Alchemical Chaos: The Creator's Domain

I woke up in the morning, stretched, took a shower, and got ready to go to the Adventurer's Guild. Today, my goal is to take on my first quest. While I get ready, I think about which quest would be ideal for me. Since I'm alone and still at level 1, it would be risky to face monsters. At my level, any monster could be a danger depending on how different things are here compared to the game.

I also need to consider the issue of death. Maybe there's no rebirth after dying here. Although I have access to my attributes and items in a "virtual" way, everything feels very real. I feel my body whole, I can feel pain, so it's essential that I don't take risks to my life until I confirm that.

If I'm not the only former Ragnarok Online player that reincarnated into this world, then there'll be multiple people abusing the knowledge from the game to develop more efficiently than the natives of this world.

I left my room and went to talk to the Kafra. "Hello, how was your stay, Mr. Azoth?" she said politely.

"It was a great night's sleep," I replied.

"That's great! Would you like to reserve the room for tomorrow, Mr. Azoth?"

It makes perfect sense to book the room, since I have no other place to sleep. If this inn, which is the simplest, is full, I will have to pay more at another one. "Yes, please book it for me for the next 7 days. It's almost all the money I have. By the way, what's your name, miss Kafra?"

She smiled again. "My name is Tayla, and it's a pleasure to have you as a guest, Mr. Azoth."

"The pleasure is mine. I'll be going now then, see you later."

"Have a great day." And so, I continued my way towards the Adventurers' Guild.

As I walked through the streets, I noticed that everything was different from before. Some "newcomers" were still confused, trying to accept what was happening. It will take a while for everyone to adapt. This world is fascinating, but it is far from the technological level and comfort we had on Earth.

When I arrived at the Adventurers Guild, I noticed that there were a lot of people there. Different from last time. I approached the receptionist and said: "Hello, miss. I came to pick up my first quest to begin my journey as an adventurer."

She looked at me and, after a pause, looked around as if something was strange. I insisted: "Madam, can you show me the available quests?"

She rested her chin on her fingers and asked, "Did you come alone?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, it'll be a bit difficult to find a good quest for you."

"Why?"

"With the large influx of new inhabitants, there were few quests left. We had a record number of adventurers signing up, many of them inexperienced and willing to take on high-level quests. So we had to impose some rules for the adventurers."

I had expected something like this. Did I make a mistake by not taking a quest yesterday? "What's available for me?" I asked.

"On the board, you'll find F, E, and D rank quests. With the arrival of the new adventurers, we changed the rules. This is being implemented universally after the incident."

If even a portion of the people from Earth came here, our arrival here has likely had a very significant impact on the people of this world. Considering the size of that asteroid, it's very hard to believe anyone survived. Then, what if everyone was brought here?

"The rules work like this", the receptionist said, making me focus on her again. "F-rank quests, which usually involve killing Porings and collecting items, require at least two F or G-rank adventurers. For E-rank quests, three members are required, with at least one of them being E-rank. D-rank quests require four members, with two of them being D-rank. However, there are still several G-rank quests left, simple tasks that can be done alone. They ended up being left over because no one seems very interested. Are you interested in those?"

I definitely made a mistake by not taking a quest yesterday. With the increase in adventurers, they found a way to distribute the quests. "Yes, can I see them?"

She soon gave me a list with the G-rank quests, and one in particular caught my attention: Collect healing herbs in the field close to the city.

These herbs were the items weak monsters simply callled "Plant" would drop.

From the guild info, Plants were just like in the game: No matter how weak one was, all that was needed to defeat a Plant was to hit them 10 times. Also, they only deal 1 point damage with each attack, which are pretty slow.

With my initial HP of 50, I could tank 50 of their attacks, so I should be able to defeat quite a few of them.

The quest was also perfect for me since I could use these herbs to make HP and SP potions from the Alchemy Manual Volume 1. Although I hadn't read the manuals in this world, I remembered the formulas I used in the game very clearly, which would give me a good head start.

The G-rank quest required me to collect 4 red herbs, 2 yellow herbs, and 2 green herbs. I had 3 days to complete the collection and the reward would be 120 Zeny. It's a small amount, but considering that the lodging costs 100 Zeny, I would still have 20 Zeny to survive as long as I managed to complete it in a day, which I was pretty confident I could.

The first few days will be tough, but as I level up, things will get better. I chose the G-rank quest. "Here you go. When you complete the quest, we'll also add points to your adventurer score, so you'll be able to take on higher-level quests."

After leaving the guild, I decided to have a nice meal before heading out on the quests. The receptionist handed me a map with the locations of the Plants I needed to defeat for the herbs. She mentioned that it is a nice quest since there are Plants on the outskirts of Einbroch, and I wouldn't need to take portals or travel far to complete it.

After walking for a few minutes, I reached the entrance to the city. There were some heavily armed guards and a line of merchants entering. I didn't stop to observe, I continued towards the outskirts to look for the Plants. After a while, I managed to find a Red Plant. I took out my knife and prepared for combat.

