Premium Recovery Potion

I had come back to Earth on Day 8, and between one thing and another, Day 13 had arrived before I knew it.

"Guess I really ought to raise my login level."

The seven-day cooldown didn't feel especially long. On Earth and in the rift dimension alike, there was more work than I could finish; chip away at the list, and the cooldown would be up before I noticed. Even so, there was a clear difference between stepping in and out whenever the urge struck, and simply gritting my teeth until the timer ran down. I'd felt that difference all the more keenly while putting this business deal together — or whatever you wanted to call it.

"If I'm going to farm, it's an investment I can't avoid."

If this were still my Farming World 1, back when I was only playing the game, I might not have spared a thought for login cooldowns at all. Leave that place alone and the farm ran itself, whether I logged in after a month or after a year. Keep the seed stock filled, and the NPCs planted them; the sprinklers watered on their own, the fertilizer went down, someone checked every day for problems, and once the crops were grown they were harvested and tucked into the warehouse. Age them into wine, cook them down into jam — the system handled every last step without a hitch.

My farm now was nothing like that. With me gone, the rift-dimension farm had no one but Ruru, and at her best she could pick up a watering can and fetch water — a useless little glutton. I could plant whatever I liked; none of it would actually grow. In the end, the farm only turned while I was there.

For a ten-year Farming World veteran, that was unacceptable.

Peak inefficiency.

In a game where farming was the main loop, everything else had to be done in the time left over once the crops were in the ground. That was where the efficiency came from. This was my reality now, no longer Farming World at all, but the rule hadn't changed. If anything, selling Recovery Herbs out in the real world had made me fold, for good, on the idea of making hunting my focus in the rift, and settle on farming instead. Only once farming had a solid stake in the ground could hunting and growth follow.

Of course, right now I had nothing to my name but a single SSS+ Rank combat ability, so hunting was bound to look like the bigger moneymaker. I'd gotten lucky, too. But would it stay that way?

The moment I went back, I would need Recovery Herb seeds. To get them, I would have to restore the village, and I would need Farm on hand to buy the seeds in the first place. Which meant the three hundred thousand dollars sitting in my account was nothing more than Farm set aside for the future, cashed out here and now. I needed a plan for keeping the farm running more steadily than this.

"Oppa, what are you doing?"

"What?"

"Jihyun's here."

I was still sprawled out doing nothing in particular when Lee Jihyun arrived at the house. Her face was bright.

"This is huge."

She drew the potions she had made from her bag and set them on the table. Exactly ten — the number she had promised to bring as samples. I picked one up at random.

"Oh... is this actually good?"

I knew recovery potions were essential consumables for hunters heading into a dungeon, and I knew that vitality, to a hunter, was something like a health bar in a game. Reality didn't come with a true bar that killed you the instant it hit zero — there were vital spots, and any number of other ways to die — but vitality was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠close enough to a health bar for practical purposes. So long as the wound wasn't an instantly fatal blow, a recovery potion could heal it to some degree. That was one of the reasons hunters could stake their lives on a dungeon at all. A single minor ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠injury could crater the combat power of a human body, and a recovery potion patched that frailty up, after a fashion.

Which was why the things cost more than you would think. Considering how expensive Recovery Herbs were as the main ingredient, it was only natural. The herbs I had sold Jihyun had gone for a hundred and fifty dollars at D+ and five hundred at C-, so a potion brewed from them would have to cost more than that.

"Everything I brought was made by mixing C- Recovery Herb berries with D+ ones. There was some trial and error, but when I put them in at a one-to-two ratio, they came out C-."

"Three berries ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just to make one potion?"

"It depends on your alchemy skill rank. I can make one with two berries, but that goes in one-to-one and comes out D+. To get a C- potion, I needed three."

"Ah."

"The berries you gave me were such good quality that an extra effect attached to the recovery potion. I haven't been awakened long, but I've never seen that happen. My Quality Ingredients passive actually triggering — that's a genuine first."

Jihyun chattered on, lit up with excitement. Somewhere along the way I had become Boss, and there was no end to her praise of the intermediate recovery potion.

"Honestly, if we sell these as premium, the way you said, Boss, I don't think we could keep them in stock. High-rank hunters especially carry intermediate or advanced recovery potions for emergencies, and this one is only intermediate in name. The effect is nearly advanced, and once you add the mana recovery, it's actually a better deal than an advanced potion..."

