"Miss Clara~, can't we just go sleep a bit more?" Reiya groaned, as she got dragged along by Clara. "It's too early~!"

"Yesterday it took us the entire day to get to two shops." Clara explained, dragging her off of the ship and onto solid land. "We're finishing everything today and making final preparations, so we have to start as early as possible!"

"Mgh… okay~," she grumbled, her half open sleepy eyes looking around. Her eyes focused on one person approaching them as they made it off of the ship, with the crew loading and unloading supplies behind them.

"You have arrived at my island sooner than I expected, Hero of the Cooking Tools," Orion said, his glasses shining in the sunlight. His white robes gave off a light blue glow as they rustled in the wind.

"Hello sir. I wanted to get some enchants and potions," Clara said, walking up to him. "Especially SP potions. And materials used to make them would be nice too."

"Then my son can show you to his potion shop after I take you to our best enchanters," Orion smiled, gesturing for the two to come along. But before they could leave, a loud crash was heard from behind.

"Careful with that! Tis the fragile box o' tablets!" Tiffany yelled, catching a box labeled 'fragile' before it hit the ground. She was surrounded by broken planks and helmets from the unfortunate box that she couldn't catch in time.

"Sorry ma'am," the closest man said, as he and a few others scrambled to pick up the helmets.

"Tif!" Orion exclaimed, causing Tiffany to jump. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?"

"Aw, I wanted to surprise ya," Tiffany grumbled, setting down the box.

"You two know each other?" Clara asked, as Reiya leaned on her with her eyes closed.

"Of course. We're…" Tiffany began, but then paused, her cheeks turning pink.

"…both island representatives," Orion finished, putting a hand around her shoulder. "And we have a few things we need to discuss soon in regards to the military inventory."

"But what about getting my gear enchanted," Clara asked, pointing to her armor.

"Ah, right. Could you wait for me once you finish unpacking? I do have to help our hero prepare for the wave after all," he said, turning to Tiffany, who smiled and nodded.

"Alright, don't keep me waiting too long then," she said, walking away, her face still red. "You haven't changed your mind about showing up for the wave, right?" Clara asked Tiffany before she left the trio.

"You're going to the wave? How come I haven't heard anything about this?" Orion asked, looking between the two.

"I was gonna tell ya later," Tiffany replied, turning away.

"Tiffany said she's going to join me for the next wave to level up," Clara explained.

"But that's still dangerous!" retorted, but Tiffany turned back to look at him so fast that he had to take a step back.

"Think of da materials! Something from 'nother world ain't commin' every day!" she protested. "Imagine da items I can make!"

"But some random materials aren't worth losing your life over!" Orion insisted.

"If ya so worried, why not join me?" she said, poking his cheek. "Been a while since ya been outside ya office, hasn't it?"

He let out a sigh and grumbled something under his breath, but Tiffany just smiled. "C'mon, ya know ya wanna!"

Orion took a deep breath and turned to Clara. "Is there, perhaps, another spot on your party?"

"Sure!" Clara replied, sending him an invite.

"I'll be seeing ya later then, chao!" Tiffany said, leaving the trio standing. Clara looked over at Reiya, who fell asleep on her shoulder, and shook her a bit.

"Mhm, are we there yet?" the ghost girl mumbled, her eyes opening the slightest bit.

"No, but our destination isn't far from here," Orion replied, leading the two away. "Let us leave before it gets dark. The wave is tomorrow, correct?"

"Yeah," Clara replied, walking after him, with Reiya still leaning onto her shoulder.

"Are you nervous by any chance?" he asked, as they arrived at the main part of town.

"A little," she admitted, lowering her head. "I mean, the last wave was pretty easy, but you never know what might go wrong." "That is true, but I recommend you not tell anyone else that," Orion said, in a quiet voice.

"Why so?"

"You're currently wielding the world's strongest weapon, the potential of which no material, no enchantment, and no potion can hope to keep up," he began, pointing to the knife on her hip. "If someone using that kind of power is nervous, then that puts the people into panic."

"Oh… you're right," Clara replied, looking at the gem embedded in her knife.

"It's best if the people believe you have everything under control, even if you don't know if you do. I understand that that kind of pressure and responsibility can be quite… taxing. But it is unfortunately one you must bear."

Oh, that's reassuring. No pressure, just the entire world is on your shoulders!

