New Potion (Part 2)

In the dead of night, all things lay silent.

Yet Romon had no desire to sleep. He first made a round through the shop out front, carefully inspecting everything. Only after making sure the doors and windows were all securely shut did he return to his room and lie flat on the bed.

Though he had resolved to kill Bakar, there was one thing Romon knew: if he did not possess sufficient strength, then even if he did everything flawlessly, he could still be arrested without explanation, thrown into prison, and killed.

If someone wished to pin a crime on you, would they ever lack words to do so? When the gap in strength was too great, evidence became insignificant. Just as humans could casually trample weeds and cockroaches to death, if the lord merely suspected him, did the lord truly need evidence before killing him?

There was no need to deliberate much. A lord could sentence Romon to death based solely on a whim, especially if there was an open justification. If that day came, the only way to avoid death would be to flee.

But even under the baron alone, the squad captains were Level 6 warriors, with masses of soldiers beneath them. The nobles of every rank tied to him by shared breath and branches possessed immense power as well. If Romon jumped out now, even a hundred Shennong Horn Spaces would lead only to a dead end—flee? Where could he flee to, and how could he evade the pursuit of nobles and guilds?

So acting now would be utterly foolish. At the very least, he had to wait until he had gained a firmer foothold. The best method was still to use the potion shop's business to expand his influence among adventurers and to level up.

All value was relative. Once he became stronger, the consequences of killing Bakar would no longer be so serious.

Without a Druid's guidance, he could only rely on the space itself to level up. He had been busy with the potion shop lately, and Romon had not tended the space for quite some time. It had been a long while since he last entered it.

This time, he needed to find a way to solve two difficulties, so he intended to examine the space's condition. Taking advantage of his current leisure, he focused his mind on the Shennong Horn Space.

After one upgrade, the space had now expanded to roughly five mu. The thirty fruit trees had visibly shot up a little during this period.

Although the last upgrade had not increased the space's enhancement effect, its 10% bonus was already quite good. More importantly, it could now accommodate larger living creatures.

Previously, it could only accommodate bees. Now it could house little rabbits. For an experiment, he had caught a rabbit and placed it inside. It was living quite well there now, and it even knew not to eat the "medicinal herbs," eating only designated plants.

Furthermore, in this world, it was no longer a matter of introducing new plant species. The last upgrade had allowed it to accommodate ten new kinds of plants, and no more. What it needed now was to accumulate sufficient power through planting in order to upgrade the space.

The space had always possessed a relatively perfect environment. After these days, the plants that had already been growing well were now flourishing even more, brimming with green vitality.

During his previous visits to the space, he had planted all the Earth seeds he originally possessed. Looking over them now, rows of green shoots, separated by some distance, swayed in the breeze.

The ball of light still hung high above the space. Though it was slightly dimmer in early spring than it had been in summer, it still fulfilled its duty, scattering light into every corner of the space, warming all things. The climate within the space remained basically constant.

A gust of wind swept past, wrinkling the surface of a stream. Several bees busily flitted back and forth above the water, while butterflies beat their beautiful wings, their slender bodies dancing amid the flowering plants. Their forms made an amusing contrast with the bees' plump bodies. All of this had been prepared back on Earth for pollination.

Between the trees, the grass grew lush, and the space was suffused with the breath of life.

But there was also one flaw amid the beauty: as the space grew larger, water had become somewhat insufficient. Romon had discovered this during his previous visits, but it had not been obvious before, so he had not dealt with it.

Now that he had experience, when he noticed that water in the space was scarce again, Romon leapt off the bed. Seeing no one nearby, he began strolling along the street.

Snowflakes drifted down, and without anyone noticing, some vanished around Romon. Snow immediately began falling inside the space, but the moment it entered that warm environment, it turned into threads of rain carrying a chill.

He ran one lap around the town through the snow. The previously shallow stream within the space was immediately filled to eighty percent, while the plants and trees were quickly nourished by the rain.

Only then did Romon stop drawing it in. Though he was still standing amid the snow, the rain inside the space also ceased. After only a moment, once the chill in the rain threads faded, the space returned to a climate somewhere between spring and summer.

From the perspective of the space itself, the Shennong Horn Space could be said to have burst back into life.

Romon focused his mind on the space again, enjoying its fresh air and the feeling of warm spring. As he walked, a strange phenomenon suddenly caught his attention.

The rabbit had perhaps struck a tree while sheltering from the rain and suffered a slight injury. It was hobbling toward a row of plants. Though Romon had long known that animals possessed an instinct for self-healing, the plants it was crawling toward were not medicinal plants.

Puzzled, Romon watched from the side.

The rabbit crawled up to an utterly ordinary-looking plant, bit off a leaf, then continued crawling toward another plant beside it.

It took another bite, eating both plants together.

Something that astonished Romon happened. The rabbit, which had been listless just moments ago, rested briefly, then immediately began hopping about with vigor.

"This..." Romon stared wide-eyed. After the rabbit hopped away, he took several long strides to the two patches of plants.

The plant whose leaf the rabbit had first bitten off was a plant native to this world, similar to grass on Earth and found almost everywhere. Romon had planted it here because of its tenacious vitality. By this world's common knowledge, this plant was completely useless. Other than adding a trace of green to the world, it had no healing effect whatsoever and had always been ignored.

Likewise, the other plant beside it was also extremely ordinary. However, it was an Earth plant—a morning glory.

