Strongest Among the Heavens

In thirty minutes, the next level of the Heavenly Games would open. The counter was ticking down by the minute. In the immediate vicinity, there were hundreds, possibly thousands of people.

'How is it going to open, I wonder,' Dasha thought. 'Azrael said you can still access previous gates via the map. So will the big gate here change? That has to be it.'

Reaching level 19 had been a hassle and he eagerly waited for the next gate to open to gain further XP. He couldn't see anyone's level in the White Abyss but during his excursions he caught the levels of dozens of players. Not a single one of them was close to him. Most lingered in the eight to eleven range. In terms of Prize Points, he had collected nearly a hundred-fifty thousand. He kept replaying the main objective over and over again. He didn't bother with unnecessary food or furniture. They were distractions. All he needed was his fists and his eventual acquisition of Járngreipr.

[ Attention players! Gate 2 will open in 25:00 minutes! Please head over to the Heavenly Tower if you wish to participate as soon as possible! ]

Dasha waved off the warning. He was here and he was waiting. Crossing his arms, scowling, and then softly inhaled.

Beside him, two tall blondes were feverishly discussing rumours. Rumours that Dasha had heard in passing while trudging through the bazaar. He didn't want to listen in but he had no choice due to his proximity.

"Did you hear? Someone beat the boss by themselves!"

"The Slime Queen? Dude, that's insane! I ran away from that thing as soon as it destroyed my sword! Like seriously, screw that!"

"No, not the Slime Queen, she's the mini boss. I'm talking about the Slime King, the big boss. He was defeated by one dude."

"One dude!?"

"One dude."

Dasha eyed the two curiously. Rumours were rumours and to be taken lightly. 'Impossible. No player could beat the Slime King single-handedly. I encountered the Slime Queen. It killed a party of three level 8s.'

He witnessed the massacre when he was level 10 and his focus was entirely on his speed. As of now, at level 18, killing the Slime Queen would be a fifty-fifty chance in his opinion.

'Assuming I don't spend points. If I did, then killing the Slime King or Queen would be no issue, I imagine.'

Some players were arrogant, others were heaped in sweat and nerves. Many had switched from the black garbs into armour or other comfortable wear. Dasha didn't. He was going to save up and rely on his instincts to live. These were the beginning levels. No need to get hasty and overspend when he didn't need to.

'The first level was combat-related. I sincerely doubt the second would also be combat. We're still in what I would consider to be the tutorial portion. It's likely we'll do a puzzle.'

Five minutes were left. A figure teleported on top of the giant gate. The front gate stood over fifty feet yet the figure was easy to make out. A male over fifteen feet tall with a beard and an olive complexion. He wore green garbs revealing much of his upper body.

He was the image of a man from ancient times with long flowing black air, a chiseled jaw, and a permanent scowl.

Some players noticed him, most didn't. Then a voice entered their heads and his presence turned undeniable.

"Hark, brave contenders! Thou hast shown prowess to reacheth this juncture! Rarely hath such a multitude traversed yon inaugural threshold.'

The crowd of players hushed down and listened. It was eerie how silent the world became. The man on the gate threw an arm and spoke through their minds.

"The ensuing portal shall proffer an endeavour solitary in nature! No camaraderie shall avail thee! Through it, thou shalt glean wisdom and unfurl thy cognizance of this realm wherein thou art ensconced! Fortunes favour thee, each and all!"

The wide gate flickered blue, almost like a shockwave. The wind flapped hairs and garbs. The man atop the gate disappeared from reality, his presence leaving no traces.

The countdown above the gate hit zero. It burned red and a new countdown replaced it: 180:00. The time for the next gate.

[ Attention players! Gate 2 has opened! If you wish to access previous gates, open your map! Otherwise, it is time for Gate 2 to begin! ]

Through the front gate, they teleported into what the masses dubbed the server rooms. The duplicate spaces within the Heavenly Tower leading to the gate to the next world.

[ Attention players! This gate is not replayable! ]

Everybody received the notification. Hesitation clouded the minds of the players.

[ Attention players! Gate 2 is an individual task! Parties will not be able to go together! ]

Greater hesitation struck. Fear seeped through the eyes of many.

For Dasha, that was fine. No parties, no problem. His whole life he was independent. He slipped past the players in his way and entered the gate.

***

He opened his eyes and his nose picked up several heavy scents. Wood, incense, a bit of spice, raisins, and flowers. His environment had changed to a wooden cabin with tables set up with alchemy equipment.

[ Gate 2 : Baba Yaga's Home

Main Objective: Craft an F-class Potion of any effect

Prize Pool: 200 XP, 500 PP

SPECIAL OBJECTIVE: Craft a D-class Potion of any effect

SPECIAL PRIZE POOL: 500 XP, 5,000 PP ]

"Specifically potion making," Dasha muttered to himself. He approached the table and saw a book next to all the equipment. No one had touched it. It was pristine.

