World’s Cutest Alchemist

A government agent, Nero, was currently in a meeting with his team.

“Alright, everyone,” Nero said, “The higher-ups are probably going to give us the order any day now, but, this is exactly what we’ve been preparing for. We should already have a good guess on where ‘MintChocoMaster’ is located, right?”

“Yeah,” A co-worker raised his hand, “Unlike a certain trash lover, this one actually likes posting photos of her dinner online!”

That drew a few chuckles from the others.

“Adding on to that,” Another co-worker followed, “We’ve already found her usual ice cream spots. Once we get the go-ahead, we could easily access CCTV, it should be easy to identify her.”

“God, if only it was this easy back then.”

“Yeah, I’ve been spending time with my family recently, it’s been great.”

“You too? I finally get to see my daughter after school!”

“Me and the family booked a cruise recently, we’ll be going in a few days.”

“Oh! I hope you like it; I remember when I went on a cruise, there was this guy who got blackout drunk at the bar, he ended up puking all over this one chick he was hitting on.”

“Pfft!”

“And that’s not the only thing! He ended up taking her to his hotel room after!”

“What!? No way.”

“Yeah! Me and the pals couldn’t believe it. We were baffled.”

Nero looked at his chattering co-workers with a smile. Although the meeting had run a little rampant, this atmosphere wasn’t bad at all. After all, when they get difficult assignments, overtime and stress fills the room.

But…For some reason, a feeling he couldn’t stomach had hit him. He didn’t know why or what was causing this feeling, but, he just felt…Bad.

Like something terrible was about to happen.

“I’m going on a fishing trip with my son on the weekend, he’s so excited. We haven’t gone in over a year!”

“I hear worms are good this time of year, the bass will be biting like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Ahaha, I hope so.”

Nero stayed silent, the bad feeling in him growing.

Why did it feel like the calm before the storm?

He could only hope his gut was wrong.

[An Awakener you follow has cleared a floor!]

[An Awakener you follow has set a new record!]

[An Awakener you follow has ranked on the leaderboard!]

The bustling and lively room went silent.

Cups and mugs hit the floor.

Water spilt onto a table, but no one paid it any mind.

It was as if all sound stopped.

Nero didn’t even realize he was holding his breath as he brought up the menu.

“Fuck…” Someone muttered under their breath.

Nero blinked. Once. Twice. Then cursed under his breath as well.

Every phone in the room started ringing at once.

“Everyone! Prepare for overtime!” Nero shouted.

…

Hailey, also known as Emperor Dragon Queen, was running on a treadmill at a consistent pace.

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She calmly inhaled and exhaled as she circulated mana through her body.

As a dragonkin, her control over mana had become extremely precise. By associations standards, when she first awakened it was already at C- grade. Now, after training for months, she had reached C+ grade.

So, empowering her body with mana was simple. She hadn’t suffered mana backlash once.

“Let’s raise the speed.” Janet said.

“Go ahead.” Hailey replied, unbothered. She wasn’t even a little tired, her dragonkin body possessed naturally superior stamina.

If it was before she awakened, she couldn’t imagine being able to run for an hour without tiring.

As the speed increased, Hailey naturally started running faster. Yet, it didn’t affect her in the slightest.

She slowly drew more mana from her core to circulate throughout her body.

“Any difficulties?” Janet asked.

“None.” Hailey replied truthfully.

“Impressive.” Janet nodded, “Even Lightning Lord found it difficult when he first empowered his body with mana. He suffered mana backlash quite a few times, yet, you haven’t once.”

“Obviously.” Hailey snorted, “I am a proud dragonkin, as if I’d struggle to handle mana. Especially within my own body.”

“Then, shall we raise the speed a bit more?”

“Go ahead.” Hailey replied dismissively.

Even as the speed increased some more, she didn’t struggle. However, the speed probably couldn’t be increased more than this. She didn’t have much more mana to spare.

Janet could tell from the readings on the machine. So, she didn’t ask Hailey if she could do more. It’d only provoke an arrogant, bluffing response.

“Let’s maintain this speed for 15 minutes.” Janet said.

“Got it.”

As Hailey continued to run on the treadmill, a sudden screen appeared.

[An Awakener you follow has cleared a floor!]

[An Awakener you follow has set a new record!]

[An Awakener you follow has ranked on the leaderboard!]

[Your leaderboard ranking on Floor 5 has dropped!]

Her jaw dropped as she read the notifications.

Then, a sharp pain hit her chest, it was painful, as if a bolt of lightning struck her core. It caused her body to tense up and freeze up; A second later she had flew off the machine and hit the ground.

“Ah!” Janet shouted, “Hailey!”

The treadmill immediately turned off as the button clipped onto Hailey’s shirt flew off.

“Are you okay!?” Janet rushed over to Hailey, checking over her condition.

Hailey didn’t respond. Though it hurt, she wasn’t thinking about the pain. Instead, she was staring at the screen in front of her.

“…How?” She muttered under her breath in complete confusion.

‘Just how…How did she do it?’

Without thinking about anything else, she immediately purchased the replay.

…

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, it’s great to have you here tonight. This is Awakener’s News, here to bring you all the latest stories and updates related to awakeners.

Just earlier today, there’s been an update to the floor five leaderboard. Now, this is interesting because just a few weeks ago, we told a similar story on our network.” The caster, Marcus, said with an announcer-like voice.

“That’s right, Marcus.” A female caster, Glynn, chimed in with a smooth voice, “A few weeks ago, a new awakener, Hailey Burnip, also known as ‘Emperor Dragon Queen’ set a new record and hit rank 7 on the leaderboard for floor five.

We went over the clear video and talked a little about the new government-affiliated awakener. But today, another new awakener has made it on the leaderboard.”

“Yes,” Marcus said, “That’s right. And I think what makes this so special is that the awakener who claimed a leaderboard spot today is…”

“Not a combat class!” Glynn raised her voice, cutting Marcus off, the excitement was obvious, “That’s right! For the first time—likely since the tower arrived—a production class has made it onto the floor five leaderboards! We’re witnessing history today!”

“As my fellow anchor said,” Marcus continued, “A production class, alchemist, has achieved history today.

Now, before we get into the awakener, let’s get into a little on why this is so impressive for those of you out there who don’t understand.

Floor 5 is a modifier floor that has the [Itemless] modifier attached to it. Now, what this modifier does is remove your ability to bring items into the floor. So, for all you awakeners out there who have a treasured weapon, armor, ring…Just any piece of equipment or item you cherish, you’ll have to leave that at home for this floor.

For combat classes, although this affects them, it affects them way less. As weapon users can usually bring in a weapon forged by a regular blacksmith. And it’s even less punishing for magic users, as, they can simply use magic to kill the boss—a hobgoblin.

However, for production classes, there couldn’t be a worse type of modifier. As we’ve seen and learnt from many production classes, they live and die using items. Skills and traits a production class can obtain have been statistically proven to rarely be combat-related. So, production classes usually have no choice but to fight with items they create.

Now, you may be wondering, if combat classes can bring in a regular weapon, why can’t production classes? Well, they can. Except, they wouldn’t qualify for the leaderboards; Using a weapon made by others instantly disqualifies production classes from ranking as it’s ‘not using their own means’.

If they can get past that, they also face the difficulties of competing with combat classes—who, as their name says, specializes in combat—in completion time. Next, the tower also only accepts the awakener’s first successful completion.

This is why no other production class in history has ranked on the floor five leaderboards.

Now! Let’s finally talk about the awakener in question herself.

Some of you may know her, as, a few months ago she had taken the internet by storm. Due to her ‘explosive’ fighting style, her popularity blew up almost overnight. Accompanying that are potions that taste extremely delicious, many have described them as the best tasting potion they’ve ever had.

By now, you may have guessed-”

“It’s Raccoon! Raccoon! The Little Bomber!” Glynn impatiently cut off Marcus who was dragging things on.

“Haha,” Marcus chuckled, “That’s right, Raccoon, also known as the ‘Little Bomber’, has achieved history today. Glynn, you seem to be quite enthusiastic about her, so, why don’t you introduce her?”

“Of course!” Glynn readily replied, “Raccoon, also known as the Little Bomber is someone who awakened only half a year ago! She blew straight into the scene, setting a record-breaking 18 second clear time on the first floor!

She fights with, what she calls ‘Dynokali potions’. Put simply, they’re highly explosive bombs classified as potions! This is also what gave her the title of ‘Little Bomber’. Her explosive reign continued on, blowing her way onto the leaderboards for the first four floors, and now the fifth floor!

Now, let’s talk about Raccoon herself. To be honest, not much information is confirmed about her since she uses anonymous mode. However, there are tons of credible speculations we can infer.

First! Raccoon is an unaffiliated awakener. Yes, this may surprise you, but, Raccoon is a known unregistered awakener and has yet affiliate with a guild! Meaning, she’s likely achieved all of this by herself!

There’s good reason to assume that Raccoon lives in Florida based on information obtained from an alchemy lab at a popular shopping center.

As for her actual appearance? Unknown at the current time, but assumptions are that she’s a young lady with a height around the 140’s to 150’s…”

…

On a separate news channel,

“This just in! Raccoon, also known as, the Little Bomber, has ranked on the 5th floor leaderboard!”

…

On a popular livestreamer’s channel,

“Little Bomber has done it again!”

…

On a famous radio podcast, hosted by two rankers,

“Let’s talk about the Little Bomber and her 5th floor clear.”

…

In a guild meeting room,

“Did everyone watch the clear video?” The guild leader asked.

Everyone in the room nodded, one of them replying,

“Yes, it was certainly impressive. I am dying to know how exactly that potion was made before my eyes.”

“Agreed.” The leader nodded before looking around, “Hey…Where’s our alchemist? What’s he doing instead of attending this meeting?”

Silence.

Hesitantly, one of the members raised her hand,

“Uh…He’s in the lab, repeatedly watching the video while laughing to himself like a madman.”

“…”

“…I think this is the most expressive I’ve seen him in years…”

“…I see.” The guild leader replied, “Well, let’s decide what to do about the Little Bomber. She lives on our home turf, we need to find her before other guilds do. I don’t even want to imagine the mockery we’d get if another guild from out of state finds her.”

…

In a board room filled with ALG’s directors and staff,

“…Did the Little Bomber ever reply to our collaboration offer before?” The CEO asked.

“Negative.” The communications department head replied, “It’s possible she hasn’t even seen it.”

“…” The CEO nodded, “Rescind it and offer a new S-tier collaboration offer. Ask if she’s interested in a skin and…” He looked around the room before speaking, this time with a much more powerful voice, “Ask if she’s interested in being in that…other project we’re creating.”