Entering the Alchemy room, Kai began making plans for earning Honey.
It is easy to make pills; however, they took a lot of time. On the other hand, potions take less time but are physically demanding.
"Let's finish this first. After that, with whatever time I have left, I will make whatever seems easiest," Kai decided. He planned to complete the tasks on the brewing list first and then decide whether to refine pills or make potions
[Brewing List
Name: Kai
Date: Year 0, Month 4, Day 10
Task: 8 Essence Boost Potions.]
Seeing the brewing list, Kai started working. The first thing he did was grind the herbs. After grinding seven Dragon roots, five Whispering Fern, and a few stems of Sunlit Blossoms, he put the pot on the Firestones and poured 16 litres of Moonwater into it.
After the Woonwater thickened a little, he tossed in just over three grinded Dragon roots and started stirring.
After stirring for a while, his hand started feeling sore, so he mobilised his Ki and directed it toward his hands, enhancing his strength and relieving the soreness.
After stirring for a while longer, he added powdered Whispering Fern and a while later, he added the ground stems of Sunlit Blossom.
Then the stirring continued, and half an hour later, the Essence Boost potion was ready. From this one pot, Kai made three Essence boost potions.
However, his Ki reserve was nearly depleted, and now he needed to rest to recover his Ki.
"After adding 8 more litres of Moonwater, and almost double the ingredients, I only made one extra potion. I should just stick to the usual way."
After carefully checking each potion, Kai found that although increasing the ingredients didn't yield more potions, it did improve their grade.
[Essence Boost Potion
Grade: Low
Effects: +100 Ki (Temporary)
Description: Upon drinking can increase a person's Ki by 100. This effect lasts for an hour and has no side effects.]
[Essence Boost Potion
Grade: Mid
Effects: +100 Ki (Temporary)
Description: Upon drinking can increase a person's Ki by 100. This effect lasts for three hours and has no side effects.]
He made two low-grade potions and one mid-grade potion.
After putting the potions away, Kai rested for a while and then began drawing in the surrounding Ki to accelerate his recovery. Within a few minutes, he recovered his lost Ki.
Then Kai washed the pot and placed it back on the Firestones. He increased the Firestones output to the maximum. This time, Kai didn't add any additional ingredients in hopes of making more potions and instead used the standard portions.
In just under an hour, Kai made two potions. However, this time he wasn't as physically exhausted as before. Since there were fewer ingredients in the pot, he had to use less strength.
"Two potions per pot really is the golden ratio. It seems Master Stardrew was right; adding more ingredients is just a waste." Kai remembered his early days of learning alchemy.
Following the same process twice, Kai made a total of nine potions in just over 4 hours. Aside from the one mid-grade Essence Boost potion that he made in the first batch, all the rest were low-grade.
After finishing the brewing list, Kai rested for a while, then cleaned the pot and set it aside. He got his furnace and placed it on the Firestones.
Since he had just finished refining potions, he decided to refine pills to earn Honey points.
In just under two hours, Kai was done with the refining process and got 16 pills from his first batch.
After cleaning the furnace, Kai started refining the second batch. In the second batch, he made 18 pills.
Counting the 34 Basic Vitality Pills and the extra Essence Boost potion he made, Kai gathered 39 Honey points.
"Should I continue?" Counting his gains, Kai asked himself. Today he worked over eight hours, which is the most work he has done since he started working as an Alchemist.
"It won't be long before my brewing list increases again. I should earn as many Honey points as I can while I still have the time."
After thinking things over, Kai decided to continue working.
Five hours laters, Kai was both mentally and physically exhausted. In these five hours, he made three batches of Essence Boost potion and a batch of Basic Vitality pills containing 15 pills.
"Counting these pills, I have gathered 84 Honey points." Placing the 15 pills in a pill jar, Kai looked around his Alchemy, which was quite a mess.
Spending some time cleaning the place, Kai made a list of the herbs he had used and then tiredly dragged himself out.
Coming to the front desk, Kai handed over everything he had refined.
"Finally, I thought you died in there. Did the owner increase the tasks on the brewing list again? Didn't she just increase the tasks a few days ago." Seeing Kai's tired expression, Miya asked, feeling a little sorry for the human.
"It's nothing like that," Kai said as he handed over the brewing list.
"The task was only 8 Essence Boost potions. Why did you make so many more? You even refined these Basic Vitality Pills. Are you taking a few days off?"
Miya asked, looking at extra potions and pills.
The apprentice alchemist at Honey Pill shop doesn't get any days off aside from Sunday. However, even if they take a day off for some reason, they still have to complete the tasks assigned for the day they missed.
So, seeing so many extra pills and potions, Miya thought Kai was planning to take a few days off.
"Not taking any days off, these are for the Honey points," Kai tiredly explained.
"For Honey points…? Are you seriously trying to buy the broken Knowledge Sea?"
Honey points aren't something that one tries their best to acquire, so when Miya heard that the extra pills and potions were for Honey points, she was confused. But then she remembered their earlier conversation.
"Didn't I tell you? Using a broken Knowledge Sea is like cutting off your future progress."
Miya once again advised Kai against the idea of using a broken Knowledge Sea.
"Just register my points," Kai, who was already tired, felt annoyed listening to Miya. So, he handed over his employee card and asked for the points.