Life-Extending Magic Plant! (23)

Ian could identify far more details than that.

He had known what was inside before Mr. Silverfang's guards even opened the box.

He knew everything from the precise Origin Matter content and types to the quantity of basic Origin Matter units.

And once the magic plant was placed on the appraisal table before him, what he could see became even clearer.

Silver-blue radiance flowed through his eyes as Ian focused his gaze.

This brand-new, unknown magic plant resembled Longbeard Grass, a small plant that looked like a miniature willow tree. Its whisker-like leaves were covered in fine, pale green fuzz.

But this magic plant was different—it possessed a translucent texture throughout, with only an intensely vivid bright cyan color at its center. Its pure white fuzz seemed alive, rhythmically contracting and unfurling, stirring the field of Nature Psionics between heaven and earth.

"Deep blue, tinged with purple. It's only a little short of becoming a Second Energy Level ascended plant... It seems I'll have to advise Mr. Silverfang, or the buyer, to find a good place to keep raising it after purchasing it. This is clearly not its limit—not even close."

"The Labyrinth's activation and accelerated growth of the surrounding magic plants really has spawned something extraordinary."

After assessing it internally, Ian had no intention of simply using the Silver Chip's appraisal ability to spill out all the data at once.

If he really did that, he would not be a genius, but a monster. Even seeing the future could not work like that.

At the very least, he had to put on a bit of a show.

"The Silver Chip is a great assistant, so there's no need to use it for everything."

Ian put on his gloves and moved the magic plant into a sealed apparatus beside him.

An alchemical instrument called a "Suspended Mist Vessel" could create a small-scale Nature Psionics vacuum. Its principle was to use miniature lightning to sublime elemental wafers with a purity of over 99.95% into Origin Matter mist, filling the entire vessel and thereby isolating the influence of Nature Psionics.

At that point, if an object with spontaneous Origin Matter and psionic reactions was placed inside, one could clearly observe its Origin Matter reactions and flow, even its colors and texture.

An experienced appraiser could infer eighty or ninety percent of its effects simply by observing the color, density, flow rate, and texture of its Origin Matter.

It was said that some large-scale alchemy laboratories even had Suspended Mist Chambers as large as an entire room, where alchemists studied the essence of the world and the truths related to Origin Matter and psionics.

Ian could not afford a Suspended Mist Chamber, much less a Suspended Mist Vessel. Whenever he needed one, he could only apply to use one at an alchemy workshop in the new district—or, as now, borrow the small Suspended Mist Vessel at Harrison Apothecary.

He placed the magic plant inside and activated the device. Pale white, nearly transparent elemental mist filled the square vessel.

Then, streams of overlapping, interwoven Origin Matter fluctuations, roughly ring-shaped, emerged from that transparent Longbeard Grass.

"Begin pure Origin Matter testing."

Narrowing his eyes and observing carefully, Ian began the appraisal using his own Origin Matter—the Origin Matter of Wave-Singer's True Form.

Pale blue Origin Matter poured from the boy's fingertips, entering the vessel through the passage reserved for appraisers in the Suspended Mist Vessel and coming into contact with the magic plant's pure Origin Matter.

All appraisers were either ascended or psionics users. In short, it was extremely difficult for an alchemist without an Energy Level to become an appraiser, because they could not even accurately sense Origin Matter fluctuations, much less observe minute details.

Ian had originally relied solely on psionic observation, so he had deliberately made a few harmless errors in his appraisals to make himself seem inexperienced.

But half a year ago, after becoming a bona fide ascended, Ian had never made another appraisal error.

By now, the boy already knew the true nature and exact effects of this unknown magic plant. But he did not intend to merely go through the motions. He was genuinely appraising it seriously, making judgments based on his actual knowledge and verifying them against the "answer" he already knew.

This process of working backward, summarizing correct experience, and identifying where he had made mistakes might seem meaningless and time-consuming, but it could improve how Ian handled people and matters that could not be appraised using the Silver Chip.

"Heh."

In a corner of the apothecary, the blond middle-aged man who had been watching intently let out a scornful laugh. "His technique is far too unpracticed. You can tell at a glance that he hasn't used professional instruments many times."

"This is the top appraiser in Harrison Port that Aels bragged about to me? The appraiser who identified the omen of disaster?"

"Just luck, I suppose." He shook his head slightly. "Alchemists aren't so easily cultivated..."

"Pat, quiet."

But just as the blond middle-aged man was about to say more, the hunched old man said calmly, "Your alchemy score was only sixty-five back then."

"Besides." Turning his head, he looked at Ian with a trace of appreciation in his eyes. "Take a look at how old he is, and the environment he grew up in. Even those apprentices in the Alchemy Association who had been exposed to alchemy since childhood could not wield Origin Matter so skillfully at his age, extracting the pure Origin Matter of the item under appraisal without disturbing the sublimated crystal mist."

"Yes, his movements are a little unpracticed, and I don't think he can appraise it with one hundred percent accuracy... But he's a fine prospect. So calm, able to shut out everything around him once he starts working... What a pity he was born in Harrison Port and raised by that brat Aels."

"Huh, Suspended Mist Vessels can be this small? The cabinet my mother keeps her gemstones in is much bigger than this... Still, the effect is the same!"

As for the blond boy, he did not think too much about it. He simply watched the Origin Matter inside the Suspended Mist Vessel with delight, mentally estimating its precise composition and effects.

But before he could enjoy himself for long, Ethan's teacher lightly smacked him on the head. "You're watching the wrong thing. Pay close attention to how he extracts the Origin Matter. When you can achieve that level of precision, you'll be able to advance to an official profession!"

"Okay!" Rubbing his head, the boy looked somewhat aggrieved, but obediently agreed.

The three were chatting animatedly, but strangely, no sound escaped.

A ring in the hunched old man's hand was currently giving off an almost imperceptible pale gray glow.

And at that moment, Ian's appraisal also reached its conclusion.

"Pure life-source energy. It repairs damage using its own Origin Matter. It lacks factors of aberrant proliferation, possesses properties similar to an aura, and has potential roughly at the middle stage of the Second Energy Level, perhaps even the peak."

The information he had deduced was something even the Silver Chip could not provide. "It didn't mutate from Longbeard Grass. This is a completely new magic plant. It bears traces of mutation, but it is a beneficial mutation... Just like the various possibilities for the natural advancement of magical beasts, it is a new magic plant created through sheer accumulation of numbers!"

The Silver Chip could only provide information such as Origin Matter properties and basic quantities. Its effects had to be determined by the holder through their own knowledge. "And that's not all."

The boy raised his brows, having noticed a startling fact. "Mr. Silverfang was given the wrong information—or rather, the Viscount and the others failed to identify this ascended plant's true effect."

"This is not a 'regeneration' ascended plant for regrowing limbs and repairing hidden internal injuries."

"This is a 'life-extending' ascended plant that strengthens the essence of life, enhances bodily vitality, slows aging, and repairs cellular damage!"