"This costs HOW much?!" the man in chain mail screamed.

The woman at the counter simply stared forward, waiting for the man to end his tirade. "Sir, you and I both know you're here, at MY store, for a specific reason. I'm the only one who can make potions this potent, and as such, my prices are higher than most." She pointed to the sign beside her, that read "Lydia's Potions" in big fancy lettering, with a list of all her prices. Specifically, she tapped the bolded print at the very bottom, that read "Prices are FINAL."

"This is highway robbery!" the man screeched. Another adventurer, seemingly the man's companion, set their hand on his shoulder, shaking their head. The man stopped talking, though he was clearly still seething. "Fine, we'll go to your competition."

"Best of luck." Lydia said, in mock cheer. She gingerly took the Barkskin Potion from the man's hand and set it back on the shelf behind her. As the party of two walked out of her store, she simply smiled to herself. "They'll be back soon enough."

Lydia peered outside. It was finally getting dark out. She heaved a sigh of relief. Business had been unbelievably busy today, for whatever reason, even though her shop was tucked a good distance away from the nearest city. Maybe the adventurer's guilds posted new quests today. None of her business. She got out of the adventurer game years ago. Either way, she hoped that she could finally wrap up for the da-

Her thoughts were violently interrupted by the bell of her store door ringing.

Lydia swore under her breath as she put her cheery greeting face on and turned to face her customer. "Hello, there!"

"H- hi."

Lydia tried to hide her frown. Before her, stood a rather short, meek-looking Drow. Of course, short simply meant she was roughly the same height as Lydia herself. She was wearing a simple tunic, and held a large canvas satchel at her side. She didn't seem to have a party with her, nor did she seem the type to be an errand girl. Not to mention of course, that a Drow likely would never be caught dead running errands for someone else. Then again, Drow typically didn't seem so... shy. Doing her best to put her curiosity aside for now, she posed her usual question.

"How can I help you today?" Lydia asked.

"I... well... oh. I'm Triel." the Drow girl bowed. Lydia raised an eyebrow at the unexpected display of respect.

"Hi, Triel." Lydia smiled, "I'd introduce myself too, but you probably already know who I am..."

Triel nodded vigorously. "Master Lydia, the Golden Alchemist."

Lydia frowned, tapping her chin with her index finger. "That's... a new title. Haven't heard that one before."

"Oh!" Triel bit her lip, "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Lydia laughed, "It's not your fault. They give me so many damn titles and epithets nowadays that I just can't keep track. I never concerned myself with such trivialities anyway. I'm just... Lydia." She spread her arms wide.

"Lydia." Triel repeated, breathlessly.

Lydia continued to examine Triel, bemused. "You're not here for potions, are you?"

Triel shook her head, "No, not quite."

"Is this another job offer? Do the Drow want me to-"

"I'm not with them." Triel interrupted, firmly, shaking her head even harder. "I haven't seen another one of my kin in over a decade."

"Curiouser and curiouser." Lydia muttered under her breath.

"I want... I want you to take me as your apprentice."

"What?" Lydia was surprised, looking up.

"I'm an aspiring alchemist, and... well, I figured who better to learn from than the best alchemist in the land?" Triel explained.

"Hm." Lydia frowned. "No."

"No?" Triel looked crestfallen.

"No."

"That's it? Just... no?" Triel said, sadness obviously welling up in her voice.

Lydia sighed, "Look, it's nothing against you or anything... I just don't take apprentices. My secrets are mine, and mine alone. Even if I were to teach you them, you would not be able to replicate my methods."

"Wh... what?" Triel stammered, "Alchemy is... a science! Surely if I just copy your technique..."

Lydia smiled mysteriously. "You're not wrong. But I can still guarantee with absolute certainty that I am the only person in existence who possesses the ability to do what I do."

"What?" Triel shouted, indignantly, "That's not how alchemy works! If I just mix the potions the same way..."

"You can't." Lydia simply grinned.

"I..." Triel seemed distraught. "You... you're not lying, are you? Are you just messing with me?"

Lydia shook her head solemnly.

"...but..." Triel tried to protest.

"If you really want to learn alchemy, I suggest you look for another teacher." Lydia sighed.

Triel remained silent for a good many minutes, before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Then... hire me."

"Come again?"

"Hire me. As a shopkeeper. Inventory girl. Errand girl. I'll do whatever you want." Triel said, firmly.

Lydia sighed, placing her face in her palm. This was beyond a pupil simply wanting to learn a craft. Triel idolized her, plain and simple. "Come now, Triel. You can't be that enamored with me that you'd be willing to give up your trade to do menial tasks for me."

"I!" Triel began to protest, but Lydia stepped out behind her counter to stand before the girl.

Lydia placed her hands firmly upon Triel's shoulders, and spun her around.

"Wha-?"

"It's now closing time. Please leave." Lydia said, a note of finality punctuating her last words.

"But-!" Triel protested, unsuccessfully, as Lydia ushered her out of the store, and shut the door behind her.

Triel frowned at the closed door before her, hearing Lydia set the lock. She sighed, and began making her way back home. She’d just have to try again tomorrow.

Finally having shooed Triel out of her store and securely put away the last of her remaining stock, Lydia began closing the windows up. When the last window is closed, Lydia heaved a sigh of relief, and finally let herself relax.

