Chapter 25: Elementary Potionology "Master! I've already become a First-rank Apprentice, and I've also grasped some of the academy's public courses…"
Lei Lin said softly.
"I know — you want to choose my paid knowledge!" Guofate interrupted Lei Lin's words.
"I've received word that you've already started earning Magic Stones by teaching public courses to other apprentices. It seems your learning ability and memory are quite exceptional. Now it appears you have the capacity to study advanced knowledge!"
"Thank you!" Lei Lin bowed deeply.
Lei Lin was somewhat familiar with the academy's paid public courses. Although they taught advanced knowledge, the materials were only the most rudimentary.
All the cutting-edge research, along with each mentor's private experimental procedures and results, could only be obtained through direct transactions with one's own mentor.
The information obtained this way was far superior — it could even be transmitted directly into the apprentice's mind through magic, never to be forgotten.
But the cost was also the steepest. Any single subject required ten or more Magic Stones, something Lei Lin still couldn't afford.
The only thing he could count on was the one promise Guofate had made him from the start.
Guofate nodded, cleared the instruments from the lab table, and produced several strange objects from somewhere to set upon it.
A large book with a yellow cover, a crystal sphere, and a test tube filled with yellow liquid.
"These three items represent the three subjects I'm most proficient in. The book on the far left represents Negative Energy Neutralization, the crystal sphere represents Plant Cultivation, and the test tube represents Elementary Potionology. Make your choice!" Guofate said.
"I choose Potionology!" The reason Lei Lin had chosen Guofate as his mentor was precisely that he wanted to develop along the Apothecary path, then use potion sales to fund his studies. Naturally, this was the obvious choice.
Elementary Potionology was an advanced course built upon the public course Fundamentals of Potionology. Once both courses were completed, one could theoretically begin crafting potions.
"I knew you'd choose this one!" A knowing smile spread across the middle-aged man's face.
"The process of compounding potions is extremely intricate and complex. Even the slightest error will result in failure. Apothecaries are forged through vast quantities of resources. Are you prepared for that?"
"Yes! Master, I believe in one thing — although effort doesn't guarantee results, a lack of effort guarantees nothing."
"Excellent! A correct line of thinking — on the path of pursuing truth, this kind of mindset is essential!" Guofate nodded and handed the yellow test tube to Lei Lin.
"Now, it's yours!"
"This? How do I use it?" Lei Lin looked at the test tube in his hand.
"Just drink it directly!"
Lei Lin pulled out the oak stopper and poured the yellow liquid into his mouth.
A stench reminiscent of a sewer immediately filled his mouth, swirling back and forth inside his nose. His face flushed crimson, and tears streamed from his eyes.
Forcing himself to swallow the potion, Lei Lin huffed and panted, white wisps of breath escaping his lips.
"I swear, I have never in my life drunk anything this foul!!!"
Foul! An unimaginable stench relentlessly bombarded the nerves in Lei Lin's brain, making him feel as though he might faint at any moment.
Under the stimulation of the overwhelming taste, Lei Lin's vision of his surroundings grew hazy and blurred, and the objects around him seemed to twist and distort.
"You... how... are you feel..."
Lei Lin looked at Guofate. At this moment, the mentor appeared to writhe like a noodle, his shape twisting and contorting. His lips moved open and shut, but the words that emerged came in broken, stuttering bursts, laced with violent static — like two pieces of metal grinding against each other, or a radio barely catching a signal.
Lei Lin raised a hand. His once smooth palm was now covered in wrinkles, and it was even dripping away drop by drop, melting like wax.
In the end, Lei Lin's entire body dissolved into a puddle, and his vision sank completely into darkness...
"How does it feel?"
Guofate's voice rang out. Lei Lin jolted with a start, reaching up to touch his head. A firm sensation met his fingertips, warm with body temperature and slightly damp.
Everything had returned to normal. Guofate stood there, a smile on his face.
"Terrible!" Large beads of cold sweat dripped from Lei Lin's forehead.
"Was what I just saw an illusion? It felt way too real!"
"This is a normal phenomenon. For apprentices, a
Guofate's voice rang out.
"The knowledge has already been transmitted into your mind. Go back and spend more time meditating!"
Only then did Lei Lin realize that his mind seemed to hold quite a few new things. At the far right of the text and images, a line of letters materialized: "Elementary Potionology."
"Alright! Your task today is to clean up Zone 3. Additionally, all the Fire Ant Grass needs to be frozen..."
Guofate began assigning tasks.
Lei Lin nodded, picked up the tools from the corner of the laboratory, and headed to Zone 3 to start cleaning.
"Congratulations, Lei Lin!" During a break, Biji came up to Lei Lin.
"Just luck!" Lei Lin said with a smile.
Biji had joined a year before him and was now a First-rank Apprentice.