The pages of the book were adorned with diagrams and handwritten notes, with the last page being signed by Baba Yaga. There were sections upon sections, hundreds of chapters, and over a thousand pages. The book was thick and heavy and without a title. A mortar and pestle lay idle on the table, and silver stirring rods and delicate glass pipettes sat next to that.

Dasha was an auditory and verbal learner—always listening and always conversing to learn concepts. He formed a mind map to organize all the thoughts in his head. With books, although he still learned from them much quicker than the average, it was nonetheless a hassle for him. He wished he had his smartphone so he could have a text-to-speech app read it for him.

'No doors either.'

A cabin without an exit or an entrance. Dasha walked up to the wall and punched it hard. A nasty shock reflected back into his body from his arms to his spine all the way to his toes. Narrowing his eyes, he readied another fist.

"Fire fist."

Lit up in red hot flames, he slammed his fist against the wooden wall again. His attack didn't leave a scratch, much less a burn mark.

[ Warning! You are approaching the end of the map! ]

'So no escaping.'

He grabbed the nearby stool, plopped down, and started reading. His eyes darted left to right, from line to line. The book wasn't a book at all. Rather, it was a journal. A grimoire. An instruction manual of sorts to keep records of how to make particular potions.

He flipped through the pages. Creations of potions varied but commonalities existed. First, selection and preparation of ingredients as well as the combination, order, and manner of ingredients. Next was infusion or boiling, followed by incantations, stirring, and finally, brewing time. Once the actual contents of the potion was formulated, it was time to bottle, seal, and preserve it.

Creativity and knowledge over herbs and ingredients was vital. While skill and finesse sounded important, Dasha figured he could circumvent those with technology and tools. Needing to measure accurately with a measuring cup could be eliminated with pipettes and micropipettes.

'In fact, the more I read, the more similar this gets to how I conducted material synthesis labs.'

The university professor earned a masters in five different programs. He had followed and led labs. He had written and co-written twelve theses that caused great change in every industry they were published for.

Making an E-rank potion was easy for him.

To the side of the room in front of a fireplace was a large treasure chest containing a plethora of ingredients. Though the images on Baba Yaga's journal was rough, he identified what he required for a healing tonic.

Water, mint leaves, and moonlit dewdrop. Those were the core ingredients. He boiled the water, added the mint leaves and let it steep for about two minutes, stirred in the moonlit dewdrop until it dissolved, strained the mixture to remove the mint leaves, added a pinch of salt, and bottled it up. In ten minutes, he acquired the healing tonic.

The bottle held in his hands, the bubbly green liquid simmered and cooled. Until eventually…

[ Successfully crafted:

1x Healing Tonic ]

[ Congratulations! Gate 2 : Baba Yaga's Home

Main Objective: Acquire E-Class Potion — Complete!

Receive:

200 XP

500 PP ]

[ Congratulations! You are the first player to complete the Gate 2 Main Objective! ]

[ Bonus Receive:

2,000 XP

10,000 PP ]

Dasha nodded to himself and moved on. He ignored the last-minute pop-up asking him if he wanted to return to the White Abyss. Despite there not being classifications, he could guess which potions were higher in quality based on their ingredients and timing. For example, the vitality brew took thirty minutes total in comparison to the healing tonic.

[ Successfully crafted:

1x Vitality Brew ]

Unfortunately, it was still only a guess. He placed the vitality brew in his inventory and checked its information.

[ Vitality Brew

Rank: E

Provides +3 to a player's vitality for 30 seconds. ]

Thirty minutes and only E-rank? Dasha's fingers twitched in annoyance. Then he thought about it.

'What if…' Dasha re-read Baba Yaga's book again. Thirty minutes, twenty minutes, he scanned the ingredients, their general rarity, and the time needed. This was essentially a manual for the basics. Meaning, there was a good chance that the Special Objective required something outside the basics, just like with Anjaneya.

The ingredients he received from killing slimes on top of what lay in the treasure chest. By combining those two factors, perhaps he could craft a D-rank potion.

He thought about elements and how they reacted with another. Scientifically, there was no connection. With water as the base, slime balls as a dissolvent, two eagle feathers as the magical element, and some ginger. He was going off of instincts. Intuition. There was no qualm or reason for what he was doing. He did simply because he felt it was right.

And his instincts paid off.

[ Successfully crafted:

1x Agility Elixir ]

[ Congratulations! Gate 2 : Baba Yaga's Home

SPECIAL OBJECTIVE: Acquire D-Class Potion — Complete!

Receive:

500 XP

5000 PP ]

[ Congratulations! You are the first player to complete the Gate 2 Special Objective! ]

[ Bonus Receive:

4,000 XP

20,000 PP ]