Bab 10: Chapter 7
Inside of a white, murky room, doors and windows were shut tight as if to avoid any intruders. In this room, the faint ray of sunlight that came through the vent was the only source of brightness. It was quiet and calm as if there was no one inside. Here, not even a breath of wind blew. On closer inspection, however, a lone figure of a boy could be seen at the center of the room, sitting so still he seemed lifeless and beads of sweat were found all over his face. In front of the boy, there was a pitch-black cauldron, and beside it laid a small, neatly arranged pile of herbs.
This was Arias’ room. He did not want any distraction at the moment, not even a breath of air was welcomed. He was neither powerful nor skilled enough in potion-brewing. His brewing would need to be done without any distractions. No matter how small, an error could occur.
Arias put his hand forward. Suddenly, crimson sparkles began to twinkle. A flame as small as a grain of sand was slowly lit up, then finally turned into a flame the size of a cherry. Arias’ face looked slightly tired. This was the first time in his life that he ever used Fire magic.
If anyone were to find out about this, they would certainly be shocked. Note that mages could not use the power of any other elements aside from the one they were born with. Then, how was Arias who wielded the power of Thunder able to summon a fire? This was a secret known to very few people even during ancient times. An irregular element was the perfect combination of two elements that gave rise to a new, powerful element. Arias’ element was Thunder, and the Thunder element was formed by the combination of Air and Fire. This was the reason why Arias could use Fire magic. But to do this was not as easy as it sounded. When two elements were combined inside a human body, they fused and became one, and to separate them was quite a task. Without a thorough understanding of the Thunder element’s nature, it would be impossible to do something like this.
“This must be the limit of what I’m capable of.”
Although he was able to harness Fire magic, it was only his secondary element and not the primary one like the Thunder element. Therefore, the power of Arias’ Fire magic was a lot weaker than his Thunder magic. Suddenly, a fire was lit up on the prepared coal under the cauldron. To brew a potion, aside from knowledge about plants and herbs, brewers also needed to have the ability to control the fire for the entire duration of the process. It was a limitation that potion-brewers could only be someone who could harness the fire. In other words, potion-brewers must be Fire mages.
He grabbed the Crescent Moon Grass first before proceeding to put it into the cauldron. After a moment passed, he added the Misty Grass and finished it off with the Cloud Grass. Each of the three herbs was used in varying amounts and was added into the cauldron at a different point in time. This was a secret of potion-brewing skills.
For beasts owners, it was common knowledge that Crescent Moon Grass had the quality to heal beasts from minor injuries. But it worked rather slowly and needed days to take effect. Misty Grass was an herb with the ability to reduce fatigue. During a long journey, people would take Misty Grass with them and feed it to the beasts to help them recover from exhaustion. As for the Cloud Grass, it was an herb with the ability to nourish the beasts’ energy. With these benefits, the herbs were usually used as fodders for the beasts.
However, Arias knew that there were many more benefits to these herbs. To use them just to feed the beasts was definitely a waste of resources. If used in an appropriate amount and with the correct method, the herbs could be used to brew potions for mages. The Cloud Grass which Arias had added last had the ability to activate healing property and the ability to restore magical power that the Crescent Moon Grass and Misty Grass had. Once combined together and brewed to perfection, they became a valuable elixir.
He continued to brew the elixir with the highest concentration. Aside from the ability to control fire, potion-brewers needed to be skilled in other aspects as well, whether it be the ability to differentiate each kind of herb or to precisely determine the amount of herb needed for brewing. However, the most important needed when brewing a potion were experience and knowledge in the arts of potion-brewing.
Arias’ face was drenched in sweat and his brows were furrowed with stress. Although he was experienced and knowledgeable about potion-brewing in his past life, it was utterly different in this body. The power in this body was indeed too weak. Arias’ right hand was still carefully controlling the fire. The cauldron’s temperature should be nothing but perfect. A short while after, the cauldron was beginning to exude a light fragrance. Half an hour later, the scent of herbs started to fill the whole area and Arias slowly put out the fire. He lowered his gaze to look inside the cauldron, his heart beating quickly in anticipation for the result of his first brewing. At the bottom of the cauldron lay one pale yellow pill and four pieces of broken pills.
