The Production Begins

After time had passed, Merlin finally came back to Matin’s medicine store like he had given his words. He was still dressed in a blue cloak.

Ding Ding Ding

When the bell at the front rang, Matin who had been anticipating hurried out to welcome his guest. As soon as he saw Merlin, he bowed down meekly to pay Merlin respect. His manners showed how polite and loyal he was.

“Welcome, welcome sir Elen.” Matin greeted Merlin with his smiley face; he seemed very enthusiastic.

After Merlin got into the shop, Matin closed the place immediately. A wooden board with the word “closed” was hung on the front door. This was a very important business deal for him; he would never let anyone interrupt it.

“Have you prepared everything that I asked for?” Merlin said calmly. His aura was solemn and chilly.

“Yes, I have sir.” Matin smiled.

Merlin noticed that this time there were three other staff; he did not see these people the last time.

When Matin caught Merlin looking skeptical about the men, he said that he just hired these people to serve Merlin. And they were definitely reliable. The secret about him being an alphabet user would never spread out.

Merlin stopped caring about those three workers; he ordered Matin to bring him to the room he had requested for. So, the old man hasted and brought him to the room immediately.

Matin led him to the same room as before: the living room and Matin’s working space. This old man treated Merlin politely while his face still had a big smile on.

When Matin recruited the three workers, he set a lot of conditions. And there was one that startled them: they were to serve an alphabet user.

It was widely known that, in this realm, alphabet users were rare. There were even less than the number of fingers on one hand in each kingdom. Each alphabet user was tremendously powerful. And this was probably their luck. If the alphabet user accepted them as his disciples, their lives would definitely change.

However, when they met Matin’s alphabet user, they were confused. Their eyes could only see a small boy wearing a mysterious blue cloak.

They were guessing that this might be a short old man, but no it wasn’t. Because the voice they heard was surely that of a child. It was unbelievable for them; they could not bring themselves to believe that this boy before them was an alphabet user. Doubts were growing inside their minds.

Matin brought Merlin to his office. He then walked to the wall that had a picture frame hanging on; he grabbed and tilted it down forty-five degrees.

Suddenly the secret door slid open. The bookshelf was split in two opposite ways, revealing the path to a secret chamber Matin had built.

Matin was aware of how valuable each user’s secret formula was. So, he had this room built specially for his alphabet user. He did not regret any zenis he had invested, for the future profit would certainly be way more than this.

“Please, Sir Elen.” Matin promptly drew his hand to invite Merlin into the room that he had prepared for.

For this matter, Matin had prepared top-notch and reliable helpers to help store and maintain the soon-to-be-produced goods.

As Merlin stepped into the secret pathway, he found a stairway down to the basement. And after walking down, he found a secret chamber that was dissected into three parts.

One was for storing the empty bottles and the raw materials for potion-making. Another was the room that was filled with cabinets and wooden chests; it was prepared to be the storeroom.

Then, next to it was the last room. This one was huge and filled with utensils and equipment for potion-making.

So, it seemed like Matin had overdone what Merlin had asked for. Merlin showed a glimpse of dissatisfaction then said coldly,

“Take these things out, all of them.”

Martin’s heart beat frantically after hearing that. He thought he did his best; he did not expect that these things would not be enough to fulfill this alphabet user’s needs. His face was tainted with anxiety for he was afraid he had upset this little one.

“Forgive me, Sir Elen! These are the best tools I could find. If they are too low in quality, please forgive me.” Matin said beggedly; he did not want to upset the young alphabet user.

“Not at all, I am not blaming you. But these are not necessary for my potions.” From under the cloak, Merlin spoke out with force. His voice froze the people in the same room.

“Please forgive my stupidity, I will tell people to bring them out as you ordered.” Then, he hurriedly told the staff to carry things out of the room.

“My time is as precious as gold.” Merlin's voice was chill, extremely pressuring Matin and his workers.

Matin could not predict Merlin’s thoughts.

It seemed like Merlin had to work against time; it would take a long time to move all the stuff out of the room.

