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Regarding the creation of potions to permanently increase attributes:

[Feel free to skip to the QUESTIONS section at the end of this post.]

With a single exception (described below), I've been unable to create a permanent-stat-improvement potion.

I've been unable to find (online) any such recipes.

My in-game efforts have been successful only once.

SPOILER ALERT

Experimenting in-game, I found a recipe for a Permanent (something) Gush potion.

When I tried to make it, I was warned that my Alchemy skill (70) might be too low.

I proceeded anyway (having saved my game).

I was stunned to find that the resulting potion would increase Strength by 1, Endurance by 1, and Dexterity by 120!

[The exclamation mark, of course, is not intended to indicate 120 factorial.]

I find Dex to be least useful attribute, but still!

I reloaded my game.


After moderately increasing my Alchemy skill , I again created the potion.

As I recall, the dexterity increase was then 136.

The key Alchemy component was a Fire Mushroom.

Due to a screw-up with that character, I decided to start a new game.

My new character has a far higher Alchemy skill, but, with him, I've never found a Fire Mushroom, nor, apparently, any other permanent-attribute-improvement ingredient.

I have no idea where I obtained that Fire Mushroom.

Googling "Fire Mushroom" led me to the fire caves (Eastern), but I found no Fire Mushroom.

Also, I am trying to avoid leveling, as, ideally, I will drink a permanent-attribute-increase potion at every character level.

I am level 6, and every time I kill something, on my way to the fire caves, I pop directly to level 9.

I can avoid killing until I am inside the caves, but, once inside, there are some hostile creatures at close quarters.

The point being, I'd ideally like to obtain the desired ingredients without killing anything.
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QUESTIONS

Where can I find Fire Mushrooms?

Where can I find other key ingredients for permanent attribute increase?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks