Chapter Seventy-Five: Elementary Spirit Potion

Anke noticed the change in Hughes's expression and thought he wasn't interested in this one-time-use potion, so she hurriedly began to talk up the benefits of this elementary spirit potion.

“I can agree to help you with the refinement!” Hughes decided that Anke was absolutely right—even if this potion only worked once on a person, anything that could increase spiritual power would never lack for buyers.

“That’s wonderful!” Anke was overjoyed at Hughes’s agreement. Right now, Hughes was probably the most accomplished in potion-making within the entire Ring of Shadows. Ever since Anke had acquired this potion formula, she had been searching for someone to help refine it, but after much consideration, Hughes was the best choice. It was also because of this formula that Anke had abandoned her efforts with the Vitality Potion.

“I’ll have the ingredients sent to you tomorrow. By the way, I heard you’ve recently been having Billy and Milan collect some things for you. I happen to have a piece of Starshadow Darkgold, and I’ll bring it for you tomorrow as well!” Anke, eager to draw Hughes closer, quickly offered up her own materials.

“You know Billy and the others?” Hughes asked, a little curious.

“Of course! Actually, our families are all vassal families of the Ring of Shadows—everyone knows everyone!” Anke replied casually.

“How many vassal families does the Ring of Shadows have?” Hughes handed the scroll back to Anke, knowing he couldn’t read what was on it anyway.

“Let me think,” Anke said, pondering for a moment before answering. “There are currently eight wizard families affiliated with the Ring of Shadows. There used to be thirteen, but over time, some disappeared,” she explained.

“All of our families were established by official wizards. Once our ancestors passed on, the families began to decline—every family follows this path, and the academy doesn’t interfere much.”

“Oh,” Hughes realized he hadn’t expected these families to have such origins.

Anke took the scroll, spread it flat on the table, and asked Hughes for a dagger. She pricked her finger, letting blood drip onto the center of the scroll. Instantly, the scroll absorbed the blood; crimson lines began to spread outward from the center, making the entire scroll look like a red spiderweb.

As the red veins slowly faded, black writing gradually appeared on the scroll. Once the words were visible, Anke handed the scroll back to Hughes.

Hughes took the scroll and studied the recipe for the elementary spirit potion. He noticed that some of the ingredients were similar to those used in the Mind-Calming Potion, and the rest were not as difficult to obtain as those required for the latter.

“How did you manage to gather all these ingredients? The academy is still under lockdown, and a lot of ingredients can’t be collected as easily as before.” Hughes figured that if Anke had the ingredients ready, she must have prepared more than one set.

“Oh, the Ring of Shadows took some of the herbs grown at the academy—nothing too rare, but enough for us apprentices,” Anke explained.

“All right. Have them sent over tomorrow. I’ll do my best to refine the potion,” Hughes said, clearly hinting for Anke to leave.

Anke caught Hughes’s meaning; since their deal was struck, there was no reason to linger. After finishing her coffee, she said her goodbyes and left Hughes’s dormitory.

“You drink so much and still aren’t afraid of insomnia,” Hughes remarked, glancing at the now-empty cup.

“Chip! Scan the scroll and analyze the potion formula.” As soon as Anke left, Hughes commanded the chip to begin its scan and record.

“Beep! Scan and recording complete. Estimated analysis and simulation time: 18 hours 36 minutes.”

“That’s fast!” Hughes noted, guessing the similar data from analyzing the Mind-Calming Potion probably sped things up.

Having left instructions with the chip, Hughes tossed the half-finished experimental products into the trash—the ingredients had sat too long and were unusable. Once everything was taken care of, he checked the time; it was already half past one. It was time to rest, and he soon drifted off to sleep.

No longer having to report to Mage Matt every morning, Hughes had indeed grown lazier, acting entirely according to his own whims. When he awoke, it was already past nine.

After getting dressed and having a bit of bread with coffee, Hughes waited quietly in his dormitory for Anke to deliver the ingredients.

At 11:30, a familiar knock sounded at the door.

Hughes got up and opened it—sure enough, it was Anke.

“Didn’t you say someone would deliver them? Why come yourself?” Hughes asked, eyeing the large and small boxes in Anke’s hands.

“I didn’t feel comfortable letting anyone else handle it,” Anke said, placing the boxes in Hughes’s hands. “The large box contains the potion ingredients; the small one is the Starshadow Darkgold I promised you.”

“Got it,” Hughes replied, surprised at the heaviness of the small box.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. If you succeed, or if anything unexpected happens during refinement, you can come find me.” With that, Anke wrote down her address for Hughes.

“All right.” After seeing Anke off, Hughes placed the boxes on the table. Ignoring the big box of ingredients for now, he opened the small, weighty box first.

Inside lay a fist-sized chunk of dark golden metal, flecked with tiny blue spots that looked just like the night sky. Perhaps that was the origin of its name. Hughes figured such a large piece of Starshadow Darkgold would last him quite a while.

Starshadow Darkgold was a relatively rare metal; with Anke giving him such a sizable piece, Hughes owed her a favor.

“Beep! Simulation of the elementary spirit potion complete. Ready to transfer?”

“Transfer!” At last, by evening, the analysis was finished, and Hughes immediately had the chip transfer the data.

“Beep! Transferring!”

As knowledge flooded his mind, Hughes rose to gather his tools, preparing to refine the elementary spirit potion.

He started with the ingredients and quickly noticed that the refinement process bore some resemblance to that of the Mind-Calming Potion.

“Could this elementary spirit potion have been developed from the Mind-Calming Potion?” Hughes wondered as he followed each step.

Thanks to the similarities, after three failed attempts, Hughes finally succeeded in producing a vial of pale blue potion.

“At last!” he exclaimed, examining the vial in his hand. Visually, aside from the color, it looked nearly identical to the Mind-Calming Potion.

Setting aside the completed vial, Hughes continued refining with the remaining ingredients.

He processed the herbs and worked through the night, losing all sense of time.

“Whew, finally done!” After a long night’s toil, Hughes had finished processing all the ingredients Anke had brought.

He looked at the four vials before him. He’d thought, with his experience refining Mind-Calming Potions and the chip’s assistance, this task would be straightforward—especially after the first success, which boosted his confidence.

But as the night wore on, he realized this potion was even less stable during refinement than the Mind-Calming Potion, forcing him to be extra cautious.

In the end, when all the ingredients were used up, Hughes had only managed to produce four vials of the elementary spirit potion.

“I’ll keep two for myself, and give two to Anke.” He planned to keep one for himself and give one to Billy. Previously, he hadn’t dared give Billy the Mind-Calming Potion for fear of discovery.

But now, with these potions originating from Anke, he could rest easy. Giving out only two would help mask his true abilities.

Though he was known as a prodigy among potion-makers, if he handed over too many at once, he’d surely be viewed as an oddity.

After his long session at the workbench, Hughes finally realized dawn had already arrived.