Merlin could not wait any longer so his small hands under the cloak rose up moving in the air.

Krrr....Krrrrr….Krrrrrrr

Suddenly everything in the room was shaking. They slowly flew into the air, astonishingly.

Small hands clapped together, then those objects came together in one place. He flicked his hand once, then they moved in the direction he wanted.

Matin and the workers looked at the scene before them in astonishment. Their eyes almost popped out.

All the items were moved out of the room in a short period of time.

“Tell your men to take care of those things outside. I will start making potions now.”

The boy in the blue cloak ordered while the other four were still in awe.

That boy in front of them could control objects without casting any spells. There was not even an alphabet shown.

For the three new men, they previously doubted this small alphabet user. But after what just happened, they knew now about this little one’s power.

They felt relieved that they hadn’t done anything to offend him, or else they could not imagine the outcome.

Even though the three were wizards. Standing in front of this boy, they were just worms and insects. This alphabet user was mighty and powerful. His aura was stronger than normal people.

Merlin could control objects because he had already achieved level six of Qi accumulation which gave him the ability to control things as he desired.

Merlin saw doubts in those people’s faces. So, he had to show them his power so that he would be able to control these people easily just like what he did to Matin before.

And another reason was that his time was limited. He would have to finish making the potions before Arthur’s school was over. For he was still that boy’s servant.

After Matin calmed down, he ordered his men to clean up the things outside immediately. Once again, he was acknowledged about this boy in the blue cloak’s skills.

Even though there were a lot of wizards that could use shortcut spells, they had to be at least wizard warriors. And to be skilled, they had to be archwizards for the least.

Shortcut spells were different from normal spell-casting. Wizards could use the spells quickly but there were hidden downsides.

Wizards had to use a more intense amount of magical power to rush those spells to work quickly. Also, the shortcut spells could result in those spells being weaker than usual.

Because of these downsides, even though they could quicken their spell-casting process, the wizards had to weigh things carefully before they decided each time.

But for archwizards, these downsides were nothing to them because they had massive amounts of magical powers. They were not a bit worried about losing those powers. Using low or mid-level shortcut spells was a normal thing for them.

However, if they wanted to utilize a very destructive spell, they would prefer typical spell-casting. Although it would look longer, it was more worthwhile.

So, his power-boosting potions that came with a latent property would be very beneficial for most wizards. And they were highly-desired in this realm.

After Matin’s men got out as he ordered, there were only Merlin and Matin left in the room. Without wasting any time, Merlin started making his potions instantly. His right hand touched the magical ring, and suddenly a wand appeared.

A slim wand in Merlin’s hand was one foot long. Its core was made with a monster’s piece that had the ability to absorb and release the magical power. So, it was used as a magical-power medium.

Because it improved the magical-power control, using magical powers through the wand was the most stable way. So, it was a popular item for potion-making and magical-hoop drawing.

Before Merlin bought this wand, he had tried it before. He spent a lot of time practicing before he became skilled.

A small hand swished the wand in the air. He flicked it a few times, then there appeared blue magical alphabets.

Amazed, Matin looked at what Merlin was doing. How could someone create magical alphabets so easily? Matin respected this little boy in the blue cloak even more than before.

Merlin drew one alphabet after another, countlessly. He moved the wand until hundreds of blue alphabets were floating orderly in the air.

As the last alphabet was written, Merlin flicked his wand. An energy flow built up, controlling those alphabets like a storm.

As soon as Merlin pointed the wand at the floor, those alphabets rushed down following his command.

In the blink of an eye, complex magical hoops appeared. They were three-meter wide which took half of this room’s space.

Looking at the chest in a corner of the room, Merlin flicked his left hand that was not occupied by the wand.

BANG! The chest was opened.

Then he flicked his hand again, and tons of herbs moved into the magical hoops.

Merlin needed a lot of concentration to control these processes.

After flicking the wand again, the magical flow started to move. All the magical hoops were activated. Elemental dust shined out like a rainbow. The magical-power rays in the magical hoops moved systematically from one place to another.

