Another bottle of elementary healing potion was successfully concocted by Claude. It was also perfect-quality, as could be seen from the color of the potion.
The key steps to concoct the potions recorded in Landes' diary were extremely simple and important. Claude was able to create the perfect grade potions almost as if he was copying them.
Unlike what Maria had taught him, Claude found that he could easily concoct elementary healing potions with alchemical formations and achieve perfect quality.
However, the herbalism books stated that the highest quality potion a herbalist could concoct was excellent, followed by good and passable.
Maria had also mentioned that pharmacists relied on machines to process ingredients and synthesize potions. Therefore, a potion that had an 80% effect was already considered excellent. They could not create a perfect potion that was 100% effective like the ones that mages could.
However, Landes had mentioned in his diary that potions that weren't of perfect quality were considered failures by magi.
Claude believed that it was mainly because magi used alchemical formations to synthesize all sorts of potions. Herbalists, on the other hand, could only use other methods to process ingredients and synthesize potions. In that sense, herbalists were at a disadvantage.
Claude knew that very well. He had used the machines and apparatus in Maria's laboratory to concoct elementary healing potions, but he always failed.
After much difficulty, he managed to concoct three potions, only to have them turn poisonous due to the improper handling of ingredients.
Now that he had an alchemical formation array, all he had to do was process the ingredients and refine the potions according to the instructions in Landes' diary. That was how he was able to successfully create a perfect-grade elementary healing potion.
Looking at the row of 20 crystal tubes filled with potions on the shelf, he scratched his messy hair in confusion. What should he do with those perfect quality potions?
There was no way he could sell them at the apothecary!
Even though Maria was already an intermediate-rank herbalist, she could only concoct high-quality potions.
All he had to do was sell them at the apothecary and anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge would know that he was a magus.
He had spent almost all the money he had on the ingredients and raw materials for his experiments. He had wanted to refine the potions and sell them at the apothecary in town to make up for his lack of funds.
Many people in town knew that he was highly regarded by Maria and was learning herbalism from her.
Even after Maria returned to the royal capital, Claude was still appointed as the foreman of the wood and had access to the apothecary laboratory there. Many people were envious of him.
If he were to take out some good or good quality elementary healing potions to sell to the apothecaries in town, nobody would suspect him and would only think that he was talented in herbalism.
For him to be able to successfully concoct a concoction in such a short time, Maria truly had a good eye for discovering a young herbalism genius like Claude.
However, if he were to sell these Perfect quality Beginner Healing Potions, the consequences would be obvious unless he could lower the quality of these potions to Good or Good.
But the problem was that the books and Landes' diary only stated that there was a requirement to raise the potion's quality. There was no way to lower it.
It was a potion, not wine. It couldn't be mixed with water.
The refined potion would turn into a different kind of liquid. Even if water was added, the two wouldn't be able to fuse.
But if he were to heat it up and force it to fuse, it might cause the potion to lose its effectiveness or turn into some other strange potion.
After thinking for a long time, Claude could only come up with two solutions. One was to pack up the potions and send them to the royal capital for Maria to deal with. It wouldn't be a problem for her to sell the perfect quality potions there. The people in the royal capital were more knowledgeable and wouldn't make a fuss about it.
However, it would take a long time to pay for the potions. Also, it didn't seem worth it to hire someone to make a trip for only twenty or so potions. It wouldn't be worth it if there were too few of them.
The other way was to sell it to the fat old man, Hurian. However, due to the ambush in the forest, he subconsciously didn't want to have anything to do with the old man.
What he was worried about was that Hurian, as the person in charge of the underground store, might discover his true identity from the twenty or so elementary healing potions he was selling.
If he only bought the materials for his experiments from Hurian, he was confident that the old man wouldn't discover his true identity.
But the moment he sold the perfect quality potions, Hurian's attention would be drawn to him.
If there was a sale, there would be a purchase. It was a simple principle.
If Claude sold the twenty or so potions to Hurian, all Hurian had to do was to find out who bought a large amount of the ingredients for elementary healing potions in Whitestag and he would know that the masked magus he was dealing with was Claude.
Forget it, I'll just leave them here for now and think of a way to buy more materials for my experiments.
Claude decided to take a bath. He would be staying in the wood for the next three days, sleeping in the morning and staying up all night to do his alchemical experiments. He wanted to make sure he didn't look like a ghost. He had to take care of himself and patrol the wood while he was at it.
One shouldn't be too obsessed with something!
Claude sighed after he finished his bath.
How did he survive the past few days? His underwear was starting to stink and he didn't even know how to change out of it.
Ever since he finished setting up the alchemical formation, he would go back to his study to tinker with the formation as soon as he returned to the wood.
Siori seemed to have come looking for him about some trivial matters in the wood and was chased away by him in a fit of anger.
What did he say?
