MONSTER MMORPG: Mayhem Online

Walking in front of the rows of books, I could see their titles.

[Book of Basic Herbs]

[Fundamentals of Alchemy]

[Incantations and circles]

[Book of Alchemy]

[Recipe of everyday health issues]

[Book of Poison]

[Graded Incantations]

The book of poison immediately grabbed my eyes, and I picked it up, wanting to check the contents.

[Book of Poison

Type: Consumable Item

Grade: Rare

Use this book to gain rare knowledge about poisons and their cure.

Contents: Knowledge of Poisons, Knowledge of Anti-poison ingredients, Knowledge of antidote alchemy.]

"That is good stuff. I am sure it can help in some way to cure the princess\' poison. Just a reminder, but many alchemists, doctors, players, and NPCs have already tried to save the princess. So unless you have a really good alchemist with you, it will be impossible to do anything. You better don\'t spend your money then."

Bowser said truthfully. They wanted me to join their guild, obviously, so he tried to keep a truthful attitude to show his sincerity.

"Nah, it is good. But I am not really looking for an antidote. I\'ll still buy this though. How much is it?"

"Huh? It\'s… maybe 10,000 gold? It\'s worth 15,000 at least. But, why don\'t you need the book for the quest?"

"8,000 seems fair to me. Take it or leave it."

"Okay, it\'s fine. Not like we use it anyways."

Bowser immediately agreed to the lowered price, making me feel like I should have said a lower price.

After that, I picked out another book.

[Book of Alchemy

Type: Consumable Item

Grade: Rare

Use this book to gain rare knowledge about alchemy.

Learn various types of alchemy circles, chance enhancing incantations and various information about alchemy.]

[Congratulations! A new function of Night Alchemist has been unlocked!]

[Gaze deeper into an item and bring out its origins. If an item has hidden potential, it would be discovered by Night Alchemist\'s Appraisal.]

[This item has hidden potential! Hidden potential unlocked.]

The plain book in hand started changing in front of everyone\'s eyes, pieces of ash falling off of it as the normal cover was replaced with a leathery green cover with vines and leaves making the border. The book got visible thicker with an emerald-coloured gemstone ingrained in the middle of it.

[Book of True Alchemy

Type: Soulbound Item

Grade: Special

*This item can\'t be consumed.

A book containing the secrets of alchemy, left behind by the famous Magi Prolus. It contains various secrets of alchemy discovered throughout Prolus\'s life.

He had written this book and disguised it with magic so that only a person truly talented in the ways of alchemy would be able to uncover its secret.]

[\'Book of True Alchemy\' has been bound to your soul, it can\'t be gifted, transferred, stolen, or dropped at death.]

`Hoh? Someone actually uncovered the secret of my book?`

I heard a young voice inside my head, and couldn\'t help but feel creeped out.

"Whoa! Did the book just change in front of our eyes? What the actual f—"

"Control your language, Lynch. What happened, Shura?"

Lynch cried out in alarm as Bowser shut him down and asked me if everything was alright.

"I… I am fine. But this book….ha…haha."

I couldn\'t help but laugh nervously. Their rare book turned out to be an actual Special grade book, not to mention it was now bound to my soul. I didn\'t even know what to tell them and what not to.

"You okay dude? What happened to the book? Why is it shedding skin like a snake?"

Fender\'s voice was heard as he asked the question which was plaguing the trio\'s mind.

"Well, something out of my control happened. Let\'s….talk about it?"

I said nervously.

***

"What? You\'re an alchemist?!!"

After my explanation, the trio exclaimed together.

"Yes and no. But that\'s not the main point, the book is now soul bound to me…"

I tried to bring them to the crux of the matter instead of dwelling on my job.

"No, no-no. Didn\'t the world message state that your class is related to blades? How come are you an alchemist?"

"Alchemist is just a job of mine, my class is… bladesman."

I tried to explain without revealing too much information.

"An alchemist as a job…? Have you guys heard of it before…"

Lynch asked slowly, in a tone that said he didn\'t believe it. The other two shook their heads.

"Bro, I am gonna go now if you guys keep ignoring the main topic."

I said in an annoyed tone. These people kept forgetting that they just lost a special grade item just like that and dwelled on matters that didn\'t concern them.

"Didn\'t you say the item is soul bound to you?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then what\'s the point of even asking us. Even if we kill you, we won\'t get the item back, so it\'s better in your hands. Ah, yes! Consider this a favour and join our guild."

