Chapter 84

Today there are two updates, with another one coming later!

"Take a good look!" Lyle saw Cook's embarrassed look, patted Cook's shoulder, and smiled, then turned and left.

Cook watched Lyle's departing back, then looked at the still sleeping Lei, took a deep breath, and picked up the magic book again to read it carefully. This time, Cook realized that his operations were fundamentally wrong. The refined potion ingredients, due to their high purity and small quantity, reacted extremely quickly.

To slow down the reaction, the method was simple: lower the temperature. Once the temperature was lowered, the reaction speed would slow down. However, the higher the purity of the materials, the higher the failure rate, as the reaction time was harder to control. Materials with lower purity reacted more slowly, making the timing easier to manage. Moreover, the cost of refining materials was extremely high. It took Cook five hours to refine the materials for a single dose of a low-grade invisibility potion, which, if directly brewed, would have produced at least three bottles.

This is also one of the reasons why many potion masters are unwilling to refine materials. After all, success rates are built on a large base. Although the higher the purity of the materials, the greater the chance of producing high-quality potions, the probability is hard to predict.

Cook put down the magic book and started refining materials again. This time, with the experience from the first refinement, it took him only half an hour to refine the two sets of materials he had used up. Cook looked at the tools in the cleaning basin and shook his head, muttering to himself, "It seems I really need an assistant."

Cook placed the flask on the magic furnace again. The magic furnace uses magic crystals as energy sources and generates high temperatures through a magic array, unlike direct combustion furnaces. The temperature of the magic furnace can be controlled by regulating the energy drawn from the magic crystals. Cook set the temperature of the magic furnace to a very low level, almost just a warm feeling.

Cook then arranged all the refined materials in the order they were to be added and began the brewing process. Cook currently knew only two potions: an antidote and a low-grade invisibility potion. Both are low-level magic potions, but the difficulty of brewing them varies greatly. The difficulty of brewing the antidote is C-level, while the low-grade invisibility potion is SS-level. The total difficulty of brewing is divided into nine levels, from the most difficult to the easiest: SSS, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E, and F.

Cook put on a glove on his right hand, which is a magic item mainly used to insulate temperature, and firmly gripped the flask. The base liquid inside the flask was already slightly warm. Cook picked up the first ingredient with his left hand and began to shake the flask. Cook's magic eye observed that the refined materials reacted extremely quickly. If the materials were not refined, the reaction time would have taken several minutes, but it only took a few seconds. The color of the potion under the magic eye had already reached the point where the second ingredient could be added.

Cook moved his left hand, and the second ingredient was instantly added. He quickly picked up the third ingredient and prepared it. Due to the extremely fast reaction speed, Cook had to increase the speed of shaking the flask, his nerves taut. The third ingredient was added instantly, followed by the fourth and fifth. Cook added each ingredient at a rate of about ten seconds per material, some taking only one or two seconds.

"Boom!" Cook finally finished the brewing. As his nerves relaxed, the crystal bottle holding the materials in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into a pile of crystal fragments.

At this moment, Cook realized that he was drenched in sweat. The temperature-regulating robe had not served its purpose at all. Clearly, this was not due to heat but from the tension. Cook filtered the potion again with a filter. He noticed that the potion was not gray but slightly translucent and glowing. Under the magic eye, it emitted a golden light, which confused Cook. The golden light was a sign of gold elemental magic.

Cook was a bit frustrated and had to gather his courage to present the brewed potion to his mentor Lyle: "Mentor! I have finished brewing it."

"Already finished?" Lyle almost didn't believe Cook's words. Even Lyle himself could not control the brewing process well after refining the materials, as the reaction speed was too fast. Even a one or two-second delay could cause the potion to fail. Lyle only dared to experiment with low-level potions. Even then, Lyle had never successfully brewed a potion with a difficulty level above D using refined materials. He had only managed to produce one high-quality potion, and that was a rare occurrence. Improving the quality of potions was extremely difficult, constrained by the brewing difficulty, material purity, and brewing technique. Any mistake in one step would prevent the quality from improving.

