Chrysos was busy making smoothies for a line of people. They were ordering different flavors and they left satisfied with their choices.
Business was good.
Not only that, Chrysos only spent a gold coin in preparation for this smoothie business. But he earned a gold coin plus fifty silver coins! And the number is also increasing.
If he manages to sell everything, he'll end up with three hundred gold coins, which is insane for just ten gold coins spent. And not only that, he could spread his name and his potions in the future through this.
The pig cost him 50 silver, the rest of the ingredients cost 168, and the rest of the Divinious crystals combined with the ice magic circle cost 82 silver.
This was the beauty of alchemy. You can
use cheap ingredients and make something more valuable to sell. Like in the auction for the crimson elephant for example, the ingredients only cost Chrysos 200 gold coins, which is quite a lot.
But when he brewed them into potions, they became as expensive as 1200 gold coins! If he only used the corruption reversal potion as a bargaining chip, Rienan wouldn't have agreed. It's because the crimson elephant can be used for other potions that can be beneficial for them.
But when Chrysos gave him so many high quality potions, Rienan couldn't disagree.
In fact, each of those potions should cost 25 gold coins because of their quality alone, since there were a hundred of them, it would've cost 2500 gold coins! Chrysos was giving Rienan such a cheap deal.
Chrysos currently has 48 gold coins in his wealth after spending money to buy the Crimson Elephant. If he could use this opportunity to sell his potions as well, the free advertising he got from his smoothie business will be a great boost to him.
Seeing the diamond shaped coins flood his pockets, Chrysos smiled. "Ah, this is the great feeling of profit." Chrysos just finished making five more smoothies but the huge line of customers isn't shrinking at all.
This wasn't a problem for him.
He placed all the ingredients in front of him and took a deep breath.
Seeing Chrysos pause, the customer currently in front was taken aback.
"Why is that guy stopping all of a sudden?" The guy in front of the line was confused. Was this alchemist not planning to make his order?
That thought didn't last long because Chrysos' hands suddenly moved like the wind.
Without even looking, Chrysos mixed and brewed several smoothies at once. With his unique ability 'swiftness', his enhanced control over his body after forcefully evolving, and Chrysos' experience with potion brewing, the smoothies were done in a breeze.
Just like that, Chrysos eliminated half of the line.
He made Meiros ask their orders so that he just needed to make the smoothies in perfect order. And it worked.
After three minutes, the line was fully eliminated.
"Phew." Chrysos took off his mask and let fresh air inside. "That was a job well done."
"Yeah! We made two hundred fifty five gold coins!" Meiros laughed as he looked at how much they earned.
"We sold 2550 smoothies already? Haha! And you were looking at me as if it's never going to take off." Now, it was Chrysos' turn to be smug.
"Alright, alright it was my fault for doubting you, Master Gerald.." Meiros admitted his mistake.
"Okay, let's talk later, I can see another wave of customers." Chrysos saw more people about to line up, so he prepared his ingredients once again.
"The tournament has begun as well.. I heard that many people are enjoying your smoothies while watching the fights." Meiros revealed a faint smile as he took a sip on his own smoothie. "It means that these smoothies are really good."
"What are you talking about? Of course it is. I made them after all." Chrysos took this chance to show off.
Meanwhile, in the large arena made of stone, iron and steel.
Verine Caile was watching the match from the spectating area. The crowd was cheering for the fighters and as someone who didn't have any affiliation with both of them, she just enjoyed watching the matches. She didn't care who won.
She wore a tight, yet flexible scarlet armor with complementing blue, yellow and gold designs. Her helmet was folded back, showing her eyes that looked like a kaleidoscope. Her unique eyes had all the colors in the rainbow except for red, matched with her dark iris.
Her hair was black and her attitude normally shows that of a mere spectator. She does not include herself in matters that don't concern her.
While she was watching, her childhood friend sat next to her.
It was the cheerful Lourne Carver.
"Hey Verine, you're watching this alone?" Lourne laughed.
"What do you mean alone? There's many people around us." Verine rolled her beautiful eyes. "Anyway, why are you so late?"
"I was drinking a smoothie. This is my seventh drink." Lourne could be said to be addicted at this point. It was up to the gods to decide what will happen if he discovers modern day sweets.
"This pink smoothie right here is strawberry flavored. I don't know what a strawberry is, but it tastes good." He then took a sip. " Want some?" Lourne passed the cup to Verine.
"Shouldn't you be focused on the tournament rather than food?" Even though she said that, she still took the cup and took a sip where Lourne's lips touched.
Not having much expectation on the drink, she tried it regardless.
