Chapter 326

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Chapter 326: A Certain Mushroom

Bucks Miserheld

It was only in the afternoon that Jesse finally arrived in front of the Alchemist’s residence.

A skinny goblin with messy brown hair was sitting in a nearby lounge chair, wearing glasses and staring off into the distance at the sea. Jesse approached and asked, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Bucks Miserheld?"

"Mr. Miserheld?" the goblin glanced at Jesse and asked, "Why are you looking for him? Has Revilgaz gone bankrupt?"

"What?" Jesse was suddenly confused by the reply.

"I mean, has he become so weak that he’s resorted to asking someone like you for money?" the goblin asked.

Jesse cleared his throat and said, "No, sir, I’m not here to ask for money. I just want to ask Mr. Miserheld some questions about alchemy."

"Ha," the goblin said, "Of course you’re not, especially when Booty Bay is so profitable, unless the joint fleet of Stormwind and Kul Tiras is already on the way, that guy must be planning to flee with the money."

"You mentioned discussing some alchemy questions, so tell me first, the legendary dark plant born in the most vicious place, a mysterious material coveted by all human, elf, and dwarf Herbalists of the highest order…"

"Black Lotus," Jesse said, "But that’s an issue of herbalism, not alchemy."

"That’s enough then, the person coming to ask for money probably wouldn’t even understand what I just said," the goblin took off his glasses and said, "You answered that question, so you are now privy to a truth that most people cannot easily obtain – I am actually Bucks Miserheld."

Jesse looked at him helplessly, thinking that this was quite an obvious truth.

The goblin cleared his throat and asked, "What did you come to ask about? Want to make an Invisibility Potion to sneak into the closet of the girl you like? I’ll be honest with you, young man, if that girl suddenly opens the closet, it will be too late for you to drink the Invisibility Potion, because…"

"It takes a few seconds to work." Jesse waved a bottle of Invisibility Potion in front of Miserheld and said, "I’m not here for the Invisibility Potion, sir."

Miserheld squinted at the potion and asked, "Did you make this yourself?"

"No," Jesse replied, "It was made by the person who sent me here."

The goblin nodded slowly and asked, "What relation are you to him?"

"I’m an assistant and herb hunter," Jesse said, "and to be precise, it’s her."

"A female alchemist," the goblin nodded, "I’m not surprised, every female alchemist I know is quite formidable. What do you want?"

"Noggenfogger Elixir."

"Noggenfogger, hmm," Miserheld asked, "Are you in some kind of trouble? I sense a very unpleasant smell coming from you, not just unpleasant, but dangerously unpleasant."

Jesse realized that she had indeed found the right person.

"This is our concern."

"It’s definitely your concern, everyone has their own things," the goblin chuckled twice. If the chuckle was from a different race, Jesse would have thought it was a mischievous smirk, but from the goblin, it seemed normal.

"In consideration of your friend, the Alchemist Master, young man, I am willing to share a bit more with you," Miserheld continued, "Noggenfogger’s formula has always had a serious flaw, with a chance of causing memory loss after fainting. He has been trying to overcome this issue while reducing the cost of his potion, minimizing the danger, which would lead to greater profits and more buyers."

"I believe I will achieve results before him because he is preoccupied with too many things – the Steamwheedle Cartel, Gadgetzan, the treasures of Zul’Farrak, desert racing, the cursed gold mine, pretty sisters… I have no interest in those. I am a simple Goblin Alchemist, human, my focus is on creating more useful and profitable potions, with profit being a secondary concern for me."

"Noggenfogger is trapped in that town because of these matters, while I am more free. Look at this port, look at this entire continent, I have too many unknown materials to experiment with to improve that potion. Once my experiments succeed, I will name this new potion the genuine Miserheld elixir."

"So, do you want me to help you gather materials for experiments?" Jesse asked.

"So, do you want this potion?" the goblin asked back, "Do you want to get your hands on the Noggenfogger Elixir? Or rather, do you want to acquire a greater potion than what Noggenfogger made?! And it’s completely free! Then you’ll have to help me! I believe an Alchemist who can create an invisibility potion would not cooperate with a worthless person, and you do seem like a smart lad."

Jesse furrowed his brow and said, "Honestly, sir, I may not have much time to help you research new potions."

"Hmph." Miserheld glanced at Jesse and said, "Does the scent on you signify some curse or poison? Have you experienced a serious experimental accident? Is that why you want the Noggenfogger Elixir? There’s no need to conceal it, kid, after all, you’re not the first to come to Booty Bay for this purpose."

"I really need it urgently," Jesse said. "If you are willing to give me some ready-made medicine, maybe I can consider helping you out."

"Ready-made?" Miserheld said bluntly. "I do have some for experimentation at home, but are you sure you want to risk memory loss by drinking them? Just to stay alive?"

"How likely is the risk of memory loss?" Jesse asked.

"Around twenty percent," Miserheld said. "That’s the probability I’ve heard of, but you know, some strange folks who drink it can’t even explain if they’ve lost their memory, right? Maybe some people drink this stuff just to forget their embarrassing past. Some may even forget drinking the Noggenfogger potion themselves. Yes, memory loss could be one of its effects. Maybe Noggenfogger initially intended it to be a memory loss potion, I don’t know. Feigning death might have been just a side effect in the early versions."