"Second-rank Apprentices can cast Zero-level Spells! Besides, the
Lei Lin had the Chip, so he understood his own situation better than anyone.
Meanwhile,
Lei Lin nodded in acknowledgment. He knew that this senior apprentice had burned the muscles in his face during an experiment and could now barely express any facial expression.
"Wizard experiments really are dangerous!" Lei Lin shook his head.
Lei Lin was quite quick with his hands. Usually, the tasks Guofate assigned could be finished by morning, and if he had nothing else to do, he could attend public lectures in the afternoon.
"Goodbye!" After bidding farewell to Biji and Merlin, Lei Lin didn't go to the teaching district to grab a seat. Instead, he headed to the Academy's trading district.
The trading district was large, located next to the mission area, but it was rather chaotic. Many gray-robed apprentices had set up small stalls with wooden boards in front of them, listing the items they wanted to sell or the terms for exchange.
Every now and then, a few apprentices would approach to haggle. It was quite lively.
"This place seems to be all apprentices. The official Wizards have their own separate trading locations!" Lei Lin observed. Everyone here wore gray robes—not a single white-robed or black-robed Wizard in sight.
Lei Lin browsed casually. The stalls were set up directly on the ground, much like the street vendors of his previous life—somewhat messy and dirty.
The items on the ground stalls were a motley mix. Most were weapons like bows, arrows, choppers, and darts. There were also biological materials: furs, livers, eyes, some still bearing traces of blood. The rest were miscellaneous odds and ends whose purposes even Lei Lin couldn't discern.
As for potions, any stall that had that word on display was surrounded by a crowd of apprentices. The stall owner would wear a stern face, with powerful energy fluctuations radiating from their body.
According to Chip's scan, these were mostly all Third-rank Apprentices!
"As expected, the scarcity of potions exceeds even my imagination, to say nothing of Magical Items—there's literally not a single one!"
Lei Lin recalled the green badge Jiamen had once used. That was a low-grade Magical Item, the same as his former ring.
A First-rank Apprentice couldn't use spells yet. Back then, Jiamen had defeated
"Now it seems that low-grade Magical Item must have been given to Jiamen by
Lei Lin couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy. He had possessed a Magical Item before, but it was broken, and he had handed it over as his admission token. With his current resources, acquiring another would be extremely difficult.
Browsing the displayed goods, Lei Lin made his way toward the center of the trading area.
Here stood several wooden houses, looking far more proper than the surrounding ground stalls. The apprentices occasionally entering or leaving radiated powerful Field fluctuations.
Lei Lin randomly entered a shop selling potions.
"What do you need?" The shopkeeper was a large, fat man in gray robes, looking rather languid. According to Chip's scan, he was also a Third-rank Apprentice, and even carried a Magical Item on him.
"I need a set of equipment for brewing potions!" Lei Lin said slowly.
"Another daydreamer! And a First-rank Apprentice at that, wanting to try potion-making? Do you think you're Merlin?" the fat man derided.
"Excuse me, Merlin is my senior, and we share the same mentor!" Lei Lin replied.
"Oh! So you're also an apprentice of Professor Guofate. It's understandable, understandable that you're getting into potions now!" The fat man perked up slightly. "So you're Merlin's junior. Hello, I'm Wus!"
The fat man introduced himself, a shrewd and cunning look flickering across his face. "Rather than potion-making, if you can get your hands on Merlin's potions, I'll buy them at a high price. Of course, Professor Guofate's would be even better..."
"I'm sorry! Professor Guofate's potions are out of the question! I'll try with Merlin!" Lei Lin rolled his eyes but didn't flatly refuse.
"For now, please introduce me to the equipment!"
"Oh! Of course! Of course!" The fat man rubbed his hands together and laid several sets of glass instruments on the wooden table.
"These are all of them! They're secondhand, but they still work. I'd recommend this set — it was retired by a Third-rank Apprentice!"
The fat man pulled out a set of pale yellow apparatus — beakers, glass rods, Petri dishes, test tubes, and more. It was a fairly complete collection.
Lei Lin ran his hand over them, feeling the texture.
According to the Chip's analysis, the quality of all these sets was roughly the same, but they were good enough for his needs.
"I'll take this set! How many Magic Stones?" Lei Lin asked.
"Two Magic Stones!" the fat man replied.
"Wrap it up for me!" Lei Lin handed two Magic Stones to the fat man, who accepted them deftly, then bundled the apparatus into a package and handed it over to Lei Lin.
"Do you have any basic potion recipes here?" Lei Lin slung the package onto his back and asked.
"I do! I've got recipes for Stamina Potion, Healing Potion, and Bug Repellent Potion. Which one do you want?"
"Stamina Potion!" These were all basic potion recipes, so Lei Lin just picked one at random.
"Give me a set of materials for it too!"