Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 166 Owl Cauldron Potion Shop
As evening fell, Locke stepped onto the cobblestone pavement of the Chimera Market. Many wizards on the street subconsciously glanced at the official breeder badge worn on Locke's chest.

Locke stood in front of a potions shop with a sign that featured an owl carrying a cauldron.

Aisie and Anglu were both students of the same wizarding mentor. They were classmates and had a good relationship, so they worked together in a potion shop.

Because first-class wizard apprentices need to consume a huge amount of magical resources for meditation and research, it is virtually impossible for each of them to have only one job.

It's normal for someone to hold two jobs at the same time. Even if someone is a master of time management and works hard every day, holding three jobs and also having to complete tasks assigned by the academy from time to time, it's still considered normal.

At this time, there were still quite a few customers inside the Owl Cauldron Potions Shop.

In addition, a potion-making assistant caught Locke's attention.

This potion-making assistant was a middle-aged man who wore a dirty wizard's hat and an old wizard's robe that was even a little torn and patched with needle and thread.

The potion master's assistant was talking to Anglu and Aisie, but before they could exchange more than a few words, Anglu and Aisie had him escorted out.

Standing in front of the shop, the potion-making assistant glanced at Locke, who was also standing at the shop entrance, and then said to Anglu and Aisie, "The process of my [Worm Regeneration Potion] has been slightly adjusted by my personal pharmacy, so the effect is definitely better than the [Worm Regeneration Potion] produced by other pharmacy."

“If your Owl Cauldron could purchase my worm regeneration potion, you would definitely not lose out.”

The potion-making assistant quickly said to Anglu and Aisie, whose faces were already showing signs of losing patience, "Gentlemen, we are all potion-making assistants, please give us a chance."

"As long as you order in small quantities, I believe my new process for producing the [worm regeneration agent] will soon attract even more customers..."

Time will tell.

Aisie waved her hand impatiently. "Robert, how many times have I told you, Manager Anglu, that our shop only partners with large private pharmacies or buys medicines whose efficacy has been proven in the market?"

"Please stop making things difficult for the two of us."

"You can try smaller potion shops; they might need your potions more. Once your potions are proven effective in the market, we'll buy them from you very soon."

“Anglu and I are just two employees. This is Mrs. Irina’s business, and we wouldn’t dare to purchase products from a brand new private pharmacy with no prior transaction history.”

Anglu nodded in agreement, forcing himself to explain patiently, "Robert, it's not that we're not giving you face, but you've probably gotten the same result when you went to other large potion shops these past few days."

Robert was still somewhat unwilling to give up.

Two years ago, he blindly opened a personal medicine-making workshop and invested at least three thousand magic stones and a great deal of energy in improving the process of the worm regeneration potion. He even published two C-level articles on it and has passed animal experiments, mortal experiments, and wizard apprentice experiments.

But now there's a problem.

His worm regeneration agent was only slightly better, not even much better, and was more of a dispensable improvement.

However, because of the altered process, large-scale potion shops dare not stock his worm regeneration potion, even though it has the academy's production permit and various experimental data.

After all, major potion shops already have established channels for importing potions, so there's really no need to risk buying these newly released, improved potions.

Robert himself did not want to sell his potions only at the small potions shop for the time being.

Because he has lost too much money in the past two years, he is now eager to recoup his losses, otherwise his personal pharmaceutical workshop will have to close down.

This is also a common awkward situation for first-class wizard apprentices in Lilith's Cottage. Not every first-class wizard apprentice can be like Locke, consistently producing groundbreaking products and successfully acquiring various projects and sales channels.

Most first-class wizard apprentices, in a moment of impulsiveness, open their own medicine-making workshops, only to find themselves embroiled in financial crises.

Especially those first-class wizard apprentices who used loan contracts to obtain magic stones to open medicine-making workshops.

They are in an even worse situation, easily facing complete financial ruin. Not only do they fail to earn money for their research and cultivation, but their progress is also significantly slowed down.

Locke glanced at the first-class wizard apprentice named Robert, who was clearly a veteran first-class wizard apprentice. But now his magical power was exactly the same as his own three months ago, only a mere two hundred points, slightly stronger than he had been back then.

'He must have poured most of his resources into his pharmaceutical lab, leaving him with no resources to support meditation. That's putting the cart before the horse.'

Locke quickly assessed the situation. 'His aptitude probably isn't great either; otherwise, after all these years, relying solely on his natural talent and cultivating using advanced meditation techniques, his magical power wouldn't be so low.'

The difference between first-class wizard apprentices is greater than that between a human and a dog.

Those that are being nurtured are the wizarding seeds of various wizarding organizations, who have already begun to delve into areas that only formal wizards can learn;
And those who are doing poorly, their lives are truly unbearable to look at.

One word—terrible!

Locke glanced at Robert, who was very disappointed because he couldn't find a large potion shop willing to buy the potion he developed, and had no intention of helping him.

First, this has nothing to do with me.

Secondly, this potion-making assistant only made certain improvements to the production process of the worm regeneration potion.

In other words, he did not have the formula for the worm regeneration agent.

He only slightly improved the production process, since different production methods would slightly affect the efficacy of the medicine.

However, this also shows that he made a wrong judgment about market demand.

Theoretically speaking, what has led to his personal pharmaceutical lab's near bankruptcy is nothing more than his own misjudgment of his financial resources and market demand, resulting in him spending two years conducting an experiment that the market didn't really need.

He might as well have his own pharmaceutical workshop produce the processed magical potion materials needed by those large pharmaceutical workshops, or follow suit and produce those conventional existing potions; maybe he could still make some money now.

Even if they were selling high-end growth hormone gel, high-end nutrient soil, and high-end nutrient solution—things that don't require much technology—they wouldn't be in such a dire situation now.

Anglu and Aisi then noticed Locke, and their impatient expressions vanished instantly, replaced by smiles.

Aisie raised an eyebrow at Locke and said, "Locke, you passed the breeder exam? I heard that exam is even harder than that of a potion master's assistant."

"congratulations."

Anglu looked at Locke and asked in confusion, "But it's so late, Locke, what brings you here?"

Locke coughed. "I recently opened a personal pharmacy, and I recently obtained a production license from the academy for a potion formula."

"So, I'd like to see if your shop is willing to take it over."

(End of this chapter)