```
Ver. 4.2.3 — Alchemy and Medicine System Expansion Patch (Draft)
▶ Overhaul of Criteria for Calculating Compound Medicine Efficacy
— Increased weighting for reflecting a material’s rarity within the world
— Added weighting for reflecting a material’s harmlessness within the world
※ In theory, the rarer and more harmless a material is,
the more its maximum efficacy value will converge upon, or in exceptional cases surpass, the limit when compounded.
※ Detailed figures are under internal review by the operations team.
```
---
The fire had gone out.
Only the frame of the hut remained now. Blackened pillars stood toward the sky. Jaewon sat beneath a tree beside it, the patch notes resting on his knees.
The smoke had already settled. The wind was cold.
Jaewon took out a piece of parchment.
He needed to organize his thoughts.
‘What do I have right now?’
What Jaewon had at the moment: the patch notes. A pencil. A half-full divided ink container. And some shabby stats he could use with his own hands.
‘Of course, I’m the only being who can use the invincible patch notes, but...’
At present, an external Constellation was putting him in check.
It seemed they were systematically inducing acts of bad manners disguised as demonic activity. He had to find a method.
‘Directly raising the Director’s own stats is a no-go.’
It was the easiest method to arrive at, but there was a fatal reason that made it impossible.
‘There are Constellations who scrutinize patch details line by line.’
Among the Lounge Constellations, Jet-Black Veil was that type. Whenever a patch notice went up, he read it meticulously and left comments.
If an outsider from another game was aiming to snipe Arcana Online, a user of that caliber would be watching the current situation even more closely.
But if they discovered that the Director’s personal stats had risen...
‘They’ll raise suspicions that the administrator used the game’s crisis as an opportunity to strengthen his own character.’
He didn’t even want to imagine it.
Even if he found the cheater by raising his own abilities, the Constellations would never accept the excuses of a fee-collecting rain gutter named Jaewon.
‘Stop thinking unconsciously about what you “want to do” and consciously think about what you can “make possible,” you damn head of mine!’
After shaking his head clear, he forced himself to think of another method. Jaewon repeatedly folded and unfolded the parchment as he thought.
‘Then I have to solve it with tools.’
Weapons. Armor. Tools. Things obtainable within this world.
The problem was that Jaewon had no money to buy them. Divine power was for operating the world, not for his personal allowance.
‘Searching isn’t suitable either. If I patch in a map that tells the Director the distribution of items, that’s no different from a stat-boost patch.’
A method that wouldn’t invite the jealousy of the Constellations even if the patch details were fully disclosed...
At that moment, an idea flashed through his mind.
‘Or should I cosplay as a master craftsman or something?’
If he was going to make things himself, he needed materials.
Jaewon recalled the world-design logic in his head. Arcana Online had an alchemy and medicine system. It worked by gathering materials and compounding them.
He had never really touched it until now. It existed, but because the unit cost was high, it wasn’t a system used much except by Constellations who had professionally followed that skill tree.
What if he put a patch into that...?
Jaewon opened the patch notes.
Before that, he wanted to check one thing. Sending the spirit Log to the scene and having him work there was the simplest method.
He took out the crystal orb and opened a chat with Log.
```
[Director → Log]
How are things right now?
```
A reply came.
```
[Log → Director]
I am in the middle of a tea party.
```
Jaewon tilted the parchment.
```
[Director → Log]
A tea party? Sorry, but can you wrap it up quickly and come back?
```
```
[Log → Director]
No. It is not that kind of tea party.
```
```
[Log → Director]
The Constellation Snow-White First Snow referred to an illustrated encyclopedia of flora and fauna
and investigated the diet of penguins.
```
```
[Log → Director]
She served fish soup in a teacup.
```
```
[Director → Log]
Ugh, hearing that makes me crave spicy fish stew. Is it edible?
```
```
[Log → Director]
Perhaps because she considered the ecology of wild animals,
it has not been seasoned.
