Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 293 Different Methods and Different Results

Ruger looked around and gestured with his hand. This alchemy room was about two and a half times the size of his room in the corner on the fourth floor. Although the things inside looked a bit old, they were obviously of a higher grade, and there were some alchemical tools that he didn't recognize.

Old Lenser paid no attention to Ruger's wandering around; his attention was entirely focused on the strange, seemingly real yet unreal mushroom in his hand.

"Fighter's Potion, that's a really good choice..."

Old Lenser murmured as he examined the mushroom in his hand before heading to the refining experiment table.

Hearing the sound, Ruger withdrew his gaze and quietly followed.

In fact, he knew that Old Lenser's quick and decisive agreement with his suggestion was to take the safest first step. Before discussing the value of the so-called mushroom, it was necessary to confirm whether this seemingly real and illusory thing could perfectly blend with the materials of the underground world. The rules of the Nightmare World were that there were no consistent rules, so no one dared to be certain before verification. The Fighter's Potion was a potion that Old Lenser was confident would not cause any problems, and this mushroom was related to the Muffled Mushroom.

"Sleepy Mushroom? It's a simple and straightforward name..."

Old Renser listened to his story, nodding repeatedly.

Ruger carefully recounted the process of discovering and eating the mushrooms and his reactions to old Lenser. Although the number of individuals consumed was not large, the reactions of the three of them could still serve as a reference, especially since Leiden ate the mushrooms twice.

Old Lenser started fiddling with things on the lab table, beginning what he called the extraction of essence.

Luger also got a job, holding the standard portion of small magic stones, standing in a corner of the experimental table, replenishing them from time to time. Old Lenser, on the other hand, separated the two mushrooms from which the essence was to be extracted and processed them separately, while observing the two portions and making some speculations that Luger did not understand. He would smile happily from time to time, as if he had thought of a new way to make money.

Ruger rolled his eyes while holding the magic stone. To him, the only valuable thing was to see old Lunser's methods and tips for processing materials.

"Focus, you eye-rolling idiot."

Old Lenser scolded without even looking up.

This made Luger roll his eyes again. You know, he rolled his eyes more often in ten days than old Lunser did in a single day. Sometimes, when the old guy was doing his accounts downstairs, he would roll his eyes a few times, as if he could roll away all his troubles and sighs.

After much effort until the wee hours of the morning, we finally reached the stage of refining the fighter's potion.

Ruger squeezed his head in, and the two dog heads squeezed together in front of a crystal lamp, looking at the two bottles of Sleeping Mushroom Essence shining in the crystal lamp.

“Not bad?” Luger said.

"Of course it's good, very good."

Old Dog Head Lunser grinned widely.

"Why are we splitting it into two parts?" Ruger asked again.

“Rigorousness is the mark of a pharmacist,” Old Doghead glanced at the doghead clinging to him. “Especially when dealing with uncertainties, you must be rigorous. It can also be used as a reference. If something goes wrong in the process of obtaining the essence, you can compare it from another angle, and you’ll have another chance.”

Luger nodded.

Old Lunser took two vials of mushroom essence and turned to a small refining table in the corner.

Old Lunser had already processed most of the materials needed for the Fighter's Elixir, and the two missing items were also processed while waiting for the essence to condense.

Ruger noticed that Old Lenser had assigned him the tedious task of observing the essence extracts, not just to speculate on their uses. When preparing the materials for the fighter potion, the old dog also processed several materials that were not in the fighter potion recipe. At least, none of the fighter potion recipes that Ruger had come across included them. Ruger guessed that these were all things that the old dog had observed, that is, he had made his own judgment based on his observations and years of experience.

Luger raised an eyebrow, watching his every move.

As Luger had guessed, the first Fighter's Potion was made by Old Lenser using only a small amount of Sleep Mushroom essence. The recipe was also the most conventional, except that the Sulking Mushroom was replaced and, in addition to the essence, a worm liquid that could stabilize the properties was added.

The essence obtained in this way, in old Lenser's words, is equivalent to that obtained by burning magic stones, greatly increasing its vitality, but it must be used within a day. Leaving it alone will quickly cause it to lose its vitality, making it even less effective than using mushrooms directly. It's clearly just a simple fighter's potion.

Old Renser's serious demeanor made Ruger nervous as well.

The first bottle failed.

Old Lenser's eyes widened.

Ruger almost burst out laughing.

This naturally earned him another perfectly standard eye roll.

From this perspective, this method of consuming magic stones to extract essence is very suitable for low-level materials that are few in quantity and newly discovered. It allows for more opportunities to experiment and explore the characteristics of new materials even under limited conditions.

Old Lenser scratched his chin, pondering repeatedly.

Judging from his expression, he was pondering the properties of the materials. Ruger watched from the side, and he also believed that it couldn't be a problem with the old dog's refining skills.

The second attempt began quickly.

Ruger also wanted to explore more of his mental energy to sense and observe the interaction between the materials and the process of potion creation, but he was afraid of interfering with old Lunser's refining.

"Don't underestimate me. Take a look if you want," old Lunser said without looking up, curling his lip. "Your mental strength is very stable and has little effect on me. This is just a simple fighter's potion..."

Upon hearing this, Luger did not act rashly, but instead slowly and steadily spread out his mental energy to perceive the situation.

He observed the potion using the method that old Lenser had taught him, but participated in the potion-making process from a different perspective.

The second attempt used the same material ratio as before, as if old Lenser wanted to see the previous failure again.

With each refining attempt, whether repeated or slightly modified, Ruger witnessed the changes in potions and materials in Old Lenser's hands, as well as Old Lenser's mastery of every opportunity that Old Lenser seized when the properties of the materials changed. Unconsciously, he made considerable progress in understanding those changes and their interactions, as well as in judging the timing.

Ruger suddenly realized that by watching Old Lunther refine the materials and participating from a different perspective, he seemed to be making faster progress.

But before, this old dog still let him figure it out on his own, even going so far as to give him the recipe as a trade, so that he could practice on his own.

"call--"

Old Lenser let out a long sigh, looking at the two bottles of failed samples in front of him.

"So, did you see a lot?"

Old Lenser picked up the two bottles of potion and examined them. Although they were failures, they were not complete failures and could be arguably classified as inferior fighter potions.

Ruger paused for a moment, then nodded.

He thought for a moment and then said, "I've made great progress. If I had tried to figure it out on my own before, it would have taken a very long time..."

"But what you discover on your own is what sparks more thought, rather than simply presenting a standard answer to you."

Old Lenser observed the potion and said, then placed it on the corner of the table, preparing to start the next round of trials, and took out the materials he had prepared earlier.

(End of this chapter)