Chapter 42

Brewer’s Guide to Magic Ingredients

Bobbo hadn’t wanted to come out to meet me. Thrush had attempted to coax the Blue Bestie out, but the little creature would have none of it.

“Thrush and I are pals,” Bobbo had said from the hollow of a tunnel. “You and I aren’t.”

“Fair enough,” I’d said.

And that was that. I was hoping that Bobbo would one day warm up to me. I thought it might be nice to meet my neighbor. However, if he didn’t want to meet me, I couldn’t fault him for that. It would be something I respect until my final day. No harm, no foul.

Perhaps they’re timid things. I hadn’t known about them until Thrush discovered them. I might have gone my whole life without knowing they were there.

Thrush had stayed in the cellar. He sat and waited patiently until I was far enough that Bobbo felt courageous enough to wander out. Their voices softly echoed up the ramp, filled my cabin, and moved the flames in the stove like a passing wind. It was a gentle sound that was comforting in the background as I worked.

Water boiled upon the stove. Within, flames licked at crackling wood and a few potatoes popped, sending bits to sizzle upon fresh coals. I scooped the potatoes into a bowl and set them aside to cool. I then returned to brewing my first batch of goblin spit beer with warm-warm root.

A single warm-warm root the length of my pinkie was enough to imbue the beer with its warming effects. I mashed my worst quality grains, filtered the beer, then boiled my worst quality hops. I filled a barrel, let it cool just outside the door, then pitched it with a basic yeast. I covered the bunghole with a simple wooden ball I’d carved. The ball was heavy enough to plug the bunghole, yet light enough that building gasses could lift it and force an escape.

5 more gallons of water went right back on the stove. My second brew turned into a third. My third turned into a fourth, and by early morning I’d brewed 10 more small barrels of goblin spit beers, having only put warm-warm root juice in the first. All that labor had pushed my Brewer level to 10 and left me deeply exhausted.

I tucked into bed for a quick nap and fell asleep to the soft sounds of laughter and scattering dice. Those were the same sounds that woke me only a few hours later after dawn.

The potatoes I’d baked were all gone, save for two. Beside those were two dreambons which I happily followed my meal of potatoes with. All of which went marvelously with a tea of roasted chicory root and a drop of warm-warm root juice.

After that, I resolved to get to brewing once more. Since my furniture and pantry had been reallocated to the cellar, the available wall across from the stove was stacked with barrels. Building gasses escaped every few moments and each wooden ball clicked when falling back into place. The rhythm was a tattoo of a cooper’s dream. A tattoo that I hummed a melody to.

As I focused more deeply on brewing, the melody fell from my lips. I preoccupied myself with the latest techniques I’d learned from leveling up: Time. Time was an important part of the brewing process. A process I’d been near butchering since my very first beer.

My first batch of the day went the smoothest out of any beer I’d ever brewed. I’d aimed for a simple Greater Poor Man’s beer with some of my better ingredients. I cut off the mash earlier than normal, and boiled the wort with hops for a little less time as well. After filtering, cooling, then pitching the beer into one of my own 5 gallon barrels, I received a system notification.

[Congratulations Brewer! You’ve brewed your first Workman’s Ale!]

[Workman Ales are a benchmark of quality just above Greater Poor Man’s Ales.]

[Anything you brew will now have the minimum reputation of a Workman’s Ale.]

[Stored and fermenting beers have been updated to Workman’s Ale quality.]

[Your mana has been depleted to update qualities.]

[Reward: 1 Legendary Brewer’s loot chest. 4 rare Brewer’s loot chests.]

If my blood could feel sucker punched, losing mana so quickly did exactly that. My heart felt like it had missed a beat, and I fetched the firkin which contained my stout brewed with a bit of oats and blue brewer’s yeast.

My first mug of the roasted, oat stout surprised me. There was a remarkable difference in quality from what I’d remembered brewing. The improvement lit a flame of pride and success in my heart. My second mug finished the job of refilling my mana.

