Business district, Anna's cottage
"Sure, lending you a hundred Magic Stones is fine, but why do you want to buy a Concentration Potion, and a superior quality one at that?" Anna looked at her junior, Wizard Apprentice, in astonishment. "This stuff isn't cheap. What do you need it for?"
Richard cleared his throat and presented the excuse he had prepared.
"Sister Anna, I'm also studying Concentration Potions. I think that the one master gave me and the ones sold in the business district must have something in common. Buying one might just inspire me."
"Inspiration?" Anna gave Richard a dismissive look. "We Alchemy Wizards believe in learning through extensive practice, not some elusive inspiration."
However, although Anna said this, she went back inside the store and brought out a bottle of pale blue potion, 100 ml in volume.
"Here, a superior quality Concentration Potion. The store price is thirty Magic Stones; I bought it second hand and the price doubled." While saying this, Anna shook the potion in front of Richard and smiled mischievously. "Now selling it to you, how many Magic Stones do you think is appropriate?"
"This..." Richard looked at the potion, feeling torn inside.
He didn't have many Magic Stones on him right now.
"You really thought about that," Anna couldn't help but tap on Richard's head. "This stuff is priceless at the academy; it's considered high production if even one bottle emerges per month. You simply can't buy it with just Magic Stones."
"Then... are you giving it to me, Sister Anna?" Richard's eyes lit up.
"Nice thinking there," Anna glared at Richard. "Consider this a loan. When you make a superior quality Concentration Potion later on, you owe me two bottles."
"Do you accept this condition?"
"I accept, accept, of course I accept," Richard nodded again and again, adding one last sentence.
"Sister Anna, you're so good to me!"
Anna's cheeks slightly reddened. "Go on, hurry up and make your Magic Potion. I kind of regret it now, I should have asked for three bottles of superior quality Magic Potion!"
Back in his dormitory, Richard activated the Miracle Furnace with the potion.
[Material: Superior Quality Concentration Potion]
[Possible Refinement Skill: Alchemy Operation (incomplete)]
[Refinement Cost: 10 spiritual power]
[Possible Refinement Information: Concentration Potion Formula]
[Refinement Cost: 10 spiritual power]
[Initiate Refinement?]
"Can it really refine the formula of the potion?" Richard looked at the information provided by the furnace and couldn't help feeling thrilled, "If that's the case, can't I refine the formula of every potion sold at the academy?"
This wild idea made Richard tremble slightly, but he quickly suppressed it in his heart. Even if he managed to refine so many formulas, he wouldn't be able to sell them in the business district. Whether a potion was his own formula, the Wizards would realize at a glance.
Stealing knowledge was a serious crime, and Jolod wouldn't be able to protect him.
"But even though I can't sell them, I can still use them for myself." Richard couldn't help but grin. "So many potions are being sold; getting one or two bottles for myself shouldn't be a problem."
Richard chose to refine the skill, and with his substantial base of twenty-three spiritual power points, he only felt a slight dizziness, and then the refinement was complete.
After absorbing the Light Ball that recorded the skills, in an instant, Richard felt as though he had transformed back into a Wizard, manipulating materials like clay in his hands. Strange and varied, soft or hard, materials were no issue. Likewise, while preparing Magic Potions, he was adept and could devise countermeasures without even thinking.
After the absorption ended, Richard shook his head, stood up, and picked up the materials needed for the Concentration Potion.
Crushing, sieving, extracting, grinding – Richard handled the materials, and before his mind even acted, his arms had automatically processed them.
"Such is the terrifying skill of a Wizard."
Richard let out a sigh, his heart once again filled with reverence for the Wizard.
With such skills, Richard naturally excelled at making potions, although failure was inevitable. In the midst of it all, Richard didn't forget to record the data, and he always had some opinions about the vague data in the formulas.
Richard believed that the low success rate of the Magic Potions was largely due to these vague data.
Just like that, a month quickly went by.
"Are these... all made by you?" Anna looked at the box of Concentration Potions in front of her, her mind spinning.
She felt there must have been a problem with her meditation, otherwise why would she see the hallucination of her junior apprentice brother, who had just been making Magic Potions for a month, coming to her to sell a box of Concentration Potions.
This must be a hallucination!
"Anna, I've placed these potions with you for consignment, do you agree?" Richard asked with some dissatisfaction after not getting a reply for a while.
After refining his skills, Richard had been solely focused on concocting Magic Potions. After spending all the money he borrowed from Anna, he had produced a total of sixty-five bottles of Concentration Potion, with a success rate close to two-thirds.
"Agreed, agreed," Anna came back to her senses and cautiously ventured, "How many times did you fail in total? The Magic Stones I gave you must not have been enough."
A shameful thought flashed through Anna's mind—she actually hoped Richard had failed more times.
But Richard's response shattered her last illusion.
"I failed many times, with about a fifty percent success rate," Richard pretended to be embarrassed as he spoke. Jolod had recorded many of his former apprentice's results in his books, and a fifty percent success rate was not even comparable to the last one.
Such a result, in Richard's view, fit his identity as a low-level Apprentice.
"How many?" Anna felt dizzy again, she had never felt as powerless as she did now since she became a Wizard Apprentice.
"Fifty percent," Richard repeated word by word, "Sister, I've just started concocting Magic Potions, isn't it normal to have a high failure rate?"
"A fifty percent success rate! Ordinary apprentices starting to make Concentration Potions, reaching a ten percent success rate is considered passing, reaching twenty percent is seen as talented, and someone like you, a low-level Apprentice who just started Alchemy reaching fifty percent success rate, I... I..."
At this moment, Anna felt somewhat defeated facing Richard. She thought Richard had the same talent in Magic Equipment as her, but it seemed now that Richard's talent was even more exaggerated than she thought.
"Ah... really?" Richard's face stiffened, and he squeezed out a faint smile, "I saw in the teacher's book that my results are not even listed."
Anna took a deep breath, trying to keep her tone as even as possible.
"Richard, the teacher has taught hundreds of classes at the Academy, and those he takes as students all have exceptional talents, and those apprentices mentioned in his book are the geniuses among geniuses."
"Haha, I just said I couldn't be that bad, not even worse than the last one listed in the book," Richard tried to sound more excited, at this point he decided to go all out.
A genius then, he thought, after all, the potions were made by his own hands, and he could replicate them if asked to.
With so many talented natives before him, his status as a transmigrator wasn't so conspicuous.
"But don't be too proud," Anna's emotion subsided, her expression returning to her usual aloof and glamorous self, "There are many talented apprentices like grains of sand at the sea, but only a few actually become Wizards."
"Got it," Richard nodded obediently.
Anna tapped the potions in the box; a total of forty-six bottles, priced at five Magic Stones each, these potions brought Richard a net profit of nearly one hundred and thirty Magic Stones.
This was with Richard intentionally underselling some of his output. If he was willing to sell more, he could earn even more.
"For consigning potions, I, as your senior sister, won't take a cut. Take these one hundred thirty Magic Stones," Anna put the potions into the cabinet and handed Richard a bag of Magic Stones. "Concentration Potions are easy to sell, I'll just give you the money first.
"Go have a good rest, you must be exhausted from this month."
Richard felt warmth in his heart, politely bid farewell to Anna, and then headed straight for the Central Black Tower.
Rest was unnecessary; now that he had money, it would be improper not to spend it.