Chapter 13
Devouring Contamination Potion
After returning to her room, Lucy took off her gray robe and, after a quick tidy-up, eagerly opened the Apprentice-Level Anti-Contamination Potion Studies on her desk.
Studying potion-making had not been a spur-of-the-moment decision for Lucy; it was a result of a full day of careful consideration.
Her current Contamination Value was always hovering on the edge of danger. Relying on meditation alone was fine for daily dissipation, but if the garrison convoy Helen had mentioned were to haul back a large number of enchanted beast corpses, it could easily push her beyond her limit.
Furthermore, the cost of exchanging for "Anti-Contamination Potions" from the Tower was prohibitively expensive. With her current financial situation, her income could not cover such an expense.
Besides, she also wanted to see if she could improve her potion-making skills through the system.
If successful, she would not only eliminate the immediate risk posed by her Contamination Value, but could also earn a profit at the Tower through potion sales.
With this thought, Lucy’s gaze fell upon the open Apprentice-Level Anti-Contamination Potion Studies.
'Devouring Contamination Potion, a Basic Magical Potion, effectively reduces the Contamination Value of apprentices with Mental Strength below 40.'
'Potion preparation requires 12 ingredients, including: Bone Bellflower, Dark Crow Moss, Ghostflame Poppy (Harmonized) Millet...'
'Required equipment: Basic Potion-making Kit.'
Although this Devouring Contamination Potion manual for Apprentice-Level Anti-Contamination Potions was more than half composed of illustrations and descriptions of ingredients and their properties, the remaining half of the pages were densely packed with notes on potion preparation.
These included exact quantities and sequences for adding ingredients, simmering times, and critical precautions.
Most importantly, there was the Mental Strength configuration this was what distinguished magical potions from ordinary ones.
Ninety percent of witches failed during this very step.
However, Lucy did not linger too long on this part. What she needed now was to force every word of the Devouring Contamination Potion section into her mind as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, even a trainee apprentice possessed far greater Mental Strength than an ordinary person with a Mental Strength of just "1".
Although memory capacity could not be mechanically scaled to Mental Strength, seven hours later Lucy had successfully committed every densely packed page of the Devouring Contamination Potion to memory.
Rubbing her groggy head, Lucy softly called out.
"System!"
At once, blue characters floated into view before her eyes.
\[Name: Lucy Felicia]
\[Level: Trainee Apprentice (Mental Strength: 7.2)]
\[Meditation Method: Bramble Loop Meditation I]
\[Witchcraft: Basic Magical Trick (Tier-0), Basic Ring of Resistance (Tier-0)]
\[Skill: Devouring Contamination Potion (Uninitiated)]
\[Equipment: None]
\[Contamination Value: 50%]
\[Academic Points: 7]
When she saw that the 'Devouring Contamination Potion (Uninitiated)' had appeared under the Skills section of the system, Lucy nearly jumped out of her chair in excitement.
Just as she had suspected, the \[Skill] section covered non-combat secondary professions. As long as she accumulated enough Academic Points, she could fully master all non-combat witchcraft from other schools as well.
However, learning the Apprentice-Level Anti-Contamination Potion did not mean she could immediately begin potion-making; she still needed to resolve the issues of equipment and ingredients.
According to the book, the "Basic Potion-making Kit" could be purchased at the "Exchange Office" on the third floor of the Tower, or rented for the price of one magic sand per day.
As for the ingredients... she planned to ask Hain tomorrow. Perhaps he might know some sources.
Closing the potion book, which she had now thoroughly memorized, Lucy glanced at the inverted sand hourglass clock on the wall, where fine sand continued to trickle down. Unknowingly, it was already the early hours of the morning, and once again she had missed dinner. Fortunately, she had at least completed seven hourglasses' worth of meditation.
After a quick wash, Lucy sat cross-legged on her bed, feeling that there were simply too many things to handle and learn, with far too little time to do it all.
...
One night of meditation.
The next morning, feeling fully refreshed, Lucy hugged the Black Book and The Witch's Anatomical Notes as she ran toward the West Tower.
She could not wait to see which corpse had been assigned to her in corpse room number 66 today.
Along the way, many of the witch apprentices stopped in their tracks and stared in surprise at the slender figure dashing past them.
At the top of the Tower, by an arched window.
A middle-aged man gazed out at the gray-robed figure that had just disappeared in front of the West Tower entrance, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
Just then, the laboratory door was gently pushed open, and a graceful woman, about twenty years old, walked in.
It was Lilith, the librarian.
"Teacher, what are you looking at so intently?"
The man turned around and replied in a gentle voice:
"I've found someone interesting. The last person I remember being so passionate about Anatomy was Fernando."
Lilith asked curiously, "Who are you talking about?"
But the man did not answer his apprentice’s question. Instead, he changed the subject.
"What news is there from the Eternal Silence Blackthorn side?"