《MMORPG: THE ALCHEMIST》 V.1 C.1 A 28 year old man sat at his desk staring at the computer monitor, watching as the map tracked his delivery. He would be getting his new full-dive virtual reality pod today. Alex had ordered it in preparation for the launch of the new vrmmo, Immortals Reborn. Immortals Reborn was promised to be a true second life. A second life to escape and perhaps even better your true life. Alex had already done his research into the game, and while not all classes were available during the beta, he new which he would choose. Classes worked through class cores, you get your main class core for free when you start the game. The two sub-class cores you have to earn while playing. You can''t change your main core but with some difficulty you can change your sub-cores. Alex had always preferred being a crafter and merchant in online games. This game would be no different, except now he could earn actual money legally from selling his wares. 1 copper is equal to 1 cent, 100 copper is 1 silver, 1 silver is equal to 1 US dollar, 100 silver is 1 gold, 1 gold is 100 US dollars. Alex had already decide to go with the class, Potion Crafter, hoping he could evolve it into alchemist later on. No one in the beta had figured out how to become an alchemist however according to the lore there isn''t one in alive in the world currently. He had theories on how to become an alchemist, but no actual proof. However if he can evolve his class he could become very rich. After all potions and poisons are always in demand in rpgs. Immortals Reborn takes place in a world called Verden. Verden has 3 huge continents all of different sizes but it is said the world has more then two times the landmass of earth. Plenty of room for the players and npc. Each continent has a few kingdoms that occasionally go to war with each other. This didn''t bother Alex at all, after all war means selling more potions¡­which means more money. Alex was middle class in every way, he wasn''t broke but he definitely wasn''t rich. He has been a manager of a computer repair shop, making around $85,000 a year, for the last 4 years. He had stayed in his 2 bed 1 bath apartment, not feeling the need to upgrade. After taxes, rent and all other expenses he saved around $35,000 a year, or around 140 grand in 4 years. A large portion of which went to his new vr pod, around $60,000. So he had $80,000 and a year to make quitting his job worth it. Luckily he left on good terms with the owner who told him if he ever wanted to come back he could. Soon enough the pod arrived and the crew had it set up in his spare bedroom, or his office as he called it now. They left after explaining how to insert the nutrient food packs and advised him not to use it for more then 8 hours at a time. It would automatically kick you from the game after 12 straight hours. Soon enough it was time to enter the game. Climbing into the pod and laying down, he felt the needles stab into the back of his neck, this is how full-dive vr worked. There needed to be some kind of connection between the brain and the device after all. Closing his eyes, he relaxed before finally feeling his consciousness slip into a new world. The next moment he opened his eyes and saw a man and woman sitting at a desk. The beckoned him to sit down before they finally spoke. "I am Jupiter, and this is Juno, We are the overseers of Verden." The man, Jupiter said. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "You are about to embark on your second life, however before that you must agree to some terms and make some choices." Juno said. "Firstly, the creator of Immortals Reborn, Imperial Games, is not responsible for any physical, emotional or psychological damage you may experience while playing their games. Second, at no time are you to reveal to the non-playable characters, or npcs, that they are not real. Do not say players or characters, refer to players as immortals and npcs as natives. Thirdly, attempts at cheating and exploitation will result in a permanent dna ban. Fourth, all contracts overseen and approved my us overseers will be followed to the exact terms. Consequences of breaking contracts will be agreed upon before both parties sign the contract." Jupiter explained. "Do you agree to all the terms I have stated at this time? Please note terms and conditions may change at any time without prior notice." "I agree to all current terms and conditions." Alex stated. "Good. Now to begin with please go through the list of races and choose which you would like to be. Races changes are possible however they have extremely rare and difficult conditions required to achieve." Juno said. Alex looked through the list of races and their racial buffs. There was everything he could imagine from humans to demons to insect like races. He found a race called Telarii Goblin, which was a dark blue looking Goblin that stood at around 4 feet 8 inches. However they gave a 50% brewing speed racial buff, this buff applied