Chapter 82

I feel a bit unwell, having eaten too much cold food! I can only provide a basic update today and will catch up tomorrow or the day after.

Purchasing five bottles of low-grade potion for two million gold coins can already be considered a sky-high price. However, as mentioned earlier, the high or low grade of a potion does not directly represent its price. For example, a higher-grade healing potion might only cost a few thousand gold coins. Therefore, the grade of a potion is not fundamentally linked to its price. The price of a potion mainly depends on two aspects: one is the materials, the more precious the materials, the higher the price will be. The other is the difficulty of refining, which is the success rate. If one hundred sets of materials produce only one bottle of potion, even if the materials are of low grade, the price will not be low, because the time spent by the alchemist also counts as part of the cost.

Moreover, this 1% success rate does not mean that you will succeed once out of every hundred attempts. You might fail for hundreds of attempts in a row, or you might succeed three times out of ten. However, after the auctioneer announced the price, there was a ten-second silence, during which no one bid.

"Five bottles of high-quality low-grade invisibility potion, starting bid at two million gold coins. Thirty seconds, and if there are no bids, we will move on to the next item." The auctioneer, who was well-prepared for such a situation, repeated this with a faint smile, adding that if no one bid within thirty seconds, the item would be withdrawn from the auction.

"Uh, five million... seven... nine million gold coins, the tenth VIP room bids nine million gold coins." The auctioneer was stunned by the numbers that appeared on the magical screen, which jumped several times in just ten seconds. When he saw the number nine million, he paused and quickly shouted.

"Twelve million, twelve million, 57, 57 bids twelve million." The auctioneer, who had just finished speaking, was shocked by a series of numbers and then shouted excitedly.

The crowd below also became restless, but the bidding did not stop at twelve million and continued to rise. The auctioneer's voice rang out again: "Fifteen million, fifteen million and fifty thousand. The second VIP room bids fifteen million and fifty thousand. Is there anyone willing to bid higher?"

"Sixteen million, sixteen million, eighteen million, oh my, twenty million, the fourth VIP room bids twenty million!" The auctioneer was extremely excited because five million, ten million, and twenty million were all significant thresholds in any auction, and it was clear that twenty million gold coins was not the peak.

"Thirty million, thirty million, the thirteenth VIP room bids thirty million." The auctioneer had not expected anyone to bid in increments of ten million.

"The madmen from the Assassin's Guild have finally made their move." Lyle glanced at the thirteenth VIP room, where the Assassin's Guild was located.

"Fifty million gold coins, oh my, the eleventh VIP room bids fifty million gold coins, fifty million! Is there anyone willing to bid higher?" As soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, the number rose again, even more crazily.

"Damn thieves!" In the thirteenth VIP room, a thin figure slammed the table and cursed under his breath.

"Ah! It seems we have to give up. These thieves are willing to spend so much money? Hehe, pass the word down, investigate thoroughly to find out who refined this batch of potions. I don't believe it was that old man Lyle; he doesn't have the ability. Once we find the person, we must use every means to get that alchemist to join our Church of Light." The person in the second VIP room sighed and gave instructions.

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Someone nearby responded.

"Damn, damn, this potion is more suitable for our Dark Church. We must increase our infiltration of the Unrivaled Academy and try to recruit the person who refined this batch of potions into our Dark faction." A middle-aged man in a VIP room resolved to do so.

"Fifty million gold coins, three times! Congratulations to the guest in the eleventh VIP room for purchasing five bottles of high-quality low-grade invisibility potion for fifty million gold coins." The auctioneer, seeing no higher bids, formally announced the sale.

"The next item is... ." The auctioneer continued with the next auction, while Lyle left the third floor of the auction house.

Lyle was extremely excited. Although he had anticipated that high-quality potions would be popular and that SS-grade potions would sell for a high price, he had not expected the price to reach fifty million gold coins. After deducting the 5% auction fee, fifty million gold coins left forty-seven and a half million. The guild had promised an additional 60% of the sale price for the other five bottles, which was another thirty million gold coins. Thus, the total income from this auction was seventy-seven and a half million gold coins. The materials for the low-grade invisibility potion cost less than twenty thousand gold coins, including the failed attempts from the previous day and the production of several good and qualified potions. Lyle was surprised when he calculated the total.

However, Lyle calculated again. If the success rate for high-quality potions was 0.5%, it would take two thousand sets of materials to produce ten high-quality potions. At twenty thousand gold coins for twenty sets of materials, two thousand sets would cost twenty million gold coins. Moreover, it would take at least three months to refine two thousand sets of potions, which would cost more than twenty million gold coins in materials, including the cost of magic crystals for the magic furnace, which would be at least one million gold coins, and the wear and tear on high-grade tools, totaling about twenty-five million gold coins. Additionally, the laboratory had to pay one thousand gold coins per day to the academy for the maintenance of the defensive magic array, which would be another three million gold coins over three months. The labor costs for refining such potions were also significant, totaling nearly thirty million gold coins.

"Ah! The profit margin is only 100%, which is too low." Lyle calculated that the profit margin for this auction was only one hundred percent, which was lower than the profit margins of some bars.

