Success

Finally, a week later, his supplies arrived. He did not want to wait any longer; a week had given him more than enough rest. Allen immediately got to work.

Another week passed before he emerged from his room, disheveled, his eyes still bloodshot and his hair a tangled mess. There were even scraps of food on his clothes, and his whole body reeked. But none of that dampened his excitement, because he had nearly succeeded. No, he had already succeeded: he had just brewed a weakened version of a Healing Potion. The magic it contained was almost negligible, but it still counted as a success.

He immediately recorded the insights he had gained while brewing the potion. In fact, he had already sensed the key to the balance point earlier; everything after that had followed naturally.

The secret to his success was that his mental power was far stronger than other people's, particularly in quality. This allowed him to find the balance point faster and more precisely than others. Otherwise, he would not even have made it past the step of drawing magic out of the Water Elemental Heart.

Other Mage Apprentices had nowhere near his mental power. They could not even sense the existence of the balance point and failed without knowing why. Apprentices like that might never brew a potion in their entire lives; they could not even discover the cause of their failures.

Allen was fortunate. He had found the balance point in the shortest possible time, and the rest was simple. Once he had gotten a feel for it, subsequent brewing became easy to pick up. He washed himself first, then tidied the room and went out. He had used up the raw materials he bought last time and had to purchase more.

"Allen, you're back! I've got everything ready for you. Take a look and see if these materials will do." The merchant immediately came forward eagerly when he saw Allen approaching. Allen was now one of his major customers.

He inspected the materials and found them quite decent. The fellow had not tried to cheat him. He accepted the materials, left the merchant the payment and a deposit for next time, and prepared to leave.

At that moment, the merchant caught his arm, pulled him aside, and asked quietly, "Say, Allen, it's been so long. Have you brewed any finished potions yet? We've been doing business together for a while now. Once you've got a product, surely you ought to spare some for me." So he wanted some finished Healing Potions. Allen thought of the potions he had brewed earlier. There were only four bottles in total, all of the lowest quality, but it was not as though he could not sell them now. So he asked, "How much can you take?"

The merchant was delighted, realizing that Allen seemed to have actually brewed potions. "The more, the better, of course. I'll introduce you to my mother's distant cousin. He does business on a large scale and can definitely take everything you've got." "All right, I'll bring you some finished potions next time. I don't have time today." The merchant's face blossomed into a broad smile, and he saw Allen off with the utmost respect.

Afterward, Allen went to the Association. Its people were not as interested in his potions as the merchant was and remained as indifferent to him as ever. He did not say much to them either, leaving once the goods had been paid for and handed over.

After returning to his lodgings, he rested briefly before immediately throwing himself into brewing. Finally, half a month later, he had spent all his money. What he had gained was the several dozen bottles of potions in front of him. These were all finished products. Apart from two medium-quality potions he had brewed through an exceptional stroke of luck, they were essentially all low-quality potions.

He carefully placed the potions in a case and estimated their value. At market prices, low-quality potions like these fetched around 600 to 1,000 silver coins, while medium-quality potions could sell for several gold coins, a good four or five times as much. From his experience buying materials over the past several days, he estimated that all the ingredients for one standard Healing Potion cost 120 silver coins.

His brewing success rate was now approaching half, and it should improve further with more practice. He could therefore say that he was fully capable of turning a profit now. As long as he brewed more, he could recover his investment.

Most importantly, he now counted as an Alchemy Apprentice. Even if it was the lowest rank, that status alone would allow him to join Dalaran.

Of course, his sole purpose in doing so was to gain access to the Library's second floor. There had to be books about Professionals there, even if they were only introductions. In the end, he could not help lamenting once again how difficult it was to obtain knowledge in this world.

The next day, he brought the potions to the merchant. Not all of them, of course; he needed to keep some for himself. "Oh, heavens, Allen! I knew you were a genius. Let me see how many there are." The merchant immediately opened the case impatiently. It was packed with fifteen vials of potions, all low-quality, but that did nothing to dampen his spirits. "Wonderful! No, absolutely wonderful..." Seeing how excited he was, Allen had to interrupt him. "All right, if you like them, buy them and look at them all you want back home. Right now, I think we ought to discuss the price."

The merchant came to his senses and said to Allen, "Yes, yes. Let me see. These are all low-quality, aren't they? In that case, I'll give you a straightforward offer. How about 600 silver coins each?" Allen was already familiar with the practice of naming a high price and bargaining it down. "We've been dealing with each other for a while now. How am I supposed to keep doing business with you if you act like this? Nine hundred, or I won't even be able to scrape together the cost of the materials. You should know that brewing these has left me penniless."