to brewing in the traditional sense of alcohol but also included potions. While the buff would be useless to most players, for him it was exactly what he wanted. He felt his body change, he shrunk in size and his proportions became smaller. It was odd and would take time to get used to. "Interesting choice. Next choose your main class core. This core cannot be changed in the future however it can evolve into a better class that''s in the same class tree. For example a warrior core can evolve into a magic swordsman core if you also have a mage secondary core and meet some conditions." Juno explained. The info with the magic swordsman class was already know from the beta testers so it wasn''t any new information. Looking through the list of starter class codes Alex finally found the Potion Crafter class. There seemed to be dozens of starter classes, and there was probably a few dozen secondary classes to choose from later on. Choosing Potion Crafter saw a pop up appear in front of his eyes. [Potion Crafter Class Core Accepted] [Level 1 Skill: Speed Boost] [Description: Activation of this skill increases potion brewing speed by 25%. Drains Stamina at a rate of 10 per minute while active.] [Level 1 Passive: Quality Potions] [Description: Your potions have a 10% chance to increase in 1 quality rank. Higher quality potions will grant more experience.] "Well your race choice makes sense now. Good luck on your journey Immortal. You will be starting in the town of Crows Nest on the continent of Unoth." Juno said before his vision turned black. Opening his eyes again he looked around and saw dozens of other players appearing and looking at their stat screen. Something he should do as well. ''Status'' He thought and a blue screen appeared before his eyes. V.1 C.2 [Status:] [Name: Please Choose] [Health Points (HP): 100/100] [Mana Points (MP): 100/100] [Stamina Points (SP): 100/100] Health, mana and stamina are the only stats shown by the status. Health is obviously how much damage you can take before dying, mana is used for magical activities, stamina is used for physical activities. Strength, agility and other such stats can be trained just like in the real world, however they do not show on the status screen. Alex has no plans to fight at all so stamina and eventually mana would be were his stat points for leveling would go. After thinking for a few minutes Alex chose the name: Potio Regis. Which is Latin for potion king. Looking around he saw other immortals start walking around looking for quests¡­such noobs. With one thought in mind Alex headed towards one of the native guards. "Hello sir! Do you mind if I ask for some directions?" He asked the guard. "Of course not immortal. What are you looking for?" The guard responded. "I''m looking for the best potion crafter in this town." "Right, his shop isn''t to far away. We are in the Bluepoint district of town, which is where many shops are. You see those two roads going south? You want to take the left road and it will be the fourth building on your right." The guard explained while pointing out the road to take. "Thank you good sir." Alex said before turning and heading down the road. Finding the shop was easy considering the big sign reading, "Crows Nest Potions". Walking in he saw a young human boy of about the age of 13 manning the front of the shop. Looking around he could see a variety of different potions, what a perfect chance to use his inspect tool. Walking up to a reddish pink potion he inspected it. [Health Potion] [Quality: Excellent ] [Rarity: Uncommon] [Drinker instantly restores 60 HP] [Extra Effects: None] [Crafted By: ?] Next a dark blue potion. [Mana Potion] [Quality: Good] [Rarity: Common] [Drinker instantly restores 40 MP] [Extra Effects: None] [Crafted By: ?] "Can I help you sir?" The boy asked. "Yes I would like to speak with the owner of this fine establishment." Alex responded to the boy''s question. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "May I ask what about? Master Hardore is very busy." "I would like to learn potion crafting from him." "Hmm I havent see him take any apprentices but I''ll go get him." The boy said before walking to a door leading into a back room. A few minutes went by and Alex continued inspecting the potions, all of them were at least good quality, with many being excellent. Everything from health potions to speed potions and temporary strength boost potions. Soon the boy returned with a stocky dwarf who had a large red beard with streaks of grey showing. He stopped and stared and Alex for a minute. "Well immortal you''ve built yourself to be very speedy at crafting potions. Normally I don''t take apprentices, but if I can teach you how to make an average quality potion then you can be pumping them out fast as fuck. With both you boosts active you cut down the time by 75%, so a batch of health potions takes 20 minutes but for you only 5 minutes. Fine follow me we start now. You will call me Hardore, I don''t