Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 36
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 36
The savory juices carried salt through every bite, sharply jolting his taste buds.
The fine bones he had worried about were nowhere to be found. It was as easy to eat as a prepared mackerel fillet.
The fishy smell was the same story.
Not a trace of off-odor remained, as though it had been processed.
The umami surpassed mackerel, and the tenderness was more like hairtail or salmon…
They called it a carp, but it felt like eating an entirely new species of fish.
‘I want to let other people try this.’
It was such a shame that it could only be eaten inside the labyrinth.
As if entranced, Lion tucked into the enormous grilled carp with gusto.
Before long…
“I’m stuffed.”
He had devoured that huge carp all by himself.
His stomach was about to burst.
Maybe he had gotten carried away by the mood and overdone the feasting.
Still, he was satisfied enough to have no regrets. When would he ever get a chance like this?
Lion rubbed his full belly and smiled contentedly.
Then…
[Consumed Grilled Labyrinth Carp. Maximum Mana has increased by a very small amount!]
“Huh?”
A special chance had triggered.
But maximum mana increased?
Lion immediately closed his eyes and examined the mana circle inside his body.
His mana capacity had actually grown a little.
It was so tiny a change that he was barely certain, but this was genuinely incredible.
His mana capacity grew just from eating!
If mages ever learned about this, they might have stripped every pale chub in that water, even torn up all the wild grass here and eaten it raw.
Growing one’s mana capacity through food was that momentous a thing.
“Nice.”
Later, once a month had passed and he could enter the labyrinth with Rickshel, he figured he should grill him a carp or something.
“Ah, now that I think of it…”
Lion recalled the carp innards he had tossed into the alchemy jar.
He had added an alchemical solution since it was heating itself anyway — he wondered how that had turned out.
No more boiling sounds came from the jar; the heating seemed to have finished.
When Lion peered inside… a single pearl-like pellet sat there plainly.
[Essence of the Labyrinth Carp (★)]
-Essence condensed by thoroughly simmering the innards of a carp that has absorbed the labyrinth’s mana.
-Permanently increases Mana Recovery Rate by a small amount upon consumption.
-Must be swallowed in pill form. The fishy smell is considerable; those with weak stomachs may suffer.
[Usage — Alchemy]
[☞ Reach Proficiency Lv. 1 to view the recipe.]
The Essence of the Carp.
It was something like a pill that could grant mana.
“But…”
Lion stared fixedly at the notification saying it would unlock at Proficiency Lv. 1.
For the first time, a recipe of the Skilled tier — not Apprentice — had appeared.
Which likely meant the effects would be quite tremendous.
‘I’m curious.’
It had also been quite a while since he had immersed himself in alchemy, what with everything going on.
Though he had been picking every herb he could find in between.
Lion took a quick look at his inventory.
Herbs were tidily sorted by color and grade. He had more than a bunch of each, so materials wouldn’t be an issue.
And wasn’t this place full of materials too?
If he could eat carp, plants should be ingestible as well.
“There’s more content here than I thought.”
There were a surprising number of things at this end of the labyrinth that he could plunder— no, use for self-improvement.
“Let’s give it a shot.”
He had nobody bothering him, and resources were plentiful.
If anywhere qualified as a so-called power-leveling spot, wasn’t it right here?
Lion grinned and clenched his fist.
“…Of course, I should make the daily necessities first.”
* * *
After that, Lion kept busy for several days.
He began each morning by pulling out the crude fish trap that had come with the Beginner Fishing Tool Set and checking what it had caught.
[Labyrinth Freshwater Crayfish (★)]
-As large as a common lobster, with excellent savory flavor.
-The head and shell can be used to make a special broth.
[Usage — Food]
[☞ Click to view the recipe.]
“Oh.”
The trap had caught crayfish.
Three of them, even.
It wasn’t a bad start to the day.
“Broth, huh.”
Come to think of it, he still had flour in his inventory. Boiling up some hand-torn noodle soup with that would probably be delicious.
“Gotta bring these back first.”
Lion gathered the crayfish and left them at camp, then shouldered his various tools and headed for the forest adjoining the lake.
It was certainly smaller than Mimir Forest, but a forest was still a forest.
“Resources are abundant again today.”
Fresh grass and trees. And the countless resources dropping beside them!
On top of that, maybe thanks to the labyrinth buff, the plants were shooting up day by day.
Even the banana sweet potato vines Lion had casually stuck in the ground were growing as vigorously as lettuce.
[Labyrinth Spicy Berry]
-Quite spicy when eaten raw!
-Becomes sweet when cooked.
[Usage — Food, Alchemy]
[☞ Click to view the recipe.]
This was…
Lion sniffed at it.
It was labeled a berry, but that smell and shape were…!
Garlic.
‘Nice.’
He had acquired one essential ingredient.
[Labyrinth Baby Mushroom]
-Small, but has good texture and taste.
-Grants a very small amount of mana when consumed.
[Usage — Food]
[☞ Click to view the recipe.]
Garlic to use as a cooking ingredient, button mushrooms… no, [Labyrinth Spicy Berry] and [Labyrinth Baby Mushroom], plus items for starting fires like [Dry Firewood], [Labyrinth Dry Branch], and [Labyrinth Dry Leaf]!
They would have been unnecessary under normal circumstances, but to the current Lion they were more important than anything else, so he was sweeping up everything in sight every morning.
“Should I eat first today and then head a bit deeper?”
