if you plan on going far in the tower."

"Heh, I'll reach the top floor with potions alone." I slyly remarked.

"Right…" Mouse said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh! Look at the shop, cute." I pointed at a pop-up store which seemed to be selling keychains.

"I do like some of the designs." There were a variety of different designs. From anime characters to cutesy objects. I quickly scanned for one that caught my attention. It seemed Mouse was doing the same, as she headed off to the other side of the shop.

"That's a cute cloud." I mumbled.

"Oh? I know that character."

"Is that an eel…?"

"An octopus?"

"Ah!" I stopped in my tracks, staring at a particular keychain.

"This is the one!" I quickly purchased the item and waited outside the store for Mouse.

"Hehe…" As I giggled in thought, Mouse finally exited the store a few minutes later.

"You look happy, did you buy something?" Mouse asked.

"Yep!" I said with a smile. Extending my hand, I showed her a very cute keychain. It was an anime-ified version of a raccoon peeking their head out of a trash can. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Wow, this is cute." Mouse said, examining the keychain.

"Isn't it?" I smiled before dropping it in her hands, "It's a gift! Hehe."

"Oh." Mouse stared at it with wide eyes for a moment before smiling, "I see we had the same thoughts." She said before pulling out a keychain of her own and handing it to me. It was just as cute as the one I bought. This one was an anime-ified version of a white mouse cutely nibbling cheese.

"Cute!" I said, examining the item.

"This is for me?"

"That's right." Mouse nodded.

"Hehe, thank you!" I said, pulling out my lanyard that held my keys. I quickly added the mouse keychain to it.

"I'll think of you every time I unlock my front door now." Mouse did the same, adding the raccoon keychain to hers.

"Thank you, too. I'll do the same." She replied with a smile. We hugged briefly before continuing through the department store. We passed by a few more stores but none of them had anything really intriguing. We stopped at a few clothing stores and each tried on a couple of outfits, but nothing exciting happened. Finally, after a few hours, we stood in front of the arcade.

"I've been waiting for this." I said.

"Me as well." Mouse replied. We headed inside and it was like entering a new world. There was a cozy gaming atmosphere in the air that this place held. The scent of arcade machines wafted through the air and neon lights lit up the room. Children and adults alike walked around the place, going from machine to machine. Mouse and I headed deeper before stopping at our first machine.

"Zombie survival." Mouse said, looking at me, "Wanna duo?" She smirked. I smiled back.

"Don't die to skeletons."

"Heh." We picked up the toy guns and inserted our coins. [Game Start!] … [Game Over!] [You Died!]"Ah…"

"Ah…" Our voices overlapped simultaneously. We slowly looked at each other before speaking at the same time,"Let's pretend this never happened." Mouse said.

"Huh? What were we just doing?" I tilted my head.

"Hahaha!"

"Hehe!" We both laughed before going to another machine.

"Cut it there!" I said, "No! Not there, there!"

"Ah! Stop backseating me!" Mouse exclaimed. [Game Over!] [You Lost!]"Oh, you lost. Lol."

"You!" Mouse glared at me.

"You do it!"

"No, don't cut there." Mouse said, "That's too far left. No, no, not there." [Game Over!] [You Won!]"…" I looked at Mouse with a cheeky grin.

"Thanks for the advice."

"…" Mouse didn't say anything.

"Hehe." We continued heading from machine to machine and playing games. …

"Ah! Why can't this stupid chicken cross the road!?" Mouse slammed her fist on the machine.

"Because you're controlling it?" I asked innocently. Mouse shot me a sharp glare. Nice. …

"Why! I'm throwing it perfectly! Why won't the hoops go around the pins!?" I cried out.

"Skill issue." Mouse sneered. …

"Just go in the hoop! Please! Come on!" I said, exasperated.

"So weak~" Mouse teased. …

"No! No! No! It totally skipped a beat! The game cheated me!" Mouse yelled.

"Weakling~ Weakling~ Can't even stack blocks properly~" I teased. … After a few more machines, we ended up briefly splitting to each play something. Mouse wanted to play some magic game made by an awakened, and I found an interesting looking alchemy game also made by an awakened. [Game Start!]"Hm… I just have to do alchemy?" The game had a cutesy art style. The lore was that I, a beginner alchemist, had to take over my grandfathers alchemy shop and create potions based on the customers request.

The first customer entered. [Hello. I'm looking for a potion that can heal minor cuts or scratches.] After taking the order, the screen switched and now I was in front of a cauldron. I could search up ingredients to put inside it.

"Well… That mister just wants a minor recovery potion? Easy enough." Though I've never used a cauldron, I knew this was how the alchemist misters on the gallery did it. In fact, using a cauldron was the 'proper' method, it was a milestone of sorts and commonly the starting point where one can be considered a 'true' alchemist. It was way harder than using the makeshift setup I had. If the pot and stove can be considered 'easy-mode' the cauldron can be considered 'normal-difficulty'.