"Yeah…" Clara let out a sigh and looked away. Orion glanced at her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"This may be tough on you, but we truly didn't have another choice but to summon you," he tried to assure her. "Which is why we're doing everything we can to ensure you're as ready as you can be."

Clara looked up at Orion. His gaze seemed genuine, with a kind smile on his face. Despite the worry still lingering in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but feel a bit better than before.

"I have to give it to you, you're doing a great job," he continued, patting her shoulder. "This will be your… fifth wave, I believe?"

"Yeah. Though I wasn't really participating much in the first two. And Hol helped with the third one."

"And you managed to handle the fourth one without another hero present. That's still pretty impressive," Orion pointed out.

"Thank you," Clara replied faintly. "But I'm still worried I won't have enough strength for tier 3 and higher waves. Or if another hero shows up. Or another invasion by that dragon guy."

Clara rubbed her burnt arm and sighed, looking down at the ground.

"I just hope I can get strong enough in time," she mumbled.

"Then you've come to the right place!" Orion said, stopping Clara and Reiya from going any further. Just in front of them was a large building with glowing runes written all around. They didn't seem to be doing anything, but they, and the glowing floating crystals were giving off the feeling that the house itself was enchanted.

"Keep your head up, Hero, let's get your gear enchanted."

==}—

"Welcome back, Mister Emberwood," a woman said when they stepped inside, giving Orion a small bow.

"Good day, Mary. Could you please prepare some of the finest materials from the back? Zeroth shelf will do," he said, leading Clara and Reiya through the building with Mary following them. "I have the Hero of the Cooking Tools with me today."

"Right away," she replied, disappearing from sight. Clara couldn't even feel her presence anymore with her heat sense.

Orion opened up a door to a room, and led them in, quickly closing the door behind them.

The room's walls were covered in crystals, pillars with weird symbols holding it up and lightning up the room. But other than the design on the walls, the room was empty but for a small altar. It looked like a small tall table made of dark purple stone with light blue edges. A single small rectangular hole was carved out in its center, with a bit of ash covering its bottom.

Before Clara could ask about it, Mary suddenly appeared behind them with a small wooden box in her hands.

Just how fast does she move? I barely heard her open the door.

"Thank you, Mary," he said, taking the box from her hands with great care. He took a quick glance at the symbol on top and nodded to himself, before turning to Mary. "You may leave now."

"Of course," she replied, walking out of the room normally, but quickly disappearing the second the door closed.

"This room has so much mana floating around," Reiya suddenly piped up, poking one of the pillars. Her body seemed to glow a bit, probably from absorbing the mana around her.

"Indeed. We do have areas with extreme mana activity on this island due to some of the flora that can only be found on the Enchanted Island," Orion explained, opening up the box and placing it on the altar. "Now then, what kind of enchantments are you looking for?"

"Mostly fire resistance and agility. But I won't be too upset if I get something else," Clara replied, pulling out her armor and the clothes Laura made for her and setting it onto the altar. Since any equipment she had before was torn, burnt, or exploded, she had to request some new clothes as well.

Orion looked over the armor and clothes, his brows furrowed as if he was in deep thought. He looked through the items in the box before pulling out an orange feather and a dragon scale. He set the dragon scale into the slot inside, and removed the box and clothes from the altar, leaving behind the armor.

"I'd recommend not getting too close," he said, waiting for something. Clara took a step back, but he still didn't move. It was then that Clara noticed Reiya kneeling next to the altar, staring at the altar.

Clara tapped her on the shoulder and pulled her back, but Reiya never broke eye contact with the scale, and wore a weird expression on her face as she locked eyes with it.

However, before Clara could ask her about it, the scale burst into blue flames. Orion looked calmly at the altar as the flames spread to wrap themselves around it, slowly making their way towards the armor.

"U-um, is this supposed to happen like this?" Clara asked, worried about the new set.

"Indeed. The material must have its physical form incinerated in order to release its internal energy," Orion assured her, not taking his eyes off of the flames. "It'll be absorbed by the item, hopefully with minimal losses. Of course, we'll still lose some energy no matter how hard we try."

Just as Orion said that, the flames reached Clara's armor and began to cover it. Within just a few seconds the armor got completely engulfed in the enchanted inferno, lightning up the room.

For just a moment the fire turned a bright red color, before burning itself out completely, not even leaving burn marks behind. The only visible difference was that the armor seemed to have gotten an orange tint, and the dragon scale that was inside the altar was reduced to a small pile of ashes.

"Is… is it done?" Clara asked, reaching for her armor. Orion nodded, and Clara picked up the armor. It felt a little warm to the touch. She opened up the status and smiled. Next to the original stats and effects, she saw that 'fire resistance (medium)' appeared, and the defense actually rose quite a bit.

"Only weak… that's disappointing," he mumbled under his breath.

"How so?" she asked, looking at him puzzled. "I'm just happy I have some fire resistance."

"Well, I suppose I'm also working with a base not made for the task," he explained, setting Clara's clothes onto the altar with the feather inside it. "If the armor was built with fire resistant materials to begin with, the enchantment process would have risen its capabilities further."

"Oh, I see. Well, I asked for the next set to be built with as much fire resistance as possible so that should work better, right?" "I suppose so," he agreed, as the altar burned once again. Clara looked over at Reiya and saw that she was no longer looking at the altar like before, instead focusing on the flames rather than the object used for enchanting. Clara decided to ask her about it later.

"Is there anything else you'd like to get enchanted before you go, Hero of the Cooking Tool?" Orion asked, as Clara picked up her clothes and put them away. Clara thought about it for a moment and shook her head.

"Thank you, that's all. I actually want to know what kind of materials you could use for enchanting?" she inquired, opening her mob drop list. With all the monsters she killed during her time here, she ended up gaining quite a large amount of random things that she didn't know what to use for. Things ranging from clothes and feathers, to a couple of ores. She even had a few bottles of acid from the time she killed the black slimes.

"Well, every item has a bit of energy within it. The more energy, the stronger the item," he began to explain, closing the box and leading them towards the door. "Unless the sacrifice you bring is completely devoid of energy, then anything can be used for enchanting."

"I see. I'll try to bring some monster drops I'll receive from the wave and maybe you guys will find something useful," Clara offered, pulling out a small burning red crystal from her knife. "I got this from a golem I fought a while back."

Orion looked at the item Clara handed him and smiled. His glasses seemed to shine for a moment as he flipped the crystal over in his hand.

"You certainly brought me a good item. I'll save it for when you get your new armor." He put the crystal away into the box and set it onto the reception desk. It was quickly snatched away by Mary, who disappeared from view. "Now then, shall I take you to my son's potion shop?"

==}—

"Well, here we are, Hero of the Cooking Tools," Orion said, stopping in front of a big store with a sign that had several shining glass potions around it. The entire sign was lit up, making the potions and letters glow brightly, lightning up the street below.

"I'm afraid this is where we must part for now," he said, giving a small bow. "Let us meet again during the wave, Hero of the Cooking Tools."

"Thank you Mr. Emberwood! I'll see you at the wave," Clara waved at him as he departed.

"Bye Mr. Emberwood," Reiya replied, waving at him as well.

He smiled and waved back before turning away and disappearing into the busy streets. The two girls looked at the shop one last time before entering.

As Clara stepped inside the shop, Reiya instantly left to look at the glowing potions on the shelves.

The shop looked like a large hut, with pillars of colorful flowers growing in the corner. Their scent made Clara feel like she was in a large field of flowers.

"Welcome to my store, adventurers. Can I interest you in anything?" a familiar voice called out of the back of the store, as Izuma strolled into the room. Clara flinched as she got pulled out of her thoughts.

"Um, yes, potions. Lots of potions," Clara mumbled, trying to regain her composure. Izuma raised his head and looked over at his customers, his eyes widening slightly.

"Huh, didn't expect you to come here. You know, you could have waited for me to come back onto the ship today and I would have sold you whatever you needed," he replied, opening up his tablet and setting it on the table.

"I kinda need a lot of SP potions, so I doubt you'd be able to carry that many potions onto the ship," Clara explained, walking up to the nearest shelf. "Besides, I was already here so I might as well stop by."

"You'd be surprised by how much I can carry," he replied, pointing to his giant backpack leaning on the side of the counter.

"I need a lot more than that. Wait, actually…" Clara paused and looked into her autocraft section. The SP and MP potion she absorbed way before didn't give her the recipes for the potions. If she wanted to be able to pull them out of her knife or keep them there for storage, she would need to get the recipe to autocraft them in the first place.

