Chapter 84 - Mindtwister

<---Chapter 83 - A Worker's Life|Table of Contents|Chapter 85 - Imminent--->

In the Culdao Peaks...

Kyle dug his hand into the soil, feeling the damp moist texture on his skin. "The soil is performing quite well with the new irrigation. How soon can we start producing Poair Leaves?"

"We've already ran a few test on variants, so we can move forward with the best one. One of the plantations is already blooming now, so we'll have the final harvest in a week's time." Merissa replied, handing him a clipboard with the information.

"I need more. Much more. What about the other farms?"

"We now are growing five varieties. So far, the new radish seeds are performing the fastest, it would take another month or two to see results."

"Hmm..." Kyle continued to inspect the farms, especially the Poair Leaves plantation. Poair Leaves was a critical ingredient in his potion-making business. Now that the Aspis Weapons Factory was running at full steam, the Seven Snakes were essentially burning money. Adding on the cost of expansion in order to create more jobs for people, Kyle was quite near the brink of bankruptcy in the next two months.

"How's the factory coming along?"

"The new one here? We're making it an exact duplicate, but the goblins are much harder to train than the humans by a large margin." Feldon frowned. "We should have it going in two weeks, but its going to take sometime to ramp it up. I'll say it would be nowhere near the capacity of the one in Raktor, but it should make up for a shortfall."

"If you need stronger goblins, have King Sahusa bring them to the Oracle Chamber for evolution."

"It's not about strength, it's about dexterity and understanding. Now, if you told me there was a chamber to improve their intelligence, that would be right up our alley." Feldon complained.

Kyle was not putting all his eggs into a single basket to meet the weapons contract, relying on slave goblin labour to shore up the defecit if any. It wouldn't reach the same efficiency as the Aspis Weapon Factory in Raktor, but based on his estimates, he should be able to produce at least 30% of the required weapons within a month and a half in the Culdao Peaks itself just based on current progress.

He would have preferred to have a larger safety net over a longer period, but the timing of the military exercise and war was his deadline - if he wanted the best benefits, he needed to do this. Every problem is just an opportunity waiting to be turned.

As such, Kyle was now gunning for alternative avenues to increase his revenue streams as much as possible. With the goblin kingdom now turning to mining, manufacturing and agriculture, he was confident that he could monetize it even more than it already was. In some sense, the Culdao Peaks were effectively free labor now, due to the ability for them to remain self-sufficient. However, they were not making any money other than the sale of Euria Seeds that were harvested.

"Sir, we could simply just sell more Euria Seeds?" Feldon offered his opinion as they continued their inspection of the various terrace farms which stretched all along the valley. "Now that we have a wider area of control over the mountains and forests, we could expand our harvesting operations."

"No. Oversupplying the market will only cut into our profits by tanking the price even more." Kyle also knew that other gangs across the city were beginning to develop their own Euria Seeds plantations, especially thanks to the developments on Euria-infused potions. The concept of addictive potions were already widespread in Raktor, so Kyle needed something new to continuously dominate the market for drugs within the South Sector.

People are always searching for the next high, so it may be time to move forward. He had a good knowledge on what chemicals would be addictive, even considering if he could plant opium seeds from the Galactic Era seed storage in the Oracle Chambers as a start. However, such a chemical with an unknown production method not native to this planets would raise serious alarms. He had no way of knowing who was actually out there watching him, so his developmental steps had to be measured at best.

This meant that Kyle needed to focus on developing a potion that was already known locally. Haui had given him a few ideas, but he was focused on one that was one of the first he had encountered, but had not used yet.

MG404: [Title | Potion Inspector (Intermediate) | It seems that you are somewhat of a scientist yourself. | +10 INT, Increased description of potions examined.]

MG404: [Item | Mind-Bending Potion (Advanced) | Sends the user on an illusionary trip fueled by their subconscious, rendering them incapable of normal functions. Lasts up to a day on a full dose. | *Recommended Dosage: Half a bottle for an adult human male for three days. Ingredients: Poair Leaves, Greiss Powder, Culdao Grass, Tusken Rabbit Meat, ???. Cooldown: Thirty Seconds.]