Just the process of refining materials was very challenging. How to control the purity and achieve the highest purity was a significant challenge. If not done correctly, the materials could be wasted during the refinement process, making it very difficult to improve the quality of potions.

However, when Lyle saw the potion Cook handed over, his hands trembled. Lyle had seen such a potion over a hundred years ago. He almost snatched the potion from Cook's hand, then used a pipette to drop a single drop into a container.

"Perfect quality!" Even with the naked eye, Lyle could confirm that this was a perfect potion. Over a hundred years ago, a perfect-quality healing potion had appeared at an auction, with a difficulty level of E. Despite this, it was sold for an astronomical price, reportedly acquired by the Alchemist Guild for research. To be precise, the Alchemist Guild is a sub-association of the Mage Guild, but people outside refer to it as the Alchemist Guild.

"Perfect quality!" Cook was also stunned. He never expected that the potion he brewed this time would be of the highest quality.

"Cook, how did you do it?" Lyle excitedly grabbed Cook's hand and asked.

"I don't know, I just followed the procedure!" Cook, of course, wouldn't reveal that he could see the potion reactions, as using the magic eye was more accurate than using mental perception.

"Cook, I have a request. I hope you can sell or exchange this potion to me. This is the second perfect potion I have ever seen, and I hope I can keep it." Lyle tightly held the potion, his face filled with excitement.

Cook was still not used to Lyle's way of speaking, but after some thought, he said, "Alright, but I hope to get a high-quality lightning elemental magic core."

"No problem! It's just a magic core, do you have any other requests?" In Lyle's view, a perfect-quality potion was a gift from the goddess of luck. Even Cook could not brew a second one. If Lyle knew that Cook would, on average, brew a perfect-quality potion every ten days, and that Cook did this intentionally, he might not be so excited.

"Mentor, I have a question. What is a soul crystal?" Cook thought of how Big Mouth had been in a coma after consuming soul crystals for several days, so he decided to ask.

"Soul crystal? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? Where did you hear about soul crystals?" Lyle widened his eyes and asked.

Cook's heart skipped a beat, knowing that soul crystals were definitely not simple. He smiled and said, "I heard it from someone."

"Ha ha, soul crystals are one of the most precious materials. Soul crystals are soul crystals, which are the crystallized form of souls. To obtain a soul crystal, at least an eighth-level or higher magical beast or a professional's soul must be extracted and refined through a magic array. Even the lowest-quality soul crystal is worth a million crystals, not gold, but magic crystals." Lyle chuckled.

Cook was stunned by this statement. In the bag given by Uncle Erni, there were about seven or eight soul crystals. Cook subconsciously thought they were not soul crystals, but he didn't dare to show them to Lyle for identification, as a million crystals was an astronomical amount. Subsequently, Cook became even more anxious, as if the task Erni asked him to help with was extremely difficult.

"Mentor, I'll take my leave. I'll come back tomorrow." Thinking about the adventure that required nearly ten million soul crystals as a deposit, Cook realized the danger. Moreover, he didn't dare to run away, as he was sure that anyone who could casually produce nearly ten million crystals was not someone to be trifled with.

When Lyle heard Cook's words, he couldn't wait for Cook to leave, as he was eager to review Cook's brewing process, which was recorded by a magic image. Lyle smiled and said, "Alright, the magic core will be delivered to you."

Cook carried the still sleeping Lei out of the experimental area, his mind in turmoil. The adventure Erni mentioned was undoubtedly full of danger. However, after taking a deep breath, Cook seemed to have made a decision and quickly went to the comprehensive hall.

Cook looked at the task board in the comprehensive area and made up his mind: "The best way now is to improve my strength as much as possible in the shortest time. Just practicing isn't enough; I need to fight, continuously fight!" So Cook came to the task posting area in the comprehensive zone to look around.

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