Fat Wus pulled a black wooden box from the shelf behind him and set it on the counter, then rummaged underneath to produce a piece of parchment that looked quite old, its corners frayed and torn.
"One Stamina Potion recipe — one Magic Stone!"
"One set of raw materials, enough for ten batches — one Magic Stone!"
Lei Lin opened the black box. Inside, ten blood-red fruits were arranged in neat rows, their surfaces laced with fine cracks. Beside them lay a green plant root and a small bottle of black powder.
He set the box aside and picked up the parchment. The pale yellow paper was covered in black ink — recipes, precautions, and various notes. Though the handwriting was somewhat faded, everything was still largely legible.
Lei Lin nodded, tucked the parchment into his robe, and handed Wus the last two Magic Stones from the pouch at his waist. Then he turned and walked out of the wooden hut without looking back.
He had only had four Magic Stones to begin with, and just this modest purchase of materials had drained every last one. The terrifying cost of Potionology was truly not something an ordinary person could sustain.
After that, Lei Lin's life returned to its previous routine of shuttling between a fixed set of locations.
Every day he ran back and forth between the dormitory, dining hall, lecture building, laboratory, and library — five stops on an endless loop.
Without realizing it, another month and a half slipped by.
"Data collection complete!" The Chip's notification chimed in his mind.
Seated at a long table in the library, Lei Lin closed the book in his hands.
Apart from attending lectures and assisting his mentor with experiments, Lei Lin had spent nearly all of his remaining time in the library. He had read through virtually every free book available, building up the Chip's database.
"Whew… I've finally digested all the potion recipes!" Lei Lin let out a long breath.
Although Guofate had passed on his knowledge of Elementary Potionology to Lei Lin, much of it was beyond his comprehension. The specialized terminology and vocabulary all had to be looked up in the library on his own. Getting the mentor to explain things cost money, and unfortunately Lei Lin was now completely broke — not a single Magic Stone left to his name.
Using the library's free resources was a common strategy among cash-strapped apprentices. But they didn't have Lei Lin's Chip. For them, searching through the mountain of books to find what they needed often took ten days, even a full month.
Lei Lin, on the other hand, had already recorded nearly every readable book in the library and built a searchable index. From now on, whenever he ran into a problem, he could simply query the Chip to find the answer.
But Elementary Potionology truly deserved its reputation as premium, paid knowledge. Even with the Chip constantly analyzing and decoding, Lei Lin had only managed to understand about a third of it. Yet even that one-third was enormously helpful.
At the very least, when he now looked back at the fundamentals of Potionology, he could see the bigger picture from a commanding vantage point.
Even so, the Stamina Potion recipe—merely a basic formula—had already been fully decoded, and he could now begin attempting to actually craft it.
"My knowledge base is sufficient. Tonight, I'll start making Stamina Potions!"
Lei Lin placed the book back on the wooden shelf and left the library.
A female apprentice with long brown hair nearby glanced up at him, then returned her attention to the black book in her hands.
The library held many apprentices, but they were well-behaved and perfectly quiet—ideal for reading, and one of Lei Lin's favorite places.
"Hey! Lei Lin!"
As he stepped out of the library, an apprentice greeted him head-on. Lei Lin looked up. "Good day,
Kreweir wore the gray robes of an apprentice, the trace of pride he once carried noticeably faded. "Congratulations on becoming a First-rank Apprentice!"
"Thank you—and congratulations to you too!" Lei Lin replied with a smile.
Through his senses, he could tell that Kreweir had also become a First-rank Apprentice.
"Everyone in our circle has already reached First-rank Apprentice!" Kreweir emphasized the opening words heavily, apparently ignoring
"We've picked up a few missions recently. Interested in joining us?" Kreweir asked.
It was clear he had been working hard to keep their original little group together.
"Going on missions already?" Lei Lin frowned. "From what I know, the area around the Academy is extremely dangerous—especially for First-rank Apprentices who can't even cast a single spell…"
"There's no choice. Everything advanced here costs money, and they only accept Magic Stones! The Magic Stones we brought are completely spent!" Kreweir laughed bitterly.
"If you want to become an Apothecary, the resource costs in that field are enormous…"
"As for missions, I'll reconsider once I reach Second-rank Apprentice. Take care of yourselves!" Lei Lin refused again. The rewards after completing a mission were certainly tempting, but he needed to be alive to enjoy them.
"Fine! I heard you've been teaching others for Magic Stones—could you teach us too, at your previous rate?"
Hearing that Lei Lin wouldn't go, Kreweir looked somewhat disappointed, then made another request.
"Of course, I'd be happy to. And I can even give you a discount!" Lei Lin smiled. Exchange of benefits had always been the guiding principle among Wizards.
After the two settled on a class time and location, Kreweir finally took his leave.
Watching his retreating figure, a glint flickered through Lei Lin's eyes. "Still trying to win me over? What a pity—Kreweir still doesn't understand that in the
Shaking his head, he made his way to the dormitory.
