We get out of the arena with quite a bit of money. The Belcoot match is 10 to 1 because his enemy is famous; he is new blood in this tournament. My one hundred thousand become a hundred thousand potch easily. Nikea got twenty thousand in that bet.
As for my bet on Childerich… It did not get much because he was a proxy fighter for Godwin, and people did not want to bet against them and knew they would pick a strong fighter. We did not get much from that bet, but it was good enough to fill our pocket.
We walk out of the arena, and to my surprise, I can see Norma and Ernst already waiting for us.
"Wait. Just how long have you two been waiting here?"
"Not too long!"
I look at Ernst and see him nodding his head.
"I see. Where do you stay? We can go there together."
"Ah, we are staying in the outer city."
"Let's go. We will pass our inn on the way there."
"Yes!"
Stormfist City is divided into two: outer and inner cities. The inner city is for the richer or nobility, while the outer city is for the poorer people.
We walk through the streets of Stormfist, and when we arrive in front of our inn.
"This is our inn. You can visit us here if you want. Just ask the owner about me, Gerrald, and she will inform me. However, for the next three days, Nikea and I will continue to watch the Sacred Games."
Norma nods, and we continue to walk to the outer city. While we are walking, I can see Norma wanting to ask me something and even Ernst nudging her with his nose.
"You know… You can ask me anything."
Norma looks at me in shock, and I can see her take a deep breath.
"I-I don't want to doubt you, but can I ask about the process of curing Ernst?"
I take out my phone and look at the time. Seeing that we have a few hours before the sun sets, I say.
"How about we do a little shopping? I will make the potion needed to cure him."
"Really?!"
"Yup. Come on. The ingredient is common, but it is hard to make."
"Then let us come!"
"Very well. Come on. We will go to the market. We need to buy a couple of healing potions and other ingredients."
The four of us walk to the market in the outer city and stop at the apothecary. When we arrived, a young woman greeted us with a smile.
"Welcome! What can I do for you?"
"I will take ten Mega Healing Potions, Blood Red Ginseng, and Fire Lily."
The young woman frowns a little and says.
"What do you need them for? Those three ingredients are very volatile if combined, you know?"
"Not if you do it correctly, no."
"What? What kind of potion will you make?"
I look at Ernst and say.
"This man is cursed by a rune he found somewhere, and I want to cure it. This potion will weaken the curse slowly while also maintaining the power of the rune. He can remove it or keep it. It is up to him."
"How?"
"Hmmm, how about this? Can I borrow your brewing station?"
"Sure. Just make sure you clean them after you use them. Also, you will pay for my station if your potion explodes."
"Don't worry. It won't."
"Very well. Follow me."
The woman takes us to the back room, where I can see a lot of chemical tools like a test tube, burner, beaker, and round flask. Other than the normal chemical tools, I can also see potion tools like cauldrons and magical heating pads as some magical ingredient needs a magical heat source for the potion to work.
"Pick whatever you need. I will take the ingredients you need."
I nod and walk toward the cauldron, and wait for my ingredients. After waiting for a few seconds, the woman brought two vials of Mega Healing Potions and a handful of Blood Red Ginseng and Fire Lily.
I thank her and start to get to work. I pour all the Mega Healing Potions into the cauldron and start to heat it up. I take the Fire Lily and start to chop them up.
"You chop them up? Doesn't that reduce the effect?"
"And that is why I chop them; to reduce the volatile effect of Fire Lily. It might also reduce its positive traits, but we only need a small amount of them."
After chopping the Fire Lily, I see the potions reduced by the heat. I pour the chopped Fire Lily and see it change color from green to orange. I stir it counterclockwise four times and start to chop the ginseng into thin pieces.
"Counterclockwise, huh? Also… you are controlling your magic."
She is right. I control my mana around the cauldron to ensure the heat stays at the desired degree.
"Even when I chop and reduce its purity, Fire Lily is still volatile. To compensate for it, I use my mana and carefully do not taint the purity of the potions I want to make."
There is a reason why many potioneer did not use magic to help them and rather used a special set of magic tools in their arts. A pure mana can disturb the integrity of the potions and can create three things: Poison, explosion, or great potions.
It depends on how careful the one making the potions is. Lucky for me, I have the [Soul Talent] and Chrodechild Template. [Sould Talent] lets me have flawless control over my magic, and just like the [Martial Talent], I can copy or get stronger by fighting or learning from a more powerful mage.
I shake my head and focus on my potion.
After waiting for a few more seconds, I put the thinly chopped ginseng and saw it turn into liquid when it touched the concoction. I stir the potion clockwise and continue to maintain the temperature.
I continue to stir it, and after the 30th stir, I stop and quickly turn the heat up. I see the potion bubble, and after a few seconds, it stops and leaves a purple potion. That means it is working. When the potion is done, the boiling point of the potion gets up to a thousand degrees Celsius.
Potion-making is truly a fascinating art because you cannot predict the outcome. Logic sometimes did not apply to this art, and you can only experiment and write what you found.
When the potion is done, I look at the store owner, and she immediately takes action. She takes out a few vials from the shelf and gives them to me. I fill up three vials perfectly and give one of them to Normal and say.
"Let him drink this. After drinking this, he can turn to humans for fifteen minutes per day."
Norma widens her eyes and starts to let Ernst drink the potion. I respect how, even though the potions are hot, Ernst does not complain and drinks them all. After drinking all of the potions, Ernst changes back into his human form.
He looks at his human form and smiles a little. He is about to say something, but Norma jumps at him and hugs him.
"You are back!"
"I'm back, Norma."
I leave them for now, and after a few seconds, they separate, and Ernst looks at me and says.
"Thank you."
I wave at him and say.
"You can thank me later. For now, I need to heal your mouth. I can already see your lips get redder and redder every second."