Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 174 Uncle and Nephew and Daily Life

A wonderful day begins with the second bloodletting.

Ruger muttered to himself, but his eyes kept glancing at the seeds in the old dog Renser's hand. This old fellow had warmly brought him a plate of red berries with tender vines twisting on them at the dining table that morning, saying that after bleeding so much, it was the time to eat these berries. Now, however, he was being asked to bleed a little more.

"My dear nephew, this is Dragon Blood Bitter Vine. Look at these round little things, how beautiful the patterns are! They're not anything high-level; a little diluted blood is enough, which is sufficient for your bloodline. To cultivate the seeds, just a few drops are needed..."

Old Lenser showed a small bag of seeds in his hand, and then brought out a long cultivation pot.

“These seeds are indeed beautiful,” Ruger said, “but my dear uncle, I lost a lot of blood yesterday, and I don’t think those little berries can make up for it.”

Those red berries were also cultivated by old Lenser in the shop, and it seemed that he would eat some after paying the blood tax each time.

“My nephew, as long as you’re willing to give a little bit of your blood to water it for me—oh, diluted, of course—after the seed is cultivated, just a few drops of your blood in that little bucket of water will be enough. You’ve seen that little bucket, right? That way, the cost of both potions can be minimized, hehehe.” Old Lunser said, laughing.

"Sounds pretty good, my uncle, but I'm more curious about which two potions they are, and how difficult they are to make..." Ruger said with a smile.

"Don't even think about it, kid. That's not something you can refine right now. Some particularly slow learners might need to be a first-level wizard, and even smart ones need to reach the limit of a wizard apprentice in terms of mental strength," the old dog said, pouting. How could he not understand what the little dog meant? "I never intended to slow down your learning of the new formula. It's just that I've been busy lately, and your foundation isn't solid enough yet."

“My uncle will definitely find a way to make me more solid,” Ruger said.

“Of course, of course. Memorizing everything in those illustrated books is just knowing. Knowing is never mastering. You need to use your mental power to read the changes of each material during the actual refining process. Only then can you match your knowledge with your understanding. The method I, Old Lunser, teach is absolutely the best,” Old Lunser said proudly. “You can choose a common low-level potion, and I will teach you today, which is not included in the agreement.”

Upon hearing this, Luger couldn't help but smile and ponder.

According to the original contract, he would only be considered a qualified apothecary apprentice and entitled to a share of the profits from potions once he mastered the refining of three low-level potions with a success rate and quality meeting the standards. Old Lunser's role was to teach him and provide him with three recipes free of charge. During this period, all potions he refined would belong to the shop—that was the agreement. Now, however, he was to be taught recipes beyond the agreement.

Old Lenser said, "Young man, you need to know how to walk before you can run better."

A thought flashed through Luger's mind.

“Uncle, I want to learn how to make fighter potions,” Ruger said. “It should be easy, right?”

Old Lunser paused for a moment upon hearing this, then nodded and said, "It is indeed a good potion for beginners because it is so basic. If it weren't for the fact that we are in a place like the City of Burning Blood, I might have taught you this kind of thing from the very beginning. Precisely because it is so basic, it is not easy to sell in the City of Burning Blood. At most, it is sold to newly ascended members of the supernatural. So I can teach you a set of three basic fighter potions together. After you have mastered them, I can also teach you a fighter advancement potion called the Rage Fighter Potion. The shop happens to have the materials."

Ruger's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected such an unexpected gain. Whether it could be sold for money was not what he was concerned about right now. He was a blank slate, and mastering various formulas and refining techniques was always a good thing.

He slowly brought a glass that was half-filled with water to his face.

"Uncle, would a wizard apprentice take on the role of a fighter?" Ruger asked curiously.

“Yes, of course, even among high-ranking wizards. In the wizarding world, all sorts of strange and wonderful things can happen. There are even ascension rituals that require a wizard apprentice to be a battle axe spirit master at the same time, and of course, there are also rituals that require a wizard apprentice to be a transcendent knight at the same time. All the strange and wonderful traces in the world are actually paths that predecessors have walked.” Old Lunser kept talking, his big eyes staring at Ruger’s movements.

