After consulting with Fred, and thinking about his future as well as the costs, Kai decided to go with two recipes; firstly, he would take the [Deer-liver Potion] since it would be able to help him until Rank 2, and the second would be the [Merman Tail Potion], simply due to the cost of making it being so low, that he could just make a load of them while he was at Rank 0 without wasting 100 Mana crystals on each.
"I will take the [Merman Scale Potion] and the [Deer-liver Potion]."
"Are you sure about the latter? It is really expensive, and might not be very useful, since just meditating on your own should also gradually increase your Spiritual Energy enough to Learn even a Rank 2 spell by the time you finish the calculations."
"Thank you, but this is what I want. Please just get them." Kai understood the words of the book-keeper who had already put Kai's future in great importance. His words made sense for anyone other than Kai, who would need a lot more Spiritual Energy than the average mage.
"Alright." The book-keeper turned around and went back into the library, closing the door behind him, however, not just 5 minutes later he arrived with two scrolls in his hands.
"Here." Kai handed him a bag with Mana Crystals he had pulled out of the Bluestone Sect ring he had been given with a space-type enchantment on it.
After accepting the Mana crystals, the book-keeper handed the two scrolls to Kai, who accepted them and began reading them on the spot. However, to the book-keeper and Fred, it seemed as though Kai was just skimming through it to make sure that the contents were real.
Nodding, Kai put the scrolls into his Bluestone Sect ring, and left the Recipe library or whatever this place was meant to be called. However, they did not leave the Alchemy Hall altogether. Instead, they went bac to the receptionist, and Kai began listing out a bunch of ingredients.
"That will be 150 Mana crystals. Payment is to be given before the goods are provided."
Kai turned to Fred, who nodded, and Kai turned back to the receptionist.
"And what about an Alchemy room for Rank 0?"
"20 Mana crystals for 1 day use, and anything you break you will have to pay yourself."
'Damn…' Kai thought to himself, but still paid for everything, and waked towards Alchemy room no. 12, Fred following behind him.
"How many Mana crystals do you have?" Kai asked, since he was not running extremely low.
"Around 500."
"Alright, I'll have to take you up on that loan of yours."
"Nah, I don't need loans. Just 20% of your profits." Fred said with sweat on his forehead. He had already calculated the possible benefits. Initially, he thought Kai would be too scared to purchase the more expensive recipes, or would simply be unable to afford it, which was why he had offered the deal as a market of goodwill. Now hoverer, it was clear that Kai would soon be raking in money not just from Rank 0 apprentices but also from Rank 1 Magi and possibly even Rank 2 Magi!
"…" Kai pause for a second, thinking it through and wondering why Fred was changing his original deal, however ultimately he shrugged and countered the offer.
"20% of profits till your loan is recovered. After that, only 5%, which includes your brokerage fees to handle all the selling of goods and purchasing of raw materials."
"10%"
"5%. I am already making the deal so much better for you, especially considering that you changed the terms of our deal. I could just wait a month more and then use my regular income from my mentor to do this, removing you from the equation entirely. It is non-negotiable." Kai said as he continued walking in front of Fred without a care in the world.
"A- alright! 5%!" Fred spars out through gritted teeth before following behind Kai, his heart broken as the possible profits started leaving his grasp.
Kai nodded and entered Alchemy room no. 12 and closed the door behind him, leaving Fred with no ability to look inside. The Alchemy room itself was not too large, nor too small, but just enough for him to stand and move around a step in any direction.
All around him were multiple tables with flasks and other instruments of varying proportions and colours, as well as a few basic materials like distilled water and some cloth.
Kai asked the system to feed the information about the potions directly into his mind, and after gaining this information, he immediately got to work. He took the Merman scale and began crushing it in the mortar and pestle until it became an unblemished white power, despite the scale itself having a blue outer layer to it.
Added the white power to a glass container, Kai moved onto the Beluga tree root and squeezed out all its sap into a different container, using a spoon to carefully scoop out exactly 12 grams of the stuff into the white power, while taking into account any sap being left over in the spoon itself.
Naturally, such specific calculations were done by the system itself, and Kai did not have to bother with something this complex.
However, Kai did not stir or mix the two ingredients together, and instead let the thick sap settle down on its own until it covered the white powder completely. Only then did he activate the flame rune on another table. Normally, a disciple would not know what it was, and only alchemists did. However, Yu had been working on a spell called Fireball, which used this very rune as its centre, just being a lot less complex.
Kai deduced that the complexity of the shapes around the rune was there for either allowing him to control the flame, or to limit it such that it would not destroy everything in the alchemy room.