Earth's Greatest Magus

In their endeavor to create a product worthy of passing the Rank 5 Artisan exam, most other apprentices would base their recipes on two or three different Tier 5 plants. Hence their paths were already settled, and only needed to perfect the method they used to increase the potency.

As for Emery, because of his circumstances of not having tier 5 ingredients, he needed to be creative. He had to find a combination that would allow the ingredients he choose to have maximum synergies between each other.

Turning his gaze to the 500 different plants lying on his workbench, and the remaining time he had, Emery started his task with some doubt. 

All of a sudden, the sound of someone laughing was heard from nearby.

"Hahaha, what are you doing here? Are you setting up shop?" Sabil said as he walked past his workstation with confident swagger.

Emery was used to being at the bottom of the list and being looked down upon, which was why he didn't take those provocative words to heart. All he had to do now was give his best and make the most of the time he had left.

The first thing Emery needed to do was analyze each and every ingredient on his workbench. Luckily, he had the best skill to carry out the simple but time-consuming task – [Fragmentation], Emery's first rare apothecary skill that allowed him to separate the essence of a plant.

With this skill, Emery could dissect a plant thoroughly, distinctly separating the essences he needed and those he didn't need. That was exactly what he was doing with the 500 plants he currently had, separating their essence and labeling each one accordingly.

The objective was to create a combination that would achieve the maximum potency, and with so many options placed before him, Emery needed to establish what kind of effect he wanted to have in his product.

"Healing," he muttered. "A restoration theme… what would a high-rank acolyte or a magus need to restore their condition?"

Like an expert, Emery quickly determined the specific effect he wanted to produce, which left him with two goals.

Since magus possessed their immortal bodies, when it came to recovery, what they really needed was a potion or pill that could replenish their spirit pool. In this case, Emery was suddenly reminded of the continuous channeling he did with his space magic during the mid-test.

If he had a pill that could fasten the rate of his spirit being refilled, that would definitely be useful for him or any acolytes or magus.

Therefore, the first product he would create would be for the energy recovery of the spirit pool. Due to its obvious nature, this recipe called for plants that possessed a lot of energy. The more the better.

Contrary to the first, the second recipe would have an effect that focused on the speed of the body's regeneration – something similar to the function of his [Undecaying Flesh]. Most magus were naturally able to heal their bodies from injuries, but a potion or pill that could increase their regeneration rate would definitely be a lifesaver in battle.

[8 hours 28 minutes]

Time was at the utmost essence for Emery, hence he quickly selected and separated all ingredients into two groups. One that would be the ingredients for the spirit, while another for the body.

This way, if he failed in one, he would have another as a back up. 

To make up for time, Emery prepared two cauldrons, one for each recipe. Without further ado, Emery began devising the combination of ingredients that would make up the two recipes.

He started with the ones with the highest potency, and slowly made his way to the lower ones.

10 recipes

20 recipes

30 recipes

50 recipes

[5 hours 35 minutes]

Almost half of the time he had when he began had passed, and he had found several successful recipes, but Emery continued. He needs more samples to find the best combination.

100 different recipes were created

[4 hours 10 minutes]

After he had tried over 100 combinations, Emery chose the two combinations that he thought would produce the most output and synergy.

[Spirit Pool Potion Recipe]

[Pearl Dust Tier 4]

[Geranium Tier 4]

[Mallowsweet Tier 1]

[Hellebore Tier 2]

[Health Regeneration Pill Recipe]

[Newt Spleen Tier 4]

[Starthistle Tier 4]

[Vervain Tier 2]

[Dittany Tier 2]

Now that he had recipes to work on, it was time to perfect the concocting method for each of them. All kinds of factors were taken into account when he went through trial and error, from temperature to the amount of materials and the type and volume of liquids used.

Emery had to go into the forest once again to gather more of the eight ingredients needed for the recipes. Thankfully, after an ample amount of time and numerous trials, he finally succeeded in realizing both recipes, with the 90% excellent quality he was aiming for.

[Spirit Pool Potion - Tier 3 originality 1]

[Health Regeneration Pill - Tier 3 originality 1]

There, Emery had successfully created his Tier 3 original apothecary products. The problem was that such products weren't adequate to pass the exam he was currently taking. He needed a Tier 3 product with level 3 originality or Tier 4 with level 2 originality, which meant that he was currently two levels short.

[2 hours 42 minutes]

If only Emery had Tier 5 materials at his disposal, then he would have a high chance of achieving at least level 2 originality or Tier 4 result. Unfortunately, there was no if in life; fortunately, Emery still had other tricks up his sleeve.

Now that he had the recipe and knew the best method, Emery once again collected all eight ingredients that made up [Spirit Pool Potion] and [Health Regeneration Pill]. Others who saw him enter the forest again when there was little time left were confused by his actions.

As soon as he returned to his workstation with another batch of ingredients, Emery began to use the unique spell he had.

[Photosynthesis]

A spell taught by the Arbor master as a way to accelerate the growth rate of a plant, change its structure, as well as enhance and upgrade the energy within. It was the trump card and solution Emery thought of to deal with his precarious situation.

Emery muttered under his breath. "Well, let's see how much would this spell do for the the recipes"

Two and a half hours left on the clock and two levels increses needed to pass the exam.

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