A Dragon's Curiosity

“It’s not nice to scam people in that way, Nisha.”

Unico leaned close to the window and peered outside, checking again if Thurgau was to be seen on the horizon yet. After the incident where a young noble almost rose in revolt and tried to strangle another student it did not take long to collect all the participants of the outing and start the return trip with the carriages.

Some of the groups celebrated together and squeezed all in one cabin while others took the chance to unwind after a long day of combat and dozed off in nearly empty carriages.

Experiencing their first blood on this trip had varied impacts on the young minds, yet the foreign youth showed no signs of discomfort or exhaustion. Lisa had pushed it all off her mind until they rested on the return trip, but now her fists tightly clenched from time to time. Fortunately they saved a great amount of herbs that kept her mind off the slaughter and the blonde girl busied herself with sorting them.

“Whatever you mean?”

The elf leaned back on the fluffy cushion she smuggled inside the carriage. Monsters and beasts usually had to ride on the specialized carriages with the pens for holding different species. Nisha used her contract with the wind wolf to have her sneak into the carriage when no one was looking.

After sorting out their spoils of war and selling a part of it to the academy at the request of the teacher that sorted them according to their worth, the trio had garnered a moderate amount of attention.

The stars of the outing had started a downright slaughter. From the whispered rumors they brought artefacts from their families, great killing tools that shred right through the comparably frail monster bodies.

So although Nisha and her friends had made a killing and earned big, the recently admitted royal heirs and the Whitehall and Silverwood champions with the full support of their respective families garnered the full attention.

“You scared me so much when you dragged that snake out of the tree. How did you even manage to kill it? I asked the teacher, and also saw how it looks like bark. But you made no ruckus at all, just came back from scouting and dragged that monster behind you like an empty sleeve. That’s not something you can simply gloss over and expect no questions at all.”

Being in the confines of a safe carriage, especially when they had spent a long day in the Wilderness, relaxed the blonde young lady immensely. The wet and treachery ground, the buzzing insects and the constant worry faded away, yet Lisa retained her newfound courage and spine.

Not that either Nisha or Unico minded. If the shy girl never broke out of her shell, the group would have a hard time communicating or staying together over time.

The dragon did not doubt that the youth with the violet-hued skin had the capability to match up to their standard, but it was a pleasant surprise that Lisa started to grow in the same way.

“I lived for a long time next to a much bigger forest. It’s just a survival instinct acquired from my childhood. If you assume there is only one threat all the time, the hidden danger is not even going to have to break a sweat in order to get you.”

The dragon did not have enough experience in society to recognize how big of an impact the other girl’s growth had been. However, their interactions felt less forced and their communication eased up. Instead of a teacher and guard, Unico had less responsibilities as well, which lifted a weight off his back.

A shared adventure also helped to bring them closer together.

“Wise words. Adventurer’s live always on the edge, and for good reason. Only the vigilant stay alive, that’s why the advice they give is almost always sound.

At home, there have been plenty of foolish upstart groups that never returned from the Wilderness. To survive against the endless desolate land, it is important to learn as much as possible from others.”

Without constantly fiddling with his daggers, Unico looked every bit like a learned scholar, and not a whirlwind of death and cheap shots against the monster’s flaws. Even his figure sitting in the carriage seemed elegant and refined.

“You’re just helping her to gloss over the issue at hand. Fine, I won’t ask anymore. Do whatever you want, just don’t scare me so much every time.

Have you decided yet what you want to redeem with your contribution points? I am thinking about getting some pills and maybe a potion to hasten my training speed, but I’m not sure if that is the most efficient way to spend them.”

Lisa rolled her eyes at her two friends and shifted the topic to their most recent gains.

Instead of lazing around on a wolf or admiring the scenery outside the window, the girl never  let the bundle of herbs leave her hands and carefully studied them. Besides the most valuable medicine and some rather low grade materials suited to further her studies in alchemy the value of the complete harvest did not overtake one third. Though the friends wished to give her a greater part of the herbs, seeing that her parents owned an alchemy shop, the blonde girl displayed her stubbornness and did not accept any more.

Two of the terms attracted the elf’s attention and she eagerly looked forward to following Unico’s advice.

“What’s the difference between pills and potions? Aren’t both of them medicines?”

Her question seemed rather fitting, adventurers and other students often threw terms like healing potion or guidance pill around, making them seem interchangeable.

“Rather than absolute categories, the two terms only differentiate the effects of the medicine they represent.”

Lisa had no trouble at all to explain the situation to Nisha. Since she was young she had lived in a household dedicated to medicine purchasing, processing, brewing and selling. While the profession as a whole was far more complicated, the basic terms and theories had long since become instinctual for her.

“A pill is the baked medicinal powder left after refining medicines in a furnace. They increase or decrease various properties for mages and warriors, and that for a set period of time. I think the lowest ranked pill you can buy is the foundation pill, a first rank medicine that hones the ambient aura circulating in your body. It’s great to hone yourself and make the preparation to break through the second aura rank by setting a solid foundation, hence the name.”

