Potioneering

In the following weeks, Leylin's daily routine had taken a similar route as to how he had been in his previous world; minus his darkest hobbies.

Every day, he was commuting to and from between five places in the academy: the dorms, the Dining Hall, the Academic Hall, Kroft's research lab, and the Library.

Another month had gone by.

[The gathering of this book's data has been completed, Doctor.] -The A.I.'s calm 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 now spent in the Library. Almost every book that could be read for free he had already browsed through, and Aralis kept accumulating and sorting more and more data for her Master.

[Thanks to you, my database is officially robust enough to aid you in formulating potions, Doctor.] -The A.I. reported with a serene tone.

Leylin sighed in contentment.

Although Kroft had provided him with some elementary information about Potioneering, many questions had been left in the air. However, if he wanted to receive his mentor's full explanation, he would have had to pay a fee.

Leylin did not feel like spending all of his hard-earned magic crystals just yet, considering he would need much more supplies for his future experiments. Thusly, he instead embraced the roundabout way: to scan and analyze every book in the Library until he and Aralis managed to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Many acolytes who were embarrassingly short of magic crystals did the same thing; perusing through the variety of free information in the Library. Unfortunately for them, they did not have Leylin's A.I. assistant, so they usually needed more than a dozen days up to a month just to find what they wanted.

As for Leylin? In that same period, he had now everything systematically categorized and ready for any inquiries he might need to do in the future. This was including diagrams, pictures, and holographic models designed by Aralis.

Nevertheless, Elementary Potioneering was considered higher-tiered knowledge. Even with the constant analysis from his assistant, Leylin only knew about one-third of it. Still, 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 sidewalk from the rooftop of a tall building.

'Enough procurance of knowledge for today. I shall begin with my alchemy experiments immediately.' -Leylin placed the books back on the shelves and left the Library.

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

'That brunette was staring at me again, wasn't she?'

[Yes, she was.]

'She thinks I have not noticed. Heh, I can only hope she tries something against me soon. That'll give me the perfect excuse to murder her...'

[Ooor, she just took a liking to you.]

'Don't be ridiculous. Who could ever like this piece of trash known as Leylin?'

[Well, perhaps you haven't noticed, but your physique has changed a lot for the better in the past half a year. Plus, you act fairly charming around others... Most of the time.]

'You may be right, but I truly wish that you are not. I would feel greatly disappointed.'

[Disappointed by a girl having somewhat of a crush on you, instead of meaning you harm... That is the definition of Doctor Fang Ming right there.]

Leylin only smirked, but the gesture vanished in the next second.

When he walked out of the library, an acolyte was there to greet him as he was ostensibly waiting for someone. It was Kaliweir. Leylin immediately sensed that he was now a level 1 acolyte as well, which did not surprise him considering the boy had a fourth-grade aptitude.

The bulky youngster then extended an invitation for Leylin to join him and the rest of the clique on a mission, but the Farlier heir politely declined since he would not risk it as he was now. Finally, Leylin made an appointment with Kaliwer for a tutoring session on the advanced Byron language course.

'Little rascal thought I would give him a free discount, hahaha. I could see the dejectedness in his voice when he accepted my terms.'

[He brings you whatever useful ingredients he can find out there, and in return, you offer him a preferential rate on your tutoring. That sounds like a nice equivalent exchange to me.]

'Who said anything about equivalent exchange? Hell no. I shall remove that aristocratic imbecile of as many magic crystals as he can earn with his missions. Throughout my tutorings, I'll hint towards supplementary knowledge that he won't be able to keep himself from buying. By the end, I'll just kindly suggest that he finds a teacher and seeks out paid lessons from him since my capabilities have reached their limit.'

[So... you'll lead him on until he realizes that he would've been better off hiring a professor, to begin with?]

'I will give him valuable information. Will it be objectively worthwhile for him? No.'

[You'll lose one of your tools.]

'No, I won't. Because he is a dumb brat. He will assume that I did everything I could to help him.'

[Why would he think that when you would have taken both the ingredients and his crystals?]

'Easy: I will offer him a money-back guarantee since the first lesson. He will not make use of that clause if he thinks I delivered him what he paid for...'

Suppressing a chuckle, Leylin returned to his dorm.

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The Farlier heir locked his door and then he entered the living room.

A large black-colored table occupied the room, and Leylin's alchemy set he'd previously bought had been placed on it. All of the ingredients and materials were perfectly sorted in front of him, and he was ready to begin.

'Let's see... elementary strength potion. Not bad for a start.'

For the next 3 hours, the exact process of the recipe was repeated over and over again. A myriad of times, Leylin had apparently brewed the potion accurately. But it was not enough for him. He needed perfection. Or at least, reach the best possible quality with the resources he had at his disposal.