Ruger was cutting his finger and dripping blood into a glass of water. Hearing that a higher concentration of blood seemed better for cultivating seeds, he dripped his blood directly into the half-glass of water.

Seeing this, old Lenser placed the long cultivation pot on the table and began planting, burying ten seeds in a row.

“Uncle Lunser, I want some of these cute little things too.” As Ruger withdrew his hand, he pointed to the seeds of the Dragon Blood Bitter Vine.

"Here you go." Old Lunser tossed the small bag along with the few remaining seeds inside, then habitually rubbed his hands together, picked up the water glass in front of him, and slowly poured the water into the long, narrow cultivation pot.

Luger looked at the excited old dog and silently put away the bag.

He wondered if planting these Dragon Blood Bitter Vine seeds in the soil stained with the blood of those strange dragons would have any miraculous effects.

The friendly interaction between the uncle and nephew in the morning came to an end.

Ruger still completed a round of meditation first, and then refined the purification potion.

It wasn't until the afternoon that old Lenser arrived at Ruger's small alchemy room with the prepared materials for the fighter's potion.

"The basic fighter potions are not limited to these three types, but these three are the most common and mainstream. Almost all apothecary apprentices know how to make these. The three potions belong to the categories of Strength Fighter, Life Fighter, and Swiftness Fighter."

Old Lenser began his explanation.

"Because this stuff isn't easy to sell and is very simple, I've only prepared ten portions of each type of Fighter's Potion material. I believe that should be enough for you. The special thing about Fighter's Potion is that it's a kind of will rune. You have to be under the influence of this rune to brew the potion. It's really special. The two runes you learned about Purification Potion last time were used to observe and assist in brewing the potion with tools. They were unrelated to Purification Potion. But this Will Rune is exclusive to Fighter's Potion. Even if you learn a hundred more recipes, you might not encounter it."

Whether it was common sense that could be used now or things that were not very useful, old Lunsser talked about them one by one when he was arranging the materials.

Ruger listened attentively from the side.

He would only drift off when Old Renser was distracted, but even then he was thinking about what kind of fighter potion to give Aiskin and Big Fool.

He noticed that old Lenser seemed particularly absent-minded today. Perhaps he had a lot of worries lately, or perhaps the Fighter's Potion was just too simple. In any case, the old dog was not in a good state of mind.

After the demonstration, it was almost time to try it out. A pen next to Ruger was constantly recording under the control of the writing technique.

"Uncle Lunser, what's wrong now?" Ruger asked, trying to speak after the demonstration ended.

In his heart, all he wanted was to meditate quietly every day, silently learn some methods of refining extraordinary potions, and gradually come into contact with the common sense of the extraordinary world.

But clearly, this peaceful and beautiful life is not always as a little dog-headed man wishes.

“It’s nothing, it’s just that the rumors are being confirmed little by little,” the old dog said weakly, but then grinned. “I, Old Lunser, am not going to be kicked out of the City of Burning Blood. You don’t need to worry, kid. Even if I really have to move out of here, I can find a new shop location, maybe even one that’s more spacious.”

Just then, the magic stones on the silencing array in the small crafting room ran out.

Another piercing scream, belonging to Miss Elena, came from next door.

"Don't they have any silencing magic arrays there?" Ruger asked curiously.

“Although Newondo is stingy, he’s not short of magic stones. But how do you know this isn’t a sound suppressed by a low-quality silencing array?” Old Lunser sneered. “That girl seems to have changed her experimental target again. This time she only wants to reduce the concentration of vampire blood. I really don’t know how she, as a half-blood, grew up in Blood Castle. How could she hate the blood flowing in her body so much?”

Ruger curled his lip upon hearing this. He could already imagine Jaxet's current state; the guy was probably either minding the shop on the first floor or cleaning up the poop of those young animals.

(End of this chapter)