Could the most common plants from two different worlds, neither of which possessed the slightest medicinal effect, produce a miracle when combined?

After his shock came overwhelming delight. What he needed most right now was a way to reduce costs. If... if he could use these two plants to formulate potions, then the cost could be lowered dramatically!

With that thought, he withdrew his mind from the space. At the same time, two completely different handfuls of plants appeared in his palms.

In that silent hour, Romon began studying the two plants.

But as he continued observing and researching them, even examining a mixture made from the two plants, the result left him deeply disappointed.

"There isn't the slightest potion effect. What is going on? Did I see it wrong just now?" Romon's expression shifted as he looked at the plants in his hands. Then he closed his eyes again and focused his mind once more on the space.

This time, he went directly to find the little rabbit from before.

Though it took a little time to search, as master of the space, he only needed to summon it. The little rabbit promptly hopped over on its own.

Looking at the rabbit before him, Romon picked it up and examined it carefully.

"I understand." He chuckled, then took some plants and withdrew from the space again.

"Romon is tinkering again." Nick leaned back in his chair and muttered to himself.

"What is Romon doing?" Luo Laike asked curiously. He was the blacksmith's son. Since the shop needed an assistant, they had hired him for a salary of five silver coins a month.

Nick shook his head. "Who knows? He says he's tinkering with a new potion, but I never see him using any ingredients. I have no idea what he's doing. Oh, right, how many customers came today?"

Looking at the empty shop, Nick asked listlessly.

Luo Laike was also somewhat depressed. "Only three. They bought some fever-reducing potions and left."

"These people really chase profit the moment they see it." Looking outside at the bustling scene in front of the potion shop across the street, Nick spoke indignantly.

"But the potions across the street really are very cheap, and their effects are quite good. No wonder everyone goes over there to buy them." Luo Laike shook his head.

Although Romon had helped him get work at this potion shop, and the workload was much lighter than before, Luo Laike still often felt stifled inside.

The reason was simple. Romon, who had once been in the same circumstances as him, had not only become a Level 2 Druid but also his employer. That disparity made him feel humiliated.

Humans were strange animals. They could not bear to see others doing better than themselves, especially when the person doing better had once been worse off than they were.

Although Romon paid him wages and even allowed him to read the shop's books for free, Luo Laike saw all these actions as charity meant to humiliate him.

For this very reason, though he needed the job, deep in his heart he still felt a profound barrier between himself and Romon, as well as this potion shop.

If only I had deciphered that book sooner! Thinking this, Luo Laike shook his head, turned around, and went to wipe down the counter.

Nick continued staring glumly at the entrance in a daze.

"Haha! Just as I thought!" At the same time, in a room in the rear courtyard, Romon stared at a bottle of green liquid in delighted surprise.

"So the combination of Earth plants and plants from another world can actually produce such strange effects! Haha!" When Romon entered the space again, he discovered the truth behind the rabbit's miracle.

It turned out that the rabbit had not recovered because it ate a mixture of the two plants. It had already eaten medicinal herbs with healing effects beforehand, while its later actions had merely made the former's effects work better.

Having understood the reason, Romon was in an excellent mood. What had always worried him was that the potions he made cost more than those in Jefa's shop, while their effects were inferior to the potions Jefa formulated.

If his conjecture truly came true, then he would only need to mix Earth plants with plants from another world and create something similar to a Spell Catalyst. His potions would then have greatly improved effects at the same cost, which was equivalent to reducing costs in another way.

Or, if he maintained the original effect, he could reduce the raw materials by one-fifth. Although it was not like his initial hope of directly producing an effect, this outcome already satisfied him greatly.

And through experimentation, Romon discovered even more astonishingly that every pairing of an Earth plant and a plant from another world generated a different effect. These effects could correspond one by one with different healing potions.

However, given adventurers' enormous current demand, Romon decided to first formulate a Spell Catalyst that could greatly improve the effects of injury-healing potions.

After formulating the catalyst, he conducted further experiments, and the results left Romon fairly satisfied.

He only needed to add a single drop during the potion-making process to catalyze it, increasing the medicinal effect by roughly one-fifth. Adding more, of course, was useless.

One-fifth more medicinal effect was an enormous improvement. After all, increasing a single bottle's effect by one-fifth out of thin air was not the same as relying on greater quantity.

Taking a more effective medicine and taking more medicine were obviously different. There were issues of price, side effects, and what the body could endure. Otherwise, there would be no distinction between famous medicines and ordinary ones.

Even the potions personally formulated by Level 5 Jefa were only somewhat better than his. After all, potions merely required formulation and combination. Jefa's advantages over him lay in abundant financial resources and greater experience.

Romon decided to begin making enhanced potions at once to draw in customers. Holding up the small bottle filled with green liquid, a relieved smile finally appeared on his face.

"This time, I'll be counting on you," Romon said softly.

In his previous two secret clashes with Jefa, he had been at a disadvantage. But this time, he would definitely win it back. The potion shop's business concerned not only profit, but also his influence among adventurers. For someone as weak as he still was, having that influence or lacking it marked the boundary between life and death.

Today, I deliberately wrote some exposition to explain why things are this way... I originally wanted to reduce the exposition and simply tell the story, letting readers experience some of the choices for themselves, but it seems I still need to explain more. Just this once, though. What a tragedy.

Calling for votes—recommendation votes!

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