Patrick

Patrick studied his guest.

Seventeen or eighteen—far too young.

Well dressed—clearly worth a great deal.

Calm and composed—seemingly full of confidence in what he was about to show.

He glanced at his watch. "Five minutes. You have five minutes to tell me why you're here, and it had better be worth barging into someone else's office without permission."

Murphy smiled. "One minute is enough."

He waited as Patrick poured himself a glass of water, in no hurry to speak.

"Young man, you don't have much time," Patrick reminded him.

Murphy nodded. "Mr. Patrick, some reporters say you're the best pharmaceutical salesman. You must have studied medicine quite a bit. In that case, what is the best medicine you know of for treating trauma?"

"Treating trauma?"

Patrick frowned. That was an extremely amateur way to put it.

Treating trauma involved far too many things. Did he mean suturing wounds, setting bones, reducing inflammation and killing bacteria, or stopping bleeding and relieving pain?

The drugs and medical instruments used for each of those steps were all different. A simple phrase like "the best medicine for treating trauma" was like asking what food was the healthiest; there was no way to answer.

This kid was definitely a layman.

Even so, he patiently said, "Do you mean antibiotics for disinfection and sterilization? For treating traumatic infections, penicillin is still the most commonly used drug. Cephalosporins are also very good, with fewer side effects..."

"You've misunderstood." Murphy interrupted him. "I mean a medicine that can help wounds heal."

Patrick glanced at Murphy. "Young man, I don't know if you've taken any medical courses, but if you had even basic medical knowledge, you would understand that the main factor affecting wound healing is actually infection..."

"Is there no medicine that can promote cell division and make wounds heal faster?"

"No! If you're talking about so-called growth factors and the like, then yes, last year's Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Stanley and Rita, but that substance is still very far from medical use..."

"What if I said that this bottle of medicine in my hand could make any wound heal within minutes, or even seconds? Would you believe me?"

"Impossible!"

Patrick was adamant. "That kind of effect isn't something medicine can achieve. What you're talking about would only exist in science fiction."

Murphy smiled and drew a pair of scissors from the pen holder on the desk. "Mr. Patrick, are you ready to witness a miracle?"

"W-what are you trying to do?" Patrick was clearly nervous when he saw the scissors in Murphy's hand.

Murphy did not answer. He took the scissors and cut straight across his own wrist.

Blood immediately gushed out.

"Oh! No! My God! What are you doing?!" Patrick cried out.

"Calm down! Patrick! Calm down! Then watch carefully! I don't want to cut myself again!"

As Murphy spoke, he used the Essence of Dittany. A few seconds later, the bleeding stopped, and the wound disappeared.

Murphy wiped away the blood with his hand, then raised his wrist, which now had only a faint trace of blood left, in front of Patrick.

"Did you see that?"

"That's impossible!" Patrick's eyes went wide. "A magic trick?"

"There's still some left in the bottle. You can try it yourself."

A few minutes later, after cutting himself and his assistant twice each, Patrick believed.

After sending out the terrified assistant, who had been cut twice in a row by his boss, Patrick paced back and forth through the office with a grave expression.

As he thought, he asked several questions in quick succession, more or less the same as David's questions back then, about the drug's source, whether it had a patent, and the like.

But he asked more than that, including whether the drug had already been registered, its production method, its yield, whether it could be mass-produced, and so on.

Murphy answered truthfully, "The drug hasn't been registered yet. I don't really understand the process. As for yield, its preparation method is actually very simple. As long as there are enough raw materials, batch production shouldn't be a problem."

Patrick nodded. "We need to arrange clinical trials as soon as possible to prove the drug's safety, then register a patent while buying a factory. We can produce it first. As long as the clinical trial results aren't too bad and the side effects are within an acceptable range, it will definitely sell like crazy! Even if the results aren't ideal, it still has many uses."

"We?"

"You came all the way here to find me because you wanted to poach me, didn't you?" Patrick stared at him.

