Within the residential area of Cuilan Academy, in a quiet three-story house with a courtyard.
Furan was setting up her potion-making equipment, placing the instruments related to these potions into a small room.
This house was one Furan had bought in full for four gold coins and 53 silver coins. Although the location was relatively remote, and it usually took half an hour to walk to the teaching area,
the space was large, allowing Furan to store many miscellaneous items. Plus, she usually ran a'small business' on the side, so needing a bit of seclusion was normal.
She set up the instruments and took out three sets of materials for brewing strength potions, placing them into three separate beakers.
After adding water, she immediately activated the Harmony Method. That's right, she intended to brew three bottles of potion at the same time.
This was a little trick she had suddenly discovered. After stacking two classes, her Spiritual Power had increased significantly, and she also possessed the [Skilled Apothecary] trait.
It allowed her to brew potions with ease. After some simple experimentation, she found that brewing four bottles was her limit, and even then, mistakes could happen from time to time, so she stuck to brewing three.
As for the steps, those were specifically designed so that novice Apothecaries could easily brew through the Harmony Method. She didn't need such things; she could just fuse them directly.
This was the strength brought to her by proficient Pharmaceutical Studies. And now, after finishing these three bottles, her Pharmaceutical Studies was about to level up.
[You have successfully achieved a multiple potion brew. Pharmaceutical Studies proficiency +34]
[Pharmaceutical Studies proficiency is full. Level increased.]
After putting the three bottles of potion into a nearby box, she began to check the changes from the Pharmaceutical Studies level-up.
[Name: Furan
Class: Rune Warrior (Half Star), Apothecary (Half Star)
Attributes: Constitution 2.5, Spirit 2.6
Skills:
Pharmaceutical Studies (extraordinary) (Proficiency: 3/100,000): You have transcended ordinary people in the art of making potions.
Star Gazing Technique (Mastered) (Proficiency: 174/1,000): You can proficiently master the method of obtaining information from celestial phenomena... (omitted)
Traits: Move With the Wind, Spiritual Power,
Magical Alchemist (You can make the effects of potions stronger or weaker, as you see fit.)]
First of all, half a star appeared after Apothecary. This indicated that the class level had increased. However, the upgraded Apothecary was at the same star level as the Rune Warrior?
This upgrade only increased Spirit by 0.3, whereas when the Rune Warrior leveled up, the increases to both attributes were higher than this. This was what confused Furan.
How could the attribute gain be so small! It has the nerve to be at the same star level as Rune Warrior.
Next, she looked at the traits section. Her Skilled Apothecary trait had turned into this Magical Alchemist trait.
Setting aside how effective it was, she worried if it had replaced her'Skilled' trait. When she played games, high-level skills would often overwrite the most useful low-level skills, and the original effects would be lost.
Terrified, she quickly began brewing another three bottles of strength potion. After a while, seeing the three perfectly intact potions, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She felt that during the brewing process just now, not only had her precision and proficiency not decreased, but they had instead increased to an inconceivable level.
She felt that brewing three bottles was quite easy now, as if she could easily brew five at once.
That wasn't all; she hadn't even focused very hard just now and had even dazed off for a bit, yet the potions were still successfully brewed.
If her previous Proficient-level Pharmaceutical Studies made her a very hardworking person who had spent decades immersed in potion making,
then now, with extraordinary-level Pharmaceutical Studies, she was like a once-in-a-century genius who could casually reach a realm that others couldn't achieve in a lifetime.
Then there was the Magical Alchemist trait. She tried brewing another bottle of strength potion.
During the brewing process, she imagined the potion's effect becoming even more powerful, and then she felt her Spiritual Power weaken by a few degrees.
After the brewing was complete, she looked at this bottle of darker-colored strength potion and downed it in one go.
"It still has such a large effect on a constitution like mine, and the degree of strength enhancement has also increased."
In gaming terms, it meant the usage cap had increased, and the potion's effect had grown by about 30%.
"It's good, but..."
Although she could make these better potions, the problem was how to sell them?
They didn't exist on the market. At least in Apprentice City, there was no distinction between potion effects. In other words, there was no such thing as a 'High-grade XX Potion'.
Other people wouldn't know what it was. If you marked it with a higher price, people wouldn't necessarily buy it.
Moreover, this thing consumed her Spiritual Power. She estimated she could only make about twenty bottles a day.
"I'll store them for now. Who knows when they might come in handy."
Next, she made a small portion of the potions required by her orders.
Then she checked the time.
"I'm a bit tired, but it's still a little early..."
She felt that making that enhanced strength potion had somewhat drained her Spiritual Power, making her sleepier than usual.
She looked at the stars outside the window and gritted her teeth.
"Then I'll use the Star Gazing Technique today. It's been a while since I last looked."
---
Furan sat on a reclining chair, leisurely looking at the stars outside the window. In her mind, star charts were emerging one by one.
After her Star Gazing Technique reached the Mastered level, a vast number of star charts appeared in her mind. Some she had seen in that book, "Astrology and the Sea," and some she hadn't.
Furan's vision went dark. When she regained a bit of consciousness, the first thing she heard was a rhythmic, very fast 'clatter-clatter' sound, along with a rushed, particularly loud 'whoosh-whoosh' sound.
When Furan could finally see the image clearly, she was somewhat stunned. Her current thought was: Why am I doing this?
First, there was the back of a person. Furan could quickly recognize that it was herself. Although she was wearing loose clothes and long pants, and the clothes were very dirty, she still recognized herself at a glance.
There was no one else around her; only a machine in front was moving on its own.
It belched thick smoke, and a wheel was constantly spinning.
Furan watched for a while before recognizing it. Wasn't this a steam engine?
The entire steam engine wasn't small; it could completely obscure Furan, but it was only a bit larger than her whole body.
Furan watched the flywheel spinning continuously, and then the whole image vanished, leaving only a prompt.
[You have observed a scene of the future again. Star Gazing Technique proficiency +20]
Furan thought for a moment. Just as she was about to use the Portent Spell, she felt a pain in her brain and hastily stopped.
"This is something from the far future; I can't use the Portent Spell."
Furan rubbed her aching head. It seemed that figuring out why she was making this steam engine would have to wait until later.
From Furan's current perspective, a steam engine was considered obsolete even in this era. Why would she still be making such a thing?
Furan had heard in the idle chatter of other apprentices that in other parts of the Alliance, there were Mana Engines that could push a mountain or lift a city into the sky.
And a steam engine didn't seem to have any advantage in terms of power when facing a Mana Engine.