Chapter 70 Rarity
After parting ways with Vake, and still having some spare time, I resumed my morning walks.
Even though I thought I should use this free time to think about the synthesis method of "The Drinking Water of the Spirits," my mind kept wandering back to the "senior" I had just discovered.
(I remember Arnold mentioning that I was the fourth disciple under Kasper-san... So, it's me, Kasper-san, Marcedes-san, and one more person as my mentor's disciples?)
Walking down the hallway aimlessly, I lost in thought.
I vividly remember the words young Arnold threw at me in a fit of anger. My mentor - Berta, has only taken on four disciples, including me.
Among the remaining three, one is Marcedes-san, and the other unexpectedly turned out to be Kasper-san this time. The last person remains unknown.
Whether four disciples in a lifetime is a large or small number, I cannot judge as I do not know the circumstances of others, but judging from young Arnold's tone, it seemed to be on the lower side. Having brother disciples seems to create a deep bond. We share the same mentor and work in the same profession.
(But, why did Kasper-san keep silent? Was he instructed by my mentor to keep it a secret? Was he worried about being exposed as a brother disciple and having things said about him?)
If we share the same Mentor, even if we had no actual connection, there might be assumptions from outsiders that there is some kind of relationship. Kasper-san might have feared baseless rumors like "I got in through connections." However, I couldn't fully understand the reasons he came up with after pondering.
The fact that he mentioned they had a bad relationship makes me wonder if something happened between my mentor and Kasper-san.
(I wonder if something happened since he said they had a bad relationship)
That's the one thing that bothers me. Vake clearly expressed his sadness about the bad relationship between the mentor and disciple. If his words are true, there must have been something between my mentor and Kasper-san.
I won't confront them about it, but it's human nature to be curious.
――Suddenly, I remember. On the day I passed the Royal Alchemist trainee exam, there was a brief moment when my mentor and Kasper-san should have crossed paths. However, at that time, I was too excited about passing the exam to pay attention to their expressions.
――This matter doesn't have a clear answer even if I think about it. If the day comes when my mentor or Kasper-san talks about it, then I'll reconsider.
With that conclusion in mind, I turned the corner of the hallway.
"Oh, Laura-chan. Are you going out on your day off?"
"K-Kasper-san!"
What perfect timing. The person I was thinking about appeared before me, causing my voice to unintentionally falter.
Kasper-san tilted his head at my exaggerated reaction, and I tried to cover it up with a light cough. Then, I opened my mouth to respond to his question.
"Yes, that's right... My Mentor who taught me synthesis is here in the royal capital now. I want to learn about The Drinking Water of the Spirits."
For a moment, I hesitated about mentioning my mentor, but it would be strange to avoid the topic. There could have been other choices, but my nosy nature compelled me to speak.
I glanced at my senior brother to see how he would react to my words.
"Oh, I see."
He casually brushed it off with his usual smile. Then, he suddenly brightened up and took out a notebook from his pocket.
"Oh, Laura-chan! I tried synthesizing something too..."
To his unexpected words, I leaned in closer. In front of me, he presented a notebook and a container filled with powdered substance. This was, without a doubt――
"Look, this is a monster horn that Arnold brought back from Platonovena."
"Enhancement of Power..."
"Yeah! When I synthesized it with the monster's horn, there was a slight enhancement effect."
The overwhelming power of The Drinking Water of the Spirits was not negated, and the power manifested.
Upon hearing the revealed truth, thoughts from just a moment ago vanished somewhere. It was a small but definite step.
"Really!"
"It's almost like a margin of error."
While ordinary herbs were completely ineffective, there was some interference with the monster's horn.
At that moment, the game screen of "Last Brave" popped into mind. Selecting materials and throwing them into a convenient item called a magic pot allowed for customizing the power to create a healing potion through a game system called [synthesis].
The materials for the healing potion were set with five levels of "rarity."
(Could it be that even in this world, there exists an element of "rarity"?)
Materials with higher rarity possessed excellent power, enabling the creation of better healing potions.
One must be cautious because the healing potion generated by the magic pot has limits on the number of powers it can hold. Simply synthesizing three types of herbs with healing, paralysis-curing, and MP recovery powers does not guarantee that all three powers will be reflected in the healing potion. For instance, if the rarity of the MP recovery herb is lower than the other two, there is a possibility that the MP recovery power may not be included in the generated healing potion. The power of the herb with higher rarity takes precedence.
――It dawned on me that perhaps a similar phenomenon to the game system of [synthesis] was occurring with The Drinking Water of the Spirits.
Even though The Drinking Water of the Spirits couldn't be selected as a synthesis material in the game, if it could have been chosen, it would undoubtedly have boasted the highest rarity. Therefore, even if herbs with lower rarity were synthesized, it wouldn't be surprising if the same result as in the game occurred – the powers of the herbs not being reflected in the healing potion.
This time, the power of the monster's horn was able to manifest because its rarity was higher than that of the herbs. If materials with similar rarity were synthesized, there should have been a reasonable chance for the powers to be reflected without disappearing.
In this world – in the present world – the evaluation of materials based on rarity cannot be seen as visible numbers. However, somehow, having played "Last Brave," I could understand.
"I haven't really thought about it much before, but maybe there's a hierarchy even in materials."
"Hierarchy?"
Kasper-san tilted his head. Elements like rarity do not exist in the real world, so my words might be difficult for him to understand.
"No, I can't explain it well... But don't you feel like there's a difference in the rarity value... the hierarchy between the herbs growing around and The Drinking Water of the Spirits protected by a barrier?"
Trying to simplify and make it more understandable, Kasper-san continued to nod a few times, seemingly grasping the true meaning from my vague words.
"I see... It's quite intuitive, but I think I get it. And well, it could also be about compatibility. The horns of monsters that attack people and the love of the great spirit that saves people seem to have really bad compatibility."
Kasper-san chuckled. It was a plausible story.
Compatibility is more of a real-world element rather than something that appears in a game system. In [synthesis], I used to stuff ingredients into the magic pot without any worries, but in the real world, if you synthesize incompatible - or too compatible - herbs together, there is a possibility of causing abnormalities in the patient you prescribe it to. When synthesizing a healing potion for Elvira using a monster's horn as one of the ingredients, I learned this lesson.
I still occasionally remember the 'heat' that spread throughout my body the moment I drank the healing potion.
I sometimes wonder if that heat might not have been a failure after all, but even if it wasn't, it would be too dangerous to prescribe it to a young girl's body. Since such phenomena were rarely seen with other healing potions, it's natural to think that some anomaly occurred due to compatibility issues, whether it was a failure or a success.
"Traveling around the world to find compatible and equally graded synthesis materials seems to be the idea."
It's a far-fetched story, but it had its own possibilities.
The element of rarity that depends on the game system of my previous life and the compatibility element born in the present reality. When these two elements are combined, it becomes quite complex.
It would be best if The Drinking Water of the Spirits could cure the Self-destruction disease without synthesis, but in case it's not that simple, it's best to start searching for materials as soon as possible.
When looking for materials similar to The Drinking Water of the Spirits in rarity, materials mentioned in legends and myths from around the world, which may or may not truly exist, seem suitable. Let's reread the book received from my mentor that contains the description of The Drinking Water of the Spirits and compiles legends.
"Thank you, Kasper-san. Thanks to you, my future plans have been decided."
With clear goals set for now, I feel refreshed compared to before.
I bowed to my reliable boss and was about to rush back to my room - at that moment.
"Oh, right. Please give my regards to mentor."
He said this with a lonely expression I'd never seen before and in a calm voice I rarely heard before.
I stood still in that spot for a while.
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