The Autocraft Alchemist

Not only was New Burl a bigger city than Welf, it also had 1 more dungeon, as well as a larger Dungeon Market. The tables were laid out in a big room like at the Crafter's Union. And unlike Welf, all of the stalls were inside. A low murmur of conversation rose from the crowds and Richard double checked the lists Windry had made for him before he waded in.

He decided that the drops from the Beetle Dungeon were the first to be checked out. And Richard thumbed his way through the materials from the deeper levels. Things like legs that he hadn't seen before, as well as acid glands, large and huge versions of the normal drops. It seemed like the beetles got larger as the floors got deeper. And then on some floor they got the ability to spit acid. It made him glad that the lower level beetles were missing such an ability. As being safe and undissolved were very high on his list of life goals.

New Burl had a second insect dungeon, only populated with centipedes instead. He felt a certain twitch as he worked though the drops. Brown in color and ranging from small to large. They shared drops with the beetles, carapaces and legs. So many legs. And they had a vicious looking mandible that was stained purple on each end. Normal centipedes were poisonous right? Which probably meant that their larger dungeon cousins shared the same feature.

From talking with the people running the stalls Richard learned that the Centipede Dungeon had something he hadn't seen before. Each of the centipede spawns had a chance to appear with an elemental affinity. It was true even on the first floor. And the affinity was reflected in the drops, as they, like the centipedes, could come in fire, water, earth, and metal variants. There was also something that was called a Centipede Crown that apparently dropped from the boss on the tenth floor. It looked like a ring of jagged looking brown carapace instead of anything that had ever adorned a human ruler's head.

Moving on, Richard browsed his way through the drops from the Kobold Dungeon. At first he thought that they would be mindless beasts like the Cabbits. But from what he heard the dungeon was populated with temples and was in a jungle biome. And that the kobolds wore armor and wielded weapons. If that was the case why wasn't the dungeon closed like the other humanoid ones?

The drops were parts of the kobolds bodies, leather, fang, eye, claw or so. There was also something called a Kobold Feather. Which stumped Richard at first. He hadn't seen any information about kobolds before, but assumed that general pen and paper knowledge would be close enough. And so he was expecting a bipedal, short, dragonkin-like creature.

Which was sort of correct. As when he looked them up the kobolds also appeared to have feathers on their scalps, the backs of their arms, and down their necks and backs. And while that answered where the feathers came from, it didn't answer the why. They appeared to be using the revised and now accepted feathered model of dinosaurs. But how would the System know that? Which led to the question how did the System even decide what to put into the dungeons in the first place?

Richard ran a hand through his hair and moved on. Like the ratters the kobolds also dropped weapons, though they looked like a toy a child would swing around. All made of brass and rather heavy. There were spears, swords, and daggers. As well as a simple brass ingot. That's it. Just a brick of metal. Probably something that the blacksmiths or whatever could use?

Richard's discovery of the ingot led into the drops from the Golem Dungeon. It seemed like they dropped two things. A cracked and whole version of a Golem Core. And then ingots of whatever made up their bodies. Copper, iron, steel, and titanium. Glass as well, but it was a shard instead.

The final dungeon in New Berl was the unicorn one. It was a level 8 dungeon, and had packs of unicorns roaming around a grassland. Something that should have been an idyllic scene was ruined by how aggressive the unicorns were. And anyone that Richard spoke with about them always had a disappointed look on their faces.

They dropped parts of their bodies like the other beast dungeons. While also having horns and manes as unique drops. There was also something called a magic stone. And while Richard had seen other such stones, they always had an elemental type. Like the higher level slimes dropped Wind Gems, the elemental centipedes could drop a typed gem. And then finally the Imp Gems. Which weren't elemental. So not all of them. But it still had a prefix to it, and wasn't an untyped magic gem.

With his browsing done and out of the way, Richard treated himself to some lunch at the food court. It wasn't anything fancy, just a submarine sandwich. But they also had a local craft beer on tap and was the reason that he chose the place. The brewery, named the Sound of Malt, had just opened up in the previous year. And while the beer wasn't bad in the end, he had picked a red ale called Red and Wheaty. It wasn't good enough to make him want to have it again. Maybe one of the other beers would have suited his taste better.

Before he got up to toss his trash and put the tray away Richard checked the recipe list. There were several new ones. But he first limited his attention to only the new vials. Brown Carapace Vial, using a Brown Centipede Carapace. Kobold Brass Vial, the recipe produced 3 vials from a single Kobold Brass Ingot. And then a Golem Glass Vial using the Glass Golem Shard from the golems.

