Merchant Alchemist [ Mercantile Litrpg + Progression ]

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When life gives you vials, make potions.Ryan was a man down on his luck. A failure of a Merchant, and an even worse failure of an Alchemist, he had wasted his life chasing booze and brief dreams. Plus, a large 'adventuring supply corporation' began buying up smaller businesses. Competition was nonexistent, and he barely scraped by.But, after stumbling upon a recipe to business success, he took a leap of faith and risked it all. His shop, his wares, his whole profession on one massive gamble.He's not just going to sell potions. He's going to run a special. You buy something, you get a little freebie on top. Only time will tell if his risk will return a sweet, clinking reward of coin.

After all, who doesn't like a free potion with every purchase?

Completed.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: Sant33

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 3.6/ 5.0
Followers: 642
Views: 131,248

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

DaikynnRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Merchant Alchemist is a refreshing blend of fantasy and entrepreneurship, following Ryan, a down-on-his-luck merchant and alchemist. The story beautifully blends economic strategy with fantasy elements as Ryan tries to turn his fortunes around by capitalizing on a clever business model: offering free healing potions with purchases of skill tablets.
The style is engaging and immersive, with the author’s clever use of descriptive language and dialogue. The pacing feels natural, balancing world-building with Ryan’s struggles and successes. The author does an excellent job of maintaining momentum while also deepening the world of the story through subtle details about alchemy, the economy, and the surrounding culture. The story is well-constructed, with just the right amount of tension to keep readers eager for the next chapter.
While there are a few minor grammar and punctuation errors, they do not detract from the reading experience. These occasional slip-ups are easily overlooked thanks to the rich storytelling and character depth.
Ryan is a highly relatable protagonist—flawed yet determined to overcome his financial hardship. His growth from a disillusioned merchant into a strategic businessman is well-paced and believable. The side characters, including the adventurers he interacts with, are well-fleshed out, adding depth and diversity to the narrative. They serve to enhance Ryan’s character arc while providing different perspectives on the economic and social dynamics of the world.
Lilian Dipasupil KunimasaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Light and yet thrilling, without much OP changes in all characters even in a magical fiction story. I like the flow of the plot where there's not much violence and scenes of extreme evilness.
I like how the MC is relatable in his sufferings and restraint to survive social bullying while being aware and grateful to all the people who showed him kindness .
If only governments and pharmaceutical companies in real life has shown true social responsibility and less tendency for greed, what a healthy humanity we have.
ElAdri1999Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This story shows a lot of promise, and while I noticed a few grammatical errors, they don't take away from the overall enjoyment of the plot. In fact, the potential here is undeniable, and I can already tell that as the narrative develops, it’s going to become something truly amazing. One of the standout elements is the main character (MC). They’re intelligent, which makes following their journey all the more engaging. However, what really sets them apart is that they’re not perfect—they have their flaws. It’s these imperfections that make the story feel more real and grounded. A character who has room to grow feels much more relatable, and it adds layers of depth to the plot.
What’s also impressive is the author's consistent posting rate. They’re updating the story pretty frequently, which means the excitement never dies down for long. It’s great to see a story with such potential being written at a fast pace because it keeps readers like me eagerly awaiting the next chapter. I have no doubt that this story will evolve into something even greater as time goes on, and I can't wait to see where the plot and characters go from here. This is definitely a story to watch.
BaadshahRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
The book was good and well written just a couple of things that according to me could have made it better
1) author can show others pov a little bit 1-2 paragraphs
2)ended quite early rushed
3)Some loopholes/missing information/ context
4)system and pocket dimwnsion could have been made bette
Blue LeviathanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Let me start by saying that just like other novels I came to know the novel from the meme ads 🤣
I started reading the novel and it's unique premise of alchemist and merchant classes are well utilised by the author which I loved a lot.
The story is interesting and keeps you hooked up 😉, though novel has its downs like slow pace ( which can become an upside) which is made worse by few words count.
Overall I will still say that I love the story and hope that author increases the wordcount .
❤️
GeoulRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
So far it's just a story about a merchant who gets a lucky break. It's well written and the character is likeable. The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is that it has two issues. The first issue is that the main characters lucky break is that he does a basic freebie deal and for some reason everyone treats it like a new experiance. It just detracts from the story a bit that something every merchant would know how to do is his lucky break. The second issue is that the number of setbacks far outweighs any luck he gets. Thirteen chapters in and for the most part he has had two minor lucky breaks and those lucky breaks were invalidated pretty quickly. Struggle and adversity make a character but it justs gets boring if you don't balance it right. The story needs a little work on that balance.
DrompelRoyal Road
★★★★ 3.5
The story is fun to read when looking for something simple and relaxing. The characters have interesting personalities, but you don't get much background info about most of them since the story is rather short. The world-building is great and the pace of the story suits the environment, which makes the world feel alive.
It sometimes feels like the problems of the MC solve themselves, and as if all his decisions end up being the right ones. It is satisfying to read a story where everything works out perfectly in the end, but it also lowers the suspense toward the final chapters, since some parts of the story become very predictable.
Merchant Alchemist is definitely worth reading if you like shorter stories with a clear and easy to follow storyline.
sleepy gender fluidRoyal Road
★★ 2.0
I want to start out by saying I like the basic concept of this story, as fragile as the idea that nobody in this world has ever tried basic business tricks is. MC is vaguely likable, if a bit dumb.
My main problem is with the grammar; the errors are frequent, egregious, and make the story difficult to parse. Proper nouns have only the first word in the name of a business capitalized which forces me to reread to figure out what the place is actually called. It's the kind of thing that any use of autocorrect would catch, even just throwing it in Google Docs.
The author's style is confusing chiefly in splitting what should be on chapter into multiple. Rather than ending a chapter on even a cliffhanger, it will drop mid-sentence with an ellipsis and continue in the next. I don't know if this is just a misinterpretation of how to write a cliffhanger but it's frustrating to effectively split a paragraph with a loading screen.
Ryan's struggles are painful to read, because it feels like the author just wants the character to suffer without any chance to progress forward. Every time he approaches having dealt with a problem, a new one shows up without any actual resolution to the previous one. Currently, MC is
In debt with the bankers, owes a fine to the merchants, and being regularly threatened by a major corporation.
It would be one thing if any of these conflicts were resolved in some capacity, followed by improvement, followed by a larger struggle to match, but this doesn't seem to be happening. I can deal with a slow burn, but this is also poorly written slow burn and that's just painful.
MythicalKeyboardSmithingLvl1Royal Road
★ 1.0
I read this story, but it seems like the main characters motivations are completely missing, as is most of his backstory.
The reasons for doing anything or changing anything don’t really seem to stand out.
Its like the MC just decided to start making uncharacteristic decisions.
The supporting cast also feel weak.
The concept is good, however, and it could be a better story with a little bit more work on the motivations of the MC and fleshing out the background of his life.
As a reader of economic stories, or “merchant” type stories, some of the economic math and how economics work in the world does not feel like it was realistic or well thought out.
I’d love to read this again and give it a second try if some of these problems were fixed or addressed.
Jaymo8700Royal Road
★ 0.5
It says it's an litrpg. But it isn't. It shows one box in the beginning with a name profession and class. Then nothing. It like the author baited you in thinking that. It doesn't have any real progression. I don't even think they have a direction. I felt like I waisted my time