As the machine had said, as soon as I thought about leaving, my vision began to fade. After about 10-15 seconds, I started to feel my body again. As soon as I opened my eyes, squinting from the light, I saw the capsule screen, on which was written: Intermediate stage. Studying the subject's inclinations. Starting point. The village of Ka-mi-lya-rys. And as soon as I wanted to read further, Alice's voice distracted me.
"Aaron, you woke up!" she exclaimed joyfully. "Professor Ho, Aaron woke up!"
"Yes, yes. I heard you the first time," the professor's tone was not very pleased. "So Aaron, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Professor Ho. Did you manage to see what I saw?" I asked the professor hopefully. If the professor was able to see, then there would be recordings. If possible, everything I see should be recorded, making it easier to find errors in the game code. Unfortunately, I couldn't fully study the text on the screen. The initial information already indicates the stages of the game.
"I was only able to view the game algorithm. But with that alone, I can create a modulation. Plus or minus, we'll get a picture. Later on, by refining the program, I'll be able to create a streaming multimedia. That way, we'll be able to monitor you in both the real world and the virtual world. But for now, the priority is to enable communication between us and you while you're in the machine. That way, you won't have to worry about time and can concentrate on the game. And I'll be able to pull you out in time, without letting you get stuck there. Well, for now, rest. I'll leave you two," he didn't even finish speaking before leaving.
"Do you feel okay? Do you feel any nausea or dizziness?" Alice asked me cautiously. "If you're uncomfortable in any way, let us know. We can ask to continue tomorrow," she pleaded with me.
"Alice, I feel great. Don't worry. I think we should actually continue faster. As they say, strike while the iron is hot. And I've only just begun, so taking a break now would greatly slow down our progress. Besides, I realized that this is just the starting point. It seems like it will only get harder from here on out."
"But this is your first time inside the machine!"
"Yes, it's my first time, but I didn't feel any rejection. Let's talk about something else. I went home this morning and met my parents and little brother and sister. Father is still living in his own era, and mother is still cuddling with him as always. And to top it all off, he's trained my little brother to be a model aristocrat. How will he ever make friends when most of his peers speak slang and he speaks formal language? They'll think he's a complete idiot. And that's how I ended up talking to her, but after a while, the professor interrupted us."
"Well, are you ready, Aaron? If you're ready, let's begin. We still have a few hours. We'll have to stop later. While you're playing, I'll be looking for a way to create communication. I hope for your productive work," he said, moving towards his computer.
"Yes, I'm ready. Let's go, Alice," I said, sitting down in my gaming chair. And just as it was before, I managed to see the welcome screen before it immediately shut off and I was transported into the game.
I opened my eyes and saw the ceiling above me. So I returned to the game in the same position in which I left. I got out of bed and left the room.
"Oh, are you leaving already?" the tavern owner said to me.
"We're about to serve dinner. Would you like to have dinner before you leave?" said the cute waitress.
"How long have I been in the room?" I asked.
"About three hours," said the tavern owner.
"Oh, by the way, what's your name?" I asked him.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Carlos, and her name is Karlya. The one at the counter. And the one who greets guests is Karmiya, she's my wife. And our cook's name is Kalantia. If you're staying for a while, I suggest you remember our names."
"I'll definitely remember," I said, walking to the table.
Food was served to me. It was mushroom soup, several strange-looking potatoes, and a loaf of bread. I was also brought goat's milk.
"If you want any extras, don't hesitate to ask," Karlya said to me and left to do her own thing.
I decided to start with the strange-looking potatoes. They were multicolored, containing the colors of yellow, as expected of potatoes, red with many yellow dots, and green like fresh grass.
I took my first bite from the side of the potato that was yellow, which is the color I'm used to seeing with potatoes. The taste was just like real potatoes. I can't say what surprised me more: that the taste was so accurate, or that the multicolored potatoes tasted okay. And now with a calm face, I took a bite of the red-colored part. I felt the taste of very spicy pepper mixed with potatoes. I have to say, I barely tasted the taste of the potato.
Upon seeing my appearance, specifically my twisted face, a burly man from a nearby table shouted at me, "Hey, buddy, try it with the green side!"
I immediately took his advice and stuffed the remaining piece of potato into my mouth. The taste of sour and salty potato filled my mouth, with a hint of fresh mint that soothed my palate. I don't know who came up with the idea of adding such flavor to the game, but it was truly enchanting. After the extreme spiciness, which made your mouth feel like it was on fire, you experienced unprecedented comfort in your mouth.
After digesting the first potato, I decided to try the mushroom soup. As it looked, it was just an ordinary mushroom soup. Despite being ordinary, it was still quite delicious and went well with the bread. I had never drunk goat's milk before, but it was comfortable to have it with the food. I finished the remaining potato in the same, but quick, manner and set off to explore the village.
Remembering Carlos's words, specifically that I had been in the room for more than three hours, while only an hour had passed in reality, I realized that time flowed three times faster here. Understanding this, I went for a walk around the village. Overall, I spent about half an hour at dinner, including the conversation with Carlos. Given that I had been given about two hours in reality, I had around five and a half hours. But since it was already six o'clock in this world, I had about four hours left for a walk. Since I didn't know the rules of this world, it was better to leave early.