He checked that each one didn't have any additional materials like with the Imp Blood Vial and then sought out the needed drops. The carapaces he found went for around $1,250, while the brass was a lot higher at $8,000. And finally the glass shard was $2,000. From what he could tell there wasn't really any rhyme or reason for the pricing. Just that usually higher ranked dungeons drops were more expensive.

Using his trick from the last time Richard entered a stall in the bathroom and created the 3 new vials. The Brown Carapace Vial looked exactly like the black carapace one, just in a different color. While the Kobold Brass Vial was the first fully opaque vial that he had come across. And the yellow-gold vials still felt like there was liquid inside when he shook them. They were also the same diamond shape that all the vials shared. Finally the Glass Golem Vial was just a completely transparent vial. There did appear to be some liquid inside as well. Only it was clear and Richard was having a hard time telling it was there from sight alone.

With the vials created he returned to the food court and found another craft brewery, BarSo, that he wanted to try. Why didn't the Welf Dungeon Market also have beer vendors in it? Though the food court was a lot smaller, as was the entire venue. It spilled outside of the grounds and the building probably needed to be renovated or the market moved to a bigger location.

Even though the name was rather generic, Barrel Aged Sour #43, it was better than the first one. The name gave the flavor and style away, and it was a sour that had been barrel aged. Which made it cost more, but there was something to the taste that made the experience worth it. It was cool and refreshing, with that sour zing that he liked. Along with the added complexity of the barrel. And as he sipped through the beer Richard reviewed the recipe list in full.

From the Beetle Dungeon there was a pair of Acid Potions, both using the normal and large versions of the carapace vials. The recipe was simple in that they only needed the vial and a gland. The vials would probably need to be broken in order to be used. At least that was his assumption based off of the Flash Potion and the Bursting modifier that appeared when using catalysts from other dungeons.

Richard knocked the table when he realized that he could just look at the descriptions of the potions. The uniqueness of the drake scale potions had blinded him into forgetting that he could just read the descriptions. And he had gotten used to guessing the effects. And the description, "Creates an acid potion that is best to be used at a distance", backed up that the proper usage was probably throwing and breaking the potions. Or maybe pouring from a higher level.

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The centipedes had a surprising number of new potions at 4. Richard had expected maybe 1 or 2 at most. But there was a new potion for each of the 4 elemental types of centipedes, flame, frost, stone, and sharp. They required a carapace vial and one of the elemental gems. And looking from the descriptions they appeared to be directional potions, "Creates a potion that creates a cone of damage". Probably a pop the stopper and point? Instead of a toss or smash. As how would the direction of the cone be decided if the potion was tossed and broken? Richard hoped that they would just need to be pointed, as testing the smash method could be troublesome with the clan members.

Using the brass vials was a new potion called a Feather Parade Potion. Which needed a Kobold Brass Vial and a handful of Kobold feathers. But what about the effects? The description was "Creates a potion that produces an explosion of feathers." Was it an offensive potion? Did the feathers somehow deal damage? If not, what even was the reason for such a potion to exist? It would either be a blast or a let down. And Richard found himself looking forward to and hoping it to be the former.

And finally the Glass Golem Vial unlocked an Ironskin Potion. The description just said that it would "Create a potion that will harden the user's skin for some time". It needed the vial and a Iron Golem Ingot. The description wasn't really enough to tell how it differed from the Stoneskin Potion. Maybe if the elements came into play there would be some kind of type advantage? Like the stone being better at reducing damage from fire, while the iron was weaker? Rutger probably wouldn't let them try anything dangerous. But there might be a way to try and see.

Richard put together a quick shopping list and bought what he needed to make a couple each of the new potions. The normal and large acid glands were $4,000 and $6,500 respectively. While the elemental gems from the centipedes varied. With Fire being the highest at $8,500, then Earth at $7,000, Metal at $6,300, and finally Water at $5,000. Which left the Iron Golem Ingot that he needed from the Golem Dungeon at $10,000. Oh, and then the Kobold Feathers which were $1,500 each.

He tried to pack all of the materials into his satchel. Only it wasn't really up to the task and he ran out of room. Though Richard was able to find a seller with backpacks for $12,000 a piece. While the price seemed to be high. It was made with a strong type of leather, orthrus and waheela when he asked. And in the end Richard decided to upgrade a little and bought the backpack to fit the rest of his materials in.

