Chương 80: Floor Preparation

A certain government agent, Nero, sat at his work desk, leaning back in his leather chair. His fingers slightly tapped against the aged wooden desk in a rhythmatic pattern. Tap. Tap, tap. Tap. Recently, his days have been relaxing and carefree. His assignment to find 'Raccoon' had never ended, but, he and his team had hit a dead-end. Raccoon's tracks had stopped months ago during the 'Gauntlet' event. There was no sightings, findings, or even a hint of what she was up to.

Many had thought that she was finally registering or looking for a guild to join. Even Nero himself did. But, after announcing her new potion, there's been no news. The team had narrowed down her location to somewhere in the south, likely being in one of three counties: Broward, Palm Beach, or Miami Dade. But beyond that, there was nothing else to find. And since there was no updates or news related to Raccoon, the team was basically on standby mode. Nero was fine with that.

It beats working overtime for days on end to find someone who's hidden themselves. But, he knew that this period of reset wouldn't last forever; The higher-ups will assign his team another case to look into soon—he guessed he had around a month left before they pause the 'Raccoon' case and move onto another recent anonymous and unregistered awakener making waves: MintChocoMaster. So, he and his team have already been passively collecting information in preparation for when the higher-ups give the order.

The information they had was nothing too major, just some rumors and info they picked up here and there. The only problem is, if Raccoon does happen to make a move within the next month…

"Haah…" Nero sighed. He didn't want to think about it. He looked through his glass wall and saw his team chatting and laughing around. He even remembered one of them joking that Raccoon was actually preparing to clear the floor, hitting the leaderboards and was about to give them a whole new truckload of work. Obviously, no one thought it was true. A production-class making the leaderboards on Floor 5? Outrageous. But if… And only if… She managed to do exactly that…

It'd be a living hell of overtime; The higher ups would raise the mission's priority.

"Hm…" Nero tapped his desk in that same rhythmatic pattern, "Little Bomber…How about you just stay quiet…There's no need to trouble yourself to do such a thing…" he mumbled, his voice falling into the air. … Hailey, also known as the Emperor Dragon Queen, was sitting in a chair, scrolling through her phone with a displeased look on her face. It was obvious at a glance that she was in a bad mood. Her finger stopped scrolling for a second.

"Tsk," She clicked her tongue in annoyance, quickly continuing to scroll.

"What's wrong, Hailey?" Janet, her manager, asked.

"Nothing." She spat out, furrowing her brows. Janet quietly walked to behind her and looked at Hailey's phone. She quickly realized what was causing her bad mood.

"Do these ignorant mortals have nothing better to do than bite at each other like wild dogs?" Hailey rhetorically spat out.

"If you're upset that your fans and the Little Bomber's fans are arguing, why not step in and say something?" Janet asked, her tone like a gentle mother.

"Pfft," Hailey sneered, "And lower myself to act as a mediator for some dogs? Not happening. The Little Bomber herself hasn't stepped in, why should I?"

"The Little Bomber is probably busy, you know she hasn't appeared for three months. Maybe she hasn't even checked the internet recently." You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Then, there's even less of a reason for me to involve myself with those bickering children."

"But you wouldn't want to be at odds with the Little Bomber, would you?"

"What?" Hailey stopped scrolling and looked at Janet, "Why would we be at odds, we've never even communicated."

"Because your fan base and hers are tearing each other apart. What if she comes back and sees that there's a internet war going on? She'd naturally be displeased with the ringleader, you."

"Why am I considered the ringleader? That's foolish. I've never commented about this at all." Hailey's furrowed brow didn't ease.

"But they're still your fans. If you don't control them, the blame naturally becomes yours as well."

"Then, what about her? Her fans are on the loose, and she hasn't said anything." Hailey shot back.

"That's true." Janet nodded, "But, don't you want to be friends with her? If you don't make the first move, then, nothing will ever happen."

"Friends?" Hailey scoffed, "As if!" Her brow furrowed, "She's just a competitor, a rival. That's it!" She turned away and spewed a little fire from her mouth.

"Oh? Okay then." Janet smiled, "And didn't I tell you to stop spewing fire when you're outside?"

"Tch. I can control it." … Days of practice had gone by in what felt like a instant. My success rate had reached about 80% now. Though not 100%, it would have to do. As for why? I was officially broke. My point balance had become a measly six figures! Could I ask Luna for some? Sure, she'd probably give me as much points as she can without a second thought. Will I ask? No. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Even if she offered, I wouldn't take the points. So, my current skill level will have to do.

80% gives me a decent chance of success. I just need to make sure I find the materials in time. It takes me about 30-45 seconds to make the potion. So, I have 4 minutes to gather the materials. Haah… I will find the materials in time. I will brew the potion. I will clear this floor. Taking a deep breath, I looked through my potion stockpile. I did have buff potions, but, they were kind of outdated now. Though they'd still work, I can create better ones.

