The Autocraft Alchemist

When Richard and his father arrived home they found his mother waiting for them. She was standing on the front stoop with her elbows bent and her fists firmly planted on her hips. His father chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck while he looked up at her.

"I'm home Brenda. We fought off those ratter bastards," he said with a smile. Though it appeared to have no effect on bettering her demeanor.

The stare down continued for another moment until his mother walked forward, bypassed his father, and spoke to Richard, "You're all beat up. And your shirt is ruined," she fussed over the tears and blood stains, "you looked so nice in it." She hugged him close before she led him towards the house. As she passed his father she slapped him on the back but didn't say anything.

Once inside Richard was deposited in one of the kitchen chairs while his mother got started on breakfast. His father sneaked in and took the spot across from him. "She never liked it when I went out to fight. Being left behind is hard for anyone. Not knowing when or if your loved ones will make it home. And in what state."

They watched as she cracked several eggs and started whipping them. Put some bread into the toaster. And started some bacon on the stove. "You're not the person who should be fighting anymore," his mother said. "It's been so many years and yet you still go running out there the moment anyone calls. Hal, you're close to 70 for crying out loud."

"I know. But I can't ignore the horn. Not when it's calling right outside of our doorstep. If I had stayed home it might have been fine. But someone else might have died. I couldn't just stay here and hope for the best."

"You even took Richard with you."

"He's an adult. Been that way for years now and his decisions are his own."

When the food was ready she set a plate before each of them and left the kitchen. It was good, like always. And just what Richard needed after a long and exhausting night of fighting against the ratters.

"I suspect that she's going to be angry at me for a while. But that's how it's always been."

"Is there anything that I should know about the clan at all? I wasn't aware that we even had them up here. But then again it wasn't something that ever caught my interest."

"Not for now. The clan died when we agreed to the government's demands. We got a fair number of concessions in return though. If any of the other clans were to march in the street like we did, invasion or not, they would be in big trouble. But with us," his father smiled, "it's the government that's in trouble."

Breakfast was finished and the two of them cleaned the table off and washed the dishes. "Tell me about the potion," his father asked the question that Richard was hoping wouldn't come. "It's not something that I have ever seen before. And let me tell you, that I've seen more than I ever wanted to in and outside of the dungeons."

"It's something that I made. Uses drops from the Beetle Dungeon over in New Burl."

"So you're an Alchemist? When did that change?"

"Uh. Maybe 3 weeks after starting solo exploring the Slime Dungeon downtown. Skill book dropped and I used it before anyone in the area could see it."

His father sighed. "Red guilds-"

"I know," Richard said perhaps a little too fast.

After a moment of searching Richard's face his father spoke, "Another thing we'll need to keep from your mother. Did you join a guild yet?"

"The Crafter's Union. I was happy at first. But then they started digging. My uh, Alchemy is rather high ranked. So the things that I can make are new at times. I wasn't careful at first, didn't even realize how different my crafts were. And they've since come looking for recipes and such."

"I would say the Swords would have been a good bet if you haven't already joined one. But we'll see who is left of the clan leadership and how they view this invasion. I don't think that we'll all come out of retirement," he looked out of the kitchen, down the hall, and to the bedroom that he shared with Richard's mother, "as many of us will no longer be able to deal with…things."

"I see."

"Anyways, what rank and levels do you have? I might know someone that could help you with learning more."

"Uh. Well. I'm level 4. And the Alchemy is only level 1. I still haven't unlocked the requirements for level 2."

His father squinted. "And the rank?"

"S-Rank."

At the words his father's mouth dropped open. Then he started laughing. It wasn't like a chuckle or anything, but a deep belly laugh. Before he finished Shannon appeared from deeper within the house, her hair was stuck in odd angles and she was wearing an old shirt. She stamped her foot and shook her first at their father, which only made him laugh even more.

***

Fred tapped his index finger on the boardroom table. The meeting had been rather unproductive. So many people had a chance to speak and yet no one could tell him what he wanted to hear. "Where are the solutions? What can we do to make this right?" he asked.

The room quieted and everyone turned to look at him. Only no one stepped forward with anything. He sighed and wondered how the public would take him gutting his closest followers? Could he somehow make it seem like they were somewhat at fault for the ratters? The monsters had spread out from somewhere and attacked several cities at least. The damage numbers were still coming in from the smaller settlements and holdings.