The title now allowed him to see the ingredients, most of which he previously did not have access to. Now, with the goblin kingdom under his control, both the Culdao Grass and the Tusken Rabbit meat were freely available to him in the wild just by foraging and hunting with the goblin hunters. The Poair Leaves could be grown easily, and Greiss Powder could be simply purchased off the market as a ubiquitous product.

Furthermore, there was still a hidden ingredient that would require him to either level up his Potion Crafter title or his Potion Inspector title. The issue with that was that the progress between titles was exponential. Kyle in fact had been crafting potions non-stops, attempting to obtain a new title over the last two weeks but to no avail.

When I first started, the titles came in freely. Now, each one only comes in a blue moon. Thankfully, with Haui on his side, Kyle was able to obtain the name of the last ingredient easily: Dzi Flower Sand.

"Such an ingredient is extremely rare. It can only be found in a mountainous area, and most of the time it is stuck either in the mud or in the water. It would take extreme filtration to extract any meaningful amount. I myself am not privy to the exact extraction method." Haui warned Kyle as he passed him a sample of ingredient, which looked like a dazzling rainbow color bag of translucent sand. "Even the Alchemist Guild does not have a stable method of production nor does every mountain range have it."

What Haui did not know was that Kyle had access to a Galactic Era A.I in the form of the Oracle, who was designed for planting seeds. As such, samples of the mountain soil and water around the Culdao Peaks were collected, Kyle letting the A.I process the samples and perform a chemical analysis on them.

[140 samples processed. Only 5 have the presence matching the chemical compound known colloquially as Dzi Flower Sand. However, the concentration is small.]

A representation of the chemical compound was presented to him. "You have chemical simulations built in?"

[Yes, Adminstrator.]

"Run oxidation and bonding simulations with all elements on the periodic table."

[Confirmed. It would take five days to complete, with an accuracy of 66.7%]

Kyle begrudingly accepted the slow processing speed of the A.I, considering that he had yet to actually make any repairs to it at all. Five days was a long time, however, and Kyle wondered if there was perhaps local information available. He decided to go out to the goblin kingdom for any clues if the locals were familiar with the Dzi Flower Sand, accompanied by Sasha as he showed the sample that he had obtained from Haui around, starting first with King Sahusa.

"I have never seen that before." King Sahusa stated bluntly. "Though I have heard rumors before of the Snow Song Tribe performing brilliant rituals during the period of festivities, their stone beaches on the glacier lakes filled to the brim with colorful sand just like this. If you need a guide, I can provide it."

Kyle accepted the offer, immediately trekking up out of the valley towards the peak, following the new river that the goblin workers had carved out by hand to irrigate the terrace farms, siphoning water from the ice melt far above. The trek was relatively easy and harmless, the path between the Snow Song Tribe and the domain of King Sahusa well-trodden and clear-cut.

The wind rustled the myriad of ferns and palm trees that surrounded them, the humidity copious despite the mountainous terrain due to the abundance of water all around that evaporated under the hot daylight. Insects the size of a human palm skittered among the detritus of the dense jungle like floor, while birds of all feathers called out, their presence masked by the vast foilage that seemed to stretch on for infinity into the distance.

Kyle followed the guide, keeping an eye out for everything around. The environment felt quite like a typical colonial outpost, genetically modified permaculture used to terraform and create a livable environment for humans. Yet, as he ascended towards the glistening white peaks that formed the Culdao Peaks, the level of arcite infused into the air was ever slightly higher.

What is arcite, exactly? Kyle used the spare time he had now to ponder on the nature of the element that his abnormal strength was derived from. Sure, calling it an exotic element was an easy way to accept its mysterious properties, but Kyle had never heard of an element that adhered to very specific engravings as well as their sequence.

The presence of a fixed sequence as evidenced in his tests made it clear that arcite followed a language of sort. None of the books that he had consumed in the past months on arctech had really touched on it. They simply prescribed formulas and patterns that has been revised and reformed over decades of experiments. None dare to claim they knew the exact guideline of arcite and the underlying rules that governed its behaviour.