Thrush ascended the ramp from the cellar with a massive smile from giant eye to giant eye. He snuffed the waxy candle he’d been using to spend time with Bobbo.

“Sorry to interrupt your dealings,” I said.

“That’s alright,” Thrush said. “Nothing to worry about. What have you got there? May I have some?”

I poured him a mug of the dark mana beer.

“I just leveled up and achieved a higher quality of beer,” I said.

Thrush dumped the whole mug into his maw in one pour. He hummed in delight while his eyes throbbed out of sync. Colors of the beer were delivered to his changing, mossy irises.

“Mana,” Thrush said. “My system is telling me that I’ve received a mana pool.”

“For a merchant class,” I said. “I never knew merchants used mana. Should have known. Wow, so many things make sense now.”

“What do I use it for?” Thrush said.

“I have no clue. I’m sure your system will guide you. Merkul probably has plans for you to encounter a situation where you'll need it.”

“Thank you, Hawkin,” Thrush said. “Your beer gave me mana.”

“I’m pretty sure my beer just filled something that would replenish over a day’s time anyway,” I said.

“It hasn’t so far,” Thrush said.

“Well maybe it prompted your system to connect you to your mana,” I said. “When you’ll need to fuel a magical skill, your system will guide you through using mana. For example, brewing beer doesn’t require any mana from me quite yet. I’m sure it will, and I’m looking forward to that time. However, gourd blowing requires that I use mana.”

“I see,” Thrush said.

“You do?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll see when the need to see arises.”

Thrush and I shared a snack of dreambons before taking a walk down to the sea. We laughed back and forth about nothing important. I practiced a lot of listening since Thrush was talkative; thrilled about his merchant class and trading with Bobbo. As it turned out, Bobbo loved drembons, and Thrush would barter them only for the best trades. Or to please Bobbo over shooting dice.

“I won’t trade dreambons with GloomGlower,” Thrush said when we arrived at the frozen coast.

More trees had been logged.

“Why’s that?” I said.

“I want to focus on one thing at a time. So far, I've got to manage trading your goblin spit beer in return for the Fable Stone. After that, I am going to trade the warm-warm spit beer you’re brewing. How’s that coming along by the way?”

“Good. Should be done fermenting in a few days.”

“Once I feel comfortable managing more than a few trades at once, then I’ll consider trading dreambons. To be honest, Hawkin, I don’t think I’ll trade dreambons with anyone other than you and Bobbo.”

“Wow, I’m honored,” I said. “In any case, that’s probably a good thing. You might run out sooner than later. I’m surprised you haven’t run out yet.”

“My kind don’t run out of dreambons,” Thrush said.

He turned to stroll up through the tunnel of snow and ice back home. I gave a longing and helpless look at trees that used to be. Then I caught up with Thrush and invited him to see what my new loot boxes contained. He was thrilled to find out, but wanted to put some fish to smoke beforehand.

After Thrush’s task, I brewed some eastern hemlock tea with a touch of sumac berries. The sour and acidic tea was delightful. Thrush enjoyed it and asked if I could keep a mug aside so that he could share with Bobbo.

“Done, and done,” I said, putting a lid on the pot of tea and setting it aside. “Let’s look to see what I’ve got.”

The rare loot chests contained quantities of Workman quality ingredients and a variety of different hops. All green. I also received 15 Brewer skill books. The legendary loot chest opened up and one of the items glowed a molten white. Its shape shifted to reveal a glowing shard.

The shard rose from the chest and spun with the speed of a dancing lover.

[You have acquired 1/100 shards of the Brewer’s Guide to Magic Ingredients.]

[Acquire all 100 shards in order to unlock the item.]

[New Quest: Brew 99 Spontaneity beers to acquire the rest of your shards! Each beer must be spontaneously fermented using wild yeast. Beers must be brewed in nothing less than 750ml. Each beer must be unopened and freely donated to Dellia Lucerne in exchange per shard.]