Chapter 25

Elementary Potioneering

"Professor! I have already become a level 1 acolyte and have understood the basics from the public lessons......"

Leylin said softly.

"I know, you wish to choose the subject for the knowledge I am providing!" Kroft interrupted Leylin's speech.

"I heard that you have already been teaching other acolytes information from the public lessons that you've attended to earn magic crystals. It seems like your learning and memorising abilities are rather outstanding. From what I see now, you have the capability to learn an information of a higher tier!"

"Thank you!" Leylin bowed deeply.

Leylin had some understanding towards the paid lessons in the academy. Although professors have information on a higher level, it was only their own findings.

As for the other cutting-edge research, including the results of various personal experiments, information was only traded at the professors' level.

This information was deemed the best, and can even be transferred directly into an acolyte's memory so they will never forget it.

However, the fees were also the most expensive, each subject required at least ten magic crystals and Leylin simply could not afford it right now.

The only thing he could hope for was the one free subject that Kroft promised at the start.

Kroft nodded his head and moved the apparatus on his table aside. He then retrieved some strange items from god-knows-where and placed them on the table.

There was a huge book with a yellow cover, a crystal ball, and a test tube filled with yellowish liquid.

"These three items represent my 3 areas of specialisation: The book on the left represents the Neutralisation of Energy, the crystal ball represents Herbalism, and the test tube represents Potioneering. Make your choice!" Kroft said.

"I choose Potioneering!" The reason Leylin chose Kroft as his mentor was to advance in Potioneering and then rely on selling potions to earn money for his studies, so naturally he chose this.

Elementary Potioneering is an advanced course stemming from the public Potioneering Basics course. In theory, it is possible to start brewing potions after fully understanding these two lessons.

"I knew you would choose this!" The middle-aged Kroft revealed a smile.

"The art of potion brewing is extremely complex and complicated, the slightest mistake will result in a failure. All of the Potion Masters have spent a vast amount of resources to accumulate their experience. Are you ready for this?"

"Yes, Sir! I believe in this saying: You may not be rewarded for hard work, but without hard work, there will definitely be no reward!"

"Indeed! A very good mindset. One needs to have this philosophy on the road to truth!" Kroft nodded and handed the yellow test tube to Leylin.

"This is yours now!"

"This? How do I use it?" Leylin looked at the test tube in his hands.

"Just drink from it directly!"

Leylin opened the wooden plug and poured the yellowish liquid into his mouth.

An obnoxious sewer stench infiltrated his senses, and the smell lingered in his nose. Leylin's face turned red, and tears even came out.

He barely managed to swallow it as he gasped for air.

"I swear, I have never drunk such a smelly thing before!!!"

Smelly!!! An unimaginable stench constantly shocked Leylin's nerves, making him feel like fainting.

Under the stimulation of the extreme smell, the surroundings appeared blurry to Leylin, and the items in the vicinity all seemed to be distorted.

"You......It feels......Not so......"

Leylin looked at Kroft, and at this moment, the professor looked like a noodle, twisting and distorting. The professor's lips opened and closed and he spoke sporadically, which brought about a lot of noise. It sounded like the friction produced between two metals, or some broken radio with poor signal.

Leylin raised his hand, his smooth palms seemed to be filled with folds, and even melted like a candle, falling down one drop at a time.

And finally, Leylin's entire body turned into a puddle of liquid and disappeared completely into the darkness......

"How do you feel?"

Kroft's voice rang, and Leylin was startled. He touched his head, the hard sensation bringing along warmth and a little moisture.

The surroundings turned back to normal, and Kroft stood there smiling.

"I don't feel too good!" Large amounts of sweat trickled down from Leylin's head.

"Was what I saw earlier an illusion? It felt too real!"

"That is a normal occurrence, the illusionary spells of Magi seem like reality to acolytes, and some acolytes have even experienced their whole life inside the illusions and died of old age!"

Kroft's voice sounded.

"The information has already been transferred into your brain, do some more meditation after you go back!"