Alright, now how did I get the recipes for the food before this?

She scrolled through her status. After scrolling for a hood minute seemed to be two ways she gained recipes.

The basic food recipe came from a used cleaver, as well as a couple other recipes from Goron's and the kitchen staff's toolset. Then there was the basic drinks recipe from the coffee maker.

Finally, the third way she gained recipes for crafting was by making them herself, as seen by the pizza, mac n cheese, sandwiches and everything else she made under Goron's supervision.

"So it looks like I either need to copy the tools used to make something, or I have to make it myself in order to get the recipe," Clara concluded out loud. Izuma looked at her and then at the door to the back of the shop.

"And what can you do with the recipe?" he inquired.

"Well," Clara began, poking around her status. "If I have a recipe and the materials for it, I can tell my knife to autocraft it for me."

As if on cue, a sandwich popped out of her knife. Izuma looked down at the sandwich, and then at Clara.

"Did… did you just… you have the strongest thing in all of existence, the tool that has potential to change the tides of war, to save the world, to vaporize mountains. And you just made it make you a sandwich?" he exclaimed, snatching the sandwich from her hands. "This thing better taste like the gods themselves made it."

Before Clara could say anything, he had already taken a bite. But his curiosity turned to confusion as he looked down at the sandwich and flipped it over.

"This is the most average sandwich I have ever eaten," he mumbled, glancing at the knife.

"Yeah, it automatically defaults to normal quality and no higher," Clara explained, rubbing the back of her neck. "But this also means I can dump nearly expired or low quality things and still get a normal sandwich."

Izuma looked at her for a moment and furrowed his brows, deep in thought. He then gestured to Clara to follow him and led her into the back of her shop.

The back of the shop was split into two sections. One was a storage room with a couple of plants hanging down from the ceiling in the corner, crowded around the only two windows in the room, and several closets covered the black wall. The doors of the closet had glass windows that showed off several smaller cabinets with pictures of different flowers and herbs. These ranged from different colorful flowers with dozens of petals, to a four leafed clover and some weirdly shaped root. It also looked like some of the boxes were covered in a bit of frost.

But what made Clara shiver was a long planter box on the side wall that stretched from corner to corner. The soil inside it was dark and ominous, but the tall and straight blood red plants inside it were even worse. Clara felt like they were stretching towards her, ready to grab and pull her into the soul, devouring her body in an instance. Clara shivered and stepped away from the plants as far as she could, just in case.

The second section of the shop was even more packed with weird things. From shelves that were lined with different colored and shaped bottles, to a box with bones sticking out of it. There was a table with a clutter of ingredients and bottles, as well as a heavy looking book. Beside it was a strange apparatus that was shaped like a plate with a thick metal pipe soldered into the middle, splitting off mid way into three smaller tubes, all facing down. Each of them was pointing at a small coil at the bottom, all of which ran down into the marble base.

Though by far the least creepy part of the room was a large black cauldron in the center with a large marble platform. Peaking out of the center was a thick metal coil, reminding Clara of the pocket stove she copied from Sherone.

Clara turned to Izuma, who was rummaging through the closet and pulling out different herbs. While he was doing that, she decided to walk around the room and poke a bit at the surroundings.

She approached the cauldron and looked inside to see a strange swirling purple liquid, with light blue particles popping out here and there. Clara looked down at the stovetop under it and put her hand on the side, waiting for the weapon copy to activate. The equip bonus wasn't anything special, but the special effect buffed the Heated Grounds skill.

Well, it'll come in handy someday. Maybe I can use this for a camping trip like a campfire?

Shrugging, Clara walked up to the cluttered table and put her hand onto the strange pipe mechanism. Just like Clara hoped, the strange apparatus was made for brewing potions and was copied successfully.

Brewing Stand

abilities locked equip bonus: simple potion recipe

equip effect: automatic brewing, consumption (large)

Clara equipped the new weapon form and looked at the list of options now available for auto crafting.

"I got it!" she squealed happily, hugging her new weapon form. She now had mana and SP recovery potions, as well as a few others that Clara didn't care about. This reaction caused Izuma to jump as he turned towards Clara with a pile of withering or torn herbs in his hands.

"What did you get… wait, is that the holy knife?" he inquired, pointing to the brewing stand in her hands.