What made it even more confounding was that the supposed exotic element was nearly everywhere to be found in the area, as prevalent as air itself. Exotic elements of the Galactic Era were usually found in unusual geological formations or extreme conditions, such as specific quadrants of an accretion disk or the innards of a collapsing wormhole. Following conventional laws of density, the arcia density should follow gravity, but the air of the Culdao Peaks was a clear argument that arcia did not agree with that theory, seemingly increasing in strength as he ascended up from the valley.

It can't be magic. Kyle wasn't about to succumb and simply hand-wave it. His powers and System most likely depended on it - he would need to make sure he had the finances and resources to discover the truth behind his reincarnation. One impossible thing at a time.

As Kyle squinted at his surroundings which was compromised of raging gorges and avalanche debris, Sasha trailed him from behind, lost in her own thoughts. They trekked in silence, the sounds of nature making up for the lack of conversation until Sasha suddenly made the first move. [Sir, can I ask a question?]

Kyle was slightly taken aback, never having experienced Sasha taking the initiative to ask him a question. Usually it would be a straight-to-the-point report, an affirmation or an problem, this behavior having stemmed from Kyle training her personally.

"Of course."

[Why did you not order me to retrieve the information regarding the Dzi Flower Sand? You could have done something else instead of trekking here.]

The question caught Kyle completely off-guard, his mouth opening slightly to answer before he contemplated it even more. "I needed to see the source for myself."

[I could have brought a light-capturer.]

"Well, then I wanted to take a break, to survey the territory a little." Kyle came up with a filler answer quickly, but deep down he too did not know why - he could have found a more efficient way to recover his mental instead of trekking on a three-hour journey.

Even in the Galactic Era, Kyle can't remember the last time he took a walk like this. He had never done this with anyone, not even his family. Why am I even doing all of this? Would it simply end up the same way? Yet he could not think of any alternatives to his current plan, having been a crime lord most of his life. It was like second-nature to him, something he couldn't shake. He had half-joked in his former life that even during retirement, he might act as a consultant of sorts.

Even given a new leash of life, Kyle never felt like the wheel had stopped for him. There was always something important to do, something to gain, something to win, something to conquer, something to -

[Sir, can I ask another question?]

Kyle's train of thought was interrupted, but he recovered quickly. "If this is about the off-day you took, I am perfectly fine with it. You have served me well thus far, but I do hope you will inform me before you decide to do such things. An attack on the Seven Snakes may occur during such an outing."

Sasha's face immediately began to redden slightly, her head quickly diverting lower as though she was focused on where she was stepping through the rough trekking trail. [I apologize, sir, I will consult you in the future. My question is not related to that.]

"Ask."

[Sir, what are you aiming for?]

Kyle stopped briefly, turning to give Sasha a slightly confused look."I'm aiming to reach the Snow Song Tribe to obtain more information on the Dzi Flower Sand. Did I not make this clear?"

[No, sir, I meant in general, for you and the Seven Snakes. What are you aiming to achieve?]

A calm silence reigned between the two as only the sounds of their soles squashing the wet mud echoed amidst the teeming forest. "... If I told you, you would not believe me. No one on this planet would."

[Sir, I joined you to achieve my own strength, to be able to stand tall. To survive by my two hands. For someone as strong as you, what is there left to achieve?]

Kyle was not upset with Sasha's inquisitive questioning - he much preferred his followers to be able to make creative decisions on the job, which meant that they must be able to think beyond their gravity well. "I am not the strongest in this world by any measure, or even the universe at large. There are still peaks to climb, worlds to dominate, mysteries to uncover. Perhaps you think that this city and its surrounding regions are all that are important to me. But in my eyes, even if I lost everything that I've gained here, it would mean very little in my grand scheme."

Sasha pondered for a few seconds. [I don't quite understand. I... I don't have a goal beyond achieving strength.]

