Chapter 5
[The Heart of the Golden Dragon]
The highest-tier elixir in the mana category that increases intelligence, wisdom, and total mana—Dragon Heart.
And among all Dragon Hearts, the very best is The Heart of the Golden Dragon.
That’s because it’s the final-tier elixir of “First,” obtainable only by defeating its strongest boss monster, the Golden Dragon.
Of course, other elixirs weren’t easy to come by either.
[Millennium He Shou Wu]
This elixir boosts all stats, making it an excellent high-grade tonic for anyone.
[Elf’s Tear]
Elf’s Tear was one of the very few ways to increase Spirit Affinity or Animal Affinity—stats that are otherwise nearly impossible to raise.
There were also others, like “Sky Blue Oil” or “Self-Righteousness of the Face-Snatching Lord.”
My subspace, Luke’s storage, was full of various elixirs I’d collected back in “First.”
“I’d love to take them all right now…”
I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head.
Hadn’t I already confirmed this before?
Using an item when you don’t meet its requirements causes its effectiveness to scale down to your current level.
In other words, taking a high-level elixir without meeting the conditions would waste its potential.
A prime example? The Heart of the Golden Dragon.
[Heart of the Golden Dragon]
(Untradeable)
Type: Elixir
Grade: Mythical
Requirement: Level 1000+, must have defeated the Golden Dragon
Description: A Dragon Heart left behind by the greedy Golden Dragon, who desired the entire world atop his mountain of gold. Said to grant power on par with dragons when consumed.
Level requirement: 1000.
The maximum level in “First.”
And only those who defeated the Golden Dragon can consume it.
Of course, with my current abilities, I could probably bypass those requirements and still absorb its power… but I’d likely only absorb 1% of the original power.
No—given the level difference, maybe even just 0.1%.
Even then, considering this is a Mythical-grade elixir, absorbing just 0.1% would still be powerful.
But I didn’t go through all that trouble just to waste it like that.
‘Same goes for the others.’
Sure, if I took them all now, I’d power up quickly—but if I wait and use them strategically as I level up, I’ll maximize their effectiveness.
No need to rush and waste rare elixirs.
So…
“Luke, sort out the elixirs I can take at level 1—or those with no level restriction.”
– Understood.
I asked Luke to filter them.
Immediately, the number of elixirs in front of me decreased drastically.
What remained:
-
[Red Apple of Vital Energy]
-
[Small Mana Crystal]
-
[Mandragora’s Sprout]
-
[Windflower Extract]
-
[A Sip of Fox Rain]
Five in total.
The red apple boosts health and recovery.
The mana crystal increases mana and regeneration.
The sprout gives a small overall stat boost, the extract raises agility, and the fox rain increases various resistances.
Compared to The Heart of the Golden Dragon, they might seem disappointing—but for a level 1 beginner, this was an extremely luxurious lineup.
“Shall I get started?”
Elixirs are usually consumed as-is.
You drink it, and your stats go up accordingly.
But—who am I?
Rank 1 in “First.” Mir.
I’d consumed countless elixirs and mastered production-type skills alongside combat in order to create all kinds of items.
Because of that, I knew how to optimize elixir efficiency.
“Luke, get me an alchemy kit.”
– Shall I bring out the Great Sage’s Alchemy Kit?
– Or perhaps the Legendary Alchemist Paracelsus’s Alchemy Kit…?
“No need for something that good. These are just level 1 elixirs. A rare-grade kit will do.”
– Understood.
I wasn’t trying to refine The Heart of the Golden Dragon, after all.
If I used an overly advanced kit, it might shorten the time too much and make the refinement unstable.
So I pulled out a level 1 rare-grade alchemy kit and began alchemizing in earnest.
“Even without the skill…”
Normally, you need the Alchemy skill to do this.
But back in “First,” I reached the top without it.
For level 1 elixirs, I can manage just fine.
[Using ‘Deep Learning Alchemy Kit.’]
[No alchemy skill detected.]
[Success rate reduced due to lack of dedicated skill.]
Success rate? Doesn’t matter.
I didn’t need to rely on skills—I knew I could do this.
“Start with the longest step first.”
First, I fixed the small mana crystal to the top of the kit.
I connected the mana circuit and began extracting its mana.
Next, I juiced the red apple, diluted it with the fox rain to remove impurities, and used the windflower extract to refine the core energy.
Finally, I infused it all into the mandragora sprout and allowed it to steep.
Once the potion took shape, I was done.
It may sound simple, but without skills, it took serious concentration to manually control temperature, timing, and ratios.