With his shopping out of the way Richard made for the bus that would take him to the depot. And from there he would be able to head home to Welf. Only he noticed a message had appeared at some point from his father.

"Come home when you can. Stuff to discuss."

The message wasn't super helpful on what stuff there was to discuss. Maybe it was the alchemist mentor that his father had talked about? Or did it have something to do with the clan?

"Just finished at the New Burl market. Coming back to Welf now," Richard typed in and sent a reply.

His screen hadn't even gone dark and his father responded, "At the depot, yeah?"

"Not yet, maybe in 20 mins?"

"Alight. I'll get someone to pick you up. Faster than bussing back into town."

Richard fired off an, "Okay." and wondered what had gotten his father riled up. If it was something that could be put off, then it would have been enough for him to just go home when he could. But since it was important enough to get someone to pick Richard up… He hoped that nothing bad had happened.

***

Fred paced back and forth in the meeting room. One hand held the waistband of his pants. He had been losing weight ever since the ratter invasion. And he had already run out of holes on his belt to tighten. If anything he would probably need a new wardrobe soon. Or, assuming that they can deal with the ratters, the clans would calm down as well, and he could maybe put a little weight back on. Do people even trust thin politicians?

His mind had wandered again and he forced his focus back to the conversation currently happening. "Tell me what we have again," he said.

They turned to look at him a moment before one spoke up, "The Horns have dealt with 3 different ratter warrens. The last one being the suspected source of the ratters. Only, given how they expand, there were signs of another satellite warren potentially being to the north."

"Right. And they've gone there and have already come back, right?"

"Correct. We are asking them for a proper report everyday. Only they are delaying for some reason."

"For what reason could they be delaying?" Fred asked and stopped pacing. "Are they trying to hold onto power longer? So that they can push back? So that they can make clans a thing again?"

"That is one idea. We haven't been able to really find out what they might be up to. We don't know what has caused them to keep quiet. If the satellites were still usable we could have asked the federal-"

"No. No federal. Not until we have a solution to recommend. Otherwise they'll just come in here and throw around their weight. Not in my province they won't."

"There is only so much ground that we can cover with drones and scouts. While we found the empty warrens there hasn't been anything else of note," Another said. "Even those were deep enough into the wilds that it was beyond our usual recon range."

Fred ran his fingers through his hair. "Range. Right. They reduced that a few terms ago. What was the reason for it again?" Kick the can. Down the road. For someone else to deal with. How he wished that he would be able to do the same.

"Budget cuts mainly. But also since nothing had been found for a number of years. So it was expected that no new dungeons would be appearing."

"They've screwed us, that bastard Harristen screwed us."

"While that might be true, enough people at the time considered it to be a good thing. If we push for expanding the expeditions into the wilds again it might be something that we can turn into a boon for us. Make it seem like we are fixing mistakes made in past terms by opposing parties."

"That's something. Something at least." Things might just get better. Fred just hoped that the Horns dealt with the ratters and that was it. They could go back to sleep and the world would move on towards forgetting the clans and in the influence that they once held. The danger that they once held.

Larry walked into the meeting room then. There was something wrong with his gait, like suddenly his joints were replaced with wood. Fred didn't like it, and he turned on the man. "Larry. Good news only please."

"Well," Larry said. "They confirmed that the final ratter warren was empty. The ratters, at least for now, are considered to have been wiped out."

Fred drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. All of the stress since the invasion started to life and then some. The weight that he hadn't noticed on his shoulders started to melt away. He felt his stomach grumble for the first time in forever. Maybe he would be able to finish his supper that night?

Only there was something about what Larry said that didn't sit right with him. Something that seemed out of place. Fred trembled as he realized what it was and voiced his question, "Who wiped the ratters out Larry? If the Horns are reporting that the warren was empty, then there must have been someone else who took care of them."

"I'm afraid that I'm out of good news Premier."

Fred walked to the nearest empty seat and plopped down into it. He washed his face with his hands several times, leaned back, and looked up at the ceiling. "Tell me."

"The final ratter warren had been cleaned out. All bodies and loot gone. What was in their place was an effigy that hasn't been reported in years. Not seen since near the break. The Horns waited until they had proper drone footage to report," Larry said and looked around the room. "They-," he swallowed and cleared his throat, "they have reported that the ratters were probably cleaned out by a settlement that they found to the north, deep in the wilds. A settlement of orcs."