If this pill was used during a fight, it might be able to shift the outcome of the fight. Potions were classified into the levels of low, middle, high, terrestrial, celestial, heavenly, and legendary. In Bernier, high-level potions were valuable items. Even mere mid-level elixirs such as the Emerald Flora were sought after by a lot of people. No need to mention high-level potions such as this Moon-bathed elixir.
“My success rate is only one in five. A poor performance.”
Arias sighed tiredly. He had hoped that the success rate of his potion-brewing would be more than fifty percent. A one-in-five success rate was too terrible for his standard.
If other brewers were to hear what he said, they would surely snap at him. What was this poor performance that Arias was talking about? For an average potion-brewer, to have a success rate this high would have taken years of practice, but Arias who succeeded on his first try thought of his performance as terrible. Divine beings above, why had this greedy person been rewarded with such talents?
“One is not enough. I have to make more of this.”
Arias’ eyes were full of determination. A lot of people might be content with brewing one high-level elixir successfully but that was not the case for Arias.
A great deal of resources was needed to become a powerful mage. One had to endure hardship in return for those resources. Many journeyed toward dangerous sites in search of those treasures and resources. Many fought to get their hands on them while others used money in exchange for the resources. At the moment, Arias was not powerful enough to fight or to head toward dangerous places such as in the past. To use money was the best solution but it was also the most problematic. Since he was deemed to be powerless, he did not get any support from the clan and he had so little money, one could even say he was deprived. At last, he came up with a plan to brew Moon-bathed elixirs for money. This was the best way to earn some coins. The more elixirs he could make, the more money he could earn.
Arias’ eyes glowed brightly as he thought about how much these Moon-bathed elixirs could be sold for. High-level elixirs were valuable items in this city. If they were put out for sale, surely the price would not be lower than ten thousand Crystal Coins. The more he thought about it, the more he became greedy. If anyone looked deeply into Arias’ eyes, they might even see the shine of Crystal Coins sparkling inside.
Arias stopped his distracted thoughts and started to brew a potion once again. A small flame was lit up on his palm again. Now, Arias’ mind was focused only on the flame and the cauldron in front of him.
“Only one in five again!”
It took only a while for Arias’ second attempt to come to an end. This time, Arias became a little more efficient and skilled than the first time but when he looked down at the bottom of the cauldron, he was greeted with the sight of only one good elixir and four broken ones just like before. He sighed with disappointment once again.
The event continued on like this until Arias started to lose hope in being able to do better than his one-in-five success rate. He finally accepted that his power was indeed too weak at the moment.
“Hahahaha! Finally, I was able to successfully make two out of five.”
Arias laughed happily, grabbing the two Moon-bathed elixirs that he successfully made just now and raised them up with joy. He was finally able to increase his success rate to two in five on his fifteenth attempt. It was an achievement that Arias himself did not expect. He inspected the two elixirs with delight, his eyes shining bright like a star. He continued to check the elixirs for several minutes before putting them into the dimensional ring like he did with the previous ones.
At midnight, Arias’ face was now drenched in sweat and it was so pale like he was about to faint. He had already exerted all the magical power in his body to make these elixirs and at the moment, his best success rate was two in five. It was astonishing progress. Inside Arias’ dimensional ring now had as many as twenty-three Moon-bathed elixirs. In his head, Arias had already come up with a plan to deal with these elixirs.
Although making elixirs was quite difficult, it was a kind of difficulty that was full of delight. This was because these elixirs would make quite a sum of money when he put them out for sale tomorrow. A smile was still plastered on Arias’ tired face. Finally, it was time for him to rest. He threw himself down on the bed and began to drift off.
Hadiah
-- Hadiah diterima Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone