[SP-F1] Earning a Living [Calyx] (COMPLETE)

[Calyx 0]

Calyx trudged back into Starting City, exhausted and barely alive after his recent encounter with the boar. "There's no way a fight with a level 1 monster should have been that hard... ", Calyx said to himself. It was clear he was going to need some kind of competitive edge if he was going to make it in SAO. His combat skills would increase as he levelled and was able to put points into the skills he wanted to create the build he had spent the past week designing, but that would take time. Even buying new armor wouldn't help much until he could get his skills up; he needed a boost now, even if it was only a temporary one.

[Calyx 0]

As he was walking down the main street of the city, passing shop after shop, Calyx saw a stall on his right that was full of shiny crystals of various colors. He approached the stall and its NPC shopkeeper, and asked what the crystals were for. "Like ma' crystals, do ya? Hahaha! Well, sonny, what they're for depends on which one you like. The red crystals'll heal ya, the greens'll cure yer poison, and the blue'uns let ya teleport to city gates!" Calyx stared in awe; these were exactly what he needed.

[Calyx 0]

"How much for a health crystal?", Calyx asked the shopkeeper. "A measly 500 Col, ma' boy!" Calyx sank in disappointment. Even one of those cost more than he had so far, and just one wouldn't do him much good for long. But maybe if he could farm some, he could use the drops to survive encounters with bigger monsters. Use the rewards from smaller creatures to kill bigger creatures; like fishing using minnows as bait. "Do these drop from any monsters around here?", Calyx asked.

[Calyx 0]

"Drop from monsters? What kind of monster uses crystals? Ba'sides, i'm fair sure they only work on people. Them dumb monsters couldn't fig'ur out how to werk 'em anyhow." Calyx had forgotten that NPCs acted as though they weren't in a video game, to make for better immersion. "Oh, right, sorry. Uh, where do you get them then?", he asked. "I got a s'pliar up on floor 5. Alchemist fella'. Makes 'em in his house and hires people to go huntin' fer the ingredients.", the shopkeeper answered. "Oh. Well how'd he learn how to do that?" "Learned from another alchemist, I s'ppose... There's an alchemist fella' here in town, name'a Clyde Clearwell. Maybe he can tell ya' more about it. Usually hangs out over in the gardens on the east side of the square. Here, I'll mark it down on yer map there." Calyx nodded, "Much obliged, sir. Thank ye' kindly."

[Calyx 0]

A few minutes later, Calyx had made his way to the gardens adjacent to the town square, and had spotted the bright floating bar labeled just above a man's head. He strolled over to the man, and struck up a conversation: "Clyde Clearwell?", Calyx asked as though he couldn't see the words plainly glowing above the man. Clyde looked back at him and raised one eyebrow inquisitively, but didn't respond. "Uh, I was told by the crystal vendor over by the gates that you might know how a person like me could learn how to do alchemy."

[Calyx 0]

Calyx was a little intimidated now, because Clyde remained standing there, staring at him, not saying a word. "I'm sorry to bother you, I know we don't know each other or anything... It's just that you're the only alchemist I know of in town, and I'm not sure how else to-" "Alchemy's no joke, boy.", Clyde finally said in a gruff, terse voice. "Mix in the wrong ingredient or skip a step in a process and somebody could wind up dead. "I... Well... I understand that, and I know I don't know what i'm doing, but that's why I was hoping you could teach me, or tell me where else I might learn..." Clyde sighed after a pause, "You don't plan on letting this go, do you boy?" "Not unless you've got a few thousand Col lying around that you're willing to lend me...", Calyx muttered absentmindedly. Clyde's eyes widened and his face somehow got even more stern. Realizing he had just unintentionally given an ultimatum to this stranger who he was asking for help, Calyx's face turned as red as the digital blood that still clung to his sword.

[Calyx 0]

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to-" "Fine.", Clyde said, seeming not to hear Calyx's apology. "Might as well start off with the basics. If you can learn how to make a simple healing potion, and then only use verified recipes, you shouldn't be able to do much damage. There's a forest, to the northwest of the city. Beneath some of the tallest oaks, you'll find . Bring back some of those, and and i'll show you how to try to mix them."

[Calyx 0]

As soon as Clyde had finished what he was saying, a text box appeared in the air in front of Calyx that read, "Quest: Earning a Living - Would you like to accept? [Yes] [No]" Calyx tapped [Yes], hastily thanked the NPC he had offended, and darted off back toward the main gate. He was eager to be back on his own and away from the people he was so clumsy around. He was also glad for the slow passive healing that players got when they were out of combat, which by now had restored his meager few points of health he had lost fighting the boar. It meant that he didn't have to stop by an inn and put his character to sleep for an hour to gain his health back, and that he could head out on his new quest right away.

[Calyx 0]

Having memorized the first floor map in the preorder manual before he plugged into the game, Calyx knew exactly the woods Clyde had been referring to. There was a large expanse of forest surrounding Horunka village to the northwest, which likely contained the oaks that would indicate the Calyx needed to complete his quest and become an alchemist. Despite gaining some experience fighting the boar and accomplishing minor tasks as he had spent his first day in SAO, Calyx's confidence was still shaken by his last enemy encounter. Roads in MMOs were usually much more safe and free of enemies than open terrain, so he decided to stick to the road between Starting City and Horunka to avoid monsters and better focus on the task at hand. About an hour after he had left the City, Calyx arrived at the edge of the forest.

