Second Story Online: Aiming To Become The World's Number 1. Ideal Witch Chapter 19 - A Visit From A Ninja (2)

My next agenda is to make potions. I moved to the meadow from the [Twilight Forest]. Since the enemy in the plains are just low level rabbits, it’s possible to deal with them even if I’m in the middle of compounding.

When doing production jobs such as compounding outside town which is a safe zone, I heard it’s only possible if one has a tent. But with my [Camping] skill, I am able to do so without the former stipulation. Isn’t that right? Since camping should be an outdoor activity.

Anyways, let’s start brewing potions now. The mortar and pot are still small since this was just a beginner brewing kit. If I’m to ma.s.s produce, then I important to have a bigger tools. Currently, I’m able to make 5 potions for a batch. I’ll just settle with this for now.

Ah, how mysterious. It seems like I’m discovering strange things one after another. The pot is prepared beforehand for stewing the concoction, all of the sudden, water would materialize inside out of nowhere. Game magic. I brew the potion using the water that has appeared inside the pot with unknown origins.

After all that brewing the final product would be bitter.. Is it better If boil it for a longer period?I brewed the potion for a longer time since I was producing 5 pieces. Afterwards, I received the following:

[Beginner Recovery Potion: ☆] x 5

A recovery potion with just one star? When I was compounding before, I was able to make potions with a 2 star quality. This batch is quite inferior when I compare it to the previous productions. I had an inkling..

Should I test the herbs I gathered from taste sampling from before and compare it to the ones obtained from the plant appraisal skill?

I started working on another batch, relentless on solving the mystery of the bitter taste. Through the same process, I grinded the five herbs before simmering it inside the pot.

Before that, there was something I wanted to check first. I tried sipping a small amount from the water that appeared inside the pot.

“What is this unpleasant taste..”

Water should mostly taste bland, but for the magic water on the pot… It’s probably because it’s water free of charge. How do I describe this? It tastes the same as badly filtered urban water. But in the current era, with the recent technology and all,  there are already processes to purify drinking water to make it taste better.

Anyways, please accept such a technology isn’t applied in this game and that the current water at hand tastes bad.

“Only after cooking the herbs does the taste worsen. Then it’s accurate to say the culprit is the water.”

The water might not taste great because it’s artificially made by the system. Then the taste of the potion would be obviously spoiled due to the quality of the water prepared. I’m afraid of these herbs going to waste, maybe I should try next time.

However I had a hard time finding other sources of water besides the premade water from the system. In the end, I placed the herbs I grounded unwillingly inside the pot. Afterwards, I was able to make the following:

[Beginner Recovery Potion: ☆☆] x 5

Hmm, I see. The quality of the herb gathered by tasting was better. I tried to eat the recovery herbs I collected through the appraisal skill to compare. It was less sweet. With my newly-acquired [Taste] skill, I was able to notice the slight difference. If I had come across a herb with a mild taste from before I had such skills, I might have disregarded it as a common weed.

“Since I had gathered the remaining unidentified herbs by taste, I was able to obtain some good quality herbs..”

Due to the current status of my appraisal skill, It seems I’m only able to appraise low quality ingredients in the meantime. Then the good quality herbs would only look like weeds to me; I won’t be able to find high-quality recovery herbs with this and therefore unable to concoct potions with high star ratings.

“It’s unexpectedly better to gather the herbs by chewing, is that so?”

It’s possible to distinguish herbs by taste though eating it. But I think it would be counterproductive when I have an appraisal skill at hand. I’ll refrain from eating for now until I raise the level of my appraisal skill.

After my critical a.n.a.lysis, I continued the potion production and thus, the remaining herbs were brewed to become recovery potions. I was able to make a scant quant.i.ty of two star recovery potions and although there were also botched concoctions on the way, production ended successfully.

I was able to make the following potions:

[Beginner Recovery Potion: ☆] x 40

[Beginner Recovery Potion: ☆☆] x 10

Moreover, I tried manufacturing a poison potion, but it only ended in a failure. It seems like the ingredients at hand are currently insufficient. I’ll do it again next time.

“Wah—”

And so, the mundane production job ends here. I stretched a little to move my stiff muscles.

While I was busy compounding, dusk has already arrived. Neil who was on the ground was yawning as if he had a good, long sleep, which he has—afterwards, flying towards me to perch on my shoulder.

“Owl. It’s yours?**“

**T/N: Speaker actually uses the word ‘onus.h.i.+’ used by samurais, which is an impolite word used when talking down to someone.

The sentence doesn’t translate fully due to my language skill which was still low level. No, actually, that should be it. Since the person in front of me was blatantly dressed as a ninja. 

The ninja girl stares at Neil on my shoulder for quite some time, eyes somewhat s.h.i.+ning brightly.

“Eer, yes it is.”

The reply from the other party came as an unexpected dogeza. Ah, wait a minute—what’s the matter!?

“I beg you! To me—Owl—Capture technique—Teach, gozaru!”

Uh.. okay?

Name: Chloe

Race: Human

s.e.x: Female

[Birth Status: Bradleys – Viscount family.]

[Personal History: I Ran Away From Home to Embark on an Adventure.]

LV 12 — Remaining SP 6

Basic Skills:

[Two-handed Staff LV 9]

[Dark Magic LV 10]

[Wind Magic LV 10]

[Magic Knowledge LV 10]

[Magical Power LV 10]

[Moonlight LV 2]

[Upheaval LV 2]

[Summon: Familiar LV 7]

[Command LV 4]

[Compounding LV 8]

[Taste LV 4]

[Night Vision LV 5]

[Appraisal: Plant LV 6]

[Gathering LV 8]

[Poison Resistance LV 3]

[Paralysis Resistance LV 3]

[Sleep Resistance LV 3]

[Language: Swaro Kingdom LV 3]

Unique Skills:

[Language: Hayes Region]

[Social Status: Ente Dukedom. Bradleys – Viscount Family]

[Camping]

[Land Familiarity]

Name: Neil

Race: Familiar Spirit

s.e.x: Male

LV 4

Basic Skills:

[Dark Sense LV 3]

[Dark Mist LV 3]

Unique Skills:

[Forest Sage]

[Nocturnal]

T/N: Gozaru is a polite way of ending a sentence and is usually how samurai speak. The comments here explains this more properly than me:  but basically, the second person is trying to copy how a samurai speaks (usually in terse words) but takes it too literally xD.