Chapter 255: 255 [Elixir of Amplification]

“Be careful.”

Ian’s quiet warning reached the other three.

At a glance, no monsters were visible inside the room, but everyone remained vigilant, silently peering within.

After waiting for the swirling dust to settle slightly, everyone stepped cautiously inside following Ian’s signal.

Rin led the way with her shield raised, while Ian brought up the rear, orb at the ready to cast ’Ice Prison’ at a moment’s notice should an emergency arise.

The interior was an abandoned laboratory that looked as if no one had stepped foot inside for a very long time.

To be more precise, it was a neglected laboratory.

Its owner, the warlock, was likely already dead.

Perhaps because of that, the equipment and materials the mage had used remained exactly as they were.

Ian carefully scanned the surroundings.

Being built into a narrow secret space, the room wasn’t particularly large or complex.

The space, which served as both a lab and a warehouse, was packed with shelves and crates for storage, leaving no other visible spots for anything to hide.

The mercenaries, who had been on edge due to Ian’s warning, cautiously lowered their weapons.

“Captain. It doesn’t look like there are any monsters?”

“…I guess so.”

The ’Warlock’s Lab’ Ian knew was a boss room where a Giant Scavenger would lunge at you the moment you opened the door, set against a backdrop of ruined lab debris… but.

There was no trace of such a monster here, only a perfectly intact laboratory.

…Has the Giant Scavenger not been created yet?

With that thought, Ian closely examined a nearby shelf.

Even without looking up the lore, it was easy to guess that the presence of a mutant Scavenger in a lab like this would be due to the items within it.

A monster grown giant like that would go on a rampage, destroying the lab, and then the player would arrive to subjugate it.

That should have been the original sequence in the game…

Looking at its current pristine state, it seemed Ian had discovered the lab before that could happen.

Since the game only ever showed it in a destroyed state, this was Ian’s first time seeing the lab intact as well.

As Ian lowered his guard, the members also began to slowly look around the lab.

Once they confirmed there were no monsters and their wariness faded,

Curiosity took its place.

According to Ian’s explanation, this was a place used as a secret warehouse.

That meant something valuable might be hidden here.

The members began to look around, each harboring a different kind of tension.

Ian carefully picked up an item from the shelf he was inspecting.

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[Elixir of Amplification]

– Alchemical Item

– When added as a material, Crafting Effect +20%

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Some items had turned into dusty clumps due to age, but those classified as ’Magic Items’ were still in perfectly good condition.

As Ian turned his gaze to scan other shelves, he discovered quite a few items remaining.

In this game, just because someone was a warlock didn’t mean they used particularly strange or evil materials.

Warlocks were ultimately a branch derived from mages, and they shared many common pieces of equipment and materials with most other mages.

If one were to dig deep… it was probably because making separate items just for warlocks would be a waste of resources, so they were just made to use the same items as mages.

In other words, even though this place was named ’Warlock’s Lab’, it was essentially a place filled with expensive materials used by ’Mages’.

Realizing this, the members’ eyes sparkled.

“Captain! Can we look around too?”

“Sure. But be careful not to touch anything strange.”

Everyone quickly scattered in all directions.

“Mika! You’re a mage. Do you see anything?”

“Mika! What’s this? Is it expensive?”

“Mika! Look at this!”

“Mika…”

Whenever Rin or Tanya found something plausible-looking in the lab, they took it all to Mika.

Because this was a mage’s workshop, and Mika was a mage.

“….”

However, Mika didn’t answer, her expression stiff.

…I have no idea what any of this is.

The materials and elixirs her friends brought were things she couldn’t even begin to guess the use for.

Mika, a mage in name only, was a novice who had never even laid a finger on magical research in her life.

She still didn’t know how to use a single spell…

Meanwhile, Ian approached the bookshelves.

In Ian’s memory, this was the only place where the reward for this boss room was located.

Unlike the destroyed version in his memories, the bookshelves were now intact and filled with numerous books.

Checking the item information, Ian was able to pick out a single grimoire hidden among them.

After examining the books for a moment, Ian pulled one out.

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[Grimoire: Black Magic]

– Trait Item

– Adds the [Black Magic] trait upon use

※ Requirement: Possess [Dark Affinity] or [Dark Specialization]

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This was the original reward obtainable from this boss room.

Which grimoire appeared was random, but usually, it was a dark-attribute grimoire like this.

It was unfortunate for Mika, but it was a grimoire she couldn’t learn.