"You lack the foresight. You have not see what I have seen, so you do not know what is possible, and what lies beyond. But I have." Kyle asserted as he clambered towards a short cliff, pulling himself upwards before the streaming rays of light finally enveloping his body as if he had ascended to the sky, his confident face looking back at Sasha while he extended a hand. "If you do not know what to do, then follow me - I will give you your purpose, to see the top of all things, here and now, past and present."

Sasha stared in awe for a moment, before grabbing onto his hand, stepping off the cliff and climbing up to come into the view of a what seemed to be a dormant caldera, the basin awash with a lush forest and a beautiful sparkling lake that dazzled the eyes. Sasha stared in awe for a moment, the view astounding. She did not dare say what was in her heart, but vowed solemnly in secret to follow Kyle till she saw what he meant.

"There's the tribe, I guess we had no need of the guide after all... where's the guide?"

In the midst of their conversation, they had left the goblin guide far behind, exhausted and way out of breath, unable to keep up with the intensive pace of Sasha and Kyle. Sasha returned back down the path, hoisting the guide up in her arms like a princess to the same cliff where Kyle was surveying the location.

Kyle noted the almost perfect rim of the caldera that extended in a circular fashion. Too perfect, in fact. He suspected that there was more than meets the eye, especially with the presence of the Oracle Chamber embedded in the very mountain he was stepping on now.

The trio began to descend into the basin, following a carved staircase along the inner rim. The snow had long melted, though some still retained their form, tucked away in the corners under rocks and trees. Hardly any birds were present, a stark contrast from the incessant din from the forest before. They soon reached the tribe's outer wall, a makeshift wooden palisade no different from any other goblin den, except for the cast iron shield that hung over its entrance.

As they approached, the watchtower guards began to panic, hurriedly opening the gate for him. None of the tribal goblins dared to oppose Kyle, all of them knowing exactly who he was. Some of them were even more afraid of the woman next to him, though Kyle was not focused on intimidating them, instead having one of them lead him and Sasha towards the supposed stone beaches of the glacier lake. The exhausted goblin guide was offered food and drink, while curious goblins gathered around him.

<What were they like?> One of the more inqusitive goblin children asked. <Are they are strong as they said they are?>

<Far more monstrous than any adventurer who even made it this far... The male human is even a mind-reader, able to converse with the female monster at will!>

A wave of ooh and gasps attracted more towards the guide, as the guide began to exaggerate his boring trek with Kyle and Sasha, giving birth to rumors and folklore that would last for generations to come.

True to King Sahusa's words, the surrounding stone beach that would've been covered in snow was now glittering under the bright sunlight, the blue ice remnants of the glacier still floating in the large lake that was slowly draining out into the rivers and tributaries beyond. Amdist the whistling wind that came from all directions, Kyle bent down to pick a random stone of the beach, revealing the rainbow Dzi Flower Sand in small but significant amounts, scattered around in what seemed to be a repeating circular pattern, encompassing the perimeter of the lake in waves.

However, the pattern was not consistent along its length, having certain nodes and branches that were cutoff abruptly, as though it was entering the ground. Both Kyle and Sasha had no clue what the pattern meant, having to return to the Snow Song Tribe to question its shaman.

<We give our thanks to the Mother of the Heavens, Dignitary of the Eighteen Stars by arranging the accumulated sand into the pattern pre-ordained by our ancestors past. It is through this pattern that we offer back some of the energy that we have been gifted by the Mother above, to nourish the environment.> The shaman explained as he rested cross-legged in the center of his tent, the walls rife with ornaments, bracelets and paintings created using the excess Dzi Flower Sand. Even weapons and armour were neatly displayed on a rack, each of them glistening in the sand along the mystical engravings that ran their length.

It was clear from the age of the items that there was not much to sieve from the environment each year, with some of the bracelet dating back decades or even centuries. Sasha stared long and hard at a dazzling falchion, adorned with the largest Dzi Flower Sand jewels the tribe had to offer, with ancient cursive arcia engravings marking its entire length. For some innate reason she felt drawn to the sword, though the leery eyes from the shaman clearly indicated that the falchion was only reserved for special ocassions.

