Basic Potioncraft

Over those four days, aside from the bare necessities of eating, drinking, and relieving himself, he was like a tireless alchemical puppet, mechanically repeating the motions of grinding, brewing, and stirring.

By the end, merely catching that familiar scent of moss was enough to make his stomach churn and threaten to spill its contents.

If Hvergelmir's Boiling Surge had not granted him monstrous stamina and an extremely high resistance to negative conditions,

he would have dropped dead in front of the crucible on the second day.

Even so,

after finishing the last jar of ointment, his mental defenses completely collapsed, and he could only rely on sleep to let his body repair itself.

Fortunately, it had all been worth it.

Lance dragged the heavy money pouch out from beneath his bed, untied the string, and tossed it upward with all his strength.

"Clatter—"

Silvery-white coins rained down, covering the entire bed.

To Lance, that crisp metallic clinking was the most beautiful melody in the world.

After deducting all material and labor costs,

his net profit for those four days came to a total of 157 silver coins.

Looking at the little mountain of silver coins on the bed, Lance broke into a grin.

Added to his previous savings, his total assets had officially surpassed one gold coin.

"I'm rich too!"

With a strange cry, Lance threw himself spread-eagled onto the pile of silver coins.

He had thought it would be some ultimate pleasure.

But the next second, he scrambled back up, baring his teeth in pain.

They were too hard.

The hard metal edges dug painfully into his ribs.

Rubbing his chest, Lance could not help grumbling inwardly that those dragons in legends who loved sleeping atop piles of gold and gems had to be thick-skinned masochists.

Or they were lying.

This was not comfortable at all.

As Lance gathered the silver coins back into the pouch, he looked around the room.

After several days of abuse, the walls and floor of the cramped attic had been thoroughly steeped in the fumes of potions, and an inescapable strange odor filled the air.

It was clearly no longer fit for human habitation.

It was time to find a new home.

But before looking for an agent, Lance habitually summoned the system panel.

The frantic overwork of the past few days had been painful, but it had also brought him some unexpected rewards.

Several new notifications appeared on his retina.

[After hundreds of repetitions of controlling the heat, stirring, skimming foam, and bottling, you can now complete the entire process with your eyes closed. You have independently comprehended the skill: Basic Potioncraft LV1]

[Basic Potioncraft proficiency +264]

[Basic Potioncraft LV2 (14/400), Perception +1]

[You continuously observed the fusion reactions of medicines at different temperatures for four days. Pharmacology knowledge +32]

[Pharmacology LV1 (41/1000)]

Lance raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise.

He had not expected such mechanical labor to grant him a new skill, much less raise his Perception as well.

This was an unexpected windfall.

The increase in knowledge experience was also within expectations.

It seemed the suffering of the past few days had not been in vain.

In high spirits, Lance quickly washed up, changed into clean clothes, and headed out.

As a transfer hub for adventurers, Grayrock Town's property rental industry was exceptionally developed.

After all, countless newcomers full of dreams arrived every day, while countless veterans left heartbroken or wealthy.

This high turnover had given rise to housing agency services similar to those from Lance's previous life.

His previous two residences had both been found this way.

Now that he had money, Lance's standards naturally rose as well.

The place had to be more comfortable and spacious, with private areas of its own.

After hearing Lance's requirements, the shrewd property agent took him to see two available properties.

The first was near the Craftsmen's District.

It was a detached, single-story cottage of wood and stone, with a fairly spacious living room and one bedroom. It even had a separate backyard.

Most of the neighbors were blacksmiths or tanners. It was a little noisy during the day, but the neighborhood was simple, and it was relatively quiet at night.

The rent was 10 silver coins per month.

It was more than twice as expensive as his current attic, but still within an acceptable range.

The second place was on the edge of Merchants' Square.

It was an elegant two-story residence. The first floor had a spacious living room and a fully equipped kitchen, while the second floor had two separate bedrooms.

It also had a small backyard.

What tempted Lance most was the dry, well-ventilated little cellar that came with the house, which was perfect for storing medicinal ingredients and miscellaneous items.

And its location was excellent.

It was only a few streets from Flora's residence, and Morwenna's potion shop was just a five-minute walk away.

It could even accommodate future gatherings with friends in that spacious living room.

Of course, the price was equally painful.

The monthly rent was as high as 18 silver coins.

Standing on the second-floor balcony and looking at the bustling Merchants' Square in the distance, Lance calculated the costs in his head.

Although 18 silver coins sounded expensive, at his current earning rate, the expense would only account for around ten percent of his monthly income.

It was completely within a reasonable spending range.

And since he had decided to make potions long-term, he truly needed a separate room as a workshop, so he would not end up steeping himself in fumes again like this time.

That cellar was an absolute necessity as well.

"This is the one."

Lance made his decision.

Since he had no valuable luggage, Lance completed the move that very afternoon.

When checking out, however, he still painfully paid his former landlord 4 silver coins for cleaning.

After all, he had turned the landlord's perfectly good attic into a gas chamber. That compensation was only fair.

On the night of the move,

the two-story house on the edge of Merchants' Square welcomed its first lively visitors.

To celebrate the housewarming, Lance had spared no expense.

Not only had he swept up a large amount of fresh, high-quality ingredients from the market, but he had also specifically gone to the Craftsmen's District and paid a blacksmith to rush out a professional iron grill rack.

That's right.

He was going to recreate a backyard barbecue party in another world.

The setting sun filled the backyard with its afterglow, while the charcoal crackled beneath the grill.

As the young mistress of The Boar and Rose, Amber naturally did not come empty-handed.

Like a porter, she strode in carrying two barrels of her family's home-brewed rye beer, along with several sets of card and board games popular in this world.

As for Nia and Flora, the two girls had taken freeloading to its highest level, bringing nothing but two mouths to eat with.

"Leave it to me! I can grill!"

Nia eagerly seized the prime position at the grill.

However, only ten minutes later,

Lance and Amber exchanged a helpless look and shook their heads at the few pieces of grilled meat on the plate, black as charcoal and giving off a bitter burnt smell.

"All right, miss. Just go wait on the side and eat."

Amber snatched away the grilling tongs and skillfully took over the battlefield.

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