“Don’t stop mixing! You are slowing down. It won’t be homogeneous if you don’t speed up.” Eliss’s voice sounded at my ears. I bit my lips nervously and hastened my hands. The mixture in the cauldron was slowly turning brown but a few lumps formed because of my negligence. The mixture will need to be filtered which meant a loss of volume.

I turned up the heat and wordlessly threw in a pair of Volcanic Orchids. Once the flowers melted in the mixture. I turned off the heat and placed a lid on top of the cauldron. Now, I just needed to wait for it to cool down before bottling the Flame Potions.

“It’s done. I’ll clean up the workstation while waiting.”

“Mmm.” Eliss grunted in approval. She resumed her own work and only spoke once it was time to bottle the potions. “Not bad. The purity is at 81%. Your success rate is about 50%. You are making great progress. If you spent less time outside the Healing Temple, your success rate would have been much better.”

I scratched my head and smiled awkwardly. Eliss was naturally making allusion to my weekly meetings with Richard and the other investors of P2P. At the same time, I also spent some time with my mother and meditated for a few hours at the Forbidden Hall each week. As a result, I was only practicing my potion-making skills three to four times a week when I used to do so every day.

“I know but I also need to develop myself outside of potion-making. I will soon reach the second circle; one or two more sessions should do the trick but that is only possible thanks to the points I earn from P2P.” I replied calmly, focusing my attention on the potion going through the filter.

“Your company is growing quickly but you only earn a small portion of its profits. If you focus on becoming a potioneer, in a year or two, you should start making profits and a few years down the line, as your success rate increases, it should not be hard to sell your potions for three to four times the price of the raw materials. Besides, points are secondary; improving your own skills should be main goal.”

‘Eliss is taking the initiative to talk about P2P? She is not a chatty person, and so, the question is what is her motive?’

“You are right. But I cannot afford to wait for a few years.” I said vaguely. I glanced at the dark elf but she was displaying her usual cold expression.

“Then, how about getting some help from the Healing Temple?”

“Huh?” I froze in place and my heart started racing. ‘What does she mean by that? The Healing Temple is now eyeing P2P because of its recent success?’

Eliss rolled her eyes as she noticed my nervousness. “There’s no need to panic. The Healing Temple is not interested in taking over your small company. In fact, this offer does not come from the Healing Temple but just from the Medical Hall. What the Medical Hall is interested in is a partnership.”

“A partnership?”

“Correct. The Hall Master told me to pass you a message. If P2P wants to get a permit for the trade of goods, the Healing Temple will be willing to sponsor it. With this, you should be able to purchase the loot collected by the humans. What we want in exchange is simple; the Medical Hall wants the priority when it comes to the materials that can be used in potion-making.”

I frowned lightly; it was a tempting offer that would benefit P2P greatly, but the offer was just too timely. P2P has been looking into diversifying for a while now. Loaning points to the humans was not a long-term business opportunity. People usually only took a loan once when they are in a pinch. Once they get a few pieces of equipment and are able to hunt the monsters, they would rather wait to accumulate enough points than to take a loan. At the same time, nothing stopped competitors from rising up or for groups to form. Once a group was fully geared, they could recruit the smaller groups to form a guild which decreased the number of potential customers. Smaller groups also banded together, pooling their points to fully equip one or two people who would hunt for the whole group.

P2P has grown exponentially over the past few weeks and it was still growing but at a slower rate than before. The investors were now looking for other opportunities and make use of P2P’s current momentum. The permit to trade goods would open P2P to a whole new market but I found it strange that the Medical Hall did not try to get more out of P2P.

I paused for a moment, trying to recall the events of my past life. Did Richard’s company purchase the loot obtained by the hunters? I did not hear much about the company in the past and I was not really involved in trading. In my past life, I joined a small team where the leader would take care of exchanging the loot. I only purchased the package subscription a whole year later once my situation stabilised and I had a financial cushion to rest easy. At that time, the company was only involved in these package subscriptions; nothing else.

“Is that all? The Medical Hall only wants the priority to buy some materials?” I asked cautiously.

“What else can we want? You know about the situation in the crafting circle. If the Medical Hall wants to thrive, it needs a chain of supply of materials and your P2P just happens to be in the right place at the right time. We did not come earlier because the ores of the Crystal Maze cannot be used by us. But the twelfth floor is the Marshlands where many useful materials can be found.” Eliss said disinterestedly.