When she drank it, her eyes brightened up. She was instantly hooked by the unique drink. "Wow, that's actually good. Get me one." Verine took five gold coins and placed them in front of Lourne.
Grabbing the gold coins, Lourne revealed a bright smile. "You got it. What flavor do you want?" Lourne asked with an energetic tone.
"There's different tastes? I want each one of them." Verine shrugged before leaning on her red cushioned seat.
"Okay then." Lourne left the arena without caring because it wasn't his turn to fight yet. And from what he could see, he still had thirty minutes until it was his turn.
As Lourne left, he didn't know that someone was watching them from far away.
A man clenched his fists when he saw Verine talking with Lourne. The man had brown braided hair, red eyes and a great physique like what fitness models had.
He wore sharp, threatening armor made of dark special steel with thin, black honeycomb patterns covering it entirely. In his chest was the head of a bull with its forehead that looks like it's been sliced by a sword.
Montillo Taurus is the man's name. He is the eldest son of Viscount Taurus. And Viscount Caile's daughter, Verine, was someone he admired.
However, she showed no interest in him.
She showed friendliness towards Lourne, a son of a Baron rather than him. It was absurd!
So of course, he didn't like Lourne and even felt some hostility towards him.
Outside the arena..
Chrysos began brewing his smoothies and when he thought that the line was going to stop, he saw Lourne once more.
Lourne showed the same cheerful attitude and said, "Hey, can I get one of each? Again..?" Lourne gave him sixty silver coins.
Chrysos sighed. "Don't you get tired from drinking this stuff? Just so you know, if you feel anything from drinking too much, don't blame us. Got it?" Chrysos pointed his index finger at him as he brewed with his right hand.
Knowing that he bought too much, Lourne tried defending himself. "Oh I'm buying these for a friend, not for me." Lourne said.
"Mhmm.. a friend.." Chrysos didn't buy it. But money is money so he gave him what he ordered anyway.
When Lourne left, Chrysos waited for more customers.
And as he finished orders from a bunch of customers, another noble from the arena showed up.
Montillo approached his stall and looked at the menu. "Give me one of these drinks you're making."
"Sure, what flavor?" Chrysos prepared his ingredients.
"I don't care, just get me anything." Montillo said impatiently. "Also, give me three of them."
"Okay then.. random it is.." Chrysos gave him a flavor that didn't sell as much. Lime sold for a bit, but it lacked five customers less, unlike the rest. Surprisingly, almost everyone liked coconut. The coconut smoothie was the one that got ordered most of the time.
Chrysos gave him three lime smoothies. So now, the lime smoothie only sold two customers less.
Montillo threw a gold coin.
"Whoa." Chrysos caught the coin. "Uhh, sir? Your change?"
"Keep it." Montillo waved his hand as he left.
...
Montillo examined the cup. It was normal looking, it didn't look exquisite nor did it look ugly. It was lightweight and the lime smoothie looked nice.
He took a sip and let the flavor touch every part of his mouth. He liked it.
"No wonder Verine would like these." Montillo's eyes glowed as he took another sip. He soon returned to his seat in the arena.
Slowly but surely, Chrysos' smoothies were invading the arena.
The other nobles noticed that Verine was drinking something with Lourne, but they didn't think of it as anything strange. But when Lourne left and came back with six of these drinks, they were a bit intrigued.
What were in these drinks that even the non indulgent Verine would like?
What's strange is that even Montillo and his friends were also having them. They then brought more of them after finishing their drinks.
A noble's son was getting thirsty and he didn't feel like he wanted water. He asked his butler to get him a yellow smoothie. And when the butler returned, he didn't hide that enjoyed the drink.
Of course, this attracted more of them to buy this "smoothie."
And since many of them didn't buy them with silver coins because of how rich they were, Chrysos received an abnormal amount of nobles paying him with gold coins.
...
"What the hell? I didn't expect our business to be this good." Chrysos sold 2982 drinks by now. He was supposed to receive 298 gold coins and 20 silver coins if he sold this much. But instead, he was left with 376 gold coins and twenty silver coins!
Meiros scratched his head. "Uhm... master, we're running out of ingredients."
"Oh.." Chrysos didn't mind it. "How many orders until we run out?"
"18." Meiros said after calculating in his mind. It was a simple calculation though.
"That soon? Eh, let's leave after this. We've achieved our goal." Chrysos leaned on his chair and waited for customers.
...
Five minutes later...
Chrysos finished using all of his ingredients.
When a customer was about to buy from him, Chrysos said, "I'm sorry, we ran out of ingredient-" Chrysos looked closely at the person. "You again?"
