"It's good that it can help Mr. James. Unfortunately, this potion can only be drunk once."
"If you want to continue increasing your strength rapidly, I have to refine another kind of potion or a higher level one!"
At this point, Elise felt some regret.
Although the effects of the potion were very powerful…
There were some limitations to the potion.
Ignoring the fact that high-level potions had their own limitations, when it came to Gold- and Silver-rank potions…
There was a limitation — they could only work on the same body once.
Thus, this greatly limited the effects of low-level potions.
Even so, alchemists were still one of the most precious professions.
"It doesn't matter. It only took five minutes to increase my spiritual energy by 5%. That's already very impressive!"
Looking at Elise who was blaming herself, James smiled and comforted her.
"Alright, Elise. Thank you for refining the potion today. You should go back and rest now!"
"Yes."
Elise nodded obediently.
Then, she and James left the cellar.
When they came out, they realized that the sky had already turned dark.
They were in the cellar and had no idea of the passage of time outside. Thus, they had no idea that it was already late at night.
James was somewhat surprised as he looked at the sky full of stars.
He had not noticed that it was already dark outside the cellar.
From the looks of it, the refinement of the potion took much longer than he had imagined.
"Alright, Elise, let's stop here for today and rest first!"
"Yes!"
After a shower, the two of them returned to their respective rooms to rest.
The next morning, Elise got up early to make James breakfast.
After eating breakfast, Elise went back to the cellar to study the book of potions and supervise the sacrificial array at the same time.
With the basis that concealing the array was their top priority, after some consideration, James decided to place the sacrificial array in the cellar as well.
It would be placed together with the sacrifices from before.
In that case, it would be more concealed.
Furthermore, Elise would be able to look after them together.
After greeting Elise, James walked towards the Adventurer's Guild.
His goal today was no longer to purchase items.
Instead, it was to accept a mission.
Although he had previously sold the eyeball of a Platinum-rank monster and earned a lot of money…
However, since yesterday…
He could no longer touch those sacrifices!
After all, those offerings were precious items that could be used as ingredients to refine potions.
It was easy to sell them, but it would not be easy to buy them back.
Therefore, he couldn't just sit there and do nothing, so he went out to accept missions.
Besides, if James wanted to improve his strength quickly…
Potions were definitely necessary.
However, providing for an alchemist was a very expensive matter.
Putting aside the ingredients, just the tools from yesterday…
… had cost him more than two Gold Coins.
Furthermore, these tools could not be used for a long time. as they would definitely be damaged when used.
In other words, the tools alone had to be replaced regularly.
Although each period of use was very long, every replacement would cost two Gold Coins. Thus, if he did not work hard to earn money, how could he withstand this cost!
While accepting a mission, he also wanted to see how Saint Laurent's adventurers would react after he killed Pall's trio of bandits yesterday.
The closer he got to the Adventurer's Guild, the more people there were.
James overheard the discussion of some adventurers who were traveling together.
"Hey, how powerful do you think the newly advanced Gold-rank expert from yesterday is?"
"Didn't the adventurer who witnessed it say that he was in his early twenties?"
"He's so young. He will definitely advance to a Platinum-rank expert in the future!"
"Well, if nothing goes wrong, a Platinum-rank expert will finally appear in Saint Laurent after 200 years."
"It would be good if a Platinum-rank expert appears. Saint Laurent City will be saved then!"
"That's right. Saint Laurent City is one of the big cities of the Empire, but there are no Platinum-rank experts guarding us. Thus, the resources that belong to Saint Laurent are stolen by other cities!"
"That's right. Those resources belonged to Saint Laurent City in the first place! If they hadn't been stolen by the other cities, Saint Laurent City wouldn't be so poor!"
"The poorer one is, the less resources they have. Without resources, how can a Platinum-rank expert appear?"
"We've simply fallen into a vicious cycle!"
"But it's fine now. After all, we now have a Platinum-rank expert. Saint Laurent will be better and better in the future!"
…
James was stunned upon hearing this.
What was going on?
Didn't he just show a little of his strength?
Why did it sound as if these adventurers were treating him as their savior?
Since Saint Laurent did not have any Platinum-rank experts, their resources were stolen by other cities. As a result, Saint Laurent became more and more poor.
However, he was not interested in being Saint Laurent's savior.
In fact, he even had high expectations for Saint Laurent's environment.
After all, the more chaotic the environment, the easier it was for him to hide.
Especially when he had an alchemist at home.
It seemed as if this was not the time to reveal his true strength. He shook his head.
Then, he walked quickly into the Adventurer's Guild.
James went straight to the mission noticeboard.
After that, he simply scanned the missions at the top of the mission noticeboard.
The missions on top were typically the missions with the highest commissions.
Of course, the higher the commission, the greater the difficulty of the mission.
However, in order to earn enough money…
He simply started from the mission with the highest commission.
If he were to look for those low-level missions, who knew how long it would take for him to save enough money to exchange a set of tools for Elise.
He looked at the list of missions.
Then, he was surprised to find a mission worth a commission of 30 Gold Coins on the list.
This kind of mission was rare.
A mission worth 30 Gold Coins usually had a Gold-rank difficulty.
It was rare for anyone in Saint Laurent to be able to pay so much money!
He carefully examined the first mission.
"Recruitment mission!"
"Let's head to the Turgar Mountain Range and hunt down the Turgar Demon Dragon!"
"Mission explanation: Mr. Garsley is recruiting adventurers above the Level 5 Silver rank. They will head to the Turgar Mountain Range, south of Saint Laurent City, to hunt down the Turgar Demon Dragon!"
"Commission: 30 Gold Coins!"
"Note: Team mission with a limit of 30 people! The commission depends on one's individual contribution!"
Upon seeing this mission, James's eyes lit up.
Wasn't this a team mission?
It had a commission of 30 Gold Coins and seemed to be a very good mission.
Even if the commission was split equally, he would still receive one Gold Coin.
There weren't many missions that paid one Gold Coin in one go.
"Sir, although my words are a little harsh, this mission is not something an ordinary person can accept!"
"With your Level 5 Silver strength, if you want to go there, you're simply not qualified!"
Just as James was checking the mission, an adventurer came up and spoke to him.
"Oh, what does that say?" James asked humbly.