Kyle instead only saw the relics as materials. He had half a mind to simply scavenge what was on display when he and Sasha were suddenly handed a ceremonial bracelet each by the shaman.

MG404: [Item | Snow Song Ordained Dzi Bracelet (Intermediate) | Blessed by the foregoblins of yore. | +15 MAX MP, +1.25% MP Cost Reduction on all skills.]

What?! Kyle was not expecting the effect of the Dzi Flower Sand to be this powerful - while the cost reduction was small, it was still a step towards mass adoption of highly-efficient arctech equipment. This could create amazing cost savings in the regenerators and in subsequent devices.

He hurriedly inspected the bracelet, noticing that the bracelet was made of two layers: fused Dzi Flower Sand into a silica cover over a wooden base, the cover protecting the wood from decay. The engravings on it were unlike anything he had seen in the textbooks he had gathered so far. They seemed more like runic symbols with clear starting and ending points, as if they were standalone pictures that could be slotted into a jigsaw in any shape or fashion.

<Shue, Yul, Uryag...>

The shaman and Kyle stared at each other in confusion. "What did you say?" Kyle squinted his eyes.

<I did not say anything...?> The shaman glanced around frantically, before his bulging eyes landed on Sasha, who's ceremonial bracelet was now glowing with a red aura brilliantly as it laid on her palms. <The female monster can speak?!>

Sasha looked up in astonishment, her head swivelling quickly between the shaman and Kyle staring at her. [Sir? What's wrong?]

"What did you say just now?"

[I didn't say anything, I was just reading what was written on the bracelet.]

"Hmm... read it again."

[Yes, sir...] <Shue, Yul, Uryag, Golus, Kiear, Samki Polwa Erix> At this point, even Sasha was surprised by the words that were coming out from her mouth, having never spoken once since she had been kidnapped from her homeland. As she completed the sentence, the bracelet vibrated vigorously, the red glowing aura intensifying before the silica cover began to melt, seeping into the pores of her palms like searing lava.

Sasha winced and tried to remove the bracelet, but the process was over as abruptly as it had began, leaving only the wooden layer of the bracelet behind, the Dzi Flower Sand somehow absorbed into her body with a burn mark now on the inside of her right palm.

"Sasha, your mouth!" Kyle hurriedly grabbed her face, checking over as purplish veins began to emerge, arcing and snaking under her skin from the edges of her mouth, forming symmetrical unnerving symbols on both of her cheeks. "Are you alright? Can you speak?"

She tried to speak the normal human language, but she could not utter a comprehensible word, instead only guttural sounds being emitted from her throat. [Sir..., I can't!]. In a moment of panic at having lost the temporary ability to speak, she hurriedly picked up what was left of the disintegrating bracelet, reading the sentence out again. <Shue, Yul ->

Before she could complete the sentence, Kyle quickly grabbed her back and smacked the bracelet away, forcing her to look at him. "Calm down - we'll get to the bottom of this together. I can't lose you to an unknown phenomenon, let's not make any rash moves until we know exactly what happened."

While Sasha took a deep breath, controlling her emotions, she noticed that the shaman was already grovelling at her feet. <The female monster speaks the words of power long lost to our tribe! Great-grandfather, I finally have found the successor to our ways. Quickly, we must have her breed with ->

"Nobody is breeding with anybody here." Kyle cut that train of thought immediately. "If you make any moves against her will, I will annihilate your entire goblin holding and have you trapped in the deepest mines. Or she could do that herself. Are we clear?"

The shaman nodded vigorously, hurriedly backing off out of the tent, no doubt to spread the rumor. Kyle did not mind the rumors spreading, as it only helped to solidify their rule over the goblins even more. As Sasha continued to contemplate what she had just discovered about herself, Kyle was now more focused on the seemingly magical properties of the Dzi Flower Sand, that did not seem to be recognized by his System. So the System is not omnipotent after all.

This further advanced his various theories of the history of this planet, but that would be a discussion for later. The issue of the most pressing importance now was how to collect enough of the Dzi Flower Sand for now to accelerate his potion making business. Kyle returned out to the beach, inspecting where there were natural formations of the Dzi Flower Sands as guided by the local goblins. Unlike the fine grains that he had seen them scatter into the pattern, he found them in bulbous nodules that were ridden with dents, the Dzi Flower Sand bonding with something else.

