Holy Water

"Boss, your complexion..."

The moment Lehman entered the underground laboratory, he saw Borne's pale face.

Although his boss often holed up in the underground laboratory, being this pale was truly rather strange.

If he had not sensed that Borne's magic power was upright and peaceful, he would have thought Borne had begun researching negative energy.

"It's nothing. I suffered a minor internal injury. I'll be fine in a couple of days!"

Borne did not want to discuss the matter further. After all, it was not exactly something glorious.

"An internal injury..."

After thinking for a moment, Lehman suddenly took a small porcelain bottle from his robes.

"Hm? What's this?"

Borne noticed a sun insignia engraved on the bottle.

Lehman smiled. "Holy water from the Church of Amaunator. Want to give it a try? It works quite well for treating injuries."

Borne thought it sounded good as well. Arcanists did not yet hold such deep prejudices against churches, and even if they did, he saw nothing wrong with using holy water.

Whether a cat was black or white, as long as it caught mice, it was a good cat.

After downing a mouthful of holy water, Borne's complexion instantly improved considerably. At the very least, he no longer looked like he was about to die.

As an ancient deity, Amaunator had left a fairly good impression on Borne. Though he would later be thoroughly screwed over by his followers, things were still alright for now.

The gods of this era were still quite tolerant. Even without faith, as long as one did not openly oppose, blaspheme against, or get blacklisted by a deity, items such as holy water would still work. The effects might simply be weaker than for believers.

But if quality was lacking, quantity could make up for it. After draining an entire bottle, Borne's injuries were more than half healed.

"Not bad. It actually tastes like Sprite!"

Holy water was flavorless, but once swallowed, it would automatically turn into the drinker's favorite flavor.

Lehman was already used to Borne occasionally saying strange things.

"As long as you like it. I'll have someone bring you more tomorrow. I'm on rather good terms with Deacon Follis at the Temple."

"A deacon? Looks like the Chamber of Commerce is doing well. You've even gotten in with the church."

"That is all thanks to you, Boss. I merely followed your arrangements..."

"Stop!"

Borne hurriedly cut him off. "Don't bring that social-climbing nonsense out around me. Even if it doesn't disgust you, it makes me uncomfortable."

"Haha, sorry. I'm a little too used to it and couldn't switch gears right away."

As he spoke, Lehman took out a detailed report and handed it to Borne.

"Boss, this is the Chamber of Commerce's revenue report for the past half year!"

Borne took it, casually flipped through a few pages, then tossed it back to Lehman. "Mm, just handle it as you see fit. Keep the current model for now."

Though he had only glanced at it a few times, his powerful mental strength gave him formidable thinking ability, and he had already grasped most of the situation.

"A decline in performance is perfectly normal. Our competitors aren't idiots. What we can do, they can do too. Unconventional tactics should only be used when they can catch people off guard, not every single time. Just secure the market share we've taken as quickly as possible."

"The pie should be made bigger together. Hogging it all for ourselves will not only make others resent us, but also provoke public outrage."

Lehman nodded respectfully. "I'll host a reception in the next couple of days and invite several chamber presidents and chairmen. Will you honor us with your presence, Boss?"

"No. There's no need for me to show up over something this minor."

Borne refused without hesitation.

What a joke. He was still underage—what was he supposed to drink for? Besides, at gatherings like that, there were always some improper "older" women trying to take advantage of him.

Hmph. Women would only slow down his spellcasting!

In the early days, Borne had often kept track of the Chamber of Commerce's affairs. Now, he had basically handed management over to Lehman.

After two or three expansions, the Lehman Trading Company had officially entered the ranks of Nether's top chambers of commerce. Its meteoric rise left people dumbfounded.

More importantly, the Lehman Trading Company belonged to Borne alone. The Ioulaum Chamber of Commerce had needed the efforts of several generations before reaching the ranks of top chambers under the Earl.

And Borne had done it in only a few years?!

