The following day, Adam and Edward had come back to their dorm room after all the classes had ended. Right after entering the room, Edward jumped on his bed and decided to take a nap.
Adam, on the other hand, began brewing potions. Currently, he was standing in front of a metal cauldron and swirling a red liquid inside of it with a ladle. After the liquid had reached a certain texture, he paused.
"Now, I have to let it simmer for exactly 11 minutes." He recalled the herbalism knowledge of the expert that he had absorbed inside the white lotus' mysterious space.
As the liquid continued to bubble inside the cauldron, Adam pulled a chair and sat down. He then grabbed a book and began revising the things he had learned in school today.
"The School of Invocation focuses on harnessing and manipulating magical energy to create devastating effects…" Adam's finger ran across the words on the page as he mumbled.
This School of Magic had the most potent attack power among all the schools. Magi who major in this school effectively create something out of nothing, in a manner of speaking.
The Rank 1 Spell: Eldritch Beam that Adam had received as a reward for coming first in the entrance exam was a spell from the School of Invocation.
Magi who specialize in the School of Illusion focus on creating sensory illusions and manipulating their target's perception to deceive and mystify.
"Deceive the five senses, then the mind… And ultimately deceive the world itself." Adam was very fascinated by the school of illusion. The spell that Berger had given him belonged to this school.
After fantasizing about the various things a Magus could pull off with the help of illusion spells, Adam got back to reading the book again.
The School of Alteration focused on changing and transforming the properties of objects and creatures. And finally, the School of Necromancy dealt with life and death, manipulating life force, communing with spirits, and raising the dead.
Practitioners of the School of Necromancy, also known as necromancers, traversed a morally grey area.
Some used their powers to heal the living and ensured that the dead were given proper burial and peacefully sent off to the afterlife. While other necromancers used their powers to cause chaos and destruction to society.
After going through information about all eight schools one more time, Adam kept the book away and approached the cauldron.
"About time," he muttered after inspecting the texture of the red liquid. He grabbed a handful of violet leaves and earthen roots from a glass jar and placed them inside a mortar. Then, he grabbed a pestle and began crushing these ingredients until a fine white paste was formed.
Right when the time was right, he dropped the paste inside the cauldron and began stirring the liquid with the ladle again.
He infused a thin strand of mana into the liquid and facilitated the mixture of the red liquid and the green paste he had just made.
"This is the moment of truth!" Adam's eyes shone with anticipation.
After another few minutes of stirring the liquid in a particular rhythm, the outcome was finally decided. The once-red liquid had now turned dark and murky. Seeing this, Adam was extremely dejected.
His shoulders slouched and he dropped the ladle. "Another failure…"
This was already his 7th try at concocting a healing potion. Not once had he succeeded.
Although he had absorbed the memories and experiences of that expert, that didn't mean success was guaranteed. All it meant was that he'd have to take fewer detours compared to others.
How could things be so easy? Without putting in effort, could a person really achieve their goals?
The answer was clear to Adam.
He despaired over his failure for a few moments and then began brewing the potion one more time.
…
The sun set and the twin moons rose. While Edward was still sleeping soundly, snoring like a pig, Adam was still attempting to brew the healing potion. This was his 11th attempt.
He poured the white paste from the mortar into the liquid inside the cauldron and patiently swirled the potion. His eyes were focused and his mind was clear. It didn't matter if he failed and had to redo it all over again.
Adam could feel the fast rate of improvement he was going through after every failed attempt. Now, instead of feeling agitated over it, he welcomed it. As long as there was some progress made, he was satisfied.
As he infused his mana into the potion and waited for the result, Adam couldn't help but feel a little nervous. A few minutes later, the red liquid inside the cauldron shone brilliantly and gave off an aura of vitality!
Instead of the dark and murky texture that Adam had gotten used to seeing, the potion now reflected a bright red light with small tints of verdant green.
Seeing this, Adam raised his head and burst into loud laughter. "Hahahaha! Success at last!"
After more than six hours and ten failures, he had finally succeeded. After bathing in this triumphant feeling for a while, Adam grabbed the empty vials on the shelf and then carefully poured the healing potions inside them.
In the end, the bright red liquid inside the cauldron was able to fill up six crystal vials. Looking at the healing potions stored inside these vials, Adam grinned. "The market price for a healing potion is 5 platinum pieces or 50 gold pieces. I have almost recouped my initial investment!"
Thinking of this, Adam was ecstatic. Although herbalism was an expensive endeavor and also required a lot of talent and diligence. But once the herbalist was able to brew a successful potion, they'd receive a significant return on investment.
After safely putting the 6 vials inside a wooden box, Adam mumbled, "Hmm, where should I sell these? Would Old Berger buy them?"
Safely putting away the wooden box inside his trunk, Adam walked up to Edward who was sleeping, and kicked him in the stomach.
"Wake up, Ed! It's time for dinner."
Edward woke up and glared at his roommate. "Stop disturbing my beauty sleep, damn it!" He then turned over and closed his eyes again. "Besides, I'm on a diet. Get lost!"
Diet, my ass! Adam scoffed. He turned around and walked out of the dorm room. His voice lingered behind. "I was thinking of going for a 12-course meal at Sherman's Inn. It's fine if you don't wanna come, I'll just have to enjoy the food by myself."
Edward remained silent. It seemed that he was really taking his diet seriously.
But the next moment!
"Wait for me!!" The fatty shot out from the bed and ran after Adam. He just couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food.
As for the diet…
Hehe.