It was Lourne.
"You're out? Awh, it was so good." Lourne left with a defeated expression.
"Sorry man, things run out too." Chrysos said to himself as he watched Lourne leave dejectedly. "Alright, Meiros help me pack our stuff back."
"Got it." Meiros cleaned up their items and put all of their belongings to the wagon.
After that, they went back home.
…
After the two of them left, the effect of their product still remained.
"Hey, where's the person who sold those smoothies here earlier?" A person who wanted to buy one asked.
"Oh, they already left." One person replied.
"Is that so? I was too late then." The person sighed. "Do you know who they are?"
"Not at all. Maybe some people out there might."
A man overheard their conversation. "If I remember correctly, the seller is an alchemist who sells potions in the market occasionally. I'm an adventurer and I've tested his products. It has a good price and it's very effective."
"I can confirm this. I bought a healing potion from him and the effects surprised me." Another man who overheard their conversation replied.
"Look at this, my arm bled after I did a quest and when I drank it, this is all that's left. The healing was quick and painless." The man showed them a huge white line that was barely visible.
"That alchemist sells potions of that quality? I'll pay him a visit soon if I see him the next time I go to the market." An adventurer who was passing by thought to himself. "Hey, do you know where he sells his potions?" He asked one of the adventurers.
"It's at .."
People began to talk about Chrysos and how they could find him. His name was well known around his neighborhood.
Confident that people were talking about him at this moment, Chrysos went back home and examined his earnings. He had a great time selling his drinks. Not only that, he saw people who bought potions from him before, so he half expected these people to be asked for his whereabouts.
"The sun is still high up in the sky, I guess I could go do some shopping." Chrysos stretched his arms and groaned.
He then opened one of his drawers and took a mind element Divinious crystal and placed it on his forehead.
A purple glow spread outwards from his head before vanishing.
The seal in his mind absorbed the crystal and it became as strong as it was before by replenishing its lost energy.
"These thoughts in my mind need to be eradicated somehow.." Chrysos looked at the black dust in his hand that used to be the glowing mind crystal.
He needed more help.
He couldn't deal with this himself.
He got up and put on his coat. "Meiros, I'll be off for a bit. Make sure to lock the doors."
"Mhmm." Meiros continued reading books in his room.
Closing the door, Chrysos walked in a certain direction for a bit to search for a place that sells magic spells. He decided that it was time for him to learn attacking magic.
After a while of asking around, he then heard about the Alzoria Academy.
Alzoria Academy is a school dedicated for Magic Casters and other magic classes. Of course, excluding the corrupted classes.
He obviously isn't planning to study there. Nor will he ever.
He took a carriage towards the academy. It cost him 5 silver.
The driver took him towards Nebilia District, the scene was a breath of fresh air away from the smithies and cuboid style buildings where Chrysos currently lived.
Soon enough, he saw a grand castle with hundreds of rooms. The beautiful metal gate and the structure of the entire castle was well done. Even though he came from earth, he still admired this architecture.
He left the carriage and walked towards the metal gate.
As he got close, the guards stopped him.
A man wearing a blue uniform with yellow linings holding a spear stopped Chrysos. "Halt, we need to examine your belongings before being permitted to enter."
Chrysos followed their instructions. One of the guards summoned a magic circle about the same size as Chrysos.
The transparent yellow magic circle appeared above Chrysos' head. The diameter of the circle fully covered him. When the scanning started, it began moving through him vertically.
And after a few seconds, the guard nodded. "You're good to go."
They opened the gate for Chrysos.
If he wanted to enter the academy itself, that would be impossible. He didn't have a student card and he didn't have any reason to enter the academy to begin with. He was just here for the spellbooks.
The only place he could access was the shop.
The shop was the only area the academy allowed entry for outsiders. The academy is split between the school campus and the marketplace. The castle which is also the school campus is located to the right.
A large statue of the founder stood in front of the academy, while the marketplace is a large collection of beautiful wooden constructs.
This marketplace in particular reminded Chrysos of a library.
When he entered the shop, he saw a massive collection of shelves filled with scrolls and books. He looked around and approached the male receptionist sitting at the desk.
Tapping on the table twice, Chrysos asked the man, "Excuse me, where can I get attack type spells?" Chrysos asked the man. He was wearing an Alzorian uniform, so he's probably a teacher or a staff member.
"Right there." The man pointed behind him diagonally to the right with his thumb.
"Thank you." Chrysos walked to where the man pointed and started browsing. He wasn't the only one looking for spells. There are other students and adventurers with the same intentions as him.