Instead of mumbling and lowering her head like she did before, Lisa animatedly reviewed her knowledge on the matter.

“Potions on the other hand often come in liquid form and hold the essence of herbs and medicine used to brew them. A single cauldron can refine several batches of potions and is more often than not the prized possession of an alchemist along with his furnace for pill refining.

A healing potion is carried by every adventurer team that work together for a while, one on each member. By taking it orally or sprinkling it on a wound, the healing potion can remedy an injury.

Depending on the recipe and ingredients, healing potions or mana potions can be made for every single rank.

The [Gentle Bloodroot] we found earlier is a very good ingredient for second rank health potions, and it can also substitute the main medicine for first rank health potions, although that’s a big waste.

With more ingredients and a third tier main component, it’s possible to conconoct third tier variants as well, but they are lacking compared to pure third tier versions.”

Her explanation surged without pause or hesitation, and at the end she also picked out the herb they talked about. Compared to growing in the Wilderness, the bloody root had yet to lose any vitality and sparkled with lustre, making any observer easily believe that it was an important ingredient for a health potion.

“Then the main difference between pills and potions is a temporary increase in capability or cultivation compared to a permanent and instant gain?

Maybe you can procure other ingredients to brew your own potions or refine some pills. That can substitute for practice in alchemy and will likely be cheaper than purchasing ready-made products at the same time.”

The wide field of knowledge captured Nisha’s attention and made her hands itch to try picking up a craft even more, especially since it was hard to see any gains in her smithing class yet. A few ingots of first tier quality barely had any use of value besides practicing to operate the smithing furnace and hammering metal in shape.

“It’s not that easy. Alchemy is not a first turn subject so I would have to ask my parents to guide me at home, which is not that easy for a beginner alchemist like myself. Knowing a few topics is a vast distance from making my own potions or pills and my failure rate should be very high at the beginning. I don’t think that route is practical.

It should be better to focus on advancing as a warrior, at the moment, and steady my foundation so I have more time to focus on a side subject next turn.”

Instead of getting drunk on a sense of achievement and personal growth, Lisa firmly rejected the notion and explained her reasons. As it made sense even to the laymen, Nisha and Unico nodded along.

Having a capable alchemist even as an acquaintance was of great importance to both nobles and adventurers as both occupations often needed their services and each refinement held a risk of failure.

The purple-skinned youth spoke up next.

“In my opinion, you should purchase a piece of good equipment. Depending on whether you want to continue as a shield warrior or branch out in the future to serve in different roles, a good shield or sword may serve as a good investment. Depending on how many points you want to spend, there should be a second grade piece of equipment available at the [Royal Academy] since the prices are reduced for first turn students. If you can get a good deal, maybe you can use your purchase until you hit the third or fourth turn depending on your speed of advancement. Since it’s still quite early into the term, many of the good pieces should not have been sold yet. I plan to look for a short weapon myself, a dagger or similar item works for my fighting style.”

The trio had turned-in their gear upon returning to the wagon train owned by the academy and noticed that only a scant few students owned personal gear and brought it on the trip. While the dragon did have a wider selection of higher grade swords, lances and bows in her [Inner Space], she would be hard pressed to explain where they originated from and might draw unwanted attention to herself, so she borrowed one from the school.

“That does sound like good advice. From my personal experience, there is also a big difference between handling a familiar weapon or borrowing a different one each time. When I hunted previously, I handled my own bow thousands of times, if not more. There has never been a time where I fumbled around or had to readjust my grip on it due to the arrow slanting away from the target. If you know the direction of your position and how you want to develop your skills in the future, buying a personal weapon is a good idea. Maybe I should also buy an armor or a sword for easy use in future outings. In the long run it also saves contribution points if the gear we borrow gets damaged during the fights. Some of the other groups complained how half or more of their points getting taken away since they lost their weapon or broke them.”

Due to her body currently being an elf, Nisha had senses comparable to that of a dragon and picked up whispered conversations and rumors quite easily. This in turn allowed her to stay informed even in a mass of students discussing their gains and losses while hanging around with her friends.

During the rest of the drive, they discussed the advantages and disadvantages regarding their spending and future purchases, until the carriage train arrived back at the capital and stopped at the [Royal Academy].

The dragon bid farewell to her friends and leisurely strolled back home accompanied by Little Lia.

Thanks to the outing, the beast and her master both had a chance to let loose and hunt in the forest, which allowed them to let go of some stress and enjoy the process. Especially the wolf basked in the experience, instead of only fighting in the gloomy dungeon and feeding on the sparse occasions where Nisha took her along, Accalia relished the chance to roam through the grass plains and stalk their prey in the forest.

On the other hand, the elf gained real combat experience while fighting in a group and gained more proficiency in wielding a spear. Compared to beating up a motionless training dummy again and again, her ease of use rapidly shot up recently.

Finally, she also learned a lot about medicines, those used for alchemy and some herbs that can be taken or applied directly in case of injuries. Lisa also taught her a bunch about alchemy in the process, which was soaked up by the dragon’s brain. Not a single word was forgotten.