I needed to do everything I could to get my chances as high as possible to clear this floor. Concentration, Agility, and Reaction Speed; I need these three potions. I want to get them to at least D+ grade before attempting the floor. Getting the concentration potion up to grade seems the easiest. I already have the base recipe and it's at D grade, a little fine tuning and changes, I should be able to get there. As for the agility and reaction speed potion? Well, that's going to take a bit more time.

The recipe I've been using was the one that even goblins could make posted by CauldronBro. It's not like I have no idea about what materials I can use. It's just that I want to make the recipe cost-effective while I'm at it. Sure, I can throw in a bunch of premium materials and forsake efficiency, optimization, and budget. But, why would I do that? If I can create a good recipe, I could use that for months. Or at least until I need a better recipe. Plus, I can sell them for a higher profit.

Flipping through my notebook, I went to the page holding my concentration potion recipe. This was the first recipe I've ever modified to fit my own colors; So, I had drawn a few stars near the top of the page. It works, and it works well, but, a majority of it is restructured from CauldronBro's recipe. Honestly, looking at it now… It's really inconvenient. There's so much of what I call 'Goblin Style Alchemy' in it; Meaning, alchemy without the aid of mana.

Back then, when I wasn't as good at manipulation and could barely draw mana from my core, it was useful. But now… Now, I can do a bit more. Turning to an empty page in the notebook, at the top I wrote in big letters 'Sweet Concentration Potion 2. 0' I don't need to completely disregard the previous recipe. I'll keep the useful stuff like the concentrated eyn liquid, the core of the potion. There's probably some better material out there, but this one is cheap works well enough. As for the rest… Well, let's upgrade.

First, let's find something to boost the norepinephrine hormone. Let's see… With my [Material Knowledge] trait, I quickly found something. Ah, this should work. Jungawoo Flower, a flower that grows in the deep jungle. Some animals, such as the C-grade dark-spotted shadow leopard, snack on these before they go hunting to aid their senses. After that, I need something to help the mind stay calm… Hm… Got it. Magnolia nectar should work. This was a liquid produced by a tree found in forests with humid climates. Oh!

Let's also add… Hm… How about this as well? Aha! This could work… I jotted down material after material, eventually reaching eight materials. I stared at the notebook, pursing my lips. After a moment, I let out a light laugh. Too much! Reverse! Back it up! After considering it for only a moment, I unhesitantly erased a few lines. Finally, I was left with four materials to use. Concentrated eyn liquid, jungawoo flower, magnolia nectar, and indigo petals. For the base liquid, as expected, I'm going with sap. Good!

Nodding, I purchased the materials and lined them up on the counter. First, I'll get a baseline. After that I can optimize and perfect the recipe. Pouring sap into my trusty pot, I turned on the heat. I dumped in a handful of indigo petals, slowly stirring at a steady rate. The goal was to really infuse the petals into the sap; At the same time as I stirred, I quietly drew a string of mana and threaded it into the petals.

But, I wasn't forcefully extracting the properties, instead, I was helping it naturally flow into the sap. After a few minutes, I removed the petals from the pot. Turning the heat up, I added the jungawoo flower. This time, when I threaded mana into it, I sectioned off and isolated the unwanted properties, specifically starting to draw the one I needed into the sap. When that was done, I finally added in the concentrated eyn liquid. Setting the heat to low, I needed to ensure the sap contained everything properly.

With my mana, I gently pooled everything together and made sure the properties were in order. After confirming everything was fine, I put in just a few drops of magnolia nectar. Stirring, it was finally time for the last step. Flavor-enhancement. The good ol' reliable strawberry concentrate was poured into the mix and seamlessly merged into the concoction. A few minutes later, it was done. After funneling the liquid into a bottle, it was finally time to see if this was a success or fail.

[Sweet Concentration Potion] Grade - D+ Creator: Raccoon A sweet tasting potion that increases your concentration, focus, alertness, and attention. * Lasts for 30 minutes. Yes!! Woohoo!! I pumped my fists in the air. Concentration potion, success! Smiling brightly, I happily hopped around a little. But! I wasn't done just yet. This was just the beginning. Next, I needed to optimize the recipe and after that create a batch recipe.

And after that, I needed to do the same for both an agility potion and reaction speed potion. Ah… So much work. But at the same time… Hehe, so much alchemy. Staring at the completed white-ish blue potion, I roughly made a calculation on how long it'd take to complete my preparation.

"Mm…Just over a week, I guess?" I mumbled. Well, work's not gonna get itself done. Jotting some down some notes, I purchased another set of materials. Let's see if I can use a little less materials this time.