"Um," Larry finally spoke up. "What we have been talking about so far was the impact. Changing gears… well. Give us some time."

"We know what the impact was. People died. People and places were looted. And there's some damned ratters running around the province. My province. I'd just as soon kill them all, but that's never worked so far."

"We could try diplomacy? I don't think that has been tried before?" Fred squinted at the fresh face that he didn't recognize. Probably an intern or something. The fool.

"If you want to try talking with a monster that would sooner gut you and feast on your face, then go right ahead." The intern blanched and shook his head. "What we need is a solution. Strike team, tracking team, bomb team, whatever. Suggestions. Now." Fred banged the table with his fist.

There was a clamor of noise as everyone threw out anything that they could think of all at once. Those with similar sounding ideas formed groups and started talking them out. Fred gave them enough time and then spoke, "Alright, what do you have now?"

"We can use the guild defense clause to draft all able bodied members to assault any ratter warrens we find."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Alright, I like it. Next."

"We can dip into the province's skill book stockpiles and promise to hand out some to those that stand out. That will both serve as motivation for people needing skill books as well as smooth over any discontent due to the draft. And they don't need to be anything rare, as most explorers will jump at the chance for one."

"Alright. We can just reward our own people if need be. That way we are keeping the guilds in place, while empowering ourselves. Works for me. Next."

"We can try and shift the blame to the guilds that were employed to guard the cities that were attacked. What were they doing? How did they miss such a group of ratters growing?"

"Hrm. We might be able to do something with that. Just not as bold. Get the media involved and suggest that the guilds might have done a better job. Next."

"For the families of the dead and missing we can create monuments. It will allow them to both have a place to grieve, but also show that the province stands with them."

"Alright. We'll either make it cheap or milk the federal government for the bill. Next." Fred was liking how things were turning out. If everything went well enough he would be able to make the situation into quite the boon for him. All he needed to do was put on an act of handling it competently and there would be more voters for him next year at the polls.

"Um," Larry said. He had spent the better part of the brainstorming looking at his tablet, typing wildly away. Fred started to roll his eyes as soon as the man spoke but he managed to just barely stop. What had he been thinking when he appointed him as his aide? "There is a problem with the city of Welf."

Everyone else in the room was surprised by the statement. And many of them showed puzzled expressions. The city was rather small and out of the way. Even more so was the fact that the city usually voted for the opposition. "Alright, let's hear it," Fred said.

"Well, the residential area that was breached had a large number of clan members living in it. They, predictably, rose up and fought off the bulk of the invasion. They did what the local guilds weren't able to do."

Fred looked at Larry for a moment and then laughed. "That's great. The feds always hated that the clans didn't want to bow to them. With this they have violated the treaty, no clan gatherings, no military action. We'll hand this up to the Prime Minister on a golden platter."

"There's a problem with that. As the treaties differ in how they applied to the clans. The better off ones were able to negotiate greater terms and freedoms with the government of the time."

"Don't tell me what I already know. There weren't many that were able to retain the ability to fight. Who are they? The Magus Pugnus or the Revenge of the Break?"

"It's worse," Larry said and flipped his tablet around so that the rest of the room could see. On the screen it showed a faded piece of paper. A symbol appeared in the letterhead, a golden shield that had a pair of crossed horns on top. One red and one black. "It was the Mourning Horn clan. They had enough power to reserve the right to protective military action among other problematic concessions. Several of which have been activated after the ratter invasion."

Fred looked at Larry and then at the clan emblem. He chuckled. Just a little at first. But then he found he couldn't stop. The chuckling wasn't because he found the situation funny. No, it was either that, or he could start crying. There was trouble on the horizon and he wasn't sure if he would be able to deal with it.

***

The fall out from the ratter invasion was rather severe. Those of the Mourning Horn had taken care of many of them. While the Swords, Angels, and Enforcers helped look for any that might be hiding. All it took was one ratter being loose in a group of non explorers and the casualties would be massive.