Almost immediately, her feet, that mere moments ago appeared to be natural flesh and blood, begin to pool, as if Lydia's body was rapidly melting. That was not quite the case, however. After all, how could something that permanently existed in a liquid state melt any further?

Lydia was a half-slime, a truly rare combination of races. What was even more rare, even unique about this half-slime girl, was the strange combination of genes that she possessed. A combination of genes she had engineered herself. Her "slime" was not cold and sticky, as so many slimes typically are. Instead, she was warm and soft to the touch, with the appearance of liquid flesh. As such, she was able to masquerade as a human with relative ease, so long as she maintained concentration on holding onto a humanoid shape while in public, even emulating the appearance and color of clothes.

Concentration that quickly dwindled away the moment she was finally hidden away from prying eyes. Lydia let out a long sigh of relief as her human form quickly melted away into a puddle of flesh. She hated having to stick to her human form for such a long period of time, and she had been so busy that day, she couldn't even sneak away from the counter for a quick, relaxing puddling.

The puddle of Lydia snuck quickly and quietly across the floorboards of her shop, slipping beneath the closed door to her back room, where she kept her stock. Up the narrow stairway was her bedroom, a place she rarely ever visited nowadays. She barely gave it a glance, as she instead pulled herself into the corner of her back room, where an inconspicuous hole led to a drainage pipe, barely wide enough to fit one of her potion bottles down.

The pipe, however, wasn't a drain at all. Instead, it was the secret entrance to Lydia's laboratory, where she kept all her reagents and worked her magic. An entrance she and she alone could ever access. She let her liquid body drain down the pipe, extruding herself into the small stone well beneath the pipe, a construction that would make sure she always had a comfortable exit.

"Of course", she mused to herself, "I can't really have an uncomfortable exit, with this body…"

To put it bluntly, Lydia simply loved being half-slime. Creating and then using a permanent enchantment to turn her body part-slime had been the best decision she'd ever made. Besides the booming alchemy business she’d managed to make flourish with her unique condition, she found it simply pleasurable. She'd never known how physically constraining having a solid body had been until she'd gotten rid of it. Having a liquid body was simply too wonderful!

Lydia stopped herself. She’d almost let herself get carried away again. Her quivering, liquid body was still pooled in the well, as she undulated in pleasure. She chided herself. She had work to do, first, and orders to fill.

Lydia sighed, and drew herself up and out of the well, her liquid body flowing upwards, seemingly unconstrained by gravity. She flowed across the stone tile, coming to rest in the middle of her laboratory, drawn up in a vaguely humanoid shape. While she retained many of the features she normally sported while human, she was clearly much more liquid than solid. It was as if she were a constantly-melting version of herself, except where droplets would normally fleck off of her, they simply receded back into her body.

She consulted a large chalkboard hanging from the wall she was facing, well-kept notes in a large chart of orders for various potions, the reagents they’d require, and the time it generally took her.

“Four dozen Healing Potions, four Fire Resistance Potions, two Amorphous Form Potions, five Petrification Cures, ten Dexterity Potions…” she read off the board. “I’m gonna be up all night.”

A joke to herself, of course, as Lydia never truly slept anymore, thanks to her new body, and the strange effect Healing Potions had on her. In addition to restoring her vitality, they also seemed to wipe away all of her lethargy, physical and mental. So long as she took two Healing Potions at night, and two in the morning, she could operate at peak efficiency literally all day long. And so, she had, ever since making that discovery. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d actually willingly gone to sleep. It had to have at least been over a month ago.

The luxury of a soft, feathered bed did sound rather appealing to her now, though. Just because her liquid body could be comfortable fitting anywhere didn’t mean she couldn’t feel the difference.

“No time for that, though.” Lydia shook her head, as she began gathering the ingredients for Healing Potions en masse. She kept her shelves exceedingly well-stocked, paying a handsome of coin for the finest ingredients to be delivered to her doorstep, simply because she could afford it.

Quite frankly, she could use someone to help her out with the store. It was a lot of busy work. And she’d have more time to resume her magical pursuits, as well as… other pursuits. But… it was too risky, right?

Finally having grabbed the necessary ingredients, Lydia began consuming them, one by one, slipping them straight into her liquid body, as she got to work.

“Burning Body.” Lydia muttered, and her liquid flesh began to bubble and roil, as the potions were brewed within herself. A spell she’d researched and created on her own, that heated her body up so that she wouldn’t need to sit in a regular fired cauldron.

This strange method of brewing potions was her ultimate secret as ‘The Golden Alchemist’. She’d discovered the method quite on accident, but it nevertheless resulted in exceptionally strong and potent potions. Brewing potions within herself, turning her very liquid body into a catalyst for their creation, seemed to produce powerful effects, the result of a feedback loop occurring within herself. As her body absorbed the raw, magical power of the potions being brewed, she herself became part of the potions. And, the potions, in turn, grew more powerful from being brewed in her magical liquid body.

Lydia herself became a part of every potion she brewed, and in turn, her body became a more potent magical catalyst for the next potions she would brew.

With the potions happily brewing away within her, Lydia sighed. She had some time to relax while her body worked its’ magic, though not much. She climbed into the comically large, empty cauldron that she kept mostly as a joke. She no longer had need of it, now that her body was a living cauldron. But at least, it was comfortable to rest in. Her body dissolved, as she released control, and she melted into a roiling cauldronful of Healing Potion.

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