Nightmare Potion

"Have they still not woken up?" Sophia looked at the unconscious group, her brows slightly furrowed.

"I was afraid of damaging their minds, so I didn't dare force them awake," Roy explained. "Senior Student Sophia, could we let the puppet wolf carry them?"

Sophia said, "Never mind. We'll do as you suggested."

She then summoned the puppet wolf and had Roy move the unconscious people onto it before walking back with him.

Seeing that she was fairly easy to talk to, Roy hurriedly took the opportunity to ask about what had happened inside the orchard.

Finally, he turned his gaze to the fruit she had picked. "Could I take a look?"

Sophia shot him a somewhat surprised glance, but still tossed him one.

"It really is a contaminated Serpent Fruit.

This thing should already count as a new variety. It was no longer the original 'Serpent Fruit,' but a 'Nightmare Serpent Fruit.'

I remember it can be used to brew things like Nightmare Potion?

According to the standard naming rules, perhaps it could be given a suffix like 'Dark Orchard'...

Nightmare Potion: Dark Orchard!"

It was a garden-type Mental Illusion that could help people form associations with related things and temper their minds within dreams.

Its Negative Effects were nightmares, leading to insufficient sleep and nervous exhaustion. Over time, it would instead damage one's Mental Strength.

It was a contradictory phenomenon with two sides to the same whole.

Sophia was somewhat surprised. "Although Intermediate Apprentice courses cover these things, they do not go into much depth.

It seems your self-study ability is quite strong."

Roy gave a dry laugh and shamelessly accepted the praise.

There really was...

Sweat and hard work behind it!

Sophia said, "I'm not good at Potionology, but I've heard of this. Come find me on the third floor later. I'll give you some materials, and you can try brewing it."

Hearing this, Roy was slightly surprised. Then he abruptly realized that Senior Student Sophia was at the critical juncture of advancing to a Formal Wizard.

She was interested in any medicine that could help with the Spirit Domain.

It was only a matter of priorities.

This was probably just a passing thought for her, but it held great significance for him.

He immediately recommended himself. "Senior Student Sophia, I have studied alchemy diligently for six years and have some confidence in my skill. I would be more than willing to serve you."

Sophia neither agreed nor disagreed with Roy's words.

But after they returned and completed the handover of the mission, she really did give him several fruits along with high-quality supporting materials.

This counted as an investment in him.

Roy was greatly encouraged. He decided to thoroughly consult all kinds of materials, deduce the formula, and then forcefully brew it with the help of the Skilled Worker talent.

By then, Renion and Andov had already awakened along the way, but they were deeply disappointed.

The reward the wizard tower had given them was fifty magic stones each.

"The wizard tower is far too stingy!"

"That's only enough to buy one bottle of Mild Healing Potion!"

Proper healing potions were magical medicines that only Formal Wizards could brew. They could bring severely injured ordinary people back from the brink of death, making them exceedingly precious.

Based on this, someone had developed diluted series such as mild-effect and weak-effect versions.

There were also concentrated series such as potent-effect and super-effect versions.

The difference was not simply adding water or boiling them down to alter the concentration. They used different formulas and brewing methods.

Strictly speaking, they fell within the category of imitations and substitutes.

"This only lets me buy a cheap eyeball from the merchant street to make do..."

Andov was rather speechless.

"A lot of the stuff there was dug out of who knew which pile of corpses...

They just washed it a little, treated it with Necromantic Witchcraft, and dared to sell it!"

Having suffered for no reason, of course he was not very happy.

Yet there was truly no way to hold anyone accountable.

After all, Roy had taken care of them while they were unconscious and gotten them out.

Roy comforted him. "Replacing eyes in the tower is practically like changing glasses. Once you have money in the future, you can get a better pair."

Even as he said that, he understood that making money was not so easy.

Who didn't want money? The real question was how to get it!

"Even high-level missions only pay this much. Exploration missions really put you at a disadvantage...

But we got Nightmare Serpent Fruit, so the trip wasn't entirely wasted.

If I can master the brewing method for Nightmare Potion, not only can I use it myself, I can also build a connection with Sophia and secure a stable income!"

After returning, Roy took stock of everything and found that the key lay in the fruit in his hand.

For now, there was nothing else like it elsewhere. It was a specialty unique to a particular ley line.

Moreover, the juice squeezed from this thing could usually be diluted.

As for exactly how much it could be diluted, that depended on one's conscience.

Anyway, if there was not enough fruit juice, syrup water could make up the difference.

With all kinds of additives mixed in, not only could he make up for this loss, he could even earn a huge profit!

Time gradually passed, and it came to mid-December.

The progress of Alchemy Talent Acquisition in Progress continued to increase at a glacial pace. Little by little, it had actually exceeded 53%.

Roy estimated that if it continued growing naturally until it reached 100%, he would probably have to wait until June next year.

He had no clue about this matter for the time being, so he shifted more of his attention to what was at hand.

In the library, Roy consulted materials and filled a stack of notes.

Finally, with the help provided by the Alchemy Talent Skilled Worker, he gradually deduced the formula for brewing Dark Orchard.

He immediately took out the white fruit juice left over from his previous research, began mixing it, and produced the result.

"It succeeded!"

He frowned as he examined the milk-like experimental product, then drank the entire tube.

A slightly intoxicated sensation washed over him, and he soon collapsed into sleep.

Just as expected, that night he entered a deep sleep that lasted several hours.

However, the consciousness in his mind did not stop moving.

It transformed into nightmares, making him undergo a series of trials within them: picking fruit in an orchard, encountering a giant python, and fighting for his life.

When he awoke, his head felt as if it were splitting apart.

But after meditating and carefully examining himself, he discovered that his Mental Strength had indeed increased slightly.

"It really works!"

Roy was thrilled.

"If I cultivate like this, it would only cost a little over ten magic stones to manifest one Will Rune. The efficiency is much higher than before.

And these dreams are incredibly real!

Perhaps the Combat Skill trained in dreams could also merge into reality and become instinctive to the body?"

Besides that, the experience during this trip to the Apple Garden had also given Roy some insight.

He had strengthened his physique and gained Knight-level strength. He should have been able to show off his abilities...

But reality would not make things so easy.

It was not as though strengthening his physique meant he would conveniently encounter opponents that a Low-level Knight could deal with.

Mental Illusions did not play by the rules. If he had not luckily brought Calming Pu Shui Xiang, he would have been defeated.

"But then again, doesn't this mean I can use this asymmetric advantage against enemies?

As embarrassing as this encounter was, the greater the gains will be when I make use of this thing!"

Roy fell into thought.