Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 279 The Truth Behind the Advancement Potion

Locke's gaze sharpened; he hadn't expected this advancement potion to be so dangerous.

Locke said, "Lord Forbes, please tell me the effects of this potion."

The old witch nodded, slowly walked around the table, came down from a bookshelf, found a magic painting, and blew on its surface to remove the dust.

"This is the formula for the rate of action of this potion."

"From now on, you must listen carefully to every word I say, as it will be crucial to whether you can break through to become a formal wizard."

Claudia Forbes unfolded the magic painting, and Locke saw that it depicted a human body with neural networks, blood vessels, internal organs, and so on. The painting was of a very high quality and should not have been made by an apprentice, but by a professional wizard-level sketch artist.

Locke could even see how the Sacrifice Potion worked and its range of action within the human body after being drunk, as well as the structure of the effective potion's components and the entire process of its action within his body.

Locke secretly memorized the formula and other contents written on the magic painting.

Claudia Forbes said, "The true function of the Sacrifice Potion is to sacrifice a wizard's future potential in exchange for his current mental strength, hence the name Sacrifice Potion."

Locke frowned in confusion. "Sacrificing potential? Does that mean mortgaging your future? What exactly does that mean? Forbes, I noticed that the main coefficient of this formula seems to be a number."

"This number doesn't seem very large, around a few hundred. If I'm not mistaken, does this coefficient refer to the remaining lifespan of the wizard who took the potion?"

Claudia Forbes glanced at Locke in surprise, seemingly not expecting him to be so clever as to have guessed the general idea with just a glance at the magic painting.

She nodded. "Yes, a wizard who takes the Sacrifice Potion will overdraw some of their future potential, specifically by overdrawing their lifespan."

"Therefore, the main coefficient of this formula for the rate of action of the potion is the remaining lifespan of the wizard," said the Forbes witch. "The more lifespan a wizard has left, the more potential he can overdraw each year in the future."

"That's why the wizards in the southeast corner region have age requirements. They usually require you to have a mental strength of 800 before you are forty years old, otherwise the academy will not distribute sacrifice potions to you."

The Forbes witch said, "Wizards who are too old can't withstand this kind of way of burning their potential."

"From 800 to 1000".

"Especially in the final stage of mental strength, from 950 to 1000, each point of mental strength requires a huge amount of potential to be consumed. If the wizard does not have enough lifespan left, he will either burn his lifespan to death or be forced to give up halfway."

The Forbes witch said, "The higher the wizard's aptitude, the more energy they gain from burning one year of their lifespan. The lower the wizard's aptitude, the less energy they gain from burning one year of their lifespan."

"Therefore, a wizard who can usually reach 800 mental strength before the age of 40 is more likely to advance with only one or two bottles of Sacrifice Potion, which is much safer."

Locke looked enlightened.

So this is what the Sacrifice Potion is.

Locke said in a low voice, "No wonder the White Wizard Association restricts this kind of thing, sacrificing future potential for current magic power. Moreover, this kind of potion is very easy to make and the materials are easy to obtain, which will cause wizards to take this kind of potion before they reach 800 mental power in exchange for their current mental power increase."

"With a large number of people, some geniuses, even super geniuses, will be unable to resist using it ahead of time."

"Because bad money drives out good. Seeing others secretly use sacrificial potions and surpass their own magical power, thus acquiring a large amount of magical resources, even that genius will be unable to resist taking sacrificial potions to gain power ahead of time," Locke said. "If this kind of potion is not properly restricted, it could indeed lead to the direct collapse of a wizard. Wizarding apprentices are the foundation of the wizarding world. If wizarding apprentices all develop the habit of overdrawing their future potential... it's equivalent to the entire wizarding society's apprentices overdrawing their future, and the wizarding world will lose its future."

Claudia Forbes nodded in agreement. "Locke Augustine, judging from your words, you are a good potion master."

"I have always believed that values ​​determine the upper limit of a person's future achievements, while talent determines the lower limit of a person's future achievements."

Claudia Forbes looked at Locke with satisfaction and said, "You were able to quickly recognize the dangers of advancing your potion level, which shows that you are a very thoughtful potion master. You have the necessary qualities to achieve 'excellent'."

Locke suddenly realized a serious problem: even with the boost from the Blood-Soaked Dragon Sunflower Potion, his wizarding talent was only at level 4.

Locke asked, "Lord Forbes, do wizards with lower talent gain less magical power when they take this sacrificial potion?"

“Yes,” said the Forbes Witch. “Of course, there is another possibility.”

The Forbes Witch pointed at the magic painting and said, "Look at this part of the magic painting. The potential refers not only to a genius's original talent, but also to his lifespan. Another part of the potential refers to the potions hidden in your bodies and souls."

"Did you know that no one can fully digest the effects of the medicine? In fact, only a portion can be digested. The medicines you drank during your apprenticeship, the parts that were neither absorbed nor excreted, will accumulate in your bodies and souls over the years."

"And this part is also your potential!"

“The moment you take the advancement potion, its effects will be burned off, propelling your mental strength forward,” Claudia Forbes said. “For example, the Tartarus Cave Worm spinal fluid you used is a first-tier material. To be honest, it’s incredibly wasteful for you apprentices to use it. Those effects will likely remain in your body. Over time, some will be completely wasted and expelled, while others will remain stored within you.”

"However, the majority of your potential still comes from your talent."

“This is just a small part,” Claudia Forbes said. “Because the resources a person can get during their apprenticeship are limited.”

"However, it wasn't unheard of before. Great wizard families used vast amounts of magical resources to forcibly accumulate potential in their descendants, and then used sacrificial potions to exchange for this potential, helping them become formal wizards."

Claudia Forbes muttered, "The cost-effectiveness is just too low. The families within the academy don't have the resources of this scale at all. Only the wizard families in the Six Towers have the resources and the habit to do this."

"Under normal circumstances, it would be very difficult for an individual to obtain so many magical resources."

While she was speaking, Locke thought of the Eye Lord's potion he had been taking for half a year, the large amounts of magic potions he used regularly, and the exaggerated amount of spinal fluid from the Tartarus Cave Worms.

Most of the burrow worm spinal fluid in that dark wizard's great resource vault ended up in his hands!
Moreover, the Eye Demon Lord potion that he had been taking for six consecutive months had even given him an independent and continuous abyssal energy cycle. He had indeed never fully digested the accumulation of so much potion in his body.

Locke looked up at the formula for the potion's rate of action and began mentally calculating. 'From this perspective, level 4 aptitude isn't actually that low; it's just average.'

"Furthermore, I'm only 19, almost 20. I'm very young, and there's still a large amount of residual potion and magical resources in my body. My chances of successfully using the Sacrifice Potion to advance to a full-fledged wizard are quite high."

That puts my mind at ease.

'Before using the Sacrifice Potion, I can use one more wave of magical resources. After all, I still have 20 magic stones in my savings.'

'The projects I'm working on are also generating a steady stream of profits.'

(End of this chapter)