Potion Bag

"Overdrawing your mana will damage the foundation of your mind and life, causing many serious consequences.

You still need to keep this kind of potion on hand..."

Roy bought several bottles to keep in reserve.

But that immediately raised the problem of carrying them around.

Milina read his expression. "Do you need a secondhand Potion Bag? I can sell you one cheap."

"A portable Potion Bag?"

Roy's eyes lit up.

He had asked about this kind of thing at the store before, but the price had not been cheap.

Seeing that there was hope, Milina hurriedly explained, "I impulsively bought this when I was learning potion-making.

"But you can rest assured.

"I guarantee it's brand-new. I haven't really used it much myself."

That statement contradicted itself.

Not having used it much still meant she had used it!

However, the Potion Bag was an alternative to a Storage Artifact. Made from special materials, it could hold all kinds of test tubes and potion bottles.

Anything placed inside had no weight, would not spoil, and would not be affected by external factors such as shaking, impact, cold, or heat.

It was extremely useful for missions outside the tower and similar situations.

Roy was quite interested, so Milina swiftly packed up her stall, took Roy back to her residence, and brought out a finely crafted belt.

"This is a Potion Bag with twelve standard slots. It cost me 3,600 magic stones when I bought it. I'll only charge you 1,800..."

Roy took it and looked it over, quickly spotting something fishy. He smiled. "Eight hundred!"

"Huh?" Milina was visibly stunned.

Roy said, "I said, eight hundred!"

Milina's expression turned rather ugly. "That's too brutal a cut!"

"You were the brutal one first. You're trying to sell me a broken Potion Bag as if it were a good one!"

"How is it broken? It's perfectly fine!" Milina stubbornly argued back.

"You think I can't tell?"

Roy spoke calmly. The Skilled Worker Talent was a basic ability, yet it could even cover Appraisal Spell.

"Several of its twelve slots are damaged. There's a chance they'll leak items, and they need to be repaired with Aether Stones or other Space-elemental Materials."

"Ah!" Milina's confidence visibly faltered after being caught lying on the spot.

The item had indeed been damaged during an adventure when a monster struck it.

She had done her best to repair it, but her limited skill had ultimately led to failure.

"All right, eight hundred it is. But you know this thing is damaged and are buying it anyway. I won't be responsible for any problems that arise later."

Roy said, "Fine. I'm mainly buying it because it's cheap. I'll bear all consequences myself."

This was the unspoken rule when buying things outside legitimate stores. Apprentices often sold items privately, and the risks were basically borne by the buyer.

But sometimes, one could truly find a bargain—like this belt the female apprentice had used.

After Roy and Milina completed the transaction, he pondered briefly and said, "Do you have any repair materials left? If so, I'll take them all."

A strange look appeared on Milina's face. "Are you sure? Then I'll give you a slight discount. Eighty magic stones for the whole bundle..."

"Can't you throw them in for free as a bonus?"

"Dream on!"

After some haggling, Roy spent fifty magic stones to buy several pieces of material containing Space Force, then immediately returned to his residence and began repairing the belt.

"Success! Now it's a perfectly intact belt worth over three thousand again!"

After working through the entire night, Roy finally succeeded in repairing the belt with the help of his Skilled Worker and Alchemy Machine Black Iron Rank Talents.

Extremely satisfied, he stretched lazily, fastened it around his waist, and tried it out.

"The success-rate bonus from Skilled Worker is really useful. If I could do this a few more times, wouldn't I make a fortune?

"But opportunities like this usually can't be sought out. Unless I made a great name for myself, people wouldn't come knocking on my door.

"And then I might end up facing the brutal reality of a life-or-death struggle.

"A Wizard Apprentice's commercial warfare is just this plain and unremarkable."

After sighing with emotion, Roy tried putting various potions inside it, then collapsed into bed.

Before he knew it, it was the next day.

Roy did not get up until noon and went to the cafeteria for a meal.

As a result, the discussions among several Advanced Apprentices caught his attention.

"Have you heard? Something happened in the Great Wind Land Hills!"

"Those monsters really started fighting!"

"I've only ever read about it in books. I never thought I'd get the chance to witness a war between monsters with my own eyes!"

"When you live long enough, you really do see everything! Those mermen and giants should never have had any dealings with each other..."

A puzzled look appeared on Roy's face. He then found a Low-level Apprentice who worked as a servant on the third floor and sent him to fetch Renion and the others.

"Senior Roy, have you heard? There's huge news from the Great Wind Land Hills!" As soon as Tigro arrived, he eagerly told Roy about it.

Roy asked, "What exactly happened?"

"I happened to ask around. Starting yesterday, a large number of mermen began attacking a Giant Tribe..." Tigro said.

He described the events vividly, but when it came to the specifics, his account became vague.

Nia was the one who gave Roy something and explained, "An apprentice happened to be doing a mission there and used an Alchemy Camera to take these pictures!"

She had recently spent a great deal of money and successfully secured the position of Junior Supervisor at the Quest Center, giving her a modest amount of authority.

She was fairly well-informed as well.

Roy looked at the picture she handed him. It seemed to have been taken from a high point overlooking the scene below. The distance was too great, so the image was not very clear.

But the sight of thousands upon thousands of monsters gathered for war could not have been more obvious.

"They're definitely attacking the Giant Tribe!"

Renion lowered his voice.

"The leader is that Merman Lord we encountered before. Some people say they're fighting over a treasure that came out of Chalk Country!"

Roy said, "So that means the thing probably fell into the river?

"The Witchcraft Energy spread downstream along the river and reached the sea. Then a large group of mermen swam upstream and found the place."

"That's what people outside are saying too. It should be the most reasonable guess." Everyone spoke up in agreement.

Renion said, "The only thing we don't know now is whether the item is in the giants' hands or somewhere farther upstream."

Roy said, "Either way, this is our opportunity.

"Even if those monsters have developed a little intelligence, they won't think too far ahead.

"They rushed into a fight with the giants just like that. Doesn't this give the apprentices in the Witch Tower an easy opportunity?"

Tigro agreed. "Exactly. Everyone's getting busy.

"A lot of people plan to follow behind them and take advantage of the chaos to make a profit!"

Roy said, "We're going too!"

He had said before that they would take revenge and find an opportunity to hunt that powerful monster.

Now the opportunity was right in front of them, so everyone immediately agreed and began making preparations.

The next day, the team gathered at the entrance of the Witch Tower once more and set out on time.

Their destination: the Great Wind Land Hills!

This time, however, Tigro replaced Nia and joined their adventuring party.