Chapter 803: Potion Studies Comparable to Mysticism
Mei Linde’s Office
“So, did your personal visit to the inner district of the Wizard Academy help you pinpoint the location of the world’s navel through the qi observation technique?” Sheril’s voice echoed in the office, clearly directed at Mei Linde in front of her.
“You’re being reckless.”
“Then it seems it didn’t have much effect… Let me ask this: can we rule out the possibility of it being inside the Wizard Academy?” Sheril continued to inquire.
It seemed she was genuinely curious, but she quickly added another piece of information.
“I checked out the Aphhemia Academy for you. The sh**t of the World Tree beneath isn’t the world’s navel; it’s a nested structure. Without a bit of means, one might mistake it for… but it’s not, really. It’s quite touching—those Aphhemia Forest Elves were even willing to use their most sacred Aphhemia World Tree sh**t as bait for cover. Those extraordinary races are truly bonded like siblings.”
“And you even went to the Aphhemia Academy?” Mei Linde asked, feeling somewhat exasperated.
“Yes! Are you regretting that I didn’t stir up some trouble over there?”
“I’d rather you be a bit more settled; acting like this will eventually disrupt our plans. Your actions are far too radical,” Mei Linde commented. “Moreover, I don’t think your fussing around the Wizard Academy was entirely for my sake. What else did you do?”
“Oh my… Am I, a Betrayer Witch, being doubted for genuinely helping you? Did you feed my sincerity to the cat?”
“…”
At this moment, Mei Linde was once again rendered speechless by this Betrayer Witch before her, but she had to confront this troublesome individual.
Indeed, the sudden situation had provided her with the chance to gather qi observation technique information herself, but such an explanation felt too far-fetched.
Usually, she wouldn’t have been able to enter the inner district of the Wizard Academy. Even during her previous visit to the Wizard Academy to seek explanations, she had been met outside early on.
However, Mei Linde had ample reason to suspect that Sheril must have been up to something else.
But in such a short time, did she really have any extra time to achieve any particular goals?
This was destined to be a question that could not be answered at this moment.
What truly put Mei Linde on edge regarding Sheril was that she couldn’t see what the other party really wanted.
Many of her actions seemed chaotic, lacking a clear target.
This could very likely lead her to make incorrect judgements based on these behaviors, which could be considered a common tactic used by Betrayer Witches to bury the truth.
Betrayer Witches must have some foundational starting point for their actions, and then everything they do revolves around that goal. However, they cannot be upfront about it to other witches.
This is one of the reasons why Betrayer Witches are dangerous.
If one were to make reasonable guesses based on the current situation… Mei Linde had ample reasons to suspect that this Betrayer Witch had interests in the Main World itself, perhaps even using more radical methods to fully bring the Main World under the banner of the Witch Race.
After all, this was the Main World, a unique form of world existence within the Void.
Since it exists above the main trunk of the Void veins, the Main World has a certain degree of capability to influence the entire Void, or in other words, the capability to influence “the entire Void’s birth of worlds.”
Such a world is far superior to those worlds gained through the expansion of the Void.
Not even a large-scale world cluster could compare.
Moreover, the Main World has nearly infinite growth potential, provided this Main World has not been reduced to merely a Core Realm…
But once they master the art of repairing the Main World, this Main World’s value to the Witch Race would be elevated to a height equivalent to that of a complete Main World!
So now, Mei Linde speculates that a large batch of Betrayer Witches may soon arrive in the Main World. At this moment, she felt somewhat grateful that the Main World had shattered, resulting in limitations on the capacity for the Extraordinary.
Otherwise, witnessing the scene of these Betrayer Witches swarming would likely leave her breathless.
Even so, she also needed to be wary of Betrayer Witches entering the Main World through other means.
The Sheril before her had infiltrated in such a manner.
Thus, she felt it was necessary to conduct a thorough check on the upcoming Extraordinary Witches entering the Main World.
