Preparations for potion

Max left Detective Isengard's office with a slight smile on his face, and he kept walking until he was somewhat far away from the office-house combination. Immediately, his smile disappeared and a frown replaced it.

No, he was not in any way dissatisfied with the detective's professionalism, nor the amount quoted or the promise of having it ready within 20 days. He was in fact rather happy with how everything turned out, with him only paying 2 Pounds as advanced payment, and having to pay the full amount of 28 Pounds when he returned to have his Photograph taken for the identity papers. In Fact, Mr Eye of Wisdom had also thrown in a Birth certificate and the death certificates of his parents for free since Max had not haggled one bit to lower the price. He said it was all part of the package for a potential future customer.

Max was instead frowning because he now had to brew his potion and turn it into a Beyonder as soon as possible. Thankfully he had all the necessary items except those for the ritual, and that was where he was headed now; Dunant's Department Store.

It was a particular store that sold almost anything and everything you could think of, but it also marketed up the price by around 1-10% depending on how expensive the item was, with the more expensive the item, the less the markup. They called it a fee of convenience, and the very fact that it was still in operation meant that its business strategy was working out.

Max got to know about this particular store while he was on the train, one of the passengers was apparently related to the owner of the store somehow, and could not stop how his family had rapidly risen to the middle class of the Leon empire due to that one store. And considering he had bought a Second-class ticket; it might not even have been far off from the truth.

Max did not leave Hillston Borough and just kept walking around as the sun was slowly setting in the distance, asking people now and then about the location of the shop. Thankfully, he finally found it before it became nighttime and it closed down.

Looking around Max picked up a large glass jug, a wooden ladle; that was small enough to be considered a chopstick, and a wooden board similar to the ones used for chopping vegetables. Max also picked up two other wood sheets. Finally, after looking around until almost closing time, Max found his final item and grinned.

Purchasing all the materials needed for his ritual and potion-making, Max left the department store with an intrigued expression. He had realised just how convenient this shop was, and how much market potential it had. 

Almost immediately, Max had put this store as one of his potential investment options due to the fact that for his items, he had paid almost 1 pound for all his items, which was a very large amount, even putting aside that a large portion of this price came from the last item he had bought that had the lowest 'convenience fee.'

Leaving the store, Max headed straight for his room that he had rented near the end of Hillston Borough. Being the financial, business, and economic centre of the Loen Kingdom, it was where the Backlund Stock Exchange, Clearing House, Futures Centre, and the seven major banks headquarters. 

As such, unlike other parts of Backlund, the Hillston Borough stayed 'open' for much longer, with people still busy with their jobs despite the sun having almost set. From what he knew, even into the early night, the Hillston Borough would not be any less active.

Max already knew that he would not be able to complete his ritual at night, but he also knew he could not do it during the day since anything could go wrong with it. Thus, he decided to just wait for a day.

Making sure the Beyonder Sword was properly sealed away, Max went to sleep and did not encounter any strange visions or dreams after a long period of having nightmares and having the Beyonder Sword trying to kill him nonstop.

June 5th, 1348 of the Fifth Epoch

It was a busy morning in Hillston Borough as people quickly got up and to work, though not as busy as Empress Borough with all the nobility from all over Leon gathering to throw parties and banquets to socialise. Though that was not a part of Backlund Max would be visiting, or even want to be visiting anytime soon.

Max got up and the first thing he did was extend his stay at the hotel which did not seem half bad other than the terrible food they made, before returning to his room to begin the preparation for his portion and ritual.

The potion formula did not state any heating up of the potion or its ingredients during any part of the process, but it did tell him to crush the Yellow Birth Tree Root as well as the Blue-tailed Sea Bass' eye into a paste before adding it to the potion.

Thus, Max took the cheap yet hard maple mortar and pestle he had purchased from the Department store, along with all the other items he needed in a suitcase and left the motel, heading straight for the woods outside Backlund City. 

Thankfully, today was a Sunday, so despite being a very busy day in Hillston Borough, and especially Empress Borough, the rest of Backlund had taken a backseat as a lot of shops and houses were closed and a lot of people had decided to sleep in on their day off. Of course, the factories were still working, churning out finished and semi-finished goods, pushing out as much smoke and soot into the air as possible.

Being a Sunday, the Carriage fares were a little higher than normal, but Max did not mind as he left Backlund in a carriage. On the way, however, he told the driver to stop near a denser part of the jungle. Paying the carriage his fair, as well as some extra, Max told the driver to stay if he could since Max only needed to use the washroom really badly, and it was not the liquid kind.

He told the driver that he would pay him by the hour and just like that, he ended up rending the carriage on an hourly basis. Of course, he did not stupidly hand over the full 5 Soli, and instead only handed the driver 2 Soli, saying that he would get the rest once they reached their destination.

Entering the woods, Max gradually increased his speed since he had to make it seem like a reasonable time period for someone who needed to take a sh*t.

Soon, he reached a slight clearing in the forest which was perfectly surrounded by trees on all sides, such that it was mostly hidden from outsiders unless they game within a 3-tree distance from Max, at which point he would also notice them.

Quickly, he pulled out the mortar and pestle and began crushing the Yellow Birth Tree Root as well as the Blue-tailed Sea Bass eye, one at a time before adding them to a small mixing pot. Then he added 100ml of distilled water and stirred for a while using the chopstick ladle, before finally adding two drops of 21% sulfuric acid which he diluted from the highly concentrated stuff he had purchased back in Tingen.

Stirring it more and more, the mixture gradually turned thicker and thicker until it became the consistency of toothpaste, but with an expectantly horrid colour and smell. Placing the lid and screwing it into the container to prevent it from accidentally falling over while he made the preparations for the ritual.

He placed one wood board on the ground, before placing some nearby rocks below it only on one side, creating a gradient of sorts. Using a leave, Max tested that it was indeed pushing the wind up and creating a sort of 'dead zone' right behind it, with just some random bits of chaotic turbulence making their way down there.

'1 down. Two to go.'

He took the large glass beaker and put his remaining distilled water, as well as all the other water he had brought in water bottles here into it. Then he took a thin metal tube that was bent into a V-shape in the middle and submerged it into the water until all air was gone. 

Using his fingers, he plugged both ends of it and pulled it out of the water. Ensuring nothing was leaking, Max placed it like an inverted V on the edge of the beaker, with one end submerged in water, while the other was hanging off the edge on the outside.

Looking up into the sky, Max made sure that the sun was nice and bright before letting go, and immediately a smooth and narrow flow of water streamed out of the pipe and into the ground, where it briefly collected due to surface tension until it finally recognised the natural tilt in the landscape and began flowing in a particular direction.

Max picked up a wood panel and shoved it into the dirt at an angle, cutting off the water's path yet allowing it to flow in a different direction smoothly.

'Last one.'

Max took out the item that had cost him the most at the department store from his right breast pocket. It was a silver-rimmed crystal monocle. 

Placing it such that it focussed the sunlight onto a point, but not enough to create fire, Max used some rocks and his bag to stabilise the monocle before finally turning his attention back to his potion. He picked it up with grace yet a hint of trepidation, but ultimately nodded internally opened the lid, and put the container to his lips.