If it was absolutely necessary, she could learn it after being given an attribute affinity or specialization… but Black Magic wasn’t a spell worth going that far for.

He didn’t know if he’d ever need to hire a warlock mercenary, but Ian tucked the grimoire into his bag for now.

If all else failed, Ian could learn it himself to at least provide debuffs.

“Captain! There’s something over here!”

“What is it?”

“Mika says it looks like an elixir!”

“What?”

Ian looked up and approached the gathered members.

***

After the initial inspection of the lab was complete,

Ian decided to keep the existence of this lab a secret and close the door again.

Originally, he had planned to subjugate the Giant Scavenger, report it to the guild, and receive a reward… but

This changed things.

First of all, they couldn’t move this many items outside, nor was there a place to store them in an inn room.

Until they had a place they could use as a warehouse at the very least, they had to keep the items right here in this secret room.

What the Ian Mercenary Group did after that was…

Cleaning the room.

They tidied up the dust-covered room, threw out unusable materials, and organized the usable ones back into crates.

By the time they finished cleaning and emerged from the sewers, the sun had completely set, and it was night.

Returning to the inn, the mercenaries plopped down on their beds with exhausted faces.

After briefly unpacking, Ian took out the medicine bottle he had brought from the lab.

Inside the bottle were three round, golden pills.

Most of the materials were left in the room, but he had personally brought out a few of the most important items, and this was one of them.

It was the elixir Rin had found in the lab.

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[Trait Growth Agent: Talent]

– Elixir Item

– Randomly strengthens one initial trait upon use

– Max usage: 1 time

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It was an item Ian had never even seen drop in the sewers before.

He wondered if this was perhaps the reason why the ’Giant Scavenger’ was created.

Depending on the traits of the Scavenger that ate it, it could have potentially transformed into a ’Super-sized’ trait.

The members gathered in Ian’s room and stared down at the bottle.

“Captain, do you know what kind of medicine this is?”

“It’s a medicine that nurtures talent.”

“…There are elixirs like that?”

What Rin considered an elixir was something that improved physical abilities.

In other words, elixirs that directly increased stats like strength or stamina.

Most items known generally as elixirs among mercenaries were of that variety.

However, the elixir found in the lab today was something that influenced traits.

Initial traits. That is, an elixir that strengthens the very first traits a character possessed at Level 1.

“How much would it be worth if we sold it?”

“…Sell it?”

“Wouldn’t an item like that be expensive?”

…It was only 1 gold in the shop.

Ian had never really thought about trying to sell something like this.

Considering the effect, it was certainly a valuable item.

But when thinking about whether it *could* be sold… well.

There was likely no one else who could see traits as accurately as Ian, and most people lived their lives without even knowing what their own traits were.

Even if they took the elixir, it would be difficult to perceive the effect.

Growing talent, indeed.

It would probably be treated as a superstitious item among mercenaries, like a lucky charm that brings good fortune.

Ian pondered if there was a way to sell this at a high price, but soon gave up on the idea.

Rather than agonizing over trying to do something he had never done before, he decided to just play like he usually did.

The only thing Ian could trust right now was his own gameplay experience.

In other words, doing things the way he used to and the way he wanted to was the best path toward a clear.

Ian opened the bottle and shook the contents out.

“Here. Everyone take one.”

“Huh?”

Everyone accepted a pill with confused faces.

Tanya, especially, was the most bewildered as she asked Ian:

“Me, me too? Instead of you taking it, Captain…”

“It won’t have much effect if I take it.”

Since Ian, the player character, had no initial traits, it was an elixir that would have no effect even if he took it.

At Ian’s urging, all three hesitantly swallowed the elixir while gauging his reaction.

As soon as it entered their mouths, even before being fully swallowed down their throats, the elixir melted away like smoke and vanished.

The expressions of the members who took the elixir varied.

Both Mika and Tanya

looked down at their own bodies with ambiguous expressions.

Growing talent, they said.

Did it… grow?

While those two were checking their bodies with serious faces, Rin, on the other hand, looked down at herself with a startled expression.

A sensation like something hot was boiling up…

It felt as though a talent she hadn’t realized she had was blossoming.

“Oh…. I really feel like I’ve become stronger!”

“…I-I see.”

Watching the joyful Rin, Ian quietly averted his gaze.

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The mercenaries’ traits have changed.

– [Tanya]: [Cooking] → [Cooking+]

– [Mika]: [MP Increase] → [MP Amplification]

– [Rin]: [Sexual Frustration] → [Sexual Frustration+]

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