"Well, I'm off. I'll be back closer to nightfall," I said to Carlos and left the tavern.
The first thing that came to my mind was that green shop. What was it called again? Ah, "Green Valley." How that herbal scent entices me. I wonder if they make potions or remedies there. Considering my gaming experience, I think they make potions of life or health potions. It would be interesting to find out if I'm right or not.
Walking back along the same road, I finally found that shop. "Green Valley" is an incredibly large building compared to the neighboring houses. The smell of herbs can be felt from several dozen meters away. And just like before, I saw the same short girls with cat ears and an adult-looking girl with the same height but a more mature aura.
Apparently noticing me as I walked past the gate, the girl in a white mantle who had been hiding behind a large counter addressed me. "Hello, welcome to 'Green Valley' shop. Here, we sell and manufacture all the pharmaceutical tablets in the village. We also make potions of life resilience and mana purification and restoration. How can I assist you?" said the cat-girl.
"Hello, my name is Aaron. I'm new to this kind of shop. Can you explain in more detail what is what?" I said, hoping to hear about the so-called tablets and potions.
"Yes, of course, no problem," she said to me and began to explain. "Let's start with the basics. Tablets and potions are similar in terms of properties in the initial, intermediate, and high classes. The first difference is the difference in absorption rate. On average, a mana purification potion restores mana 15-20% faster. Also, a mana restoration potion restores 20% more mana than a mana restoration tablet."
Without even giving me a chance to ask a question, she continued, "The second difference is in the amount of consumption. Mana purification potions can be taken up to 5 times a day. Mana restoration potions can also be taken up to 5 times a day. Also, I want to say that you can take them together. That is, 5 purification and 5 restoration potions. The same rule applies to all potions. Suppose you have 40 potions, of which 10 are mana purification, 7 are mana restoration, 13 are endurance, and 10 are partial health restoration. Then you can drink 20 potions, 5 of each kind."
After that, she started to explain about tablets. "Well, tablets work on a softer scheme. Mostly, the lower the level of the tablet, the more you can take. In the main three levels, namely low, medium, and high, you can consume them indefinitely until they take effect. Once you notice that there is no effect, further consumption of tablets will be pointless. Moreover, when you reach the limit of tablet consumption, you will not be able to take tablets for up to 3 days. Depending on your endurance level, this debuff will decrease. It is known that up to 1000 endurance points, the debuff will last up to 3 days. When you reach 2000 endurance points, the debuff will be 2 days and 12 hours. When you reach 3000 points, the debuff will be 2 days. And so on until you reach the maximum endurance level."
And just when I thought she was done, she continued, "Since our shop is a shop for basic medicine, I am not familiar with tablets and elixirs above the main stages. In our shop, you can buy all the basic tablets and only the elixirs of the initial and intermediate stages. Well,..." I interrupted her before she could continue.
"Do you have a glossary of your medicines?" I asked, trying to hide my impatience. "I understand that this is done for me, but presenting information in such small portions is already too much."
"Unfortunately, we only have a list of medicines currently available, but I cannot give it to you. Can I continue telling you?" she asked me with a smile, but for some reason, her smile told me that she didn't like that I interrupted her.
"Of course, continue," I said.
"So, tablets and elixirs are divided into 3 types based on their quality of creation. Good quality, High quality, and Top quality. Here's the difference between them. A top quality initial level tablet restores 3120 mana. A high quality tablet restores 2600 mana. A good quality tablet restores 2080 mana. A top quality elixir restores 3900 mana. A high quality elixir restores 3250 mana. A good quality elixir restores 2600 mana. So, a good quality elixir restores the same amount of mana as a high quality tablet. Generally, the quality of tablets can be referred to as copper, silver, and gold. For example, a copper mana restoration tablet. Then, we will immediately bring you a good quality initial level tablet. The same goes for elixirs."
After a short pause, she continued, "And now to our assortment. We have tablets up to the high level in our shop. If the shop owner progresses, we will be able to produce top level tablets. Although the words may sound similar, there are big differences between high and top level tablets. With each level, the properties of the tablet increase in a geometric progression. As you already know, a gold high level mana restoration tablet restores only 12,000 mana, whereas a gold top level tablet restores 24,800 mana. Which is twice as much."
Apparently having finished her explanation, she gave me some time to think. Thinking about tomorrow, I decided to buy mana restoration potions and tablets. In total, I got 2 copper level initial potions and 5 copper level initial tablets. I also took 1 health restoration potion, 4 health restoration tablets, and 5 endurance restoration tablets.
I bought all these potions and tablets of copper quality. It cost me 900 copper coins. Here, 1 gold coin is worth 100 copper, and 1 silver coin is worth 10 copper coins respectively. So, I paid with 9 gold coins. Now I have 30 gold coins, 70 silver coins, and 100 copper coins left. After completing my purchase, I found that more than 2 hours had passed. So I hurried to Maurice's shop.