Potion Brewing

Dago sat on a wooden stump and let out a full belch, clearly having enjoyed his meal.

"If this method works, I won't have to worry about Magic Stones anymore."

With that thought in mind, he got up, entered the shelter, and opened his pack.

Inside, Moonlight Flowers the size of ginseng blossoms had been neatly stacked in layers. Their faint fragrance filled the air, and a deep breath left him feeling refreshed.

He counted them. There were six plants in total, each with six petals.

That was right. He planned to brew a Mental Potion according to Wizard Rosalyn's manuscript.

According to the steps in the manuscript, the first step was to shade-dry the entire Moonlight Flower for a day...

It could not be exposed to sunlight during the day. At night, it also had to be placed beneath the moonlight of the Origin Moon for an entire night.

Dago first placed the Moonlight Flowers one by one in a cool corner of the shelter.

"I'll deal with the rest tonight. For now, I need to train and earn some progress points." Dago brushed the dirt from his hands.

Then he left the shelter and went to the open ground outside to train for progress points.

Time slowly passed beneath the icy wind. The trees around the shelter had been pierced with ice pillars to varying degrees, making the area resemble a hell of ice spikes.

Yet Dago seemed not to notice, mechanically meditating and casting spells.

It was not until evening that Dago emerged from his training state and went to start a fire and cook.

Only after soothing his exhausted body and mind with good food did Dago slowly recover his energy.

Before he knew it, the twin moons had climbed into the night sky, their radiance spreading across the Emerald Forest.

Dago returned to the shelter, took out the considerably withered Moonlight Flowers, and placed them on a stone beneath the moonlight.

The Origin Moon's light caressed the withered Moonlight Flowers like silk.

It was as though the petals had been infused with magical power by the moonlight. The six pale-purple petals became plump once more, giving off a faint glow.

Dago quietly admired the magical and beautiful sight. Only after quite some time did he turn and head to the clearing beside the shelter to train, returning to sleep only when he was tired.

Before dawn, Dago pushed open the shelter's wooden door, bleary-eyed and yawning.

He had not trained too late the previous night because he needed to get up early and put away the Moonlight Flowers before they were exposed to sunlight.

Otherwise, it would severely affect the extraordinary substances within the Moonlight Flowers, lowering the quality of the Mental Potion.

He went to the drying stone and collected the six Moonlight Flowers. Their petals were still plump, but the rest had already withered and dried up.

After putting them back in the shelter, Dago came outside again to prepare breakfast: simple noodles stewed with strips of meat.

At the same time, he planned to collect Dew of the Rising Sun, another ingredient for the Mental Potion...

The dew had to be gathered into glass bottles beneath the first ray of sunlight at dawn.

The moment the sun rose was the grandest awakening of heaven and earth. Darkness had not yet fully faded, but light had already burst through the clouds with scorching force. The dew upon the blades of grass shone brightly, every drop becoming a tiny sun.

"Gurgle, gurgle—"

His small iron pot hung from a triangular rack over the bonfire in the clearing, boiling as it cooked his breakfast for the day.

Meanwhile, Dago was sticking his butt out in a patch of grass not far away, diligently collecting dew from the blades. Three glass bottles filled with Dew of the Rising Sun hung from his belt.

As the sun gradually rose, Dago stopped collecting. Holding the small iron pot, he slurped up his noodles while considering his next plans.

By afternoon, the Moonlight Flower petals would meet the requirements for brewing a Mental Potion. Next, he needed to gather some Two-Eared Grass from the forest. It was relatively common there.

Then all the magical ingredients needed for the Mental Potion would be gathered, and he could begin trying to brew it.

Dago did not think he was some kind of potion-making genius. He could not afford to skip any of the time that needed to be spent.

At seven or eight in the morning, Dago wandered through the quiet forest as though out for a stroll, looking here and there for Two-Eared Grass.

Every now and then, he fired an Air Bullet into the sky, using the sound to drive away nearby small animals and keep them from interfering with his search.

This magical plant had a distinctive appearance. Just like its name suggested, it grew two blades resembling ears.

It took him about an hour to find the strange plant. After spending another ten or so minutes gathering it and packing it into his bag, he prepared to head home.

After returning to the shelter, he put away the materials he had collected and washed the dirt from his hands...

Then he went back to the clearing outside to train hard, continuing until four in the afternoon. For lunch, he had casually made a flatbread stuffed with magical beast meat.

Sunlight streamed through the shelter's open door, brightly illuminating the interior.

Dago sat behind his newly built little wooden table. It was crooked and ugly, but stable enough. He could stand on it and dance without any problem.

Neatly arranged on the small table were the potion-brewing tools he had previously bought at Academy Square: a silver crucible, a stone mortar, a glass pestle, a brass scale, and more.

Next, he planned to use the cold-brew method from his previous life to make the Mental Potion. This was an entirely new attempt.

