After two hours, Zero finished the simulation of the potion concoction process. Angele stood in front of the desk and measured the necessary amount of herbs in accordance with the results of the simulation. He put everything into the beaker and began heating it using an oil burner.
The oil burner in this world was akin to the Bunsen burner on Earth, but it used oil as its fuel instead. The blue flame of the burner had a much higher temperature compared to normal oil lamps. Angele added some water into the beaker, which soaked everything inside, and then he covered the beaker with the lid. It took about 2 minutes for the water to boil, and the herbs inside had changed colors. The boiling water inside the beaker turned light purple as steam kept leaking out of the lid, thus causing the room to be filled with a sour smell.
Angele silently watched over the beaker, occasionally checking the crystal clock on the side. He maintained calmness and silence such that the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the boiling water. Ten minutes later, Angele took some cotton from the bag and removed the lid off the beaker, causing the white steam to rise in the air.
Angele stared at the liquid inside the beaker and ordered Zero to display the information of what was inside. The beaker turned into a blue hologram in the air with the data listed beside it. The data continuously changed, showing the temperature, changes, activities, and elemental shifts.
Angele looked at the beaker carefully. Suddenly, he flicked his finger and a red object was shot into the water. Angele’s lips were shaking as he kept invoking the incantation. His voice was sometimes high and sometimes deep. With the changes in his tone, the liquid inside the beaker began to change, and it suddenly stopped boiling. The bubbles and the steam disappeared slowly as well.
No matter how strong the heat was, the surface of the liquid started freezing. This strange reaction lasted for about 10 minutes. Finally, the flames under the beaker extinguished by itself, and Angele stopped chanting. He bit his lips, scrunched his eyebrows, and stared at the beaker. The liquid inside it started boiling again, even the color stopped changing.
“Did I fail?” Angele muttered. He grasped the beaker and dumped everything inside into the sink. The washroom and the toilet were separated into two sections in the room, and his desk was close to the washroom.
‘Zero, tell me why I failed,’ Angele ordered.
‘Your mentality wasn’t synthesizing with the materials’ activities well,’ Zero reported.
‘Well, let’s keep going,’ Angele thought as he took a breath. He placed the beaker back on the oil burner.
************************************
In the evening, Angele held two test tubes filled with green liquid in his hands with a bitter smile on his face. Angele had spent 8 hours attempting to concoct the potions, yet he only succeeded twice out of ten attempts.
“A single Hemostasis Potion can be sold for more than 10 magic stones. I paid two magic stones for everything, but I can earn 20 magic stones, a 90% gross profit margin. Not bad at all. However, even with the assistance of the chip, I could only concoct two potions successfully.” Angele murmured as he shook his head. He felt slightly disappointed, but he now knew the reason why potions were so rare.
‘Good thing Zero is extremely helpful in tasks like this. This is my advantage, and if I continue learning, I’ll earn a lot of magic stones with all the potions I concoct.’ Angele spent the whole time concocting potions. At present, his mood was pretty good because of the fact that he wouldn’t be worrying about magic stones soon.
‘However, Ansett will come tomorrow, and she’ll find out about this. It’s impossible for an average wizard apprentice to have such a high success rate, so she’ll try to spread rumors in order to increase the reputation of her family. I need to find another place for me to concoct potions. Should I just keep her out of my room or should I apply for a potion concocting station in the laboratory?’ Angele thought.
He shook his head. He needed to figure out a better plan and hide the two potions he had concocted. He never learned from a Potion Master, but he could already concoct potions. People might attempt to assassinate him just to obtain the formulas. Angele didn’t want too much attention to be drawn to him. He wondered what might happen if someone were to discover his secret chip.
‘I guess I’ll just hide these potions for now and sell them at a later time. It takes years for a wizard apprentice to successfully concoct potions, and I’ll need a ton of resources. Maybe I should wait for several years before showing others my potion concoction skills. I can keep practicing and try the formula for the mentality potion, but I must find a source to collect all the necessary materials,’ Angele thought as he decided to conceal his potion concoction skills to others.
