What witch? The Deadly Pharmacist!

Under his mental control, the blood flowed rapidly, forming a small pool on the ground as if a glass of water had been poured.

Leon used the witch's blessing to focus his mind on manipulating blood.

The blood flowing from his body turned purplish-red and began to meander across the ground like a living thing, moving at a speed that could hardly be described as fast. If a person was even slightly on guard, they could quickly run away.

Okay, now let's add time acceleration!

Leon focused his mind on the cursed blood flowing from his body, inverted the hourglass on the small table beside him, and cast a divine spell to accelerate time.

The flow of the hourglass seemed to slow down suddenly in his eyes, but the crawling speed of the cursed blood remained unchanged.

This means that, in the eyes of others, the movement speed of the Cursed Blood was accelerated in sync with that of Leon himself.

"It actually works!" Leon was surprised himself.

It seems that the cursed blood he is releasing can be considered part of his body, and even if it leaves his body, it can still be affected by the acceleration of time.

“In that case…” Leon then tried to atomize the blood energy of the curse while in an accelerated state.

The cursed blood boiled and turned into poisonous mist at a speed he knew well. To onlookers, the speed at which the blood turned into poisonous mist spread was also accelerated. In the blink of an eye, a large cloud of poisonous gas was released, just like a poison gas bomb.

“If that’s the case…” Leon temporarily stopped his time-acceleration ability and took a deep breath to adjust his breathing.

Once he had calmed down, he fixed his gaze on a headhunting rabbit that was kept in a small cage in the distance.

This time, he directly splashed blood into the cage, and then simultaneously cast the Curse of Blood and the Blessing of Accelerated Time.

The poisonous mist exploded on the headhunter rabbit's body. In his eyes, the headhunter rabbit began to struggle in slow motion, ramming against the cage in an attempt to escape. However, the cursed blood had already accelerated its seepage into its body, and the poisonous mist also entered its nasal cavity on its own.

Leon chose to activate the cursed blood, watching as the headhunter rabbit quickly entered a petrified state.

When Leon retracted his time-acceleration ability, the Headhunter Rabbit had already died, and crystallization had begun to appear on its body.

Sure enough, the onset of the poison can be accelerated.

These two blessings can be combined!

Leon was thrilled with his new discovery.

At that moment, the silhouette of Lena appeared in the tent illuminated by the firelight. Through the curtain, Lena called out to Leon, "Leon, have you finished your experiment?"

"That's about it! We've made a lot of new discoveries!" Leon said excitedly.

"If you have any free time, come out and help out," Lena sighed. "I'm a little tired."

"Okay." Leon returned to his original state and walked out of the tent.

"Why are you shirtless?" Lena looked Leon up and down, who was shirtless.

“I’m experimenting with transforming into werewolf form, and wearing ordinary clothes would easily tear them, so it’s safer to take them off.” Leon said, washing his hands first, then picking up his clothes that were hanging outside and putting them back on. “By the way, I’ll clean up the things in here later, so don’t touch them.”

"You poisoned it in there?" Lena immediately realized that Leon had tested her abilities again, and her brows furrowed. "It's probably better not to do this near my potion-making lab, isn't it? You can control your abilities now, but it's best not to have anything dangerous like this in a lab like this."

“But I can’t think of a more secluded and safe place than here.” Leon looked at the tent he had set up. “I’ve sealed it up properly. There’s so much space here, I might as well partition off a few more rooms.”

"So the experiment was a success?" Lena asked.

As soon as Leon returned, he told her about the blessing he had received from the Supreme God.

“It worked! The blessing of the Supreme God and the blessing of Moira can be used simultaneously, and they can even work together…” Leon explained the results of his experiment to Lena.

“It’s a bit unexpected that it went so smoothly. To be honest, when you went to receive the church’s blessing, I was worried that something might go wrong,” Lena said.

“I’ll help you refine the magic essence next. Anyway, the purity of the magic essence I’m refining now should be enough.” Leon said, putting on a protective robe and gloves.