The cold-brew method had mostly been used for tea and coffee in his previous life, so Dago knew a little about it. After all, even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run. Still, he was not confident. He would simply take it one step at a time.

The extraordinary substance contained in Moonlight Flowers preferred cold over heat. Under the scorching of magical flames, much of its potency would be lost...

Using a cold-brew method that selectively extracted substances in a low-temperature environment should produce better results.

Based on Dago's research on Moonlight Flowers and Wizard Rosalyn's manuscript, he believed this method could be adapted into a way to brew Mental Potions.

First, he placed twelve pale-purple Moonlight Flower petals into the stone mortar and ground them into powder with the glass pestle, then poured the powder into the silver crucible.

Next, he ground the Two-Eared Grass into juice in the same manner, then used the brass scale to measure out the proper amount of Two-Eared Grass juice and Dew of the Rising Sun.

He mixed the three ingredients in the silver crucible. According to the usual methods of the Wizarding World, the mixture should then be boiled over magical flames and sent into condensing equipment for collection.

But Dago did the opposite. He planned to cold-brew the medicinal liquid in the silver crucible with ice water.

A halo appeared and flowed within his eyes as he used his spiritual power to awaken the dormant ice elements...

A small corner of the white glove floated out and fell into the mixed medicinal liquid inside the silver crucible.

Dago slowly stirred with a glass rod. At the same time, he gradually increased his spiritual power output, controlling the temperature of the mixture.

Threads of cold air drifted out of the silver crucible as the mixed medicinal liquid gradually cooled. Dago stared intently at the changes within.

The result disappointed him. All he got was a solid block of frozen mixed medicinal liquid. He had failed.

Bang! With a muffled sound, the ice block exploded. It was not powerful enough to damage the silver crucible, but icy fragments of medicinal liquid flew everywhere.

Dago expressionlessly brushed the ice chips from his robe.

"Where exactly did I go wrong?" Dago recalled the failed attempt and analyzed the cause.

He still had twenty-four Moonlight Flower petals left, meaning he had two more chances.

Dago took a towel and wiped the melted ice water that had splashed onto his face.

He decided to try again. This time, he would activate Mental Sight and observe the flow of energy particles in the mixed medicinal liquid.

As he ground the Moonlight Flower petals into powder, Mental Sight emitted a faint silver glow.

The juice from the Two-Eared Grass, ground into pulp, gave off a pale-green glow, while the dew contained faint threads of orange-yellow light.

When he mixed and stirred the three, traces of extraordinary substance glowing purple slowly separated out and dissolved into the water.

Then Dago mixed his ice elements into it. As he increased his spiritual power output...

The ice elements grew increasingly active. The lower the temperature became, the more unstable the extraordinary substance glowing purple became, until it combusted explosively.

There was another bang! The frozen mixture shattered into pieces, and Dago picked up the towel to wipe the medicinal liquid splashed across his face.

Now he understood. The extraordinary substance glowing purple became more unstable in a low-temperature environment.

Sure enough, not a single ingredient in the common potion formulas passed down through the Wizarding World was unnecessary.

They also knew that Moonlight Flowers lost much of their potency at high temperatures. The Wizarding World's solution was to add a fire-element material to improve the extraordinary substance's tolerance for high temperatures within the mixture.

"This is the last chance. Otherwise, I'll have to risk my life and go to Moonlight Lake to pick Moonlight Flowers again."

Dago sighed softly. He did not want to risk his life there again anytime soon.

He had named that dangerous lake where Moonlight Flowers grew Moonlight Lake. It was a beautiful name.

He hoped the final attempt would go as he imagined.

The third attempt began. This time, Dago removed Dew of the Rising Sun from the ingredients and directly mixed the Moonlight Flower petal powder and Two-Eared Grass juice into ice water created by the Ice Crystal Technique.

This time, the substance emitting silver light from the Moonlight Flower powder absorbed the pale-green glow from the Two-Eared Grass juice, but it could not fuse with the ice elements in the ice water.

Dago continuously controlled his spiritual power output toward the ice elements. An hour later, within ice water containing ice elements at a specific level of activity...

Just like Dew of the Rising Sun was a potion ingredient, this ice water containing ice elements at a specific level of activity could also be considered a potion ingredient.

Only then did the silver-glowing substance in the potion absorb the ice elements, forming thumb-sized silver-white ice cubes that floated atop the ice water.

The system panel instantly popped up.

[Detected an improvable skill: Potion Brewing. Would you like to improve it?]

Dago decisively selected yes. He had not expected this to be recorded in the system as well.

He had constantly expended spiritual power to control the ice elements, searching for a balance point. By the end, both his spiritual power and physical strength were struggling to keep up, leaving him utterly exhausted.

He scooped up all the silver-white ice cubes, placed them in a glass bottle, and set it on the small wooden table to wait for them to melt.

Then he went to wash the towel, dampened it with water, patted it against his face, and wiped away the fatigue between his brows.