The first thing that I heard was a husky feminine voice. "...Oh, shit, wait. There's actually someone here. Oops. Guess I took too long."
I jolted awake, blinking at the quest timer. [Having trouble deciding?] still had fifteen minutes left.
Shaking the sleep from my head, I pushed to my feet with a yawn and a stretch. Huh.
So you could actually fall asleep in this game…
Then the blood caught up with me. After sitting so long, standing too fast sent it rushing to my head. My vision blurred, knees wobbling like they might give out.
"Oi—hey!"
There was a clatter as my legs gave in and I fell to the ground with a thud. I bumped my forehead on something as I fell.
"Ow…" I rubbed my head.
"Jeez, are you okay?" A figure was crouched next to me, like they'd failed to grab me before I fell.
…
…
Wait.
Hang on.
Was there someone else in the room with me this entire time…? When did the receptionist get back??? Oh, shit—were they the voice I heard when I first woke up???
"Hello?" They asked, offering me a hand. "Can you hear me? You good?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks—" I looked up.
…
Oh.
My breath caught, loud and sharp in my own ears.
Oh, right.
This was what I bought this game for in the first place.
There was the soft scuffling of shoes against the wooden floor as they adjusted their weight and the faint, alluring scent of lilies as the warm shadow of the receptionist fell over me.
Crouching beside me was a tall woman with long brown hair, tied back in a ponytail. Her grey eyes shimmered like opalescent pearls, and she wore a white button-up shirt with a green tie and a suit vest. The top button of her shirt was undone and her sleeves had been rolled up. The loose knot of her tie swayed as she leaned forwards.
She was… big. I blinked, stealing a glance at her chest.
She gently brushed my forehead and cringed, pursing her pretty lips and furrowing her fine features. "No, you're not fine. That's got to hurt. Hang on, I'll get you something that'll help."
She then turned and walked away.
My mind mentally played the loading emoji before I promptly exploded. My heartrate spiked from a beeping flatline on a monitor to mountain level peaks.
I placed my hands on my forehead like I was trying to capture the feeling of her cold fingers lingering over my skin.
"The hell was that? Wow, she's so pretty… Is she really just an NPC?"
If the Alchemist school's receptionist was like this, then… were the other schools' receptionists also this attractive?
She soon returned and handed me a small vial. I scooted back onto the couch, flushing.
"Drink it," The receptionist said, pointing to the vial. "It'll help."
Normally I wouldn't accept a vial from a stranger without knowing what it was, but I tentatively took a sip. It was warm on the tongue and tasted like sweet red tea with the faint trace of hibiscus.
You have gained the status effect Regeneration (Lv.1)!
A soft hum filled my ears. Regeneration? I glanced at my health bar. The green bar was down three points, presumably from bumping my head earlier…
HP: 47 / 50
As I watched, it slowly rose back to my max HP.
HP: 47 / 50 → 48 / 50 → 49 / 50 → 50 / 50
Wow.
I stared at the vial, which didn't disappear even after I'd finished its contents. I guess this is what Alchemists can do. If only real life worked like this, with health points that could be healed with a drink... I sighed. We'd be able to save so many more lives.
I heard the receptionist speak in her low, deep, tones. "Are you better now?"
I felt like an idiot for ignoring her while I stared at the vial. Blood rose to my face as I forced myself to look in her eyes. My heart pounded. Looking her over, I just wanted to…
N-No. I shook my head. No indecent thoughts. Bad Hiyomi.
"Y-Yes, I'm better now. Thank you."
She sighed and turned away, waving over her shoulder. She stood and was already starting to walk back to the reception desk. "Yeah, no problem. You should get on your way. I doubt people'd respect you for coming here. Shitty alchemist school and all that."
I clutched the vial, my nails clicking against the glass as my fingers tightened around it. "W-Wait! What if I want to choose Alchemist as my class?"
Honestly, after seeing her, I was sold. Dead set. If she was the receptionist, then hell yes—I finally had a reason for being here besides my own physical incompetence.
She froze and turned back to me, her eyes disinterested like she was waiting for a punchline she'd heard so many times. "Ha, ha. Very funny. Like anyone'd actually—Oh, wait. Are you actually serious?"
I nodded.
She blinked, like she was caught off guard. "Are we being deadass here?"
I nodded again and laughed.
Whoever wrote her as an NPC and coded the swearing and personality needed a raise. She was amazing. That was another thing, too. How were her movements so natural, so organic? How could she react so perfectly to whatever I did and said?
Every shift in her posture, every breath, sigh, or rustle of cloth, even her lips closing softly as she spoke. Her voice was completely natural, as well—it carried a completely natural cadence.
Surely she wasn't an AI? Was she secretly a player? There wasn't an HP bar or anything above her head…
Either way, I wanted her to be mine, so badly.
I shelved my questions for now and nodded. "Yes. I'd like to be an Alchemist."
She still stared at me like she couldn't believe it. "Can I ask why?"
"Uhm. I'm kind of… physically weak… the spells just didn't really make sense either, so I thought this might be the only class I'd be half-decent at…" I shrank with embarrassment after every word. My palms felt clammy against the smooth glass of the vial like I was a first-day intern fumbling with paperwork under the sterile tang of hospital disinfectant.