"I got the potion recipes. I mean, I only got simple potions, but I got an SP potion recipe!" Clara replied happily. But her smile fell when she realized she didn't have any of the herbs needed to craft it. And she shivered when she saw that one of the ingredients was the creepy bloody plant she tried to stay away from.

"Well then, let's test it out. Absorb these and make some potions," he said, handing Clara the pile of herbs. When she absorbed them, she quickly noticed that all of them were almost expired or of very low quality. She even got her hands on a dried and shriveled up red plant.

As she continued to absorb them, the item's on the requirement list lit up one by one. As one of the potions lit up fully, she pressed the autocraft option and watched as the timer began ticking down.

"So…?" Izuma asked when he saw Clara doing nothing.

"Um… it takes a minute to craft… so…" she rubbed the back of her neck and glanced down at her feet.

"Oh…" he mumbled, glancing around awkwardly.

"Well, while we wait, maybe you could tell me more about how potions are made!" Clara suggested, trying to shift the conversation. Izuma's face lit up and he smiled.

"Well, it's not as amazing as magic, but potion making is an art in its own right," he began with a bright smile on his face. "You have to strike the balance of materials. The quality also matters, but the most important bit is how

"I see," Clara muttered, nodding her head.

He continued for a couple more minutes, with Clara trying to keep up. It was actually kind of interesting, but Izuma began to talk too fast and use too many unfamiliar words for her to be able to keep up for long. He even moved over to his desk and began to flip through the pages of his heavy book, showing diagrams, mixing combis, and the pros and cons of certain materials over others. All the information made her head spin, so she looked around the room for something she could use.

"So what are those for?" Clara inquired, pointing to the planter box, forcing him to pause.

"That reminds me," he mumbled. He picked up the bone box from the shelf and chucked a few at the creepy plants.

In an instant the red bloody tendrils grabbed the bones and began to squeeze them. Right before her eyes the bones darkened and holes began to appear all over them. A loud crunch was followed by several more as the bones were crushed, their shards collapsing to the filthy dark soil.

Clara's eyes widened as the soil began to shift slightly, almost like quicksand, and quickly absorbed the bones. The red plants shook and got longer, their bodies curling up and reddening.

And just like that the process was over. They returned to their previous motionless state, ready to strike and devour anyone who came too close.

"W-what the h-hell?!" Clara asked, horrified at the display she had just witnessed.

"That's the Necrothirst Vine. This plant is the beginning of potion making as we know it," he began to explain, ignoring her terror. "It's what separates the lower quality potions with minimal housing power, to the best of the best potions."

Clara looked down at her shaking hands as realization crept into her mind.

Oh god, I touched that thing! Even the plants in this world can kill me.

"Well, those plants will also eat blood, organs, whole bodies, dead or alive, including the soul for the latter…" he continued nonchalantly.

"Please… stop…," Clara mumbled and grabbed her mouth, trying not to gag at the thought.

"They also grow a lot bigger in the Nightmare Forest. Once caught, it is almost impossible to break out from their grasp on your own," he finished, poking one of the plants. It uncurled and tried to grab him, but he pulled his hand away already, leaving the plant empty handed.

"They can also be killed and dipped in mana recovery waters to keep the taste but get rid of the unwanted absorbing effect," Reiya said, appearing out of nowhere, causing Clara to jump in surprise.

"They are also very spicy and get used in chilly or hot sauces," Reiya added, salivating at the thought and ignoring Clara.

"You are correct, my friend," Izuma said, brightening up and turning to face Reiya. "They're a pain to harvest tho, as the ones in the wild fight back, and the ones farmed and harvested are too small."

"True, but they're also easy to take care of," Reiya countered, smiling and pointing at Izuma. Clara turned away as she continued, the two of them seemingly forgetting their presence. "They can live up to a week in a dark closet with no soil or nutrients, and almost a month if in a pot and with some of the soi-."

Clara looked over at Reiya when she didn't continue, and saw that her whole demeanor changed in an instant.

Instead of standing happily and with her arms slightly raised by her sides, they were now crossed, with her entire body standing completely still. Her full attention was now on the plants before her, completely disregarding Izuma, much to his confusion.

"Haven't seen these before… they would be interesting to study," Reiya muttered, putting her hand on her chin, as her eyes seemed to look at it completely differently. The excitement and energy was gone, replaced by a cold but curious gaze. It was almost unsettling, making Clara shiver.

