A Brand-New Path

First was the issue of stabilizers. Wizards in this world were accustomed to relying on their own powerful mental strength to forcibly reconcile and suppress conflicts between medicinal properties.

They clearly paid little attention to using external aids—in other words, more efficient stabilizers.

To the wizards of this world, stabilizers were more like tools exclusively meant to assist apprentices.

When it came to brewing mid- and high-tier potions, wizards usually only added a little out of habit, more like a placebo.

An immense amount of information from the Compendium of Herb Properties and Leyline Mineral Deposits flashed through his mind. Soon, information on several materials surfaced.

[Ice Crystal Stone] A mineral containing pure ice-element magic power. Extremely cold in nature, it could effectively suppress and calm overly active fire-element and blood-energy types of power. It was often used as a casting material for certain ice spells or in forging enchantments. There were very few medicinal records, only mentioning that it could neutralize certain violent fire toxins.

[Soul Stone] A peculiar semi-transparent crystal, brittle yet hard, with excellent affinity for and conductivity of mental strength. It possessed connecting and buffering properties, and could even store mental strength. Only a few medicines for treating mental illnesses required its use.

[Stone Root Grass]: The most basic stabilizer material. Though its efficacy was lacking, it could be purified to enhance its effects.

A compound stabilizer formula that had never existed before gradually took shape in Li Ang's mind. His pen swiftly recorded this bold idea.

Repeatedly boil Stone Root Grass to obtain large quantities of extract, then boil the extracts dry to obtain the purest Stone Root Grass Crystal. Add Ice Crystal Stone to suppress violent fire-element energy and remove some of the toxicity from certain materials. Soul Stone would serve as an extension of his mental strength, connecting several different energies and assisting their fusion.

He wrote down the names of the three materials, noting approximate ratio ranges and preliminary processing methods afterward. The Ice Crystal Stone and Soul Stone needed to be ground into an extremely fine powder...

Yet as he wrote, his brows furrowed again. Even with this new compound stabilizer formula, the traditional brewing method of simply heating and stirring still seemed insufficient to make up for his lack of mental strength.

High temperatures could certainly speed up the efficiency of water extraction, but what he faced now was that the medicinal solution was reacting too quickly and too violently.

"Temperature..." Li Ang tapped his fingertips against the table and muttered, "What if... it isn't heated the entire time?"

A concept from his previous life abruptly burst into his mind: Cold Extraction.

In this world, potion brewing was practically synonymous with heating. Using different temperatures to activate and fuse medicinal properties was a deeply entrenched tradition.

Cold processing? No one had ever tried it, but why shouldn't he?

The thought made his heart pound. A brand-new approach to the potion-brewing system unfolded before his eyes.

He immediately began writing furiously on the parchment, recording the preliminary procedure for a Cold-Extraction Potion...

Every step came with countless details that needed verification. What exact temperature should be used at low temperatures? How long should each stage last? In what order should the materials be added? How quickly should the temperature be raised?

These questions would normally require a great deal of experimentation to explore, but Li Ang's eyes shone with excitement, because he did not need to work things out bit by bit.

Early the next morning, with no lessons from his mentor, Li Ang arrived at Mentor Eve's workshop soon after breakfast.

His gaze immediately fell on the Everfrost Rune Cabinet in the corner, which had never been used.

[Everfrost Rune Cabinet: Lv0]

[Status: Can be bound]

[Binding cost: 1 point of mental strength]

"Bind." With a slight movement of Li Ang's mind, a mental connection was instantly established.

[Binding successful]

[Everfrost Rune Cabinet: Current level Lv0]

[Current effect: Slightly extends storage preservation time]

[Lv1 effect: Preservation time +10%, minimum controllable temperature +10%]

[Upgrade requirement: Magic Starlet count in the Mental World reaches 1; consume 5 points of mental strength]

Without hesitation, he directly invested 5 points of mental strength into the upgrade.

[Upgrade successful]

[Everfrost Rune Cabinet: Lv1]

[Current effect: Preservation time +10%, minimum controllable temperature +10%]

A clearer chill fed back through the mental connection. Li Ang could now clearly sense the changes in temperature inside the cabinet, as well as its internal condition.

This was what gave him confidence. He did not need to feel his way through countless experiments; he could directly sense every change throughout the Cold-Extraction Potion process.

He took a deep breath, calmed the excitement in his heart, and began preparing the compound stabilizer he had envisioned.

First came the Stone Root Grass Crystal. He took a large quantity of unprocessed Stone Root Grass, placed it into a crucible, added distilled water, lit the Magic Heat Furnace, and began repeatedly boiling, extracting, and filtering it.

It was an extremely tedious and time-consuming process. He needed to precisely control the heat and water amount each time in order to extract the active components from the Stone Root Grass to the greatest extent possible.

The workshop was silent, save for the faint bubbling of the medicinal liquid. Sweat slid down from his temple as time passed second by second.

In the end, after using more than thirty portions of Stone Root Grass powder and spending several hours repeatedly extracting and distilling it, he obtained roughly 3 grams of pure grayish-white Stone Root Grass Crystal.

Next, he took out the Blackstone Grinding Mortar and ground the selected Ice Crystal Stone and Soul Stone separately.

With the mortar's effect, the two hard minerals were quickly ground into fine powder as delicate as dust.

Li Ang cautiously took out a portion of each. Then, he separated a thread of his mental strength and slowly infused it into that small pinch of Soul Stone powder.

Like water soaking into a sponge, the Soul Stone powder faintly lit up with a flowing gleam and stored that thread of mental strength perfectly.

The final step was to mix the three according to the ratios he had calculated.

When the Stone Root Grass Crystal, Ice Crystal Stone powder, and Soul Stone powder infused with mental strength were heated in a small spare crucible, the three materials instantly fused tightly together.

The compound stabilizer succeeded on the first try!

Looking at the roughly 10 grams of grayish-blue powder at the bottom of the small crucible, Li Ang felt an enormous sense of accomplishment rise in his heart.

He carefully stored this incomparably precious compound stabilizer in a small crystal bottle.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Li Ang ran outside the workshop and sat down against a wall. He planned to rest for a while and take a few bites of bread.

After resting for a while, Li Ang stood up again and entered the workshop. He took out another small spare crucible, filled it with the purest magical water using the Water Creation Spell, then opened the Everfrost Rune Cabinet.

Several materials requiring low-temperature storage were kept inside the rune cabinet. However, even this low-temperature storage could not preserve them indefinitely. Usually, the materials would lose their vitality and become unusable after about a year.

Li Ang carefully placed the small crucible into the rune cabinet, then added one drop of anticoagulant to the crucible. This reagent allowed the solution to remain unfrozen even below zero degrees. Afterward, he took out a Sunflower and cautiously placed it into the crucible.