care about all that calling people master crap." Hardore said. Going into the back room Alex saw 6 cauldrons currently bubbling with different mixtures at the back of the room. Lining the side walls are shelves, all filled with plants and other regents for potions. "I already have all my cauldrons going so for now I''ll just tell you the basic process of potion crafting. To start always make sure all your equipment is clean. We have an enchanted spout over there in that tub, it draws and purifies water from the river. There is also cleaning solution to mix in with the water." Hardore said while pointing to a metal tub in the back right corner of the room. "Next prepare all the ingredients for the potions you plan to make. I''m able to brew six different potions at once, however you will start with doing two. Each type of potion requires a different amount of brewing time and times of stirring." He explained. "Then you fill the cauldron with half as much purified water as the amount of potions you are making. Cauldrons have marks inside them, each mark is one potions worth. So if you plan to brew 20 health potions worth then you had 30 marks of purified water." "Brewing instructions change for each potion, however you will usually wait for the water to boil before adding the ingredients into the water. Even if you follow all the instructions though, that would still only make odd flavored water. What truly makes a potion is this." Hardore said while grabbing a orange crystal. "These are magic cores. Monsters in dungeons all have them, it''s what connects and binds them to the dungeon. There are different types of core of course, this one here is a fire core. After the brewing process you turn off the heat and pour the potion into the metal bowls. Before that though you grind down the core into a powder, makes sure to add the right amount of powder to the bowl or prepare to be in a world of pain." "Then you pour the potion into the bowl and make sure the powder has mixed well. Then let it rest and cool before adding to your vials. Simple right?" Hardore finished his rushed explanation. It was a lot of information but so far seemed straightforward enough. Clean, prepare, cook, mix with core powder and let rest. Alex watched as Hardore went about stirring some of his potions and poring others into the metal bowls with core powder in them. "Now follow this book of instructions and make me a batch of health potions. If you can get it right the first time I''ll keep teaching you Regis." Hardore said while while slamming a think book down on the table in the center of the room. Well time to make his first potion¡­. V.1 C.3 Alex looked around at some of the alchemy ingredients and noticed many of them were thing from the real world. There was common fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots as well as more rare herbs such as saffron. Turning back to the book he noticed Hardore was already working on more potions, only leaving one cauldron available for Alex. The very first entry in the book was a basic health potion. It needed the juice from 5 apples, 1 crushed garlic, 2 thinly sliced ginger and the juice of 1 lemon. The final ingredient was a healers core which came from some kind of healer monster in the dungeons. After reading the instructions Alex began by cleaning all his tools, firstly he washed and cleaned the cauldron, then the knife, two bowls and a spoon marked with a 2 on the handle and finally the juicer. Then he filled the cauldron with 30 marks of water since he was making a batch of 20, after turning the heat on high and setting the cauldron on the flames, he started preparing the ingredients. First he used the juicer to juice the apples and lemon. The juicer was just a metal tube with a metal plate with small holes at the bottom, the top had a solid metal plate and a lever used to push it down. Crushing whatever happened to be inside. The top came off allowing you to insert ingredients into it. Next he crushed the garlic using the flat side of the blade on his knife. Then he thinly sliced the gingers and added them to the bowl. After stirring everything together he looked back at the water to see it just started boiling. He walked over with his bowl of ingredients and dumped them in before turning the heat down to medium heat. Now he needed to let it cook before adding it to the healer core powder. Alex went to the shelf holding all the different cores and noticed jars full of already crushed core powder. He wanted to crush his own core so he could figure out the best way to do so. As his hand reach for one of the blood red healer cores, Hardore called out to him. "Don''t you dare boy. I have jars full of the powder already and those are expensive. If you want to learn how to crush them watch when I do it or use your own money to buy some cores." Grunting at the dwarf Alex grabbed the jar labeled "Healers" and used his number 2 spoon to get a full scoop and added it to his still clean bowl. The potion had been cooking long enough so he turned the heat of and put the lid on the cauldron before locking it. The lid has small holes on half of it, allowing you to strain any liquid. He pored the liquid out into the metal bowl containing the core powder, watching as it seemed to bubble and mix together. Grabbing his spoon he stirred the concoction and it slowly got thicker before finally he got a notification. [60 EXP] Setting the cauldron down he called up his status. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. [Name: Potio Regis Class: Potion Crafter Race: Telarii Goblin Level:1 Experience: 60/200 HP:100/100 MP:80/100 SP:100/100] Artisan classes require more experience to level because you aren''t risking death where you could loose experience and items like combat classes. A level 1 combat class requires 100 experience and each level after that increases by 100. Artisan classes such as potion crafter, require 200 and increase by 200 each level. Which he was fine with, if he wasn''t going to be fighting and risking his levels and items then it is only fair for it to be harder to level. Hardore smacked him on the back of the head before saying, "Stop standing there looking like a fool and bottle the potions. You can daydream on your own time." Shaking his head Alex grabbed a crate holding 20 vials before filling them with the potion. After they were all filled and corked he decided to inspect one. [Basic Health Potion] [Quality: Good] [Rarity: Common] [Restores 20 HP when drank completely] [Crafted By: Potio Regis] "Huh¡­.an good quality potion on your first try. I''m mildly impressed. Fine I''ll keep teaching you, at least for now." Hardore said. "How much will this sell for?" Alex asked. "Five silver each for basic health potions of this quality. I''ll give you two silver for each since you used my ingredients, and I still need to make some money, so 40 silver for all 20." Hardore explained before pulling out 40 silver from nowhere and handing it to Alex. "Ask Torbin out front to give you an expanded coin pouch. Eventually you might be able to afford a space storage ring like this one, but they''re expensive. After that get back to work making more health potions." Hardore said before turning back to his cauldrons. Alex was happy all around, not only had he crafted a good quality potion his first try, but he had also earned 40 dollars in about 10 minutes of work. His racial buff had come in handy and decreased the time required by 50%, and he could''ve reduced it another 25% if he had remembered to activate his skill. However he still had one question for Hardore. "How does the racial buff work exactly? It sped up the process but I didn''t notice anything out of the ordinary." Alex asked the dwarf. "You didn''t notice some of your mana had been used? It''s not something you activate, it just happens automatically which means you have to be observant of your mana levels, if it drains completely you''ll pass out until it''s regenerated. It''s a double edged sword, it''s an amazing boost but can do more harm then good if you aren''t careful." Hardore said before continuing, "When you were preparing the ingredients you were passively injecting your mana into them, which caused them to cook faster. Then when you turned the fire on you again injected your mana into the flames causing them to burn hotter. Which made the process be reduced by half the usual time. Now get back to work, make health and mana potions, and if you have to drink a mana potion because of being an idiot you''ll be paying me its full price." Alex found the whole idea of your body passively using mana interesting. However it could be a downside if he wasn''t careful. All of his stat points would be going to his mana and stamina for now, they are his most important stats at this level. By the end of the day Alex had made 6 more batches of basic health potions and 2 batches of mana potions. Unfortunately he had to take long breaks to eat and regain his mana, but he still made 360 silver or 3 gold and 60 silver, from the 9 batches total. After Hardore closed the shop he told Torbin to show him to an inn, where he paid 10 silver for the night and 3 for dinner. Once he logged out and laid in his own bed, his one thought before drifting into sleep was¡­ ''It''s going to be a long week'' V.1 C.4 Alex woke up refreshed and ready for his second day in the game. He laid in bed for a few minutes thinking about how he had basically made $360 in a single day. However that was only the price on the public exchange that the devs controlled. The public exchange is exactly what it sounds like, a way to exchange your ingame coins for real money. Of course the devs weren''t paying you, no instead anyone can put in exchange orders, exchanging real money for ingame coins. When a player decides to exchange their coins they get that persons money and the one who put in the exchange order gets the coins. However the devs made it a set rate, meaning