"Um, Reiya?" she piped up, but the ghost girl ignored her. She continued to approach the plants, even as the thick tendrils seemed to move closer to her, sensing her strong presence. It seemed like just a second and Reiya would be close enough for it to wrap its body around Reiya and su-

"REIYA!" Clara yelled, trying to reach towards the girl, but Izuma already grabbed her and pulled her back and dropped her to the ground, knocking her out of her trance. Clara rushed to her side and tried to look around for an SP potion or something of the sorts.

"Huh? Mister? Miss Clara? What happened?" she asked, confused. Her lively eyes returned and darted between the two people.

"Can the plants affect someone like that?" Clara inquired, turning to Izuma.

"They don't release any pheromones or mana, and they aren't known to have an effect like hypnotism, or else I wouldn't be here right now," he denied, helping Reiya to her feet.

"Did they absorb any souls by any chance?"

"No, just a bunch of bones and some blood," Izuma shook his head and sighed. "They shouldn't have gained any kind of effect that could do this to your friend, so that's definitely on her."

"Oh, I see," she mumbled, getting lost in thought.

If it didn't absorb souls, it shouldn't have any kind of effect on soul eaters, right? Or maybe its absorption affects everyone, but creatures with a physical body can resist it?

"What happened!?" Reiya yelled, pulling the attention of the two people out of their thoughts.

"Well, you were talking about the plant like an expert," Clara began.

"And then, suddenly, it's like you never saw it in your life," Izuma finished. Reiya looked up at Clara, then at Izuma, then at Clara again and then down at her hands.

"Miss Clara… can we go home?" she pleaded, hugging her shoulders.

*ping*

Clara looked down and saw that the potion finished crafting. She pulled out the potion and handed it to Izuma.

"Huh, amazing," he mumbled, inspecting the potion in his hand.

"Miss Clara?" Reiya whimpered, hugging Clara.

"Just sit in the other room for a bit," Clara whispered, gently patting her on the head. "Grab an SP potion if you want. I'll be out soon."

"... okay," she mumbled, leaving the room slowly.

"Clara, this potion is of normal quality," Izuma marveled, holding the potion up to his face. "But it has been made with such low quality materials that I was going to throw out soon. Even most of my coworkers would not be able to do this much. Maybe come close, but it'll still be worse than this."

"Yeah, it doesn't matter what material quality I use, the result is the same," Clara explained.

"Clara, do you see what I am getting at?" he asked, setting the bottle down.

"Um… not really?" "Any extra herbs I have that I can't use in time, or horrible ones that are of low quality originally, you can use them and make decent potions regardless!" he explained. "Meaning you can make sure that none of the herbs go to waste no matter how bad they are!"

"Oh… OH!" Clara exclaimed, as realization appeared on her face. "You're right! Do you have any more herbs I can have then?"

"I don't but I'm going to get in touch with the other breweries," Izuma said, pulling out a tablet. "Don't go anywhere, I'll ask around."

With that, he began to tap away, while Clara scrolled through the new weapon forms. She checked to see if she unlocked any new weapon forms, but most of them just gave a small increase in stats. However, there were only two that caught her interest.

The first form was from the bloody plant and Clara didn't want to touch it at all, since even the weapon picture looked cursed. She quickly equipped the other form that had a hilt made out of neatly assembled leaves, with a large blade of grass sticking out.

Leaf Knife

abilities locked equip bonus: gathering bonus 1

Huh? What is this bonus supposed to be?

She looked over to the pillar of plants at the corners of the room. When she took a closer look, she realized they weren't hanging from a ceiling, but were actually all growing out of small planter pots that were all attached to a pillar in the center. Though, there were a few vines attached to the ceiling, with the roof being made out of some kind of rock with moss covering it.

Clara looked down at the plant pillar and gently ripped off one of the herb's leaves. To her surprise, the leaf began to glow. It seemed to become greener, fresher, and overall just looked like it was of an even higher quality than it was before.

"Huh? What did you just do?" Izuma questioned, looking over her shoulder. He quickly snatched the herb from her and looked it over, pulling out a small pair of glasses and looked at the herb even closer.

"Um, should I not have done that?" she asked nervously.

