Volume 3, Chapter 5 – Magic Potions and a Way to Increase Mana

After Fia silently eliminated the pursuers with [Mental Shock], the carriage’s speed increased rapidly. Although the barrier created by [Telekinesis] could not move with Fia, she could achieve a “moving” effect by continuously dispelling the original spatial barrier and creating a new one.

Of course, this was only possible because the carriage’s forward speed was limited. If she were moving at the speed of [Flight], even Fia would find it difficult to repeat the process of “removing the old barrier, creating a new one.” In that case, the new barrier would often not have formed before Fia crashed headfirst into the old one.

In just a few minutes, the carriage had completely shaken off the Fire-striped Frogs. Now, on the winding mountain road, apart from the creaking of the wheels, there was only the cry of a hawk circling in the sky. The desert was completely gone from Fia’s sight, replaced by rolling mountains. It was worth noting that the area still had the appearance of an arid grassland, with very few trees, indicating that it had only recently regained its vitality due to the unblocking of the ley line.

No matter how many times she saw it, Fia found it incredible. In just one hour, a large expanse of yellow earth had been covered with inch-long green grass. Magic was truly a wondrous thing.

“By the way, Anastasia, isn’t there anything on the World Tree Continent that can quickly restore stamina and mana?”

Fia, sitting near the driver’s seat, asked. At this moment, Liti was resting her head on Fia’s lap. The long-overdue battle had caused Liti to fall asleep as soon as she returned to the carriage. Feeling sorry for Liti as her head kept bumping against the carriage wall, Fia had let her sleep on her lap.

“There is. Magic potions can do that.”

“Aren’t magic potions for healing injuries?”

Whether it was Claire or Estelle, both had mentioned things like magic potions, but in their descriptions, they were limited to healing injuries, such as regenerating severed limbs or even creating a brand-new body. These potions were exceptionally expensive. Even one for regenerating a limb was so precious that only high-ranking nobles could afford it, with a single bottle costing dozens of platinum coins.

Anastasia, who was driving the carriage, explained earnestly.

“Magic potion is just an abbreviation for ‘medicine made through magic.’ There are countless types of medicines made through magic, and they are roughly divided into four categories: Life Recovery Potions, Mana Recovery Potions, Antidotes, and Special-use Potions. The type Your Highness mentioned is the Life Recovery Potion, which is also the most common type of all magic potions.”

As for the other three types of potions, apart from the “Special-use” category, Fia could understand their purpose just by their names. The magic potion she was asking about, for restoring mana, should correspond to the Mana Recovery Potion.

“Why does Your Highness suddenly ask about this?”

“I was thinking, if we had Mana Recovery Potions, we could give them to Liti and have her continue fighting. It would be great if we could raise Liti to the same level as you in a short time, Anastasia.”

It was like the common Energy Restoratives in the Human Alliance. With them, soldiers could fight day and night without rest until the restoratives ran out.

During this hour, the mana of Liti, who was sleeping on Fia’s lap, had already been fully restored. [Wind of Exploration] showed that Liti was now very close to the Third Rank. With just a little more, she could reach the threshold. Fia couldn’t help but think of convenient, side-effect-free things like Energy Restoratives.

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Seemingly finding Fia’s idea naive, Anastasia’s expression became a little strange.

“Your Highness… If it’s about raising Princess Liti to the Third Rank, that’s not a problem. Princess Liti is very smart, and the Third Rank is not difficult for her. But to raise her to the same level as me, forgive my bluntness, but without a century of accumulation, the hope is slim.” ¹ how arrogance…

“Isn’t it just a matter of having enough mana and monsters?”

The strange look on Anastasia’s face turned into a wry smile.

“Your Highness’s words sound like saying ‘as long as you work hard and kill enemies on the battlefield, the king will make you an earl.’ First of all, no matter what kind of magic potion it is, as long as it has ‘magic’ in its name, the price will not be cheap. Even the lowest-grade magic potion costs silver coins, and the effect is not necessarily good.

It’s true that Princess Liti is a member of the royal family, but there are so many members of the royal family, and Princess Liti is not the Crown Princess like you, so the allowance she receives is not much, only a few Gem Coins a month.”

“Aren’t a few Gem Coins a lot?”

One Gem Coin was equivalent to ten platinum coins, and one platinum coin was equal to ten gold coins. Plus, the gold coins of the elf country were more valuable than those of the Milcandis Holy Kingdom. A few Gem Coins a month was an unimaginable fortune for an ordinary person.