"I know my own abilities. Plenty of people want to poach me, but Blue Mountain has treated me well, and I had no intention of leaving. However, you're different... This... you call it White Medicine? White Medicine is different!"

"Although it still needs more verification, it has already convinced me. In fact, no one connected to the pharmaceutical industry could refuse a medicine like this!"

"This is practically magic, a miracle! Just like the emergence of penicillin, it's a great invention that overturns people's understanding and changes the world!"

"I can't possibly miss an opportunity like this."

At this point, he asked, "How much startup capital do you have?"

Murphy thought for a moment. "About one and a half million."

A Porsche 959 cost more than two hundred thousand dollars, which, converted into pounds, was actually less than one hundred and fifty thousand. After all the running around with the previous two million, he still had more than half left.

Jim had been right. Two million pounds really was enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Patrick was somewhat shocked. "That's not a small amount. It's enough for us to acquire some decent pharmaceutical factories. I still have more than five hundred thousand here, which should be enough to cover the various early-stage expenses."

Murphy thought it over. "Actually, I only want to hire you. As for this drug, I need absolute control over it."

Patrick nodded. "I understand. But please believe me, I'm worth you taking out a portion of the equity."

The slightly balding man looked Murphy straight in the eye. He had probably practiced that expression on purpose.

That focused, calm gaze made it easy for people to sense his sincerity and feel trust in him.

"I can't promise anything right now, but I'll seriously consider it," Murphy said.

Patrick was a little disappointed, but he quickly composed himself. "I need you to give me a general idea of White Medicine's production process. You don't need to reveal the confidential parts, but I need to know what kind of workflow and equipment are required to produce this drug, so I can find a suitable factory."

"All right."

In truth, there was nothing much to keep secret. Making Essence of Dittany was extremely simple.

Its original method of production involved stewing it in a crucible and using a purification spell.

But after experimentation, Murphy discovered that the purification spell was unnecessary.

Using the water solubility of Essence of Dittany, he designed an extraction experiment: he crushed fresh dittany leaves, placed them in a reaction vessel, added water and glycerin, stirred, filtered, heated, controlled the temperature, then condensed it. After repeating the process several times, the Essence of Dittany he obtained was far purer than what could be made through the traditional crucible-refining method.

Even a Muggle, as long as they had dittany, could obtain Essence of Dittany through this simple extraction process.

This ran completely counter to the basic principles Murphy had learned in Potions class.

Wizards believed that in the making of any potion, a wizard's will and magic were inevitably mixed in to some greater or lesser degree, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Now it seemed that this was very likely just wishful thinking on the wizards' part.

Magic did not exist solely within wizards. The effects of potions still depended primarily on reactions between substances, not on a wizard's will.

After giving Patrick a rough explanation of the experimental steps, Murphy emphasized, "The raw material is the real key to White Medicine. At present, I'm the only one who can provide this material."

Patrick nodded. "Sounds like the key step in making White Medicine is extraction."

He searched around on the desk and picked up a sheet of paper.

"Then the most suitable partners for us aren't these chemical synthesis factories. Herbal product manufacturers are our target."

He crossed out most of the names on the list, ultimately leaving three or four.

"These companies may meet the requirements. Tomorrow, I'll go inspect them personally, and I'll give you a report by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

"You're getting started right now?" Murphy couldn't help but admire that drive.

"Of course! It's as if I'm back to when I was young and had just entered the industry, as if the whole world is waiting before me for me to explore and conquer! I simply can't wait another second!"

Murphy smiled. "I'm starting to think I really should give you some shares."

Patrick smiled too. "You need empty promises to motivate employees. You're already getting the hang of it, boss."

"So what should I do?"

"Think of a good name, register a company, and get the money ready... I'll handle the drug registration application and approval. As for everything else... nothing for now... Oh, right. You said the key to White Medicine is the raw material. You may need to guarantee the supply."

"I have a feeling we'll be facing order pressure very soon."