Plans

After successfully beating John in such a spectacular way, Melvinger citizens were both in awe and pure joy from witnessing the rise of one of the strongest knights in the region. John Billing was a genius already, but the 'Golden Lion Knight' did not seem any older than him, yet he was already very superior.

Many Melvinger citizens felt like George would eventually become the fourth Grand Knight in Melvinger City, proven that he stayed in the City of Knights. The reason why Melvinger City was so powerful in the region, in spite of the many magical beasts roaming in the wilderness as well as the goblin tribes that established themselves in the vacinity of the city, was due to the fact that knights held a very strong position in Melvinger City.

They would receive the highest respect from citizens and merchants, and would often find attractive rewards in mercenary requests. Often, it would require them to guard a convoy, since the commerce was very prosperous in the city, but sometimes, it was a subjugation mission issued by the Mayor himself.

Hence, not only was Melvinger City an extraordinary city with prosperous commerce, it also happened to be a land of paradise for mercenaries, as there was a mountain of never-ending work that was being piled up. For mercenaries, work meant wealth, and wealth was one of the many ways to access a comfortable life.

Of course, if you were to be recruited in a noble family, it would be all the better. Access to knight breathing techniques, knight killing techniques or even knight secret techniques were incredible resources in one's knight cultivation. Unfortunately, nobles only selected the very best knights who came in Melvinger City. Hedge knights competed in the Melvinger Knight Festival for the opportunity to be recruited. But often, they would return home with injuries.

Just as James came back, he could see the Golden Lion Villa Guards surveilling the mansion with great care. George nodded upon seeing their wariness and strong posture. One thing George had taught them was to be ready at all time.

Surely, they were far from meeting the standards of knights, but they were all preparatory knights, a realm of physical strength that only a handful of people would ever reach in their lifetime. George predicted that with his training methods and daily spars with the Golden Lion Villa Guards, as well as the specific diet he was feeding them, it would take roughly 3 to 5 years to turn them into knights.

While it was a very long period of time, George was only 14 at this point. In order to become a magus, he knew that he had to reach the rank 3 acolyte realm before the age of 20, and break through to the Magus realm by the age of 30. Only then would he have a chance at becoming a rank 2 magus, the highest realm achieved in the Southern Continent.

'Should I...Stay in Melvinger City a little while longer?', George wondered.

Ever since he had come to Melvinger City, his growth in both his knight and acolyte cultivations increased several fold. The amount of resources he had at his disposal also increased, since he had the support of one of the wealthiest and strongest main noble family in Melvinger City. Training under the Viscount Frederick Billing after the Melvinger Knight Festival would also prove very useful to his database, as Grand Knights were quite rare.

George initially thought about returning to the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy right away, as he was nearing the rank 3 acolyte realm, but after considerable thoughts, he thought that staying in this wonderful city might be better for his growth.

He originally wanted to follow canon, spend time gathering ingredients and ancient recipes from his master Magus Kroft and raise his spiritual force artificially with potions...but George felt like it was not worth the trouble. He thought that following the canon story would give him an edge against others, but he had been blinding himself with fear of the unknown.

As he entered his underground laboratory, George felt a considerable sense of comfort.

This mansion had unknowingly become his home.

'Let's get started on experiment number 448 then...'

[Spiritual Potion Refinement Experiment - Changing step 23. Heat the vial 13 minutes longer with a temperature of 126°C instead of 152°C...]

The laboratory was growing fancier and fancier, as he had commanded furnaces and alchemical equipment from the very best blacksmiths of the town, as they were affiliated with the Billing Household. This newest addition of equipment allowed George to test new refinement method, some of them that the biochip estimated to be 12%, or even 15% more practical than the regular one.

Although finding the right ajustment would take time and a considerable of magical ingredients, George had purchased nearly 1500 sets of spiritual potion ingredients from the Mayor, who had stocked them in his treasury. Although it had cost him 130 magic crystals, George still possessed roughly 300 magic crystals in his vault, with a dozen spiritual potions left to be sold and further increase his wealth.

Staying in Melvinger City would also grant him an additional benefit: Wealth. Here, he could sell spiritual potions at 10 magic crystals, whereas it would be very hard for him to sell them for 6 or 7 magic crystals in the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, where the supply was much higher.

George took advantage of the lack of wandering acolyte alchemist to raise the prices, and left the marketing and selling troubles to Lady Emma. As a result, the benefits he made were incredibly high, not to mention that his success rate was slowly increasing.

Although most knights in the Melvinger City Festival would try to rest and study their opponents for the next match, George was fully absorbed in his alchemical experiments. Cutting the Elder Tree Root with a scalpel with utmost accuracy, he then began to wield the vials and strange alchemical tools with textbook precision, and heated the various ingredients with extraordinary care. Although most of his experiments failed, George would never curse, as failures expanded his biochip's database just as much as his successes.

Unknowingly, George spent 5 hours straight in the laboratory, one of his longest seclusion times in ever since he arrived. However, he could not wear off the grin he had from his face. Out of his 13 refinement experiments, he had managed to refine two spiritual potions, one of which possessed incredible purity.

[Spiritual Potion - Purity : 86%

An elixir brewed by George Lionheart with utmost focus.

Consuming this elixir will replenish the drinker's magical power by 3.6 points

Secondary Effects: Consuming this potion after overusing magical power will lighten the pain and damage done to the acolyte's magical circuits]

It turns out that spiritual potions with high purity came with an extraordinary second effect: it alleviated the damage and pain of magical power overuse. With his experiments, George had confirmed an extraordinary piece of information, one that was never recorded in the books he had scanned in the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, and only mentioned in the recipe that Magus Kroft had given him!

'I guess I will keep the potions with a purity above 80% for myself', George thought inwardly.