On their way back, the airship had been transformed into a "ship," and coupled with the need to drag the remains of the giant beast, the group found themselves adrift at sea for three long days.
Due to the previous disputes, everyone remained on high alert throughout the journey, even refraining from closing their eyes during sleep.
In this tense atmosphere of mutual suspicion, Lynn had no intention of provoking any conflicts deliberately. After all, this "ship" was incredibly small, and a brawl on board could easily damage the cabin or the compass in Nos's possession, leaving them stranded in the Sea of Mist forever.
Nos, Hank, Barbara, and the others seemed to understand this, so despite the tension, they maintained a facade of harmony.
It wasn't until the evening of the fourth day that the "ship" returned to the land of the wizards.
"We're finally back," Barbara breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped onto solid ground, feeling her legs trembling. The Sea of Mist (Misty Sea) had been truly torturous, shrouded in nothing but white fog. Hank, on the other hand, grumbled about never wanting to take a boat across the sea in his entire life.
"In any case, you've all worked hard on this trip. I promise you, I will deliver what I owe you in a few days," Nos said wearily.
"You better not delay too long," Barbara reminded, as the money for the high-grade magic crystal cannon had come from her own pocket, and it was no small sum.
Nos nodded in agreement and then instructed his subordinates to arrange a few carriages to transport everyone back to the city overnight.
Lynn wasted no time and immediately returned to the Radak estate.
Once back at the Radak Castle, he ordered Korman and his team to capture a hundred rodents for a biological experiment.
Korman was dumbfounded by this order. Where on earth could he find so many rodents? In the end, he had to have the apprentice mages stop their work and catch mice in the castle. It took them half the night to barely gather half of what was needed, so they had to go to other places to catch more.
Lynn quickly realized the convenience of having his own power. Whether it was magical materials or rodents for experiments, everything was gathered for him in just a few hours.
During this time, Lynn reviewed all the books in the secret chamber related to making the "Source of Magic" once again. Then, he took out the crystal he had extracted from the Eye of Death.
The crystal looked translucent with a dark red hue, covered with strange runes and patterns on its surface. A single glance was enough to make one feel absorbed, as if their soul was about to be drawn into it.
Weighing only about 150 grams, it was very lightweight. According to Radak's notes, making a "Source of Magic" typically required 30 grams of spiritual essence as a material.
This meant that this spiritual essence was only enough to make five "Sources of Magic" at most. It seemed like a lot, but for experimentation purposes, it might not be sufficient.
Lynn had to conserve as much as possible. He carefully placed equal amounts of the spiritual essence from Fire Lizards, Gryphons, and the Eye of Death into the pre-prepared magic potions. This resulted in three bottles of differently colored "Sources of Magic."
He then used 0.5 milliliters as a unit and set up nine rodents as experimental subjects. They were divided into groups of three, each receiving the corresponding magic potion.
Perhaps due to the small quantity used, they waited for a long time with no apparent effect at all.
According to Radak's notes, this substance should take effect within a few seconds.
Lynn had to slowly increase the dosage until it exceeded a total of two milliliters. At that point, three of the rodents immediately started showing signs of agitation, becoming increasingly restless. One even attempted to chew through its cage.
These rodents had just ingested the magic potion made from the essence of the Eye of Death.
Lynn meticulously recorded these changes and then proceeded with the control group.
In each group of three rodents, one was dissected on the spot to record data, one was left untouched, and the other had its dosage increased for further experimentation.
While a hundred rodents may sound like a lot, it turned out to be insufficient when conducting controlled experiments. In just one night, they had almost exhausted their materials.
The spacious experimentation table was filled with rodents in various states of demise. Some had been dissected by Lynn, while others had succumbed directly to excessive doses of the magic potion.
Among them, the rodents that ingested the Eye of Death magic potion exhibited the most horrifying reactions. After consuming about five milliliters of the potion, their eyes turned crimson, they let out piercing screams, and then, without any warning, they died within half a minute.
What shocked Lynn the most was the intense magical response in their brains. In fact, all the rodents that had ingested the potion exhibited some level of magical reaction, which was normal and a characteristic of magical creatures, indicating that the formula was correct.
However, one particular rodent was different. The magical response in its brain was excessively strong, even reaching the level of a first-tier magic user. It was an exaggeration to describe it, but it subsequently displayed symptoms of brain death.
Lynn picked up Radak's notes and examined them. He only found some records of brain death caused by ingesting the magic potion, but there was no mention of the reasons behind the rodents having red eyes and showing extreme aggression.
This might be attributed to the unique nature of the Eye of Death essence.
As an alchemist, Radak had conducted extensive research on the "Source of Magic." However, unlike Lynn, he didn't shy away from using human subjects for experiments. Many of the missing beggars from the southern district were related to his magical workshop. Radak had even experimented on wizard apprentices, accumulating a significant amount of "experience."
What Lynn was doing now was to confirm if Radak had any tricks hidden in his notes and to assess the strength of the Eye of Death essence. Judging from the condition of the rodents that ingested the magic potion, the difference was likely more than tenfold.
Such a potent effect left Lynn feeling somewhat uneasy.
The Council of Alchemists had determined that a thirty-gram essence was the optimal ratio, allowing the "Source of Magic" to maximize its effects. However, an excessively powerful effect might lead to certain side effects.
The previous rodent's violent behavior had also caught his attention. After much contemplation, Lynn ultimately decided to create a weakened version of the "Source of Magic" and have someone test it...
If there were no adverse effects, he would consider ingesting the potion himself.