The Wizard of a Hundred Generations: Starting from the Hourglass of Time

Rest day.

As Suen prepared to leave, she passed by Deitz's room and found the door locked.

At this time of day, Detz would usually be waiting at the door, and the three of them would head to Modo City together.

During this period, whenever he had free time, he would run to Modo City. Occasionally, when he returned, he would have an indescribable expression on his face, as if he were excited or frightened.

Rackham was already waiting at the door, and the two walked out of the Oak Crown one after the other.

There were only seven or eight people scattered in the public carriage, much less crowded than the previous times.

The wheels rolled over the cracks in the stone pavement, making a rhythmic, muffled sound.

Upon arriving at the lecture hall, Suen was surprised to find that today's instructor was a high-ranking wizard apprentice named Arnold.

His youthful appearance clearly aroused the curiosity of the other apprentices as well.

Today's public lesson was about schools of meditation and techniques. This knowledge is recorded in most meditation methods, so not many people listened attentively.

Arnold demonstrated three common meditation postures on the stage and explained techniques for diverting mental energy, speaking at a moderate pace.

Suen listened patiently for a while. He had already figured these things out on his own when he was building his spiritual body, but he still checked against Arnold's explanation to see if there were any areas that could be optimized.

"Meditation is essentially about achieving a higher dimension of mental power, constantly approaching the ultimate source. This process inevitably causes wear and tear on the body."

"Therefore, I suggest that everyone try to control the time spent meditating to avoid overdrawing their vitality and affecting their future promotion."

Arnold closed his book, and just as he finished speaking, the school bell rang.

After class, Rackham went to the market to inquire about some things, while Sun headed straight for his usual magic shop in the trading district.

As the door was pushed open, the brass bell above the counter rang out with a crisp sound.

The shop owner was a thin, middle-aged man who was leaning over the counter flipping through an account book. He glanced up at me.

"Papyrus, the cheapest kind."

Suen took out the last magic stone coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter.

The shopkeeper put down his ledger, pulled out a stack of papyrus from the bottom shelf, tied it with hemp rope, and pushed it over.

"This is a regular customer. The price might not be the same next time you come," the shop owner suddenly said with concern.

Su En stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him with a puzzled expression.

The shopkeeper sighed and continued, "It's said that due to the war, the main trade route to the Twisted Jungle has been affected and won't be restored for at least two months."

"With caravans unable to come, the prices of paper, ink, and a large amount of potion ingredients will all rise."

The shop owner picked up a duster, swept the counter, and lowered his voice, saying, "It seems that a fierce conflict broke out because an underground city was discovered at the junction of the Twisted Forest and the Tower, and people were fighting for control of it."

"Sigh, business is tough."

After saying that, the man changed the subject: "Sir, would you like to buy some more papyrus? I can give you a discount..."

Su En nodded and pushed open the door to leave the shop.

Underground city.

He had seen this word more than once in "The History of Potions".

During periods of great catastrophe, natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes buried many cities and civilizations underground.

Some have formed special spaces and planes over long periods of time, with internal topography and rules that are completely different from the outside world.

After the cataclysm, the overall level of magic in the world declined, and various extraordinary resources also showed signs of depletion.

These underground city ruins often contain mutated plants and ancient artifacts that have long since disappeared from the outside world.

Therefore, once traces of the underground city appear, various forces will flock to it.

As he walked back to the bus stop, he overheard passersby discussing news about the underground city.

Suen exhaled and strode forward steadily.

After buying this stack of papyrus, his pockets were already empty.

This month's subsidy won't be issued for another week, so even if he wanted to stock up on papyrus to save money, he couldn't.

The carriage stopped at the entrance of the Oak Crown's residence. As Su En alighted, he caught a glimpse of a newly posted notice on the bulletin board next to the gate.

On weekdays, the posts here are mostly about personnel changes and public missions in the Wizard Tower, with the occasional recruitment flyer for the Apprentice Club.

Suen had already walked past the notice board, but her gaze was drawn to a few lines of information at the top of the paper.

"Quest to collect the complete formula for the potion 'Concerto of Life'."

"Initiator: First-Class Wizard Celsus."

