Wait.

The first thing you do in the meantime is give Dix the gnome a little visit, no pun intended. Though, there are a number of workers surrounding her house. A stack of lumber sits nearby as said people come and go from the construction site which has been set up around the alchemist's shop and home. The gnome in question sits on a bench by the cobblestone road nearby with her gaze lost in a vial of glittering brown liquid contained within a flask between her fingers. Then off in the grass, you spot Amara with her silver staff swirling through the air above her head--not casting a spell, though miming the somatic components in an effort to practice.

One of the workers glances over to you with a hefty board of wood resting on her shoulder. She wears a loose tank top and baggy trousers, and has quite the toned physique if that wasn't already evident by how easy it seems to be for her to move supplies back and forth on her own. "Hey there, Demon King. Construction is going well. Don't worry about us."

"I see... Good. So, you're rebuilding Dix's home to be more gnome-friendly?" you ask.

"That's right. It'll be done pretty quick. Honestly, I never thought I'd be doing this job for a guy like yourself, but the pay is right, and a bunch of the folks behind me were around for the big reformation of this place, after the fall of Demon King Sa'dis. We trust you, is what I'm saying."

"Keep up the good work then."

"Aye aye," she says with a salute before turning back around, nearly clubbing you in the head with the plank she carries.

After dodging back, you let out a sigh and glance back to Dix.

You make your way over and sit down on the bench beside her. "Hey. How's it going? I'm glad we'll finally be able to give you a proper place to live. It can't have been easy using a stool to reach everything in your own home."

She snaps back to reality. "Ah. Kyle. Yeah, that's really cool of you to do. The next time you were going to ask for a potion, I was going to play a fun game where I'd present three vials, and only one of them was the one you wanted, while the other two did something funny, like make your penis ring loudly every time it went up, but maybe now I'll just give you the potion. Or I'll make it a fifty-fifty instead."

"There's no way that's a real potion."

"But it'll have to wait anyway. My stuff is all over the place in there."

Looks like I'm not getting any kind of cold resistance potion today. There goes that idea. "So what do you have in your hands?"

"Just the last thing I made. I experiment a lot, so I end up with a lot of failures, though this one doesn't even do anything. Tastes kinda unique though. I can't really explain it."

"I'd say let me taste, but it sounds like there's a rather large chance that if I do, my balls will grow to the size of basketballs or something."

"No. It wouldn't do that. I'm not into big balls." She holds the vial up for you to take and simply stares at you.

You slowly take the vial between your fingers. "I feel like having an alchemist you can't trust is a bit of a risk."

"Oh relax, Kyle. I take pride in my work. And it wouldn't be funny to mess with you now, since nobody is watching. It's also a lot funnier to mess with the girls anyway. That there won't do anything but confuse your tastebuds. Maybe I can finetune it into some kind of beverage."

"Hmm." You give it a sniff first. Then, you take a sip. The rush of a familiar flavour runs over your palate. "Oh. Weird. This is like, really close to Coca-Cola."

"Coca-whata?"

"A drink from Earth. Uh, a kind of soda, or pop, or cola. Basically a sugary beverage. It's a little off, but it even has a bit of the carbonation going on. That was a blast from the past. I haven't had something like this since I came to Abso."

She looks to you with a reignited interest. "Really? Huh. Here, let me sip it again." Then after she takes it between her hands, she tries it for herself. She rolls her tongue around in her mouth and smacks her lips. "If that's true, maybe I should tweak some things. If I promise not to trick you into drinking something weird, will you keep testing it for me? Give me notes, and let me know what makes up this... Coca-Cola."

"I can yeah--" You feel a sudden chill as your answer is nearly cut short. A spectral visage comes slowly over your shoulder. You seem to be haunted by a short-haired elven lass with glasses over the bridge of her nose and a lovely dress which wafts back into a ghostly trail behind her. You flinch, nearly jumping in your seat by her spooky arrival, though instead you turn to meet her gaze with an expression of discontent with how she seems to choose to make her entrances.

She gasps, bringing her hands to her lips as she floats a few feet back. "I am sorry if I startled you! Ms. Yin told me that you wished to speak with me. Is this a bad time?"

"No. It's all good." With a creak, you rise up from the bench and turn your eyes one more back to Dix. "Let me know if you need anything else," you say to the gnome.

"I will," Dix says before sipping from the vial again with a look of contemplation.

"All right, Mela. I have a few questions."