He picked up one of them in his hand, reading the System information message.

MG404: [Item | Dzi-Nodia Amalgamation | Natural state of Dzi Flower Sand. | Dzi Flower Sand Amalgamation with Toxic Nodia. Can be separated through melting.]

Just like mercury and gold... Already Kyle was running possible templates of processing and production in his mind. If the soil and water here had traces of the Dzi Flower Sand, he just needed to collect enough of the Toxic Nodia - only that he did not know anything about the new liquid element. That information alone was easy to obtain from the Snow Song Tribe, who had been melting the nodules to obtain the Dzi Flower Sand.

Back within the tribe's central area, there was a designated tent for the extraction - two pairs of goblins donning on makeshift masks made of animal skins, as the greyish fumes twirled and spiralled into the air, buoyant by the heat from the hot iron tongs that clamped each nodule, before slowly drifting lower to the floor, accumulating like a dense mist that.

<The scent is intoxicating, and may cause delusions as well as corrosion to both the body and the environment...> One of the goblins handed Kyle a flask of condensed Toxic Nodia, collected from the ambient clouds that hung low to the ground by shabbily constructed contraptions that concentrator the vapor over time, albeit very slowly.

MG404: [Item | Flask of Toxic Nodia | For a quick escape from life | Highly corrosive and lethal to organic material.]

With the information now in hand, Kyle and Sasha trekked back down to the valley holding a satchel of the Dzi Flower Sand and the Flask of Toxic Nodia in hand, the exhausted goblin guide left behind overnight to recuperate.

By the time they had returned, it was nearing evening, the same ambient pink hue dominating the sky of dusk once more, overlooking the myriad of lights that began to appear all throughout the valley. Countless lives and houses dotted the landscape as goblin farmers took a well-deserved rest, while the mine rotate shifts, Feldon yelling at the top of his lungs as he oversaw the operations.

[Sir, I would like to return to the tribe tomorrow. I believe I can improve my skills there and find out what I'm truly capable of.] Sasha suddenly spoke up. Clearly her being able to speak specific words was a life-changing event for her, and Kyle had no intention of restricting his follower's growth.

"No problem. But I need you ready in two weeks, back in Raktor."

[Understood. I will be prepared.]

Kyle watched as Sasha returned to her own living quarters in King Sahusa's palace, his mind considering what had happened at the tribe. For Sasha to be able to read the old engravings, she might hold the key to deciphering the true nature of arcia. A trip to her homeland would provide many benefits. A future endeavor to keep in mind

He returned to the Oracle Chamber, intending to begin his attempt to manufacture the potion. "Inform anyone approaching the Chamber that I am not to be disturbed unless it is news of unrest in Raktor." Kyle waved his hand in the air as he approached a prepared table, the chemical reactants all already laid out for him by some of the repurposed seed storage drones.

[Understood, Adminstrator.]

Cracking his hands, he began to experiment on a various combinations, applying everything he knew about potion brewing from his previous attempts. However, Haui himself did not know the exact ratio or formula required. With little Dzi Flower Sand in hand, he had to be extremely careful with the ratio he was using, trying to reverse-engineer the formula in small doses instead of a full flask.

Before long, he had multiple trays full of precalculated Dzi Flower sand in petri-dishes scavenged from other parts of the Oracle Chamber. "Confirm milligrams."

[Scanning - 0.1 mg to 1mg in rows of 50 confirmed.]

Kyle began to divide the other ingredients, the brute force experiment beginning. He kept track of the percentages he had developed, as well as using the insight on Poair Leaves and Griess Powder obtained from before.

The hours flew past in a blur, Kyle taking quick power naps and spending upwards of 18 hours a day in complete silence save for the hum of the gas tanks all around the former observation lab, his entire being completely attentive on each results.