I noticed another button on the screen. When clicked, it brought me to a material prepping station, where I can properly prepare the ingredients for the potion.

"Huh, this is more in depth than I thought." With that thought, I ordered some basic materials for a recovery potion. They appeared on screen instantly.

"No waiting time, nice." I smiled. Since I had the opportunity, I might as well do it proper. Instead of the minor recovery potion that even goblins could make, I bought different materials. Opara grass was included, but instead of being the main ingredient, it was an additive.

"Just gotta slice it in half~" I quietly hummed and prepped the other herbs. Bringing them all to the cauldron, I added spring water and turned on the heat.

"Let's see… I need to insert my mana and section off and draw out the correct properties of the materials and infuse them into the water… Can this game actually do that?" Surprisingly, it could. I could easily insert my mana and freely move it as if it was right in front of me. Rather than a game… Isn't this just training? I wondered. Being able to freely make potions without cost? Why is this machine in an arcade rather than some guild's training room? Whatever. I shrugged, I wasn't complaining.

Even if it was in game-format, this was my first time properly doing alchemy. I couldn't help but be excited. A small string of mana flowed through the cauldron and into the materials. I needed to be extremely precise with my manipulation else the whole potion will be ruined. I concentrated hard. The world around me disappeared as all of my focus went into manipulating the small string of mana flowing out of my hand.

"Section off…" I mumbled, a cold bead of sweat forming on my forehead.

"Draw out…"

"Infuse…"

"Integrate…" I didn't even blink as I moved from material to material, slowly infusing each of their essences into the water. The color of the liquid slowly started to change as I manipulated the heat. My lips felt dry.

"Mix." As that last word exited my mouth, I started stirring the liquid and took a deep breath of relief.

"Haah…I did it." I mumbled, my lips curling to a smile. It didn't take long to see my results. [You've Created 'Recovery Potion'] [A new recipe has been discovered.] [Recovery Potion] Grade C Drinking this potion will instantly heal most minor scratches and wounds and increase internal recovery rate. Increases internal recovery rate by 25% for 60 minutes. Recovers a small amount of blood. Slightly increases disease and curse resistance. (10% for 60 minutes.) Aids life recovery.

"Wow…" I mumbled in shock, reading the description that popped up on the screen.

"So this is a proper potion…" It was amazing. This was just one of many potions I could make in the future when I'm ready. A dream that seemed so distant, now feels within reach. Once I can afford a proper cauldron and work room, I'll be able to make these in real life. I couldn't stop the smile appearing on my face. I'm excited. A feeling of anticipation ran through my body. I can't wait. [Customer Satisfaction - SS] [Potion Grade - SS] [Time Taken - S] [Overall Grade - SS] [Please input a name.] [You've inputted 'Raccoon'. Confirm?] [Yes.]"Hehe." I smiled, stepping away from the machine. The game asked if I wanted to continue, but I promptly rejected that. I was exhausted. My mental energy and mana was drained, all I wanted to do now was continue hanging out with Mouse. I looked at my name on the leaderboard for recovery potions and smiled.

"This might cause a ruckus?" I chuckled. It didn't matter. I wanted to honor my first proper potion, even if that led to my identity being deduced. Stepping away from the machine, I headed to Mouse, who was frowning and loudly complaining about skeletons.

"Hehe, some things never change." … Some time later, an alchemist entered the arcade. Since it was closed right now, there was no one else inside. He didn't feel hopeful. Once a month, he'd check to see if any new recipes were made on the Alchemy Lab. It was an extremely expensive machine that his guild leader had bought specifically to add to arcades. The hope was to find better and more cost-effective recipes using collective intelligence or luck. But, the two years the machine's been here.

Only a handful of recipes have been discovered. And most of them were useless. So, the alchemist just wanted to get this task done and get back to creating his own potions. As he looked the game logs, his eyes widened. A new recipe had been discovered. And it wasn't a useless one like hair dye or making a specific scent. It was a recipe for a recovery potion. He immediately looked through his guild's database and confirmed that this recipe wasn't there. He even looked through the public alchemists database.

"Not there…" He mumbled, his mouth staying open.

"They used…Opara grass?" He questioned, seeing that specific material. How was something so useless and abundant used in a C-rank recovery potion? Did someone really find a use for it? After writing down the materials used, he checked to see the evaluated grade of the potion. This grade was evaluated by an AI inputted with many recipes, potions, procedures, and even the guild's own methods. The potion grade was estimated based on the cost of the materials used.

"…SS?" The time taken was how long it'd take to make such a potion.

"…S?" And the customer satisfaction was how effective it'd be in an actual scenario.

"…SS…" The alchemist could barely think straight. He didn't even follow proper procedures as he quickly sought to find out who made such a potion. And when he saw the name, his jaw dropped.

"…Raccoon?"