Chapter 9: The Wolf Venom Potion

Summer had arrived in the Peter Barony.

After five months of raids on the Mapleleaf Town caravans by the wolf emissaries, Warwick, and Perla, Su Nan had finally gathered all the ingredients he needed for potion crafting.

In his tower attic, he added the final ingredient—verbena—into the cauldron. A green, toxic solution began to swirl within.

Among the seven ingredients of the Wolf Venom Potion, the most crucial and expensive was wolfsbane, a rare herb scarcely cultivated within the Storm Kingdom. The other six were common weeds, along with a single gold coin to complete the recipe.

Carefully, Su Nan poured the finished Wolf Venom Potion into five glass bottles and stored them in the cabinet alongside his other creations: three High-grade Lycanthrope Transformation Potions, five Steel Claw Potions, ten Sleep Beetle Potions, and seven (+1) Mental Enhancement Potions.

The Steel Claw Potion's primary ingredient came from the claws of an animal called the Iron-eating Leopard, native to the Storm Kingdom, mixed with five common minerals and another gold coin.

Su Nan noted the recurring reliance on gold coins across all the potion formulas devised by the AI. However, the AI insisted that these optimized formulas offered the best quality for their crafting complexity.

Crafting these potions had transformed four units of his mental energy into mana. Over the same five months, his mental strength had also increased by one point.

Now, Su Nan's mental strength stood at 9.8, with 6.8 units of mana at his disposal.

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"Wolf Venom Potion requires verbena, Steel Claw Potion needs Iron-eating Leopard claws, and Mental Enhancement Potions demand licorice and ginseng. These are all ingredients I'll need in bulk," Su Nan mused.

"These resources will require extensive cultivation, especially verbena, licorice, and ginseng. The Iron-eating Leopard hasn't even been successfully domesticated yet. We'll also need a cricket farm to maintain a steady supply for the Sleep Beetle Potion or stockpile dried crickets while they're plentiful in the summer."

"Even something as seemingly trivial as crickets becomes a bottleneck in non-summer seasons. More money will be needed to secure these."

Su Nan sighed, realizing the sheer difficulty of sustaining his research without a substantial territory and workforce.

This was only the beginning. He could only imagine the staggering resources required for advanced wizardry.

It was now clear why wizards had abandoned this magically barren land during the retreat of the magic tides two millennia ago.

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Su Nan asked, "Are there any special considerations for the Wolf Venom or Steel Claw Potions?"

[AI Response]

"The Steel Claw Potion has no particular drawbacks. However, the Wolf Venom Potion's reliance on verbena means that verbena also acts as an antidote to its poison."

[Solutions Proposed]

1. "Incorporate additional toxins into the wolf claws to create a composite venom. This would diminish verbena's effectiveness as an antidote."

2. "Upgrade the Wolf Venom Potion formula to (+1). However, this requires upgrading the Lycanthrope Transformation Potion first."

[Limitation Note]

"Currently, insufficient knowledge of the wizarding world makes upgrading the Lycanthrope Transformation Potion impossible."

Su Nan understood that each lycanthrope potion variant specialized in enhancing a particular function but was not a holistic upgrade.

For example, the (+1) Mental Enhancement Potion added ginseng as a primary ingredient, significantly boosting its efficiency.

For now, he stored the Wolf Venom Potions away, intending to administer them alongside Steel Claw Potions to his two wolf emissaries, Warwick, and Perla.

Without these enhancements, a lycanthrope was akin to a "blank slate." The supplemental potions essentially acted as skill upgrades for his wolves.

This workaround was his only option given his current limitations in understanding the wizarding world.

---

Su Nan suspected that higher-grade potions would demand rarer ingredients and become exponentially harder to craft. Even if he obtained advanced formulas, he lacked the means to produce them.

After cleaning the cauldron, he prepared for his next endeavor.

Filling the cauldron with fresh water, Su Nan ignited the fire and set out the materials for the Sacrificial Hand Potion.

"Engage auxiliary control mode," he instructed.

Instantly, the AI synchronized with his muscle movements, optimizing his coordination down to millisecond precision.

Su Nan donned black snakeskin gloves, as many of the materials were highly toxic.

Among all nine potions he had mastered, the Sacrificial Hand Potion was by far the most complex and hazardous to brew.

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"List the anticipated challenges for crafting the Sacrificial Hand Potion," Su Nan commanded.

[Challenges Identified]

1. "Most ingredients are highly toxic."

Solution: "Wear protective gloves and proceed with caution."

2. "The potion's reactions are highly volatile. Risks include explosions, toxic clouds, or hallucinations during brewing."

Solution: "Maintain meticulous control using auxiliary mode to ensure no more than two minor errors occur."

3. "Brewing the original formula requires sacrificing five years of the brewer's lifespan. The optimized version reduces this to one week of life."

Solution: "No workaround available due to insufficient data."

Su Nan frowned. The risks were significant, but the reward—a left hand imbued with powerful telekinetic abilities—was worth it.

Lacking immediate alternatives for self-protection, this potion would grant him his first semblance of sorcery.

---

Taking a deep breath, Su Nan began the process.

Following the formula with precision, he added belladonna, foxglove, mistletoe, and elderberry powder in exact proportions. As the seventh boil of the water reached its peak, the concoction turned pitch black, emitting an eerie glow.

Suddenly, the liquid ignited into black flames, and Su Nan experienced a vivid hallucination: a man being cast into a fiery pit, thrashing and screaming as his body turned to ash.

The vision felt unsettlingly real, as though the man's cries echoed directly in Su Nan's ears.

A disembodied voice whispered, "Evil calls to evil. Violence answers violence. By choosing the path of the wicked, you summon only wickedness. Do you truly believe this is the right path?"

The voice persisted, "Evil begets evil. You invite us in, and we are always the same."

"AI, this hallucination feels more coherent than the one triggered by the Lycanthrope Potion," Su Nan noted, his hands steady as he continued his work.

Though the hallucinations were vivid, his calm demeanor and precision remained unshaken, a testament to his growing resilience.

[AI Response]

"Insufficient data to confirm. Magic appears to be highly subjective and may carry echoes of past users' experiences or the potion's origins. Such manifestations are usually meaningless noise."

"Mana conversion detected. Your mental strength is rapidly transforming into mana. The mana generated during this process appears to carry traces of the potion's properties."

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By the end of the ritual, the potion glowed faintl

y in the cauldron.

Su Nan smirked. His left hand trembled slightly as he prepared for the next step—the true test of his resolve.