If a second Betrayer Witch were allowed in, it would no longer just be a matter of which Extraordinary Academy in the Main World would suffer; even the Witch Academy would be in jeopardy!
If the ideologies of the two Betrayer Witches clashed, the situation would become even more uncontrollable.
…
Laboratory.
Since Tan Han was unavailable in the morning, I had to handle my own matters first.
I felt quite confident about the “completion ritual” of self-generated magic.
The only concern was how efficient the final completion would be.
As for the concept of “prototype self-generated magic” I proposed, I currently didn’t have the energy to delve deeply into it; after all, things need to be tackled one at a time, and impatience should be avoided.
Moreover, even if it were truly derivable, I had no clue at the moment, so naturally, I wouldn’t waste time on it.
Therefore, the morning hours felt somewhat easy for me.
Even during a not-so-busy period, I visited the group working on potions and casually interacted with them.
After all, I was also quite interested in the artistry of potions.
This art mastered by witches utilizes magic power as a medium, extraordinary materials as a carrier, and potion products as the ritual itself; it must be said to be very interesting.
Although I’m still not very skilled at potion studies, I have learned a lot of theoretical knowledge about them but lack practical experience.
If general alchemy focuses on ratios, pharmacology, etc., then potion studies primarily focus on blending and rituals.
And magic power is the best medium for blending.
Actually, this usage is quite common; for example, the healing potion blended with the natural power mastered by Forest Elves is more effective than a pure healing potion; the curse essence blended with witch power is so potent that even general dispelling spells cannot wipe out the curse effects.
Thus, the study of potions blended with magic power is also a significant field!
As magic power is the highest-level extraordinary energy that can be wielded by living beings, the potion art is truly the most shining business card of the Witch Race.
It’s not to say that there are no higher-level extraordinary energies than magic power in the Void.
But the extraordinary energy that can be utilized and used for the promotion of extraordinary systems is indeed at its highest level with magic power.
And other races wouldn’t dare to covet this power; otherwise, they’d better be prepared to be assimilated into a branch of the Witch Race.
But back to the point.
Although potion studies seem quite sophisticated, this art for witches… is probably as easy as making dark cuisine in everyday life.
Moreover, it does not require one to be an extraordinary witch; as long as one is a preparatory witch and possesses mental power capable of interfering with magic power, they can start learning potion studies, even diving directly into practical operations.
Potion studies are a typical skill with a very high upper limit and a very low lower limit.
This often leads to witches blending potions experiencing explosions, after all, magic power has such high energy levels that encountering even a minor deviation could lead to a pure explosion as the best outcome.
In the basic books on potion studies I read, there were descriptions of various situations that might lead to explosions during blending.
For example, contamination by waste liquid or the unknown curses formed through special rituals; these curses are not systematically traceable and can hardly even be dispelled.
Thus, for unskilled witches, potion studies can even be classified under the incomprehensible “mysticism.”
However, even so, this curiosity of mine about potion studies could not be stifled.
So after wrapping up the completion ritual, I spent some time observing those girls in their potion blending.
Watching them handle extraordinary materials so “brutally,” I couldn’t help but wonder if they were really professional students who had studied potion studies…
But after understanding, I realized such behavior was classified as part of a “behavior ritual.”
Similar to a blessing ritual.
This is not something that depends on belief; after all, the existence of rituals can be confirmed, so if there is no effect, it must indicate that something went wrong in the ritual.
I must say, their optimistic attitude was something I’d never learn.
However, throughout the morning, I picked up a lot of useful knowledge, like the special techniques used during potion blending and the preparatory rituals before blending, etc.
Many details and techniques were not recorded in the books.
According to them, every individual has a different understanding of potion studies, and the small ritual techniques they master will also vary; even the effects of the blended potions will differ, leading to a myriad of classifications within potion studies, with various styles and schools.
To which I could only express respect.
Time soon reached the afternoon.
The time agreed upon with Tan Han was almost upon us.
I looked at the morning’s results in the laboratory and internally planned how to communicate with Tan Han next.
After all, Tan Han is a living person; communication is inevitable.