“Indeed, a few Gem Coins is a lot, but magic potions are not cheap either. Princess Liti is currently at the Second Rank. A magic potion that can fully restore her mana in one go would cost about one gold coin at the prices in our elf country. And when Princess Liti breaks through to the Third Rank, as her mana reserve increases, she will need a higher quality Mana Recovery Potion to restore her mana to full, and that bottle will cost at least three gold coins.”

“Not to mention, I am now a quasi-Fifth Rank warrior. At this level, only intermediate magic potions are effective on me, and such potions are so expensive that a single bottle costs dozens of gold coins. Their owners would only use them in a life-or-death struggle. Even if Princess Liti’s monthly allowance were several hundred gold coins, she could not afford such a huge expense.”

As she spoke, Anastasia carefully took out a thumb-sized blue potion bottle from her storage pocket.

“This is a high-grade magic potion. With my status, even if I didn’t eat or drink until I died of old age, I could not save enough money to buy it. Intermediate magic potions can at least be bought, but high-grade ones are treasures that are hard to come by even with money. They are so expensive they have no fixed price. If Your Highness hadn’t bought it for me with your own allowance, I would never have had the chance to own it in my life. It is a priceless treasure.”

So there was a past like that…

Seeing the cherished look in Anastasia’s eyes as she gazed at the magic potion, Fia couldn’t help but be slightly moved. A potion that Anastasia couldn’t afford even if she didn’t eat or drink for a lifetime was something she could buy with just her allowance. Although Anastasia was her sister, their treatment was worlds apart.

Perhaps the current Anastasia was satisfied with her life, but in her eyes as an outsider, what Anastasia gave and what she received were not at all equal.

Fia couldn’t help but ask one more question.

“Then what is your monthly salary, Anastasia?”

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Carefully putting the high-grade magic potion back into her storage item, Anastasia said with a smile.

“I am a sinner who bears the mark of a criminal. That Your Highness is willing to take me in and give me warm food and a place to live is something I am endlessly grateful for. To ask for a salary on top of that would be too shameless—although I say that, I still receive one-tenth of the pay of the other guard captains. It may sound like a lot less, but it is much higher than that of an ordinary royal guard. Thanks to your efforts, Your Highness, this is already the highest salary a sinner can receive.”

Anastasia was probably trying to be vague by using “one-tenth” so that she wouldn’t know the exact number. She might have anticipated that Fia would go and talk to the Elf King. Fia wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to begin. Anastasia had already shown her unwillingness to elaborate, and if she were to press further, it would only cause Anastasia more trouble. However, this display only made Fia feel even more apologetic. ² lets bonk the elf king!

If Anastasia was being punished for a mistake she had made, then even she would have nothing to say. But the sinner’s mark on Anastasia was because the Elf King had stolen her mother away. It was utterly unreasonable.

It was infuriating.

As if sensing Fia’s thoughts, Anastasia first frowned slightly, a hint of worry in her eyes, then she put on a smile and changed the subject.

“Returning to Your Highness’s idea from earlier. Raising Princess Liti to my level in a short time is difficult not only due to the lack of magic potions, but also because of the monster factor. Only by killing monsters of a similar or higher rank can one’s mana be significantly increased. However, it’s not easy to find monsters that match one’s own strength. Take a forest for example. When one goes deep into a forest, no one knows what rank of monster will jump out of the bushes. If the monster’s rank is too low, killing it has no effect, but if its rank is too high, it will lead to death.”

“Princess Liti is only at the Second Rank now, so it’s not so obvious. When she reaches the Third Rank, she will clearly feel how difficult it is to find monsters of a suitable level. As for breaking through from the peak of the Third Rank to the Fourth, one needs to overcome the trial of the gods and defeat three to four Fourth Rank monsters. Otherwise, it would take decades or even centuries of accumulation for one’s mana to reach the Fourth Rank.”

“And to kill a Fourth Rank monster with the strength of a Third Rank is extremely difficult, unless one is a genius or takes advantage of a situation. Otherwise, it’s hard to overcome the difference in rank while also ignoring the gap in physical abilities to kill the monster. Countless people have died here because they were too eager for success.”

“The trial of the gods…”

It sounded very mysterious, but Anastasia explained that it was how the world described the concept of a bottleneck, and it was hard to say if it had anything to do with gods. In Fia’s view, it was less a bottleneck and more that advancing from the peak of the Third Rank to the Fourth required a much larger accumulation of experience. Because the required amount was so vast, it felt like a bottleneck.

As an analogy, it was like how in a game, leveling up from 39 to 40 always required more experience than leveling up from 38 to 39. It’s just that in this world, there was no concept of “experience”; people measured rank by mana capacity and whether one could use spells of the corresponding rank.

“Then how did you and I reach our current achievements, Anastasia?”

“I was able to break through to the Fifth Rank because I had your protection, Your Highness. I could fight monsters with all my strength without having to worry about anything else. As for you, Your Highness…”

At this, Anastasia hesitated for a moment.

“You are the kingdom’s number one genius. The concept of a bottleneck does not exist for you. I have never seen you risk your life to kill monsters. For you, raising your rank is as simple as eating and drinking.”

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“Eating and drinking…”

That was just too strange.

But then again, could she increase her mana capacity by killing monsters?

No… I don’t even know how much mana I have now, let alone how to increase it. Even if I could, I wouldn’t know if it had actually increased.

Fia chose to skip over this.

“So, as long as there are enough magic potions and monsters of the corresponding rank, it’s possible to raise one’s rank quickly, right?”

“Yes, but it is difficult to achieve in reality.”

“I understand.”

Monsters of the corresponding rank can be caught for Liti from the forest using [Wind of Exploration] and Spatial Hand. As for magic potions, since buying them is too expensive, I’ll try making them myself.

Among the treasures plundered from the temple in Aurora City, there was a book that taught how to make magic potions. If Fia remembered correctly, the title of the book was ‘Advanced Alchemy’, Seventh Edition, Volume One.

Of course, besides that one, there was also ‘An Introduction to Alchemy That Even Slimes Say Is Good’.

Unaware of the grand plan forming in Fia’s mind, Anastasia, thinking Fia had given up on the idea, relaxed and continued to drive the carriage. Although some time had been spent due to Fia’s magic experiment in the desert and dealing with the Fire-striped Frogs, at the speed of the eight-legged horses, they could still reach the next city to rest before dark, then continue on their way to the elf territory.

However, things did not go as planned. After the carriage had traveled for some time, a large amount of smoke suddenly rose from within the uninhabited deep mountains. With the excellent vision of an elf, they could see that the place where the smoke was rising from was a village, and faint flames could be seen within it. Panicked people were running on the paths, while another group of people was chasing them. Even from several hundred meters away, Anastasia could hear the shouts of men and the crying of children.

A common village raid.

Anastasia made a judgment in her mind. Even a powerful nation like the Elf Kingdom had incidents of bandits robbing villages, let alone the weakened Alfrieg Kingdom. This area was a place that the Alfrieg Kingdom had given up on governing, so it was perfectly normal for a village to be robbed.

The only thing that made Anastasia frown was that these bandits had set fire to the village. Ordinary bandits, even when robbing a village, would not go so far as to burn the whole thing down. Even bandits understood the concept of sustainable plunder.

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“Your Highness, there’s a situation ahead.”

“Yes, I see it.”

What Anastasia could see, Fia could naturally see as well. It was just that this was her first time seeing the likes of mountain bandits. Before this, the closest profession she had seen was pirates—the kind that traveled among the stars.

“I’ll go ahead. Anastasia, follow with the carriage.”

“Yes.”

After receiving Anastasia’s reply, Fia lifted Liti’s head and let her sleep on a pillow. However, this movement woke Liti up. After briefly explaining to Liti what she was going to do, Fia jumped out of the carriage, first using the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea to blend in with the environment, and then headed straight for the burning village.

In the space of a single breath, Fia arrived above the group of people chasing and fleeing outside the village.

Fleeing were about a dozen poorly dressed women and children. Some of the women had already had contact with the bandits, their clothes torn in large chunks, their faces filled with terror as they screamed and ran.

And chasing after this group of women and children were five strong men wearing animal skin shorts, bare-chested, and holding shortbows. These men seemed to be treating the chase as a game, deliberately not catching up to the women and children, amusing themselves by shooting at the fleeing people with their shortbows.

As for the road behind them, one could see bandits pressing women from the village to the ground, laughing sinisterly. The air was filled with the women’s cries and the sound of clothes being torn.

A bunch of scum.

A coldness rose in Fia’s heart. She caught the arrows shot at the women and children with her Spatial Hand, and then, while the bandits were still in shock, she unleashed [Mental Shock].

The five bandits instantly convulsed all over and collapsed to the ground as drooling idiots.

Immediately after, Fia used [Spatial Hand] to grab the bandits who were assaulting the women, separated them from the villagers, then enlarged the Spatial Hand and slapped them into the dirt.

“Who’s there!”

Hearing the screams of his companions, the bandit standing guard at the village entrance immediately shouted in alarm. But before he could loudly inform the other bandits in the village, Fia smashed an [Ice Bullet] into the man’s abdomen. The fierce impact sent the bandit flying back several steps, crashing directly into a nearby fence and falling unconscious.