"Task Description: This formula is for a novel experimental drug. The current formula has shortcomings, resulting in unstable efficacy and side effects. We are seeking effective formula improvement proposals or suggestions to pinpoint the root causes of the formula's problems."

"Reward: Anyone who proposes a valid solution will receive a generous reward from the wizard Celsus (details to be discussed in person)."

"Appendix: The following is a verified material scheme: Sunlight Particles, Aize Root, Mountain Silversage Stem, Buzzing Crystal Fragments, and several auxiliary materials. Apprentices with a foundation in Potions are welcome to participate in the discussion and research."

He scanned those lines of text again.

Sunlight Particles, Roots of Aize, Stems of Mountain Silversage, and Fragments of Buzzing Crystal.

He had seen those four names on the labels in the recycling room far too many times.

Over the past few weeks, the amount of waste liquid discharged from the workshop has remained high, while the recycling rate has continued to decline.

Morris complained that the workshop was conducting intensive experiments on a batch of new potions, and the failure rate was very high.

Every time Suen organizes the storage containers, these four materials appear most frequently on the labels.

In particular, sunlight particles and buzzing crystal fragments are rarely found together in regular potion recipes. The former is a highly active elemental crystal, while the latter is a catalyst commonly used in low-level potions.

The root of Aize is a plant shaped like a carrot, which contains abundant vitality.

A crowd had already gathered in front of the notice board.

Most of the students were Oak Crown apprentices huddled together, whispering about the contents of the announcement.

The Crown of Oaks is the most advanced in potion-making among the seven wizard towers, and more than half of the people present have basic knowledge of potion-making.

"Lord Celsus, it really was him who posted this...!"

"He is my idol, the greatest potion master of the last hundred years. He optimized at least twenty traditional recipes and created the astonishing potion, Gift of Celsus."

"I heard that the highly effective magic blood potion he previously researched directly changed the way bloodline wizards were trained, reducing the risk of mutations from bloodline fusion by 30%."

Suen stood quietly at the edge of the crowd, listening to the cacophony of voices.

He had heard the name Celsus twice from Maurice.

Celsus's "An Introduction to Potions" is the book that Suen plans to borrow from the Great Library next month.

Suen withdrew from the crowd and walked towards the dormitory.

To him, it was simply unbelievable that a formal wizard, who was also a master of potions, could stoop down and solicit inspiration from his apprentices.

Although Suen could see a formal wizard during her weekly public classes.

However, he could clearly sense the difference between a wizard apprentice and a full-fledged wizard; it was a difference between two completely different species.

This Lord Celsus has piqued Suen's interest.

At the same time, the optimization task of the Life Concerto also seems to be a good opportunity for him.

The biggest problem at present is that the success rate of refining the Concerto of Life is unstable, which can also be observed from the logs of the recycling room.

Suen recalled the records in the diary and guessed that the material itself might be the crux of the problem.

As a master of potions, Celsus's potion-making skills are beyond question. His choice to issue the task to his apprentices is clearly an attempt to discover the problem from a different perspective.

In other words, the key issue is not the material ratio.

Where is it?

Su En pushed open the dormitory door, sat down at the table, and took out the work records she had made during this period from the drawer.

The waste recycling room's register only records working hours and recycling rates, but Suen has a habit of recording the types and approximate proportions of materials he handles in his notebook after work each day, in order to enhance his familiarity with potion materials and to leave a record of his work.

Looking at the records from the last two weeks, the data is quite clear.

The content of solar particles in the waste liquid discharged from the workshop varies greatly each time. Sometimes the solar particles in a batch of discharged waste liquid are almost completely consumed, while at other times nearly half remain.

This indicates that the amount of solar microparticles in the formula has been adjusted, but the results have not been ideal.

The ratio of buzzing crystal fragments to mountain sage stems is relatively stable with very little variation.

And the roots of Azeroth...

Su En's pen stopped on the paper.

Every few discharges, the amount of Aize Root residue in the waste liquid drops sharply to zero, while the amount of ineffective components increases significantly.

"There's no way Celsus wouldn't have noticed this!"

Where exactly is the problem...?

Su En closed his notebook, leaned back in his chair, and seemed lost in thought.