```
Jaewon was at a loss for words for a moment.
```
[Director → Log]
Are you drinking it?
```
```
[Log → Director]
The wyvern also received some and is drinking it.
It is difficult to leave my seat.
```
Jaewon closed his eyes, then opened them.
He could picture what it meant that Snow-White First Snow had referred to an illustrated encyclopedia of flora and fauna. Penguins ate fish. So she must have served fish soup instead of tea. Harmlessly. Kindly. Without salt... or sugar.
Jaewon sent Log a message.
```
[Director → Log]
Just stop pretending you can’t talk and ask her to at least steep some kelp for broth
```
```
[Log → Director]
I believe it is too late to say that I could actually speak all along.
```
```
[Director → Log]
Yeah, then good luck. When their interest fades, pretend you have family left behind in Antarctica and come back.
```
```
[Log → Director]
Understood.
```
Jaewon folded the parchment.
It would be hard to expect Log’s assistance for the time being.
Jaewon did it alone.
He opened the patch notes.
---
It was the alchemy system.
It was a system that already existed. If one gathered materials and combined them, medicine came out. Healing potions. Enhancement potions. Antidotes. It was a simple structure. Compared to the way Constellations sent down items through sponsorships, the unit cost was high, so it wasn’t used often.
He was going to insert new logic into it.
Jaewon began writing in the patch notes.
There was one basic principle.
The rarer a material was in this world, and the more harmless it was to this world, the higher the efficacy when compounded.
‘Rare and harmless materials.’
As Jaewon wrote that standard down, he thought for a moment.
What did harmless mean?
Something that was not dangerous in this world. Something without poison. Something that did not harm other living beings. Something that did not shake the ecosystem.
What did rare mean?
Something that could not be found just anywhere. Something that grew or was generated only under specific conditions. Something that was rare merely to see.
If he gathered materials at the intersection of those two and compounded them,
he would make a medicine whose efficacy increased.
After writing the basic content, Jaewon continued.
```
▶ Criteria for Calculating Compound Medicine Efficacy
[Material Rarity Weighting]
The lower the distribution frequency within the world, the higher the weighting.
For materials limited to a single habitat, maximum weighting is applied.
[Material Harmlessness Weighting]
The lower the toxicity, danger, and ecological impact
index within the world before compounding, the higher the weighting.
For completely harmless materials, maximum weighting is applied.
[Composite Efficacy Calculation]
Rarity Weighting × Harmlessness Weighting = Medicine Efficacy Upper Limit
The upper limit accumulates as the number of materials increases.
```
Jaewon stopped writing.
The patch itself wasn’t strange. An expansion of the alchemy system. Addition of material diversity. A direction that allowed adventurers to make good medicines through natural gathering, apart from items sent down by Constellations through sponsorship.
Even if someone dissected the patch details, there was no problem.
It was natural.
‘According to this standard.’
If he personally obtained rare and harmless materials in this world and compounded them,
there could be medicine that Jaewon, an ordinary human, could use.
Jaewon glanced once at the burned hut.
He had nowhere to sleep anyway.
Jaewon was about to fold the patch notes and tuck them into his clothes, but opened them again.
He tore out a random page. It was a blank page. A portion without any patch written on it.
He tore it off and held it lightly in his hand.
He looked at the remains of the burned hut. Charred wood, faintly giving off heat like charcoal embers. Jaewon brought the patch-note paper to the embers and lit it on fire.
Then he put the ashes that remained into his mouth.
And rose from his seat.
---
It was the village.
Inside the walls. Shops lined the stone road. The potion shop was around the middle of the marketplace.
Jaewon pushed the door open and entered.
The atmosphere inside the shop was not good.
The owner, standing behind the counter, watched Jaewon intently as he came in looking disheveled. In the corner of the shop, two locals were talking in low voices.
Jaewon scanned the shelves.
‘...No way.’
