A Person's Value Lies in Self-Awareness

The storm raged on, dark clouds pressing down over the city beyond the windows, while candlelight flickered through the classroom.

Gently picking up a vial of potion, Nenneke examined it closely. "It looks very good," she said approvingly. "Very clear."

Then she shook her head. "Unfortunately, the Lord of Ellander does not lack things like this. There are aphrodisiacs Emeir regularly requests from the temple, and the alchemists serving the prince also supply tonics on a routine basis. Your 'Megatron' may not necessarily stand out."

Even without the priestess telling him, the boy knew all this. He had not only studied the temple's aphrodisiacs, but had also obtained the formula for that alchemist's tonic through Angoulême. Reliable information further indicated that the prince had recently stopped making incognito visits to the "technical academy."

So Victor said confidently, "No. Megatron will definitely win. It is something very special. Though my actual skill is no more than that of an alchemy apprentice, this is not the first time I have developed an erection-inducing potion formula.

"To put it bluntly, my talent for making this kind of potion is unparalleled. Even my grandmother was astonished by it. Back in my hometown of Bell Town, I earned the title of Master Victor solely through producing such products.

"But even so, I never gave any of those successful potions a name."

The thunderstorm outside gradually subsided. Victor took out another vial from the storage case, a vivid emerald green one, and gazed deeply at it in his hand.

"Megatron is the first!"

"Megatron is completely different!"

"It—acts directly on the body and has nothing to do with the user's own will. What Megatron enhances is the body's own performance. In other words, it does not actually stimulate a person's *desire. It is specifically intended to treat impotence in the 'physical sense.'"

Nenneke was visibly moved.

His voice carried a hint of teasing as he continued, "Prince Hereward is fifty years old. No matter how good or potent an aphrodisiac is, it cannot save a body worn down by excessive use in its twilight years. If it cannot perform, it cannot perform. No matter how excited someone is, it is useless if their body cannot keep up."

The smile curling Victor's lips could not conceal his pride. "But Megatron can! Depending on the user's physical condition, Megatron can support one to two hours of moderately intense activity before firing."

Putting the test tube back into its rack, the boy braced both hands on the table, interlacing his fingers beneath his chin. His voice was low and firm. "I believe this will be an offer Prince Hereward cannot refuse, especially since all you ask is that he send Knight Tylles away for a while."

Upon hearing the boy's request, the high priestess smiled at first, then let out a chuckle. "Sending him away for only a while is enough?"

"I do not entertain unrealistic expectations." The boy took out a folded sheet of paper and slid it toward Nenneke. "This formula requires disguise mushrooms. I will have no use for them later, so consider this an offering to the temple in thanks. I believe Prince Hereward will also become more supportive of the goddess Melitele because of it."

The old priestess nodded. "If all you ask is for Tylles to get out of Ellander temporarily, and if this potion truly is as miraculous as you say, Hereward could not possibly refuse such an offer. The Temple of Melitele would indeed receive greater support in the future.

"Have you conducted tests on this formula?"

"Yes. I conducted tests at every step of the process. I only drank the final product shortly before coming here, and I can guarantee its safety.

"You may conduct further tests as well, but I should point out that it has no effect on women. Besides, I believe the prince will have his own means of verifying its safety."

After hearing Victor's explanation, the high priestess blinked. Then her wise eyes suddenly narrowed, and she smiled with utterly ill-intentioned amusement. "Now that you mention it, since you just drank this 'Megatron' and now appear completely calm again, how did you make its effects disappear?

"At this hour, no female students would be going to the alchemy room. Child, can you answer this question?"

Long ago—fourteen years ago, in the first generation of Three Lives, Three Worlds—whenever Victor read novels, he always mocked one old cliché for being utterly illogical. Why was it that whenever the male lead took some springtime medicine, he had to hurry and find a woman to cure the poison?

Was the male lead's left hand not warm enough? Or was his right hand not nimble enough? Why did he have to find a woman?

The boy now knew the answer—because if he did not find a woman, it would be incredibly awkward when someone asked about it. Just as awkward as he was now. Damn it, this was seriously awkward.

Ignoring his burning cheeks, Victor coughed twice and said calmly, "Nenneke, I do not wish to answer that question. In any case, the effects disappeared. They disappeared without side effects."

Adjusting her sitting posture slightly and putting away her teasing smile, the old priestess spared Victor the chance to be further mocked. She opened the note that had been pushed before her and began to read.

While the two had been talking, the dark clouds had dispersed without them noticing, and sunlight streamed through the windows into the room.

After a while, Nenneke put away the note and affectionately reached out to ruffle Victor's handsome side-parted hair, turning it into a bird's nest. "Developing this formula must have taken a lot of time. Will it affect the purpose of your visit here? Do you need to stay a few more days?"

Pushing away the elder's hand, the boy smoothed his disheveled hair back into place. "No. Melitele be praised, the completion of this formula was almost entirely guided by her. It went unbelievably smoothly.

"Well then, I'll return to the alchemy room and continue reading."

With every purpose of the conversation now fulfilled, the boy stood and bowed in farewell. Just as he strode stylishly to the door, the high priestess called him back.

The old priestess hesitated for a moment, then sighed gently. "Well, child... although I do not know why Vesemir placed the hope of improving the Grass Decoction on you, no one has managed it in the past several centuries. You do not need to put too much pressure on yourself."

Victor smiled warmly without answering, nodded, and turned to leave. He knew his own limits. He had never intended to burden himself with unnecessary pressure.

Improving it was, of course, extremely difficult, and success was, of course, still far away. Not only did he lack a system that could conjure things out of thin air or optimize formulas for him, he had not even gathered all the materials needed to brew the Grass Decoction. Naturally, his progress on the improvement was zero.

There were plenty of extraordinary people who could imagine a formula out of nothing in their minds without conducting experiments, but unfortunately, Victor was not one of them. Besides, even if he gathered all the materials, he had no clue whatsoever how those materials interacted or what mechanism produced the mutagenic effects.

One had to know that the Grass Decoction had originally been the result of experiments built upon countless human sacrifices by two generations of mages, Cosimo and Alzur. A drug whose failed tests either killed the subject or left them deformed—they had no idea how many human trials they had conducted.

Was he supposed to improve the formula through that same kind of human *experiment?

Utterly inhuman! Victor was deeply opposed to it!

What, then—use it on himself without testing it first?

Damn it, he was not an idiot!

Whenever he thought of this, he became immensely envious of his grandmother's and third aunt's talents. His grandmother had supposedly been able to "listen to the voices of all things" at the age of twelve. No matter what material fell into her hands, it would automatically tell her its functions, medicinal effects, wishes, and even its void properties. She was absurdly powerful!

His third aunt had likewise been able to listen to the "voices of minerals" at the age of six. Having grown up in a mining town, she had been the darling of the entire village from childhood, because every precious and rare ore would call out to her from far away, asking her to pick it up. The first time she displayed her gift, she had taken a charred stone to her father and told him that a sapphire inside it was calling to her.

Only he, despite possessing the talent of Incredible Alchemy, had never heard the voices of herbs or minerals. He could only painstakingly memorize the effects and toxicity of all kinds of herbs, step by step.

Setting aside how he could cheat with memories from his past life when it came to formulas such as erection-inducing tonics, his actual accumulation of knowledge amounted to that of a six-year apprentice. With Incredible Alchemy, even making a somewhat more potent potion could leave him unconscious.

So he still diligently studied in the temple library, building up his knowledge of herbs; he conducted research in the alchemy room, pondering the conviction he "believed" in and reinforcing the foundation of Incredible Alchemy.