14 Extra Insane is Good

Having already thought of a few ideas, Astur puts the EXP Potion on the table and uses her newest Skill, Item Disassembly, which allows her to break down an item into its core ingredients or components.

Since the last time she left her house, with all the EXP she got from the many new recipes and the large time she spent synthesising, Astur was able to level up her Alchemist class up to level 4, bringing her total level up to 8. Using her newly learnt skill on the EXP Potion, the bottle begins to shine brightly before it morphs into two smaller glass bottles with a dark blue and light blue liquid in them, the blood of a Silver Serpent and Crystal Water. Alongside the two small bottles are a handful of other ingredients, a Hermit Flower Root, a pair of eyes from a Wisdom Owl, and the heart of a Pakopako.

"I know nearly all the ingredients here, but what the hell's a Pakopako," Astur thinks while looking over the core ingredients to the Basic EXP Potion.

"What did you do? That cost a lot of money you know," Elizabeth says, although her eyes betray her as she looks at the results of my Skill in wonder.

"Item Disassembly, using it I can get a look at what made this potion. I'll need a bit of experimenting to find some appropriate supplementary ingredients. But how much did this cost?" Astur says, collecting the ingredients into her storage ring.

Turning her head towards the window, Elizabeth mutters, "...en thousand."

"Look at me in the eyes and say that I again."

Elizabeth looks towards Astur, but almost instantly shifts her gaze away again, prompting Astur to start pulling her ear as Elizabeth shouts, "I'll say it, I'll say it! Just stop pulling my ear!"

As Astur lets go of her ear, Elizabeth almost stumbles into the nearby table. Regaining her bearings, Elizabeths says, "ten thousand VD."

Hearing the price, Astur rubs her head, "I don't even recall having that much money. How did you buy this?"

Once again, Elizabeth finds it hard to speak. She was hoping that Astur would be too engrossed in the potion to ask about the details of how it was obtained.

"It's like this, the only money in your bank account right now is the money earned from today. I also may have borrowed some money from Taurion."

"Wait, you said earlier that you also had one for yourself, where did the money for that come from?" Astur asks, despite already having an idea.

"Taurion was kind enough to buy it for me."

"And you still decided to borrow money from him? And how much?"

Scratching the back of her head, Elizabeth says, "a little over seven thousand."

"Forget it. I want you to bring this Young Master here the next time you see him, I want to speak with him about a few things. I'm going to begin my research on the potion to reverse engineer and improve it. I've left another batch of goods to sell tomorrow in the corner of my workshop, so take those to the shop later."

Leaving Elizabeth to her own devices, Astur moves over to her workshop, taking a seat in front of her desk.

"What's the best way to do this…" Astur mumbles out loud before her sight turns to the shroom blunts packaged away in the desk's drawer. "The extra insane me has shown to be pretty good at making new recipes… sure, why not have a drink too," Astur thinks as she opens the drawer and lights the cigar. At the same time, she also takes out one of the bottles of alcohol she had stored away and immediately chugs half the bottle.

After a few minutes, Elizabeth knocks on the door of the workshop and enters to pick up the items Astur said to have left in the corner. But upon entering, her eyes widen as soon as she sees the half-empty bottle in her hand with a cigar in her mouth.

"Oh, I just remember, I had something to do, please excuse me," Elizabeth says, turning around almost instantly.

But before she can leave, Astur had already taken note of her as she whispers, "I remember hearing that Vampire fangs can be used as an ingredient and I'm fairly sure they grow back…"

Unfortunately, with Elizabeths strong senses, she heard what Astur said and without any hesitation at all, Elizabeth ran out from the workshop, as if her life depends on it. But as she exits the house, the barrier prevents her from going too far. Regardless of her mental state, Astur has complete control over who can enter and exit through the barrier that surrounds her house, and even in her current mental state, she still has enough awareness to know that Elizabeth is trying to run.

Trapped by the barrier, Elizabeth turns her head to see Astur approaching her, saying, "it's just one fang, hand it over and no one gets hurt. Just think of it as punishment for spending all my money."

At the same time, in a certain club in the Town of Dawn, a few young men are relaxing around a table in the lounge. This group consists of Taurion Urvostrion and the sons of the lords of the neighbouring provinces.

"Taurion, I heard you were hanging around with the weird stall owner that showed up in the market district here," a young man with short light brown hair asks.

"Lester, my friend, you heard right, I even saw our good brother walking towards the Dawn Potion Shop a few hours ago and right beside him was that hooded stall owner," another young man with blonde hair says, putting a half-empty mug of beer on the table.

"Heinrich, what you saw was indeed true, I did go to the Potion Shop with her. And I think I like her, that's why I took her there. I even bought that strengthening potion for her, that thing is not normally available to just anyone so I believe I was able to show my sincerity, I even lent her some money to buy another one for her friend" Taurion nods, satisfied with his actions.

Taurion's friends, Lester Dresuar and Heinrich Gausier, both look at each other before they say, "we know."

"Huh, what do you two mean?" Taurion asks.

"We already figured out that you like her," Heinrich says, taking another sip from his mug.

"Yeah, you aren't exactly known for spending time with the opposite sex. If we didn't know you personally, we would have probably thought you played for the other team, so you going out of your way to take her to a place that caters to people like us already shows that you feel something towards her. But more importantly, what does she look like? I've bought that Healing Knife from her, but I never got the chance to see what's under her hood," Lester asks.

"A very cute young girl with red hair and red eyes. After speaking to her, I found out she is sixteen, only two years younger than us. And the way she speaks has the bearings of a noble and it's clear she's been taught proper etiquette," Taurion says.

"Red hair and red eyes… if I remember this right, I believe those were some of the signature traits of the former royal family of the Vampires. I believe there were some records documenting this at Saint Irene's Cathedral," Heinrich says.

"That's right, I forgot your family was close to the Church. Can you two please keep this a secret, especially you Heinrich?"

"Your little crush is a Vampire, is that it?" Heinrich asks in a low voice.

Taurion doesn't say anything, but he nods in acknowledgement.

"I'm fine with that, although I've studied under the Chruch and the Gausier Family is close to them, on a personal level, I'm not too fond of the Church."

"Not a problem with me either. But a Vampire is it, I've never really spoken to any of the Mystic races before," Lester says.

"I'm planning to visit her stall again tomorrow, I'll introduce you two to Miss Elizabeth."