Chapter 2072: The Right Potion

They were out the door the moment that they got their loot, and seconds later the door jingled again as more people came in from the arena.

"We hear that you’ve made something special that will help us in our fights. What can we get, Alchemy Lady?" The warrior shouted, far too loudly for an indoor setting.

The Alchemist gestured grandly at a row of basic looking blue potions.

"These are a long duration mana replenishment potion. If you take one before your fight, you will get steady energy back for an entire hour. No more running out of mana for big skills, no more pacing yourself to your regeneration rate.

Go ahead and burst down your mana, secure in the knowledge that you’ll be getting that energy back."

The warriors smiled. Now that was a great potion.

Nobody could say that it was prohibited or that it was cheating. It was just mana regeneration. Not a power boost. They would still have to ration their skills, not even chugging full effect potions would let them spam their strongest skills.

But they could do much more than usual, if they didn’t defeat their opponent during the opening moves.

That was what they all aimed for in the arena.

Burn down your opponent before you ran out of energy. That way you could claim the decisive victory, and nobody would have to suffer through the slow parts, or see that you weren’t quite as impressive as you had looked at the start.

The viewers at the arena were used to that. Everyone started out strong. If they got slower as the fight went on, that was just their sustained power level, instead of their burst power.

That was the part that the Elders watched for.

Plenty of Immortals had big flashy skills that could do a lot of damage at the start. But the ones that could persevere when they were tired, or when things went wrong, were the ones that the Elders would consider for special treatment or advancement.

They were the ones that the Elders wanted leading groups, because they could keep up their power when the rest of the group faltered.

So, these potions, while they weren’t particularly powerful in their effectiveness, were actually quite valuable to the pride of the combatants.

"How many would you like? Five hundred gold coins each, or four thousand for ten."

Remi giggled softly at the sales pitch.

They hadn’t actually put them on sale, but if they could get one person to buy ten of them, wasn’t that much better than selling them one at a time before a fight?

"I will take ten," the man behind him announced.

That would last him all week, as he usually fought once or twice a day. Four thousand gold coins was less than what he made from two dungeon runs with his usual team, so he could definitely afford it.

Actually, these would be great in the dungeon as well.

He could use them to do more damage and grab more of whatever monsters they had found for the day. The variable factor was a nightmare for groups as you could set the difficulty, only to find that the difficulty you got was far higher than intended, because your group was not well suited to the fight.

They had managed to get an Obsession Demon dungeon at one point, in a group with no Rogues.

Just keeping them from killing the cleric was a full time job for one of their members, and that drastically dropped their output overall. They had spent three whole hours in that dungeon, but if they had these potions active, they could have done it in two.

They got more from the dungeon than they would spend on the potions, so it was totally worth it.

Their thoughts about the possibilities were interrupted by a grumpy voice from behind.

"You have the price, now buy or get out of the way. I want a batch for my dungeon run."

Offended, they turned around, only to find that the man was a Peak Immortal Crusader, an Elder from a Clan they didn’t recognize. No need to start a fight over someone in a hurry. At least, not when he was that strong.

"Sorry, Elder. We were a bit too eager. Please, go ahead, we can see you have things to do."

Remi handed over a small wooden box full of potions, and accepted a large Fire Stone in return.

The trade value of the stone was closer to five thousand gold coins, no need to haggle with the man. He seemed pleased with the rate as well, as he happily pocketed the potions and rushed back out of the shop, down the street toward the dungeon.

Ten potions should get his whole group through the run, and put the healer in a slightly better mood than usual.

The group running the healer out of mana because they pulled too much was always a threat in this dungeon. Usually, it happened because they had failed at scouting, or they underestimated the power of a new enemy.

But that didn’t change the outcome to the healer.

"Anything else you’d like? We’ve got all sorts of helpful potions today, all fresh stocked for opening day," the Alchemist asked the two younger men who were counting coins to pay for their purchase.

"Not today, we’ve already spent too much at the arena. But we will be back if we get something good from the dungeon."

The Alchemist gave them her best smile, and Remi nodded in satisfaction.

She had made a good call letting someone else do this. She scared people away when she smiled at them. Something to do with the fangs. But the lizard folk Alchemists were more gentle looking, smooth scaled and cheerful.

That made them excellent options for running the shop, and they didn’t get as many annoying people hitting on them as the bunnies and the Obsession Demons did.

It was like people forgot that most Obsession Demons were not in any way related to the Succubi.

Morons.