The Autocraft Alchemist

The pale moss covered the ceiling of the tunnel in patches and provided them enough light to navigate by. "Why are we here again?" Windry asked and they moved towards the second floor of the Beetle Dungeon.

Richard shot her a look. "Why are you just asking that now? You had the entire ride here, along with the time we spent wandering through the first floor." He had been trying to find another location with the Pale Hanging Moss. Only everywhere he looked was either already picked or not a gathering spot.

"I guess the question is more why am I here? But also both."

The tunnel to the second floor opened up and Richard found his steps becoming shorter until he stopped. He forced himself to take another step deeper into the floor as he pushed away the memories that tried to bubble up. "You're here because I asked you to come along." Windry shook her head at his words. "I asked you to because I didn't want to come here myself. Also because I need drops that I haven't been able to buy from the Dungeon Center. I sent a message about my order, but still haven't heard anything back."

"Can't you get them from the Crafter's Union?"

"Maybe? Though last time I looked, both the market and the guild didn't have any of the stomachs in stock. And while that might have changed, I would think that the possibility is low since, from what I heard, there wasn't much of a use for them."

"But you are using them right?" Windry asked.

Richard blinked and looked over to her. "Yes."

She crossed her arms. "So that would mean that someone knows about you buying it right? And they could tell someone else?"

"You should have more faith in others, and that's something coming from me," he said and turned an ear down a hallway. He thought that he heard a scrape against the rock of the tunnel. Following the noise they found a pair of beetles roaming around that were quickly turned into drops. Only carapaces though.

"You need to learn that if someone wants something, it's only a matter of how much or when. More so when it's only information. Given that you have already made some waves it's likely that someone else is buying the stomachs up. You did say that the guild had been acting kind of sus right?"

"Well, just that my dedicated buyer came into the locked room while I was crafting. Given her poker face I couldn't tell if she was as surprised as I was or not."

"I don't know. Her actions seem pretty suspicious to me. In all organizations there will be factions. In the Crafter's Union low levels like us can't know what is at play."

Richard frowned. "It could also just be coincidence."

"Uh huh." While the words meant that she was agreeing with him. Richard found that the tone suggested otherwise.

They came across one of the larger go-kart sized beetles with a glowing rear next. And between the two of them they were able to keep it rotating towards one or the other. Which allowed them to quickly take it down without trouble. Richard picked up the Large Black Beetle Carapace and Black Beetle Bulb and created a Flash Potion.

"Shouldn't you wait for that?" Windry asked and looked around the dungeon. Only there wasn't anything or anyone else there.

"Maybe. But I kind of don't feel right if I don't have one of these on me. Safety blanket and all that," Richard said as he placed the Flash Potion into his inventory. It had saved him once. And then helped save others later. It just felt right to him to carry one around at all times.

A few more fights put them at the entrance to the third floor. Richard looked down at it for a moment and then turned to Windry. "Do you think that we can handle it with just the two of us?"

She rolled her shoulders. "Maybe? Did you look up what appears on the third floor?" He shook his head. "See, that's why you need to prepare more. Then you would have known that the small beetles show up in packs of 3 or 4, while the large ones can be accompanied with 1 or 2 small ones. Adding in the fact that they will be harder to fight from the depth, You're not strong enough to deal with all of that."

Richard sighed. "How do I become stronger then? I'm at level 4 now. Would 5 be enough? Or would having more people be the answer?" He was undecided whether to mention the clan to Windry or not. It seemed to be all on the hush, and while the clan was rather open with one another. It felt like they might be less so when it came to outsiders.

"You need to properly find a party and start working on some of the stronger dungeons. The ones that aren't considered safe. From what I remember they were thought to have higher level caps on the earlier floors. Probably given to how much more dangerous they are."

"How dangerous are we talking about?"

She made a so-so gesture with her hand. "Probably about as tough as the third floor of the Cabbit Dungeon that gave you trouble. While it sounded like bad luck on your part. Being prepared with a second tank would have made things a lot easier for your party. Though a decent source of healing is always a good thing."

"Hey! I had my potions."

"A Weak potion lives up to its name. If you had a normal potion it probably would have been enough to get her back on her feet right away."

"That…" He thought about how deep the cut looked and how much blood here had been. "Wouldn't that be short of miraculous? If a normal potion is that strong then what about Super or Ex rank ones?"

"Super are even better. Ex even more than them. If there are ranks higher than that they might just be in the realm of legends."

Huh," Richard said. Maybe one day he could see what was beyond Ex. Though that day was probably far away. Would he still need to hide his skill if he ever reached such heights?

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

***

They continued to wander around the second floor for a few more hours. Killing whatever beetle that they came across. All while Richard kept an eye out for anything that looked like a gathering spot. In the end he did manage to find one, but it was only because they discovered a pair of beetles climbing up the wall towards a low hanging thread of moss.

They quickly dispatched the beetles and Richard reached up and plucked a handful. "That was lucky," he said. "I found this by chance in the past. And really it was only thanks to Angel that I realized that this was even a thing. Gathering spots I mean. And even then I wouldn't have thought to try it as a potion material if I hadn't been given a recipe for it."

"I'm still amazed by that. I wonder what other high rank crafting skills are like? If they could also create something like a sword in the same manner. All that time and work distilled down into a second."

