Yesterday afternoon in the swamp forest, thanks to the young man's willingness to endure hardship, the man-eating "Giant Thorn Demon Tree" was finally eradicated, and the logging area, which normally stopped work at dusk, had "returned to happiness."
Then, this morning, the alchemy apprentice arrived at Kalkstein's alchemy workshop in the Temple District with a fresh batch of gathered materials to report in.
...In the dim underground alchemy chamber, an eerie laugh echoed. "Oh ho ho ho, look at these emerald-green demon tree tendrils." He put one in his mouth and took a small bite. "And this fresh demon tree sap..." He dabbed a little onto his finger and put it in his mouth.
Witnessing Mr. Kalkstein's heartfelt performance of personally tasting every herb, Victor could not bring himself to applaud—but neither would he step forward to offer pointless advice.
After a while, the alchemist, now composed again, said cheerfully, "Vic, I am very satisfied with the results of your work. These can be used to make many interesting potions. Choose one of three, and I'll give you a vial.
The first makes people drowsy and causes them to lose a short stretch of memory from before they fell asleep upon waking. The second invigorates the mind and temporarily raises mental power. As for the third, drinking it will make someone 'full of vigor.' Its duration depends on the drinker's constitution."
As the three choices reached his ears, his heart suddenly pounded faster. "I'll choose the second one," the young man said evenly, suppressing his excitement.
"You won't choose the third? Without magic, what use is temporarily increasing your mental power? Are you going to use it to read books? The third would be quite good whether as a gift or for personal use..."
Yet seeing the determination in his