"No, I was going to harvest a few anyway. But this wasn't that high of a quality herb…" he mumbled. Then he looked over at one of the leaves and glanced at it through his glasses. "Pick this one up."

Clara pulled at the herb and it began to glow again, matching the glow that appeared from her knife. Izuma's eyes lit up and he inspected the herb yet again.

"I need you to come here every now and then and harvest some of these herbs for me!" Izuma exclaimed, grabbing Clara's shoulders. But instead of backing away, she grabbed his shoulders as well.

"And I need materials to make SP potions, and a lot of them! And other ones too!" she replied. "Can I get some of them? Even low quality ones will work. Oh, and I want you to teach me potion making if you can." "Deal!" he smiled, shaking her hand. "I'll drop off some extra materials later today, so don't worry. Now go check on your friend, I have a few more calls to make before I can leave."

Clara nodded and went to the front of the shop.

"Hey," Clara walked up to Reiya's side and made sure she was out of Izuma's earshot. "Are you sure everything is alright? You seemed kinda… off? Do you want to… talk about it?"

Reiya played around with her dress for a bit as she thought about it.

"I'm not sure. I feel weird, but I don't know what it is," she mumbled after a short pause. "But I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out eventually, don't worry."

Clara patted her on the back and hugged her. "Alright, if you're sure. But if anything happens, please tell me. I'll do my best to help however I can."

Reiya looked up and smiled warmly, hugging Clara back. "I know. Thank you."

"Hey, do you guys need anything else?" Izuma asked, walking into the room and setting his tablet to the side.

Reiya looked around and her eyes fell on a strange plant that was growing at the very bottom of one of the plant pillars. There was a small plant that gave off a pale glow, the ends of the white petals all being tinted a different color.

"What's this one used for? It's pretty," Reiya said, pointing to the mysterious plant.

"That one's the Radiant plant," Izuma said as he scooped out the section of the pillar and put it into a thick potion bottle instead of a pot, before handing it to Reiya. "It's used in recovery potions, but its effects are pretty weak compared to some of the other plants I have. Just water it two times a day and it should be fine."

"Thank you," Reiya smiled, hugging the plant and skipping out of the store.

"Thank you for your help, Izuma," Clara said, following Reiya out of the store. "I'll see you later on the ship."

"Hey, good luck. And when Hol comes back, he owes me an explanation!" Izuma yelled after them, as he disappeared into the back of the shop."

"Um… ok, I will!" Clara replied, walking out of the shop. With the day growing dark, she only had a few things left to do.

==}—

With everything done for the day, and several potions now resting in her holy weapon, Clara was checking over everything one more time. She absorbed the herbs in the bag Izuma gave her a bit before, quickly lighting up potion options. She opened up her status and set a few more potions to autocraft while Clara scrolled through her weapons list, finding the Crescent Wolf Knife. Despite being a bit old, it still remained her best weapon.

I should try to find materials or knives made up from the parts of the other types of Lunar Wolves. If the weakest one is this strong, I wonder how strong the rest… wait, didn't I fight the Half Moon Wolf before?

Clara quickly scrolled through her status and frowned. She found the knife she got from the Half Moon Wolf, but there was another one she didn't recognize.

Frostbite Vulture Cleaver

Huh… when did I absorb this?

It seemed to have an interesting special effect, but she didn't wanna try it out indoors in case it woke someone up, so she set it aside for now. She didn't meet the required level anyways. Same went for the Half Moon Wolf Cleaver.

Well, there goes that idea. Something for later, I guess.

With her weapon for the wave prepared, she opened up the potion list and set several more SP potions to autocraft, before pulling out a piece of paper with a list of to do things for the wave. Clara checked off everything on the list one by one, putting everything into a small pile by her bedside, and muttering to herself.

"Knives, check, potions, check, armor, check, enchants, check, accessories, check-"

"Miss Clara!" Reiya yelled, snapping Clara out of her trance.

"Huh? Ah, yeah, what's wrong?" Clara sputtered out, looking back at the ghost girl.

"Go to bed! It's dark already!" Reiya whined, leaning onto the wall with her eyes half closed.

"Just give me a couple minutes. Maybe I should set a few more potions to auto craft before I sleep." Clara waved her off, scrolling through her status. "You think we should get more SP potions for you and me? Well, I'm running low on HP potions. Maybe I should try to make another batch of attack buffers to-."

