The Autocraft Alchemist

Chapter 51



"Who wants some more spice in their old age?" Richard's father said as he pushed open the door to the clan clubhouse with his foot. He followed in after and found that the same group as last time was present, Kent, Indigo, Jeet, and Rutger. In addition Jackie and Edgar were there as well.

"What? Who tattled to the clan bosses?" His father asked as he dropped off the box of potions that he was carrying. Richard hadn't been told that the other two were going to be there. But kind of assumed there was a chance given the conversation they had at the clan meeting last weekend.

"You got a problem with me being here?" Jackie asked and cracked her knuckles.

"I mean. Not really. You aren't a stick in the mud," his father said and looked at Edgar.

"So it's me that you don't like?" Edgar asked and crossed his arms.

"Right." His father nodded.

Edgar sighed. "Is this because I tried to court Brenda?"

"No. It's because you punched my brother in the face."

"In my excuse I thought that he was you," Edgar said and stood. A second later he and Richard's father were standing toe to toe.

"If you two do anything other than sit down I'm going to be very cross with the both of you," Jackie said, her voice low. After a moment the stand down finally ended and the two men backed down. Edgar returned to his seat while Richard's father found a seat at a different table.

There was that awkward moment after two people got into an argument. Finally Jeet must have had enough and he clapped his hands together loudly. "Well then. Let's not let the past get in the way of our testing," Jeet said and motioned to the boxes with the potions. "Is there anything fun? Let's start with those first."

Richard had watched his father while he butted heads with Edgar. It was the first time that he had seen his father show such emotions against another person. There must have been more to the story than what they had mentioned.

He stood and went to the boxes. "How about these 3?" Richard asked. And picked out the Potions of Soaring, Feather Parade Potions, and the Bouncy Foam Potions and set them on the table. "They are the ones that interested me the most. While the others we have seen before or are a little more destructive."

"Destructive you say?" Indigo asked. "My vote is for them first!"

"We'll get to them. And wouldn't it be better to leave the best for last?" Jeet asked.

Indio laughed. "I might not make it that long? I'm old, you know?"

"I can always jump start you again if you somehow kick the bucket in the next 20 minutes," Rutger said. He had the Potion of Soaring in his hand and had already gone through the over two. "Since there are only so many potions to go around, how about we head up to the lookout first?" He pointed towards the roof.

It only took a second for the others to agree. And soon Richard found himself on the roof standing on the so-called lookout. If the front of the clubhouse was to the east, then on the west side there was a section where the roof was flat. There was a ladder on the outside of the building that gave access. Someone had brought up a pair of picnic tables and it looked more like another spot to hang out than anything else.

Kent must have noticed Richard looking around, "We call it the lookout because that was the reason we built the clubhouse this way. Monsters weren't as common at the time. And most had been dealt with. But there was always a chance a pack could appear. After the wall went up and the land got safer we posted someone up here again, just in case the government went back on their promises."

"Good thing that they didn't. It would have been annoying, but we still could have gathered again back then and taken them to task," Edgar said with his arms already crossed.

"Hey, it's fun time now. I'm curious about this potion and I don't want you old folk bickering in my ear," Rutger said as he played with the vial in his hands. His words somehow managed to quiet the others down.

"Are you sure that this is a wise idea?" Richard asked as he looked over the edge of the building. It wasn't that high, but enough that someone could get hurt.

"Doesn't matter, a fall like this won't kill any of us," Jackie said. "Plus we have a healer. And the fools, they are going to waste their turn on something like this. When there might be something better in that box of yours." She rubbed her hands together.

Since they weren't sure about how long the effect of the Potion of Soaring would last it was decided that they wouldn't share it like they had done the last time. Rutger abstained on the grounds that he was the healer. And had already made his way down to the ground.

While the others started what appeared to be a good natured game of rock, paper, and scissors. Richard had his suspicions about how good natured the game actually was when the winners were Jeet and Indigo. Did they actually win? Or did they use their higher stats to gain an advantage over the others? Given the way the two of them were grinning he had an inkling.

"Alright," Jeet said and stepped up to the edge with potion in hand, "both at the same time? Or once after the other?" Jeet asked.

"I'll let you go first, that way I'll have something to land on just in case," Indigo said.

Jeet laughed. "I would have said ladies first. But if you insist." He popped the stopper out of the potion, downed it in one gulp, and then wiped his mouth. "Not bad tasting. A little fizzy. Now what?"

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

He stood there for a second before a green pair of feathered wings appeared behind Jeet. He looked over his shoulder at them while the others oohed and aahed. "Might as well not waste them," Jeet said and jumped over the edge of the roof.

Instead of falling straight to the ground the wings seemed to have a mind of their own. And they reached out into the air, flapped, and slowed his descent. "Haha! Isn't that fun?" Indigo asked and downed her own potion. Once the wings appeared behind her she took a running jump and managed to glide further than Jeet had. The two of them then started jumping to see if they could still float.

"While it has quite the utility, I wonder about the practical implications it might have?" Edgar asked.

"It's pretty clear to me though? Perhaps you just have a limited mind?" His father said.

Jackie rolled her eyes at the two, swatted them both, and yelled down to the ones on the ground, "We'll come down to you," she said and jumped off. Richard gasped and rushed to the side of the roof. He was glad that Rutger was already on the ground and would be able to help her if she landed badly. But when he put eyes on Jackie again she was poking at Jeet's wings. They appeared to be immaterial and her hand went straight through. And after another few seconds they disappeared.

"So what was that? Maybe 20 seconds?" Kent asked.

"I ugh. I didn't really count," Richard said. "If I had, Jackie jumping like that would have thrown me off."

Kent laughed. "I think that she might have a Jump Skill so don't worry about it. She was always leaping around the battlefield in the past. Used it as an attack sometimes as well." He shot a look at where Richard's Father and Edgar were still staring each other down. Both of them were rubbing at their arm where Jackie had hit them. "Come on, let's leave those two behind and we'll see what the other potions do."

Once they were down on the ground Richard said, "I'm not really sure what these two will do. The first one says that it makes a pillow of foam, and the second one mentions something about feathers." He handed out the Bouncy Foam and Feather Parade potions.

"So how do we use them?" Kent asked as he looked at the vial handed to him. "And this vial… is it made from brass?"

"Right, it's using drops from the Kobold Dungeon over in New Berl. And I'm not really sure about the method. They aren't something to drink, and I think that we would just pour them out?"

"Huh, well," Kent said and looked at the others. Jeet had the second Feather Parade Potion while Indigo and Rutger had the Bouncy Foam potions. "Might as well go first." Kent popped the stopper out of the potion and pointed it away from him and everyone else. A second passed and then feathers came pouring from the potion. They were orange, yellow, white, blue, and red like Richard had put into it. And instead of just falling to the ground, the feathers billowed out and tumbled in the air. It was almost as if they were as light as air or lighter and the feathers stayed suspended. After the first second Kent started to laugh and moved his hand in a circular motion.

There was a shriek and when Richard looked Jeet had already opened his and was using it to shoot feathers at the others. Jackie had stepped back far enough but Indigo and Rutger had disappeared into the floating plume of feathers.

"So it's somewhat of a smoke screen," Jackie said as she watched the feathers float in the air. They slowly settled to the ground after about a minute or two. And revealed both Indigo and Rutger who looked rather unhappy.

Some of the feathers had made their way into Rutger's mouth and he was telling Jeet off, "What would you have done if they had some extra effect that caused damage? Never shoot the healer!"

"Oh? So I would have been okay if I was the only one under fire?" Indigo asked as she dusted the feathers off of her clothes. There was a considerable pile of them at her feet still.

"Front liners do front line things. Don't look at me like that. How many times did I need to heal you guys after rough housing? Which one of you thought that it was a good idea to test whose head was harder?" he asked and patted himself on the chest. "Going to give me a heart attack one of these days."

"What should we do with the feather's?" Kent asked as he looked into his now empty potion vial.

"Ugh. Maybe they'll disappear?" Richard said. Which turned out to be false, or a longer time than anyone was willing to wait. So they just kicked the larger piles off to the side.

"Alright, let's see how this potion works," Rutgur said and popped the top off of the Bouncy Foam Potion before pointing it towards Jeet.

"Wait, no. It was a joke. I only did it after seeing that it was safe… kind of disappointing that one isn't it?"

The potion foamed up, spilling out the neck, and bubbled onto the ground. Rutger turned it over so that it would pour better and slowly a pillow the size of a bean bag chair appeared. Once the potion was empty they all looked between the pillow and Richard.

"Don't look at me. I don't know what it does."

"Might as well," Rutger said and touched the pillow. "Quite soft. Somewhat airy. But why is it bouncy?" He turned and fell backwards onto it. The pillow caught him well enough. And slowly depressed from his weight. "I have an idea, Jackie come jump on it."

Once Rutger was off of the pillow it slowly regained its full form. Then Jackie made a small jump and landed on the pillow. The air inside of it rushed out and it appeared to have softened her landing. Only once she stepped off of the pillow it stayed deflated.

"Ah? That's disappointing. So there is only one or two uses then?" Rutger asked.

"Only one way to find out," Jackie said and jumped onto the roof of the club house. "What are you two still doing up here glaring at one another? Get down there. But don't you dare take my Fire Breathing Potion." She popped her head over the edge of the roof and looked at Indigo. "Pop that sucker open and let's see what it can hold up to."

Once the new pillow had fully foamed Jackie jumped from the roof. Only instead of landing onto her feet she aimed with her behind and landed right in the middle of the pillow. Like before all of the air let out of it as her fall was broken. She started laughing and said, "That's fun! If only we could make a whole mess of them. Too bad they seem to only be good for the one impact." The pillow remained flat when she stood.

"It would have been better if they expanded quicker. As currently they would be unable to break the fall of someone using the Potion of Soaring. The use seems to lead more towards someone jumping from somewhere highish without taking any damage," Rutger said.

"Another tool is another tool. Might be helpful to have on hand. Assuming little to no wind it would be possible to pour from a high place and then jump onto it," Kent said.

Richard's father and Edgar had come down from the roof, gone inside, and came back with each carrying a box of the potions. They relocated to the picnic tables to have somewhere to sit. And then Jackie stepped forward. "Aright. It's my turn. And I'm taking one of these babies," she said and grabbed one of the Orthrus Skull Vials with the fiery glow.

"Maybe we should hold off on testing that one?" Rutger said. "I can't think how, under any means, that a human breathing fire would ever be a good idea."

"I don't want the healer complaining to me about maybe making work for him. Now get out of way or pick up the other one and join in on the fun," Jackie said and took a few steps away from everyone else.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.