It seemed this was no longer just a simple petty thief, the sort mentioned in the report earlier. Near the mill. By the stalls. The contents said the bread thief had left traces toward the forest. This village was within range.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to stay in the village long anyway. I needed to move to some extent.’
Jaewon naturally stood in front of the shelf.
[Small Stealth Potion for Beginning Thieves] — 3 coins.
Jaewon picked it up. He hooked a finger around the cork stopper.
“Hey.”
The owner spoke from behind the counter.
“You pay first, then drink.”
Jaewon stopped.
His gaze wasn’t simply that of a merchant.
Jaewon shrugged. From his waist, he took out a pouch. The plump pouch jingled. Jaewon placed it on the counter and let go.
The owner picked up the pouch. Opened it. Tilted it.
What poured onto his palm was—
glass shards.
Just bits of glass that had rolled out when the hut burned.
The owner’s eyes narrowed.
Jaewon had already opened the potion lid, and then
what had been in his mouth went down with it.
Ashes from the burned patch notes. Potion. All at once.
Gulp.
“Hey, you wanna die—”
The owner’s words stopped. He had been about to say, Did you think drinking a low-grade stealth potion would let you steal successfully right in front of the owner?
He looked in the direction where Jaewon had been. Looked again. Looked left. Looked right.
Because.
Jaewon.
Was not visible.
---
Jaewon was surprised too.
‘...The patch I made really is damn shoddy.’
Patch-note ashes.
Ashes are absolutely not good for one’s health.
They may have been used as folk remedies in the old days, but they’re lumps of carbon, so there are no health benefits. If the amount is large or the concentration high, they irritate the stomach lining and cause abdominal pain, vomiting, and heartburn.
But if one considered the rarity that determined the potion according to the patch contents?
In terms of rarity—“ashes from burned patch notes” were the only thing of their kind in this world. Orichalcum, dragon hearts, legendary materials—all of them existed in multiple quantities somewhere in the world. The patch notes were unique in the world.
Harmlessness: bad for health.
Rarity: one of a kind in the world.
As for how explosively the efficacy of a potion using those ashes as a material had risen, the answer was that no one could see him even though he was standing right in front of them.
The shop door opened, and two castle guards entered.
“We came after receiving reports from nearby residents. A suspicious person here—”
The guard scanned the inside of the shop. Jaewon was standing right in front of the guard. The guard’s gaze passed over the height of Jaewon’s face.
“Where is he?”
“He definitely came in here—”
“There’s no one here.”
The owner picked up a club and came toward the direction where Jaewon had been standing. His arm brushed past Jaewon’s shoulder.
It simply passed through.
Jaewon shifted half a step to the side.
The guards searched the inside of the shop. The corners. Behind the shelves. Under the counter.
There was no one.
Jaewon returned to the front of the shelf.
Two small healing potions. Two stealth potions.
He put them in his pocket.
There was a sound.
One guard looked in that direction. Jaewon stopped moving. The guard tilted his head, then looked back at the owner.
“I thought the potion bottles moved by themselves.”
“Wasn’t it your imagination? Perhaps you’re on edge these days because of that notorious bread thief in this village.”
The owner looked once more in the direction where Jaewon stood. Jaewon was at a distance where his eyes were exactly level with the man’s. The owner withdrew his gaze.
“...Maybe.”
Jaewon slowly walked toward the door. Silencing his footsteps. He slipped outside through the gap in the door.
---
It was the main street inside the castle walls.
Jaewon started walking. He was still invisible.
He needed a horse. If he was going to roam the forest with the patch notes, the range was too limited on foot. He could buy a horse, but he had no money. He could borrow one, but there was no one to borrow from.
There was only one method left.
His destination was the lord’s castle.
From the direction of the potion shop, he heard the voices of the guards.
“It really seems like there’s no one.”
“I’m telling you, he was there. He was definitely there.”
As Jaewon moved away from that sound, he muttered.
“I’ll be borrowing a horse.”
And he quickened his steps toward the castle gate.
---