With the materials in Hand, and some food for himself, Kai rented an Alchemy room with some of his remaining funds, and began brewing the potions. Unlike before however, he did fail once with the [Deer-liver Potion], however this was only a one-time thing since he forgot to set the heat of the rune to the required temperature and intensity. Soon enough, the day passed and he was not done yet. Quickly paying for an extended occupation of the room, Kai brought in some more food and continued his work. Only after 2 full days did he finally complete his work.
Ultimately, he had made 17 [Deer-liver Potion]s and 10 [Merman Scale Potion]. Kai kept all the potions with himself, only handing 2 [Deer-liver potion]s to Fred once they returned to the safety of his training room, before sending him off to sell them.
With the [Merman Scale Potion]s in hand, Kai returned to his training room and began drinking them, falling asleep, waking up, eating food, and repeating again. His Spiritual Energy rapidly increasing with each use.
Meanwhile, Yu also participated in this crazy act of repetition. He had already brought his success rate to 1 in every 5 attempts, allowing him to continue the cycle of purchasing materials, making one successful one, selling it off, and the repeating.
Over the course of a few days, Yu's ability had grown considerably. It was not because his actual power or control had improved, but rather practicing so much had caused his body to become accustomed to making the fireball scrolls.
Over this same period of time, however, Kai had finally reached enough Spiritual Energy to enact his plans. He left his room, and headed to the common bathhouse, where he cleaned himself. He had been held up in his training room for many days without having cleaned himself with a wet cloth, so his body had accumulated a lot of dirt. The only way to get rid of it all was to take a proper bath.
After the bath, he coincidentally found Fred, who handed him 3 Mid-Grade Mana crystals. Although it was lesser than before, that was only true since the previous price was an over-inflated price brought about because it was sold as the last item of an auction.
On the other hand, these were sold directly to customers, bringing down the price to around 1500 Mana crystals. Kai handed Fred another 2 [Deer-liver potions], as well as 6 [Merman Scale Potions], and told him to handle it.
After all, he no longer needed the Merman Scale Potions. They would not be able to increase his Spiritual energy anymore. Initially, Kai had hoped to continue using that potion to rapidly increase his Spiritual Energy, only to realise that once it broke through to Rank 1, despite his actual power being at no rank, he could not use the potion anymore.
He had even wasted a potion to test it out, but he did not even fall asleep.
Now, he would either have to rely on the [Deer-liver potion] directly, or use its profits to purchase something more cost-effective.
For now, however, he allowed Fred to leave, and then left himself. He first needed to confirm with his teacher; Madam Aria.
Showing his ring with what he now understood to be Madam Aria's Spiritual Symbol, Kai was allowed into what was considered the 'Inner' part of the sect unofficially. Officially, it did not have a name.
…
"So, you finally want to learn a Rank 0 spell?"
"Yes."
"Alright then. Let me check how much Spiritual Energy you have."
Kai let Madam Aria approach him without moving or flinching from her incomprehensible speed. She placed her finger on his forehead, a cold sensation being felt on his forehead at the point of contact.
This coldness was not from her cold hands, but rather from her Spiritual Energy entering Kai's body to check his Spiritual Energy Levels.
A moment later, she retracted her finger and bent down to look at Kai in the eyes.
"Do you know how much Spiritual Energy you have? Have at the moment?"
"Yes. Enough to learn a Rank 0 spell, then a Rank 1 spell and become a Rank 1 mage."
"Exactly! Why are you not even at Rank 0 right now? Is it an issue with the calculations? I can help you a bit with that."
"No… well… I plan on learning more than one Rank 0 spell. Wait before you try anything, let me tell you, madam, that I have already finished the calculations for the Rank 1 spells as well. The only thing limiting me is Spiritual Energy. Once I get the Rank 2 spells, it should not take me too long to calculate them as well. At least, not as long as it will take for me to grow my Spiritual Energy."
"…" Madam Aria was too stunned at Kai's words and just remained silent for some time, before speaking.
"You will need to prove this and reach Rank 1 within 5 years. Only then will I keep you as my disciple?"
Now that Kai had experienced the benefits of being the disciple of such a strong and powerful mage, he would definitely not let go if such an opportunity.
"That can be done. However, I will need you to protect my friend Fred and me from those who will try to harm us."
Madam Aria's face was full of question marks, so Kai decided to elaborate, "Well I have been brewing these potions called [Deer-liver Potion]s, and he had been selling them for me. If someone were to-"
"Wait!"