A Commoner's Legend

Ailafei could be called a legend among commoners. He was not a combat professional at all, and his combat ability was practically zero. But his meticulous nature made him well suited to alchemy, which outsiders saw as nothing more than "pots and jars." After he became an apprentice, alchemy seemed to open a door for him. Thanks to his excellent social skills, he used the potions he made to establish connections with many powerful combat professionals, earning the standing to be treated almost as their equal... For a commoner, that was nothing short of legendary.

Alchemists were rare, while combat professionals could not do without potions. Many combat professionals respected this commoner alchemist who was willing to supply them with important potions... As a result, Ailafei's path toward becoming an advanced alchemist was remarkably smooth. The combat professionals provided ample medicinal ingredients, and he supplied them with the corresponding potions. What a fine arrangement! That lasted until he hit a wall at the advanced level and could progress no further...

Everyone knew that beyond the advanced level in any profession lay the master level, and even the rare grandmaster level. But Aifeila was forced to accept that the advanced alchemist level was as far as he would ever go in this life. The master level would forever be beyond his reach...

"Combat professionals are still God's favorites... As for me, I can only sneak a glimpse or two through the crack in that heavy door!"

That was a sentence Aifeila had written at the very beginning of his article, "Detailed List of Advanced Alchemy Products." It showed how helpless he had felt when he learned he had no hope of advancing... Even though he was already a respected advanced alchemist by then!

Aige could now understand how he had felt, because at this very moment, he was enjoying what Ailafei could not...

Apart from ingredients, recipes, and procedures, what was the most important thing in alchemy?

Heat control!

Ingredients could be gathered through various means, and the same went for recipes. Procedures could be practiced and refined over time... But what about heat control?

Heat control could, of course, also be mastered through gradual practice, just as Aifeila had pushed himself to his own limit...

When the Minor Healing Potions were being made earlier, did any observant readers notice? Many vessels were mentioned, including graduated cylinders, scales, beakers, test tubes, and glass stirring rods, as well as heating. But was there any mention of what was used to heat them?

As you might have guessed, Aifeila used an alcohol lamp. But that was only in the beginning. In fact, many potions had extremely demanding temperature requirements that could not possibly be met with just a few hundred degrees. After he became an advanced alchemist, he discovered that many recipes had extremely demanding temperature requirements, which could even be called **...

When ordinary alcohol lamps and even specialized heating devices failed to meet his needs, he went so far as to seek help from Goblin engineers. They made him an outlandish little furnace that barely met his alchemy requirements... But, as was typical of Goblin products, which were always unreliable, the temperature of this specially made miniature furnace was extremely unstable. It could fluctuate by several thousand degrees, driving his success rate for advanced alchemy down to an appalling level!

Yet he could not do without it, because these steps in advanced recipes could not be skipped... This created a vicious cycle. His success rate for low- and mid-level potions was high, but for advanced potions it was less than half what it had been. And that was already his limit. Aifeila had once been fortunate enough to see a master-level potion recipe in the hands of a fire Grand Archmage who was also a master alchemist. The problems it presented were already beyond what a commoner like him could solve... Unless a fire Grand Archmage was willing to work at his command for free, there was nothing to discuss.

The heat and temperature requirements were far beyond what he and all his friends could meet. That was why this commoner legend could only remain an advanced alchemist for his entire life...

There was another, more important reason: unlike combat professionals, commoners had extremely limited lifespans. In just a few decades, a young adult would become a frail old person. The comparatively much longer lifespans of combat professionals allowed them to take another step forward even after reaching great heights.

As it happened, Master Ai met both of alchemy's requirements. He was a combat professional, and as long as he could break through to Grand Archmage at level 60, his lifespan would essentially cease to be a problem. He also counted as a fire mage... In fact, he practiced three schools of magic, and fire was one of them.

An alcohol lamp? What was that supposed to be? Did the young master need one for alchemy?

Using his own magical energy, he could control magical flames with his mind to heat potions. As long as he had ample mana and mental strength, temperature and heat control were no problem at all... This was the fundamental reason Aifeila had become disheartened after watching a master alchemist make a potion in person.

"So from the very beginning, I was destined to look up at these giants!" -from the preface to "On How to Properly Control Medicinal Ingredient Ratios," by Aifeila.