Why was I explaining myself to an NPC in the first place?
Luckily, she returned my gaze and laughed. "You know what, that's fair."
I breathed a sigh of relief, but what she said made me think. Shitty alchemist school? Why was she degrading her own school? Looking around, there wasn't a single person inside the Alchemist school outside of us two.
I opened and closed my mouth, hesitating. Would it be offensive to ask? Well, I could probably at least ask about the latter bit.
She noticed my mouth flopping like a fish on dry land. "Do you have something to say?"
Suddenly I felt super self conscious of my short skirt, fiddling with the bumpy hem absent-mindedly. "U-Uhm… Can I ask you something?"
"Shoot."
"Why are we the only people here? Aside from newbie players, shouldn't there be more people here as well, just to, you know, run the school?"
The receptionist laughed sadly. "Well, there were a couple of players that arrived to begin with. A good bunch, actually. After I told them about the School, they all left. As for academic personnel… we have three professors, but they're all in the back at the moment."
I struggled to focus on the quest timer with the receptionist so close to me. I yanked my eyes from her and glanced at the numbers scrolling down, counting the time I had left. There were still ten minutes remaining.
"I… see." I now fidgeted with my hands in my lap. "Can you please tell me about the Alchemism school?"
More blinking from the receptionist, followed by a grin.
"Yeah, sure. Can you stand? I'll take you around and explain while I'm at it." Her footsteps echoed softly on the wooden planks as she offered me a hand.
I took it.
Hey, who am I to refuse her?
- - -
She led me around to the back corner, where I'd seen all the ingredients. There was a distinct strange and tingly smell that I couldn't quite place as we arrived at the cupboards.
The receptionist's voice rose a bit in volume and quickened as she began to speak, like this was a topic she was truly passionate about.
"Alchemism comes down to three principles: Matter, Knowledge, and Application."
I nodded as she gestured to the massive collection of ingredients.
"Normally, we stick to potions like the one I gave you."
She plucked out a jar and tapped it with a finger, the glass echoing with a soft, hollow, clink. Inside, fire-red grass shifted in the sunlight, releasing a faint, peppery scent.
"It's not just healing. We can brew buffs, or even vials you hurl like grenades. Potions cover a lot. We don't wield magic ourselves—but with the right mix, we can make it."
She tapped the jar again, and the glass rang.
"That brings us to the first principle: Matter. Alchemism is expensive. Ingredients, vials, containers—you can burn through gold faster than water sizzling on hot stone."
Oh. So that's why this place wasn't packed with players. Since you didn't start with gold at character creation, that meant you had no way to play Alchemist unless you grinded for a presumably long time.
The receptionist set down the jar with care. "Sometimes, if we're in a pinch, we go out and gather our materials ourselves. However, of course, that brings dangers in itself. Plus, it's extremely tedious."
Harvesting. More grinding. Yep. Most people would rather sprint toward quests than pick weeds or cut down mushrooms and the like. Hell, even grinding levels by fighting enemies would be more exciting.
The receptionist continued, and leaned lightly on a nearby table, causing it to squeak softly. She fixated her eyes on my face. Her stare pinned me harder than the lecture. I forced myself to focus on her words.
"Next is Knowledge. We've got an entire library in the back filled with recipes and techniques. Years' worth. I've been here forever and still haven't finished."
Okay, now that made tonnnnnnns more sense. Grinding was one thing, but here it was, the bane of existence of pretty much every single video game player ever: reading.
I grinned. Reading didn't scare me.
Most gamers would cry, but I'd easily made it through undergrad, med school, and endless patient and shift reports. My reading speed and comprehension were already through the roof.
Hit me with your tomes. I'll finish your entire library in a week. Okay, fine, two to be safe, but the idea still counts, so shush.
Our footsteps echoed on the wooden floor as she then led me to a worktable. Small burners, glass vials, a mortar and pestle, more than a dozen other tools I couldn't name—even with a biochem degree and a medical career, half of it was a mystery.
Though I guess, this was fantasy, after all. Some things were bound to be new.
"Lastly, Application," she said, resting a hand on the equipment. "This is the most important principle. We use these to fabricate our creations. The timing, the measurements, the way you handle ingredients—get any of that wrong, and the potion's quality drops."
"I see…"
She glanced back at me. "So, do you still want to be an Alchemist?" the receptionist asked.
I thought for a bit and exhaled. The main thing I gathered about Alchemist as a class is that it wasn't new-player friendly. Expensive, grind-heavy, brain-intensive. But big deal. I'm a doctor. I've been through worse.
Besides, if I get to see the receptionist often because of it…
Hehe~
Well, I'd be a happy woman.
"Yes," I replied. "I want to be an Alchemist."
She smiled. "Well then, congrats on becoming an Alchemist." A small fanfare sounded and an all-new expanded status window popped up.
———
Player name: HA_MDwastaken
Class / Level: Alchemist (new!), Lv. 1
HP: 50 / 50
Mana: 50/50
Stamina: 50 / 50
Str: 0
Vit: 0
Magic: 0
Def: 0
Agi: 0
(See detailed overview)
———