Hours turned into days, and by the eighth day, Kyle was near his wits end, having ran nearly every combination of the three new elements for the Mind-Bending Potion : Culdao Water, Tusken Rabbit Meat and Dzi Flower Sand. His satchel was running low, and he was considering if he should return to the tribe for more.

He flipped through all the results of his combination, even picking up one petri-dish and inspecting it.

MG404: [Item | Unknown Object/s| Placeholder description for when user attempts to mix random things. | The System was unable to determine the effect or origin of the mixture.]

Kyle gritted his teeth, picking out multiple perti-dishes and obtaining the same information over and over again in desperation. As he picked up what felt like the ten-thousandth petri-dish, a notification appeared in his face.

MG404: [Title Obtained | Potion Inspector (Advanced) | A reward for the tenacious squinting of eyes and tearing of personal hair over potions. | +25 INT, Increased description of potions and residuals examined.]

He hardly cared about the snarky descriptions any longer, quickly picking up the petri-dish

MG404: [Item | Failed Mind-Bending Potion| One does not simply throw random particulates and expect a potion. | Order of placement is wrong.]

Order of placement? Kyle quickly revisited his experiments, noting that he put the Dzi Flower Sand first into the petri-dish, before simply laying the rest and pouring the Culdao Water over.

The next three days was a hectic sprint, as Kyle followed the breadcrumbs left by the mysterious descriptions while trying every single combination he could think off. Finally, nearly one and a half weeks after he began, he had the method and percentage down.

"35% Poair Leaves, 5% Griess Powder, 10% Tusken Rabbit Meat, 5% Dzi Flower Sand, 45% Culdao Water. First pound the power into the meat by massging it, wrapping it in Poair Leaves, before boiling it in Culdao Water, and then sprinkle Dzi Flower Sand in." Kyle let out a sigh of relief as he held the miniscule test tube up to the light, seeing the rainbow distortions of the lab's inbuilt lighting through the fluid and glass.

MG404: [Item | Mind-Bending Potion (Advanced) | Sends the user on an illusionary trip fueled by their subconscious, rendering them incapable of normal functions. Lasts up to a day on a full dose. | Recommended Dosage: Half a bottle for an adult human male for three days. Ingredients: Poair Leaves, Greiss Powder, Culdao Grass, Tusken Rabbit Meat, Dzi Flower Sand.]

MG404: [Title Obtained | Potion Crafter (Advanced) | For pounding meat repeatedly. Mind-bending in itself. | +25 INT, Increased description of potions examined, +20% chance to craft an intermediate potion when using basic materials. 20% increased chance of discovering intermediate potion recipes per attempt, stacking. Resets on discovery.]

Kyle grinned to himself as he grabbed a bit of Absolute Euria from his sample flask, dropping three drips in.

MG404: [Item | Euria-Infused Mind-Bending Potion (Advanced) | Sends the user on an illusionary trip fueled by their subconscious, rendering them incapable of normal functions. Lasts up to a day on a full dose. Highly Addictive | Recommended Dosage: Half a bottle for an adult human male over three days. Ingredients: Poair Leaves, Greiss Powder, Culdao Grass, Tusken Rabbit Meat, Dzi Flower Sand, Absolute Euria.]

Despite all of these achievements, Kyle still did not have a consistent method of producing Dzi Flower Sand. In order to extract it from the environment, he would have to utilize Toxic Nodia repeatedly, but even Toxic Nodia itself was hard to obtained.

[Administrator, a man named Feldon is asking to see you.]

"If it's not about Raktor, I don't care."

[He claims that miners are falling ill by the dozens from toxic fumes.]

Kyle's eyes widened as he quickly grabbed his cloak, flipping it on as he met Feldon outside the Chamber. "Sir, it's real bad, there's this weird greyish mist that is pooling on the lower shafts. None of our miners can go any deeper than that, it's like we hit a gas pocket."

Instead of the concerned expression Feldon expected to see, a small grin was already growing on Kyle's face, his eyes not even looking at Feldon. "Looks like a new cash cow is here to stay."

<---Chapter 83 - A Worker's Life|Table of Contents|Chapter 85 - Imminent--->