After learning that Guanda City was short on finished potions, Ang immediately considered selling Healing Potions. The potion market here seemed unable to keep up with demand, so he took the opportunity to ask Beta why finished potions were so scarce.
Beta explained that Guanda City had a huge demand for Magic Potions. Almost as soon as any finished potion was put on the shelves, it would be snapped up. The reason was that there was a dedicated Apothecary Association here that strictly controlled the circulation of finished potions. The association held the most important parts of the production chain. Nearly all mages capable of making Magic Potions joined the association, and most of their potions were distributed by the association to a few officially designated shops for sale, while other stores could only rely on small quotas. This made finished potions in Guanda City practically limited-supply luxuries, naturally driving up their prices.
After hearing Beta's explanation, an idea popped into Ang's mind: limited supply was one of the reasons for the high prices. Those prices were not only caused by scarcity; the failure rate in producing Magic Potions was also extremely high. Failure meant increased costs. Even the most successful apothecaries had to bear the risk of wasting materials. Ang understood the plight of those magic apothecaries, but he could not help thinking of his own assembly-line production method—by breaking every step apart and standardizing it, he could effectively reduce the failure rate and lower costs. If he could introduce his own potions into this potion-starved market, there should be plenty of demand.
However, Ang knew that the Guanda Plane was essentially a resource-exporting plane. Guanda City's various resources were mainly supplied to the Empire's interior, and the city's goods had always leaned toward raw materials, so finished products