With a pair of dark circles under his eyes, Young Master Ai finally finished making eighteen Minor Healing Potions overnight. Apart from wasting two portions at the start, his success rate afterward had been 100 percent, with no problems whatsoever... If any alchemist, even a grandmaster alchemist, found out, they would go mad with jealousy!

Pay the bill! Check out! He left without the slightest reluctance! Aige felt that this trip to Stormwind City had basically met his expectations. His quests were done, his identity card was sorted out, his junior mage certification was OK, he had chosen his profession, and he had basically learned the fundamentals of alchemy. The property matter, though, was basically out of reach... He was a little tired, and he missed his dear wife Milly. Northshire was not far from Stormwind City, so he might as well give himself a temporary break and go back to spend some time together with her.

Before that, however, he had one more thing to do: find a buyer for this batch of potions...

He could not sell them all; he still needed to keep some on hand. But he could not avoid selling them, either. He did not have a single silver coin left, only copper coins, and he really needed to recoup some funds...

When he returned to the auction house, he was already a familiar face, so naturally no staff members stopped him. He found a search terminal with practiced ease. This time, all he needed to search for was "Minor Healing Potion"...

As he had expected, very few Minor Healing Potions were listed at the auction house today. They cost around twelve to thirteen silver coins and sold quickly, without sitting around for long. Combat professionals were naturally a minority compared with commoners on the continent, but compared with the even rarer alchemists, their numbers were much greater. Their ** for potions was also very strong. Sometimes a single healing potion could save a life, so of course they were valuable.

Based on the market, the young master made a quick assessment and decided to list ten bottles for the time being at the high price of fifteen silver coins each. He listed them as a single lot of ten, rather than selling them one by one...

The main reason he charged so much was that Aige had compared the Minor Healing Potions he had made and found that they were all perfect-grade, the kind with the strongest effects. Although the potions listed at the auction house were also called Minor Healing Potions, their effects were somewhat weaker, by as much as around twenty percent in some cases and ten percent in others. Of course, there were also perfect-grade ones whose effects matched those Aige had listed...

This depended mainly on the alchemist's level, proficiency, and condition at the time the potion was completed. It was reflected primarily in the potion's grade when produced, which ranged from perfect to fine to ordinary...

They could also be distinguished by their appearance. Better potions were naturally clearer, prettier, and more vivid in color, while ordinary-grade potions looked somewhat cloudier... In terms of actual medicinal effect, though, the difference was only around ten or twenty percent. The auction house mainly sold ordinary-grade potions for twelve silver coins. All of Master Ai's potions were perfect-grade, and he was only asking three extra silver coins for twenty percent greater effect. That was not too outrageous, was it?

Aige stuffed the package of Minor Healing Potions he had already bundled up into the slot beneath the search terminal. After entering a price of 150 silver coins on the screen and confirming it, he watched the package quickly disappear into the machine amid a rumble... When he searched again a few minutes later, the ten minor potions he had just listed for 150 silver coins were prominently displayed at the very top of the search results for "Minor Healing Potion."

Any item that fit inside could enter the auction queue this way. Of course, there was also a verification process. The machines were fairly intelligent now, and ordinary items generally did not require human intervention... You could think of it as an automated deposit machine. Collecting goods was different: it required more complicated procedures involving things like cash settlement, and the goods were ultimately delivered through a mailbox or post office.

The auction house was responsible to buyers and sellers, and identities were kept strictly confidential unless someone chose to make theirs public. Aige had chosen the confidentiality option this time... Of course, that confidentiality was not absolute. At the very least, the last four digits of his eighteen-digit identity card number would be displayed: 9527. Anyone who could view the goods he auctioned could see that the last four digits of the seller's identity card number were 9527. Everything else was replaced with asterisks, and they could not learn his name or other details. It was a form of protection for sellers.

Sellers could also choose to disclose everything. Aifeila had reportedly done just that back then, revealing his identity for everything he auctioned. Although he was not a combat professional, everyone could learn his name and alchemy level. It was rather like having real-name verification, and it also amounted to indirectly advertising his products...

Master Ai had no intention of advertising at all. He only needed to keep a low profile and earn a little money. He would never abandon his main profession for alchemy; that would be neglecting what mattered for the sake of gold coins, which would be most unwise.

Selling the ten bottles as a package served the same purpose. He only needed that small group of people who could actually afford them to know about him; there was no need to make contact with everyone. After all, there were so many combat professionals that he would never have trouble finding buyers for the small quantity of potions he produced!