"Green life, blood-red vitality. Under the interference of the willpower from the depths of the abyss, you shall fuse! Furikesha Keleyahsan..." -Leylin chanted the final phase of the incantation.

The various colors from the materials in the beaker continued to fuse as he chanted. The substance finally turned into a strong blue-colored liquid which emitted a fragrant and alluring scent.

Leylin gently swayed the test tube, and the potion inside glowed enchantingly under the light of the magic flame that illuminated his room.

'Ah, look at this beauty... Such precious azure color. This is what a potion is all about. The fresh yet deep vibrant energies emanating from it. I would dare say this is just as pure as something that so-called genius could brew with this batch of crappy ingredients.' -Leylin grinned smugly and poured the light blue liquid into a tiny test tube.

[The liquid in that finger-length test tube can provide the nourishment an ordinary person needs for 7 days, and also ensure that the person's physical body and mental energy will be vigorous for several hours. It is a favorite of people who work on long experiments and adventurers. The average selling price is five magic crystals. Nicely done, Doctor!] -Aralis noted excitedly.

'A one-time miracle is useless to me. I must be able to replicate these results without fail. Time for yet another brewing...'

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One night passed, and Leylin presently gazed at the six blue test tubes that he held absentmindedly.

'With twenty sets of ingredients, I succeeded in creating an almost perfect potion six times.'

Leylin's face then changed to a stern expression, as he destroyed the test tubes containing the potions with a small flare that vaporized the contents.

'Regrettable. Not only can I not sell the potions, but I still need to earn more money to buy ingredients to continue my experiments and put on a façade of constant failure. My magic is also not good enough to hide them right now. Since I don't possess an exceptional aptitude, I can only start to sell the most basic of potions after half a year without drawing suspicion.'

This estimate was based on Merlin's success rate. If he did not want to stand out and attract too much attention, Leylin had to perform a little worse than Merlin, who was a talented alchemist from the beginning.

The Farlier heir was, first and foremost, an apprentice at the Department of Potioneering. When he ultimately brewed his first potion after half a year of failures, he would only be labeled as an ordinary acolyte trained under the scholarly Professor Kroft.

Leylin cleaned up the table, meticulously stored the alchemy set, and walked out of the room.

'What's next is for me to focus on my meditations and break into the realm of a level 2 acolyte. As soon as I do, I will adhere to a cycle of selling potions, earning magic crystals, and obtaining privileged knowledge.'

Leylin still needed close to a year's time to break through to a level 2 acolyte, according to the calculations he had made. After all, it would get increasingly harder to construct the 24 mind runes as they multiplied, and he also needed to accumulate much more knowledge to boost his cultivation.

'In this period, I can constantly gather data and finish compiling information regarding Spiritual Force. This will be very useful to me in the future.'

[And I'll be here to register, analyze, and compile everything.] -The A.I. chimed in.

'Good.' -Leylin smiled in contemplation of what was to come.

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Unknowingly, another half a year passed just like that.

A brown-haired teen lowered his head as he walked on the black tiled pavement of a corridor as if he was deep in thought. This youth looked to be at least fourteen years of age and had brown hair.

This was naturally Leylin. At this moment, his right hand was hidden inside his robed sleeve, holding on to a test tube. He appeared to be making his way towards the research lab.

'It has already been half a year since the first time I successfully brewed a potion...' -Leylin looked at the acolytes walking past him and thought to himself.

In this half a year, many things had happened within the academy. For instance, Fayle achieved some great accomplishments, and Merlin managed to brew a new potion. The fame of these geniuses only increased.

Then there was the fact that Jayden had already advanced to a level 2 acolyte. Leylin recalled that when Kaliweir spoke of this news, he could not hide the fear and envy in his eyes despite trying his best to conceal it. The aptitude, as well as advancement of a fifth-grade acolyte, was shocking.

But not to Leylin. He did not have many thoughts about it. He buried himself with the work he had to do, and to an outsider, he was just an ordinary level 1 acolyte.

Leylin had invested all of the profit he earned from giving tuition into his alchemy experiments in these six months. He bought ingredients for the elementary strength potion in bulk and straightaway conducted an innumerable quantity of brewing, replicating this process every two weeks. So far, he had spent about a dozen of magic crystals on this, leaving him with a net balance of 18 crystals.

Of course, he also brought forward the 'problems he encountered' to his mentor in order to keep up with pretenses. Moreover, with Aralis, his proficiency in all matters rose by several magnitudes. Leylin's Potioneering skills had already far surpassed Merlin's, and they were only inferior to Kroft's by a small margin.

Today, it would be the day he 'accidentally' succeeded in brewing a potion and let his mentor evaluate it. This time, he had purposely made some minute errors, making it seem like an inferior product. Nonetheless, it would still be considered decent for a new acolyte.

Leylin's right palm, which was the one holding the vial, tightened.

