Chapter 173: Spell Scrolls

It was early in the morning and Gerald was hard at work. He finally had some time to himself and could focus on making a few potions for himself.

He had quite a bit of the God's Blood left, and with the Demon Mushrooms he gathered during the Minecrawler-slaying expedition, he could finish making the Mana Elixirs he so deeply desired.

There was also another thing he wanted to try out. It was the Bone-Reforming Medicine. It was a special kind of potion that was used in ancient times to heal and strengthen the skeleton of warriors.

The ingredients were quite obscure, but Gerald luckily managed to find them after comparing the records and characteristics with modern-day plants.

It came as no surprise that they weren't widely known or gathered since they had many irritating poisonous properties. The worst of them all came from the Bone-Biting Grass, which made you feel like your bones were being gnawed at by ants for an entire week. It was a painful, itchy, and overall extremely unpleasant experience.

"Sigh~ It seems this effect is the main way of the potion doing its work. Fuck me, no wonder this potion is considered to be only used by masochists! These High Elves were some twisted people, that's for sure!"

After finishing the Mana Elixirs, he started working on Bone-Reforming Medicine. Needless to say that he failed a few times at first since he was a little bit negligent. He wasted a few hours because of it. But eventually...

"It's done! But I should not use it just yet…" This medicine was not made for a normal human body. In the book, it clearly stated that it should be used only after advancing the first stage of body-refinement. It specifically mentioned to only use it after attaining the 'Body of Silver', whatever that meant.

Gerald had no clue when that might happen, but his guess was that it was probably meant to be used after reaching Silver Rank. Those that reached it definitely weren't normal humans anymore.

He tossed another Essence Core in his mouth and sat down to absorb it. He felt himself slowly growing stronger day by day and even his body started showing signs of growth.

His muscles became denser and bigger and his appetite almost doubled. The flesh of the Minecrawler Queen was the best food he could get his hands on and normal meat couldn't satisfy him anymore. He wasn't sure, but he thought his sight and hearing also improved a tiny bit, although it could already be considered top-notch. Overall, he felt great!

"Ah~ This is some good stuff!" He stood up and cracked his joints. He was itching to do some running or fighting to stretch his muscles.

But just as he exited his room, the butler Sebas came to him. "Young Master, a messenger came from the Auction House… They have requested a meeting with you!"

Gerald quietly sighed, "Fine, fine… I'll go see what they want. It's probably something concerning my potions..."

After arriving at the Auction House, a servant led him to Arthur's office. There were three people who were waiting for him: Arthur, Emily, and alchemist Ashbrew. Just as Gerald thought, master Ashbrew already informed Arthur about the deal between them.

Needless to say that the Rosecloud siblings were shocked to hear the news. They did not expect to get access to the recipe so easily, although, they didn't really get it. Only master Ashbrew knew the entire process… The rest just knew the main ingredient because it had to be bought in bulk.

White Berry fruits ripened in the early summer and late fall. It was now almost the time for the first harvest, so getting the hands on tons of White Berry seeds should be no problem.

They weren't too concerned with the price of the seeds being too high since they were usually discarded. They could probably spend a few gold coins and get sacks full of them.

Then there had to be an agreement on the profit distribution so that both sides would agree.

"I want half," Gerald calmly stated.

"Half?" Arthur frowned, "Isn't that too much? We will have to shoulder all the production and material costs. Let's make it seventy-thirty."

"Heh," Gerald blew some air out of his nose and smirked, "Don't, just don't. I know how much work goes into making this Potion of Focus… The price you can charge for a single bottle can easily be ten times higher than the initial cost of resources and manpower. It's either half or nothing, I'm not here to negotiate. I'm already going to have to explain this to my master when he returns."

Arthur quietly grumbled for a while, but then finally gave in, "Alright, fine… Fifty-fifty it is!" After the short negotiation, if it could be called that, Gerald and Arthur shook hands in agreement.

"We'll send you a written agreement sometime later… Now, do you have any suggestion as to how we should…"

Gerald lifted his hand to stop him. "I really don't care as to how you are going to do this. I'll let you do however you want it… If you need any suggestions, talk to master Ashbrew over here. He's an experienced alchemist, I'm sure he can give you some ideas."

He had no desire to stick his nose into the potion production. The only thing he cared about was money, and as to how the entire operation was going to function, he didn't care. They would probably have to gather some trustworthy apprentices to help master Ashbrew make potions, but that was to be expected.

People already tasted the goods and the desire for more was already growing. There was no concern about low demand.

"I have a few things to do elsewhere so I'll leave you to it," Gerald said and then left the Auction House.

He killed a few animals and wild beasts recently and gathered their blood and their Cores. He now had the most important ingredients for making spell scrolls. And so he got to work.

The most important thing when making spell scrolls was the accuracy of writing runes. Many masters spent years practicing the craft and honing their skills in writing and drawing.

But who could compete with a human printer? Gerald didn't even have to lift his finger to make the most perfect runes possible appear on the paper. He tested it out with normal ink a few times just to get the hang of it, before trying to do the real thing.

He took a vial of beast blood and a Core belonging to the same species. He ground it down with a pestle and mortar, before mixing it together. Steam rose from this biological ink when the two substances combined. Gerald took the viscous liquid and placed it in a beautiful and expensive crystal vial.

He got a stack of the best quality paper he could get his hands on and got ready to start.

He first made a copy of a few spells like the examples in the book. It was a Stone Spike spell, one of the most basic and easy-to-cast spells. It was the first thing every mage had to learn in school, if he had the Earth Element, of course.

It was quite simple, really. He connected different structures, shaped runes together, and fused them and the energy-gathering runes on the paper. Mana was in every drop of ink, but it had to be controlled and guided to work properly.

A few runes were added to stabilize the spell, and lastly, a trigger was added.

The user could then activate it simply by breaking the trigger. It could be either done by infusing a tiny bit of Mana into it, or by simply tearing that rune apart. It was located in a corner so the spell would still activate if that happened.

'Seems simple enough…' Gerald mused.

But it was not simple at all! It might look like it because he simply followed the instructions, but creating a spell that worked on paper was much harder than simply making it on your own.

After a spell scroll was made, you had no control over the flow of Mana inside it. If there was a rune missing, damaged, incorrectly drawn… It could all make the spell collapse.

The effects could vary. From the most simple puff of smoke after the paper burned, to a violent explosion capable of tearing your hands apart. It all depended on the strength of the spell scroll in question.

That's why the spell scroll masters were respected and revered. They had years, even decades of expertise in making safe and reliable spell scrolls. But even they couldn't just create a new spell on a whim. They had to slowly, by trial and error, shape the proper form and function of the spell.

Personal discoveries and advancements were often hidden and obscured from the outside world, even going as far as to mask the spell scroll in unnecessary writing, runes, and colors, all in an attempt to make the spell scroll as difficult to copy as possible.

Only the bare basics, like the book Gerald received, could be sold in public. And even those were locked behind a certain layer of influence.