The Right Way to Use Insight

Bai Xiaowen understood and nodded.

He finally understood why the purity of the pharmaceutical process he Replication from Sun Hecheng was so low, only 67%.

The medicinal materials that are recycled and purified naturally contain a certain amount of impurities, but we won't discuss that for now.

Bai Xiaowen completely Replication and applied Sun Hecheng's pharmaceutical steps, even using the exact same amount of medicinal materials. While this seemed precise and foolproof, the effective component particles contained in the recycled medicinal materials were definitely different in quantity from those in the original medicinal materials used by Sun Hecheng.

It's already quite good that the drug didn't fail in the end. A purity of only 67% is really not surprising.

"If we can accurately measure the active ingredients in medicinal herbs, can we produce a medicine of perfect quality?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

"That's true, but as you know, there aren't any tools available to accurately measure the components of psionic herbs right now. It relies on the Alchemist's experience to roughly estimate the amount of active ingredient particles contained in the herbs based on their appearance..."

Bai Xiaowen smiled and said, "I understand... Shopkeeper, Master Sun, I'd like to try making a new bottle of Ruby's Might Potion. Could I borrow the workbench here?"

"You?" Sun Hecheng was slightly taken aback.

Zhang Jing laughed and said, "Of course you can practice if you want... However, there are rules in the shop. The cost of the consumed medicinal herbs will be deducted from your monthly purchase budget."

"No problem," Bai Xiaowen replied readily.

Bai Xiaowen allocates a portion of his Earth currency income each month to the Super God Potion Shop account, using the Super God Potion Shop's channels to purchase medicinal herbs for his own use.

Purchasing psionic herbs from the Super God Potion Shop is a bulk purchase, which not only offers discounts but also ensures reliable quality.

At that moment, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi followed Sun Hecheng into the Alchemy Department.

Sun Hecheng opened the door to his private workshop, patted Bai Xiaowen on the shoulder, and said, "Don't feel pressured, just treat it as practice. The hundreds of thousands of yuan spent on medicinal herbs is just a drop in the bucket for you..."

Bai Xiaowen smiled and nodded, "Thank you, Master Sun, I understand."

Before long, the ingredients for the Enhancement Potion, Ruby's Might, were delivered, three portions in total. It seemed that Sun Hecheng didn't quite trust Bai Xiaowen's skills and had prepared two extra portions of the ingredients.

After Bai Xiaowen fails twice in a row, he should realize how difficult it is to make high-level Enhancement Potion. At that time, Sun Hecheng will not let Bai Xiaowen go home disappointed. He plans to personally step in and use the third batch of medicinal materials to make a bottle of Ruby's Might Enhancement Potion for Bai Xiaowen.

The purity may not reach perfect, but it can still be guaranteed to be above 85%, and with good luck, it could even reach 87% or 88%. Ultimately, it is better than most Ruby's Might potions on the market.

Bai Xiaowen could roughly guess Sun Hecheng's thoughts, as he was very familiar with the good-natured Sun Hecheng.

However, Bai Xiaowen didn't say much and immediately began processing the medicinal herbs. Actions speak louder than words.

Sun Hecheng provided guidance from the side.

"The Ruby's Might Potion is made from four herbs: Ironthread Vine, Fuluo Flower, Moon-Wheel Leaf, and Terrain Dragon Blood Crystal Powder," Sun Hecheng opened a thick book. "The perfect formula and proportions are here. You can take a look and weigh the herbs yourself."

Bai Xiaowen nodded and placed the first medicinal herb— Ironthread Vine— on one side of the balance scale to begin weighing it.

Before Sun Hecheng noticed, Bai Xiaowen activated his Insight ability to probe this small section of Ironthread Vine.

[Ironthread Vine]

[Rank: 1]

[Year: Two years and three months]

[Composition: Energy components (Life Particles) 9.97%, plant fiber 86.12%, impurities (phosphorus, phloem, moisture, etc.) 3.91%]

Bai Xiaowen understood perfectly and silently calculated:

[Among the ingredients, the 'energy component' should be the active ingredient, but it only accounts for 9.97%, which suggests that this section of Ironthread Vine is somewhat old. According to the perfect formula ratio, the active ingredient of Ironthread Vine should account for 2.85% of 100 grams of the total medicinal liquid. Converting this... I should need approximately 28.59 grams of * Ironthread Vine *...]

Bai Xiaowen felt a surge of emotion; this was truly the right way to unlock one's Insight Talent.

