Chapter 99: Chapter Ninety Eight: Second Round Testing

It was like someone had taken all of the herbs and flowers in the Royal Infirmary and crammed them into a small greenhouse. Baskets filled with flowers hung from the ceiling, vines sprouting various fruits climbed up the sides, and planter boxes lined the ground.

 

The smell was almost overpowering, all the different perfumes fighting for dominance. Qube breathed it all in, and spread her arms wide. This was amazing! There were even spaces where she could grow her own things if she wanted! She would need to make sure someone would come in and water them while they were off adventuring, though.

 

“Did you finish sorting the alchemy room?” the Chosen One asked. Qube jumped in the air and spun around, trying not to look guilty.

 

“Do you think some of the items from the alchemy room should go in here?” she asked, subtly trying to redirect the conversation.

 

“If you want,” the Chosen One said easily. “What can you make with all this stuff, anyway?”

 

Qube looked at the nearest berries and searched her memory. 

 

“I could make a mana potion,” she said. “It wouldn’t be very strong, but it would help in a pinch.” The Chosen One eyed the berries thoughtfully.

 

“Mana potion, eh?” he said slowly.

 

“That is what I just said, Chosen One,” Qube agreed. He shot her a look.

 

“I don’t know if you’re being helpful or trying to sass me,” he said.

 

“I’m always helpful, Chosen One!” Qube replied, looking hurt. The Chosen One looked, if anything, even more suspicious.

 

“Let’s take some of those berries and whatever else you need for the potion, then,” he said, sidestepping the argument. “I wanna see how long they take to grow back.”

 

“Of course!” Qube said, immediately harvesting the blueberries, bluemint, and strange, lumpy, blue thing she needed for the mana potion. Carrying her prizes over to the alchemy room, she set herself in front of the pedestal and started making a mana potion. The Chosen One followed her, and watched in silence as she worked.

 

“So, how are you making the potion?” the Chosen One asked her.

 

“I take these ingredients, and this surface, and this bottle, and then I just follow the recipe!” Qube chirruped.

 

“Sure, sure. But like… how is this working?”

 

Qube looked at the Chosen One blankly as she carefully put the three ingredients on the surface, started grinding with the mortar and pestle, and then picked up the newly-formed mana potion.

 

“It’s alchemy, Chosen One. Parts of it are mysterious and magical,” she explained patiently. “If you want, I can teach you how to mix up potions.”

 

“I know how to mix potions — look, that isn’t the point. Come on, I want to see how much this sells for. And get a different colour for the walls; this red is creeping me out.”

 

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Marching into Mr. Igma’s shop, the Chosen One carefully placed Qube’s potion on the counter top. Looking at Mr. Igma, Qube realised that he was looking the happiest she’d seen him in a long time. Why, he was barely scowling at all! The more the Chosen One came into the store, and the more purchases he made, the less grumpy Mr. Igma looked. If buying and selling brought Mr. Igma so much joy, then being a shopkeeper must be his true passion, Qube realised as the Chosen One once again attempted to try haggling. Even his refusals to haggle with the Hero weren’t as sour as normal.

 

Or maybe he was like the Chosen One, and he just really liked accumulating money? Looking between the Hero and the shopkeeper, Qube wondered what their reactions would be if she pointed out just how similar the two of them were.

 

Not happy, she suspected.

 

“Okay,” the Chosen One was muttering to himself as he sold the spare ingredients Qube hadn’t used in making the mana potion. “So a low-level mana potion sells for three silver… the berries for one each… hmmm…” He appeared to be deep in mathematics so Qube, respecting his strange obsession with “economics”, drifted over to look at the bookshelf. The new books she’d noticed last time were still there — it didn’t seem like there was much call for books in Cobbletown. However, as she read the spines, she noticed that they were part of a series.

 

“A Beginner’s Guide To Gardening?” Qube widened her eyes at how useful and timely that was! She could use this to help maximise the efficiency of their greenhouse! The other two books were beginner guides to cooking and alchemy. The alchemy one, she didn’t know if that would be terribly useful to her, as she would, with all due modesty, classify herself as a bit more than a beginner, but maybe the Chosen One or Squiggles would like the kitchen one. Both of them seemed to like putting everything and anything into their mouths, so it would be a good idea to help them at least learn how not to poison themselves by doing it.

 

“Yellow paint, and if you can, not so bright this time, yeah?”

 

Qube was snapped out of her thoughts by the Chosen One finishing up his transaction with Mr. Igma. Both of them were looking more pleased than earlier, which Qube took as a sign. She wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad sign, but it was certainly a sign.

 

Walking back home, the Chosen One kept pace with Qube.

 

“I think I was supposed to check out the quest board a lot earlier,” he confessed to her. “Scratch that, I know I was. This stuff would have been seriously helpful earlier on.”

 

“None of us thought to check the Adventurer’s Board,” Qube excused him. “And, really, I should have guided you towards it. But, given the urgency of our quest to save the kingdom, you only would have taken the quests to increase our teamwork, or if we were very low on funds.”

 

The Chosen One gave her a considering look.

 

“So you really think overthrowing the Evil Emperor is urgent, do you?” he asked her lightly. Qube, recognising what she decided to dub his “examining” tone of voice, thought carefully before she answered.

 

“A part of it feels incredibly urgent,” she said. “Like I want to hurry you on. But another part of me wants to help you explore each and every thing of interest. I also don’t know why the Golden Prophecy chose to Awaken you at this particular point in time, so I am missing that information.”

 

She waited hopefully once she’d finished talking. Given the Chosen One’s much more extensive knowledge and interaction with the Golden Prophecy, she was hopeful he would answer her unasked question. But, to her disappointment, the Chosen One didn’t speak. Instead, he was staring at the ground, fingers drumming the hilt of his Sacred Sword.

 

“When we get back, can you make some more mana potions?” he asked eventually. “And tell me when the stuff in the greenhouse grows back. I need to… check some things.”

 

“Of course, Chosen One!” Qube said instantly. “Was it anything I could help you with?”

 

“Nah, I’d rather you do the potions,” the Chosen One said, waving off her offer of assistance. Qube repressed a twinge of pain at the rejection.

 

“I’ll get right to it, Chosen One!” she said as cheerfully as she could. The Chosen One rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair.

 

“I’m gonna have a private chat with Sexy Screamy Spider Lady,” he said. Qube gasped as she realised what he was saying. 

 

“Oh! I, yes, Chosen One, that makes perfect sense,” she said. “Good luck!”

 

Why had she added that last bit? Now it sounded like she thought he needed help with his wooing!

 

“I mean, have fun!”

 

That was even worse!

 

“This is none of my business, I’m going to make potions now, goodbye!” Qube yelled and ran into Aurora Abode, the Chosen One’s surprised laughter echoing in her ears.

 

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Ignoring the beautiful golden yellow of the new wallpaper (which made the whole place look like a dragon’s hoard,) Qube barrelled past the others and went straight into the greenhouse. The ingredients had already regrown, a fact she noted as she reharvested them. She would need to come back and check on them after she’d made a potion and see how they were progressing.

 

Hurrying into the alchemy room, she heard the Chosen One enter the house.

 

“Hey, you,” he said.

 

“Are you referring to me, my love?” Qube heard Sexy Screamy Spider Lady purr in a dangerous tone.

 

“Yeah. Come with me,” the Chosen One said. After a beat, he added: “Please.”

 

“As you wish, my love,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady’s purr was now much friendlier. “I would be more than happy to come with you anywhere.”

 

Qube firmly closed the alchemy room door.

 

Immersing herself in her work, she laid out the ingredients, picked up the pestle, and started grinding them up. After a few minutes she picked up the finished mana potion. She held it up and looked as one of the wall sconce’s light filtered through it.

 

It was hard to believe that something so small could be the difference between life and death.

 

For the first time, Qube wondered what it was about mana potions that managed to regenerate the very basis for magic. There was definitely something magical about the alchemical process — to an outsider, things would just disappear and reappear, a clear signal that some kind of magic was involved. But why did it work?

 

Qube remembered the experience of completely refilling her mana pool with a powerful potion in the Water Temple. It had been… disorienting. But she wouldn’t have been able to do both [Revive] spells unless she’d had those potions.

 

The devs had mentioned that they hadn’t made the core mana that they’d used to shape the world. Was everything made from mana then? What had made the original mana that they’d used? Were the devs just really, really powerful Mages? Ones who had sacrificed their physical forms for greater control?

 

Thinking about this, she felt like she was trying to hold water in her hands, only to watch it slip away between her fingers.

 

She needed to check on the greenhouse and see if things had grown back yet.

 

Opening the door, she noticed that the bedroom door wasn’t fully shut.

 

“Oh, my love, I don’t think I’m ready for this step in our relationship,” she heard Sexy Screamy Spider Lady say breathlessly.

 

“Stop making this weird,” the Chosen One said in a strained voice. “I just wanted to talk to you privately. More specifically, I wanted to ask you some questions.”

 

Qube should have gone to the greenhouse and checked on the herbs. Or gone back into the alchemy room and made some more potions. She was Good. Good people didn’t spy on their friends’ conversations.

 

So it was an utter mystery to Qube why she didn’t move.

 

“So I wanted to ask you about…” the Chosen One trailed off, as if reading something. “What goals did you have for after we finish the quest?”

 

Qube frowned. The Chosen One had asked her something similar once. Was he testing Sexy Screamy Spider Lady? Was she potentially also becoming special? Was the fact that she was a giant arachnid that had thought she was a wood elf caught the devs’s attention? Qube focused back in on the conversation, willing Sexy Screamy Spider Lady to pass the test.

 

“I don’t know,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady replied with surprising ease. “I’m waiting until the Trials to make any decisions about my future.”

 

Qube winced. She should have at least tried to think up something! What would happen if she failed the test?

 

“Do you have any interests that aren’t entirely related to the main quest or your personal quest? Even if it’s semi-related, that still counts.”

 

“Oh yes,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady said in an amused tone. There was a beat, as if the Chosen One was waiting for her to elaborate. 

 

“Okay well what do you want to do, then?” he asked when it became clear she wouldn’t answer. 

 

“My darling,” she replied with a laugh. 

 

There was a short, strangled sound from the bedroom. 

 

“No!” The Chosen One choked out. “Stop making this weird!”

 

“I am beginning to suspect, my delectable treat, that my natural state is weird.”

 

“Anyway,” the Chosen One said somewhat desperately. “What is it you’re interested in or want to do other than your main mission or personal side quest? What individual and organic goals have you created since this adventure began?”

 

He was definitely reading off something. 

 

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” the Hunter said playfully. 

 

“Yeah I’m trying to find out. What are they?”

 

“That’s a secret, my sweet,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady cooed. 

 

“Yeah, you said. Tell me.”

 

“No,” the Hunter purred. 

 

“Wait, what? This can’t be quest locked, this is stuff you have outside of that,” the Chosen One said incoherently. Qube stared at the bedroom door, trying to figure out what on earth he’d just said. From the silence inside, it sounded like Sexy Screamy Spider Lady was doing the same. 

 

“My dear,” she said eventually. “A lady must have her secrets.”

 

“[By the Words] you’re actually refusing to tell me,” the Chosen One said in an awestruck voice. “They were right.”

 

“Let it tantalise you,” Sexy Screamy Spider Lady crooned. “Who knows, perhaps one day I’ll tell you? But for now, my sweet, I think I’ll keep my secrets.”

 

“That’s okay,” the Chosen One said, sounding slightly dazed. “I’ll… let you go back to whatever, then. I need to go talk to some people.” Qube heard him start to move towards the door, and she hurriedly whisked herself back into the alchemy room. As she shut the door behind her, she heard the Hero say:

 

“The Trials are gonna be very, very interesting.”

 

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