16 Elementary Potioneering

George was resolved.

A week had passed since his entrance at the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy. During the past week, George had successfully become a Level 2 Acolyte, and he had begun lessons on Dark Energy and Shadow Elemental Theories, necessary for learning the two spells Magus Kroft had given him.

Magus Kroft had selected two excellent Rank 0 Spells for him: [Shadow Veil], a stealth spell that would allow him to become nearly invisible, and [Shadow Shackles], a binding spell which corroded the target's spirit and skin.

Both were compatible with his knight cultivation, and Magus Kroft had seen through George's intentions of walking both paths at the same time.

In exchange for Magus Kroft's excellent tutoring, George assisted the man with potioneering experiments. It included cleaning duties, but also more interesting refinement process, where George would handle basic tasks such as preparing ingredients for Magus Kroft to use.

[Move your scalpel 35 degrees to the left, and cut in one swift movement]

Initially, Magus Kroft would be here to observe the whole process, but a week of interaction with the boy allowed George to prove himself. Every single movement was textbook, and he made very few errors. More importantly, he never felt shame about wasting ingredients, and told Magus Kroft whenever he made a mistake, which increased Kroft's trust in George.

As George finished preparing the 62 ingredients necessary for the refinement of [Yale Elixir], Kroft examined the ingredient one last time before applauding: "George...I am truly amazed by your refinement skills. Such excellent work must be rewarded. Do you have any favour?"

George smiled. The reason why he worked so hard was not just to improve his familiarity with handling magical ingredients. He also wished to become an alchemy genius like Merlin.

"I have absorbed your insights in the book you have left me with, but I would like to test my potioneering skills. Could you give me access to the laboratory after your work is done in addition to a potion recipe I could test myself on?"

Magus Kroft smiled: "Haha! All potioneering masters went through this stage. Believe it or not, both I and Merlin are hailed as potioneering geniuses, and both of us were as excited as you whenever people talked about alchemy. However, you will face a wall. Before you can make any benefit out of potioneering, you will need to invest hundreds, if not thousands of magic crystals into the craft. Of course, once you master it, then magic crystals will no longer be a concern...Take Merlin for instance. After proving his skills, he signed a contract with the Lylitell Magus Household. Not only did he get access on potion recipes and a personal laboratory in the Abyssal Bone Forest, he was also given 3 000 Magic Crystals for his personal use! He also has free access to thousands of magical herbs, with a salary depending on his production rate! These terms would be enticing to Magi, not to mention a mere Level 3 Acolyte"

George nodded. He could feel he was being underestimated, but it was good.

He had met Merlin. The man was a true genius. He didn't have a biochip, yet he could refine alchemical potions with ease. Although he was far from the 200-years-old Magus Kroft's standards, he still was a genius known throughout the academy for his potioneering skills.

George didn't envy him, though. Unlike others, he could simiulate the refinement of potions in his mind. Any error would be noted down and warned by his biochip. He had trained his refinement skills with this method, and it allowed him to reach a textbook-like approach. His movements were precise, accurate and he hardly made any error.

Doing so on a potioneering experiment would be many times more challenging, but as long as he completed enough simulations, he would be able to raise his success rate above the standard required in order to make benefits. At this point, he would earn a steady income, which would be very helpful for his studies.

Magus Kroft took out a book and smiled: "Since you insist, I will choose a potion for you. What about the [Spiritual Potion]? It is a potion that every acolyte need, since it can help recover magical power, necessary for casting spells. Although the demand is very high, I don't think that there are more than 20 individuals capable of refining it. Among those capable of refining it, only a handful would bother wasting hours in the refinement process. Although the brewage method is long and time-consuming, it is one of the easiest low-grade potion to refine, and the sets of ingredients are quite cheap too. Since you are my disciple, I will gift you 100 sets of ingredients freely on a weekly basis, and free access to the laboratory when I am not working inside it. In exchange, you continue to handle magical ingredients in my stead. You might not believe it, but your excellent work is terrifyingly efficient, saving me hours that I can invest in the key processes"

George's eyes started to shine.

These were propositions that were too amazing! Evidently, if he weren't a grade 5 talent with some talent in potioneering, Kroft would have never proposed such an extraordinary deal. Leylin, who was listening to the discussion while cleaning the tables, was red from envy.

George wanted to spare Leylin at first, since his possession of a biochip might come in handful. After all, if they collaborated, they would be able to exchange a lot of information. Better still, they would be able to collaborate on research and go further.

However, Leylin was just an immature kid, who was more interested in Bicky's voluptuous body than meditating. Still, his progress was better than most third-grade talent, but it was nothing in comparison to George's growth rate.