Healing Potion

Karen excitedly told Kael'thas and Antonidas that he had an aptitude for alchemy.

When Kael'thas learned that Karen had an aptitude for alchemy and now had something to do, as well as a direction for his future, he was very happy. He wished Karen success in advancing and gave him a gorgeous set of alchemy tools.

However, he didn't care much about what kind of results Karen might achieve. There were dozens of master alchemists among the High Elves alone, so it wasn't anything special.

Antonidas, on the other hand, was especially enthusiastic. "That's great! From now on, we'll come to you for all our potions. When will you be able to make Mana Potions? We're short on those. You could start by making a hundred Intellect Potions, too."

"A hundred bottles? I've only just learned to make Strength Potions. I don't know how to make Intellect Potions yet.

"And Mana Potions are advanced potions. They require an advanced alchemist to make." Karen rolled his eyes.

A hundred bottles? I haven't even studied the recipe yet. And even if I worked at it nonstop, I could only make a dozen or so bottles a day. A hundred would take nearly ten days. He really had some nerve asking.

He'd only just become an alchemist, and he was already eyeing advanced Mana Potions. What a big appetite.

"Most of the members in our guild are low- and mid-level mages. Using Mana Potions now would be a little wasteful, but by the time we advance to high-level mages, you'll probably be an advanced alchemist. That's when we'll really need Mana Potions.

"Besides, I believe you'll advance very quickly. You're loaded, after all. The record for a rich guy becoming a master alchemist is only ten years. I'm sure you'll be an advanced alchemist in no time."

"That's incredible. It only takes ten years to reach the top? Is alchemy that easy?

"Why are there so few alchemists, then?"

"That's just a record. Becoming an alchemist is actually very difficult.

"Just like with your main profession, there's a bottleneck when advancing to the advanced level. Most people get stuck there.

"Also, alchemy requires talent, and it burns through money. Only people in magic-based professions can become alchemists, and there are already few of them. Those with an aptitude for alchemy are even rarer.

"Advancing as an alchemist takes a lot of practice. Where would an ordinary alchemist get the money to keep experimenting and failing? Especially once you reach advanced potions—the ingredients cost a fortune. Most people can't afford it.

"Ordinarily, alchemists gain experience by making potions for other people.

"As far as I know, the Alchemist Association has only around twenty master alchemists."

Damn, that few? I'd heard that the High Elves alone had more master alchemists than that.

Oh, right. Most of them probably hadn't joined the association. The High Elves lived a long time, and there were plenty of rich ones among them. It really was possible that they had more master alchemists than the Alchemist Association. But the gap in the number of low-level alchemists was probably much bigger. Karen understood as soon as he thought it through.

"Oh, right. Hurry up and learn how to make beginner Intellect Potions.

"Your potions are such high quality, so remember to give me ones that are excellent or better.

"Ordinary ones are fine, too. I can use them as mouthwash." Antonidas added.

Karen rolled his eyes and gave Antonidas the middle finger. He'd seen plenty of shameless people, but never anyone this shameless. And to think he'd become an Archmage someday.

Although Karen looked down on Antonidas, he still focused on beginner Intellect Potions after that, and gave Antonidas everything he made. His success rate was pretty good; he achieved the success rate of a beginner alchemist after reaching beginner-level proficiency in about fifty percent of his attempts.

Still, Karen felt that he had plenty of room to improve and was nowhere near his limit.

As for quality, half of his potions were excellent, and ten percent were superb. But he hadn't seen a single Perfect Potion. He'd made hundreds of bottles without getting even one. It seemed Perfect Potions weren't something you could get by luck.

He gave all the potions to Antonidas, who was delighted. Now, the members of their guild could use Intellect Potions freely on missions. They increased the combat strength of mid-level mages by at least ten percent, not to mention the low-level mages.

Antonidas and the others discussed it. Although Karen was loaded, they felt bad taking so much from him for free.

They decided to provide the ingredients. The Alchemist Association had developed a special Material Extraction Device: you put in the ingredients, and anyone could extract their essence simply by supplying magic power.

They bought one, then supplied Karen with a constant stream of ingredients. Karen, in turn, kept making potions for Antonidas. This saved him a lot of time, and his alchemy experience rose quickly. The only problem was that he couldn't brew fast enough to use up all the ingredients.

Before long, Karen felt that he had reached the level of an intermediate alchemist.

He'd already mastered beginner potions, and his success rate had reached eighty percent. There wasn't much room left for improvement.

He told Antonidas not to bring him any more ingredients. He wasn't planning to make any more beginner Intellect Potions; after all, they still hadn't used up the ones he'd already made.

After using up the rest of the ingredients, Karen began studying Healing Potions, an intermediate potion.

Healing Potions were among the more famous intermediate potions, and they had many variant recipes. The basic Healing Potion recipe called for five kinds of magical ingredients and five kinds of nonmagical additives.

Karen wondered whether higher-level potions would require more kinds of magical ingredients and fewer nonmagical ones, or perhaps none at all.

There was no need to worry about extracting the ingredients; he could just buy them. Karen spent a day learning the recipe, rehearsed it in his mind a few times, and then began mixing.

Intermediate potions weren't very different from beginner potions in how they were made. They simply required more ingredients, more steps, greater care, and more time.

After trying a few times and getting familiar with the process, Karen began making them in earnest.

It took only three attempts for Karen to successfully make a bottle of Healing Potion, and it was excellent quality.

Holding the crystal bottle in his hand, Karen sensed a stronger concentration of magic than in beginner potions. He also sensed a hint of vitality. This was probably the special property of the main ingredient, Life Flower.

When he'd first gotten the Life Flower, he'd found it strange that he couldn't sense any vitality in it at all. Eating it directly caused poisoning, too, so he hadn't understood why it was called Life Flower. Now he knew it was used to make Healing Potions.

Was it like fragrance, where the concentration changed what you sensed? A faint scent was pleasant, but if it was too strong, it became foul. Was Life Flower the same?

Karen got someone to give him a Life Flower herb, tore off a tiny piece, and put it in his mouth. He chewed it. It tasted pretty good. Wait, that wasn't the point—he was poisoned again.

He hurriedly used an antidote to dispel the poisoning effect, then wondered whether the problem was its structure. Starch, for example, was a polysaccharide that the human body couldn't absorb directly. But once amylase broke it down into monosaccharides, the body could absorb it.

Karen tried some Life Flower extract. It tasted even better, and he wasted another antidote.

It seemed the extraction process only drew out the essence without changing the ingredients' structure.

Then, while mixing the potion, Karen continued experimenting with the liquid. At last, he discovered that when Life Flower was combined with three other herbs, its structure changed and vitality emerged, so it no longer had a poisonous effect. Alchemy was pretty interesting, and Karen became absorbed in it once more.