)
Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling—
When the scenery outside the window shifted from soft gold to deep black, the alarm clock on the table began to ring sharply through the quiet room.
At the same time, the potion inside the crucible emitted a warm golden glow, almost identical to the light that had appeared when the base device was first activated. This was part of the normal finishing process of a successfully brewed potion.
Eight hours were up.
"Turn off the heat," she muttered to herself.
Arya placed the book she had been reading aside and snapped her fingers. Instantly, the small blue flame beneath the alchemy base vanished.
Freshly brewed potions could not be bottled right away.
First, the softened herbs had to be removed.
She picked up a slotted spoon and carefully scooped out the boiled plant matter from the crucible. After that, she used a cloth and a narrow funnel to press and drain the moisture from the herbs. Every step had to be clean, slow, and methodical. Then she allowed the liquid to cool, giving time for any remaining herbal impurities to naturally sink to the bottom.
During this waiting period, Arya left the room to eat.
About half an hour later, she returned carrying a wooden ladle, a glass decanter, and ten clean test tubes.
Without stirring the liquid in the crucible, she gently dipped the ladle into the surface and carefully poured the potion into the filter. She worked slowly, making sure not to disturb the sediment resting at the bottom.
When only a small amount of residue remained in the crucible, she wrapped the leftover dregs and the herbs that had been removed earlier into a cloth bundle. Using both hands, she squeezed firmly, pressing out every last drop of liquid until not a single bead of moisture remained.
Albert's words echoed in her mind.
"The most potent essence of a potion is hidden inside the moisture trapped within the dregs. Skip this step, and what you get will be nothing but a half-baked product."
After that, all that remained was waiting.
Twenty liters of water had been reduced to about two thousand milliliters—only four catties of finished liquid—so the filtration did not take very long.
Once the upper layer of liquid in the filter had completely passed through, Arya eagerly picked up the decanter and filled a test tube. She placed it against the small screen for appraisal.
[Apprentice-level Magic Potion (E)]
[Effect: Restores 5 Magic Points per second for 10 seconds.]
[Description: A standard Apprentice-grade Magic Potion. The dosage is slightly excessive. Likely crafted by a novice alchemist newly entering the field. Production is too structured, lacking creativity. Somewhat dull and rigid.]
"…Fun?"
Arya stared at the description and pursed her lips.
"So in your opinion, potions are supposed to be fun?"
The small screen had not complained as aggressively as it did last time, so this felt like a forced criticism.
She was extremely satisfied with her first truly meaningful attempt at alchemy. Because of that, she found herself even more displeased by the evaluation displayed before her.
Nevertheless, the appraisal was complete, and it was time for the final step: bottling.
Two thousand milliliters of potion required only two hundred test tubes. Compared to the nightmare of filling a thousand tubes last time, this was almost relaxing. Arya finished bottling quickly and neatly.
However, she didn't rush to sell them.
Instead, she selected ten bottles and sent them to Rogers.
Arya: "This is the price difference I promised you. Also, where exactly did you get that blueprint?"
Rogers, who had been bored and idly browsing the public chat channel, immediately perked up when her friends list began to flicker.
Compared to Arya, who now had two contacts, Rogers still had only one friend. She didn't need to guess who it was.
As the chat icon pulsed, ten potions appeared in her inventory panel.
She almost jumped out of her seat.
After checking the appraisal on the small screen, her hands began to tremble.
Fifty Magic Points?
In one bottle?
Rogers: "It restores fifty Magic Points?! That's incredible! Thank you, big sis! As for the blueprint, I got it from a treasure chest!"
Her reply came through in a chaotic burst of excitement, gratitude, and rushed explanation.
Supply chest?
Arya leaned back slightly.
She had always assumed those chests contained nothing more than basic survival supplies. Only now did she truly understand why they were called "treasure chests."
Tonight's task was now clear. She would continue hunting them.
Another message flashed.
Rogers: "Oh, right, big sis! What about herbs? Do you need any? I've gathered a lot: kuxing grass, huangwei flower, magnolia, thorny bramble, stone orchid, and evening glory."
Arya blinked in surprise.
Arya: "How did you manage to collect so many?"
She stared at the list, genuinely startled. All of them were usable herbs for E-grade potions. She hadn't expected anyone else to be gathering such materials this early.
Rogers: "It's because of my Talent. After I saw that you could make potions, I started collecting anything that looked useful."
So that was it.
Arya: "Alright. One catty of herbs for one Magic Potion."
Rogers: "Okay, okay, okay! I'll request the trade right away!"
Although the herbs had already been picked and were no longer as fresh as those she personally gathered, Arya still chose to accept the deal.
Rogers had unintentionally reminded her of something important.
Why should she waste her own time gathering ingredients when others could do it for her?
If she stopped gathering and focused only on brewing, she could easily make two full batches a day. The price difference alone would be enough to earn a massive profit.
She had no intention of discouraging the other girl.
As for what Rogers' Talent was, did it matter?
It had nothing to do with her.
"An alchemist never worries about the source of their materials. I'm not interested in materials themselves," Arya murmured softly to herself, smiling faintly.
Her thoughts shifted toward the future.
How could she mobilize the people in Evilman Valley?
The current Apprentice-grade Magic Potion was more than enough to motivate them. The only problem was that most of them didn't know how to identify herbs. They might end up delivering handfuls of ordinary weeds instead.
That would create unnecessary trouble.
To prevent that, Arya opened the camera function on the small screen. She took clear pictures of each herb, then carefully edited simple identification guides. She listed their shapes, colors, stem textures, leaf patterns, and the environments in which they typically grew.
Once she finished compiling everything, she uploaded the information to her personal homepage.
This homepage function worked much like a blog. Anyone could visit it by clicking her avatar, just as Arya had once visited Shang Chuan's page.
Most people were currently too busy upgrading their shelters and preparing for the end of the novice period to write diaries or detailed posts.
That made this feature extremely valuable.
After finishing her preparations, Arya finally listed this batch of potions for sale.
One Magic Potion in exchange for sixty basic units of materials.
She also created two new long-term listings in her shop:
"E-Grade Herb (500g) ×1 → Apprentice-grade Magic Potion ×1"
"E-grade Monster Crystal Core ×1 → Apprentice-grade Magic Potion ×2"
In an instant, the public channel exploded.
The previous potion, which restored one Magic Point per second, had been barely acceptable. It worked, but only just.
Now?
Five Magic Points per second?
This wasn't just usable. This was insane.
The average mental strength of people from Blue Star was only around five or six points. Which meant their total Magic Points usually hovered around fifty to sixty.
One single potion could restore almost an entire magic pool in ten seconds.
The chat flooded with messages.
"Damn it! I just bought ten crude Magic Potions, and now the Apprentice-grade ones are out?!"
"Shut up!"
"If you're not buying, other people will!"
"Buy? They're already gone!"
"That fast?!"
"They're really gone. I blinked and they disappeared."
"There are still some left, but only through monster crystal cores and herbs."
"That deal looks good. One catty for one potion. But how do we even know what the herbs look like?"
"Check her personal homepage. She posted pictures and explanations."
"'No dirt allowed, herbs must be washed clean, or you'll be blacklisted from the shop.' Is she dumping all the work on us?"
"What else could she do? One catty of herbs with half a catty of mud mixed in? Would you tolerate that?"
"Fair enough."
"But isn't the pricing kind of unfair? When it was ten Magic Points, the price was ten material units. Now it's fifty Magic Points, and it costs sixty units."
The chaos continued to spread through the channel, echoing far and wide.
And at its center sat Arya, calmly watching the storm she had created.