Life Potion

The Perfume House's explosive success naturally drew the covetous eyes of many wolves and jackals. But once they learned of Green's battle record, they fell silent and set aside their greed. No one who had risen to a position of power was a fool. When the rewards did not match the risks, no one would make a move.

Green attended an industry meeting hosted by the Tulip Trading Company, where several prominent trading companies signed an agreement. They would sell the perfume across the nations, while Green would only have to supply it. Once the sales were complete, Green would take sixty percent of the profits. To prevent the companies from making private deals and deliberately lowering the price, Green also set a minimum. No matter what price the perfume sold for, each company had to guarantee him that minimum payment.

The terms were somewhat domineering, but not one of the trading companies voiced dissatisfaction. On the contrary, they were eager. Under the circumstances, they should have been thanking heaven and earth that their businesses could survive at all.

Over the next six months, Green also formulated several ordinary perfumes. Though they fell far short of the perfume made with Stinky Flower, they still surpassed anything else on the market. These perfumes could be made from readily available ingredients, and the process was not especially troublesome, making them suitable for mass production. With the overwhelming advantage of Green's perfumes, the Perfume House soon monopolized the entire market.

After the Perfume House took off, Green handed its management to Ashlyn, Leila, and Mia, becoming an absentee owner himself. He had no time to manage it. His experiments were more important.

With those matters delegated, Green began carrying out his plan step by step. In a short time, he collected the contents of every book in Ellendal Harbor. The Chip's scanning and storage functions let him absorb vast amounts of knowledge quickly. He also commissioned the major trading companies to buy rare books and other materials from abroad. Amid this buying frenzy, he did manage to find a few things.

Green was conducting an experiment in the laboratory beneath the villa. Once cramped, it had expanded severalfold under his direction and was now much better equipped. With ample money behind him, Green could experiment as he pleased.

The laboratory was still filled with strange flowers and plants, insects, and animals. Wearing a white lab coat, Green stood before an experimental bench. Strangely, he did not move his hands at all, yet the beakers in front of him flew about, carrying out one precise operation after another.

"Wizard's Hand really is useful. It moves in step with the user's thoughts without the slightest error, and it consumes little energy. No wonder they call it essential Sorcery for Wizard experiments," Green marveled. After he had begun collecting books and knowledge in earnest, he had found hidden content in another book: the Wizard's Hand Sorcery. It offered no Combat power, but it was enormously helpful in a Wizard's experiments. With strong enough Mental Power, a Wizard could even use Wizard's Hand to conduct multiple experiments at once.

Through constant meditation, Green had solidified eight runes and become a Third-Class Apprentice. With the Chip's help, he constructed the model for this Sorcery and successfully cast it. Fascinated by his first success, he kept using it until the drain on his Mental Power finally sent him to sleep.

With the Chip, Green could use Wizard's Hand to perform all kinds of precise operations, even manipulating five objects at once. That was far beyond an ordinary Wizard Apprentice. According to the books, even Formal Wizards were only capable of about that much.

Under Green's continuous manipulation, various experimental Potions dripped into the beaker before him. Its contents changed color with each addition. Bubbles rose with a constant gurgle, while multicolored vapors billowed upward. One glance was enough to tell anyone that the Potion was dangerous in the extreme.

"Now for the final step." Green watched the Potion's colors shift, then turned to the side. Inside a large beaker, a thirty-centimeter-long, wormlike creature slowly wriggled.

The creature looked rather like a leech. Its dark green body was unsettling at first sight, and the two feelers on its head extended and contracted as though probing its surroundings. Its mouth was ringed with sawtooth teeth and had a structure resembling a sucker. Just looking at it raised goosebumps.

"The Helos Parasite. It lives in large whales. Who would have guessed that beneath that terrifying appearance, it could actually help them repair their bodies?"

Green had discovered it by accident. At a banquet where food made from a large whale was served, the Chip detected something unusual while he was eating. That was how Green found the parasite and discovered its restorative ability. When its whale host suffered a fatal injury, the parasite changed its form and continuously released a nourishing substance, helping the whale recover rapidly and preventing its wounds from worsening.

In extreme circumstances, after leaving behind an egg, a Helos Parasite inside a whale could even transform its body into a structure resembling a Life Seed. It converted itself directly into Life Force to save its host.

The moment Green discovered the creature, he recognized its enormous potential. If he could fully understand how it worked, he might be able to create an artificial Life Seed.

Green used Wizard's Hand to lift the Helos Parasite. A syringe flew up beside it and plunged into its body without hesitation, drawing blood. Feeling its blood drain away, the parasite struggled, thrashing its head wildly through the air as disgusting slime streamed from its mouth.

But it was all in vain. As more blood flowed out, its head thrashed less and less, until it stopped moving altogether.

Green looked at the blood he had drawn, then casually tossed the Helos Parasite into the trash. A glance revealed more than a dozen Helos Parasite corpses already inside.

"Chip, keep monitoring the entire reaction. Record the changes in the Life Potion." After giving the order, Green turned his attention back to the experimental bench.

Sizzle.

As the blood mixed with the Potion, it boiled instantly, like lime poured into boiling water. Multicolored vapors poured from the beaker. Green's expression did not change as he continued watching the reaction.

As time passed, the reaction weakened. The Potion, which had been changing color constantly, slowly turned green and finally settled into a vivid emerald.

Looking at the emerald-green Potion, Green smiled in relief. He picked up the beaker and slowly poured the liquid into a Test Tube, sealing it with an oak stopper. After confirming the seal was sound, he raised the Test Tube. Under the light, the emerald Potion gave off a faint green glow.

"Chip, simulate the effects of the Life Potion."

[Simulating...]

[Life Potion effect one: Treats bodily injuries and accelerates wound recovery.]

[Life Potion effect two: Provides additional Life Energy for Knight breakthroughs. Raises a Knight Apprentice's chance of success by 82.75%, a Formal Knight's by 54.58%, and a Grand Knight's by 10.58%.]

Unable to reach the world of Wizards, Green was not about to stand still. Without access to information about the Wizarding World, he had begun researching Knights using what he had at hand.

Looking at the Life Potion's effects, Green smiled and nodded. Now he had hope of becoming a Grand Knight. Ever since becoming a Formal Knight, he had searched for a way to make that breakthrough. He had even gone to the governor of Ellendal Harbor to ask him in person. The answer had been maddeningly mystical: Formal Knights became Grand Knights when, by chance, they brushed against some unknown power between life and death. Ask what power it was, and the Grand Knights themselves looked just as baffled. They had no idea what had happened either. They had simply become Grand Knights in a daze while facing death.

That left Green at a loss. As a scientist—and one who had already died once—he truly did not want to take that risk again.

"At least with the Life Potion, becoming a Grand Knight shouldn't be a problem. Old Green might even be able to start training again with it."

Beyond those two main reasons, Green had others. He was bound to leave Allendale for the world of Wizards. Once he was gone, the Perfume House would have nothing to support it. For a while, the various powers might refrain from acting out of lingering fear of him, but after enough time passed, there was no telling what they would do. People's hearts were hard to fathom.

Green needed to leave behind enough force to deter them and ensure stability for a long time. The Life Potion could produce Formal Knights on a large scale. Knights raised by pulling up seedlings to help them grow would be somewhat weaker than others of the same rank, but they could be made in great numbers. Quantity could overwhelm quality.

After using Wizard's Hand to tidy the laboratory, Green took the emerald-green Life Potion and left the underground lab.