At this moment, Leylin discovered a block of new information inside his brain. A phrase appeared on the right side of the text, saying: "Elementary Potioneering"

"Alright! Today your task is to sweep Area 3, and also freeze all the Fire Ant Grass......"

Kroft handed out the tasks.

Leylin nodded his head and picked up the tools lying in the corner of the lab, and then headed to Area 3.

"Congratulations, Leylin!" During Leylin's break time, Bicky came before Leylin.

"I was just lucky!" Leylin smiled lightly.

Bicky had come here a year earlier than him and was also a level 1 acolyte.

"Once you are a level 2 acolyte, you will be able to use rank 0 spells! Also, the mind runes will only get increasingly difficult. I still have to persevere for at least another year of meditation before I have a chance at advancing."

With the A.I. Chip, Leylin was fully aware of the situation he was in.

On the other side, Merlin, who was boring over his experiments, raised his head and forced a smile that was uglier than crying.

Leylin nodded his head in acknowledgement. He knew that this senior of his had burnt the muscles of his face in an experiment and was now unable to make any facial expressions.

"Magi experiments are really treacherous!" Leylin shook his head.

Leylin was rather efficient and normally finished the task Kroft gave him by noon. If there was spare time in the afternoon, he would go listen to the public lessons.

"Goodbye!" After saying goodbye to Bicky and Merlin, Leylin did not go to the academic area but instead went to the trading post.

The trading post was huge and was located beside the Mission Area. However, it was rather chaotic; many grey-robed acolytes set up stalls, with an erect signboard stating the items and conditions that they wished to sell or trade.

Once in awhile, a few acolytes would engage in haggling, it was extremely bustling.

"It seems like only acolytes are around. As for the Magi, they should have another area to trade in!" Leylin looked on and only saw grey robes, not a single white or black robed Magus was present.

Leylin browsed through the stalls. Some of them were set up on the floor, similar to the previous world's street vendors, and looked to be a little dirty.

The floor stalls' items belonged to the miscellaneous category; most of them were bows, knives, darts and so on. There were also the fur, livers, and eyes of living organisms, and some still had traces of blood. The rest were some other items that Leylin could not identify.

As for potions, every stall with 'Potions' on its signboard had acolytes clamouring over them. The stall owners all had calm expressions and radiated strong energy waves.

According to the estimation of the A.I. Chip, most of these acolytes were level 3 acolytes!

"As expected, the rarity of potions is above my imagination, not to mention magic artifacts, not a single one is on sale!

Leylin thought of Jayden, who previously used the green coloured badge. That was a low-grade magic artifact, similar to the ring he had before.

A level 1 acolyte could not use any spells, but Jayden had previously subdued Kaliweir through the green badge magic artifact.

"Now it seems like the magic artifact was given to Jayden by Dorotte!"

Leylin could not help but be a little envious. He previously owned a magic artifact too, but unfortunately, it had been broken and was used in the transaction for applying to the academy. With these conditions now, it would be extremely difficult to obtain another one.

Leylin looked at the goods on display as he walked towards the centre of the trading post.

There were a few wooden huts here, and they seemed to have higher standards compared to the surroundings. The acolytes who occasionally walked in and out radiated strong energy waves.

Leylin casually walked into a shop selling potions.

"What do you need?" The shop owner was a fatty and wore a grey robe. He looked to be a little lazy. According to the readings of the A.I. Chip, he was also a level 3 acolyte and even carried a magic artifact.

"I need a set of equipment so that I can practice brewing potions!" Leylin said unhurriedly.

"Another one who is dreaming! And it's actually a level 1 acolyte who wants to try brewing potions! You think you're Merlin?" The fatty scolded him.

"Excuse me, Merlin is my senior and we have the same mentor!" Leylin replied.

"So it's like this! It turns out you're Kroft's apprentice, so already brewing potions at this stage is understandable, it is understandable!" The fatty's face seemed to be filled with spirit, "So you're Merlin's junior, hello, I am Woox!"

