Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

0052 – Athena And Potion Learning

Athena withdrew her hand, and the gift seemed more like an investment.

"Thank you, I'll take the gift," she said.

Upon hearing her response, the goblin chief nodded in satisfaction. No one spoke again, and an awkward silence fell over the scene. Athena took her guide assigned by the chief, a little goblin named Garfield, and left first.

After leaving the chief's residence for a while, Athena carefully rubbed the bracelet on her hand. It had a cool wooden texture, and apart from an extra leaf, there was nothing particularly special about it.

Seeing her studying the bracelet intently, with her head held high and an indescribable air of arrogance on her face, Garfield said incessantly, "It's useless, this bracelet. Look, there's nothing special about it!"

"Only our goblin tribe can distinguish its authenticity!"

"Because... never mind, let me take you to the next level. With this special goblin bracelet, you can go there." Garfield spoke non-stop, his eyes full of excitement, while Athena listened quietly on the side.

After a few turns, they returned to the familiar Third Hall. Athena surveyed the Third Hall. There were no special buildings nearby, nor any passages. In this street, the Third Hall itself was the most special.

A small green figure waved to her, signaling her to hurry over. Beside the Third Hall, Garfield stood there, placing his hand on the ground and chanting unknown words.

"Mahhneeghaa, Mahhneeghaa, Mahhneeghaa..."

A barrier appeared around them, separating them from the outside world. They could still see outside, but no one outside could see or hear what was happening inside.

Bright ripples spread outward from Garfield's hand, finally stopping at a circle. Garfield stood at the very center of the circle, followed closely by Athena, who stepped inside.

The entire circular ground sank downwards, and Athena's bracelet responded to the ground, emitting a faint glow. The ground slowly descended until it reached a certain height, then stopped descending, stable.

Garfield clapped his hands, and the dimly lit passage lit up with neatly arranged torches, illuminating the passage and revealing details that were previously hidden in darkness.

Strange patterns and traces left by time were all visible, and the passage was no longer eerie but rather mysterious and solemn.

Exiting the passage, there was no apparent difference from the surface of the goblin city, except that the open-air stalls around had turned into stone houses, and the goblins on the street were mostly children and women. Unlike before, they didn't come up to greet Garfield actively; instead, they showed more respect.

Garfield didn't intend to go any further after bringing Athena out of the passage. He rarely looked serious as he said to Athena, "Your bracelet is connected to the descent platform. You can now come and go freely. There are only two wooden houses on this level. You can go see for yourself. My task is done, I'm going back. It's best for you to return to the Third Hall before dark."

Having said that, he didn't wait for Athena's response and walked away first.

Looking around, Athena found that, as Garfield had said, there were more wooden houses than stone houses on the upper level, but on this level, there were only two wooden houses.

She walked towards the nearest one, but was suddenly intercepted by a gorgeously dressed goblin lady who rushed out and blocked her way.

She was visibly angry, but when she saw Athena, she tried her best to suppress her temper and forced a smile, asking, "Excuse me, have you seen our Garfield?"

Athena understood; this was Garfield's mother, the chief's wife. She gestured towards the passage and said to the goblin lady, "He's already gone."

There was a moment of speechlessness from the goblin lady, followed by even more anger. Athena saw her turn around angrily and head back in the direction she had come from, muttering curses as she walked.

"Damn child, following his father all day long, is the family going to be ruined because of him?"

After this incident, the goblins who hadn't paid attention to Athena before all cast glances at her. Athena didn't mind but unconsciously quickened her pace towards the first wooden house.

The material of the wooden house was different from that of the upper level; it was not ordinary wood but made from ancient trees, with faintly visible annual rings and a woody fragrance.

She politely knocked on the door a few times, and the voice of an old goblin came from inside, "Come in."

Athena opened the wooden door and stepped inside. Inside the house, there was a large stone pot, and an old goblin occasionally added some materials that Athena had never seen before, stirring constantly. The thick green liquid in the pot bubbled, emitting an unpleasant smell.

The top of the wooden house was hung with various monster corpses and dried plants. The old goblin glanced at Athena sideways, then continued stirring his pot.

It wasn't until the green liquid began to turn transparent and return to a state like clear water that the old goblin took out a pile of potion bottles and filled them with the liquid.

"What does a person from the Third World want from me?" The old goblin picked up one of the potion bottles and handed it to Athena, saying, "A token of our meeting."

Athena expressed her gratitude and accepted it. She wouldn't refuse such a valuable item.

He was a master of potions, as the saying goes: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

She astonishingly said, "I want to learn how to make potions!"

To her surprise, the goblin showed no anger or surprise at Athena's words. Instead, he approached her and instructed her to squat down. He then pressed his fingertips firmly on her forehead. He looked somewhat surprised as he said, "Your mental strength is good."

Then he lowered his head in thought and went to the bookshelf, taking out a book for Athena to examine. Athena attempted to flip through the book, which contained various potion recipes ranging from poor quality to normal quality.

Her head began to ache, and she felt like clutching her head and crouching down. She couldn't turn to the next page. The goblin took the book from her hand and shook his head.

"No, it's too early. You won't understand these things at your current stage. I won't sell you anything here. You came too early, and none of these things are affordable for you."

"Let's go. Perhaps Master would be more suitable for you. If that doesn't work out... then just go back." He took out another bottle of good quality healing potion from the shelf and handed it to Athena.

"Take this one too. Hopefully, you'll come back alive." It was clearly a dismissal. Athena thanked him again and knew she really couldn't touch these things now, nor could she stay for long.

As she pushed open the door to leave, the goblin casually said something from behind. "Remember a few of those potion recipes I showed you earlier. Practicing them won't do you any harm."

Athena's steps faltered as she left. She had actually memorized two of the potion recipes he had shown her just now.