Awakening Potion

Early the next morning, Ian was preparing to continue brewing potions when a knock interrupted him.

"It's Simon!"

When he opened the door and saw who it was, Ian's heart tightened.

His strength was far inferior to the other man's now, not only in terms of rank, but also in his mastery of wizardry.

He had only learned Wizard's Hand on the Status Panel to make potion brewing more convenient. It had no combat power whatsoever.

"Ian, my little brother, have you brewed the potion yet? I still have quite a few medicinal herbs here. Want them?"

Simon acted very familiar as he barged right in and began peddling potion ingredients again.

"Brother Simon, I only bought some recently. I still have plenty on hand."

Ian responded cautiously. After transmigrating here, he had seen through this man's outward kindness and recognized the greed and malice in his bones.

"That's fine too. I already brought the herbs, and it'd be troublesome to take them back. I'll sell them to you cheaply for fifteen magic stones."

Simon tossed the cloth bundle in his hand onto the table and stared at Ian.

From the look of things, he intended to force Ian to buy them.

A dangerous aura gradually rose from Simon's body.

Ian's hairs stood on end as his thoughts raced.

Those herbs were not even worth five magic stones, but there was no point arguing now.

"Brother Simon, I'll take the herbs for now, but I don't have any magic stones at the moment. Once my family sends some over, I'll pay you back immediately. How about that?"

Ian's family regularly mailed him twenty to twenty-five magic stones every two months for his studies.

Among Low-Level Apprentices, those were exceptionally good conditions.

"Oh?"

Simon froze for a moment, staring fixedly at Ian as he thought, He's already out of magic stones?

However, Ian had never shorted him on magic stones before, so he did not care too much.

"Then keep them for now. Just make sure you prepare the magic stones soon."

After saying that, Simon turned and left.

"This brat can't run away anyway. I'll come back to collect the debt in a few days."

Ian stood by the window, watching Simon's retreating figure with a dark look in his eyes.

Once the other man had gone far away, Ian hurried out as well and headed straight for a neighbor's house.

The moment he reached the courtyard entrance, he shouted loudly.

"Brother Kenna, are you home?"

A moment later, the courtyard gate creaked open, and a burly man emerged. It was Kenna.

He was tall and broad-shouldered, with long golden hair casually draped over his shoulders.

Two deep nasolabial folds on his face gave him a stern, harsh air.

"Why are you yelling like a ghost so early in the morning?"

Kenna's tone was unfriendly, but he still let Ian into the house.

"Brother Kenna, I hadn't seen you in a long time, so I came over to visit."

"Bullshit. Didn't we have a meal together just over ten days ago? Spit it out. I still need to train."

Kenna glared at Ian and cut off his nonsense.

"Hehe, there is a small matter I need you to step in and help with."

Based on his memories, Ian knew that before entering Shadowmoon Tower, Kenna had been a powerful Knight.

His character was quite good. Cold on the outside but warmhearted within, he was something of an oddity around here.

"Just now, Simon forced some herbs on me. I managed to deal with him for the moment, but he'll come again."

Ian had no other choice. His connections had always been pitifully sparse, so he could only ask the kind-hearted Kenna for help.

"According to wizard principles, I'll pay you a reward: one Awakening Potion."

An Awakening Potion sold for five magic stones on the market.

"Oh?" Kenna had not cared much about the matter at first. He had long found Simon unpleasant as well.

When he heard that Ian could give him a potion, he seemed to guess something and looked at Ian in surprise.

"Have you already gotten started in Potion Studies?"

Professions such as potions, Alchemy, runes, and Enchanting were fields reserved for geniuses.

Not merely geniuses among ordinary people, but prodigies among wizard apprentices!

Kenna himself had terrible talent in those areas, and he envied them immensely.

He had chosen the path of Bloodline Modification, and his combat ability was indeed quite good.

But in the world of wizards, if you could not earn resources, what use was it to know how to fight?

Those geniuses who could earn resources could fight even better than him!

"I think I'm almost there. I don't know why, but I seem to have some talent in Potion Studies. I'm terrible at everything else too."

Ian scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"Fine, I'll take care of it. Just call for me if anything happens."

Kenna agreed readily, and Ian immediately felt a weight lift from his body.

The two chatted casually for a while before Ian took his leave.

Kenna stood outside the door, pondering for a long time.

After returning home, Ian settled down and continued grinding away at potion brewing.

On the third night, the world outside was pitch-black.

Ian's eyes were bloodshot as he worked tirelessly at the workbench.

Three consecutive days of brewing had consumed a great deal of his mental energy, but the gains had been enormous.

Seeing that the proficiency of Awakening Potion was just a little short of a breakthrough, Ian picked up another set of ingredients.

He mixed the extracted liquid from Menthol Crystal with Moonlight Grass solution, then stirred it under gentle heat until it formed a clear, pale-blue liquid.

He then carefully poured it into a glass cup while sprinkling in Magic Catalytic Powder.

He injected a trace of Magic Power, causing it to react.

After a while, the liquid in the transparent glass tube began to stabilize, giving off an enchanting blue glow.

At that moment, his mind shook violently, and a flood of insights surged forth.

Ian closed his eyes and absorbed the information flowing through his mind.

[Awakening Potion: Beginner (1/100)]

Ian looked at the finished potion in his hand, his eyes full of excitement.

"I finally succeeded once. From now on, I can keep taking potions to cultivate without end!"

Looking at the potion he had brewed himself, a sense of accomplishment filled his chest.

Only then did Ian feel the extreme exhaustion in his mind and the waves of hunger rising from his stomach.

He quickly ate something, calmed his mind, and sat cross-legged on the bed.

He picked up the potion he had just brewed and downed it in one gulp.

As the potion slid down his throat, its effects exploded in his mind.

At once, waves of coolness spread through his previously exhausted mind.

Ian recalled the cultivation process of the Star-Moon Meditation Method and began meditating.

He had light affinity, which gave him a certain boost in meditation.

At the beginning, a novice only needed to outline three Will runes to successfully advance to a Low-level Wizard Apprentice.

To advance further, they needed to outline nine Will runes.

In a daze, Ian looked at the three crescent-shaped runes at the center of his mind.

When magnified for a closer look, the runes were complex three-dimensional structures. Their pointed ends faced inward as they interlocked and slowly rotated.

Specks of starlight flickered across the three crescent runes.

Only after outlining the most basic three runes could insubstantial Mental Power have an anchor.

Afterward, meditation could be used to continually temper and strengthen Mental Power.

As for the bodily strengthening after Magic Power entered the body, that was merely an additional benefit.

Ian noticed that two slightly smaller runes had already appeared beside one of the crescent runes.

The areas beside the other two runes were completely empty.

[Star-Moon Lower Meditation Method Proficiency +1]

[Star-Moon Lower Meditation Method Proficiency +1]

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

His thoughts suddenly became sluggish, and a faint stabbing pain came from his temples.

For a Junior Wizard Apprentice with average aptitude like him, four hours of meditation a day was the limit.

Beyond that limit, his body would be unable to withstand the erosion of Magic Power, and his Mental Power would also suffer losses.

He opened his eyes, gently rubbed both temples, and brought up the Status Panel.