"Allen, don't say that. Whatever else, you're already an Alchemist. Even the poorest Alchemist has more money than I do. Once you brew more potions, won't making money be easy?" The merchant began arguing against Allen's words, describing him as though he would become a great Alchemist the very next moment.

Allen did not want to get too caught up in that subject either, so he finally said, "How about this? I'll supply you on a long-term basis. Unless I'm away on business, I'll provide fifteen vials a month at 900 silver coins each. What do you say?"

"Allen, that's hardly fair of you. Only fifteen vials a month, and you want 900 silver coins? I'd lose money that way. How about fifty vials a month at 700 silver coins each?" The merchant offered a new set of terms.

After another round of bargaining, Allen and the merchant finally settled on twenty vials a month, with ten to be supplied in advance if he had to go away, at 780 each.

He found the price reasonably acceptable. This way, he could clear more than ten gold coins a month, not counting any extra potions he brewed or those of higher quality. Judging by the rate at which the Water Elemental Heart he had obtained recovered its magic, it could provide enough for roughly a hundred batches of low-quality potions a month. Factoring in his fifty-percent success rate, that meant about fifty finished potions. Selling them all would bring in twenty-eight gold coins after deducting material costs. Of course, he could not spend the entire month brewing potions.

He could now say that he had temporarily escaped his financial crisis, so he was in a very cheerful mood when he returned to his lodgings, full of hope for the future. Next, he intended to arrange to obtain Alchemy Apprentice status, which would allow him to join Dalaran.

Joining Dalaran was not that simple. If he had not known alchemy, an ordinary person wishing to join Dalaran would have had to meet one of the following conditions:

First, one had to be a mage or pass the Dalaran Entrance Examination to become a Dalaran Mage Apprentice.

Second, one had to hold noble status as a landed noble with actual authority, or possess enough strength to enter the Dalaran Guard.

Third, and simplest, one could donate a large sum of gold coins to Dalaran. Another option was to know the Archmages, or be one of their relatives or friends, and gain entry through those connections.

None of those conditions was something an ordinary commoner could meet. That was why Dalaran still had so few people after thousands of years. As for allowing Alchemists, including apprentices, to join Dalaran, the Kirin Tor Review Act permitting it had only passed in the last few years. He had happened to arrive at the right time to benefit from it.

In fact, many people thought the act was meaningless, because anyone capable of becoming an Alchemist was surely a mage. Even an Alchemy Apprentice, with that sort of aptitude, could hardly fail Dalaran's entrance examination.

Yet it was precisely this meaningless act that had given him a loophole. He did not actually care about having Dalaran status; it was simply a requirement for entering the Library's second floor. Without reaching the second floor, he could not find the most suitable way for him to take up a profession.

He had already decided to take the Alchemy Master's Test in three days, but before that, he needed to find out what it involved. That proved easy enough to learn. After a trip to the Association and a brief chat with the front desk, he soon learned the details.

The test's contents were no secret. Before the test, the Association would provide a list of roughly a dozen potions. Brewing any one of them was enough to pass, and the Association would award an Alchemy Apprentice Certificate. Anyone who could brew more than five of them could be granted the title of Certified Alchemy Master. Anything beyond that required a formal Review Panel.

The Healing Potion, the only potion he currently knew how to brew, happened to be one of the most common on the Association's list. Given his current capabilities, he could certainly obtain Alchemy Apprentice status.

He also found out how the Association conducted its tests. Generally, it provided a complete set of equipment, while candidates had to bring their own materials. Brewing a potion within three attempts counted as a pass.

That sounded easy, but for him, the most important question was how to use the Water Elemental Heart during the test without being discovered. He was not a real mage and had no way to apply magic, so he could only rely on a workaround. Someone would certainly supervise the test to prevent candidates from passing off potions prepared beforehand.

He therefore could not openly use the Water Elemental Heart while brewing. Fortunately, the Association did not require candidates to use its equipment; he could bring his own apparatus to brew the potion. This was mainly because some Alchemists had better equipment than the Association provided, and because of their preferences for using their own apparatus.

In that case, he only needed to place the Water Elemental Heart in the brewing flask beforehand, then wrap the flask in cloth to keep anyone from seeing inside. As long as he did not take it out during the test, it would not be discovered.

The only flaw was that he had no magic himself. An ordinary mage could not use Mind Probe on him unless their mental power exceeded his. Besides, prying into someone with mental power was truly rude and offensive. No mage would be so idle as to probe others at random. If he really encountered such a mage, he would accept it.