Chapter 23: Alchemist

In <Arcana Chronicles>, the penalties given varied depending on the race and region.

In Paul’s case, he didn’t get motion sickness from living creatures, but he was incredibly weak to artificially made vehicles like this.

This was because his starting area was a forest, and his race was an elf.

Would an elf who had only lived in a forest have ridden a ship or a flying machine…?

This status effect could be resolved with a priest’s [Cure] skill, or with [Motion Sickness Potion] made by an alchemist or pharmacist.

Or by equipping a related item.

Of course, there was no priest on this rugged ship, but getting a potion was a more feasible option.

Paul wondered if he should grab any of the busy crew NPCs right now and ask if they had any motion sickness potion.

Since they were sailors, wouldn’t at least one of them have motion sickness potion?

[System: HP is decreasing due to continuous [Status Effect: Motion Sickness]!]

In the end, even a warning notification popped up.

“Khan… if I die, please carry my corpse well…”

“…Paul.”

Khan called his name like a sigh.

Since Paul had only taught him a few words, Khan could only call the word ‘Paul’ with different meanings.

He felt sorry for Khan, but he thought it would be 100 times better to be on the ship while dead.

Because if he died on the ship, he could be revived immediately on the spot.

Besides, since he would be dead, he wouldn’t feel the shaking or his five senses.

‘I just said it, but it’s perfect, isn’t it? Should I just ask Khan to kill me?’

As he was thinking that, Khan sat Paul up.

The sudden movement felt like his insides were twisting several times over, but it was impossible to win against Khan in terms of strength.

Having no choice but to stand up limply, Paul, whose vision was split into six due to the motion sickness, misstepped and fell sideways without any strength.

Just before Paul had a deep kiss with the floor, Khan lifted him up.

Since he was holding him from the front, Paul ended up clinging to Khan like a koala.

“Ugh, I feel like I’m going to throw up…”

It felt like it was getting worse every time he moved in that state, so Paul squeezed his eyes shut.

Honestly, he didn’t know what Khan was trying to do, but he just wished he would leave him alone.

Or, it would be fine if he threw him into the sea…

The ship was shaking, Khan was shaking, he was going crazy.

‘Why didn’t the past me prepare motion sickness potion in advance…!’

Paul agonized and rubbed his face against Khan’s broad shoulder.

“─Special motion sickness potion! Just one bottle of this, and motion sickness is a thing of the past!”

At the words he heard then, Paul snapped to his senses.

Motion sickness potion?

Did he just say motion sickness potion?

When he lifted his head from Khan’s shoulder, Khan placed him on the deck.

He staggered greatly once due to his shaking vision, but Khan, who was standing behind him, held him firmly, so he didn’t fall.

Paul pulled Khan’s hands forward, wrapped them around his stomach, and leaned back comfortably.

It was a complete back hug, with him completely buried in Khan, so the player selling the potion frowned slightly.

“…Excuse me. If you’re going to be all lovey-dovey, do it somewhere else. Can’t you see I’m selling potions? Shoo~ shoo~”

“I’m going to buy a potion… motion sickness potion.”

“Oh, a customer!”

The player’s attitude changed in an instant, and he rubbed his hands together with a business smile.

Now that he looked, it was the same player who had foolishly boarded the ship earlier.

He had flamboyant red hair, eyes the color of the sea, and was as big as Khan.

In his hand was a box full of potions.

“How much… how much is it. Ugh!”

“1 gold.”

“Wow, what a rip-off!”

The price was enough to startle even motion sickness away.

“It’s normal to sell things expensively in places like this!”

“In other places, no matter how expensive, you can buy it for 30 silver… you know. That’s too much…”

“I have to make a living too. Or, how about this?”

Saying that, the player took out a rainbow-colored potion that was placed on one side.

‘A rainbow…! It looks suspicious just by looking at it!’

Paul stared at it with a very reluctant face, but the player in front of him held the potion bottle in one hand, stuck out his stomach, and said.

“My secret random potion! Even I, the creator, don’t know what will come out!

A potion made to test your own luck, which could be a fatigue recovery potion, the motion sickness potion you want, or a deadly poison that will make you see Rasis-nim! Only 10 silver!”

‘Should I hit him?’

“Actually… there’s about a 75% chance of a status effect. The person who bought it out of curiosity last time died of acute poison, you know? Haha!”

“…Is it okay to sell something like that?”