It practically made jaws hit the floor...

Several of Borne's business moves had been hailed as classics in the commercial world. Every industry studied and copied them repeatedly, resulting in a sharp rise in Nether's commercial prosperity over recent years. Even tax revenue had increased three- or fourfold.

The finance minister practically floated when he walked.

And much of that was thanks to Borne. For this reason, he had been given the title of Golden Finger.

A business genius who could turn stone into gold!

Borne only wanted to curse. Which idiot had given him that title? If he found out, he would kill them on the spot!!!

Hmph!

Was making money really that hard?

He had never heard of a transmigrator who lacked money.

With Nether still stuck in such primitive business models, Borne had hundreds of ways to make money.

He had not even introduced any new products. He had merely used ordinary business methods to capture the market.

It was a contest between equals.

Other transmigrators either farmed monsters for loot, produced things directly themselves—like making potions—or used future-era products for a crushing advantage. They were weak as hell...

Borne believed that competing on equal footing was what truly gave one a sense of accomplishment.

The two then went down to Borne's second underground laboratory.

After several expansions, this place had grown to more than a hundred square meters.

As Borne's strength increased, his experiments inevitably made more noise. More importantly, some things were not suitable to be kept upstairs.

Though the upper laboratory had wards, they might not be very effective against high-ranking spellcasters or ward specialists.

Borne had used mechanical means to isolate the lower laboratory, and only he knew how to open it.

Lehman had visited the lower laboratory twice before, but every time he entered, he could not help revealing an envious look, especially at the fully equipped laboratory.

The two descended on a lift platform. Borne lightly snapped his fingers, and several spheres of light instantly illuminated the basement.

Lehman's gaze was immediately drawn to the small flower bed placed in the center.

The flower bed was enclosed by transparent glass, yet the "plants" inside showed no signs of withering. On the contrary, they were growing remarkably well.

"An Arcane Garden?!"

Lehman stared blankly at the "miniature" Arcane Garden, which was less than ten square meters in size. His eyes widened enormously.

It might have been far smaller than the enormous Arcane Gardens inside academy Wizard Towers, but small as it was, it was still an Arcane Garden.

There was no Elemental Pool from a Wizard Tower here, only an ordinary compartment in a basement, yet Borne had truly recreated one!

In the world of Faerûn, aside from common medicinal potions, there were also wondrous magical potions and spell potions!

Magical potions were simple: they were potions brewed from magical herbs. Due to the extraordinary properties of magical plants, such concoctions usually possessed effects far beyond ordinary medicine.

The other kind was spell potions. Spells could not only be inscribed onto specially made paper to create magic scrolls, but also made into potions.

Using scrolls required a certain degree of mental strength, and sometimes even a small amount of magic power as the "key" to activate them.

Spell potions were completely foolproof. One only needed to throw one or open its cap. Even an ordinary person could use them, making spell potions extremely popular and driving their prices sky-high for a time.

The main ingredients for making spell potions were the enchanted plants in an Arcane Garden, also known as magical plants.

They were mainly natural plants that had mutated and gained magical properties. Later, more were transplanted into places like Arcane Gardens, where elemental activity was high, for cultivation. But yields had always been low, and spellcasters consumed much of them themselves, so relatively few spell potions flowed out of Wizard Towers each year.

However, compared with inscribing spell scrolls, the threshold for producing spell potions was much higher. Even plants of the same species developed completely different magical properties under the influence of active elements.

Inert, violent, gentle—these varied and ever-changing temperaments were unlike herbs, whose medicinal properties were fixed. With a formula, one would eventually succeed after enough attempts.

But formulas alone were useless for spell potions. They required astonishing talent from the maker, and sometimes even luck!

This was why spell potions cost several times as much as scrolls, and were almost always unavailable no matter the price!

Ten square meters was not much space, so there was not much room for planting. Under the influence of active elements, every plant had grown exceptionally large, their enormous leaves glimmering with light.