Leaving the store, Gerald went on a shopping spree across the city. In every herb store, he only bought one or two ingredients to make it much harder for anyone to figure out what was he doing.
Although the actions might seem excessive, it was better to be on the safe side. He didn't trust the owners of Golden Pouch, as such people had to be at least somewhat greedy to make it to such a position.
Actually, one of the factors as to why he came to Auralba and requested their help as a 'mighty alchemist' was to give them an incentive against reverse-engineering his potions.
Merchants would prefer to get things for cheap or free if possible, even if they had to wait, and he precisely bet on that quality to buy himself some time to grow.
But since his growth would require help from the Golden Pouch, he had to give them some small benefits.
For that reason, he decided to make a new potion that would be useful for young mages just learning magic.
It was called the Potion of Focus. The main effect was helping a person clear his mind and focus on the task on hand.
As such, it was incredibly useful for studying and learning to control Mana. Since the caster had to have an extremely good concentration when learning at the beginning, any distracting thoughts could ruin the progress.
Although Gerald never tried the potion himself, just by reading of the effect in the Blood Codex, he figured it could probably fetch a high price on the market.
As for the ingredients… The main one was the White Berry seed. The leaves were already in use, as they calmed the mind, but the potion made out of seeds was more than ten times stronger.
The only problem was that the seeds were mildly poisonous and would make a person have diarrhea for a few days.
Luckily, the book had a way to solve that problem, as well as enhance the desired properties even further, with the help of a few herbs.
After he was done shopping, it was already night. Tired, Gerald went back home and a maid served him warm dinner. The girls already went to sleep, so he also wasn't up for long, and went to bed early.
After breakfast the next day, Qiona went to look for her new teacher, but this day, Gerald was busy with other stuff and did not have time to guide her in alchemy.
Not wanting to leave the girl with nothing to do, he gave her the book he wrote a few days prior and let her study by herself. That way she wouldn't grow too reliant on him.
"If you don't understand something, feel free to come and ask me," he said just before the little girl left.
"Mn!" Nodding her head, Qiona left with a face full of smiles.
Watching her leave, Gerald stroked his lower jaw, "Now, where was I? Oh yes, Potion of Focus!"
He grabbed the sack of White Berry seeds and went to the main kitchen. Since the breakfast was just over and there way still more than five hours until lunch, the place was currently empty.
Looking through the cabinets, Gerald found a cast-iron pan and placed it over the woodstove. Throwing a few logs inside, the fire soon re-ignited and the heat traveled up trough the iron plate.
Gerald took a few fistfuls of seeds and threw them on the pan to roast them.
The poison inside was sensitive to heat and roasting the seeds would completely destroy it. On the other hand, the medicinal properties would become much stronger and easier to extract. It this way, the preparation was similar to coffee.
Though, differently from coffee, this brew didn't wake you up but instead calmed you down.
While the seeds were slowly being roasted, Gerald took out a small pot and filled it with water and placed it over the fire to heat up.
After the first batch of seeds was done baking, he took them off and threw them in a pestle and mortar, to be ground down. At the same time, he placed the rest of the seeds in the pan to roast.
After all was said and done, Gerald slowly ground the seeds into powder and then threw them in the boiling water.
Leaving it for a few minutes to release the desired medicinal essence, Gerald took the pot off the stove and let it cool down. Then, since he didn't have a sieve, he drained the brew through a cheesecloth and discarded the sediments.
The whole process took just over an hour, and with a glass full of White Berry seed juice, he returned to his room.
This was only just the first step. To finish the potion he then had to extract the juice of the Star Flower, as well as a few other herbs, and then use magic to guide the process of fusion between different substances. Lastly, adding a fist-full of Ether dust, the potion was finally complete.
Although it was already almost the time for lunch after he was done, he created enough stuff for about twenty vials-full, all at once.
"Alright!" Gerald held the clear vial with brownish-yellow liquid to the sun with a smile. Based just on the smell and color alone, it should be a success, but to be sure, he had to test it first.
Gulp!
Swallowing hard, the vial was emptied in an instant. Waiting for the effects to kick in, Gerald sat on a sofa and waited.
Soon he felt a pleasant tingling sensation in his head, and his previously tense body completely relaxed.
He almost felt like floating on clouds and his mind was quiet. All distracting thoughts and ideas disappeared, like mist in a strong wind. His mind felt clear and refreshed as if he just woke up from the best sleep of his life.
"Wait a moment!" Gerald suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted while jumping up. The clarity that he just experienced allowed him to recognize an abnormality with his mind. "This is...weird. How did I fail to notice it earlier?"
He quickly left the room and ran to the garden behind the mansion.
"Huu…" Exhaling loudly, he gathered his thoughts and with a flick of his wrist, the ground trembled and Stone Bolts rose from the ground.
Ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred…two hundred… In no time at all, the sky above Gerald's head was completely covered with dangerous stone spikes.
"It's not enough! More!" Gerald clenched his teeth and Mana inside him surged forth, creating even more Stone Bolts. After his body was exhausted, he proceeded to drain his jewelry stones as well.
Soon more than a thousand Stone Bolts hung menacingly in the sky.
"Fall!" Whit a wave of his hand, all of the floating stones shot down at once, falling like numerous raindrops.
Pa, pa, pa…
Countless impact sounds that followed masked all other sounds from chirping birds and the bustling city on the other side.
"I knew it…" Gerald wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he observed the mass destruction on the ground.
It was not too far ago that a massive spell-casting session like this would leave him with a splitting headache or even kill him, but right now, he only felt some slight discomfort.
He easily exerted ten times more energy than ever before, and he was still able to stand without a problem.
"How is this possible? I should not be advancing this fast… I need to find Xilia, maybe she can shine some light on this mystery!"
He quickly ran back inside to find her.
"Xilia!" Gerald looked through the residence in search of the Dark Elf.
"Oh, here you are!" He found her in a room with her little sister, helping her study alchemy. "Hey, can we talk for a moment?"
Then turning to Qiona, he smiled, "I'll borrow your sister for a few minutes if you don't mind."
Lifting her head Xilia looked at him, "Hey, what's going on?"
Gerald gestured her with his hand to come closer. He appeared to be in a hurry so she quickly followed him out of the room.
"Do you ever get headaches after using magic?" Gerald asked, wasting no time with pleasantries.
"What?" Xilia shook her head whit a questioning gaze.
"Do you…ever feel unwell after casting many magic spells without rest?" he restructured his question.
"Err…"
Gerald quickly elaborated further, "As you know, I learned magic by myself and I haven't found any explanation in the books as to why I would start to feel painful after using magic for a long time. Do you have any insights into this matter?"