"I'm sorry, there's just too much... and I also have to prepare the potions, so I'm really too busy." Lena sighed apologetically.

Leon strode into Lena's laboratory area, where half of the space was allocated for her use.

The main structure is a magic essence production workbench set up on one side of the great altar. On it are two nested distillation devices, where Lena can directly perform one magic essence production and one purification process. Surrounding the magic essence production workbench are workbenches for processing monster materials and various instruments for preparing magic potions.

"It feels like there's more stuff than I've seen in the last few days," Leon remarked after observing the situation.

The entire laboratory, in terms of both equipment and floor space, has expanded to three times the size of their labyrinth in Hamel Town, and it doesn't look like something Lena could manage on her own.

“Didn’t you send someone to tell me last time that the variety of potion orders had increased? I’ve added some equipment according to the formula requirements,” Lena said.

"Where is the original liquid for making magic essence?" Leon asked.

“It’s right over there.” Lena pointed to the ground, where several small wooden barrels that looked like they were used to hold wine were placed.

"So much?" Leon opened the lid and glanced at the contents, which were all red magic essence. "You've always been processing this much?"

The processes of raising monsters, slaughtering monsters, and extracting this magic essence from the core, brain, and heart of monsters have now been handed over by Leon to his subordinates who have been assigned to positions inside the labyrinth. He was taught by Lena himself, and now these subordinates, after his training, are fully capable of handling this work.

Compared to before, this has already reduced a considerable portion of the workload, but Lena's total workload has actually increased instead of decreased.

"It suddenly increased this quarter; the monsters reproduced too quickly in the first half of the year," Rena sighed.

"Is the production scale too large?" Leon asked thoughtfully.

He had seen the breeding farms outside. After being raised in the magic-rich living maze, their breeding scale had increased several times compared to the Hamel maze, and the monsters were still multiplying with each season.

Leon had to double the number of people handling monsters outside, so it seems that Lena's workload is probably already completely saturated.

This also means that their production is nearing saturation.

“Although there’s still a lot of space in the maze, we still need to control the number of monsters,” Leon said.

He has too many other jobs to handle and can't help Lena as often as he does.

Unless he can hire more people to assist Lena. Alchemists who can concoct potions aren't that hard to find, but when it comes to producing magic elements, they can only rely on witches. Moreover, the laboratory here is their core business area, and they will have direct contact with Lena, so it must be someone who is absolutely trustworthy.

Chapter 133 Magic Element with a Purity of 96%

After a brief moment of thought, Leon abandoned the idea of ​​increasing the number of staff in the laboratory.

“How about this, I’ll build another medicine-making room outside. There are actually some pharmacists in River Valley County. I’ll pick two reliable ones to come over. The part of preparing the medicine that you don’t need to do yourself can be left to those people. The number of monsters is enough to keep at the current level,” Leon said.

"What? Aren't you going to expand production?" Lena said in a teasing tone.

When Leon approached her for a collaboration, his first request was to expand production, and then expand it again and again until it reached its current scale.

The sheer number of monsters has led them to even need to acquire corpses through underworld channels to feed them and ensure the purity of some of their products. Of course, Leon delegates this task to Simon and others, so he doesn't need to handle it himself.

“That’s enough for us.” Leon chuckled softly, then his smile faded. “Lena, now we’re supplying the Earl with the magic essence we produce, as well as the potion trade in River Valley County and Southport County, and the processing of those monster materials. We’re making over 20 million every quarter now.”

“You just said a few months ago that you earned a total of ten million…” Lena was slightly surprised.

"It's already over thirty million, and it's still increasing." Leon said, turning to look at Reina as he began to produce magic essence. "Half of it is yours. Have you thought about how you're going to spend it?"

“I’ve been hiding the three million you gave me before and haven’t dealt with it yet. Now that you’re giving it to me, I don’t know what to do with it. Just keep it with you.” Lena thought for a moment and then shook her head.

