Chapter 37: Brewing the Potion

“This should be fine once it’s ground like this.”

Ian was currently sitting in his room.

He had sent away all the maids, and even Elise had been kicked out to go train at the training ground.

Before him lay dozens of herbs and a furnace used for medicine refining.

For the sake of secrecy, he chose to brew the potion in his own room.

After all, if news leaked that he was brewing medicine for the Demon Race, he might be labeled a traitor to the Human Race again.

That was why he had moved the furnace into his private quarters.

Ian flipped through a Magic Book he had found in the study.

It contained the specific steps for medicine refining and how to process the medicinal herbs.

It didn’t take long for Ian to finish processing all the herbs according to the instructions in the book.

Next came the final step — putting the processed herbs into the furnace to brew the potion.

This was also the most perilous stage.

He had to control the temperature perfectly; the slightest error could lead to a total failure.

Holding his breath, Ian looked at the three Dragon Breath Grasses beside him.

This meant he only had three chances to refine the medicine.

Without much hesitation, Ian adjusted his state of mind, picked up a stalk of Dragon Breath Grass, threw it into the furnace, and cast fire magic beneath it.

Fire Magic — Fire Ignition.

In an instant, a cluster of flames appeared out of thin air at the base of the furnace.

Ian could control the temperature of the flames at will, so he didn’t have to worry about the refining failing because the fire remained at a single temperature.

However, even with this advantage, Ian had to maintain extraordinary caution.

A single slip-up would render all his efforts useless.

He had a reason why he could not fail.

After roughly 1 hour, Ian was drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

By now, the remaining Mana in his body was running low.

Just as his Mana was about to hit rock bottom and the flames were on the verge of dying out, a popping sound suddenly erupted from inside the furnace.

“It’s done?”

Unable to contain his excitement, Ian hurried forward and opened the furnace.

Instantly, a refreshing medicinal fragrance filled his entire room.

Looking at the golden medicinal liquid swirling inside the furnace, Ian leaned in and took a sniff.

‘The smell is right. It looks like a success.’

‘I didn’t expect to succeed on my first try. What should I do with the remaining herbs?’

After pouring the liquid from the furnace into a potion bottle, Ian turned back to look at the leftover herbs and thought to himself.

This medicinal liquid could enhance the user’s physical constitution.

It wasn’t just useful as an antidote for Lilith; he and Elise could use it too.

If they did, he would be much better prepared for the upcoming Labyrinth Incident or even the Entrance Test.

With that thought, he got straight to work.

After replenishing his Mana, he poured the remaining two sets of herbs into the furnace to continue refining.

Just like that, about 2 days passed.

Ian looked at the three bottles of potion on the table, his heart filled with confusion.

Was his refining technique really that strong, or was his luck just that good?

He hadn’t failed even once across three attempts?

‘It must be my luck.’

Ian simply attributed the result to good luck.

After all, he had a clear sense of his own limitations.

‘One potion should be enough to resolve Lilith’s symptoms.’

‘In that case, I might as well drink one myself to see the effects.’

Coming to this conclusion, Ian picked up a bottle and downed it.

Suddenly, Ian felt a searing, stinging pain throughout his body.

“It looks like the effects are kicking in. But is this it? This tiny bit of pain? It’s nothing more than an itch!”

Ian wore a disdainful expression, as if he were mocking the potion for only giving him a tickle.

However, it didn’t take long for that thought to vanish.

“Holy… holy… holy… what the hell is this?”

At that moment, the potion was teaching Ian a lesson.

He was rolling around on the floor of the Duke’s Mansion in agony.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Potion! I shouldn’t have mocked you just now! Please, just stop this magic!”

Tortured by the potion’s effects, Ian put away his previous disdainful attitude and actually started begging the bottle for mercy.

The scene was incredibly bizarre.

Perhaps the potion truly heard Ian’s pleas, as the pain in his body actually subsided slightly.

“The effect is finally passing.”

Ian felt the changes in his body.

It seemed significantly stronger than before.

[Status Window]
Name: Ian Saint Yola
Rank: Second Tier
Strength: 621
Speed: 120
Mana: 272
Defense: 134
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship LV2 (Low-grade), Fireball LV1 (Low-grade), Water Dragon Spell (Low-grade), Night Stealth (Primary), Dark Cloud (Primary), Hand of Darkness (Primary), Might of the Night (Intermediate), etc.

Opening his panel and looking at his attributes, Ian was greatly astonished.

‘My strength has nearly tripled, and even my other stats have doubled. This potion’s effect is truly heaven-defying.’

Right now, forget being invincible within the Second Tier — with these stats, Ian was confident he could win even if he faced a Third-rank Mage.

Although he hadn’t broken through to the third rank yet, his basic attributes had already reached the threshold of that rank.

‘At this rate, maybe I can pass the Adelan Magic Academy Entrance Test all on my own?’

However, that wasn’t the main point.

The most important task at hand should be the upcoming Labyrinth Incident.

Normally, this matter should have been led and explored by Veronica and Aetherinra.

But Veronica had been ambushed by the Mysterious Person in Black and was still unconscious, and with Aetherinra’s current strength, it was impossible for her to conquer it alone.

At the end of the day, it still comes down to me.

Ian stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.

If his guess was correct, his father should have received the news by now, shouldn’t he?

Just as the thought occurred to him, the door to Ian’s room was burst open once again by some outside force.

“Young Master! Young Master! This is bad!”

Looking at his weather-beaten door falling flat on its face, Ian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Elise, can you come in a bit more slowly next time?”

It wasn’t that Ian wanted to blame Elise, but every time she barged into his room, his door fell down.

It gave Ian a serious lack of security.

“Young Master, I have something very important to report this time.”

Seeing Elise’s frantic appearance, Ian told her to sit down before speaking.

“Alright, alright. What could possibly have you this worked up?”

“It’s the Young Lady! She and the Master are currently in the study having a huge fight! Even Sister Annie can’t stop them!”

“A fight?”

Aetherinra and his father were fighting?

How was that possible?

Hearing Elise’s words, Ian was stunned.

Logically speaking, Aetherinra and Deere shouldn’t have anything to fight about.

“I heard that the people from the Knight Order discovered the source of the Beast Tide.

Aetherinra volunteered to go out and fight, but she was refused.”

Hearing this, Ian’s furrowed brows relaxed slightly.

‘It seems Father has discovered that Labyrinth.’

Just as Ian was about to think it through more carefully, Elise grabbed his hand and started running toward the study.

“E-Eli—se, wa—wait!”

Before Ian could react, his body was practically floating.

The wind whipping past his mouth made his words slurred and indistinct.

“Young Master, I can’t hear you! I’ll listen to you once we get to the study!”

Without stopping, Elise dragged Ian straight toward the study.

In her eyes, only Ian could mediate the war between Aetherinra and Deere.

‘What I wanted to say was “let me down, I can walk on my own”!’

Ian wanted to cry.

He had originally thought that after drinking the potion, his strength would finally be greater than Elise’s.

Looking at it now, was that still impossible?

Was he doomed to be handled by his Little Maid forever?

Please, anything but that!