With this to aid her, many of the herbs she had previously gathered weren't even necessary.
However, since the Ancient of Life could produce such a wonderful substance, what about the other ancients?
At that thought, Lan Qingyou stepped out again and returned with three different branches for extraction, then sent them to Shang Chuan for identification.
【Knowledge Sap (S)】
【Effect: A single drop allows a person to randomly awaken a piece of knowledge or a spell that does not belong to them. (Limit one drop per person.)】
【Description: Want to possess all sorts of strange and wonderful magic? Then you might want to give this juice a try!】
【Gale Sap (S)】
【Effect: A single drop allows a person to randomly awaken an Agility-type spell. (Limit one drop per person.)】
【Description: The strong wind blows through the horn, making a deafening sound, but that has little to do with you.】
【Battle Sap (S)】
【Effect: A single drop allows a person to randomly awaken a Combat-type spell. (Limit one drop per person.)】
【Description: Remember! Melee is to your advantage!】
Advantage, my foot!
With my constitution, going into melee is just asking for death, isn't it?
Though she didn't want to pay attention to the small screen's snark, there were times when she just couldn't help herself.
Still, these saps looked quite promising, especially the Knowledge Sap, which seemed like it could be incorporated into the potion.
While she wanted to try the other saps first, Lan Qingyou had more important matters to attend to.
After some scribbling in her notebook to calculate the dosages and the capacity of the Seeker of Fire Crucible, Lan Qingyou began brewing the potion.
For the base liquid this time, Lan Qingyou didn't use Flame Spirits; instead, she used a pot of Spring of Repose she had brought with her.
She hadn't originally expected to use the Spring of Repose.
But in this situation, it was the perfect fit.
Ding!
Just as Lan Qingyou was preparing the potion, her card chimed.
The Moon: "Did you use that herb called Star Grass from the materials I sent you earlier?"
The Tower: "?"
Lan Qingyou was puzzled.
Star Grass was an herb similar to a pitcher plant, named for the small, twinkling, fleshy orbs along its edges that looked like stars.
The primary function of this herb was to act as a bonding agent between the medicinal properties of different ingredients.
It was similar to the role of an 'assistant' in the traditional principle of Sovereign, Minister, Assistant, and Courier.
This herb was occasionally used when dealing with potent ingredients, and both the Star Dragon King Essence Blood and the Life Sap certainly qualified as potent.
Without the Star Grass to neutralize them, the resulting magic potion would have its effects significantly diminished, even if the Seeker of Fire Crucible managed to pull it off.
The Moon: "One of my subordinates accidentally left a few Three-eyed Crow eyes in the Star Grass while cleaning it. See if you used them. If not, take the eyes out."
Huh?
Lan Qingyou blinked, then immediately grabbed a slotted spoon to stir through the pot and check the Star Grass.
As it turned out, she really did find a few eyes that were already more than half-melted.
Lan Qingyou's face darkened instantly.
She had planned for everything, yet she never expected a problem to arise from such a place.
In the past, the herbs Shang Chuan sent over were always cleaned and ready for immediate use, so Lan Qingyou had grown careless and hadn't checked.
...
Fine, a few extra eyeballs weren't a disaster. She would just treat it as adding Variable X. Even if it failed, the loss wouldn't be too great.
After all, the Seeker of Fire Crucible had nearly half the capacity of the meteoric iron crucible, holding only about ten liters.
It could only produce around a hundred 10 ml vials of potion.
No matter how much was wasted, it wouldn't be that much.
Besides, she still had plenty of ingredients left.
The Tower: "This is a serious commercial accident. I don't want it to happen again."
Although the matter wasn't huge for Lan Qingyou, she still had to issue a warning to prevent similar accidents in the future.
The Moon: "Of course. I'll contact you later regarding the specific compensation."
As a businessman, and especially dealing with a major supplier like Lan Qingyou, Shang Chuan naturally knew how to handle this.
To be honest, it was just rotten luck.
This incident was less about the subordinate's negligence and more about a bizarre coincidence.
The person responsible for cleaning and processing the herbs had simply put them together for convenience, intending to sort them later.
However, they were injured and fainted from an infection while out, only waking up just now. Upon learning the Star Grass had been used, they hurriedly contacted Shang Chuan.
This left Shang Chuan with no one to truly vent his frustration on.
The Tower: "Fine."
Lan Qingyou replied and set the card down.
She didn't actually care much about compensation, as alchemists were never short on money, but there had to be some form of penalty.
Of course, she couldn't be bothered to manage the details of such penalties; she would let Shang Chuan deal with that headache himself.
Setting the card aside, Lan Qingyou continued to stir the potion in the crucible.
The Seeker of Fire Crucible cut the potion-making time exactly in half.
Potions that previously took eight hours to brew now only took four, and trial-run potions that didn't require many attributes went from four hours down to two.
Of course.
Because she was playing for high stakes this time, Lan Qingyou didn't treat this batch as a trial. She didn't skip a single step, following the entire process with steady, solid work.
Staring at the pale red liquid in the crucible, Lan Qingyou had another sudden inspiration.
Since this batch of potion was already in a semi-spoiled state because of those Three-eyed Crow eyeballs, why not add a bit more 'Variable X' of her own?
If the Star Dragon King's blood could be used as an ingredient, her own blood should be fine too, right?
After all, she was a 'Witch' recognized by the world consciousness.
And there was already a precedent with the talent ascension potion, so adding a little shouldn't hurt.
It was only about a hundred drops of blood, maybe five or six milliliters—less than the volume of a single 10 ml mana potion.
With that thought, Lan Qingyou used her Moonstone Dagger to draw some of her blood and let it fall into the mix.
After a hundred or so drops, the color of the potion in the crucible didn't darken; instead, it shifted from pale red to a vibrant pink.
Vibrant pink it is, then. She already had things like pink infantry under her command, so this wasn't much different.
Four hours passed during Lan Qingyou's focused brewing.
However, for the sake of caution, Lan Qingyou didn't rush to bottle and identify the potion once it was finished. Instead, she waited patiently for it to cool and settle.
After all, this was a necessary step in serious potion-making.
An hour later, the settling was complete, and Lan Qingyou began filtering and bottling.
The entire crucible of potion yielded 108 vials.
Naturally, through the identification glasses, they still appeared as a sea of question marks. This was understandable; although she had added many low-level herbs and materials, they were all supplementary. Trying to bring down the quality of the Star Dragon King's blood, her own blood, and the Life Sap was somewhat unrealistic.
However, that was only one possibility; failure was also a potential outcome.
After all, question marks represented the unknown, and she had added quite a few instances of Variable X to this brew. Heaven only knew what she had created.
Yet, just as Lan Qingyou was cautiously observing the potion in her hand, the voice of the world consciousness rang out.
Rate on N.U.