With their current income, Father Auden is barely able to launder their money. It's not that Father Auden doesn't have the channels, but given Leon and Reina's identities, suddenly having tens of millions in wealth in just six months would make them too easy targets without a suitable reason.

At present, Leon has a tavern, a fleet of six ships, a mill he bought on Arend Island, a dock he rented, and assets he has laundered through these businesses. All of these assets add up to just over three million, which is considered a fortune by ordinary standards.

Lena, on the other hand, did not start laundering money at all. After all, she didn't have anything worth spending so much money on. Even if she spent money extravagantly, she wouldn't need to worry about being suspected of participating in illegal industries.

The remaining money and various assets they have are over 30 million, all of which are illicit, and the amount of illicit money is still increasing.

"If you suddenly launder ten or twenty million now, you'll become easy prey in the eyes of the Church Discipline Council and the tax officials. But once you obtain a rank in the church and have the corresponding position, there won't be any problem. As long as you have power, even if money comes quickly, people won't immediately suspect you of apostasy; at most, they'll suspect you of corruption."

"If you're corrupt, no one will bother to investigate you seriously. As long as you launder money properly, those people can't touch you. How many of those bishops and knights aren't rolling in money?" That's what the priest told him at the time.

Their business is thriving and still in its development phase; they have a lot of room for expansion in both production and marketing.

The labyrinth can also house more monsters, whose magic purity is already very high. Their quality is much better than that of Mr. Griffin and Jero, and they are highly praised. Through the expansion of those circles of the powerful and wealthy, their number of customers is still increasing.

But Leon himself had no intention of expanding any further. He and Lena were already flush with cash, and what they needed now was not money.

“We’ve already earned more money than we could ever spend in this lifetime; any more would just be numbers. Once we rescue Mrs. Hershey, we’ll have paid back what we owe them.” Leon began circulating his magic to create magic essence. “Have you tested the medicine Bishop Weiss had before?”

"Yes, it was a success. The efficacy of this improved medicine is much better than the one I made before. Theoretically, if there are no side effects, it should really cure the halogenation disease..." Lena's voice trailed off as she said this.

Leon noticed that Lena didn't seem very happy when she said that, so he turned to observe her expression and asked, "What's wrong? Isn't it good that you succeeded?"

"No, it's just a bit of a shame. I really hoped I could do it myself, but someone else got there first." Lena said, secretly observing Leon's gaze. "By the way, have you been in contact with Bishop Weiss lately?"

The medicine that Weiss made is not yet suitable for ordinary people, but at least in theory it has successfully achieved the breakthrough goal of reversing the disease and curing it.

Creating a cure for halogenation is one of her biggest life goals. If it could be accomplished by someone else, Lena would be willing, but that would inevitably mean losing some of her sense of accomplishment.

Moreover, the person who accomplished this happened to be Bishop Weiss, who had a secret relationship with Leon. She would inevitably compare herself to him and would also care about Leon's relationship with that person.

“No, not at all…” Leon thought for a moment and replied.

"But?" Lena keenly sensed that there seemed to be a turning point here.

“But before I went to the investiture ceremony, I saw that she had left me a message in the mirror, asking me to contact her at 7 p.m. the day after tomorrow,” Leon said.

The magic mirror designed by Weiss only requires you to stick a card with a message on it on the mirror. Even if it is placed in the dark, as long as the other mirror is in a bright place, the light that should have been reflected in the second mirror will be reflected in the first mirror, thus illuminating the card and allowing the second mirror to see the message on the card. This way, you can leave messages for each other.

"You replied?" Lena asked, her brows furrowed.

“Yes, I left a message saying yes,” Leon replied.

Upon hearing this, Lena's expression immediately turned somewhat sullen.

“I told you before, contacting her is necessary, and there’s nothing between us.” Seeing Lena’s reaction, Leon understood that Lena was not at ease with his relationship with Weiss, after all, it was a completely secret contact.