“There are always people who want strange things! It sells surprisingly well. I make them because there are always people who buy them!”

“You’re also a pharmacist… right? That hook earlier was the [Mountain Climbing] skill.”

“Oh, half right and half wrong. My class is an alchemist.

I learned the pharmacist skill because I thought it would be helpful, but my main job is this. I came here today for an alchemy quest, and the pharmacist skill is definitely necessary for alchemy!

I came to find a rare flower that grows on the Flora snow mountain. Was it the [Blue Flower Imbued with the Aura of Death]? To find that, I had to use a buff skill from the pharmacist skills.

I didn’t know at first and just searched, and ended up wasting time… Phew.”

The player shuddered, recalling that time.

He had eaten every debuff there was and ended up breaking several pieces of his equipped gear.

Then he finally found one.

He also happened to find a [Snow Mountain Mandrake], so it was a pretty good harvest.

…Probably.

Feeling the corners of his eyes getting moist, the player lifted his head.

“…Anyway, this is made by mixing alchemy and pharmacist skills! You see, the alchemist skill becomes a bit of a game of chance when the rank is low!

I tried it out of boredom and created something very interesting! But it turns out I wasn’t the first to develop it… It seems there was another guy like me somewhere.”

The player who said that looked somewhat gloomy.

Well, that would be the case.

He might have been able to receive a ‘First’ title.

Paul skimmed over the story and opened the title window.

□ [Title] – Lucky Man (A)

He took out the title he had thrown in a corner because it was useless and equipped it.

It was a title that greatly increased luck.

It didn’t have much merit for Paul, who was already lucky, so this was the first time he had actually equipped it.

“Give me that.”

Taking out 10 silver from his bag, Paul thrust the money into the player’s hand and drank the random potion without hesitation.

He trusted his luck, but even if he died, it would be better than his current state, so there was no hesitation.

‘If I die, Khan will take care of my corpse. Then I can just revive when we’re about to land!’

He shuddered at the bitter taste of the potion that seemed to paralyze his tongue.

‘Isn’t this poison!?’

But the extremely bitter taste had the effect of making him feel sharp instead.

It was a motion sickness potion that tasted like poison.

“Ugh…!”

Paul shuddered.

It was a terrible taste.

He quickly rummaged through the bag he was carrying.

Not this, not that, there should be something to neutralize this bitter taste…

He took out something that his hand caught on.

It was a small glass bottle the size of Paul’s palm.

Inside, small white flower blossoms were gathered together.

Paul opened the lid, took out a couple of flowers the size of a fingernail, and put them in his mouth.

Then, a sweet taste spread through his mouth, which had been suffering from the bitter taste.

It was a [Sugar Flower] that he sometimes ate out of boredom.

It was a flower with a strong sweet taste like its name, and it was one of the ingredients used for cooking in <Arcana Chronicles>.

“Oh, you didn’t die? I thought you would for sure…”

“…I was lucky and got a motion sickness potion. The taste was terrible, though!”

Paul replied, and then took out one or two more blossoms and put them in Khan’s mouth as well.

“That’s how all motion sickness potions are. The one I made is especially bitter, though! But the effect is good, you know?”

As he said, the effect was good.

As soon as he drank it, a system message appeared saying that the motion sickness debuff had disappeared.

Once the motion sickness was gone, he really felt alive.

First, he changed his title back to ‘Friend of Monsters’.

Then Paul released Khan’s hands that were wrapped around his stomach.

He moved a little away from Khan and spun around once.

Hmm, he’s fine!

“Paul.”

“I’m completely fine now! See? I’m not dizzy even when I spin around like this!”

Khan nodded.

As he said, Paul, who had been dying just a moment ago, was now full of energy again.

At that moment, the player who had been selling potions sauntered over again.

Paul stopped running around and turned to look at the player.

He awkwardly glanced at the two of them while stuffing the potion box he was holding in his hand into his bag.

“What?”

“Um, I’m bored, so can I hang out with you guys? I don’t know anyone on this ship… and it seems like no one else will buy potions.”

At those words, Paul looked back at Khan and then nodded his head, telling him to do so.

Khan wasn’t too happy about it, but he hadn’t learned what to say in times like this yet, so he just kept his mouth shut.

Conversely, the player was overly happy, to a degree that didn’t match his size.

And then he started chatting with Paul.

Khan felt even worse for some reason.