Either way, the risk of memory loss was definitely something Jesse couldn’t afford.

Losing memories from his past life meant giving up his biggest advantage. With a probability of over twenty percent, waiting for the church or elves to develop a new treatment seemed more reliable.

However, depending on church purification for years or even a dozen, or drinking six bottles of Restorative Potion a year just to stay alive, meant being stranded in the wild with no way back to the city would result in certain death.

Or Jesse needed to find a priest teammate for help at all times, with his life depending on this teammate. Leaving him posed a risk of losing his only chance of survival.

So, is this really less risky than a twenty percent chance?

"Let’s talk about your improvement plan, Mr. Miserheld," he asked.

"You finally spoke up," the goblin said. "I’ve figured out the problem already. The Noggenfogger Elixir recipe has too many expensive ingredients for creating a safe fake death. One of the rare ingredients is the Ghost Mushroom. Even though this strange fungus is powerful, it conflicts with the Marrowpetal Ghostbloom in the recipe, which is the root cause of memory loss. But I have to admit, its ghostly color and strange smell enhance the mysterious feeling of Noggenfogger’s product and increase customers’ willingness to buy it."

"I have tried many hallucinogenic ingredients to replace the Ghost Mushroom, including the poisonous Hatcap, Violet Cap, and Thick-stem Mushrooms from Hyjal, Moonglow, Blue Powder, Lake Cattail, Felcone, Oasis Mushrooms from the Northern Barrens, Jungle Fungi from here, Black Marsh Mushrooms… To be honest, most of the mushrooms from Khaz Modan and the Kingdom of Stormwind are good for eating but their medicinal value is not as good as those from Kalimdor, and they lack variety."

"I still have a dark blue mushroom brought by a troll from the sea that I have not tried yet. This mushroom is very dangerous, and its name in troll language translates to ‘Death.’ I am not very optimistic about its effects because I just want to improve the Noggenfogger recipe, not turn it into a boring deadly poison. Why don’t I just buy a dwarf handheld cannon? It has the same effect and is much cheaper."

"Then there are Lordaeron and Northrend. I haven’t tried to explore there yet. Although I am not confident that cold places can have any strange mushrooms, and the development of the Orc War in the Hillsbrad area disrupted my research plans in the past few years… I don’t have the conditions to restart this plan yet, I just need a suitable mushroom, darn it!"

"Maybe you can help me with this favor," the goblin said. "Isn’t Lordaeron a human territory?"

"Have you ever tried the Purple Mushroom from Hinterlands?" Jesse asked.

"Hinterlands, alright, I haven’t looked into that place seriously," the goblin raised an eyebrow and said. "Since you know something, tell me about it."

Jesse was a bit surprised. In the Noggenfogger Elixir questline in the game, Alchemist Noggenfogger obtained purple powder ground from Hinterlands mushrooms and quickly completed his new potion formula, launching a new business.

Jesse thought the Purple Mushroom needed for the task was in the recipe, but it turned out the old recipe used Ghost Mushrooms instead. Recipes involving Ghost Mushrooms are mysterious, no wonder they can cause memory loss in goblin’s formulas.

Just now, Miserheld didn’t mention that he tried mushrooms from Hinterlands.

Jesse tried to explain to the goblin, "The forests in Hinterlands are more humid compared to other places in Lordaeron. Elves from Quel’Thalas and Amani Trolls live there, fighting for centuries, leaving traces of sorcery and magic everywhere, not to mention the mysterious magical forests in the north."

"I know a type of Purple Mushroom grows in the ancient territory of the evil trolls, who worship the spider goddess Shadra. Think about how their sorcery and venomous spiders would affect the local fungi."

"Oh my, when you put it that way…"

Goblin Alchemist reflected for a moment. But at this point, Jesse was starting to worry.

Does he have to make another trip to Hinterlands just to pick this mushroom? That would be months down the line again.

Or is he going to risk his life by asking Vereesa to venture deep into the ruins where the Amani trolls roam to help the goblin find a new recipe for Noggenfogger Elixir, all for a darn mushroom?

Without mentioning whether the ranger would agree, even if she did, Jesse felt this was much more absurd than simply drinking the old Noggenfogger potion. He couldn’t bring himself to ask. But, did the Elven Herbalist collect samples of this mushroom before? Oh, the old boss selling troll coins mentioned a troll Alchemist from the north in Booty Bay… But for Booty Bay, which is in the southernmost part of the continent, isn’t Stranglethorn considered the north?

"I wonder, sir, is the Troll Witch Doctor in the harbor a Gurubashi troll, or an Amani Troll?"

"Oh… right! I almost forgot!" exclaimed the goblin, opening his mouth wide. "She is an evil priest who escaped here from the Hinterlands a few years ago, also an alchemist. Yes, quickly… go find her and ask! I’ll lock the door first, wait, darn it… I still owe her something, I can’t go. You go, you can go, human!"