Lyle was unhappy with the low profit margin of the potions. When he returned to the laboratory, Zagot had already received the news and wanted to congratulate him, but seeing that Lyle was unhappy, he did not dare to say anything.

"Zagot, why is the profit margin of our potions so low?" Lyle asked, somewhat displeased.

"Profit margin?" Zagot was puzzled and repeated the words.

"Look, these ten high-quality low-grade invisibility potions, according to the success rate, require two thousand sets of materials... ." Lyle let Zagot sit down and explained his calculations, then observed Zagot's reaction.

Zagot could not help but smile bitterly, but he understood that Lyle's concerns were valid. He replied, "Hehe, if the mentor thinks the profit margin is too low, then we should not refine such low-margin potions. We could reduce the production of such potions, like this time, we only put two out of the ten successful bottles up for auction, which would naturally drive up the price."

"Um! That's a good idea. You've seen Cook's potion-refining process. Did you notice any issues?" Lyle nodded and then asked.

Speaking of this, Zagot shrugged and replied, "Mentor, there were no issues. Everything was done according to the procedure. The only issue was that his movements were a bit clumsy."

"Tsk, tsk, that's true. I personally supervised this boy's potion-refining process. An SS-grade potion with a 100% success rate, is it luck or talent?" Lyle sighed and then asked more curiously.

Zagot smiled bitterly and replied, "Mentor, you are a master alchemist. If you couldn't see it, how could I?"

Cook looked at the basic knowledge of potions in his hand, which listed over three hundred types of potions, their grades, and difficulty levels, along with their success rates. When he saw the success rate of the low-grade invisibility potion and the high-quality success rate, he was speechless.

"It seems I need to hide my abilities. If I had gotten this book on basic potion knowledge yesterday, I wouldn't have done that. Sigh! I need to come up with a plan." Cook sighed, realizing he had made a big splash. He thought it was a low-grade potion with a high success rate, but he did not know that the success rate of low-grade potions was so low. Cook thought about refining ten bottles at once.

Just as he thought this, his eyes lit up, and he muttered to himself, "Right, these ten high-quality potions were refined in one go. I can attribute it to luck. Yes! That's what I'll do! But to earn points, I can't lose this job. I need to perform in a special way. Should I focus on the success rate or the quality of the potions? A high success rate won't increase my income much if the quality doesn't improve. I need to focus on the quality of the potions. One high-quality potion is worth dozens of good-quality potions. Yes! That's what I'll do!"

After making up his mind, Cook felt much more relaxed. However, when he saw the four hundred and fifty points he had earned being spent by Lori and Mitch, he felt something was not right.

Cook thought hard but could not figure out what was wrong. However, he knew something was off. At that moment, Duncos burst in, excitedly saying, "Cook, Cook, good news, good news. Guess how much your high-quality low-grade invisibility potion sold for?"

"How much?" Before Cook could speak, Lori asked, and everyone in the room looked at Duncos, waiting for an answer.

"Hey! Cook, you're not in a hurry?" Duncos was surprised to see Cook holding little Rea, who was giggling.

Cook rolled his eyes at Duncos and said, "Say it or not, I'll know tomorrow morning anyway." Cook was not a teenager and had patience. He was sure Duncos had rushed over to tell him about this.

"Fifty million gold coins! It sold for fifty million gold coins, and that was just for five bottles!" Duncos was speechless, seeing Cook's indifferent expression, and immediately shouted.

"Clang!" Lori's cup fell to the floor.

"Bang!" Mitch's cup shattered on the table.

"Clatter!" Martha's tray and the food on it fell to the ground.

"How about that? Surprised, right?" Duncos looked at Cook and said.

"Martha, is dinner ready? I'm hungry!" Cook was indeed shocked by the number, but seeing little Rea, he accepted it calmly. Rea had once consumed ten crystals in less than five minutes, which was equivalent to ten million gold coins. So, Cook thought fifty million gold coins was not a big deal, and Rea might consume it in five minutes.

"Hey! Hey! It's not fifty thousand gold coins or five hundred thousand gold coins, but fifty million gold coins!" Duncos was stunned and then jumped in front of Cook, who was carrying Rea to the dining room, waving his hand and shouting.

"Yes, I heard clearly. Fifty million gold coins, okay!" Cook looked at Duncos, repeated it, and then pushed Duncos' hand away.

"Is this guy sick or something?" Duncos looked at Cook and asked.

"Ah! Fifty million gold coins isn't much!" Mitch and Lori were first shocked, then saw Rea in Cook's arms, and sighed. Rea, the lightning dragon, had once consumed ten crystals in less than five minutes, which was ten million gold coins, and they had joked about it for a long time.

"Uh! Fifty million gold coins isn't much? Fifty million gold coins isn't much?" Duncos was stunned, thinking about what fifty million gold coins could do. Fifty million gold coins could support an empire in a full-scale war involving millions of people, or hire the top ten mercenary groups on the continent. These people actually said it wasn't much, and Duncos could not understand.

"Hey! Are you going to eat or not?" Martha, seeing Duncos in a daze, asked irritably.

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