Chapter 23

"Hey Tara", Alex waved as he entered the alchemy shop owned by Tara's grandfather Abe. It also has the name Abe's Alchemy Potions.

Abe was thankful to Alex for saving his only grandchild, so when Alex asked if he wanted to learn about the herbs, he agreed immediately. Abe even tried to pursue Alex to learn alchemy as Tara was not interested in such stuff.

She has no patience to learn all stuff. She would rather fight than sit down and learn.

Alex wanted to say yes when ABe asked him to learn alchemy but he could only evade for the time. He answered that he would try that after he becomes more powerful after all alchemy is the richest profession.

As long as the alchemist is good at making potions and not wasting the ingredients while producing the products, they can become rich easily. The problem is that without big backups, they would become the target of many.

Though life most likely wouldn't be in danger many powerful people would try different methods to bring such gold mines under their control one way or another. Not all means employed in such conditions would be considered as good.

Though it was a lie, Abe bought it. The boy is a genius and would be destined for great things. He would for sure accumulate a lot of enemies in his life. He needs to grow up in one avenue before trying a different one.

As for the herbology, the boy would take missions from the guild. So it is only normal to learn about herbs and how to properly forage.

A lot of adventurers without proper knowledge forage the herbs causing damage to them. This in turn reduces the quality of herbs. Only by proper care does an herb can retain all its properties.

They can't be plucked as some weed that doesn't require any care in the world. It is a very delicate process.

There are three qualities to make a good pill or potion.

One, the better the alchemist is, the better the product. The process of making a good product should be done with precise control, which depends on the alchemist.

Two, the quality of an alchemy product depends on the quality of the herbs used. The quality of the herbs determines the properties of the product.

Three, the equipment in which the product is made. One can't expect to manufacture high-level pills or potions using degraded equipment.

The above three play their own role in the manufacturing of alchemy. For the best of the best, all three should be included.

So Abe believed that Alex decided to become qualified in herbology before venturing into alchemy. This is a good way as this would decrease the wastage and increase the efficiency of the production.

He agreed to Alex's decision and started him teaching about herbs and how to forage them properly.

The first thing he did was give him a book on common herbs that appear everywhere. These are available everywhere, so many don't pay attention while plucking them. They consider it would be a waste of time to spend on common herbs.

This is where the problem lies. If you can't have enough patience on common things, how can you decide that you could on rare things?

Abe gave him the book on common herbs and this not only describes various herbs but also how to properly forage.

This was his test. Alex has to learn the basics before proceeding forward.

It was on this test that he encountered the beast. He was lucky to escape it. After he gave a report to the guild, he went straight to the alchemy shop.

Though he encountered the beast he was successful in completing the test. He successfully foraged the Mora Grass perfectly.

Mora Grass is one of the common herbs that is used in the production of low-level health potions. There are other herbs that are combined with this but it isn't important at this moment.

The girl smiled back at Alex, "How did the test go Alex?"

"I believe I aced it, though there were some complications."

Tara frowned at that, "What happened?"

"Nothing much to get worried about. Where is your grandpa?"

Tara felt that Alex was downsizing the matter and evading by changing the topic but she can't force it out. She has other ways to find out.

"Oh, he went out. He should be back within half an hour."

---

"My lord, it seems the beast threat has not been resolved," the butler spoke to the baron.

Thomas deeply sighed when he heard the reports of new beasts in the forest.

When a beast tide ends, no new beasts would come to the area. The blood would instill fear in low-level beasts. The only ones that would dare to come only if they are high level than the beasts that died.

He felt he was being suffocated. He got relief that the beast tide ended with minimum damages and the problem ended with that.

Now he has to another big threat. If high-level beasts that aren't native to the region make their home, too many troubles start to rise.

They may attack the town, which wasn't properly equipped or prepared to defend against such beasts.

The second problem is that adventurers lose their source of life.

Most adventurers here are 1-star and they only scour the outer regions of the forest for resources. They bring beast cores or bodies or herbs that are available in the outer regions.

Now with high-level beasts staying there, they can't venture there.

The biggest problem is whether they arrive here voluntarily or driven.

If the movement is non-voluntary, then there is a chance that the cult that caused the beast tide is moving again. There is also another chance that some other beast that is much more powerful than these drove them away.

He felt that the beast tide is just the start of a massive cataclysm that is going to storm the world.