Chapter 9: Dittany Essence (Edited)

After clearing out all the Dittany from the shops in Diagon Alley, Murphy spent a good portion of his gold coins. He then purchased a large quantity of materials for various medical potions, such as Skele-Gro, Blood-Replenishing Potion, and wound cleaning solutions, for future research, effectively spending all the Galleons he had just acquired.

The more than six thousand Galleons in his possession were gone before they even had a chance to warm up in his pocket.

But Murphy didn't mind in the slightest.

After all, money is meant to be spent.

Next, Murphy bought a large amount of Muggle Dittany, Panax notoginseng, and other herbs from Muggle herbal stores.

Murphy had long realized that although many magical ingredients, such as Dittany and Aconite, share names with their Muggle counterparts, they do not share the same properties. Muggle Dittany, for example, looks similar to magical Dittany but lacks the magical healing properties, and essences extracted using the same methods have no effect.

Murphy could only guess that ancient wizards had cultivated magical Dittany through magic or some other means, making it a different plant altogether.

Back at the Darkholme Manor, Murphy used magic to crush both types of Dittany into powder, mixed them together, and added Muggle Panax notoginseng, kudzu root powder, and other herbal powders, creating a medicinal powder that no one could reverse-engineer to identify the original materials.

The production method for Essence of Dittany was too simple. To keep the formula secret, the only option was to start with the raw materials.

Murphy decided that from now on, the materials used for producing Essence of Dittany would appear before others only in this mixed powder form.

He then packed the powder into several large bags and stuffed them into an Undetectable Extension Charm bag before heading out to register his company.

Two days later, Murphy Disapparated to Patrick's home and was led into Patrick's study by Mrs. Duncan. Patrick was on the phone when Murphy arrived but nodded in acknowledgment, signaling for Murphy to wait.

Murphy made himself comfortable on a sofa, casually flipping through some Muggle books on the shelf. Patrick's collection was mostly about medicine and the biological industry, with numerous academic journals subscribed, showing his deep investment in the field.

It's no wonder he became one of London's leading pharmaceutical sales experts with such a relentless pursuit of knowledge.

After finishing his call, Patrick greeted Murphy with a smile, "I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

Murphy smiled back, "Let's start with the good news."

"I inspected five pharmaceutical factories, and the one I favored the most, Isis Pharmaceuticals, had an investment mishap last year and is planning to restructure. Insider information suggests we could buy it for around nine hundred thousand pounds, saving us a considerable amount of money."

"That's indeed good news. What's the bad news?"

"The drug approval process is a bit tricky. The head of the review committee, Douglas, a friend of mine, has been transferred, and the new appointee is a shareholder of Blue Mountain. He's demanding the formula to ensure the drug's safety."

Murphy frowned.

Patrick had already submitted his resignation to Blue Mountain Pharmaceuticals, so it was understandable that the shareholders wouldn't make it easy for him.

"What do you think?" Murphy asked.

This wasn't an issue for Murphy; he could always use an Unforgivable Curse coupled with an Obliviate on that individual if necessary.

Murphy had little qualms about using unforgivable curses to achieve his goals, as long as it didn't become widely known and unmanageable.

"The formula is absolutely out of the question," Patrick stated. "His demands for a herbal medicine formula are already out of line. I'll put pressure on him with a few other companies to get a temporary production license; it shouldn't be a problem."

"But we need to start producing and get the product to market as soon as possible. As long as the market reaction is good enough, he won't be able to stop us."

"I'm not familiar with this, just handle it," Murphy said.

"There's another thing," Patrick mentioned. "The method you told me about is for lab preparation, different from industrial production. We need someone to design the industrial production process. You'll have to tell me the complete experimental steps."

After saying this, Patrick looked intently at Murphy.

Some laboratory preparation processes could leak parts of the formula, but Patrick didn't elaborate further, hoping his employer would trust him enough.

Murphy didn't ask further and took out a notebook from his bag, tearing off a page and handing it to Patrick.

"It's all here."

Patrick sighed in relief, took the note seriously, read through it, and nodded, "The production process is simple. I can get some graduate students to design the industrial process. What about the raw materials?"

"They're ready."

"From these steps, the raw materials are indeed the key to Essence of Dittany. You must find a way to keep the materials confidential," Patrick advised.

"Don't worry."

Murphy said, handing Patrick a seal, "I've already registered the company. Here's the financial seal, with a registered capital of one million pounds, already deposited. It should be enough to buy the factory you mentioned."

Patrick received the seal, which read "Umbrella Industries Financial Use Only" at the bottom.

"Umbrella?" Patrick nodded, "It fits well with the positioning of Dittany. Good name."

Murphy blushed; he had blurted it out when registering the company.

Fortunately, the Resident Evil series hadn't been released yet, so "Umbrella" was still a fairly normal name, and the word had connotations of an umbrella, protection, and shelter, making it quite suitable for a pharmaceutical company.

"So, the official name for Essence of Dittany is just that?"

"Let's call it Dittany Essence."

Memories from his past life made him blurt out again.

"Dittany, umbrella..." Patrick nodded approvingly, "Consistent, very good."

Good my foot! Ever since witnessing the Essence of Dittany, it seemed Patrick had started to become more imaginative.

"Tomorrow, I'll contact Isis Pharmaceuticals," Patrick was enthusiastic, "Boss, I'll arrange for some graduate students to design the industrial process for you. With this, we can decide what kind of production line we need."

Leaving Patrick's home, Murphy couldn't help but feel a bit reflective. Indeed, it's better to let professionals handle professional matters.

If he had to start a pharmaceutical company from scratch, he would be completely in the dark, certainly not making progress as quickly as now, with seemingly endless tasks every day.

This served as a reminder to him.

Even if his goal was omniscience and omnipotence, he was far from reaching that level now. With his current abilities and knowledge, he was still a novice in many fields.

He must not be overly ambitious or stubborn!

In his past life, he was just an undergraduate in computer science. The experiment to produce Essence of Dittany without magic had exhausted all his previous life's knowledge of biochemistry.

Therefore, tasks like improving the purity of Essence of Dittany and determining effective substances were beyond his capability.

This is why he needed the Muggle world.

He needed talent.

A lot of talent! There was too much to do, and his energy and abilities were not enough to cover everything.

Therefore, he needed to leverage others, gathering professionals like Patrick to use their strength to achieve his goals.

Muggles, work hard for my quest for immortality!

Hmm, he should indeed give Patrick some shares.

As he said, a good boss needs to know how to motivate