Moreover, judging from the last meeting, they talked for more than two hours, which was indeed a bit exaggerated, so it's no wonder that Lena was worried.

"One thing at a time, I'm unhappy, and there's nothing I can do about it!" Lena muttered to herself.

"Do you feel inferior because Weiss developed the miracle drug?" Leon asked.

Lena opened her mouth to refute, but couldn't think of a single rebuttal, and just snorted.

Leon smiled upon hearing this: "After all, Weiss is a saint of the Church of the Creator. She has the resources of the church to support her research, as well as the knowledge reserves accumulated by the church. She herself is an excellent potion expert. Given that she has the right research direction, it is not surprising that she can make breakthroughs..."

As Leon praised Viss to this point, Lena clenched her fists in anger. If Leon hadn't been handling the magic essence production for her, her little fists would have landed on his back.

At this point, Leon changed the subject: "However, her correct direction is based on your research! So many research breakthroughs are achieved by standing on the shoulders of giants, and you are that giant. Without your research as a foundation, she wouldn't have been able to achieve anything."

"..." Lena didn't respond to this flattery; Leon's intention to praise her was too obvious.

However, after hearing some kind words, Lena put her fist down for the time being.

“Lena, Mrs. Hershey, and Melissa have all expressed their willingness to try the plan we proposed. In the future, we will need to obtain the medicine from Bishop Weiss,” Leon earnestly persuaded.

Before attending the investiture ceremony, he made a special trip to visit Selene and Melissa, explaining that he had obtained a medicine that could potentially cure the saltification disease, but that Selene needed to undergo a ritual to become a witch.

Sally and Melissa reacted similarly, both somewhat surprised, but after careful consideration, they agreed.

After all, this was to allow Selene to live and be free from the torment of illness, and Selene had already paid the price of becoming a witch in practice, so there was no additional loss or risk in becoming a witch.

"I know," Lena muttered helplessly in a low voice, "that medicine, I'm afraid only she could make it."

"Have you found anything?" Leon asked.

Although Weiss revealed that the drug's formula was a secret and only she had the means to produce it, he still suggested that Lena try to analyze the ingredients of Weiss's drug.

“I haven’t been able to detect anything else yet, but based on the magical activity inside, I deduced the purity of the magic element she used, and the result was a very surprising number.” Lena’s expression turned serious as she said this, “It’s around 96 percent.”

"You're not mistaken?" Leon was taken aback.

“It’s true, unless she added something that could affect the magic power measurement method. But the purity of the magic essence she used is definitely much higher than what we produce! In short, the raw materials for this medicine require preparation conditions that we currently cannot meet,” Lena said.

“Ninety-six percent…” Leon muttered the number, “Then where did she get it from?”

This purity level was unheard of; Leon was quite certain that no magic element of this purity had ever appeared in the publicly available case files.

In other words, if magic essence of this purity truly existed, the relevant case files should have been sealed away, not to mention the magic essence itself as evidence.

If it really was magic essence of this purity that was used, then it seems very suspicious that Weiss was able to obtain it and ensure that it could be used to continuously produce special medicines for their experiments.

“St. Rosalia Prison is a place where witches are imprisoned. Could it be that a great witch imprisoned there secretly did this under her instructions?” Lena guessed.

Lena's guess was the most logical, but Leon felt something was off: "Even she couldn't withstand such a betrayal, would she? Would she risk her life to help Mrs. Hershey?"

That said, with a proper formula, 96% pure magic essence might even surpass the effects of a longevity potion, approaching the goal of immortality. Just imagining it entering the market would likely cause a huge uproar, affecting both the entire underworld and the Church's inquisition of heretics.

Chapter 134 Taking Office as Director

"Everyone, salute!!"

In the main hall of the Hamelin Inquisition, all the inquisitors gathered and, led by Leon, lined up to salute Bishop Beckett, who was in charge of the inquisition.

On the small table set up next to them, there were already wine glasses filled to seven-tenths full, and all kinds of snacks.