Richard shrugged. The one way to know would be to find someone who had another S-Rank skill. Assuming that they didn't drop that often, how many would there be in the world at a given time? Was there another S-Rank Alchemist? Or was Richard the only one? He struggled with the thought for a moment. Of the few billions of humans that were left, those that survived the break, he could be the only one.

In the end they managed to find 22 of the small beetles and 5 of the large ones. The drops weren't looking that great, with there only being 3 of the stomachs. If he was still farming the dungeon on his own he probably wouldn't have been so lucky. Since only one stomach had come from the small beetles while the other two dropped from the large ones. They might have a better drop rate, which would make sense since they were a tougher monster from a deeper floor.

When they returned to the lobby Richard found that Alison was working. She was one of those who saw him through that time with the red guild. The bags that had been under her eyes were not as dark and she seemed to be better rested.

"Lets see," she said as she counted through the drops that he had dumped into the tray. "21 Black Beetle Carapaces, 3 Black Beetle Stomachs, 3 Large Black Beetle Bulbs, 5 Large Black Beetle Carapaces, and 1 Pale Hanging Moss. Are there any drops that you would like to export?"

"Ah, yeah. The stomachs, bulbs, moss, a large carapace and…" There was some consideration to exporting the regular carapaces instead of buying them. But then he would need somewhere to store them. Which wasn't really all that feasible. "Just 3 of the carapaces." That would give him more Flash Potions which could be used or sold to clan members.

"Just so that you are aware the Black Beetle Stomachs are in demand at the moment. If you wanted to sell them, the current buylist price is $2,250."

"Really? And I had placed an order for some, but it hasn't been filled yet. I think that the price was the old one, maybe $1,125?"

"Ah," Alison looked between Richard and the screen in front of her. "I can see your order. But the price is lower than the other buy orders," she said and gave him a weak smile. "Would you like to raise the price of your buy order?"

"Well, not really no," Richard said and laughed. "Can I buy 3 stomachs now? At the higher price?"

"That is doable," Alison said. "They would be $2,750 each, or $8,250 for three then?"

"Please."

"Arlight. Your total will be $30,375, less the taxes it will be $22,781. The export taxes of $13,657 and the price of the stomachs will reduce your total to $9,124. I'll send the payment over."

Once the payment was sent Windry stepped forward and leaned over the reception desk. "Say, is it public knowledge who is buying up the stomachs?"

Alison looked at her for a moment and then shook her head. "Not really. Buy orders are something that is considered private. Both to both protect the interests of the clients as well as not letting outsiders know where a stockpile of drops might be."

"I see, here I was hoping to find out a little more about that big buy order."

Alison looked around the lobby and over her shoulder. "While I can't say who, I might be able to give some hints. One is a big guild in Rowan, while another is a local guild in New Burl. Anything more than that," she said, smiled, and shrugged with her palms facing up.

"Thank you for that," Windry said. Then she patted Alison on the arm and handed her a candy she had produced from somewhere. If Alison had been surprised about the gesture she didn't show it. And instead unwrapped the candy and popped it into her mouth with a smile.

Richard waited until after they had left the lobby to ask, "That was wild. How did you manage to get her to speak about classified information?"

"Just grandma things," Windry said, lifted her arms up, and flexed.

***

Argence entered his office, closed the door, and sat down across from him. "What do you have for me?" Chuck asked. "He was here the other day right?"

She nodded. "He came and fulfilled the order for the Soul Purifying Potions and Cabbit Teeth Bone Meal. Actually he doubled the order for both."

Chuck nodded. "I didn't see anything in the logs about him buying from us. Where did he get his materials from?"

"I can't be certain. But it was probably the market."

"Right. He shouldn't be able to deal with the drakes yet. Probably not for a while. He could also be getting them from the Dungeon Centers. Though our prices are usually better than theirs." he ran his fingers through his hair. "Try to get him to start buying from the guild. That way we will be able to see what he's using to make his potions. Once we have a better idea I'll toss it over to Jarl so that he can experiment."

Argence picked at a fingernail before she looked up. "Are we doing the right thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't we only buy recipes from those that are willing? Trying to steal-"

Chuck cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Steal? That's a dirty word. We are merely gathering information and then developing our own recipes. And the guild needs this. Without it we won't be able to stay current. And the world needs something like the Crafter's Union. To provide a steady supply of goods. To protect the crafters from those who would exploit them."

"I still don't think that-"

"I'm not paying you to think. Only do what I tell you to. If you had picked a better time the other day you would have been able to discover some information on how he crafts."

Her eyes widened. "You knew that he was in that crafting room?"

Chuck smiled. "Of course. I'm the King of this little island here. Nora thinks that she's in command. But I've got more people on my side."

"I see." Argence looked at him for a moment and then sighed. "I'll do as you asked. And when Richard comes in next I'll encourage him to buy from the guild."

"Great," Chuck said and turned his chair towards the window. Argence figured out the dismissal and left his office. He would need to see what his mole in the DC has to say about Richard's purchases. There should be some clues there.

The world needed as much as it could get. More potions. More weapons. More gear. More profit. Without them could they even continue to fight against the dungeons? What about if something like the break happened again? Humanity would not survive. The first one left them weak enough that a second mass break would be enough to finish humanity off one and for all.

Chuck put his feet up against the window ledge and his hands behind his head. Since everything was probably going to go to hell anyways, it would be better for him to benefit more than anyone else. To live a better life than others until the inexorable end came.