The dormitories at Black Bone Forest Academy were all single-occupancy units for each apprentice—privacy and security were never an issue.
Lei Lin locked the door, hung up a "Do Not Disturb" sign, and only then stepped into the room beside his bedroom.
It was completely taken up by a large black table, on which sat the instruments he had purchased last time.
"After all that practice, I'm already fairly familiar with these vessels. And today I've fully decoded the Stamina Potion recipe—it's time to begin!"
Lei Lin murmured to himself, retrieving the black box of materials he had stored earlier from one side of the room and placing it on the tabletop to open.
A red fruit, green roots, and a bottle of black powder appeared before his eyes.
Lei Lin's fingers brushed across the surfaces of the three items. "Chip! Check the activity levels and build a model!"
"Analysis initiated. Collecting data. Model construction in progress!"
"Run a simulation!" After seeing that the Chip had completed its task, Lei Lin issued a new command.
"Simulation in progress… Stamina Potion preparation… Estimated time required: 2 hours and 21 minutes!"
"It really works!" Lei Lin's face was full of smiles.
Even with identical materials, there would always be subtle variations between individual specimens. During potion brewing, even the tiniest difference in activity levels could produce entirely different results.
A competent Apothecary had to infer the subsequent process through hands-on experience and make constant adjustments in order to bring out the full potency of the ingredients.
This relied purely on natural talent, supplemented by massive accumulation of practical experience down the line.
But with the Chip, he could first run a scan and then conduct simulated experiments—his success rate would absolutely surpass that of many apprentices.
Lei Lin waited patiently for a long while before the Chip's voice finally sounded: "Simulation complete. Success rate: 23.6%."
"Nearly a one-in-four chance?" Lei Lin's face lit up with wild joy.
"Ordinary apprentices always fail on their first attempt at brewing potions, yet the Chip is already giving me a one-in-four success rate from the very start?"
"Begin transmitting the experimental procedure!"
"Initiating data transfer!" Images flashed before Lei Lin's eyes, as if he had already brewed Stamina Potions countless times — every unexpected reaction and every step of handling the medicinal ingredients appeared before him in perfect detail.
"Let's begin!"
Lei Lin's expression grew solemn. He picked up a red fruit. "This is a Blood Qi Fruit — packed with nutrients, but it needs to be detoxified..."
He placed the Blood Qi Fruit inside a white mortar, took up a pestle, and crushed it. Red juice gushed out, and a strong alcoholic aroma wafted steadily upward.
After running the crushed Blood Qi Fruit through a filtration procedure, Lei Lin poured the red liquid into a beaker.
He lit the black candle stand beneath it, and a pale blue flame licked ceaselessly at the bottom of the beaker. As the minutes and seconds ticked by, the red liquid inside began to bubble, and tiny black particles churned within the froth.
Lei Lin picked up a glass rod from the side, inserted it into the beaker, and began stirring steadily.
"Malious!" Lei Lin chanted a few syllables.
A wisp of Spiritual Power traveled down the glass rod and into the already boiling liquid. Wisps of black gas rose steadily from the surface — these were the toxins hidden within the Blood Qi Fruit.
This was precisely why only First-rank Apprentices could attempt potion brewing. Certain techniques could only be performed by harnessing energy particles.
Once all the black gas had been expelled, Lei Lin poured the now more vibrant red liquid into a test tube.
"First step complete! The purity looks good!"
"Next up — the root of the Luo Fruit..."
Lei Lin proceeded to process the remaining Blood Qi Fruits and Luo Fruit roots. He failed a few times along the way, but in the end obtained eight tubes of red liquid and seven tubes of green, jelly-like substance.
"Now for the final blending process!"
Lei Lin placed one tube of the green jelly into a petri dish, retrieved a glass vial from the black box, and sprinkled a bit of black powder on top.
The moment the black powder touched the green jelly, a violent reaction erupted. The jelly began swelling rapidly, letting out a low, whistling sound.
"Ice!" Lei Lin spat out the incantation syllables — in the Byronic tongue.
White mist suddenly materialized around the petri dish, condensing into ice flakes that froze the green jelly solid within.
"Now!" Lei Lin dumped the chunk of ice into a beaker nearby. Beneath it, flames roared to life and burned steadily.
"The final step!" Lei Lin widened his eyes and kept pouring the Blood Essence Fruit extract from the red vial, one drop at a time.
His Spiritual Power unwove itself into thin threads that seeped continuously into the beaker.
Crack! A sharp sound suddenly came from inside the beaker. The jelly and the red liquid both turned black in an instant, and a nauseating stench wafted out.
"Did it fail?" Lei Lin's expression remained flat.
"Chip, analyze the cause!"
"Ding! Analyzing… Conclusion: the host's Spiritual Power exhibited unstable fluctuations; the flame temperature followed a chaotic curve…"
The Chip replayed Lei Lin's recent actions in a loop, marking the source of each error.