It was pretty easy in the end. I landed the 10 hits needed to defeat the plant, but I took 4 damage in total, leaving me with 46 HP. It attacked me with what seemed to be its arm, which turned into spikes when it touched me.

I continued hunting the Plants for the rest of the day and, by the end, I had collected what I needed to complete the quest. Monsters were way rarer than in the game, so I spent 8 hours hunting the 32 Plants, which got me exhausted and hungry. I managed to reach level 3 and, as I expected, my HP and SP were fully recovered after each levle up. Now, I just wanted to go back and rest.

I opened my inventory and checked the items I had, there were quite a few items. In addition to the items needed to make potions, I found other items that I could sell and earn a good amount of money, and many of them that I could use to make cooking items that give some important buff. But one of these items, a herb called "Mint", seemed promising. If I'm not mistaken, it is used to make painkillers and can activate the Vigor skill. I need to go to the market to find out how much the Mint is worth.

On the way back, I was torn between going straight to the adventurers' guild to turn in the quest or leaving it for the next day. I was very tired, but I didn't want to put it off, so I decided to head to the guild.

I reached it when it was almost night, and there weren't many people there. I was looking very exhausted as I went up to the receptionist, so when she saw me, she waved and asked: "Hello, was it a tiring day?"

I replied, leaning against the counter: "Yes, quite, but I managed to complete the quest. Here it is."

"Not bad for a first quest. We usually give a deadline of 3 days because of the difficulty of finding these plants, but you have done well." She praised. "Here is your reward, 120 Zeny." I politely thanked her and started to turn to leave, but she called out to me. "Wait, I have some news for you."

I was so tired that I didn't want to hear any more, but I knew I needed to stay up to date with the information.

"As you may have noticed, there has been a huge increase in the number of adventurers, which has caused us some problems with the quests. If we hadn't organized ourselves, we wouldn't have been able to accommodate everyone."

"What's new is that the demand for quests like the one you completed has grown quite a bit recently. With the increase in the number of new adventurers, many of them have needed potions to complete their quests, which has ended up running out of stock on the market. This has caused the price of potions to skyrocket."

"Furthermore, since this type of quest is seen as boring and is often ignored by adventurers, they decided to increase the reward to attract more people. Now, they're paying four times as much. Are you interested in taking on more quests like this?"

As expected, as more adventurers arrived, the local economy began to change. New opportunities arose for those who knew how to seize them, and I soon I'll be ready to take advantage of these changes, especially in the sale of potions and ingredients.

Still, these quests were very advantageous, as they didn't require the purchase of expensive potions or equipment, unlike the more difficult quests. It was a good way to accumulate resources without large investments. "Please show me the available quests."

The receptionist smiled slightly and displayed the quests on a digital screen. "Take as many as you need, because tomorrow there might not be any more. Just remember to complete them within the deadline." This really worried me. I wanted to take on several quests, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish them all in time. However, when I looked, I saw that there were quests of all types and deadlines.

I took on 5 quests, almost all of them with a 5-day deadline, and one with a 1-day deadline, which seemed quite advantageous. It asked for exactly the same items as today's quest, but paid three times as much: 400 Zeny, while the others had good rewards but slightly lower pay.

The remaining 4 quests required 6 red herbs, 3 yellow herbs, and 3 green herbs each, all with a reward of 500 Zeny. I'll have to dedicate the entire week to this. It may seem like I'm delaying the leveling process, but right now I need to get more money. If I have enough resources, I can join a strong group as support and gain experience without having to be a warrior, just by offering potions and helping out in the back.

Unlike other classes, until I become a full-fledged Alchemist, I will basically be a workhorse for groups of adventurers or guilds. In the beginning, an Alchemist needs a lot of resources, which would be easier to buy with money. Therefore, I need to develop to the merchant class as soon as possible so I can get discounts in stores, sell at higher prices and use my bargaining skills like Discount and Overchard.

After all that, it was time to eat and then rest for the next day. As I was leaving the guild, I felt the need to thank the receptionist. "By the way, miss, what's your name?"

"Rose." She replied.

"Thank you for your help, Rose. See you later."

And now I can finally go back to the inn.

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Protagonist Data:

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Day: 2

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Class Level: 1

Base Level: 3

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Life Status:

HP: 120

MP: 37

Attributes:

STR: 5

AGI: 5

VIT: 5

INT: 5

DEX: 6

LUK: 5

Combat Statistics:

ATK: 24

MATQ: 14.5

HIT: 6

Critical: 1

DEF: 12

MDEF: 5

Flee: 5

ASPD: 106

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Zeny: 180

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Equipped Equipment:

Knife

ATK: 17

Description: A simple knife.

Cotton Shirt

DEF: 10

Description: Simple cotton shirt. To be used on any occasion.

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Inventory:

Flower : 2

Bud : 2

Stem : 2

Lantana : 1

Felpa : 2

Mint : 1

Romantic Flower : 2

Celatom : 1

Melody Plant : 1

Makulrata : 1

Bitter Herb : 1

Green Herb : 1

Sharp Scale : 1

Aloe : 1

Aloe Leaf : 1

Romantic Leaf : 1

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