Bowser talked and midway slapped a favour on me out of nowhere.

"Nope. I am not joining any guilds."

"Just try once."

"No means no."

"At least look at the benefits."

"No."

"Okay, join as a guest member."

"That… sounds convincing. But still a no. Look, I don\'t have any personal beef with you, I just don\'t want to join any guild. Maybe I\'ll create my own in future."

Bowser and I kept talking as he tried to rope me into the guild and I kept declining. Honestly, they seemed like nice people, and I wouldn\'t mind joining the guild, but I didn\'t want to feel betrayed again. That\'s why I planned to make my own guild instead of joining others.

"...your own guild? That sounds like a plan, but do you know that the formation of a guild costs a million gold coins, not to mention the maintenance and expansion…"

Bowser replied, and that\'s the first time I learnt that forming a guild costs a million gold coins.

\'That\'s a hundred thousand dollars. What the fuck are the developers thinking?\'

"Still, I\'ll not be joining your guild."

"Five million."

Bowser said with a straight face when he thought that he wouldn\'t be able to convince me.

"What?"

"Five million gold coins."

"What are you talking about?"

"The payment for the special item that you just took from us. Either give the item or the money."

"....."

Now, that was a clear jab. I felt myself breaking apart like a mirror. I wanted to deny everything and run away, but these influential people could find me in real life to take the money if I didn\'t give it to them now.

"A guest guild member, right? I am in."

"..."

This time, it was the trio\'s turn to be speechless. They looked at me like I was the most shameless being in the world.

Ahem!

"I have some other stuff I would like to look at. Can I?"

Lynch just nodded his head, still speechless.

I went around and checked more of the alchemy section.

[Twilight Pen

Type: Alchemy Equipment

Grade: Uncommon

Durability: 30/30 Damage: None

*Extra 1% chance of successful alchemy.

*Can be used to draw circles for Alchemy on different kinds of surfaces.

A basic item to draw various kinds of patterns for alchemy. It uses mana stone to replace ink.

Durability will be consumed after every few tries.

User Restriction: Alchemist.]

[Ice Cauliflower

Type: Ingredient

Grade: Uncommon

An Ice Cauliflower found in the Frost Forest of Crystal Dukedom. It is said to have miraculous healing effects and can be fed to beasts.

It has the effect of calming down nerves.]

[Ice Grapes

Type: Ingredient

Grade: Uncommon

A bunch of Ice Grapes found in the Frost Forest of Crystal Dukedom. It can be brewed into a delicious vine and can be fed to beasts.

It has an intoxicating effect which makes one\'s head lighter.]

[Sorlis\' Horns

Type: Mineral

Grade: Rare

A horn of the Sorlis beast. It is extremely tough and can be used in item creation.

Items formed from it will gain higher physical damage.]

There were multiple such items, and I simply picked up almost everything as they were much cheaper. After that, I transferred the total amount to Bowser.

"....you have the legendary class in your friend list now…"

Lynch commented with jealousy. I became Bowser\'s friend since I was sending him money.

"Oh, you are already level 142? Wow!"

Bowser exclaimed. He was already near the 200-level milestone. I don\'t know what he was wowing for.

"It\'s nothing special. You are… level 197… damn!"

I checked his level in my friend list and couldn\'t help but comment.

"Didn\'t your level reset when you gained the legendary class? It\'s already unimaginable how you reached such a high level so soon."

—-Cough! Cough! Cough!

I suddenly choked on air after hearing that. I never knew so much was revealed about the legend class already. How did he know that my level was reset?

"Y-Yeah… I kinda just got lucky."

I tried to hide my surprise as I hurriedly started walking out of the treasury.

"Let\'s go. Nameless and Gomchul are waiting for me. And I want to complete the princess quest as soon as possible."

"Oh, yes. About that, actually, how are you so confident about it? And you said you wouldn\'t even need the book of poison for it? Isn\'t the princess poisoned?"

"Just tag along with me if you want to see how I am going to clear the quest. Just make sure you don\'t bring the whole guild."

"Yes, okay. And…you have yet to join the guild, let me send you an invitation."

Ting!

I immediately got the notification of the guild invitation.

[\'Bowser\' has invited you to join the Chrysanthemum guild as a \'Special Member\'.]

[Would you like to accept the invitation?]

[Yes] [No]

\'Well, here goes nothing.\'

[You have joined the Chrysanthemum Guild as a Special Member.]

I just hope I don\'t regret this later.