Angele placed the two potions inside his pouch and started reading the contract Ansett had given him. No strange clauses were written on it, so he signed the contract right away. After signing the contract, he saw the letter sent by Yuri and opened it:
‘Dear Angele, how’s your life in Ramsoda? I hear your school is famous for Necromancy, and that it’s a cruel place. I hope there are no skeletons or corpses interrupting your dreams during the night…’ Angele laughed as he read this, and continued along.
‘I didn’t expect for the White Tooth Castle to be in such a bad shape. I worked very hard just to get admitted only to discover that the organization’s relationships with two other top organizations to be awful. Apparently, only you can receive my letter as the other letters I had sent had all gone missing. There are two large countries barring us, so I’m afraid we won’t meet in a while. By the time you read this letter, I would’ve already left the castle for a mission. In order to obtain resources here, there’s no other way than to complete missions. I don’t know where my next mission will be, but I hope that I will see you in the future.’ The letter ended there, but suddenly, a silver dot appeared below the last line and drew a signature that says ‘Yuri Safeco’.
‘Arcane Insignia.’ Angele knew this trick that was particularly easy to do. Yuri merely left some energy particles on the paper, only revealing themselves upon meeting specific conditions. Any decent stage 1 or 2 wizard apprentices could do it. Angele closed the letter and returned it into the envelope. He sat by the desk and thought for a while before heading to bed.
The next morning.
Ansett knocked on Angele’s door early.
Angele opened his eyes and got off the bed still a bit sleepy. He looked at the crystal clock on the side and saw that it was 7 o’clock in the morning. The problem he had in studying in an underground school was that he never knew if it was daytime or nighttime. Angele put his clothes on and opened the door.
Ansett stood by the door with a smile on her face. Wizard apprentices were passing by in the hallway.
“Did I interrupt your sweet dream?” Ansett looked at Angele as she asked. She stepped into the room and closed the door.
“Did you sign the contract?” she asked.
“Done.” Angele took the contract from the desk and handed it over.
Ansett took the contract with a jubilant face. She was still wearing her tight hunting suit, but she had changed the leather pants into a short skirt. Her legs were long and slim, looking quite nicely in her long black boots.
“You want me now?” She latched herself into Angele’s arms and stared at him from below. She also moved Angele’s arms onto her breasts.
“I have a Reflection Course with Professor Vivian in a few minutes.” Angele calmed down and said with a low voice.
“We have more than enough time this evening,” he continued. He reached his hands into Ansett’s skirt and groped her butt several times.
“I knew you would choose the class over me. I like a man who can control himself.” Ansett said as she smiled.
“Thanks, I guess.” Angele slightly pushed her away.
**************************************************
Ansett stayed in Angele’s rooms for the night. Since their rooms had excellent noise isolation, no one heard them having sex. Angele awoke with complete satisfaction the next day, but he decided not to have sex often as he had much more important tasks to do. He joined many different classes.
He attended and listened to several different lectures for the free courses in the next 10 days just like any other wizard apprentice. Angele went to the library to check the additional information he needed and also joined some spell laboratory to practice his spells. He was doing the tasks he must do and was also working hard to increase his mentality.
As a wizard apprentice, Angele’s talent level had been average, but he had the chip assisting him in memorizing and storing the knowledge he had learned. However, other wizard apprentices didn’t have the chip, so they needed to invest more time into comprehending everything.
Some wizard apprentices had to spend a whole month learning one language used for incantations, while some would need more than a year for it. Most of them had sufficient mentality and mana, but they failed reaching the next stage due to the lack of fundamental knowledge and they had trouble dealing with the changes which occurred during meditation. They clearly had no idea how to solve these problems, thus they were unable to reach the next stage.
Angele spent his day doing the tasks any other wizard apprentice would, while he spent the night testing different potion formulas. With the chip’s assistance, he already learned the second spell model. He hadn’t shown off his achievements, but he had already become one of the top wizard apprentices in Ramsoda College.
Angele could store the spell models on his chip and use them like a one-time enchanted item. However, Angele could only use the spells he learned and instantly cast them when necessary. No incantations were required; therefore the instant casting was faster than activating the enchanted items.
Only wizards were capable of instant casting, but the chip could only store one learned spell model at a time. Angele once tried storing two, but the spells failed to combine, leaving only pure energy. Still, it was extremely helpful to Angele since it was as though he had something that could be used to store the spells.