[Calyx 0]

There were some small birds and critters scattered throughout the forest, but Calyx didn't run across much of anything menacing. He had seen a larger creature off in the distance a couple times, and swung wide around it to avoid an encounter as he headed deeper into the forest. He probably could have fought off any monsters he ran into here, but it wasn't the kind of grinding he felt like doing right now. He was more interested in learning how to make potions and crystals, even if it did mean dealing with grumpy old Clyde again. He'd have to try to be more careful about being respectful to the man next time, even if he was just a program.

[Calyx 0]

As he strode further and further into the forest, something suddenly flashed in the corner of Calyx's eye. He turned to look at the source of the motion, but it was gone. He peered into the forest for a moment, sure that he saw something. And then it came again: a dim glow emanating from something near the base of a tree a few meters away. The object gently pulsed with light every few seconds, and then quickly faded and returned to looking like a normal object. As Calyx drew closer, he saw that it was a small plant; and as he looked up at his surroundings, he realized that he happened to be under a a tall oak tree, just like Clyde had described.

[Calyx 0]

Calyx bent down to look at the plant. It was a small bud about six inches high that curled inward a few times at the top, like a fiddle. Inside the just-blooming bud was some sort of red substance; but it was just barely visible and Calyx couldn't tell if it was petals or some kind of sap. As he reached out and touched the plant, it disappeared, and he heard the ping that told him something had been added to his inventory. He stood up and swiped open his inventory, and found that a new item, , had been added.

[Calyx 0]

Satisfied that he had been able to complete his task, Calyx tried to remember what Clyde had told him to do next. "How many of these was I supposed to get?... I think Clyde just said to get 'a few', so I'll grab... Five? I guess? That should be enough." He began searching the base of the tree and a few surrounding it until he had found the other four he wanted, and then started making his way back out of the forest.

[Calyx 0]

Another hour and a half later, Calyx was walking back through the garden plaza where Clyde was stationed. He walked up to the NPC, who of course had his back to the crowd again, and said, "Hey Clyde. Uh, Mister... Clyde. Sir. I have the sprouts you told me to get." Clyde half turned to look at Calyx, wearing his original deadpan expression again. After surveying Calyx for a moment, he turned all the way around to face him this time and said, "Made it back in one piece, did you? Very well, I'm a man of my word. Come now, let's adjourn to my shop where the proper tools are available."

[Calyx 0]

A short walk away from the garden was a small, somber house with a wooden sign hanging from the doorpost which had a painting of a crystal on it and text that read "Clearwell Alchemy". As Calyx and Clyde stepped into the house, Calyx got his first glimpse of what he was really getting himself into. Every wall of the ground floor of the house was completely covered in shelves, each of which was completely filled with all manner of what Calyx could only assume were alchemical ingredients. Plants, stones, phials, trinkets, and even what looked like a few animal appendages lined the walls of Clyde's quiet shop. At the far end of the room was a counter in front of some stairs, by which Clyde was standing and waiting impatiently. Calyx was so absorbed in the items in the room that he hadn't even seen Clyde make his way over there until some moments later.

[Calyx 0]

Somewhat embarrassed, Calyx quickly strode over to the counter where Clyde was standing on the opposite side, with a small glass bottle on the table between them. Clyde cleared his throat in a very professorial manner, and began to speak. "Now, because we will only be crafting a simple health potion today, you will not need any tools to achieve the desired effect. The first step is to remove the red nectar from the mouth of the plant, and place it in the intended vessel for the potion. This can best be achieved with this particular plant by pinching two fingers at the base of the plant's sepals and squeezing up toward the red nectar."

[Calyx 0]

"Like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube?", Calyx asked, excited to have been clever enough to see the analogy. ".....yes...", Clyde said beneath one raised eyebrow, clearly having no idea what Calyx was talking about or what "toothpaste" was, but not wanting this to take any longer than necessary. Embarrassed once again by not paying attention to what he was saying, Calyx set out carefully squeezing the contents of one of the from his inventory into the nearby glass bottle on the counter. The red nectar did come out in much the way Calyx anticipated, but looked more akin to some kind of red honey than toothpaste.

[Calyx 0]

As Calyx squeezed the last of the nectar into the bottle, Clyde resumed his lesson: "Since this is a simple recipe and requires only one ingredient, the item you have just created does in fact contain all of the healing properties one would associate with a health potion of this caliber. However, if one were to rapidly ingest pure Bellflower nectar, they would suddenly find themselves violently ill, and this, as it turns out, makes for very unhappy customers." Calyx wondered if Clyde was smart enough to figure that out on his own, or if Clyde was as bad with people as he was and had actually tried to sell people pure Bellflower nectar. Regardless, Calyx knew now, and he could make sure to avoid that mistake himself.

[Calyx 0]

"For this, and similar reasons,", Clyde continued, "many alchemical ingredients often need be mixed with a base, to stabilize or otherwise dilute their effects. When drank slowly in a potion, the body has the time necessary to break down the nectar bits at a time, rather than being overwhelmed by the whole lot of it at once. For this potion, simple water will do, and you may find some in that washbasin, just behind me." Clyde gestured to a bucket beneath a mirror on a small ledge behind the counter, and Calyx made his way around the counter to the basin. He filled the remaining space in the bottle with water, and swirled the mixture around until he had created a bottle of rosy, semi-transparent fluid.

[Calyx 0]

"And there you have it,", Clyde said, "an adequately constructed healing potion. As payment for my services, I shall take the remainder of your , and be on my way." Clyde reached a hand out toward the air in front of Calyx and made a grabbing motion, prompting a *ping* signifying a change in inventory, and giving Calyx a notification on his HUD. "Hey! That wasn't part of the deal!", Calyx said with a pouting face. "Here,", Clyde sighed, "you may also have this alchemical tome from my collection. It's a bit outdated and I no longer need it, but all of the information within it is accurate."