Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 278 Obtaining the Advancement Potion
Following Harlan Vera's instructions, Locke arrived at the edge of the academy's port city, at an alchemy hut with a cauldron on its roof. The cauldron atop the hut was still continuously emitting steam.

The heat rising to the top of the alchemy hut forms rain clouds, then turns into rain and falls back into the crucible.

In this way, the potion liquid inside the cauldron located on the roof will maintain a certain amount for a long time.

Locke stood in front of the alchemy hut, sniffed it lightly, and immediately raised his eyebrows. "It seems to be some kind of potion that temporarily enhances magical power."

"It shouldn't be a single drug, but rather a mixture of more than a dozen types of drugs."

"And their levels are all quite high; mixing potions is the domain of formal potion makers. But this quantity is simply outrageous. Is it some kind of decorative item created using potion evaporation techniques combined with alchemical equipment? It seems to be more than just a decorative item."

He looked up at the alchemy hut and saw a crucible the size of a swimming pool, which was filled with some kind of special potion.

Locke suspected that if a battle were to take place nearby, the potion inside the cauldron decoration would somehow exert its effect.

From inside the alchemy hut came a slightly aged voice. "Please come in."

"What do you want, student?"

The door to the alchemy hut opened, and an elderly witch, dressed in a white wizard's robe and appearing somewhat frail, stepped out. Behind her were several cauldrons on iron racks, beneath which various magical flames burned fiercely.

Locke bowed to the witch, who was Claudia Forbes, one of the seven senior advisors of Lilith House and one of the most powerful potion makers in Lilith House, whose signature work was the Pureblood Potion.

Her main research area in potion science is exploring how potions can unlock special talents in the human body.

This area of ​​potion-making is almost the most difficult to achieve results in the field of potion-making, so very few people choose to study it.

Once you study this direction, it almost certainly means that you won't be able to publish any high-quality articles or produce any significant results for a long period of time.

It requires studying day and night, or it could mean wasting your entire life, or it could mean suddenly creating something big one day.

Aside from truly exceptionally intelligent potion masters, few people would choose to study this direction, and there are certainly quite a few geniuses whose talents have been wasted because of it.

Locke bowed to the witch Claudia and explained his purpose. "Lord Forbes, I am Locke Augustine, a student of the wizard Harun Vera. I have come to receive the potion for advancement."

"My mental strength has reached 800."

"According to the academy's regulations, I have come here specifically to apply for the upgrade potion."

The old witch, Forbes, looked at Locke with surprise, a sly glint in her eyes. "Locke Augustine, I remember you."

"Your Bear Spirit Gallbladder Potion is very interesting."

"I remember you were promoted to First-Class Wizard Apprentice in less than two years, right? Am I right? Are you applying for Potion Mastery so soon?"

The Forbes witch looked Locke up and down, then nodded and said, "Indeed, your magic power has almost reached that threshold, and may even be slightly exceeding it."

She was slightly surprised and said, "Very few students can reach this level in such a short time. The last one was the witch Sophia."

"Oh, so that's your teacher."

Claudia Forbes invited Locke in, "Come in then. Have your teachers told you the rules?"

Locke told the old witch Forbes, "Yes, Teacher Harlan told me many taboo things, and I have to sign a top-level association confidentiality contract in order to get a bottle of advancement potion for free."

"In exchange, I need to sign an agreement with the academy that if I become a formal wizard, I will have priority to choose this academy. If I do not choose to stay at the academy, I will have to make corresponding contributions to the academy."

This is also relatively reasonable.

After all, I was able to obtain so many resources through the Lilith House platform. If I were to choose to leave in the end, Lilith House is not a charity organization, and I would definitely need to make some kind of compensation.

Of course, the prices offered by Lilith's Cottage are generally quite reasonable.

The reason Sophia the Witch needed to kill a qualified wizard to leave was simply because she wanted to shorten her departure time. Otherwise, an ordinary qualified wizard who worked for the academy for thirty to fifty years would also gain the right to leave.

Formal wizards have extremely long lifespans, so this is not a concern.

Essentially, the academy will not proactively break ties with the formal wizards it trains; the two sides will still maintain a mutually beneficial relationship.

Even after a formal wizard leaves the academy, his achievements can still indirectly enhance the prestige of the wizarding organization he came from, granting it the right to recruit more outstanding students.

Claudia Forbes gave a strange smile and looked at Locke, saying, "Then let's sign these two contracts."

"Once these two contracts are signed, I'll give you the advancement potion."

"Locke, sit down."

Locke sat down at a table and signed the agreement only after reading both contracts.

After watching him sign the agreement, the old witch Forbes turned and walked deeper into the room to a pile of potions scattered on the floor. She started searching, grabbed a few bottles, looked at them, and then turned and handed the [Sacrifice Potion] to Locke.
The Forbes witch said, "Here you go, young genius."

"This is the portion of the sacrifice potion that should be given to you."

Locke pursed his lips and turned to look at the old witch Forbes. Behind her, he saw a pile of garbage, and realized that this sacrificial potion had been casually thrown on the ground like trash, piled up like a mountain.

After receiving the Sacrifice Potion, Locke couldn't help but say, "Lord Forbes, I thought... I thought this kind of potion was very precious."

"After all, the level of secrecy is so high."

The old witch from Forbes blinked and exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible? Sacrifice potion is the simplest potion, and it's very easy to make. With your current level, if I patiently teach you for a few years, you might be able to make it yourself."

"You don't even need to become a formal wizard."

Locke asked in surprise, "Then the Sacrifice Potion must be quite plentiful in terms of quantity, right?"

The old witch's eyes darkened. "There are quite a few, but what's truly lacking isn't the potion itself, but the wizards' talent. This potion is incredibly dangerous; the distribution of the formula must be restricted, the number of people who can brew it must be limited, and the sales channels must be restricted."

"What's most terrifying about it is that it's too easy to make, and the ingredients used are all too common. The effects after taking it are too predictable, and the side effects are too obvious."

"And if the association doesn't restrict it, it will be able to directly destroy a wizarding land."

The old witch Forbes was slightly proud. "Thanks to the association's trust in me, I have been chosen as one of the few [Sacrifice Potion Concocters] in the Southeast Corner Region."

She proudly pointed to the special badge on her chest that symbolized her as a "Sacrificial Potion Concocter." "This part of my memory is protected by the second-circle magic of the Association's Mind School, the Mind Secrecy Charm."

"Therefore, no one can steal the formula for this potion from my mind; or take it away; or spy on it; or control me to make me tell him the formula by various means; or take over my body to read my mind and obtain the formula; or deceive me to make me tell him the formula unintentionally."

Locke nodded admiringly. "That's very thoughtful, Mr. Forbes."

Just hearing what the Forbes witch said made Locke realize that the defenses were incredibly tight.

I can't even imagine what other way I could forcefully obtain the recipe from her.

Even the Forbes witch herself couldn't tell anyone the recipe.

Moreover, it is likely that the finished product of this sacrificial potion must have been kept highly confidential at the formula level, so that potion masters cannot reverse engineer its formula from the finished product.

The Forbes witch said, "Alright, now I'll tell you the true effect of the Sacrifice Potion. This damned, cursed effect has ruined countless wizarding geniuses."

"How many people have lost their entire future because of it."

(End of this chapter)