no matter how much or little demand there is, the rate will never change. Of course this was only the public exchange, players can still do private exchanges where the rate is changed since the devs do not control private trades. This issue with the private exchanges is that you needed to have connections to get to the big buyers, something he didn''t have¡­yet. Which led to another important thought. Game statistics. On the official game site the devs had live game statistics, things like players currently online, how many players chose a specific class or race. Alex had already looked at these stats a few minutes ago, and what he found shocked him. Only 8% of all players chose an artisan starting class. While he had expected it to be low, this was horribly low¡­.which was good for him. Artisan classes are terribly weak when it comes to any sort of combat, however they are typically a decent money maker. Which makes sense since combat classes use most of the products artisan classes make. While it is definitely possible to make big money as a combat class, it''s extremely rare anyone does. Usually they''ll make enough to repair their gear and buy whatever supplies they need before they set out again. Gear drops are extremely rare, usually only from dungeon bosses, treasure chests and wandering bosses in the wild. The devs did this purposefully to makes crafting based classes relevant, something most mmos don''t consider. So while it''s possible to get a piece of gear that you can''t use and is worth big money, it rarely happens. Add in the fact that playing as a combat class solo is nearly impossible in this game, and it just adds another factor. Because even if you get gear you can''t use, you''ll want to give it to a teammate who can. The stronger each person in the team is then the stronger the team is as a whole. So after all that combat players usually make 10-15 silver after a full 12 hours of playtime. So why did pretty much everyone choose a combat class cores? If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Simple, most players aren''t looking at this game the same way Alex is, as a job. Most want the thrill of action and adventure in a fantasy world, they want to feel physically or magically powerful. They want to get into huge epic battles between guilds. Of course eventually it will get out how much money artisan classes make and more will take one for one of their minor cores . You can only have one character so those choices are extremely important, which will lead to more not choosing a crafting class as a minor core. While Alex wanted to go and find a rich player willing to spend 3x the set global rate for his gold. For now he wouldn''t. No first he would save up to start his own operation and once he was making enough money to comfortably supply his business then he would look for a long term buyer for his extra gold. He has enough money to live his current lifestyle for a full year before he has to worry. Which should be plenty of time¡­hopefully. On the first day he had made a total of 9 batches of potions, each batch earning him 60 experience, or 540 total. He was close to reaching level 3, after level 2 he but 2 of his stat points into mana and the last into stamina. After getting ingame where his character woke from the bed at the in, he called up his stat screen. [Potio Regis Major Core: Potion Crafter Race: Telarii Goblin Level: 2 Experience: [340/400] HP:100/100 MP:120/120 SP:110/110 Not to bad, those extra 20 mana point would allow him to craft an extra batch without having to take a break. Today he would continue making basic potion, however he planned to also use his active class skill at the same time. Which should increase his output by 25% (/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/)(:)(/) Alex flopped into his bed that night after going back to the inn and logging off for the day. He had made 12 batches of potions today, while it was worth it, he was completely drained. He had made 4 gold and 80 silver, as well as gaining 720 experience. He had reached level 4 and was 80/800 experience into level 5. Luckily Hardore would begin teaching him more advanced potion tomorrow, which should bring in more experience. Of course when Hardore says "teach" he really means handing you a book and leaving you to figure it out. Which Alex was perfectly fine with since the dwarf would still answer any questions about potion crafter that he may have. He could''ve crafted a few more batches if he hadn''t spent the first hour of the morning exploring the town. This helped him make some decisions about his future plans. Most importantly, he wouldn''t stay here. While the town was nice, it would offer very little in the long term. Instead he would have to travel to the kingdoms capital where there was more business opportunities. Of course this also meant more competition, but he had no problem with that. Competition would simply push him to making his business and himself better.