My Dungeon Daddy System: Raising Monsters and Waifus Underground-Chapter 95 – I Am Speed!

Reed held the bottle of neon-green liquid up to the light. It looked less like a potion and more like liquified radiation. Inside the glass, tiny bubbles were moving in geometric patterns.

"Are we sure this is edible?" Reed asked.

"Technically," Grika shrugged, hopping onto a stool. "It’s organic. It’s just... highly energized. The Void radiation stripped out the relaxing properties of the berries and left only the ’Go’ juice. It’s pure kinetic potential in liquid form."

"The children are... aggressive," The Herald murmured, eyeing the green bottle warily. She was currently draped over the fermentation tank, hugging it like a lover. The fumes from the process had clearly affected her. Her vines were twitching, and her eyes were hazy. "They want to run."

"Well," Reed uncorked the bottle. It made a sound like a tiny thunderclap. POP. "Someone has to be Patient Zero."

He took a sip.

It tasted like sour apples, lightning, and the color math.

Reed blinked.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.

His heart didn’t beat. It vibrated.

The world slowed down.

Reed watched a drop of condensation fall from a pipe on the ceiling. It fell... so... slowly. He could see the reflection of the room inside the droplet. He could see Grika blinking, her eyelids moving like heavy blast doors closing.

[STATUS EFFECT: HYPER-CAFFEINATED]

[Perception: +500%]

[Speed: +200%]

[Duration: 60 Seconds]

"Whoa," Reed said.

Except he didn’t say it. He said: "Whoooooooooaaaaaaaa."

He moved.

He didn’t mean to cross the room. He just thought about being on the other side of the room, and suddenly, he was there.

He looked at the mess on the workbench. Tools scattered. Blueprints unrolled. Grease stains.

Inefficient, his brain fired. Fix it.

Reed moved in a blur. To Grika and the Herald, he looked like a shadow flickering around the room.

Zip. The blueprints were rolled and stacked.

Zap. The tools were hung on the pegboard in size order.

Zoom. The floor was swept.

The effect wore off as quickly as it started.

Reed skidded to a halt in front of Grika, holding a broom. He was panting, sweat pouring down his face. His heart felt like it was trying to punch its way out of his ribcage.

Reed, did I just do drugs! Elara yelled in his mind

"Holy..." Reed wheezed, leaning on the broom. "That... that is strong."

Grika stared at him. She stared at the pristine workshop. Her jaw dropped.

"Boss," she whispered. "You just organized my entire socket set by metric and imp-perial. In ten seconds."

"We can’t sell this to humans," Reed gasped, clutching his chest. "Their hearts would explode. A mage would cast a spell so fast they’d turn themselves inside out. Not without tweaking it and diluting it so it feels more like a energyshot from my world."

He looked at the green bottle. It was dangerous. It was volatile.

It was perfect for Dwarves.

Kaelen told him Dwarves had constitution scores that rivaled dragons. They worked twenty-hour shifts in mines. They drank poison and ate rocks for fun.

"This isn’t an adventure potion," Reed realized, a grin spreading across his face. "This is an industrial asset!"

"Productivity," Grika realized, her eyes lighting up with the symbol for Gold. "We sell it to the Guild. To the miners. To the smiths."

"Exactly," Reed nodded. He corked the bottle firmly. "But we need to get a sample to them before the bridge traffic picks up. We need a pre-order."

He looked up at the ventilation shaft.

"Riva!" Reed shouted.

SCRATCH-SCRATCH.

A grate popped open. Riva’s head poked out, upside down. She was wearing her Sheriff’s badge and eating a spider.

"Shiny Boss calls?" Riva mumbled around the arachnid. "Riva is busy patrolling! Looking for crime!"

"I have a mission," Reed said, holding up a shiny, gold-foil envelope he had prepared earlier (Maira insisted on branded stationery). "A Courier Mission. High priority."

Riva dropped from the ceiling, landing on the table. She eyed the envelope.

"Shiny paper," she cooed. "For Riva?"

"For Guildmaster Thrain in Stonebridge," Reed corrected. "You need to fly this letter and a crate of the Green Potion to the Guild Hall. Fast."

Riva pouted. "Riva is not a pigeon. Riva is a predator."

"I’ll give you a stamp," Reed offered.

"A stamp?"

"A shiny, sticky picture of a King," Reed lied. "You can stick it on your forehead."

"DEAL!" Riva screeched. "Riva is Mail-Bird! Riva flies swift like the wind!"

Reed helped Grika pack six bottles of the "Rocket Fuel" into a padded crate. He attached the letter to the top.

"Don’t drink it," Reed warned the bird. "If you drink it, you will zoomies into the sun."

"Riva no drink green slime," she promised, grabbing the crate handles with her talons. She flapped her wings, generating a gust of wind that messed up Grika’s newly organized papers. "Riva goes now! Zoom!"

She shot up the elevator shaft, cackling.

Reed turned back to the Herald. The Dryad was currently rubbing her face against Grika’s arm.

"You are so... warm," The Herald purred, sniffing Grika’s hair. "Like a boiler. Do you want to... pollinate?"

"Get off me!" Grika yelped, raising her wrench. "Boss! The plant is sexually harassing me!"

"It’s the fumes," Reed laughed, grabbing the Herald by the back of her leafy dress and pulling her away. "Okay, Herald. Time for you to go back to the Garden. You’ve done good work."

The Herald looked at him, her eyes glassy. "The babies... they are strong?"

"They are very strong," Reed assured her. "Go check on the pumpkins. I’ll come down later for... inspection."

The Dryad giggled, curtsied clumsily, and drifted toward the breach.

Reed leaned against the distillery tank. It hummed with power.

They had the product.

They had the courier.

And in about an hour, the Dwarves of Stonebridge were going to experience a level of productivity that would probably violate several labor laws.

[QUEST UPDATE: DISTILLERY & DIPLOMACY]

[Objective 1: Production Line - COMPLETE]

[Items Unlocked: Twilight Noir (Luxury Wine), Goblin Crank (Industrial Potion)]

[Objective 2: Secure a Buyer - PENDING (Riva in transit)]

Reed looked at the red wine. He poured a small glass.

"Now," he whispered, swirling the dark liquid. "Let’s see if this stuff is good enough for the High Rollers."

He took a sip.

It was smooth. Velvety. And as it hit his stomach, he felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to confess that he secretly liked being squeezed by the snake lady.

"Oh," Reed choked, putting the glass down. "That is... definitely a truth serum."

He grinned. Maira was going to have a field day with this.