I had stopped midway through as I was thinking deeply about what to do.
My greediness got the best of me. as I walked back to Erika's home and began drinking all potions, leaving only one behind.
Yes, I could get more money out of them, but what's money if there is not strength for me to use and grow stronger with it? I had promised the Merchant a single potion, the rest are just extras for me.
Eleanora had slightly influenced me in this, but I couldn't help but think that she was right. I knew that I could leave them for later when I needed to regenerate Mana, but I needed the Mana now, so I could cultivate it and slowly increase it more over time.
Cultivation is like investing in galactic stocks, you need to invest a lot of credits to make any actual money, so I require a lot of Mana to "invest" so I can get more out of it at the end.
So drinking them all was my only option.
While stuffing myself with them, I began to feel a bit dizzy, but I managed to drink them all while Erika and her father looked at me dumbfounded.
"B-Blake… you just drank so much… gold…" sighed Erika's father.
"Eh… Is your tummy okay?" asked Erika.
"Yes, I am okay… Ungh… Perhaps a bit stuffed… Ah… Yeah, I am fine." I sighed, sitting on the floor.
My stomach was filled with potions, which made me feel rather sickly.
My mana was also overflowing as it was regenerating constantly, I ended gaining a good amount of permanent Mana from it, and even my magic power, which is named Intelligence in this Grimoire, also increased.
[You've gained +38 Mana and +19 Intelligence]
[Your Mana has recovered to maximum value]
[You have reached the maximum value of Mana and Intelligence that can be gained out of this Potion: Mana: 50/50 / Intelligence: 25/25]
It seems that the amount I gain with each potion was random, although I noticed that it began to decrease as I drank more, I ended up reaching the limit of how many permanent stats I could gain out of this Potion type… interesting, so there are limits to this?
Perhaps I just need to make the same potion but slightly different now. Although to "slightly change it" I require new materials, and such materials cannot be easily found around here.
I looked into the Grimoire while slowly recovering, as I found the changes in the numerical values.
Name: Blake Hunter Goathorn
Spirit Orb Realm: Rank 1 (Initial Stage)
< Health Points: 28 / 28 >
< Mana Points: 12 / 12 -> 62 / 62 >
< Intelligence: 31 -> 56 >
Good. 62 Mana seems to be a good enough amount of Mana for now. With this, I can easily begin to nourish my body and open up my Mana Veins. I could even begin the creation of a Magic Circle inside of my soul, although I don't know if it will even be possible for me as of now…
I simply had to look at my own hands and the rest of my body to realize there was a faint, blue-colored aura coming out of my entire body, this was the amazing aura of all the Mana I had gained by drinking these Mana Potions.
This entire thing ended playing to my favor more than I could have imagined. I did a good job in taking this opportunity when I had it, even if I risked making myself look strange in front of my father, it was something I had to risk.
Thankfully, my father is a simple man, and he didn't seem to mind it after a while, believing the bullshit I told him about the Holy Spirits.
To be honest, I felt bad to be such a filthy liar to the only people I care in this world, so I will try to make up for it from what I might earn from this opportunity.
"Now, I shall be going." I said.
Erika and her father looked at me with eyes wide open as I walked off. I suppose they were surprised over my strange behavior and antics, but there was nothing I could do at the moment.
I made my way back to town and found the merchant there, he had just sold a rusty set of armor for a price that should be deemed illegal.
"Thank you for your preference, dear customer!" he said.
He acted way more polite with those that paid him money, I see. A typical merchant, I suppose.
"I am back, here's your potion." I said, putting the blue-colored bottle over the table.
"Huh? So fast? Don't tell me you just mixed everything with water and came here thinking that's a potion?" he asked angrily, as he grabbed the bottle and looked at it.
Suddenly, I saw something emerging out of his chest. It was a strange Tool Spirit resembling a pair of glasses. I had never seen one of these before.
He wore it and then the Tool Spirit glowed brightly with golden light, this was followed by his face quickly changing from angry and dissatisfied to utter disbelief.
He looked at the bottle several times and then back at me for around twelve times until he sat down in his chair and gently deposited the Potion inside a wooden box, covering it with many types of leather for it to be well guarded.
"How…? How were you able to make such a thing… I can't believe it. A Unique Grade… item…" he said.
"Yes, I did it. I told you I was talented, but nobody in this village ever provided any opportunities for my talents to blossom." I said.
"Y-You're a gold mine! I can't believe it! You… This potion alone would cost roughly a thousand gold coins! D-Do you think you can make more like these?!" he asked.