The government had declared martial law while Richard had slept. And then, using the guilds, proceeded to comb the Boroughs over and over again. Checking each house, sewer, backyard shed, and even cars. Anywhere that a ratter could be hiding. It was a tiring affair as he was stuck at his parents with his stir crazy sister. Something that hadn't happened for years.

Though the members of the clan were still out and about. Usually sneaking around when it served them. And several of them came by the house at times. Richard wasn't able to tell if they were just social calls, flexes against the martial law, clan business, or a little of all three.

One thing that he was less than thrilled was his father telling everyone that he was an alchemist. It was something that he still wanted to hide. And it was only after a conversation about the old man's loose lips that Richard realized that his father was trying to help.

"You see Richard, the reason why I'm telling everyone is so that they know to keep an eye out for you. In the event that you are in trouble, outside or inside of the dungeon, by monsters or by red guilds, they'll know that they have something to gain by saving you. Making friends with the crafters gets them an in to items that could save their lives. And if they are short materials or need a quick turn around, what better way than if they had already protected the crafter?"

"I guess that I can see where you're coming from. But wouldn't there be more risk if more people knew about my skill?"

"That only works in the real world proper. In a clan it's all for one and one for all. The clan rises in power by people banding together. Anyone that I shared your skill with will keep it to themselves or only tell others in the clan that they trust."

"What happens if they shouldn't have been trusted?

"Then they wouldn't still be in the clan. Everyone that is left had all fought side by side, carving out a place for ourselves in the post break world."

The funny thing is that it sort of made sense to Richard. And he even wanted to believe in it. He had always found it hard to find a group to belong to. Yet with the clan it was an assumed thing. If you were part of the clan you were family. And family took care of one another.

From what Richard learned from his father there was no buying and selling of items like at the Crafter's Union. If someone wanted something they would gather the materials themselves, and then bring them to the crafter. After that they would pay a fee for the crafter's time. It meant that he wouldn't get the full amount from gathering the materials and selling something like a potion. But it also meant that there would only be a time cost to him.

While he was somewhat leery at first about revealing what he needed for the potions. Richard decided to trust the clan. And orders trickled in after martial law had been lifted. First some healing potions here and there. They seemed to be coming from the younger generation through their seniors.

The other hot item was the Flash Potions, things that the old timers seemed to have a fondness for. More so Jackie than the others. As she kept coming back for more. Just what was she doing with all of them? Was she using them? Or was she stockpiling?

Richard also had orders placed with him through the Crafter's Union. For more Soul Purifying potions and Cabbit Teeth Bone Meal. He had seen how important the Soul Purifying potions were first hand. So when the order came in he made them a priority. And even planned to double the order of them to 40. Just in case they were needed elsewhere.

He didn't know if the sellers in the market noticed or not. But as he bought more of the Red Drake Carapaces the price got higher and higher. When he first bought a carapace it was $4,350, but after he bought the last that he needed it had climbed to $5,300. Did that mean that the market was rising since his demand outpaced the supply? Or were the plucky sellers watching what was selling and raising their prices?

Given the number of dungeons in the area Richard assumed that the Red Drake Dungeon would be local. And while he didn't feel up to challenging something like a dragon offshoot himself, maybe people would be more willing to with the price increase?

It happened when he was at the Crafter's Union making the requested potions. Richard was still in the middle of the order when the window that he had been waiting for appeared in front of him. He held his breath and read through it.

Alchemy (S-Rank) Level 1 Milestone Reached.

Enough items have been crafted to unlock the requirements for the next level.

To level up Alchemy (S-Rank) craft additional items until you reach the goal.

32/50 Unique Items made.

300/400 Items made.

Richard had wondered if he hadn't been getting closer to the next level. And apparently punching out potions one after another was the thing he needed. Getting the unique items would be somewhat troublesome… As the Black Beetle Stomachs he had ordered were still pending. He hoped that didn't mean that he would have to go and get them himself…

That would give him 5, and with the Cabbit Heart Essence it would next him another 5 for 10 total. He would then need to find another 8 new recipes… Probably not through exploring himself. But rather through some much safer and boring research.

Richard quickly finished the order and all but tossed the potions to Argence. She didn't even get a chance to bother him about any new creations. Once he was outside of the guild he looked up at the building and out across the cityscape. Yes it was loud and populated. But maybe it was like the cities had been before the break. And represented a return to something normal.