The fatty introduced himself, and there was a cunning expression on his face, "Rather than potion brewing, if you are able to get me some of Merlin's potions, I will give a good price for them. Of course, if they were made by Professor Kroft, it would be even better......"

"My apologies! Professor Kroft's potions are impossible! As for Merlin's, I'll give it a try!" Leylin rolled his eyes, but he did not reject him outrightly.

"Now, can you give me an introduction of the apparatus?"

"Oh! Of course! Of course!" The fatty rubbed his hands and placed a few sets of glass apparatus on the wooden table.

"There is all of this! They are second hand, but they are still usable. I recommend this set; it's from a level 3 acolyte that did not want it anymore!"

The fatty took out an apparatus set which included beakers, a glass rod, a petri dish, test tubes, and a set of pale yellow tools. It seemed rather complete.

Leylin examined the equipment with his hands.

According to the analysis of the A.I. Chip, the quality of this apparatus set was average, but it was enough for him to use.

"I'll take this one then! How many magic crystals?" Leylin asked.

"Two pieces!" The fatty replied.

"Wrap it well for me!" Leylin handed the two magic crystals over to the fatty. Fatty received them and packaged the set before handing it over to Leylin.

"Do you have any elementary potion formulas?" Leylin placed the bundle on his back and asked again.

"Yes! I have formulas for strength potions, hemostatic Potions, and bug removal potions, which one do you want?"

"The strength potion!" These were all elementary potion formulas, so Leylin simply picked one.

"Give me a set of ingredients as well!"

Chapter 26

Starting Attempts

The fatty Woox took out a black coloured box from a shelf behind him and placed it on the table. He also took out a sheet of parchment from under the sales counter. It seemed to be extremely old, with the ends a little torn.

"One copy of the strength potion formula, one magic crystal!"

"One set of ingredients, enough for ten tries, one magic crystal!"

Leylin opened the black coloured box. Inside were ten crimson-coloured fruits arranged neatly, which seemed to have traces of cracks on their surface, and beside them was a root of some green plant, and a bottle of black powder.

Putting the box away and picking up the faint yellowish parchment paper, he saw a formula written in black ink, which even included the areas to note. Although the handwriting was a little faded, it was still legible as a whole.

Leylin nodded his head and tucked the parchment paper into his robes. He took out the last 2 magic crystals he had in his waist pouch and handed it to Woox, then left the hut without turning back.

He only had 4 magic crystals and had spent them all on this small amount of ingredients. This terrifying expenditure for potion brewing was not something the average acolyte could bear.

What followed next was that Leylin's daily routine had taken a similar route to how he had been in his previous world.

Every day, he was shuttling to and fro between five places: the dorm, the dining hall, the Academic Area, the experiment lab and the library.

Another month passed unknowingly.

[The gathering of data has been completed!] The A.I. Chip's notification sounded.

Sitting on one side of a long table in the library, Leylin closed the book he was holding in his hands.

Apart from attending classes and aiding his mentor with his experiments, the majority of his time was spent in the library. Almost every book that could be read for free was browsed through, and the A.I. Chip finished accumulating more data.

"Whew...... I have finally understood the formulation of potions!" Leylin exhaled loudly.

Although Kroft had provided some elementary information about Potioneering, there were many things that he still did not understand. He learnt things like the terminology and vocabulary by himself in the library. If he wanted a professor's explanation he would have had to pay a fee. However, it was a pity that Leylin had turned into a peasant with 0 magic crystals.

Many acolytes who were embarrassingly short of magic crystals did the same thing, browsing through the variety of free information in the library. However, they did not have Leylin's A.I. Chip, so they usually needed a dozen days to a month to find what they wanted in the library.

As for Leylin, he had now recorded all the information that was available to him in the library already. He even made a search function for it, so the information would be at his perusal if he met with any questions in the future.

However, even Elementary Potioneering was considered higher-tiered information. Even with the constant analyses from the A.I. Chip, Leylin only knew about one-third of it, but that was already extremely useful to him.

