[Alchemical Item Combinator

When activated, combines two provided, suitable, alchemical products into one new item.

Limited to 10 activations per customer, per day.]

The tooltip was very sparse and just as vague, but unexpectedly Severin was able to get some more information about the device out of the System.

The most notable one was that the price for using the combinator seemed to be dependent on the worth of the items that were to be combined. With the worth being evaluated by the System.

It wasn’t described by a complex function, as it would just add up the worth of the individual items and then double the resulting sum.

If used to combine products that were not provided by Severin, and therefore, by extension, not by the System, an additional fee would have to be paid.

Sadly, no word was lost concerning the actual end results of the combination process and how exactly it was influenced by the input items. That was something that only time and experimentation would have to reveal.

To show off some of the effects and to demonstrate how to actually operate the device, Severin grabbed two potions, one bright red one more magenta-colored, opened the lid on the top, and inserted the cubes into the revealed opening. After that, he made sure the lid was back in place and covered the whole opening.

A blue, floating, tooltip-like box appeared next to the slot situated near the top of the machine and displayed the number 'four' with a universally recognizable image depicting a gold coin next to it.

With a heavy heart, Severin withdrew the indicated number of coins from his private balance and inserted them into the slit one after the other. The number displayed updated accordingly and after all four gold coins had disappeared, so did the blue box.

During the process, Severin grew very suspicious of the missing ‘coin return’ button, suspecting another scam in the making.

His audience, on the other hand, looked on expectantly, waiting for the machine to start working its magic. Literally.

Plop

Instead of a huge spectacle, almost instantly a sound indicated the appearance of a new item at the bottom of the machine inside of the designated output tray.

Just like before, when the Emporium was expanded within a night, even Samuel, once again, didn’t catch any of the workings that just happened inside of the device. There was no sound leaking from the machine, nor any radiating of heat or magic. Nothing at all. Again.

And while this time everything happened on a much smaller scale in comparison, unlike last time, he now stood just a few meters away. With his undivided attention focused on the strange box. Yet once again it eluded him, leaving him flabbergasted, more than anything else.

No matter how impressive and unheard-of some, if not all, items and effects in this store seemed to be, there might still be certain possible explanations. No matter how unlikely they really seemed to be.

Using exotic, foreign materials, for example, one might be able to achieve the unusually high potency of the potions, while a refined technique and crafting process, on the other hand, might explain their jelly consistency.

This was especially true if everything was processed by someone in the possession of a unique class. Well, it didn’t even have to necessarily be a unique one. After all, even the [Berserker] class, which was so very common around these parts, for example, was pretty much nonexistent on some of the other continents and therefore would seem rather mysterious to the people over there.

These were usually Samuels’ lines of thought whenever he was thinking about Severin and his Emporium’s origin as they seemed to have popped out of nowhere. In the middle of nowhere.

But those same reasons and excuses just wouldn’t be able to explain this phenomenon right here.

Magic itself was a universal thing after all. Its workings wouldn’t change or differentiate between different continents.

But Samuel also didn’t want to believe that there was magic out there, on such a high and refined level, that even he couldn’t catch it. Not even a trace.

‘This never happened before. Well, at least not within my last thirty years.

And so much has happened since then. At that time, I still wore a golden badge.

And the one that cast the spell...’

Samuel’s thought was interrupted by another, different one.

‘Even if there was such magic out there. Then how did it end up in some strange box, standing in the corner of a lonely shop?

And most importantly, where did the box come from? It’s most certainly not a drop. So, was it crafted? And if so, by whom?’

He shot a quick glance towards Severin. Looking at him while still in thoughts, he only snapped out of it, once he became aware that Severin, by now, was holding an item in his hands.

The latter, despite still trying hard to maintain his smug expression, was secretly dismayed as well.

The four gold he had just spent had been converted into forty silver coins instead, basically gifting three golden and sixty silver coins to the System.

‘Why do I have to pay for this myself? Shouldn’t this count as a business expense instead? I mean, I didn’t have to pay for the potion itself either, just now. Neither did I have to when I first tested them. I never had to pay!

And considering that I don’t even get any experience out of this, you DO seem to distinguish between me and a regular customer. So, what’s up with this? Explain yourself!’

Timothy and Miriam didn’t know about those internal struggles the other two had to face and instead were still very excited to see the actual end product. Despite the very anticlimactic combining process.

It was a cube that closely resembled all the others they were already so familiar with by now.

The only difference was the color design which split the cube into two distinct halves, allowing everyone to instantly be able to tell which two potions were used as initial reagents. Just in the very middle did the two colors slightly run into each other.

[Small Hybrid Potion (20)

Restores 150 Health Points when consumed.

Restores 300 of all Resources when consumed.]

“Neither part of the potion is as potent as the original…” Miriam was about to analyze the new consumable and weigh its strengths and weaknesses when she was rudely interrupted by Timothy trying to squeeze through.

“If you don’t like it, I’ll take it. Make way and let me try it out myself!”

“Heey, stop it! I was first!”

“Then what are you waiting for? Don’t just stand there frozen in place and block everyone.”

“Shut up! I’m going, I’m going!”

In an instant, everything became very loud and chaotic again, making Severin jump back behind his counter.

As he observed from a safe distance how the two were fighting with their elbows for access to the machine, he dearly hoped this kind of excessive behavior was a one-time thing caused only by the novelty factor of the machine and wouldn’t be the norm from now on.

‘I guess the daily limit should keep everyone from hogging the thing and prevent any real trouble. I hope.’

But there was another, more important reason why he was very grateful for that restriction.

Because of the amount of work it would save him.

He had already double-checked that there were certain other restrictions in play as well, such as making it impossible to combine two instances of the same product.

Still, since even just the four different kinds of potions he had to offer so far would already allow for a total of six possible combinations, the amounts of standard potions required to fully utilize the combinator would be staggering.

Twenty units of six different variants. Each one of those requires two normal potions. That would already exceed two hundred potions needed to fulfill the order. Closer to two hundred and fifty even. And that was only per person.

No matter how much Severin liked the idea of earning money twice on the same potion, once for the original purchase and once for using the combinator, just the thought of replenishing that many items on a regular basis made him break out in cold sweat.