“The Medical Hall is only interested in the materials. The Hall Master promises to not touch your core business but that is mainly because we do not want to get on the wrong side of the Spatial Bank by entering a loaning business. If you agree, the Medical Hall will also discuss with other organisations such as the Prime Forge to also support you. I am sure they will be interested in the ores found on the eleventh floor. Think about it.”

“…”

I did not immediately give an answer. It was a great offer and I understood the Medical Hall’s motives but there was also a key detail that I picked out. Eliss mentioned the Prime Forge, the organisation comprised of metal element users. She claimed that the Healing Temple would convince the Prime Forge to back up P2P and purchase the ores collected on the eleventh floor. However, she lied when she said that the Medical Hall was not interested in the materials on the eleventh floor because the particular mushrooms that grew there were widely used as catalysts in potion-making.

‘It means that she is hiding the fact that the Medical Hall is only making its move now. My guess is that the Prime Forge already has the intention of partnering with us; after all, herbs and monsters can be farmed and reared, but ores can’t. The Medical Hall is simply making its offer first to be in a better position and probably already has discussions taking place with the Prime Forge.’

I coughed and cleared my throat. “I will speak to the other investors about it. I cannot take such an important decision by myself.”

“Sure. I am just passing a message from the Hall Master. If your side agree, then, you can arrange a meeting with her.” The dark elf replied as she shifted her attention back to her work.

It was clear that she did not want to continue this topic. Knowing my teacher, she did not engage into long conversations like this unless it involved potion-making, or she received a direct order from someone above.

“Teacher…”

“Mmm” Eliss frowned lightly as she was disturbed.

“I would like to add an additional condition to the request.” I said hesitantly. I felt nervous as I did not know how Eliss was going to react.

“Go ahead.”

“Since you are an alumnus of Vanaheim. I would like you to recommend me for the healer position for the next intake.”

“What?” Eliss was stunned. She almost dropped the flask she was holding and burnt herself. “Do you even know what Vanaheim is and what being a healer at that place means?”

“I know…” I said calmly as our eyes met. “Vanaheim is the academy where the prodigies of each race learn to correctly use spells and their abilities. I browsed through a few books at the library; there is nothing wrong with working at that place. It is just that because it is an academy, battles take place at any time of the day which means that the healer essentially has no free time to himself.”

“And even knowing that you want to go there? Why is that so? If you go to Vanaheim, your potion-making skill will stall. You won’t have any time to practice and there are no laboratories there. I took you as my student to turn you into a potioneer, not to waste time.” Eliss said coldly. I noticed a faint glow in her eyes that vanished as quickly as it appeared. She was not happy with my request.

I bitterly smiled, thinking of an appropriate answer. ‘I do not want to go there either, but I need an escape route for when the pyramid scheme will crash. Vanaheim is so isolated that no one will think to look for me there.’

“Teacher. I am very serious about becoming a potioneer but I do have my reasons for wanting to go to Vanaheim.” I said awkwardly as I simply could not reveal everything.

“Hmmp. You probably brought up that point because that succubus mentioned the alumnus meeting… But that does not matter. It is true that the Healing Temple sends two healers to Vanaheim every year, but the minimum requirement of the academy is for the healer to have reached the third circle and mastered [Regenerate]. Even if I recommend you, you will be instantly rejected.” The dark elf said.

“I know but I am not interested in this intake but rather, the next one which will take place in a little over a year. By then, I am confident in reaching the third circle.”

Eliss shook her head in disbelief. “That is not possible. It will cost you a fortune if you plan on buying High-Quality mana stones at the black market. Furthermore, Vanaheim won’t accept you if you are not familiar with the anatomy of all the races. They want healers who will be able to heal all the students, not just a particular race like the Healing Temple is doing.”

“I can learn these things. There is a more than a year before the intake.” I replied calmly.

“You think it is so easy to learn these things? Then, show me how quickly you can learn. I’ll teach you how to make two more potions this week. If you can bring your success rate over 70% for both potions before the end of the month, I’ll consider your request.” Eliss said with a hint of mockery.

A success rate of 70% was simply too much; it took apprentices months to achieve this for each potion and Eliss was only giving me two weeks to do so for two different potions. It was her way of refusing my request without saying no.

‘However, since she did not refuse directly, there might be some ways to go around it. Looking for escape routes is harder than it seems.’