Apocalypse: Regression

Potion Master [Magic]

The alchemist’s dependence on potions can often require them to rework the very way in which a body functions, increasing the susceptibility the user has to all potions and remedies. The efficacy of all consumed potions is increased by 18.6%, and all stat potions add an additional 6.2% bonus to the stat. Duration of all potions is also increased by 18.6%. This passive will not be impacted by skills or potions that increase one's stat or skill efficacy.

Nick stared at the skill he’d copied from Topaz and then looked at the empty vial in his hand, the one he had used to just evade the bear. It had the effect of increasing his agility, which was 98, by a flat 30 before Potion Master took effect. That meant that with Potion Master, he had gone from 98 to nearly 140 agility. The downside was that it also reduced his strength by 20. It was the type of trade off he normally wouldn't have accepted in a fight. But now, given the fact it was nearly two to one for the trade off, the possibilities of potions really did open up for Nick.

This is . . . This is amazing, Nick thought, turning to Topaz, eyes wide with excitement over the new skill. Now he just needed her to make him a charisma potion, and he’d be able to train everyone at a much faster rate. No matter how good the charisma potion was, 6.2% of his already high 308 charisma with the five new points just added, would be nearly 20 more charisma for him to wield when chasing the gains.

“Nick, are you okay?” Seo-ah, who had run over to him as fast as she could once the fight was over, asked. “Did it get you with anything? Did that aura nova hit you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Nick assured her as he closed his notifications and looked up, seeing the anxious faces of his guildmates and friends. “You all did amazing with that ursine. Great work everyone! But let’s make sure we stay on our toes. We don’t know what’s going to walk through there next.”

“Then I’ll defend the portal with the Crimson Crusaders . . . of which, there appear to only be two,” Mr. Walters noted, seeing that only Rob and Bob were actually present on the scene, “and the Branches of Yggdrasil.”

“I thought they were going to keep the rift safe,” Nick frowned.

“Buff boy, you got sleep and think we don’t need it to? We’re taking shifts for now. Two at a time. Don’t think just because that bastard bear got the best of us at first, we couldn’t have killed it.”

“But I am thinking that,” Nick stated flatly. “It was highly resistant to slashing and piercing attacks, and I don’t see you two being able to do anything else.--especially not when you’ve got a broken knee,” he added, pointing at the condition Bob was in after being knocked out of the air.

“He’s fine,” Rob said, but his voice wasn’t exactly filled with confidence as he scratched the back of his head while he looked over between Bob and the bear. “He’ll be fine.”

“Well, in the meantime, we need to figure out how we’re going to secure that portal further. The bear’s resistance to piercing damage left our defenses nearly useless,” Nick grumbled as he turned toward the giant pit.

“We could just make the fall longer?” Seo-ah suggested. “It’s not like the landing from that big drop didn’t have any effect on the bear. It hurt him. It’s just that we can do more. Maybe we could have Clarissa turn it into a hundred or two hundred foot fall. Then even if it lives through the piercing vines, it’ll still turn into a splat pancake from the fall distance—especially if it’s a larger, fatter monster, the kind that would have the thick, rock-hard exterior to stop the thorns from killing them.

“Great. Then if that’s the plan, boss, I’ll find Clarissa,” Maria said, looking over at Nick as if waiting for approval.

“Fine, that’ll do for now I guess,” Nick agreed with a sigh.

“What do you mean, that’ll do? Why are you all making decisions about this rift as if it’s yours to own? Did you create it?” Rob asked pointedly as he glared down at Nick. “Last I checked, the Dungeon Oversight Association is the one that decides who owns what, not you.”

Nick froze for a moment. Rob was right. He had been acting like he was the boss because he had been so used to being the boss. For a moment, he felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered how annoying it was when his grandfather behaved like that.

“Alright, fine. You’re right, but that doesn’t help us right now if we don’t even know where the Association is. Shouldn’t they have people crawling all around here, taping things off, blocking the public out, doing the usual portal-securing-protocol stuff?” Nick asked, looking around to make sure he was right in saying there wasn’t a single one of the infamous black suits with the single long blue stripe down the left side that stood out like a sore thumb no matter where they were.

“Oh, they’re here. They’re just focusing on rescue efforts, but I’m sure they’ll be mighty, mighty keen to see the man who just always happens to be wherever trouble is, Mr. Daedalus,” Rob replied. His anger was thinly masked, and his words reeked of ire despite his polite tone. “Just handle the clean-up efforts yourself; we’ll handle the dungeon for now.”

“You think they’d . . .” Nick began, complaining the moment he turned around, not even worried if the party he was complaining about would hear him, but he was cut short by the sound of a building falling behind him. “What?! Another attack?” Nick exclaimed as he turned around, only to see five mages carefully collapsing the building in a controlled fashion. He even noted that one of the mages was wearing the suit with the blue stripe he’d been looking for earlier among the crowd.

“I think, with a lot of the structures, it’s just easier to take them down and rebuild them later,” Seo-ah explained to Nick after his reaction, even though he had already understood what was going on. “Leaving them up in such broken, tenuous states is only inviting danger for any unlucky passerby.”

Nick nodded. “Yeah, makes sense. Should we get to work then? We have buildings to clear, bodies to recover, rubble to remove.”

“Sounds good to me,” Seo-ah agreed. “Let’s grab one of the volunteer shirts so they know we’re with the others and start work right away.”

“Volunteer shirts?” Nick raised an eyebrow, checking his surroundings. To his surprise, many people were indeed wearing the same ultramarine blue and white t-shirt.

“Yeah, Kaylee made shirts for us all,” Seo-ah said as she grabbed Nick’s hand and started dragging him through the square toward one of the long, large pop-up tables that littered every sports event, where three people sat on one side handing out t-shirts, refreshments—specifically the patented special guild smoothies—bottles of water, and stamina potions.

“That’s . . . That’s our guild . . . and our colors . . . and our stuff . . . and she took the time to source materials and arrange printing? Something that’s not even part of her job description? That’s fantastic.”

Seo-ah smiled. “I thought you’d like the surprise. We had the t-shirts made for the afterparty last night . . . and for the guild gift shop after that. Since you know, there wasn’t really a gift bag moment following the party, and there were so many ordered for the shop, I just thought it’d be a nice thing to do for those volunteering.”

“Yeah . . . it is a nice thing to do,” Nick said, nodding his head as he looked over at Topaz.

“I’ll make sure Kaylee is rewarded for the extra work, boss. Don’t worry,” Topaz assured him, chuckling a little. “Though, I have to say, I got a notification during that battle earlier . . . that, uhh, you learned one of my skills? Potion Master? It said I can train you to help you raise the skill’s rank faster. I’m just not sure how I train you? Do I stuff your mouth full of potions until the EXP goes up?”

“It told you I did that? And you can help me raise the rank quicker? That’s great . . .” Nick scratched his chin in thought, just as clueless as Topaz was as to how she was supposed to train him.

“Boss! Bossette!” Kaylee waved excitedly as Nick got closer, reaching over and grabbing a few shirts.

“Bossette?” Nick chuckled at Kaylee’s nickname for Seo-ah as he looked over to gauge how his girlfriend liked her moniker.

“It’s fine. I also approved it too. I am Seo-ah, Bossette of the Underworld,” she said, throwing her nose in the air as she did her best snobby rich kid impression.

“You know, if you and Nick end up together, you’ll be officially a noble on paper. His grandfather came from a duke’s house, no? It’s a shame he didn’t get the heirship though. Then you’d end up as Lady Seo-ah . . . or Dame Seo-ah or . . . Duchess Seo-ah or… I don’t know noble titles,” Topaz teased.

“Oh God, please don’t make me into—” Seo-ah began, looking more and more uncomfortable with each title Topaz was tossing on her.

“Make you into what? Should I be offended here? Is there something wrong with coming from a noble line?” Nick looked over at her, pretending to be offended. Even if his family was old world nobility, he didn’t really care one way or the other. People were people to him.

“Someone like Lady Isolde,” Seo-ah finished her thought, cringing. “The last thing I want is for people to have to call me by a title when they’re talking to me like I’m someone special.”

“Well that’s because you are special, and so am I. That’s why I plan to make everyone call me ‘doctor’ when I get my PhD in alchemy one day. Doctor Topaz Drezner!” Topaz stuck out her chest proudly as she said it.

Seo-ah looked at Topaz for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, Doctor Drezner, the Double D’s will definitely fit your name.”

Caught off guard by Seo-ah’s joke, Topaz just blinked in confusion at Seo-ah’s remark, before grabbing one of the t-shirts and shaking her head as she walked off.

“Was the joke that bad?” Seo-ah looked over to Nick, puppy dog eyes in full display as if Nick could change the outcome of how the remark was received.

“It was fine,” Nick assured her, even though he actually had no idea.

“If it makes you feel any better, my mother has a PhD, and she never wants anyone to call her by her title. We always call her ‘doctor mom’ just to mess with her,” Kaylee said as she awkwardly stood there, holding t-shirts out for Nick and Seo-ah as they bantered. “Oh, and you know Malcolm has a PhD too!”

“Malcolm?” Nick asked, turning his attention to Kaylee.

“Ah, that would be me, sorry. Please feel free not to call me ‘doctor’ though. I think ‘Malcolm’ is just fine in all situations,” the tall, thin, balding man with small round glasses sagging down his nose said with a weak smile as he extended his bony hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, right. I’m Nick,” Nick replied, taking the man’s hand as he studied the individual’s features.

“I must confess, I’m a bit surprised that you’re so . . . young. From the stories Kaylee was telling me, I half thought you’d be even older than I am.” Malcolm gave another hearty chuckle as he turned his attention back to his task, handing out another t-shirt to one of the volunteers approaching the table.

“So how do you two know each other?” Nick asked as he grabbed his shirt and threw it over his shoulder as he didn’t want to change into it right away, especially when he liked the stats and benefits his current outfit offered.

“Oh, we go way back. He was always hanging around the house with my older sister Lindsey and his . . .” Kaylee trailed off for a minute. “Well, we go way back.”

“Well, that’s great. Anyone who is a friend of Kaylee’s can’t be a bad person,” Nick said, giving his best guild-leader smile as he looked over to Seo-ah with a ‘let’s get moving’ face, feeling like he had met his socialization quota. They had a long day ahead of them.

“It’s good to know Kaylee has such a nice boss,” Malcolm replied as Nick and Seo-ah left, making their way toward the area where the other volunteers were working so they could do their part too.