But once it was finished—
I knew it.
Even without skills, I had succeeded.
[You’ve succeeded in your first alchemical synthesis.]
[Result: Great Success]
[Beginner’s Elixir Potion]
Type: Potion
Grade: Unique
Requirement: Level 1+
Description: A top-tier beginner potion synthesized from five elixirs, centered around Mandragora’s Sprout.
A unique-grade potion from the first try?
Item grades in “First” go: Low, Mid, High, Rare, Heroic, Unique, Epic, Legendary, Mythical.
These were level 1 rare- and high-grade elixirs. Even a successful synthesis should’ve only produced a Heroic item.
But this was a Great Success.
So I also got this:
[Achievement Unlocked: Alchemical Talent]
Condition: Create Heroic-grade or higher on first synthesis
Reward: +10% Alchemy Success Rate
Bonus: +5 Intelligence
I even unlocked an achievement.
Even a Heroic-grade would’ve been enough, but I created a Unique item, so I got bonus stat rewards too.
+5 Intelligence!
All thanks to pulling out the kit and giving it my all.
“Let’s give it a taste.”
A unique-grade potion—normally, I wouldn’t expect much from a level 1 elixir, but this was different.
This one was worth being excited about.
Gulp, gulp.
The potion was so thick from the condensed energy it felt syrupy going down.
Unlike in “First,” it actually had flavor now… though not necessarily a good one.
Bitter—like most healthy medicine.
Luckily, the apple juice made it bearable.
As soon as I finished it—
[You have consumed ‘Beginner’s Elixir Potion.’]
[Max HP increased.]
[HP regeneration increased.]
[Max mana increased.]
[Mana regeneration increased.]
[Strength +10]
[Agility +20]
…
A flood of system messages appeared before my eyes.
Too many to read one by one—so I opened my status window.
[Status Window]
Name: Mir
Level: 1
Class: –
Strength: 30
Agility: 40
Constitution: 40
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 30
“This is insane.”
Massive stat boosts.
For level 1, these stats were unreal.
Even I could hardly believe it.
And this was just the basic view—max HP, mana, regeneration, resistances, all massively increased.
My stats were at a level most players wouldn’t reach until well after leaving the beginner village.
“I’ll just take the other elixirs gradually as I level up.”
Even now, my stats had skyrocketed.
But this wasn’t the end.
There were tons of elixirs in Luke’s subspace.
At level 10, I could start using the next tier—and gain even more stats.
Eventually, by consuming them all…
I’d gain overwhelming power, regardless of my level.
“Next up…”
Lying on the soft inn bed, I thought about my next step.
How to best use the “First” items I’d brought with Luke to become even stronger.
The first decision was obvious: choosing a class.
This was the Starting City, after all.
The place where all players found their talents and selected their job.
And to do that…
“Let’s go hunting first.”
I needed to level up.
* * *
[Western Gate of the Starting City]
As soon as I made up my mind, I left the city.
The Western Gate.
This is where all “Second” players came for their first hunt.
Commonly called the Beginner’s Hunting Ground.
“Wow, how long has it been since I’ve been to a beginner zone?”
Of course, it was different from “First.”
But the overall layout hadn’t changed much.
Most noticeably, the beginner monsters bouncing around outside the gate—
Their identity?
Wobble, wobble.
[Slime]
Slimes.
Shapeless monsters that look like living puddles of goo.
They moved slowly and had pitiful attack power—perfect prey for beginners.
They slithered along the ground, dissolving whatever they touched.
Their bodies were acidic, but weakly so—not dangerous unless you stuck your hand into one.
“Back then, I hunted these like crazy just to get used to VR sensations.”
– Is that so?
“Oh, right. You wouldn’t know. We made our contract in the late game.”
– The Master I knew was always the strongest in the world.
Anyway, I came here for a simple reason:
To get a class in the Starting City, you needed to reach level 10.
There are many ways to level up, but the easiest and fastest is hunting.
‘But mindless grinding isn’t efficient.’
In “First,” I always researched the most efficient methods.
Even in the beginner zone, I wasn’t going to slack off.
The best way to level up here was—
Quests.
And there was only one NPC in the beginner area who gave out quests.
“Hey, Guard.”
“Oh! A new adventurer! Excellent timing. We’ve had an influx of slimes at the west gate—it’s becoming a problem!”
If “Second” followed “First,” then just completing the Guard’s quest chain should be enough to hit level 10 quickly.
And if the hidden conditions I remembered were still valid…
Following the guard’s quest line might lead me to uncover a hidden monster.