At least now, when he looked back at the basics of Potioneering, it was like looking down at the tiles from the roof of a tall building.

As for the elementary potion brewing and the strength Potion formula, they had been fully analysed, so it was time to put them into practice.

"My accumulation of knowledge is already enough, I'll begin brewing the strength Potion today!"

Leylin placed the books back on the shelves and left the library.

A female acolyte with brunette hair raised her head and glanced at Leylin, before returning her attention to the black book in her hands.

The library had many acolytes, and yet they were all well behaved and extremely quiet. It was very suitable for reading, and one of Leylin's favourite hangouts.

"Hey! Leylin!"

When he walked out of the library, an acolyte greeted him. Leylin raised his head, "Ryan! Kaliweir!"

Kaliweir wore the grey robes of an acolyte, and his original haughtiness had lessened, "Congratulations on becoming a level 1 acolyte!"

"Thank you, congratulations to you too!" Leylin replied with a smile.

He too had sensed that Kaliweir had turned into a level 1 acolyte.

"The few of us in the clique have already turned into level 1 acolytes!" Kaliweir stressed the first few words and seemed to have automatically excluded Guricha and the others.

"We have taken up a few missions recently, do you have any interest in joining us?" Kaliweir asked.

Kaliweir seemed to be trying hard to maintain the previous group of friends.

"Do a mission now?" Leylin's brows furrowed, "From what I know, the area outside the academy has been getting dangerous lately, especially for those level 1 acolytes who do not even know any spells......"

"There's no choice, any high-tiered information here has to be bought, and magic crystals are the only form of currency! The magic crystals that we brought have already been spent!" Kaliweir smiled bitterly.

"If you want to be a Potions Master, the expenditure of resources will be extremely great......"

"About taking up missions, I'll consider it again when I have become a level 2 acolyte! Take care of yourselves!" Leylin eventually declined. The rewards for completing missions were extremely alluring, but one needed to risk their life to claim them.

"Alright then! I heard that you are earning magic crystals by giving tuition to others. Could you also teach us, it can be in accordance with your rates!"

After hearing that Leylin was unwilling to go, Kaliweir felt a little dejected, but he continued to ask.

"Definitely, it'll be my pleasure. I can even give you guys favourable rates!" Leylin smiled lightly, exchanging benefits was always the norm for Magi.

Both sides decided on the location and date, and then Kaliweir and his party left after that.

Seeing their departing figures, Leylin's eyes flashed, "He is still roping people in? What a pity, Kaliweir has still not understood that in the world of Magi, one's own strength holds the most importance!"

Shaking his head, he returned to his dorm.

Every acolyte in the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy had a dorm of their own, so secrecy and safety were not an issue.

Leylin locked the door and hung up a 'Do Not Disturb' sign, only then did he return to the room beside the bedroom.

A large black coloured table occupied the room, and Leylin's previously bought apparatus set had been placed on it.

"After a few attempts at practicing, I am now a little more familiar with these apparatus, and I finished analysing the formula for the strength Potion today, so it's about time to start!"

Leylin muttered to himself and took out the black box containing the ingredients. He placed it on the table and opened it.

The crimson fruit, green stem and bottle of black powder appeared before his eyes.

Leylin's fingers stroked the surfaces of these 3 items, "A.I. Chip! Measure the activity within and establish a model!"

[Establishing scan, in the midst of gathering data, beginning construction!]

"Begin the simulation of the experiment!" Seeing the A.I. Chip complete its task, Leylin gave it another command.

[Simulation of model in process...... strength Potion Formula...... Estimated time consumed: 2 hours 21 minutes!]

"As expected, it's possible!" Leylin smiled jubilantly.

Even for identical ingredients, the slightest deviation would result in different results when making the potion.

As for qualified Potions Masters, they must make use of their experience and put the theory into practice, then make adjustments to obtain the desired properties of the potion.

This field only relied on raw talent and the future accumulation of experience.