Bai Xiaowen stared at the scale markings, took out a small knife, and began cutting the Ironthread Vine. He cut quickly at first, but then slowed down, removing the excess part in units of almost 0.01 grams, just like polishing a diamond.

Sun Hecheng frowned slightly, not quite understanding Bai Xiaowen's intention. Normally, when estimating the weight of the Ironthread Vine herb to be 27-30 grams, an experienced Alchemist would take a value within this range based on their intuition (the quality of the herb itself), unlike Bai Xiaowen, whose meticulous and tedious method was somewhat unnecessary.

"Call..."

Bai Xiaowen breathed a sigh of relief, placed the tray containing 28.59 grams of Ironthread Vine, and covered it with a glass dome. To be on the safe side, he used his Insight again to ensure the accuracy of the ingredients.

Bai Xiaowen spent a considerable amount of time processing the Fuluo Flower, the Moon-Wheel Leaf, and the Blood Crystal Powder from the Earthwalker Dragon, using Insight multiple times and spending several Psionic Points in total.

Although the Psionic Points consumption for each use of Insight Herbs is small, the number of uses makes a big difference.

Although Sun Hecheng was somewhat puzzled by Bai Xiaowen's tedious work, as a Advanced Alchemist, he was quite patient and did not disturb Bai Xiaowen, waiting for Bai Xiaowen to finish.

Are you ready?

"Ready."

Bai Xiaowen rubbed his hands together and, under Sun Hecheng's guidance, officially began the preparation.

"The first step is to prepare the base solution. The active ingredients in the Ironthread Vine and Moon-Wheel Leaf are extracted using distillation, and then initially mixed... The standard mixing time is exactly 15 seconds. The next step is to add purified water. This standard time is only a reference; in actual operation, due to variations in the active ingredients of the herbs, it may be a fraction of a second earlier or later. This requires experience to judge..."

After Bai Xiaowen finished heating and distilling, he directly mixed the mixture and picked up the test tube containing the purified water.

Timing it perfectly, just as the stopwatch jumped to 15 seconds, Bai Xiaowen poured in the purified water without hesitation.

Sun Hecheng's lips moved, but he didn't speak. He was somewhat surprised to find that Bai Xiaowen poured the water at the exact moment it was poured, neither too early nor too late, and based on experience, it was the most appropriate time.

"A coincidence?" Sun Hecheng murmured to himself.

However, the subsequent steps increasingly surprised Sun Hecheng.

Bai Xiaowen followed the standard procedure exactly step by step, without changing even 0.1 seconds! The process seemed rigid and without any discretion, but every step was done correctly and perfectly!

Until the very end, when the Fuluo Flower was sprinkled in for the final step, Sun Hecheng did not offer any further instructions.

"This... is definitely not a coincidence."

A dozen minutes later, a vial of potion emitting a rich red glow stood quietly on the test tube rack. Bai Xiaowen's Alchemist proficiency had increased again, rising from the full level 2 to Alchemist 3.

The reagents on the test tube rack were crystal clear, without any sediment or impurities, like flawless rubies under a microscope, mesmerizing.

"This purity..." Sun Hecheng hesitated for a moment, then emphasized, "It's absolutely perfect quality, very likely over 95% purity... I really can't tell the exact percentage."

Sun Hecheng was both excited and shocked. He pulled over an apprentice. "Go and call the shop manager over... quickly."

The apprentice stared wide-eyed in surprise, as if questioning with his eyes. Shouldn't the boss usually go to see him first? Was it appropriate to call the boss over like this?

"Go now!" Sun Hecheng almost kicked him before the apprentice finally realized what was happening and ran off in a flash.

Sun Hecheng turned around and stared at Bai Xiaowen: "How... did you do that?"

Bai Xiaowen felt uneasy under his gaze, rubbed her face, and forced a smile, "Well... Master Sun, you watched the whole process, right? I made it according to your instructions and the perfect recipe in the book."

"Don't talk nonsense. Even if I tried it myself, I couldn't make a potion of this purity even once in ten tries," Sun Hecheng recalled Bai Xiaowen's production process. "Could it be that the ingredients are special?"

As Sun Hecheng spoke, he picked up the remaining two portions of medicinal herbs and examined them carefully, but found nothing.

Not long after, the old store manager, Zhang Jing, arrived.

"What happened?"

After Sun Hecheng explained the situation, the old shopkeeper also became interested. He picked up the newly made potion and examined it carefully against the light.

