Chapter 49: *Magical crystals*
Finally, Axel put his arm around Kevin’s shoulders. It was their break time, and he didn’t intend to spend his precious time with Kevin talking to others, even if they were his very close friends.
Alan understood the message right away, and he too wanted to spend time alone with his man. He took Erik’s chin and asked him, looking into his azure eyes, "Are we going to eat, sweetheart?"
Erik wasn’t sure if Alan was really talking about food, but he answered all the same, "Of course, my love. Let’s go!"
Erik then waved to Axel, "We’ll meet at 1:30 PM as planned. See you later, Kevin."
When Alan and Erik were gone, Axel said to Kevin, "Sorry, I couldn’t find anything better so that Alan wouldn’t be suspicious."
Kevin put his arm around Axel’s waist and said, "It was a perfect excuse, well done... Can we go to the warehouse before we go home? I have to talk to you, but it’ll have to wait until we’re alone."
Axel said, after quickly kissing him on the lips and while guiding him to the warehouse, "Of course, let’s go. Take this opportunity to also choose whatever machines you want to put in our other bedroom."
On the way to the warehouse, Kevin did a quick calculation. He could make 7 potions with his current Soul Force points. At 20 minutes per potion, it would take him 2 hours and 20 minutes. Then, he still had 3 hours of meditation to do to earn his 20 experience points. Thanks to his passive recovery skill level 2, 30 minutes of meditation would give him back 150 Soul Force points. So, he could still make 6 more potions, which would take another 2 hours. He wasn’t sure Axel would agree with his plan, but it was worth a try.
When they arrived at the warehouse, Uncle Douglas was there. Kevin wasted no time; after greeting him, he told him that he wanted to sell the two potions he had just made during his first alchemy class and buy the ingredients needed to craft 12 more.
Douglas looked at him, puzzled. Twelve was no ordinary number; why not 10 or 15? But Douglas chose not to say anything and gave him the ingredients to make the 12 potions as he had asked.
Douglas then said, "We’ve established unique prices according to the potions’ grades. Low-grade potions are all bought for 20 gold coins, medium-grade potions for 150 gold coins, and high-grade potions for 700 gold coins. It’s the same for the ingredients needed to make the potions: 1 gold coin for low-grade, 15 gold coins for medium-grade, and 70 gold coins per high-grade potion."
Kevin was thrilled; being a mage was going to make him earn a lot of money, though not as much as looting dungeons with Axel. Douglas, after explaining all this to him, gave him 28 gold coins in addition to the ingredients he had already provided.
Kevin wanted to use this money to buy the equipment he wanted to build muscle, but Axel refused and paid the 15 gold coins himself.
This trip to the warehouse hadn’t taken them long, and while Kevin was cooking at their pavilion, Axel went to set up the equipment Kevin had chosen in their unused bedroom.
Axel finished before Kevin and, when he came back to the kitchen, he smelled the scent of his favorite food and exclaimed in surprise, "Babe, that smells so good!"
Kevin smiled, happy to get a compliment from his man, and said, "Get the table ready; I’m almost done."
Axel embraced him from behind and rubbed against him, kissing his neck, "You were very thoughtful on the way to the warehouse and when we got home. What are you hiding from me again?"
Kevin gently pushed him away and motioned for him to set the table. Damn, he hadn’t taken his man’s sexual appetite into his calculations.
Kevin ended up answering, "I didn’t hide anything from you. I was doing calculations to find out how many potions I could make this afternoon... and for the rest, it’s just that I couldn’t tell you because there were always too many people around us."
Axel was sitting at the table after setting it and asked, "Is something happened with the System?"
Kevin finally extinguished the fires of the stove, which worked not with gas or electricity, but with small low-grade magical crystals that could be found in dungeons. These were the first source of energy in this world. He hadn’t found any with Axel yet, but he would come across them someday.
Also, if the pavilion was so good for mages to meditate, it was because there was a large low-grade magic crystal buried in its foundation. Uncle Douglas had explained this to him the last time after they bought some food. Magic crystals were not only the only source of energy in this world, but they could also increase the number of elemental particles around them. The better the quality and size of the magic crystals, the more particles would be found.
He served their meal and sat down next to Axel to eat, telling him excitedly, "Yes, it’s related to the System. You’ll never guess... When I finished my first potion, a message appeared, and I gained 10 experience points and 1 Soul Force point. I’ve also unlocked a new skill block: Crafting Potions!"
Kevin explained everything to him and also told him about the change he had felt when he had meditated thanks to the black necklace. He also asked if, thanks to Axel’s artifact sword that could use fire attacks, he could try to absorb fire particles so that he would be able to master all the elements.
Axel was really stunned by this discovery and told him, "Kev, babe, this is really great. By crafting potions, you’re going to be able to gain a lot of experience points and Soul Force points; it’s amazing. And as for using the fire element of my sword so that you can master all the elements, we’ll do it on Sunday when we go back to find another dungeon in the Wildlands. It’s better to do it when we’re out of sight."
