A New World, An Immersive Game Experience

By the time Eldrian finished paging through the book another two days had passed and he now had a list of almost thirty non-magical plants. Each mentioned to be strangely effective in some kind of medical treatment or another. There was also a handful that was highly dangerous and often used in poisons.

Curiously, the vita daffodil was actually a common ingredient in many medicinal treatments. It was treated by apothecaries as a medical flower that poor farmers and villagers could easily find in the wild to treat a great variety of illnesses.

This was what the normal text stated, but that was not all on the page about the vita daffodil. There were unauthorized notes scribbled around the page extolling its virtues past the common use.

These notes declared that medicine produced with a vita daffodil as the main ingredient wasn't magical, but their effects were excellent, comparable to Tier 1 potions despite being a tea or salve.

As for actual magical potions, the notes declared that the flower could be used as an optional ingredient in almost all basic healing potions. The potions would work with or without the vita daffodil, but adding it would greatly increase their effectiveness.

The author of the unauthorized notes mentioned however that this increased effectiveness became less and less apparent the higher Tier the potion was. As Eldrian had come to suspect from all his experiences, the effect stopped being visible on Tier 5 and higher potions.

Tier 5 was an extremely decisive dividing line in all things magical—this was becoming more and more apparent the more Eldrian was introduced into the true side of magic. So many spells and skills were blocked behind this line. Tier 1 to 4 were clearly the learning phase, like training wheels but for magic. Tier 5 was when you truly started using magic.

'Don't know who you are, but thanks for the information. Erik often mentioned that his potions were better than normal ones thanks to the added plants that Akarui brought him. So, it isn't something unknown? Some plants can enhance magical potions, the question now is why?' Eldrian pondered, fascinated by this topic.

'Is it because they have a hidden magical attribute, or do they only act like some sort of catalyst. Allowing the concoction to reach higher heights? The latter seems more likely with this new information and my jump seems more preposterous. The limit being Tier 4 is probably because it can no longer bring out unique properties of the actual magical plants.'

'There must be a similar effect with magical herbs... There must be...'

The original plan to return to blacksmithing research was quickly thrown out the window as Eldrian's curiosity only grew after finding so many interesting topics. He was about to log off again, but before he did he started searching for books covering low-grade magical plants. He found seven after just a few minutes of searching, each varying in thickness greatly.

The ease with which he had found so many made the disparity between documents about magical and non-magical very clear. It seems much like how he had jumped over the basics, everyone else did the same. After all, why focus on a non-magical plant when there were thousands of magical ones you could study?

'This might be a kingdom-wide oversight. Perhaps even worldwide, or maybe just empire-wide? Regardless, if what Erik said was right and it isn't something unique to him like my enchanting method is unique to me, then this could change alchemy as it is known.'

Of course, Eldrian was aware that he wouldn't be the first to think of this. Heck, the author behind the unauthorized notes was clearly very aware of the vita daffodil's special characteristics and multiple other plants had similar notes scribbled on their pages.

Be this as it may, it still seemed to Eldrian that the knowledge wasn't widespread. Most likely everyone who came to discover a plant's uniqueness kept it to themselves to maximize their edge over their competitors. The author of these extra scribbles was likely someone related to the duke's family, and since the library was tightly guarded Eldrian finding something here didn't mean it was commonly known.

As he thought of this, he realized that it was unlikely that anyone had ever tried to identify and verify all the unique properties of common plants. There might be a few eccentric people who had done so, but since this knowledge becomes meaningless once someone passed the Tier 5 line. Eldrian doubted that many cared.

'Which is just so wrong! This knowledge can help the less talented and poor by so much. Yet... Can I really call their actions wrong?' Eldrian paused, he would call them cold-hearted now. But in times of peace, it only made sense to keep such secrets.

War has only been ongoing for a few years, and the kingdom itself has only recently truly experienced it. Besides, the kingdom was so large that what happened in the south felt like a different world from the center, not to mention the north.

The next day Eldrian started going through the seven books he had found regarding low-grade magical plants. Sadly, he found no surprises and as this continued he paged through the books faster and faster.

A plant had a magical attribute, it was used in certain ways to maximize this attribute. That was it. At least, it was all that the books he had found and gone through mentioned.

He found nothing more interesting, while this topic itself contained a plethora of information, Eldrian managed to stay focused. Else he would be on this topic for weeks and he did not have the time to be so distracted.

'Perhaps this field is lacking for Tier 1 to 4, but is actually studied for Tiers past?'

Eldrian wasn't sure if this was true, regardless the lack of extra notes in the books had taken the wind out of his sails. He hoped that it was simply that it had not been studied, he didn't believe that such plants didn't exist. 'Perhaps they are guarded secrets? The ice lily might be one such a magical plant...'

'Does this mean these plants are just unique as Erik said and there isn't much more to it? Was I truly overthinking, or is there an actual link between the flower's extra usefulness and the medical belief in them?' Eldrian no longer knew which was the case, but now he no longer craved the answer as much. He could return to his actual task.

At lunch, Eldrian took a break and headed out to enjoy lunch with Vivian and Myropsis. He found the two training, Myropsis was trying to master a few new skills (she had some past experience but had never focused on it, though her teacher had forced her to master the basics) while Vivian fought the captains of various squads. Thanks to her unique hidden class which she had started integrating with, and her unique bond with her sword, she was able to fight against even the Tier 6 captains.

Watching from the side, Eldrian suddenly felt inferior as he watched Vivian's struggle. She was training so hard, so diligently because she wanted to set her father free. Yet, here he had gone and researched what had interested him instead of staying focused.