"96% purity, even among perfect-grade potions, this is a rare gem."

The veteran shop manager, Zhang Jing, commented, " In Hecheng, once a potion reaches this level of purity, the raw materials become less important."

Sun Hecheng put down a few medicinal herbs, nodded, and looked at Bai Xiaowen at the same time as Zhang Jing: "Indeed, the reason should be in the preparation process. Little Bai, how exactly did you do it? Is there some trick to making such a high-purity, perfect-grade potion in large quantities by a low-level Alchemist?"

Bai Xiaowen felt a little uneasy under their gazes, so she decided to tell the truth, "Well, I have a talent called Insight, you all know about it, right?"

"I know, it's a combat-aid ability that lets you see other people's attributes. What does that have to do with pharmaceuticals?" Sun Hecheng asked, puzzled.

"Actually, the Insight Talent can be used not only on people, but also on any other object containing Psionic Particles, such as medicinal herbs," Bai Xiaowen explained. "And when I use my Insight ability on medicinal herbs, I can clearly see the proportion of their active ingredients..."

That one sentence is enough.

Sun Hecheng's eyes widened. "See the proportion of the active ingredients? Then you can accurately measure...?"

"That's right, I can precisely determine the amount of each medicinal herb to be used, down to one-hundredth of a gram," Bai Xiaowen said. "If the raw materials reach this level of precision, then we can simply follow the perfect preparation process derived in the book step by step."

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be possible to mass-produce these potions using machines? And wouldn't they all be perfect-grade?" Sun Hecheng thought quickly, "Then the Alchemist industry... would probably suffer a fatal blow."

The old shop manager, Zhang Jing, suddenly asked, "How long does it take you to measure the weight of a portion of medicinal herbs?"

"It took nearly two hours in total to prepare the four kinds of medicinal herbs." Bai Xiaowen secretly admired Zhang Jing, the old shopkeeper, for his quick thinking and instant grasp of the crux of the problem.

"In that case, working eight hours a day would only yield four portions of medicinal herbs, and including preparation time, the output would be no more than three bottles."

Old Shopkeeper Zhang Jing pondered for a moment and said, "For an average Alchemist, the ability to make three perfect-grade potions a day is enough to make a name for themselves in the potion world, and even become a Grandmaster Tier in their field. But... for Hero Class, Little Bai's time is an invaluable asset, and he probably won't spend all his time on this..."

Bai Xiaowen laughed and said, "Activating my Insight Talent requires spending Psionic Points. Just to determine the effective components of these medicinal herbs, I spent several Psionic Points... It's hard to say whether it's worth so many Psionic Points for a single Enhancement Potion potion worth two or three million. Therefore, large-scale mechanized production is really difficult to achieve."

Sun Hecheng shook his head and said, "The price of a perfect-grade potion is completely different from that of a high-quality one. This one of your potions could sell for tens of millions at an auction... Of course, for you, who don't lack Earth currency, spending Psionic Points to earn tens of millions of Earth currency is putting the cart before the horse."

Given the exorbitant costs of Psionic Points and time, mechanized production is definitely out of the question. Thinking this, Sun Hecheng inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang Jing fell into deep thought, then slowly said, "However, Little Bai's talent can help our pharmacy solve a major problem..."

Sun Hecheng's expression shifted. "Teacher, you mean... competition with the Titan Potion Shop? Little Bai probably doesn't have that much time. He can probably only make a few potions a month at most, and that's just a drop in the ocean for a shop."

Zhang Jing chuckled and shook his head, "Use your brain! How can a perfect-grade potion with a purity of over 96% be sold in the front hall through normal channels? We can implement purchase limits! Sell one or two bottles a week, hold a live auction, and use some media resources to hype up the 'Genius Potion Master' title. Wouldn't our Super God Potion Shop's reputation also rise along with it?"

Sun Hecheng was somewhat bewildered.

Zhang Jing turned to Bai Xiaowen: "Little Bai... I didn't want to tell you about the competition from Titan Potion Shop that you heard about before. The situation is indeed very serious. Titan Potion Shop has already opened a branch in Chihuo Plaza, clearly trying to seize territory. Moreover, they have a group of excellent Alchemist trained for many years, and their supply is plentiful and comprehensive. We can't compete with them, so we have to think of other ways. Can you do me a favor?"

Bai Xiaowen readily replied, "What do you want me to do? Just tell me how many bottles of potion you need to make each month, and I'll try my best to find the time to complete it."

There will be a bonus update today.