novelraw Chapter 873 - Is the herb mightier than the sword?
Chapter 873 - Is the herb mightier than the sword?
“Holy bones! Let’s fucking go Astelia!!! Did you all see this? She’s gotten even better in the little time I spent in the forbidden lay– err, well, I guess it was actually like four months, but still!”
“She must have trained really really hard!” Bookie added.
Saria shook her head, “I’m sure she did, but at this level… She’s barely eighteen, too. That’s not just training, her natural talent is crazy.”
“Heh, well there’s a reason Moon poached her at birth. But she is also the hardest worker I know; I don’t even think I would have anywhere near the level of fighting skills I have if it wasn’t for her constantly wanting to spar. In terms of evasion and defending against bladed weapons especially…”
“Has Alith’s event started yet?” Bookie asked, impatiently throwing glances at the black screen.
“Any minute now,” Saria told him, petting his skull, “Since it’s a crafting event they need to make sure they have the proper materials ready for every participant.”
[Event: Armed to the teeth - Craftsmen showdown]
[Choose between a Soldier, a Golem or an Undead warrior, and equip them to the best of your ability! You cannot give your own items, but everything else from items crafted on the spot to summoned weapons and enchantments are fair game. Crafting materials and tools are provided for free! The chosen warriors will then compete against each other. Only one may stand!]
Mid the Elven Seraph stood in front of a closed gate in the second to last lowest floor of the Ark. A group of about two hundred people in front of him. The total number of actual craftsmen was as pitifully low as ever, but in a rare occurrence, four of the real trialees were competing here this time.
While people with classes like [Invoker] were already busy working on equipping their warrior, this was the group of craftsmen waiting for the materials warehouse to open.
Mid cleared his throat.
The warehouse behind me contains all types of materials and ingredients, some precious, some useless, and each is organized in packs. A cook might want a bundle of different spices while a smith might want a crate of mithril, no matter the case, you will be able to select up to twenty-five packs of whatever you chose. Simply touch a pack and insert your mana for a full second to mark it, which will send it to your workshop right away.
Do note that we have prepared materials specifically for each of your announced professions, as well as random ones, but anyone is free to pick anything.
Lastly, there are a few rules. No damaging each other or the packs, and the use of [Identify] is disabled. You will have ten minutes after the gates open to grab your twenty five packs, followed by up to two hours of allotted crafting time. The gates will open soon. Now get to work!
Who even needs to use identify? [Botany] is just better. I assume the other jobs have similar classless skills.
Alith looked around. Although the number of real craftsmen was low, she could tell many of the people present were equally as serious about their craft as she was. The one she was the most wary of was a woman just about her height, who had thick pure white skin and strange features like a bipedal shark with a snarky face, tiny rows of pointy teeth and hair of cascading nacre, wearing a long shimmering robe covered in columns of glowing runes.
She had heard a bit about her from Camilla, that was Zuluk Amok’ok Rayra, the noble daughter of some ascended merchant. That alone would have been worrisome but the real source of Alith’s worries was that said Zuluk Rayra had gotten the second place in the previous event, and despite the carnage Relkei had caused with his wave, Zuluk Rayra had gotten almost the same score.
Truthfully the apostle of Dread had almost gotten a similar score too, but Relkei’s [Day of the storm] had killed one of his teammates resulting in a heavy points loss.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
While Alith idly hoped the apostle wouldn’t hold an annoying grudge, the gates of the warehouse creaked.
It’s time. Careful now… I’ll let the clowns fight it out. No damage doesn’t mean no hindrances…
As expected, curses and other paralyzing, but not damaging spells flew around everywhere. Only a few of the fastest people and those with adequate debuff protection managed to enter the warehouse right away. At a glance, Alith wasn’t among them, her feet glued to the ground by some weird curse.
But that was the [Lady double] as Alith was already deep into the warehouse, shoulder to shoulder with the rich heiress and a fluffy Odon. Although she still had a few seconds of invisibility, she could tell they had both noticed her. Despite that, none of the three dared be the first to attack and risk getting caught in a one against two situation, so they picked up speed and aimed to secure their own materials instead.
Alith noted what the other two were going for as she lunged toward a shelf stacked with dried herbs.
He’s going directly for mithrium… And she’s getting mana rocks?
Ah… Whatever. Waterblooms, I need dried waterblooms, there must be some…
MÈRE DE DIEU! Is that a fucking Refractic Orchid?!
The following minutes were full of tough decisions. Between elusive, priceless materials that might only be found once in a lifetime, and familiar ingredients with proven efficacy, the craftsmen’s hearts were torn apart in this chaotic warehouse.
Alith stood in the wide alchemy workshop prepared for her in a vast white void. The other craftsmen were all there each in their own specialized workshop, separated by invisible boundaries that only Mid could cross as he flew around providing different camera angles for the spectators.
Now interfering with the other contestants was fully prohibited, and everyone had two hours to prepare their warrior. After checking out the selection, Alith had picked the Zombie as her warrior, it looked like the weakest and slowest of the three choices, but compared to the golem and the regular soldier, it was a lot more compatible with her alchemy.
Her materials looked the most unassuming of all the craftsmen present: some mana water, dried herbs, flowers, a few bags of seeds and berries, a pack of green leaves, a coiled-up vine, and a few monster parts like pearls, horns, and the bloody liver of some tiny creature.
In comparison, the Odon from before in the next workshop had already loaded his forge with mithrium and adamian slag while he painfully carved out something out of an asterite block.
Pestle held her head, as she stared at the screen with bulging eyes, “Aaaagh it twenty minute gone! Why is so slow, Elit! What is you doing?! Sold brain to Klepra?!”
On the screen, while the other craftsmen were all busy working in the background, Alith was standing still in front of the table where she’d spread out most of her ingredients, seeming lost in thought.
“Alchemy isn’t a straightforward process like most of the other jobs,” Saria answered, “She needs to think through, adapt, and memorize the entire process for whatever she wants to make before starting. A bent blade can be straightened but a ground herb can’t be reassembled.”
“Alchemy very bored!!!” Pestle further complained, moments before Alith finally started moving.
She handled multiple things at once, starting to preheat multiple cauldrons, washing glass vials and pipes with mana water one by one, searing some herbs and grinding others to dust with a mortar and pestle. Her corner of the giant workshop void quickly turned from the calmest one to a smelly box full of dangerous fumes and colorful smokes. One by one she prepared the tools needed for her Zombie’s victory.
The actual fighting would be a series of elimination rounds, with a full healing and equipment reset every time. No matter what one had picked, the warriors would instinctively know how to use whatever they were given. And after the initial preparation phase, the warriors’ kits could not be changed.
Paying no mind to what the others were preparing, Alith worked through her entire stock of materials. She fed potions to the zombie one by one, slathered its skin with a layer of oily blue paste, soaked its ragged clothes in a boiling cauldron emitting a glittering fog, and equipped him with handcrafted plant pouches full of colorful rock ‘candy’. As a last touch, she strapped a vine across its chest, loaded with different glass vials, and stepped back to observe her creation.
Compared to the enchanted golems and heavily-armored soldiers in most of the other workshops, her zombie looked like an unwashed forest-dwelling vagrant.
With about two minutes left on the timer, Alith looked quite proud of herself.
“Perfect.”
While the craftsmen stressfully got through the last few minutes of preparations, Mid was invisible, going from workshop to workshop, presenting the trialees’ creations to the spectators.
“And here is the last one. Alchemists of the world, how does it look? The bets are now open, and as usual we will reveal the brackets after the bids are all in. There is no shortage of talent this time around, competition will be fierce. Do your worst.”