The Grand Weave

I knocked on the door three times and stepped back. By now, I could navigate my way to the room with my eyes closed. And with this being the last time I would be able to stop here and unload my alchemy ingredients, I wanted to get in a final farewell before the festival started.

When the door opened, I was shocked that there wasn't a random cloud of smoke that erupted forth.

That's the first time I've seen that open without something spewing out. It looks wrong.

Khrem pulled the door open, and I waved hello before I handed him a bag of grilled squid, or at least what looked like squid. It didn't matter what kind of sea creature was on the stick as long as it tasted good.

He stuffed one of the sticks in his mouth and led the way into the room. To my surprise, the alchemy cauldrons were off, and no experiments were running. And Travis was nowhere to be found.

I turned to look at Khrem after surveying the room. "Did I step into an alternate universe? How come the lab is dead?"

Khrem tossed the squid, stick and all, into his mouth and chased it down with a vial full of pink liquid from a nearby table. After he swallowed the strange and fizzing drink, he motioned to a covered crate in the back corner. "We finished early today, and Master Travis is busy dealing with paperwork. Too many groups want to reserve the dungeon for their use."

I looked at him suspiciously but walked deeper into the room and peered at the crate. Its contents were veiled behind a sheet of dark leather. Carefully, I lifted the covering and saw two rows of neatly separated vials.

The swirling blue mist inside the vials gave off a fluorescent glow. When I reached inside and grabbed one of the vials to examine it, I noticed the glass container was the same enchanted vial that held the ghostgoop whenever I looted it.

Khrem came closer and crouched down to pull out a second, smaller crate from behind the desk. When he set it on the counter, he tossed the cloth covering to the side and revealed six bulbous vials that held a glowing green liquid.

"What's all this?" I asked as I picked up one of the larger vials.

"Bomb," Khrem said emotionlessly.

I nearly dropped the vial in my hand, but I kept my cool and calmly placed it back inside the crate. Turning to face the sharkman alchemist, I gave him an unamused stare. "Explain."

He lifted one of the bulbous vials and shook it. The ghostsnot-green liquid sloshed around, but that was all. Setting it down, he turned and gave me a wide grin, showing off his row of shark teeth. "Completely safe. Reacts to the air when the liquid is exposed. It makes everything floaty and creates an obfuscation effect in the air. Think numerous ripples in a small pond."

I continued glaring at the beastkin but was the first to give as I sighed and pointed to the crate of twelve vials. "And this?"

"Potions. Temporary invisibility. It's not what we were aiming for, but it's a decent enough effect that we officially decided to list its recipe. We had enough to make four batches. The recipe is, unfortunately, inefficient. We used three times the expected amount of material."

As he explained, I was trying to come up with ideas on how to use the bombs and new potions and wondering if I wanted to buy some. When Khrem finished his explanation, I stroked my imaginary beard, much to my annoyance, and twirled the vial.

"How much are you selling this for?"

He pointed to the crate of bombs first. "Not the most useful mixture, so with the cost of materials, we were thinking around three gold for two." He then knocked on the crate of potions. "It's nearly a potion of true invisibility, but the effect lasts only three minutes. We could easily sell this for eight gold each."

With the amount of time spent brewing the potions, the cost didn't surprise me. However, there was one thing in particular that caught my attention. "What do you mean nearly a potion of true invisibility?"

"The potion doesn't just make you almost impossible to spot. It makes your body enter into a slight form of incorporeality. Your scent and, to an extent, your presence are erased during the three minutes the potion is in effect. If we could tune our recipe to extend the potion's effects, we could sell it for four times its current worth."

I let out a low whistle. "That's a lot." I grinned at the beastkin and gave him a thumbs up. "Congrats, Khrem, you guys did amazing work. I guess I will need to look for invisible saboteurs during the festival event."

He gave me a funny look; the way his arms crossed as he cocked his head made me realize I said something wrong. "What?"

