Selling Magic Potions for eight hundred Gold Coins—what a tough challenge.
Even the best quality beginner and intermediate Magical Power Potions on the market only fetch a few dozen Silver Coins per bottle.
Eight hundred Gold Coins meant that they would have to achieve, in just two days, what an ordinary potion maker might take several months or even years to sell.
Even if they raised the price to one Gold Coin for two bottles—which was practically daylight robbery—they’d still have to sell 1,600 bottles, averaging eight hundred per day. That was simply an impossible task, especially with the Jingyue Merchant Association firmly controlling the local potion market.
Izelle could easily imagine that if they really dared to hit the market with that price and volume, the Jingyue Merchant Association wouldn’t just send some old lady to play the victim—this time, it would be real Market Cleaners.
Emma sat on the creaky wooden chair of the tavern, holding the walnut milk Izelle handed her, her face full of worry.
“If only… if only, Izelle junior, that improved recipe you got from the mysterious master before had been a bit more complete…”
She sighed, her tone tinged with a bit of unrealistic hope, “If it was that kind of Elemental Affinity Potion that can temporarily boost elemental affinity, even if we priced it at two Gold Coins per bottle, I bet knowledgeable mages would fight to buy it.”
Izelle knew exactly what she meant by “more complete content.” That blueprint was actually something he’d come up with two years ago, back when he first started with Potion Making and Poison Crafting.
In these two years, although the system had annoyingly dumped a ton of points into his defense, his talent for Potion Making and Poison Crafting hadn’t been ignored either. Looking back at that blueprint now, it was like a university math professor examining an elementary math competition question—all its flaws and improvements were plain as day.
Perfecting it would be a breeze.
Two Gold Coins per bottle, and only two hundred bottles to sell each day… the pressure would be greatly reduced.
But—the risk!
Izelle’s inner alarm blared at full volume.
If he produced a perfected formula, with Emma’s obsession and sharp intuition for potion-making, she would definitely notice something off.
What explanation would he give then?
Even worse, if this reached the ears of the ever-controlling Dean Clare, the Protagonist’s Persona he had worked so hard to build up would instantly collapse.
His peaceful life as a “background character,” a mere Passerby A, would be gone for good. What awaited him would be endless attention, probing, and… even more dangerous tasks.
Just thinking of Clare’s gaze, as if she could see through to his soul, and the terrifying memories of Angelica’s spiritual magic array, made Izelle’s neck go cold.
“Can’t reveal it, absolutely can’t reveal it…” Izelle recited the mantra of survival in his heart, his brain spinning at full speed to find a way to both solve the problem and keep himself perfectly hidden.
He rubbed his brow, trying to steer the conversation in a safer direction: “Emma, senior, how long until Senior Sara and the others arrive at Still Moon Dock?”
Emma calculated the trip and answered, “At the earliest, two or three days…”
Izelle’s eyes brightened a little.
Two or three days—just right!
As soon as Senior Sara, a fifth-tier mage and the face of Starlight Academy, arrived, even the Jingyue Merchant Association would have to think twice about crossing an Imperial Top Talent and the Great Family Faction behind her.
At least after selling a large quantity of Magic Potions in this period, they wouldn’t be immediately targeted.
Hearing Sara’s name, Emma didn’t relax at all. In fact, she subconsciously bit her lip, a flash of embarrassment and resistance crossing her eyes.
Back when she first entered Starlight Academy, she had heard of Sara.
She was the top talent, high aptitude, and together with Reia was called a once-in-a-millennium magical genius.
The first time Emma saw Sara, she was radiant and dazzling. Clearly a prodigy, but also gentle and approachable. In front of her, Emma felt all her years of pride became meaningless.
The world knew of Sara of Starlight Academy, but not of Emma.
She had envied, even felt jealous, but soon realized that such feelings were too insignificant. No matter how hard she tried, she would always live in Sara’s shadow, unseen by anyone.
Until she met Master Isha, who told her:
Everyone’s field of expertise is different. Although the empire’s main strength comes from mages and warriors,
Potion makers like them were also crucial. They created various potions, which were necessities for both mages and warriors. Which mage or warrior didn’t carry some recovery or enhancement potions?
So, as support personnel, there was no need to compare themselves to mages or warriors.
It was Master Isha’s guidance that helped Emma adjust her mindset and see her own worth.