Perfectly timed, Matin’s men walked into the room and beheld this bizarre potion-making process.

It was their first time seeing someone making potions like this. The alphabet user’s potion-making was so eccentric because Merlin used neither fire nor a potion pot nor even normal utensils for potion-making.

The magical hoops in front of them were magically extracting the herbs floating in the air. They could not keep their excitement in. No doubt, these processes had to be intricate.

Shortly, sweat was soaking the tiny alphabet user’s cloak. The observers did not make any noise, afraid they would disrupt the ritual.

It took Merlin almost two hours; and in the last step, tons of golden dust from the light element rolled in, mixing with the perfectly-extracted potion.

This last step turned the normal potion into the one with an amazing latent quality.

In front of Merlin, there was a water mass as wide as three meters floating in the air.

Merlin lowered his wand and the magical alphabets gradually disappeared.

“Matin, tell your guys to bring the bottles out and arrange them.” Merlin turned to Matin, wearily.

“Yes sir” Matin responded politely then turned to order his men instantly.

“Hurry up! Do what he said!” Shortly, potion bottles were arranged on the trays.

Merlin used one hand to control the gigantic water mass, and another hand to flick. Suddenly the water was separated into small amounts, perfectly fitting the bottles.

They flew orderly into the bottles. Merlin’s hand was swishing countless times. After he had finished some of them, the prepared corks flew up to plug those countless bottles.

Marvelous! It was more than marvelous!

Matin and the staff witnessed the scene in disbelief. This kind of potion-making had never occurred in this world. It was very effective and quick.

They were amazed again and again. From the start to the end, the alphabet user’s every single movement amazed them.

Their eyes showed how unutterably they respected this little boy.

“Store these and take another set of bottles out.” Emotionlessly, the boy said.

Hearing that, they hurriedly followed his instruction. If anyone had a chance to see his wonderful potion-making skill, there was no way they would not respect this boy.

They worked quickly; then the afternoon came.

They were working like machines, without resting. And not long after everything was done.

Merlin had produced more than ten thousand bottles. These potions were to be sold, in certain periods, and they would be stored in the magical ring carefully saved in this basement.

Before leaving, Merlin emphasized to Matin that he took only a few bottles out to sell, to build up the price. The smaller the number, the higher the price would be.

If a kingdom wished to have a monopoly, he told Matin to refuse and tell them that the alphabet user was not eager to make a monopoly deal with any kingdoms.

Certainly, if the alphabet user’s desire was stated, those kingdoms would not try to threaten Matin. Being the only one having these products was his bargaining power.

Having given all the instructions, Merlin went back to his residence.

And as soon as he arrived, he found that Arthur was already waiting for him. He was surprised to see Arthur at this hour because he was supposed to be in the academy, not here.

And surely, after Arthur arrived and did not see Merlin, he whined furiously. The little boy was getting scolded by his master for a while. Arthur thought that this boy definitely took advantage of him being at school to play around.

But all of this did not upset Merlin.

After Arthur was done with the complaint, he revealed the true reason he came back earlier: he was going on a date with a girl in his class. Her name was Arose Judy, a daughter of a Bohemian Kingdom’s nobleman.

Merlin looked at Arthur while thinking, “This ten-year-old boy is bigger than any other kids his age. And with his fine physique and a face as beautiful as a statue, he was perfectly suitable to be born in the Aragon family. Even the precociousness is more advanced than any others. He is already a playboy at this age.”

Merlin instantly got that the girl Ameria had now been thrown into Arthur’s dumped-girls list. It could be because of this girl named Judy.

Merlin worked as his servant flawlessly. And this was not the first time that he had to be on the lookout while Arthur was flirting with a girl.

Even though being a servant was a low place to be, and probably a pain to his pride as a practitioner, Merlin did not care even a bit.

His life was more important than his pride. But, surely, if one day he became powerful enough to protect himself, he would never yield to anyone.

The path of a practitioner was a thousand times more brutal than this, he could definitely tolerate these trivial difficulties.