The Alchemist at Hell's Gates

4

^^ Uric the Nephilim Archer ^^

The Archer was the first to notice my approach, as I tried to make my way across the busy room; it was a Saturday, and that meant that all the younger Casuals (those who were playing the game for fun, not as a Job,) were active again, flooding the usually-calm game and spamming the Chat with Trolls. "Sam! Come on over here, Gerson saved you a seat!" He called, waving wildly.

"I'm trying!!! These F&$&@&g Casuals are crowding the damned place like a low-budget Mosh Pit!!!" I yelled back, shoving one particularly rude Lvl 10 Warrior out of my way.

His return shove was enough to do 5 points of damage and send me flying across the room towards the table, knocking down several players at once; as I'd hoped, they stood back up and began tussling with him, while I dusted myself off and sat down at the table once Gerson removed one of his booted feet from the only empty chair in the room.

Over the next three seconds, my Slime healed the damage, and Hellen stared at the little red slime with confusion for a moment. "What... is that?"

I beamed proudly, presenting it to the group on my palm. "This is my creation, a Healing Potion that's animated to be a Slime!!! They're Lvl 0, so there's no XP from killing them, and they're technically 'Servants'; the next Update is probably going to be a bunch of Monster-Related stuff, like Monster Taming and stuff. For now, all he does is heal me for 2 points every second!" I set him on the table, and allowed him to roam around to each of them like a dog sniffing guests, before returning to my shoulder.

Uric grinned immediately. "Oooh, I can't wait until I can get a Falcon Pet!!! What kind of Ranger doesn't have a Falcon?"

"Most rangers?" Kenny snarked, and then turned away from the pouting man to look at me. "Can it heal other people?"

I hummed, and then leaned over, placing the slime on his shoulder. "You can test it out if you want?"

"I've got it!" Hellen laughed evilly, punching his kidney and dealing 20 points of damage.

"Hey!" He winced and leaned away from her swiftly, rubbing the sore spot as small +2's started appearing above the slime, and his health regenerated slowly but surely. "Alright, so it can, but that healing rate is pretty small... it might be useful if it had different speeds and potencies, but at its current level, it's pretty weak."

"Well... it is Level Zero, dude." I remarked dryly, calling the creature back to me with a soft whistle.

"True, and it likely won't ever get more than 5 per second, because if it did, it would invalidate the Cleric's Aura, and the game is pretty good at not undercutting any one class over the other." Uric added.

"Except the Alchemist, which so far has gotten the Royal Shaft in every single Update." I raised an eyebrow, sending the slime into my inventory for now.

"That... no you're totally correct; maybe this month's update will just be a balancing of the Alchemist?" He shrugged, then looked at my shoulder, where the slime had been. "Where'd he go?"

"My inventory. They're technically 'Items', according to the game, so they're fine sitting in the inventory, but they're not considered 'equipped' unless they're on your person or your belt; I've thought of making a few bottles and attaching them to the belt, like little potion bottles, but I worried that was too Steampunk for this game, like my clothes and Watch." I showed them the little item when they looked at me funny, and they seemed mildly interested, but only Kenny showed any real enthusiasm.

"Wait, you built that?!? You realize the intricate graphics necessary to facilitate Clockwork?!? That's why Steampunk Games always used to Crash, is the massive Graphics Budget they require!!!" Kenny laughed incredulously, and began examining the interior of the watch as it chugged along in his hand.