"What do you expect will happen during the festival?"

"If I'm being honest, I'm not sure," I said with a frown. "The others get all weird when I ask them and keep spouting some bullshit about them not being sure. Why? What's the big event? Is it, not a competition or something?"

"No clue."

"Huh?" I asked as my eye began twitching. "How do you not know? Didn't you grow up here?"

"As I said, no clue. I was but a hatchling when the last festival happened. And I am no adventurer. My interest lay in alchemy and only alchemy. I never needed nor wanted to know what the festival was about other than it attracts many people to the island."

Khrem shrugged as he began covering the crates back up. I wanted to shake the large sharkkin by his shoulders, but I didn't blame him. The first time I saw him and the guildmaster work frantically to experiment with the ghostgoop was all I needed to know that he was not lying. However, I still thought it was shortsighted not to prepare better for the needs of the adventurers that were flocking to the island. Already, I saw more than a few people using one of Khrem's burn salves as they recklessly fucked with the wildlife.

When he finished messing with the crates, I pulled one of the ghostgoop vials from my inventory. "This is probably my final delivery of the stuff. Luckily, I have enough to fill two crates and half of another, so you'll have plenty of material to work with. Ever since I got my new skill, delving the dungeons has been much easier, so I've been exploring further. Albeit with a babysitter in the form of a car-sized bear."

Sorry, Arturous, I love you, but I can handle some dumb fish.

He pointed to a table stacked with empty crates, and I filled them with my entire stock of ghostgoop. The clinking of the vials was like a waterfall of bells as the vials clinked together. When one crate was full, I moved on to the next. Ultimately, I underestimated my count, and the third crate was filled about three-fourths of the way.

"Welp, there yah go. Apparently, I looted more than I thought. Hopefully, you and Travis can make bank selling to all the adventurers. Buy yourself some flowers or something, or perhaps some good sushi."

Khrem stared with his inexpressive face, undeterred by my attempts to tease him. "Sometimes you speak strange words that I do not know the meaning of. Whatever this su-shee is, I am sure it would not be enough to fill me."

I chuckled at his attempt to pronounce sushi. "Imagine raw seafood, finely cut, wrapped in or on top of a roll of seaweed, filled with a soft and fluffy grain flavoured with a sweet and tangy sauce, and some slices of fukatho. It was a bit of a delicacy back where I'm from. And you're right, you'd either need ones that are supersized to fit you or an extra-extra-large helping."

At least this world had avocado, even if it was purple rather than green.

Khrem pulled open a drawer and rummaged around. "Sounds delicious. Maybe you can make some next time you host a feast at the beach."

I began to hold up my hands in protest, but he stopped me by tossing an extra sack of coins. I didn't need to open it to know it was filled with a lot of gold. "I was preparing myself to find Travis to collect my payment. I'm pleasantly surprised, though. Thank you, Khrem."

He shrugged his shoulders. "When you skipped your last visit, he assumed you were preparing a larger haul. He prepared accordingly. And do not thank me; it is merely payment owed."

This time, I shrugged my shoulders in reply. "Even so, thank you. It's been a fun couple of weeks." I was about to turn and leave when a thought struck my mind. Instead of walking out, I approached the covered crates and held up one of the invisibility potions. "Any chance I could buy a couple of these? Figured it wouldn't hurt to have something that could save my life."

Instead of replying, Khrem walked over and stacked the crates together. Lifting them, he lightly shoved them into my chest, forcing me to raise my arms quickly. When I tried to give the crates back, thinking he accidentally stumbled and pushed them into me, he shook his head and stepped away.

"Uhm, I know I've been raking in a decent amount of coin from the ghostgoop, but this is a little outside my spending range," I said as I tried unsuccessfully to return the stack of crates.

Again, he stepped away, and this time, I saw the flash of his pearly-white teeth, his grin wide. "No need. They're yours."