"Uuuuuugh. We're never going to sleep at this rate!" Reiya exclaimed, moving closer to Clara. "Are you trying to exhaust yourself again so you collapse during the wave?"

"I'm just… I'm a bit worried, you know?" Clara mumbled, rubbing her burnt arm as she lowered her gaze to the floor. "Last time it seemed too easy, what if this time the monsters are faster? What if I don't dodge in time and my defense isn't enough? What if another hero comes through the wave? What if that dragon returns? What if-"

"Stop!" Reiya yelled, putting her hands on both sides of Clara's head and bringing her closer, until the two were inches apart. "Stop that right now, young lady!"

"R-Reiya?" Clara mumbled in surprise.

"What if a meteorite falls on us? What if the world explodes? What if we're just a dream? If you keep thinking like that you'll always feel like you're just a step away from death. That's the kind of thinking that gets you to run yourself into your own grave!" Reiya explained with a stern look on her face. "Preparing for different scenarios is good, but not to this extreme! Did you do everything you could to prepare?"

"W-well, I think so? Everything seems ready," Clara mumbled, trying to pull up a mental list of things one more time. But Reiya put a finger over Clara's mouth.

"Then empty your mind and sleep peacefully, knowing you've done everything you could," Reiya said sternly. "Some things will be out of your control, and you can try your best to prepare. But you won't be able to prepare for everything."

The two sat in silence for a moment, until Clara slowly nodded her head and leaned on Reiya.

"You're right," Clara sighed, closing her status. "But when did you start sounding like an old man?"

"Huh… not sure. But my point still stands!" Reiya replied. "And old men's advice is the best advice. There's a reason why they lived long enough to become old."

"Yeah. Yeah…"

Clara closed her eyes and laid down, with Reiya following suit. The two laid in silence, with the only noise being the howling wind outside and the quiet creaking of the ship.

It was several minutes before Clara opened her mouth.

"Hey, Reiya?"

"Yes, Miss Clara?" Reiya replied instantly.

"Do you… think we'll beat the waves?"

"The next one? Of course! We beat the last one pretty easily and we've both gotten stronger since then-"

"No, I mean… all the waves," Clara whispered.

"Of course we will. You said so, remember?" Reiya replied without a moment of hesitation. "Even if the waves are getting harder every time, we're also getting stronger every day."

Clara turned to Reiya and saw that the ghost girl had a bright smile on her face, her eyes didn't have a hint of hesitation. Clara returned the smile and closed her eyes again. The worry in her heart began to melt away as her body relaxed.

If she couldn't trust her own judgment, surely she could trust Reiya's?

==}—

"Wow. Those recordings ya sent me did not do em justice," Tiffany pointed out, raising her hammer onto her shoulder. "Too bad ou-Izuma couldn't make it."

The cracked crimson sky loomed above them, with monsters beginning to drop down from above. Instead of light armored mushrooms like last time, the minions were large heavily armored knights, with hammers and maxes as their weapons. A large armored humanoid golem was in the back, sitting on a throne with a large hammer standing in front of them.

Their red eyes were fixed on Clara, as they raised their large weapon, pointing forward with it. Their army began to advance, slowly approaching Clara's group.

"He'll come later after we're done here, don't worry," Orion assured her, his cloak beginning to glow.

"Don't try and cry victory before we even start," Sherone grumbled, getting his shield and mace ready. "It's bad luck."

Tiffany, Orion, Sherone, Reiya, and Sherone's soldiers are here. With this, I'm sure the wave is going to pass by much faster than before, but you can never be too safe.

Clara pulled out a small speed and strength potion and quickly chugged them both, before swapping her knife to the Crescent Wolf Fang Knife, and smiled as the potions quickly took effect.

"Alright everyone, let's go."

So, this chapter took a bit longer than I expected. I couldn't find a good place to stop, and so it kept going on and on. I didn't wanna split the potion scene cause it just didn't feel right, but stopping before or after would leave too little for the rest of the chapter. So we have the longest cooking chapter yet. Hell, maybe you guys would enjoy twice the size at half the frequency? Or do you like the shorter 3k chapters I had so far? Let me know.

Also, seeing my little girl lead her small team, even if most of them are their temporary, I'm so proud. She's getting better.

Too bad I'm not, so someone must suffer for it :)