It seemed like there was more fallen firewood and timber the deeper he went.
Since it was a forest inside the labyrinth, it was safe, and even if danger arose he could just ask the labyrinth system to send him back to camp. That gave him confidence.
“Let’s eat first.”
Lion dug up the plant in front of him with his hand hoe.
[Labyrinth Crown Daisy]
-Unlike ordinary crown daisies, this only develops proper flavor after it blooms.
-The flowers are pretty and seem likely to be in demand.
[Usage — Food]
[☞ Click to view the recipe.]
“The flowers really are pretty.”
He felt like this was his first time seeing crown daisy flowers.
He had eaten the leaves plenty of times, but once the flowers came up the grassy taste usually disappeared, so Lion, who had lived in the city center, had rarely encountered them.
‘I’ve heard older folks use them for flower tea, but…’
Even if he had seen them, they’d probably have been thoroughly dried.
Now that he was seeing fresh, vivid blossoms, they were colored just like a sunny-side-up egg, which made them rather appealing.
Lion carefully plucked a crown daisy bloom.
[Labyrinth Crown Daisy Flower (★)]
-A flower often used for landscaping. Good for planting in pots or flower beds!
-Selling price: 300 Shillings
“It’d be nice to stick these around the campgro— Huh?”
Lion read the description again.
-Selling price: 300 Shillings
“…It has a selling price?”
A description like that had never appeared before.
‘Could the Shilling Shop also be acting as a trading post?’
Lion carefully held the crown daisy flower and opened the Shilling Shop.
“Can you sell this?”
[Sell the item?]
The Shilling Shop measured the price without further explanation.
[Target Item: Labyrinth Crown Daisy Flower (★)]
[Offered Price: 250 Shillings (fee separate)]
“…Oh-ho?”
Lion checked the crown daisy flower’s info again.
It still stated a selling price starting from 300 Shillings.
That meant 300 Shillings was the minimum, yet the Shilling Shop was brazenly lowballing him at 250 Shillings. With the fee separate, too.
“Check again. It’s a flower good for landscaping. Are you trying to pass that off for a mere 250 Shillings?”
[It is indeed a landscaping flower, but it is judged to have no value beyond that.]
[Additionally, its grade is the lowest possible (★).]
[Offered Price: 250 Shillings (fee separate)]
So that’s how it wanted to play?
‘Seems like sales are only possible from one-star items upward.’
And on top of that, the item had to have a selling price attached.
He understood completely.
“Then it just needs more value, right? If you dry this crown daisy flower and brew it into tea, it’s good for the body.”
Lion put one hand on his hip and continued.
“It’s no exaggeration to call it a kind of alchemy ingredient. And since anyone can brew it, shouldn’t its value go up even more?”
Calling flower tea an alchemy ingredient was, in truth, an exaggeration.
But if he didn’t train them now, they would gouge him even worse later.
Three hundred Shillings becoming two hundred and fifty was fine.
But three million Shillings could become two and a half million Shillings, couldn’t it?
[You have a point.]
[Adjusting price…]
[Offered Price: 300 Shillings (fee separate)]
It seemed Lion’s argument had been accepted.
But he had no intention of stopping there.
“I gave you new information and you’re still going to charge a fee? Isn’t that too much?”
[The fee is mandatorily added according to Shilling Shop principles.]
Tch. So the fee was non-negotiable after all?
[The Shilling Shop always strives to listen to the customer’s opinion, and therefore…]
[Proposal: Fee reduction and upward price adjustment in accordance with new item information.]
[Accept?]
[YES / NO]
“…”
This actually worked?
And on top of that, if he argued well enough, he could even sell things at a higher price, couldn’t he?
Of course, the flip side meant that without knowledge, the price could be ground down endlessly. But that was nothing to worry about.
Building up knowledge solved that problem.
“I’ll accept.”
And above all, right then he was in trouble without the Shilling Shop.
[Item sold for 300 Shillings.]
[Retrieving the item.]
The crown daisy flower in Lion’s hand sparkled and vanished.
[Acquired 300 Shillings.]
And the payment settled instantly.
‘…Immediate settlement? Isn’t this crazy easy money?’
From then on, he could sell things to the Shilling Shop.
Before closing the Shilling Shop, Lion threw out one more question.
“Is it also possible to sell processed goods?”
[It is possible.]
[However, you currently possess no sellable items.]
[Counterfeit goods, defective goods, opened goods, used goods, etc. cannot be sold.]
In other words, if he wanted to sell something, he had to make a proper new one and bring it in.
“Got it.”
Lion closed the window, gathered the crown daisy and various other things, and returned.
That day had reaped quite a harvest.
“First, let’s get the campfire going.”
Whoosh!
After adding more dry firewood and leaves, Lion set a pot on top.
Since he happened to have plenty of ingredients, he thought he’d try making a soup today.
Even for Lion, eating nothing but grilled food was starting to get tiresome, so the timing was perfect.
Lion brought the water to a boil and began trimming the Labyrinth Spicy Berry on the cutting board.
It looked like garlic on the outside, but he needed to check what kind of seed was inside.
[Labyrinth Pungent Seed]
-Its pungent, spicy aroma is superb.
-Chewing it whole by mistake will draw tears due to its potent fragrance and taste, so be careful.
“Pepper.”
So this Spicy Berry was a complete spice set in its own right!
The flesh was garlic, and inside were round seeds like whole peppercorns.
‘Isn’t this… an absolute jackpot of a berry?’