'Only after today can I start to sell a few potions in broad daylight and earn me some additional magic crystals. Yesterday, I heard Raynor say that he already felt close to advancing. My progress can't lag behind that of the fourth-grades.'

[You've been doing great so far, Doctor. I'm cheering for you!] -The A.I. supported.

Leylin hurriedly walked into Kroft's experiment lab.

"Good morning, Leylin. Do you have more problems with the brewing of the strength potion?" -Kroft could clearly feel that his apprentice was different today.

"No, sir." -Leylin inhaled deeply: "I have already succeeded once last night."

"What?!" -The beaker in Kroft's hands trembled: "Although your talent in Potioneering has admittedly exceeded my expectations, the brewing of a strength potion is not that easy!"

[If only you knew, Mr. Niceguy...]

After half a year, Kroft was able to sense his apprentice's frightening improvement after being questioned so much. However, he still felt that Leylin was still lacking in regards to favorably brewing the strength potion.

Hearing this, Merlin's hand shook while he was concentrating on lowering a red crystal bead into a test tube. Black smoke emitted from the test tube and Merlin sighed, turning his attention over to his junior.

As for Bicky, she just leaned over discreetly to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Did you bring the completed potion?" -Kroft asked with curiosity.

"Here." -Leylin took out a blue-colored test tube and handed it to the professor.

Kroft unplugged the wooden stopper and took a sniff. His face revealed a startled expression. He then poured a drop on his finger. A fine, milky-white light extended from between his brows and directly pierced the droplet, making it shake.

Kroft closed his eyes. His brows were furrowed, but they soon relaxed.

"The purification of the Blood Vitality Fruit was not bad, but too much was added at the end. There was also some problem with your usage of Spiritual Force, which damaged the chemical properties... All in all, there are quite a few problems, but you have succeeded as a whole! Congratulations!" -Kroft smiled jubilantly.

Hearing this, Leylin returned the smile.

Bicky even cheered, giving him a friendly hug. This girl's curves attached themselves onto his chest, which gave rise to a peculiar feeling in his heart. The urge to decapitate her with his cross blade for daring to touch him like that without his permission.

"Congratulations, junior Leylin!" -Merlin walked over too and patted him on the shoulder.

"Compared to senior Merlin, I still have much to learn." -Leylin got rid of Bicky and then hurriedly said.

"You don't have to be so modest. Unlike Merlin, your resources are notably lacking. I am sure that you would have been able to brew your first potion in 3 to 4 months otherwise. In the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, this talent can already be considered excellent." -Kroft asserted.

"Thinking back now, I am really lucky. First, I accepted Merlin as my apprentice. And now, I have you, hehehe." -A proud smile beamed in the white-haired teacher.

"Sir, I will also work hard!" -Bicky clenched her small fists and returned to her experiment table.

"Finish preparing the Monkey Headed Mushrooms in your hands first, before you say anything else!" -Kroft's face turned stiff.

After that, he returned the strength potion to Leylin: "This time, luck played an important factor in brewing the strength potion. What you have to do next is to remember how it felt when you first succeeded, and then practice more. Oh, and this test tube can be sold and exchanged for more resources, so don't forget to pay the Trading Post a visit."

"Anyway, Leylin. You must bear in mind that different potions have different challenges for Potions masters. Although you are able to brew this strength potion right now, you would most likely revert to a newbie if you were to replace it with a hemostatic potion. Therefore, do not be arrogant. From now on, focus on practicing your potion brewing with utmost commitment." -Kroft seriously advised him.

"I will, Professor." -Leylin pocketed the strength potion well and promised solemnly.

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After he finished his tasks in the experiment lab, Leylin left together with Bicky.

'Why does this airhead like to follow me around...' -Leylin's eyebrow twitched imperceptibly.

"Shall we go feast at the Dining Hall to commemorate your first success?" -Bicky ran in front and twirled around a few times as if she was a lively butterfly.

"I apologize, but I had a tutoring session with a friend in half an hour and I must prepare." -Leylin bowed slightly, displaying a gentleman's propriety.

Bicky's expression darkened, "If only... If only he was like you... He does not even apologize when he goes away..."

Leylin knew a little about this matter. In this half-year, Bicky gradually got closer to Fayle and finally became friends with him, but they were only regular friends.

As for Fayle, he was invariably practicing spells and taking risks outside the academy. He was always surrounded by beautiful girls, so he did not think much of Bicky and was a little standoffish.

Leylin remained quiet, and just as he was about to leave for good, the girl spoke again.

"Senior Fayle just has a very important experiment coming up and is in the midst of collecting resources, so he's very busy..." -Bicky lowered her head and kicked an imaginary pebble off the sidewalk.

'This kid could not conceivably be this dense and not be dead. What is going on with this world's natural selection? It obviously needs some balancing...' -Leylin's eye flickered with powerful killing intent before it disappeared as if it was never there.