Even so, when facing Sara, she still couldn’t help but feel inferior, unwilling for Sara to see her at her worst.
Izelle, of course, had no idea, nor could he understand Emma’s complex feelings toward Sara.
If he knew, he’d definitely exclaim, “That’s the best thing ever!” Being overshadowed by Senior Sara’s brilliance meant no one noticed or cared about you—was there anything safer than that?
But for now, Izelle was still racking his brain on how to help Emma earn eight hundred Gold Coins safely.
Clearly, there wasn’t a perfect solution—whatever he did carried risks.
All Izelle could do was minimize those risks as much as possible.
“Emma, senior,” Izelle put on a curious and slightly naive expression, as if asking casually, “Over these years of researching that blueprint, what’s been the biggest challenge? I’m just curious since I don’t know a thing about potion-making.”
Emma was still lost in her self-blame, but at his question, she followed along: “The hardest part is, this blueprint seems to combine the principles of magic arrays. It’s not just about material ratios, but like constructing a miniature, temporary Elemental Gathering Array inside the potion. But when it comes to arrays… I’m basically clueless.” Her voice was full of helplessness.
Opportunity!
Izelle’s heart skipped, but his face showed only more confusion. He scratched his head and spoke in a “wild guess” kind of tone, “Hmm… That sounds so complicated. But why do we have to ‘merge’ the array inside the potion? Couldn’t we just use an existing magic array to assist during potion-making?”
He paused, as if realizing he’d said something silly, and quickly waved his hand, laughing at himself, “Haha, Emma, senior, don’t mind me, I’m just talking nonsense. I don’t know anything about potions or arrays, this idea must be childish and impossible.”
Yet, the speaker had no intention, but the listener did!
Izelle’s words were like a bolt of lightning, suddenly breaking through the fog that had lingered in Emma’s mind!
“No way!!!!” Emma suddenly shot up from her chair, slapping both hands on the table so hard that the cups and plates rattled.
Her eyes shone as she stared at Izelle, as if discovering a new continent. “Izelle junior! You… you’re a genius!!!”
“Huh? Me?” Izelle gave a perfect “dazed and at a loss” performance, acting like a total outsider who’d just gotten lucky.
“Yes! Your way of thinking is exactly right!” Emma was so excited she was nearly incoherent, “Why insist on simulating the array’s effect inside the potion? We can totally use a specific Elemental Gathering Array during key steps of potion-making, letting the potion naturally absorb and fix the array’s gathered elemental energy as it forms! That way we can skip the hardest part of internal structural reconstruction, and the success rate might go way up! And Still Moon Dock, being a transportation hub, already has plenty of public large-scale arrays for gathering certain elemental magic for cultivation!”
Seeing Emma’s face lit up with renewed purpose after finding a new research direction, Izelle nodded inwardly.
Yes, although this senior was so naive in social matters it gave him a headache, her talent and instincts in potion-making were truly top-notch.
A small nudge and she immediately grasped the key point, taking it even further.
He eagerly picked out several pieces of stir-fried pig’s brain for Emma’s bowl, smiling with a look of pure encouragement: “Emma, senior, don’t get too worked up, eat something to recharge your brain… I mean, your energy. Just focus on this new idea for the next two days. If you succeed, forget eight hundred Gold Coins—even sixteen hundred Gold Coins might be easy to earn!”
Emma looked at the pig’s brain in her bowl, then at the seemingly ordinary junior who somehow always brought her “good luck.” A rush of warmth and gratitude welled up inside her.
In her most desperate, helpless moment, it was Izelle who found her, treated her to a meal, and gave her the crucial inspiration she needed.
“Izelle junior… thank you.” Emma’s voice was choked. She lowered her head and blinked hard, her eyes stinging a little.
Everything she’d been through these past two days had piled up immense pressure.
She hardly dared to rest, afraid she’d embarrass herself in front of Master Isha even in her dreams.
Off to the side, Luke watched the scene. He didn’t fully understand what had happened, but seeing Emma, senior, perk up again made him happy too.
“Senior, you’re amazing! Just saying a few words could inspire Emma, senior!”
Izelle kept up his gentle smile, but inwardly he was ranting: “Amazing my foot!! I just hope she succeeds and doesn’t credit me for it, let alone dig into how I could ‘just happen’ to say something so critical… Oh, System, I swear, this time I’m sticking strictly to the NPC script, don’t you dare throw some S-level crisis my way again!”