"Boom—!!!"
Suddenly, it was as if a bomb had detonated inside the crucible.
Blinding blood-red light mixed with violent blue arcs erupted from the mouth of the crucible, while a shockwave carrying an extreme stench of blood, sulfur, scorching, rust, and destructive lightning swept through the entire laboratory in an instant.
The sturdy laboratory table groaned under the strain. The bottles and jars around it shook violently, and several nearby glass vessels burst with a sharp crack.
A wave of energy spread outward, powerful enough to injure weaker lifeforms.
Duke was naturally unaffected. Yellow sand rose on its own, shielding him from the spreading energy wave and the fragments from the exploding equipment.
The specially made silver crucible was covered in charred marks and tiny cracks. Most of it had shattered as well, making it unusable again.
Only smoking, charcoal-like residue remained inside the crucible, giving off a strange, pungent odor that mixed scorching and bloodiness.
The expensive potion ingredients, along with nearly ten thousand first-tier magic stones' worth of materials, had completely gone to waste in this attempt.
Failure was normal. Duke had never expected to succeed on his first try. Blood of War was indeed extremely complex to brew, and many stages of the process involved violently surging energy.
The slightest carelessness could cause the entire brewing process to fail.
And without enough brewing experience, it was easy to make mistakes in minor details.
He slowly closed his eyes. Every detail of the first attempt, every energy fluctuation, and every mental impact replayed and underwent rapid analysis in his mind.
"Again." Duke was not discouraged. Instead, he began preparing for his next attempt.
Three days later.
[Blood of War: LV1 (1/30)]
The brand-new silver crucible before Duke contained a blood-red solution that gave off a pungent