He told him to stay away and not to affect his studies.
He looked at the calendar on the wall. It was already the 18th of November. It would be the 26th of November in eight days, his graduation day in middle school.
He still had to go to school to get his graduation certificate and attend the graduation ceremony. What did Instructor Wickham say? The school was going to invite all the graduating parents to attend the ceremony?
Right, he hadn't gone home for the past ten days.
On the 15th, the school gave the third-year graduates an early break and he drove his carriage back to the wood. After that, he stayed in the wooden hut for the next three days and did his alchemical experiments in the study. He only snapped out of it when he used up all the ingredients and ingredients.
Perhaps I'm suffering from OCD and won't stop until I use up all the ingredients.
If he hadn't used up all the ingredients, he might still be in the study tinkering with the alchemical formation.
When he synthesized the last bottle of elementary healing potion, all he could think of was how he could get some money to buy more ingredients to continue his experiments. It was as if he was possessed by a demon and was completely immersed in the alchemical formation.
It was no wonder Landes wrote in his diary that he would often forget to rest during his experiments for days on end.
Truth be told, watching the ingredients and ingredients change under the alchemical formation as he molded, fused, separated, purified and synthesized them was truly mesmerizing. It gave him a sense of satisfaction and success.
He slapped his forehead and put on his coat before leaving the hut. The sky was gray and gloomy. He didn't know if it would rain at night.
If it didn't, it would probably snow in the next two days.
The weather was getting colder and colder. He had to make a trip home in the afternoon. There were still some winter clothes, gloves and hats in the attic. He should bring them over.
He stretched his body a little before going into the house to grab his gun and slung it over his shoulder. He was prepared to patrol the wood and get some game to bring back home.
He saw Siori at the stables. He was feeding his old horse and cleaning up the manure in the stables.
He was going to transport the horse manure to the several mu of farmland the couple had opened up on the mountain. He was going to pile it up in a big hole they had dug to compost it. When spring came next year, he would bring it back to the several mu of farmland and use it as fertilizer.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Siori.
I was studying herbalism two days ago and I was at a crucial point. I lost my temper because I was interrupted when you came looking for me.
By the way, why did you come looking for me that day? "Claude sincerely expressed his apologies.
"It's nothing."
Siori forced a smile. "It's like this. Winter is coming soon. My wife and I used to go to the wood to cut down a few withered trees and bring them back to make a pit for charcoal. That way, we won't feel too cold.
You're in charge of the wood now. I wanted to ask if you could burn some charcoal for our own use like before. "
"Burn charcoal?"
Claude gave it some thought and nodded. "Sure. You don't have to tell me that. You don't have much charcoal. You can burn some if you want.
I'll go up the mountain to take a look. If there's any game, I'll bring some back for you. "
He pulled out the big black horse, Jamie, and put it on the saddle. Then, Claude rode the horse to inspect the wood.
His luck wasn't bad. He found a herd of wild goats at the edge of the forest. He fired a shot and killed one of them before returning with a smug look on his face.
After returning to the wood, Claude went to the stream and skinned the goat. He cleaned it and chopped it into two halves. One half would be taken home and the other half would be given to Sioris. The other half would be left in the hut for him to eat slowly over the next two days.
Now that the weather was cold, he didn't have to worry about the meat going bad.
Claude started the carriage and tossed the goat onto it before driving it into town.
It was already five in the afternoon by the time he reached his red brick house, the time his mother was supposed to make dinner.
However, he noticed that the atmosphere in the house wasn't quite right when he entered with the goat in hand. His mother didn't look too good and only forced a smile when she saw him enter. She took the goat without saying a word.
His father, on the other hand, was sitting on a chair in the dining room, smoking his pipe. The windows of the dining room were closed and the smoke was thick.
His younger brother, Borke, rushed over and hugged Claude's leg the moment he saw him. There were two tear stains on his face. It seemed like he had just cried.
Even the young snowhound wasn't as excited as it usually was. It only wagged its tail at Claude.
"Did something happen at home?
Father … did Arbeit cause trouble for the family again? "Claude asked.
Claude's first suspicion was that Arnett had gotten into some sort of trouble again. That was why both his parents looked rather dejected and frustrated.
He had seen Arbeit go looking for a woman in the old street. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't explain why he saw him there, he wouldn't mind telling his parents about it. That way, he wouldn't have caused trouble for the family.
Morssen shook his head and said, "It's not his fault. There's another reason.
It'll be fine. It'll be over soon. Everything will be fine.
By the way, why did you decide to come back today? You didn't come home during school break three days ago. Your mother even made a lot of good food for you, but she was disappointed. "
"I'm sorry. I was so engrossed in herbalism that I forgot to go home when I reached a critical point in my experiment. All I could think about was the experiment, so I didn't think about coming back," Claude apologized.