“Purification rate of twenty percent. Fail.”
“Too many impurities in the solvent. Fail.”
“Purification rate of zero. I really wish you understood whether your solvent actually contains what I’m looking for. Fail.”
The elderly man walked between the various potion benches, judging the students' results one by one.
“Heh, Violet. This is a potion-making laboratory. If you want to study explosion magic, feel free to go to the practical classroom next door.”
“The potion components are redundant, the rejection effect is intense, and the test tube exploded. Fail!”
The girl called Violet lowered her head, staring at the mess on her bench with eyes tinged with dissatisfaction.
“None of you reached the requirements for this final project!”
“If you think potion-making is just stuffing flowers and grass into a bottle and messing around, then don't step foot in this classroom!”
“Tomorrow is the final deadline. If you don't want a zero on your final assessment, bring me a result that satisfies me.”
“That is all. Class dismissed.”
“Violet, come here for a moment.”
The girl followed the old man outside. Her pale pink hair was tied in a ponytail, and her gaze was fixed on him.
“Violet, sigh... I originally thought you could do it.”
“I believe in your talent; your aptitude for potion-making is no worse than anyone else's.”
“But if this is the extent of your academic research after half a year, I think the scholarship ranking for this year will have to change.”
Seeing the girl remain silent, the old man sighed again and handed her a sheet of paper.
“This records the solvent ratios from your previous forty-one experiments. Compare them with the effects of the potions you brewed each time and think carefully.”
Once the girl took the paper, the old man waved his hand, signaling her to leave.
Violet clutched the paper and walked away without looking back. Only after ensuring she was out of the old man's sight did she crumple the paper into a ball, her angry expression no longer hidden.
“That damn old man Grimm! Every day it’s ‘You've disappointed me too much’ or ‘This isn't like the talent you should have.’ My God, my ears are growing calluses from hearing it!”
The girl angrily kicked a small stone on the side of the path, looked at the crumpled paper in her hand, tore it into shreds, and threw it into a trash can.
“Senior Violet!”
A voice came from behind. Violet turned to see a girl who was in the same class as her.
“Senior Violet, what should we do about this project? I have no clue at all. No matter how I mix it, the purification rate won't exceed thirty percent.”
Violet spread her hands with a helpless expression.
“The materials for a Tier 3 Purifying Agent are inherently incompatible with lightning-attribute toxins. Encountering lightning-element magic herbs makes the purification efficiency drop by more than sixty percent.”
“That’s what the books say, yet that old man wants us to find a way to make a standard purifying agent equally effective against lightning-attribute erosion?”
“If I were that capable, would he still be sitting in the professor's chair?”
“Argh, damn old man!”
Seeing that Violet was also clueless, the girl didn't ask further and left with her head hanging low.
《Compatibility Optimization of Tier 3 Purifying Agents and Lightning-Attribute Toxins》
This was Violet’s final project.
The core ingredients of a purifying agent are Moonlight Moss and Holy Dew Grass. The mana attributes of these two materials tend toward gentle coverage, but the mana characteristics of lightning-attribute materials are penetration and tearing. The attributes of the two are incompatible; this wasn't something that could be solved simply by adjusting the ratios.
I should go check more references.
In the library, Violet's desk was covered with her experimental log, three or four reference books flipped to specific pages, and a recipe flowchart that she had repeatedly altered until it was nearly torn.
Violet's previous line of thought was to find an additive that could be compatible with both components. She had tried neutral mana buffers like Kaolin Flower, Anemone, and Moonstone Powder, but the results were all failures without exception.
The best-case scenario was that the original agent wasn't decomposed by the lightning toxin, but the purification rate was nearly zero.
The worst case was the explosion from earlier.
“Maybe one buffer isn't enough. What if I add another buffer during the reaction process?”
Violet's voice was very soft, several experimental plans flashing through her mind.
“Why do you insist on mixing them together?”
“So many buffers will only make the original purifying agent more turbid.”
“Won't all those additions just cause the purifying agent to decompose anyway?”
The voice entered Violet’s mind like a bomb, scattering all her thoughts.
She turned her head to look beside her. There stood a student with short black hair, not wearing the Hermetica school uniform.
What Violet hated most was someone interrupting her train of thought.
Especially when that person was a student from another department who didn't understand potion-making at all.
Recalling what Grimm had said to her earlier, Violet, who already had nowhere to vent her frustration, was now fuming.
I'm a potion-making major; do you think I can be lectured by an outsider like you?
“If you think potion-making is just messing around with flowers and grass in a bottle, you might as well go try it yourself.”
“Do you even know what potion-making is?”
Violet looked at him with great dissatisfaction.
The student shrugged and said softly, “Whether I know potion-making or not doesn't change the fact that this is a terrible experiment.”
Violet was instantly enraged.
As if I don't know how terrible this experiment is? Do I need you to tell me?
If this wasn't the final project, who would want to do this ghost of an experiment!
“I've seen countless guys like you who read books for two days and think they've thoroughly researched potion-making.”
“Without adding a buffer, the Moonlight Moss in the purifying agent will only be eroded faster by the lightning toxin, damaging the potion components to a greater extent. Why don't you tell me if you have a better way?”
Seeing the other party remain silent, Violet added triumphantly.
“This is written on page 34 of 《Basic Potion Formulas》.”
“Since you're so knowledgeable, how could you have not even read this book?”
Violet sneered, pushing her experimental log and flowchart toward him.
“Come on, since you're so amazing, you complete this experiment.”
Violet was already prepared to ruthlessly mock this arrogant student.
You're giving me pointers?
Do you even know what level of experiment I'm doing?
Seeing him hold the log with a furrowed brow, the smile on Violet's face grew even brighter.
Encountered a question you can't answer, so you stay silent?
What, finally realized you've bitten off more than you can chew?
Violet's thoughts had already shifted from how to complete the experiment to how to humiliate this posturing student.
“Don't bother looking anymore. If you can figure it out, I'll straight up—”
Before she could finish, the man picked up the quill on the desk and began rewriting the experimental log and flowchart on his own.
“Hey, what are you doing? Don't scribble on my log. If you don't know, you don't know. Don't pretend to understand everything.”
Seeing that he was only focused on the revisions and ignored her, Violet snatched the quill and grabbed back her experimental log.
“What did you mess up?! You...”
Violet wanted to scold him for his actions, but she turned to find that the blank sections of the log had been filled in, the pending steps had been crossed out, and the entire process had been shortened by half.
“Remove the initial purification liquid, use a constant temperature formation to cool the Moonlight Moss then heat it up to ensure the material properties remain unchanged...”
“Ionic charged particles will undergo a destabilization reaction with lightning-attribute materials?”
Violet’s eyes widened, and she looked at the man beside her in disbelief.
“Wait... you actually know how to do this?”
Rate on N.U.
