The True Value of the Muscle-Building Potion

She did not persuade Li Ang to choose a more conventional, safer way to test the potion. She merely tilted her head slightly and signaled to Ginny, who stood waiting at the side.

Ginny immediately understood. She turned and swiftly took several bottles of potion from the nearby cabinet, setting them aside for use.

Meanwhile, Eve stared at those bottles of potion brimming with powerful vitality, seemingly lost in thought.

Just as Ginny anxiously feared that Eve was blaming her for bringing out potions that were too precious—

Eve finally spoke again. "Li Ang, wait a little longer."

With that, she turned and left the reception room, entering a room farther inside.

When Eve opened the door, Li Ang caught a vague glimpse of the room's layout. It should have been her bedroom.

Not long after, Mentor Eve emerged carrying a small box decorated with a starry pattern.

When Ginny saw the little box, she froze for a moment before suddenly remembering something.

A tempestuous wave instantly surged through her heart. Th-that was it! She had heard of that box, and of what it contained.

It was a gift from the tower's master, the legendary wizard Riley.

It had been given to Carlos Chloe, who had fought alongside him for many years, helped him build the tower, and established the Potion School within it.

The head of the school had been reluctant to use it himself and had instead left it to Lady Eve. It was practically a treasured heirloom of the Chloe family—the Universal Potion!

It was a legendary potion said to cure every disease in the world, even bringing the dead back to life.

Lady Eve had actually taken out such a treasure for a mere apprentice like him? Why?

Holding the box, Eve glanced at Ginny standing to one side and signaled for her to leave first.

Still reeling inside, the attendant immediately bowed, then withdrew from the room.

Li Ang, however, knew nothing of all this. He only saw that Eve seemed to take his request very seriously, which put his heart more at ease.

"Thank you, Mentor." He thanked her once more, then picked up the bottle of Muscle-Building Potion, tipped back his head, and drank the liquid in one gulp.

The potion slid down his throat like a warm current, but it swiftly transformed into a distinct burning sensation. It flowed down his esophagus, then burst apart with a bang, rushing toward every limb and bone.

Li Ang let out a muffled groan. He felt as though the blood throughout his body had begun flowing faster, while his muscle fibers seemed to be pricked by countless tiny needles. Waves of soreness, swelling, numb itchiness, and faint stinging pain washed over him.

His skin began to redden, his body temperature rose noticeably, and beads of sweat as large as soybeans seeped from his forehead.

At that moment, Li Ang could clearly feel his strength slowly increasing. The contours of his arm, chest, and abdominal muscles became clearer and somewhat fuller.

The process lasted roughly a quarter of an hour before the burning and aching sensations gradually faded.

Li Ang let out a long breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and moved his limbs. His strength had indeed increased, and his body felt a little sturdier as well.

He rolled up his sleeve and looked at his arm. The originally scrawny limb now truly showed faintly raised lines of muscle.

It was still far from brawny, but at least he had escaped the realm of a walking stick. That's it? Li Ang could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

After spending so many materials and so much effort, the final result seemed... a little underwhelming? It was worlds apart from the bone-deep transformation he had imagined.

What he failed to notice was that Eve, seated on the sofa opposite him, had those beautiful wide eyes flickering violently with incredulous shock.

As a potion master, her perception and experience surpassed Li Ang's by countless times.

She could clearly sense just what earth-shaking changes had occurred in Li Ang's body during the brief quarter of an hour when the potion took effect.

It was not merely a change in appearance. His muscle density, bone strength, cellular vitality... all of them had been permanently enhanced in an extraordinarily gentle manner, without the slightest side effect.

Eve lifted her teacup and took a small sip, trying to suppress her wildly pounding heart.

Ever since witnessing Li Ang's brewing process in the workshop, her heart had been pounding without pause. Left with no other choice, she had brewed a pot of Heart-Calming Tea to steady it.

Yet no matter how much Heart-Calming Tea she drank, Eve's heart, which had remained tranquil for a hundred years, still could not stop pounding wildly.

"Did you brew this?" Eve deliberately hardened her voice, using it to conceal the strange tremor within.

"Yes, Mentor." Li Ang answered respectfully, feeling both uneasy and expectant.

Though her voice was steady now, it carried a hazy, dreamlike quality.

"Li Ang, the energy level and properties contained within this potion have already reached the level of a high-tier potion. In theory, this is not something you should have been capable of brewing successfully."

Li Ang found it rather strange. Mentor Eve's tone did not sound as though she were questioning him. Instead, she seemed simply... dumbfounded?

Surely not? She was a potion master, after all. It was only a high-tier potion. It should not have shocked her that much.

Meeting her gaze, Li Ang said frankly, "Mentor, I did indeed brew this just now. I... I used a somewhat different method."

"A different method?" Eve's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Yes." Li Ang took a deep breath and continued.

"With the traditional heated fusion method, my mental power simply cannot balance such violent energy conflicts. So I tried... Cold Extraction."

"Cold Extraction?" Eve repeated the term. So that was the name he had given this low-temperature fusion method.

Li Ang continued explaining.

"It uses low temperatures for extraction and fusion. Through the Everfrost Rune Cabinet, I lowered the temperature during most of the reaction process, greatly slowing the rate at which the medicinal-property conflicts erupted. That gave the stabilizer and my weak mental power enough room to operate."

Eve nodded. "This is a path no one has ever imagined before, but that alone should still not have been enough, right?"

"Yes. I also improved the stabilizer." Li Ang continued, explaining in detail the composite stabilizer formula he had devised, as well as his ideas of adding Ice Crystal Stone to calm the energy and using Soul Stone as a buffer and extension for mental power.

As Li Ang spoke, the doubts in Eve's heart were finally answered. A brand-new path appeared before her eyes.

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at Li Ang, as though she were truly seeing this apprentice for the first time.

Cold Extraction, composite stabilizers, the mental-power extension of Soul Stone—he had bypassed the absolute dependence on mental power within the original system. This meant that high-tier potions would no longer be the symbol of high-tier wizards. Once the method was mastered, any wizard might be able to brew them successfully.

It was simply a genius-level idea.

Standing before her was a genius wizard capable of rivaling any legend.

And that was not all. The potion he had brewed was filled with limitless possibilities. Her heart began pounding violently again beyond her control.

Her gaze upon Li Ang became incomparably complex. There was astonished disbelief, joy at discovering a priceless treasure—but all those emotions were swiftly scattered by deep worry.

Eve took another large sip of Heart-Calming Tea, forcing herself to calm down. As she forcibly suppressed the immense turmoil in her heart, her voice became even lower and more solemn:

"Li Ang, you are a true genius, but your current situation is very dangerous."