"What? Nooo, they're not."

"Yeess, they are. Master Travis and I agreed that the first batch would be yours. Do not insult us by denying our gift."

I narrowed my eyes and shifted the crate into one arm while I used my now-freed limb to gesture to the beastkin. "But why? This was a business transaction. I don't want to take the spoils of your guys' hard work."

He shook his head. "Cyrus, you do not understand how much joy you have created by supplying the materials. Not only did we create two new recipes for goods, but we also have the chance to fine-tune and create more. Ever since Master Travis started teaching me his craft, we have only made a single new creation. What you gave us was the chance to live our lives fully as an alchemist in the past few weeks. And we still have more to come. So again, accept the vials and begone."

I couldn't help but smile as wide as possible. The time spent with these two was short but fun. And the casual conversations with Khrem were a fun change of pace from talking with the others. Having the two alchemists treat me like a friend was more than touching.

Instead of ruining the moment and insulting their gift, I extended my arm into a fistbump. Khrem stared at my raised fist with curiosity for a few seconds before reaching out his fist and tapping it against mine.

Bumping fists with an anthropomorphic shark. What a time to be alive.

I said my farewells and headed out of the guildhall. Unlike a week ago, the guild was filled with random groups of people, and I had to maneuver my way between the crowded space.

On my way out, I saw Travis talking to a pissed-off elf, a scowl deeply etched into the man's face. When he saw me, his face perked up, and I waved goodbye while hefting up the crates so he could see what I was carrying.

He returned my smile with an acknowledging grin and waved goodbye. Even if the potions were nice, I didn't want to shatter my worldview of Inoria by meeting a fantasy equivalent of a Karen.

When I returned to the inn and made my way up the stairs, I found Teddy conversing with Celanae. Quickly waving hi, I plopped the stacked crates at the end of my bed and sat down with a satisfied groan.

Before they could ask any questions, I reached under the covers, concealing the crate's contents, and pulled out one vial from both crates. I tossed them over to the two, Teddy catching the potion while Celanae the bomb.

While they examined the vials, I leaned forward and placed my hand on my leg, cupping my chin. Teddy was busy studying the enchantments on the vial while Celanae began lightly shaking the bomb.

"Aaah, maybe don't do that while inside an enclosed environment. Would be kinda bad if you did," I warned.

Celanae immediately stopped her shaking and slowly lowered the vial into her lap. "Why?" she asked, suspicion echoing in her voice. "What is this?

"A bomb."

She reacted by tossing it in the air and sending a burst of mana down her arms. I watched as the bomb was encased in a thick crystal barrier. The moment of panic was over, and she turned to look at me, anger in her eyes. "Cyrus, don't hand me random things that can explode!"

Even Teddy looked at me with annoyance in his eyes. Not wanting to let the joke get out of hand, I held up both hands and stopped them from yelling again. "Smoke bomb at best, and you'd need to crack the glass. You're fine, I promise. Just figured I get some payback, that's all."

Celanae still looked annoyed but less so than before. Teddy, for his part, let out a small groan before holding up the vial filled with glowing blue liquid. "And this? I don't recognize the colour."

"Ah, so apparently, Khrem and Travis' experiments bore fruit but not in the way they wanted. The bomb was one accidental discovery, and that," I said as I pointed to the vial in his hands. "Is apparently something close to true invisibility. The effect lasts three minutes. Khrem explained how it makes you partially incorporeal and hides your scent and presence, but I'm still unsure how that works."

The two shared some surprised faces while they did a doubletake at the potion in Teddy's hands.

"That's an impressive find. Even if the effects last only three minutes, that's more than enough time for its use. If they could extend the time, this would be worth a lot of gold," Celanae remarked.

I nodded my head. "Khrem said the same thing. He estimated its current worth around six to eight gold. And he said after they tweak the recipe, they should get about three to four times that amount. I'm happy for them. They have been working hard the past couple of weeks."