“Oh, Tan Han has arrived! You haven’t come to see us for days; we might become estranged!”
At that moment, I heard a voice from the main door of the laboratory. Tan Han had, as per our agreement, arrived about ten minutes early.
Upon hearing Tan Han asking where I was, I casually picked up a document to feign looking at it.
Until a figure appeared in my line of sight within my experimental booth.
“Tan Han, you’re here.” I put down the document and stood up.
“Yeah, sorry, I had something to attend to in the morning; I hope it wasn’t too much of a delay?”
“Of course it’s fine; rather, your timing is just right.” I said with a smile and then invited Tan Han in.
“By the way, you should have been studying body transformation spells these days, right? How does it feel?” I looked expectantly at Tan Han, curious to learn about her impressions of this craft.
“It’s a very novel technique; the experience is completely different from casting spells using a spellbook, but it can’t stump me.” Tan Han answered confidently.
“That’s good. Has anyone troubled you in these days? If so, let me know in time; I can help sort it out. I don’t want you to be distracted by other things during the experiment.”
“Don’t worry, no one has caused me trouble.”
“That’s good. Now, let’s get straight to the point, shall we?” I said while pulling up the information summary page of the Great Knowledge Tree.
This was an analysis of Tan Han’s physical condition over the past few days.
I tidied it up and turned it into a more intuitive table.
“I’m completely fine with that,” Tan Han shook her head, indicating she had no issues; she was already accustomed to my straightforwardness.
“Have you continued trying the completion ritual I had you attempt earlier?” I looked at the line chart and found that the total amount of magic power generated within the limited timeframe had slightly increased for Tan Han.
Moreover, this increase was irregular and intermittent, so I had reason to believe that the previous versions of the completion ritual still had some effect, although it was limited, with even some points showing regression.
“Yeah, I’ve been trying it because I feel the changes in magic generation are not significant and thought it might require more time to observe a fluctuation.” Tan Han replied earnestly.
“Then you shouldn’t mind if I access some of your more private information from this period, right? I just want to gather data on the timing of your various ritual attempts and the results they yielded.”
“Of course, feel free.”
“Thank you.” I nodded and then directly accessed the information before merging it into the current line chart.
What I was doing now was a formal experiment; naturally, any exploration of someone’s privacy needed to be approved.
Of course, this was merely to follow protocol and save trouble.
“Is there anything visible in this?”
“I can see that the completion rituals I previously had you try were effective, but with limited effects.” I said somewhat regretfully.
So far, Tan Han’s progress regarding self-generated magic could only be described as minimal; it wasn’t that she wasn’t trying hard, but rather that the previous craft wasn’t yet mature. Of course, I also blamed my lack of understanding and knowledge about self-generated magic.
If before, the magic that Tan Han generated hadn’t even reached a standard unit, then now her self-generated magic had barely qualified to reach a standard level.
“Is that so…”
“Why do you seem disheartened? This is clearly my problem, not yours.”
“It’s nothing, but let’s not talk about who is responsible at this point; we are both participants in this experiment, and we both wish for it to succeed.”
“Are you trying to comfort me now?” I chuckled lightly, waved my hand, and scattered the materials.
“Don’t be disheartened; I haven’t wasted these past days either. Let’s conduct another attempt; this time… I’ll personally host the completion ritual.”
“Is there anything I need to prepare?”
“Not at all; I’ll clear out enough space for you. Just stand there as you normally would during the completion ritual, oh right…” As I spoke, I pushed a light screen in front of Tan Han.
“This is the initial completion ritual we are going to try next. I will continuously adjust it based on the effects it yields on you; this process may take a while—perhaps half a day or even one or two days. You should be able to endure, right? During this time, you need to maintain good mental concentration.”
“Of course, that’s no problem.”
Tan Han took the light screen, looking at the completion ritual displayed on it. She noticed that this completion ritual differed greatly from each of the ones she had previously attempted, making her feel as though I had completely overhauled the previous theories.
