Chapter 59: 58. Unknown Enemy

“Well, not many people know about my class,” said Ratska, “It’s an epic class called [Perpetual Brewery]; one of its class skills allows me to increase the success rate of any potion every time I tried to brew it. As a result, I can reach a hundred percent success rate after a variable number of tries.”

“That’s incredible, isn’t it? A sixty percent success rate is considered incredible among other potion makers,” I said as I grinned, “What’s the downside?”

“There aren’t many downsides, except the lack of a skill that allows me to create unique recipes. Also, I take quite a while to reach a respectable success rate when brewing any potion,” he noted, “It’s a good class all around, and I am sure I would’ve found a lot of success if I wasn’t an Illegal Citizen.”

It seemed too good to be true, so I bought some details about his class from my system shop. He had a level of sixty-two, and he had great stats for a crafter.

I checked his class skills one by one; he had four of them; one of his skills was called [One step, One milestone].

 

None of his other class skills had detrimental effects, and neither did his class.

What a poor Gnome; he’s been treated unfairly just because he didn’t have a Soul Identity.

“Excellent,” I told the Gnome, “I’ll increase our pace further; hang on tight.”

“Wait; This wasn’t your fastest pace?” replied Ratska with a shaky tone of voice.

I grinned and ran even faster than before. It didn’t take too long for Ratska to get used to my speed, and he resumed talking with me.

We discussed the resources needed to kickstart a potion brewing factory, and I was astounded by the intricacies.

“We’d need at least ten thousand Flasks, a hundred thousand batches of Vileweed, and about eight thousand pipettes,” He mumbled, “Of course, I am considering wide-scale production, which would need at least a thousand assistants who would take care of the easier steps of brewing potions. You’ll need lab coats, glasses, and gloves for every one of them. Preferably multiple sets per worker.”

“I assume we’ll also need many tables, chairs, and cabinets to store the raw resources when there are too many to store in spatial bags,” I said as I raised an eyebrow, “We’ll also need cooled rooms to store the final products if we end up producing more than a thousand batches per day.”

“Brewing potions is an expensive process, but at least it’s profitable,” said Ratska as he patted my shoulder, “We’ll need other items in case you want your guild to truly shine, but I am not sure you’ll be able to afford them. For now, I suggest you buy the items we talked about.”

“As I said before, don’t worry about the resources. I am richer than you imagined,” I said with an amused tone of voice. Ratska underestimated me, but I didn’t give it much thought for now.

Oh! That’s the System Trading Station!

I saw a cubic room from afar, and it was completely black.

“There it is,” said Ratska as he pointed toward the building from over my shoulder, “Put me on the ground, I’ll just walk.”

Ratska looked nervous, and his eyes were downcast. Something was wrong with him, but I wasn’t sure what it was.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I gave him a side-glance, “Already missing your family?”

“It’s not like that,” he whispered as he tugged at his backpack, “I feel sad whenever I see a Trading Station, as I can’t enter them. It reminds me of my failure during the tutorial, something that destroyed my prospects when the tutorial was over in my world.”

“It seems like you got lucky when you met me,” I said with a grin, “The only thing that people should care about is competence, not some random ID that the system issued.”

Ratska nodded, then he spoke once more.

“The reason why I came to Earth was to have a new chance,” he added, “After a couple of years of working my ass off, I was on my path to success, and my name started to spread. All of a sudden, people on my home planet no longer bought my potions, even those that I sold under pseudo-names. The guilds’ committee said that I was standing out too much, and they put my customers on a blacklist, even the ones that had a Soul Identity.”

He must’ve been too successful for an illegal citizen… What a shame, he should’ve been hailed for his skills.

We were ten meters away from the System Trading Station, and something grabbed my attention about it.

A large white banner hung over the wall that contained the station’s door, and there was something written on it.

It congratulated ‘Jason Stubbs’ for being the Initial Returnee; it was the first time that I’d seen my name mentioned in Japan.

