"First, don’t put words into my mouth, I never said that they were going to risk their life!" Aleister said chugging down his drink, "And didn’t you just say it was expensive to hire people to test my potions?"

“I assume anything greater than one copper piece is expensive for you at this point. Adding the fact that they aren’t even lethal makes it that much cheaper and easier to find someone. Seriously, just ask a couple of random people in here, at least one of them will say yes. In fact, I’ll save you the trouble and take it for you.”

“I appreciate the offer, but you consuming it will be of no help to me.”

“Why not?” Luo Yun asked.

“They are potions—or at least they should be potions—that allow you to see in dim light and in darkness.”

“Oh,” Luo Yun waved to the bartender, “Can I borrow your storeroom for ten minutes, Dornaj?”

He didn’t even bother entertaining his question. “No.”

“I’ll pay you ten gold for it.”

“Do you really think I care about your money?”

“No, but it was supposed to be a sign of goodwill.”

Dornaj paused and said, “Then how about you owe me a favour in the future.”

“No way in the Nine hells will I agree to that,” Luo Yun said. “I just needed a dark area for a couple of minutes. I’m not going to owe you anything for something as little as that.”

“Your loss,” Dornaj said before walking back into the kitchen behind.

After he mocked the words he heard, Luo Yun said, “Only my loss if I agreed to owe you a favour.”

“I agree,” Aleister said, “I’m sure he would have forced a difficult task upon you that completely out-scaled what you asked for.”

“Obviously,” Luo Yun tapped his feet for a few seconds, “Alright, follow me.”

He lead Aleister to where he had previously arm wrestled against Brilnia. She and her supporters had been long gone, but the two opponents she defeated earlier still lingered.

“I’ll give you five gold each if you do a favour for me,” Luo Yun said, grabbing their attention. They noticed Aleister standing next to him and grew looks of admiration, but also suspicion. Noticing this, he added, “Don’t worry, it isn’t anything risky or dangerous, you just each need to test one potion of night light—”

“Holy hell! Why didn’t I think of that?” Aleister said, slapping his forehead with his palm.

Luo Yun looked at him in confusion.

“They’re actually minor potions of dark sight, but night light is so much better that I’m mad I didn’t come up with it on my own,” he explained.

“Ah, the things I do for my pupils.”

“Alright, you don’t need to feed your ego that much.”

“Yes, yes, but are you two up for it, or do I need to find others?”

The two of them agreed, as five gold was about a week's worth of work for them.

“Great—now where are they supposed to test them?” Aleister asked.

“Worry not, and just continue to follow me,” Luo Yun said. Aleister and the two others did so. A task which involved leaving the inn and walking for an additional thirty minutes. Eventually, they arrived at complex on the ground floor. Luo Yun took out a key and slid the paneled door open. Only a sliver of moonlight entered through the white, double-hung windows. From what Aleister could tell, this was the dojo.

“Where are we? I can’t see anything,” the man complained.

“That is the entire point,” Aleister said as he took out two potions and a notepad. He gave each of the men one potion each. “Don’t worry, though. The two of you will be able to see soon. Now, drink up!”

The two men hesitated for a moment, but then drank the potions at the same time. “I don’t think it worked.”

“Of course it hasn’t when you literally just drank it!” Aleister said, unable to believe he need to point out such an obvious detail. “Give it a few minutes.”

Once the effect kicked in, Aleister observed their situation and asked them if they felt anything strange or unusual. They said everything seemed fine except for them being able to see in the dim light. Of course, he could only trust their word to a certain extent. Just because they didn’t think anything didn’t mean they weren’t experiencing any odd side effects. Therefore, he conducted a series of tests including but not limited to: examining their skin for any rashes or reactions, smelling their mouth for bad breath, making them smell and taste some food, alternating between loud and quiet noises to test their hearing, and applying different heat sources to their skin.

“I did not expect you to be so thorough about this,” Luo Yun said, resting his hand on Aleister’s shoulder.

He stopped writing and shook his head. These were the only tests he prepared for because everything else required much more time, effort, and resources that he didn’t have. “Luckily for me, it’s a fairly simple potion where I already know what some of the possible downsides are. Besides, between the two potions, there was only one ingredient variation—the type of sage I used. Knowing that one version caused a loss of taste, and the other caused the food I gave them to taste earthy is a good outcome. From that, I can extrapolate that the different sage’s effect taste. This doesn’t effect the warning label for this potion, but now I can note it down for the future.”

“Even though I have no interest in anything you said, good for you,” Luo Yun said.

“Well, I appreciate it at the very least,” Aleister said. He then ripped off two sheets of paper and handed them over. “Both of you need to sign these. They simply say that you participated in this test of your own free will, that you two are still alive, will receive compensation, and a bunch of other garbage to prevent us from getting into trouble with the Alchemist Guild.”

“You two can leave now,” Luo Yun said, giving them their gold after they signed the papers. “You can leave too.”

“If you’re going to follow me, at least do it while you’re next to me.”

“I decided to save that for another day,” he said. “I need to register you and then purchase equipment for this place, since, as you can see, it is barren. Besides, I already have a ton of questions to ask you. I don’t think I need to add more to that list for now.”

"Then," Aleister waved behind him as he left, "I’ll see you soon, I guess."