Teddy whistled softly. "Impressive indeed. It's rare for someone with a harvest-type skill to be around to farm dungeon materials. Even in the capital, where some of the top guilds and families have access to such skills, it's rare enough that alchemists struggle to discover new recipes. You did a good thing by finding Khrem, Cyrus. This will help save some lives during the festival."

"Oh?" I said as I raised an eyebrow. "I figured most groups wouldn't be able to afford the price."

"You'd be right. Even for a team of tier twos, ten gold can be expensive for a potion, but you're underestimating its worth. Ten gold for a chance to escape and live another day or sneak and ambush something before it can kill you is too good of an opportunity to pass up. Adventurers will fork over the coin for these products; they'd be a fool not to," Celanae explained.

I examined the potion in Teddy's hand with a more critical lens. Logically, it made sense even if I thought three minutes was too short to do anything. In my defence, though, I was too used to hanging around people like Isaac and Eodyne, the former who could literally disappear into the shadowrealm and later was practically able to fly. My standards of what I thought was needed were not the same as others.

When they tried handing me back the vials, I held up a hand and stopped them. Before they could ask what was up, I pulled out four more potions and another bomb and tossed them over. Their eyes widened, and they gave me a look of concern.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I know I made some good money lately, but I'm not that rich. Take it. They're yours. I'd rather know you guys have an item to help you if something goes wrong. And besides, Khrem gave me the first batch as a gift. So, don't worry about my finances," I said dismissively.

Instead of protesting, Teddy placed a hand on Celanae's arm and gave me a nod, his face serious. "Thank you, Cyrus. I'll distribute one to the others tonight."

"Good, good." I nodded while slowly leaning forward until I was only a few feet away. "So how about you finally tell me what the festival is? Because Khrem was too young to remember, and he didn't care enough to find out. And it's literally in a couple of days, so spill. What's the secret you guys have been keeping like a kid hiding the obvious cookie jar behind his back."

No more dodging my question. I'll get my answer one way or another.

They shared uncomfortable faces before Teddy let out a deep sigh. His face firmed again, and he looked me dead in the eye. "We have been trying to avoid telling you because of the nature of the festival. And we were concerned about how it would affect you. I'm sorry, that wasn't our decision to make, but I stand by my choice to wait until you were feeling more stable."

I blinked my eyes rapidly, wondering where this was going. I rolled my hand, motioning for Teddy to continue.

Another sigh followed by a deep breath in. Inhale, exhale, inhale, hold, release. "During the third day of the festival at seven at night, it will be exactly twenty years since the last festival event. And then, that's when the main event starts. And Cyrus, the reason why we have been less than forthcoming is because..."

"Yeah?"

"It's a rift scenario. All we know is it has something to do with the noble fall and sacrifice of the mortal who became a goddess, Ysana. Outside of that, Uncle Brelten has not told us what we will face inside the rift. We know it'll separate the tiers, so we won't be able to interact with each other once we're inside."

A strange silence filled the room after Teddy's revelation. They both stared at me with concern, as if they expected me to have a mental breakdown. In reality, I found it funny and was annoyed. A rift? They were walking on eggshells because they thought I'd freak out about a rift. In truth, I felt nothing other than some excitement. It wasn't like I was still experiencing nightmares. Those had stopped over a week ago.

So, instead of exploding or shitting myself while crying like they seemed to expect, I shrugged my shoulders and laid back in my bed. When their stares continued to grow more concerned, I let out a defeated chuckle.

"Whatever you expect is going to happen, I'm sorry to disappoint. A rift? Seriously? If you told me sooner, I could have prepared more supplies. I bet the villagers have jacked up the prices now that all the adventurers are here. Shame on you."

Celanae's mouth dropped, and Teddy frowned, but I tossed a pillow at them while I closed my eyes to get some rest.

Another rift, huh? Fingers crossed, it doesn't contain demons.