Extraordinary Proficiency

Inside a quiet three-story house with a courtyard in Cuilan Academy's residential district.

Fran was arranging the equipment for brewing potions, placing all the potion-related instruments in a small room.

She had bought this house outright for four gold coins and fifty-three silver coins. Though it was rather remote and took half an hour to walk to the teaching district whenever she went out.

Still, it was spacious enough for Fran to store plenty of miscellaneous items. Besides, she usually did a little "business," so needing somewhere secluded was only natural.

After arranging the equipment, she took out three sets of materials for Strength Potions and placed them into three beakers.

After adding water, she directly activated the Harmonization Method. That was right—she was going to brew three potions at once.

This was a little trick she had suddenly discovered. After stacking two Professions, her Mental Power had increased dramatically, and she also possessed the [Skilled Alchemist] trait.

It allowed her to brew potions with ease. After some simple testing, she found that four bottles were her limit, and she could still make mistakes from time to time, so she settled on three.

As for the steps, those had been specifically designed so novice Apothecaries could brew potions easily through the Harmonization Method. She did not need such things; direct fusion was enough.

That was the strength that proficient Pharmacy had brought her. And now, after brewing three bottles, her Pharmacy was about to level up.

[You successfully completed a multiple potion brewing. Pharmacy proficiency +34]

[Pharmacy proficiency is full. Level increased.]

After putting the three potions into the box beside her, she began examining the changes brought by Pharmacy's upgrade.

[Name: Fran

Profession: Rune Warrior (half star), Apothecary (half star)

Attributes: Constitution 2.5, Mental Power 2.6

Skills:

Pharmacy (Extraordinary) (Proficiency: 3/100000): You have surpassed ordinary people in potion-making.

Star Gazing Art (Mastery) (Proficiency: 174/1000): You can skillfully obtain information from the stars.

...(omitted)

Traits: Moving with the Wind, Mental Power,

Miraculous Alchemist (You can make a potion's effects stronger or weaker, as you wish.)]

First, half a star had appeared after Apothecary, which meant the Profession's level had risen. But after leveling up, Apothecary was at the same star rating as Rune Warrior?

This upgrade had only increased her Mental Power by 0.3, while Rune Warrior's upgrade had raised both attributes by more than that. That was what confused Fran.

Why did it add so few attributes? How could it have the nerve to be at the same star rating as Rune Warrior?

Next, she looked at the trait section. Her Skilled Alchemist had become this Miraculous Alchemist.

Never mind whether this effect was good or not—could it have replaced her Skilled trait? When she played games, useless advanced skills often overwrote the most useful lower-level skills, causing the original effects to disappear entirely.

Frightened, she hurriedly brewed another three Strength Potions. Only after some time had passed, when she saw the three intact potions, did she finally let out a sigh of relief.

She felt that the brewing process had not only suffered no reduction in precision or familiarity, but had instead improved to an unbelievable degree.

Brewing three bottles now felt easy to her. She felt as though she could easily brew five.

And that was not all. She had not even concentrated much just now; she had even zoned out for a while, yet the potions had still been successfully brewed.

If the old her, with proficient Pharmacy, had been a very hardworking person who had immersed herself in potion-making for decades.

Then the current her, with extraordinary Pharmacy, was like a once-in-a-century genius, casually reaching a realm others could never attain even after exhausting their entire lives.

There was also the Miraculous Alchemist trait. She tried brewing another Strength Potion.

During the brewing process, she imagined the potion becoming more powerful, and then she felt her Mental Power weaken slightly.

After it was complete, she looked at the darker-colored Strength Potion and drank it in one gulp.

"It has such a strong effect even on someone with my Constitution, and the strength enhancement has increased too."

In gaming terms, its usage limit had increased, and the potion's effect had increased by around thirty percent.

"It is pretty good, but..."

Although she could make better potions like this, the question was: how was she supposed to sell them?

There were no such products on the market. At least, in the City of Apprentices, potions were not divided by effectiveness. In other words, there was no such thing as a "high-grade XX Potion."

No one else even knew about this stuff. If she set a higher price, there might not be anyone willing to buy it.

And it consumed her Mental Power as well. She estimated that she could only make around twenty bottles a day.

"I'll seal them away for now. They might come in handy someday."

Next, she made a small portion of the potions required by the order.

Then she checked the time.

"I'm a little tired, but it's still early..."

She felt that making that enhanced Strength Potion had somewhat drained her Mental Power, making her sleepier than usual.

She looked at the stars outside the window and gritted her teeth.

"Then I'll use that Star Gazing Art today. It has been a long time since I last used it."

Fran sat in a reclining chair, leisurely watching the stars outside the window. In her mind, one star chart after another emerged.

After her Star Gazing Art had risen to Mastery, a large number of star charts had appeared in her mind. Some of them she had seen in Astrology and the Sea, while others she had not.

Fran's vision went black. When she regained a little awareness, the first things she heard were a rapid, rhythmic clattering sound and an urgent, extremely loud whooshing sound.

When Fran could finally see the image clearly, she froze. Her only thought was: Why am I doing this?

First, there was a person's back. Fran quickly recognized that it was herself. Though she wore baggy clothes and long pants, and her clothing was filthy, she still recognized herself at a glance.

There was no one else around her. Only a machine in front of her was moving on its own.

It spewed thick smoke, and a wheel kept spinning without pause.

Fran watched for a while before recognizing it. Wasn't that a Steam Engine?

The entire Steam Engine was not small. It could envelop Fran's whole body, though it was only about one size larger than her.

Fran watched the flywheel spin continuously, and then the entire scene vanished, leaving only a notification.

[You once again observed a scene from the future. Star Gazing Art proficiency +20]

Fran thought for a moment. Just as she was about to use Divination Art, pain shot through her brain, and she hurriedly stopped.

"This is something from far in the future. I can't use Divination Art."

Fran rubbed her aching head. It seemed she would have to wait until later to find out why she was making this Steam Engine.

From the current Fran's perspective, Steam Engines were already outdated in this era. Why would she still make one?

Fran had heard other apprentices mention that elsewhere in The Alliance, there was a Magic Engine capable of moving a mountain and even raising an entire city into the sky.

Compared to a Magic Engine, a Steam Engine seemed to have no advantage in terms of power.