Top Ten Legendary Demon Hunters

Rein, having finalized his escape plan, no longer paid attention to the stealth assassin monitoring him outside.

Even though Piscis had intentionally left him alone in the lab, Rein didn't choose to escape rashly.

Moreover, with two days still remaining until the "Black Market Trade Fair," Rein had to make some preparations in advance.

Late at night, he entered his dream.

The dream created by the Smart Brain was no longer a library scene, but a 1:1 replica of Piscis's potion laboratory.

The workbench was not only fully equipped with various devices, but even the potion ingredients in the storage cabinets were identical to those in the real world.

Next, Rein did nothing else but walk directly to the workbench, pick up a test tube and a measuring cup, and begin attempting to concoct the antidote for the [Zombie Potion].

To outsiders, a potionry apprentice who had only started a few days ago attempting to concoct a finished potion would undoubtedly be an act of overestimating oneself.

Even in the Oma Empire's top academy, the "Royal Potionry Academy," genius students required at least several months of rigorous practice for each basic step—purification, extraction, fusion—before they could even attempt to fuse ingredients into a potion.

How could an apprentice who had just started a few days ago begin concocting finished potions right away?

However, Rein was an exception.

In this world, potion masters held a high status and were exceptionally rare. The reason wasn't a lack of people wanting to learn, but fundamentally because the barrier to entry for this discipline was extremely high!

To begin potionry, one not only needed a vast amount of dry, professional theoretical knowledge like a Scholar, but more importantly, one had to "pay to play."

For a potionry apprentice to advance to become a formal potion master, extensive practical training was required.

The materials wasted during this process were absolutely staggering numbers that would shock ordinary people. Even many noble families, by emptying their coffers, might not be able to cultivate a single formal potion master.

Furthermore, even after "paying to play," there was no guarantee of a return, which was the second barrier that deterred the vast majority of people.

Talent, arduous training, fortuitous encounters, mentorship...

These were the second, third, fourth, and fifth barriers.

None could be lacking.

Because of these high barriers, being a "potion master" was inherently a profession only the nobility and the extremely lucky could afford. Their starting point was often the endpoint of a commoner's lifelong struggle, and their status was destined to be higher than other extraordinary professions.

But Rein didn't have to worry about the "pay to play" barrier at all.

Possessing the Smart Brain, he had a "god-tier" advantage!

Because in his dreams, he had infinite materials to waste.

As long as it was a potion ingredient recorded by the Smart Brain, its medicinal effects, properties, and pharmacology could be converted into precise data and perfectly simulated and restored in his dreams.

He could try again and again after failing, and even if he made an operational mistake, there was no life-threatening danger of "explosion."

This was the most crucial reason why Rein could directly start refining finished potions.

In his dream, Rein began to busy himself.

On his left was the formula for the antidote, and projected in front of him was the entire process of Piscis refining potions during the day.

He didn't even need to think; he just followed the projection step by step.

Whatever materials Piscis used, Rein used the same.

Whatever Piscis did next, Rein followed.

The Smart Brain had precisely recorded data such as the heating temperature, the number of purification cycles, and the fusion time accurate to the millisecond.

After all, this was just a low-level potion; it didn't involve complex reaction processes that required high-level extraordinary abilities for control. It could be said that as long as one perfectly replicated the actions in the projection, even an apprentice could successfully complete the potion making.

However, even so, Rein failed countless times.

Just the purification and extraction of over a dozen materials, to reach a standard usable level, he failed no less than hundreds of times.

Potion concoction was like this; a minor mistake in one step could lead to the failure of the entire potion.

Fortunately, the twenty-fold time acceleration in the dream, along with the unlimited supply of virtual materials, gave him ample time to make such luxurious attempts.

For anyone else, not to mention the expenditure of energy, just practicing with these high-level materials, even top noble apprentices would not dare to be so extravagant.

At night, Rein practiced repeatedly in his dreams;

During the day, after Piscis left the laboratory, he would directly conduct experiments.

Finally, hard work paid off.

With the "Smart Brain" as his ultimate cheat, after numerous failed attempts, Rein finally succeeded in refining the antidote that only formal potion masters could concoct!

So, had Rein's potionry skill reached the level of a formal potion master?

No, he was still far from it.

In fact, his foundation was worse than that of an ordinary potionry apprentice.

For an ordinary academy-style potionry apprentice, it would take about one to two years of basic study and accumulation to go from the basics of potionry to refining such a finished antidote.

But Rein, with the assistance of the "Smart Brain," had skipped this entire process.

The formal potion master assessment was like the college entrance examination, requiring a comprehensive evaluation of all subjects. He was merely a "prodigy" who was severely unbalanced in his studies and could only solve one type of problem.

He didn't need to understand the vast theoretical foundation involved in the entire potion-making process. What were the properties of a single material, what were the principles of ingredient fusion, how would temperature fluctuations affect the efficacy...

He didn't need to think about any of these.

Rein simply needed to copy the visual data left by the Smart Brain throughout the entire process and learn Piscis' every move.

Over two full nights, equivalent to more than a month of hard practice for others, he focused on a single potion.

Then, he finally succeeded in concocting the finished potion, which theoretically only a one-star Potion Master could create.

Of course, the shrewd Piscis also noticed signs that the laboratory bench had been used, and that some materials clearly belonging to the antidote for the Zombie Potion were missing from the storage cabinet.

In the old man's opinion, Rein's actions were naturally an act of overestimating his abilities in trying to concoct the potion.

Heh, trying to fly before he even learned to crawl?

What a foolish act.

At most, it was just a loss of a few materials, so Piscis didn't take it to heart at all. He pretended not to see it and let Rein mess around.

And so, two days passed peacefully.

Finally, they reached their destination.

The bandit problem in the southern part of the Oma Empire was a chronic ailment that had persisted for decades. The imperial army had tried to suppress these slippery bandit groups countless times but had never succeeded. The combined strength of these hundreds of bandit groups was even enough to capture some large territories.

The location for this large-scale "Black Market Trading Fair" was as cautious as ever.

The terrain around Storm Lake was open, allowing the bandit groups to escape in all directions if the imperial army was spotted. A complete encirclement was simply impossible.

Today, the weather was unusually good.

The mist on the ground was light and thin, providing high visibility.

By the time the "Weasel Bandit Group" arrived at Storm Lake, over a hundred bandit groups of various sizes had already gathered there.

Campfires stretched for dozens of miles, the air was filled with voices, and the atmosphere was incredibly lively.

Steam-powered mechanical cities of varying sizes and strange designs were stationed by the lake, resembling herds of wildebeest drinking collectively on the savanna.

Tall chimneys spewed black smoke straight into the sky. Hyenas, crabs, iron barrels, octopuses, hedgehogs... these mechanical cities had bizarre designs, filled with a strong dark industrial aesthetic.

And among the many steam-powered mechanical cities, three "War Elephant-class" castles stood out from the crowd.

Their black painted armor was emblazoned with a ferocious One-Eyed Wolf head symbol, making them exceptionally conspicuous.

These were, in fact, the organizers of this trading fair, the "White Wolf Bandit Group," one of the three major bandit groups in the Oma Empire.

And their leader was none other than one of the "Top Ten Legendary Demon Hunters," a legendary figure at the pinnacle of banditry, a top-tier transcendent who had unlocked his fifth-tier Gene Locks, jointly wanted by the Oma and Sid empires for 180 million Lisol... White Wolf Bazel Gustav!

At such a lively black market trading fair, fugitives with bounties in the tens of millions were commonplace. Even when a notorious large team like the "Weasel Gang" arrived, it didn't cause the slightest ripple.

This was a peak gathering of bandit groups, a carnival for robbers.

"It's really lively..."

Rein sighed, looking at the bustling market before him, his eyes gleaming.

At this moment, he finally saw the dawn of "freedom."

Hearing this, Piscis, who was in front of him, curved his lips into a barely perceptible sly smile and said without turning his head, "Let's go, I'll take you to meet your peers in the potion world."

"Yes, Teacher."

Hearing this, Rein obediently followed behind Piscis, stepping down from the mechanical city.

Thanks to 'BAIPIAO' for the 500 coins and 'Wusheng Temple' for the two great patrons' rewards and support. They are both familiar old book friends. Thank you, thank you~