“Too bad this country is ruined,” I said as I clicked my tongue, “I am not even sure if the foreign races know about me.”

“Jason…Jason Stubbs,” said Ratska as he raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin, “It can’t be! You’re the first human to come back from the tutorial?”

His eyes were opened wide as he looked at the banner that mentioned my name, then he stared at my face as he furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yes, that’s me,” I said as I shrugged, “I must’ve forgotten to tell you.”

Unlike Nina, Ratska respected me from the get-go; that’s why I didn’t try to impress him by bragging about myself.

“That was unexpected; I am flattered that the Initial Returnee himself is interested in hiring me,” said Ratska as he nodded his head repeatedly, “Actually, this explains a lot. I have higher hopes for our guild, and I’ll try my best to make it work.”

“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” I said, “Can you take care of yourself till then?”

“Of course,” he said, “I have a level of sixty-two, and I can use my daggers somewhat decently. Besides, I can’t enter the System Trading Station even if I wanted to.

I entered the System Trading Station, and it looked just like the previous one. Even the clerks looked like the ones that I met before.

I found it strange, as they didn’t look like this in my previous life; they were brunettes with brown eyes instead.

Maybe the system considers my current existence to be different from my previous one; I am not sure.

It was interesting, but I had to buy the items quickly to get out of here.

I walked toward the leftmost counter and spoke with the lady standing behind it.

“It seems like I’ll be dealing with you a lot in the coming days,” I said with a smile, “What should I call you?”

“I am Chloe,” she replied as she smiled, “What can I help you with?”

“I need a Guild License, and a Building License,” I said, “The Building License should allow for a building with an area of at least a hundred thousand square meters.”

Having a Guild License was one of the conditions of opening a guild, and it was rather expensive; costing two million tutorial points.

The people that opened guilds early on were among the top rankers, but many others managed to do so by saving up tutorial points for a couple of years.

The Building License was self-explanatory; it allowed its owner to build a facility as long as its total area didn’t exceed a certain limit.

I could always buy another Building License if I ever wanted to expand my guild.

Chloe nodded and prepared the items using a system screen in front of her, then she motioned for me to keep going once she was done.

“I’d like to open a System banking account, and to have a System Union credit card,” I said, “I also want to buy one million lesser mana stones. Put them in my bank account, please.”

“Alright,” she replied, “You’ll be able to liquidate your bank account’s balance in any System Trading Station, or in a System Union Bank once they’re built.”

I nodded and was about to leave when I remembered something important.

I need a new bag of holding…

“I want a bag of holding,” I said as I grinned, “The largest one available, please.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow and gave me an incredulous look, but she shook her head and smiled after seeing my grin.

“We also have storage rings; they’re more convenient than bags, and they only cost fifteen percent more for the same storage space.” She proposed.

I contemplated my choice, and a ring seemed better for my needs.

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I knew that they offered custom versions of the regular items, but I didn’t know how much they’d cost.

“I want the largest storage rings available, and I want a fire damage immunity to be applied to it,” I said.

Chloe furrowed her eyebrows, and she spoke.

“Accept the transaction, then you’ll have all of your items in the new storage rings,” she said, “I’d like to note that the storage ring contributed to around seventy-five percent of the total price.”

Surely, it won’t be that expensive, right?

This Transaction will cost 54000000 tutorial points.
[Accept]	[Decline]

I felt pain in my heart, but I accepted the transaction anyway. The System Trading Station was the cheapest source of such a storage ring.

“It must’ve been the fire immunity,” I said as I raised an eyebrow, “How much would the total cost be if the storage ring didn’t have it?”

“The fire damage immunity added twenty million to the total cost,” she replied with a warm smile, “That’d be eighteen million for you because you’re our first Earthling customer.”

I shrugged my shoulders and accepted the transaction.

A small ring appeared on the counter. It had the same color as gold and had no gem attached to it. Small words were written on its interior face.