Dad, who had been listening off to the side, agreed and looked at me.

"How much are you going to sell them for?"

"How much do you want to sell them for?"

Jihyun was the one who had made the potions. I had sold her the materials on credit; she would brew the potions and sell them to Dad; Dad would find a buyer and take a margin. So the question was what price to hand the potions over at. Strictly speaking, that call belonged to Jihyun — but she had looked at me when she asked, which put the choice in my hands.

"Hmm."

Not that it mattered much who set the number.

"What does an intermediate usually go for?"

"An intermediate recovery potion restores about thirty percent vitality, give or take three percent depending on the alchemist. Something in that range trades for around two thousand dollars."

"Oh..."

"Ours starts from a base of thirty percent, and the berries apply an additional thirty percent recovery effect, which brings it to thirty-nine. Then my skill adds another six percent on top of that."

"What percent does an advanced restore?"

"An advanced starts at a base of forty percent. They usually use B-rank Recovery Herbs, and the alchemists handling them are mostly B-rank or higher, so it tends to land around forty-five percent. The price sits at about ten thousand dollars."

"Then we ought to treat this as advanced, shouldn't we? It restores mana, too."

A ten percent increase in mana recovery per minute, for ten minutes, sounded like a scrap of an option. It wasn't. Mana that recovered at a flat twenty percent a minute would recover at thirty instead, which meant a full extra hundred percent mana over those ten minutes. Put simply, I could fire Leap Slash twelve times in five minutes and twenty-four times in ten. Drink this intermediate recovery potion, and that became thirty-six casts in ten minutes. Only ten minutes — but mana efficiency jumped by half. A doping potion, plain and simple. It restored vitality and, at the same time, dragged out one last desperate surge of power. There wasn't even a penalty. Drink it, and you could use it whenever you liked.

I looked at Dad. It was a family business, sure, but strictly speaking Jihyun and I were in the same boat, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lower he could drive the price, the fatter the margin he would keep. There was no real need to negotiate with him. I was only asking out of courtesy, sounding him out.

"Dad, if you sell these, how much can you get?"

"Hard to say. I've never sold anything like this, so I'd have to start with some market research and see whether anyone would even buy them. Still, I think Jihyun's right — we could price them against advanced potions. Only the name says intermediate. Recovery potions are priced by how much they restore."

An ordinary recovery potion had a fixed restoration amount, and a low-rank alchemist received no bonus recovery, so they were all much the same. As rank climbed, though, the recovery modifier climbed with it. A potion that restored thirty-five or thirty-seven percent instead of a flat thirty was bound to cost more.

"Of course, some hunters will balk just because it's called intermediate. Price it a little under an advanced potion, and it should move quickly."

Speaking as a businessman, Dad had pressed his own side of it as firmly as he could.

"Hmm... still, a potion like this... if we can just keep making them, we really could name our price."

In the end he was giving ground. Whether that was because I was his son, or simply his conscience — or because the goods were good enough that, exclusive contract or not, he didn't want to leave Jihyun with a bad impression — the advantage had settled on our side either way.

I named the figure without hedging.

"I'll let you have them for ten thousand dollars. A margin isn't really the point for you anyway, is it, Dad?"

"You could charge more. I was planning to sell them without taking a cut, just like you said."

"We're good. A deal lasts longer when there's something left on the table. Honestly, we're the ones keeping the biggest margin as it is."

"That's right, Father. I'm satisfied."

Jihyun jumped in, bright with excitement, wearing the look of someone who hadn't really believed the price would land this high.

"But this is all of the C- stock. I ruined two berries down to D+ while I was experimenting, and I only had ten C- berries to begin with... The rest should come out as D+ potions. If I get lucky while I'm making them, a few might still turn out C-."

"For those, just check the recovery amount and pass them along. Don't charge extra for the bonus options. If a different option attaches, tell me about that one."

"Yes, Boss!"

Honestly, even I was a little surprised. Five hundred dollars for a Recovery Herb berry was a figure I had more or less hammered out and marked up on the spot — and yet mix one of those with a hundred-and-fifty-dollar berry, toss in a few other materials, and ingredients worth somewhere around a thousand dollars had just sold for ten thousand. That was only because they had gone to a wholesaler. If I set my mind to selling them myself, I could probably get even more. There were still plenty of Recovery Herb berries left, and an absurd number of Recovery Herb leaves besides.

The solid weight of farming. It didn't give an inch to the gloves or the dagger.