‘Jason Stubbs Property’, huh? This means that no one besides me will be able to use it unless I agreed.

I took my ring and scanned its contents. Immediately, I was surprised by its endless depth, and the items that I bought seemed tiny compared to the ring’s overall space.

I’ll check its description, and the other items’ once I am out of here.

Ratska was waiting for me, and it was rude to stay for longer than necessary.

I walked toward the door, then opened it. As soon as I went outside, I felt an intruder inside my [Flawed State of Being]’s range.

He had a humanoid shape, and he held a large sword in both arms. I wasn’t able to discern the exact shape of his face, as he moved too quickly for my eyes to get a good look at him.

Someone is already back on Earth, and they’re attacking me…

*

I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. I was on top of a familiar grassy field, and I was laying on the ground.

This is the Hofgarten, I am back in Munich!

I searched for other people to ask them about the current situation, but the park was deserted. I went out in hope of finding some humans, but I saw some strange creatures.

They were around a meter tall, and all of them had shaggy brown hair. They wore black leather coats, and they moved fervently around the area.

I mistook them for humans at first, but they had a certain characteristic that changed my mind about them.

All of them had large pointy ears.

Did these creatures invade our planet?

I used my [Identify] skill on one of them, and my eyes welled with tears when I saw their race.

They were dwarves, and the description stated that they were a race that lives in cold environments, and they spent their time crafting items or building new structures.

I realized that my normal life was long gone and that the world changed during my absence.

I fell to the ground, and my tears fell to the ground as I wept. My life wasn’t that spectacular, but it was better than killing monsters for a living.

I am not sure if I’ll ever adapt, but I’ll try to survive…

I looked at the dwarves once more; I hoped to find more clues about Earth’s current state from them.

The men had bushy beards, and they were slightly taller than the women. Each creature held at least one wooden log, and they transported them to an empty area next to the park.

Didn’t this area have many trees? Oh shit, these creatures must’ve cut them all!

A female dwarf passed next to me; her face had many wrinkles, and she had brown hair and eyes. She looked bored as she roamed around the area, and she spoke with me when we made eye contact.

“Oh, Darling,” she said, “You’re the first human we’ve seen; I hope we’ll get along with one another. If you need anything, just ask me.”

Suddenly, another dwarf spoke with the woman standing next to me.

“Leave her alone, Tamira,” said a male dwarf, his face was filled with wrinkles, and he had a grumpy face, “Don’t bother with humans; they’re a moronic race, and you’re wasting your precious time by talking to one of them. We need to finish building King Morantt’s castle as soon as possible; we can’t afford to fall behind the other settlements.”

“Oh, shut up Daken. King Morantt appointed me as this project’s supervisor, not you. Get back to work, or I’ll force you to do so,” said Tamira as she giggled, then she told me not to worry about what Daken said.

It seems like they’re building some kind of castle, and this lady is the one in charge.

My heart warmed a little at Tamira’s offer of help, and I had some questions to ask.

“U..mm, you said that I was the first human in this area,” I asked, “Does this mean that no humans have arrived here at all?”

“You’re the first one we’ve encountered,” said the old lady as she put her hand on her cheek, “However, we’re sure that at least one other human arrived already, but we haven’t seen him yet. Many banners are floating around the city to welcome his arrival; it seems like he’s the first human to return to Earth.”

“Oh, what’s his name?” I asked.

The first human to return to Earth must be someone popular, right?

He might’ve been some kind of special ops agent or a world champion in some kind of physical activity. The possibilities were endless, but I was sure that he was special.

“His name is ‘Jason Stubbs’,” she said, “I am not sure about my pronunciation, but it’s as close as I could get.”

Her pronunciation was good, but I couldn’t open my mouth to tell her about that.

It seems like I can’t run away.

#

Special shoutout to:

chris

Water Dragon

GenericKane

Bladesunder

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