Chapter 67: Potion Crafting Fail?

Axel had already bought two recipes from the shop, ready to use for concoction. Of course, his choice wasn’t based on the market’s supply and demand, but rather on his current needs.

The two items were none other than the basics of the basics: Health and Mana potions!

He had been in the care of Health potions, a.k.a. Recovery Potions, from the emergency packs for a while now. Still, thanks to their necessity for healing critical injuries, his supply was rapidly dwindling.

His supply was down to a single digit by now!

Of course, it’s not like he couldn’t buy those from the shop. Each potion of the same rank as the one he was given was cheap, after all—roughly 10,000 Colts each. Still, just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean he could just buy those willy-nilly.

Thus, the idea of making potions for consumption himself.

Doing this, he could bring the cost down by at least a factor of 100.

“But that’s not all. I can also research higher-grade potions and use the same base procedure to craft them without needing a recipe!” Axel exclaimed excitedly.

Still, this could only hold if he could successfully “craft” the potions with his own hands.

After all, the requirement for the concoction tab to register the recipe for fast crafting was to successfully create the item manually first.

“Alright, let’s begin!”

His knowledge of using laboratory tools was from his time back in college, so it’s not like he’s an expert at using them. Still, he did have common sense with regard to the usage of all the tools he had purchased.

“Let’s see… First… cut the leaves of Prapil Grass into fine pieces…”

Prapil Grass.

It was the main ingredient of the potion and basically the source of its magical healing prowess.

However, despite its “amazing” derived product, the grass itself was quite cheap—sold for 25 Colts a bundle. In fact, other than the grass and a stabilizer, he didn’t really buy any other ingredients.

The cost of crafting a potion was way too little compared to its actual selling price—almost at the level of Voodoo Dolls’ ROI!

With that in mind, Axel actually felt even better as he continued working, following the process listed in the recipe he bought.

After cutting the grass, he had to grind it to a paste before squeezing its juice out.

Of course, with the blender, the leaves were chopped down to fine bits… almost liquefied already. With this, he skipped two steps in their entirety and reached the squeezing step.

“Using a filter cloth, squeeze the juice slowly…”

He did as instructed, carefully.

First, he placed the filter cloth over a funnel leading to a beaker.

Then, he carefully poured the juice into it, letting the liquid parts sift through, leaving the solids behind. After letting it drip for a minute, he then proceeded to squeeze the last few drops from the leaves until he could squeeze no more.

Seeing the blue juice collected, he couldn’t help but smile. He managed to collect roughly 20 mL from about a kilogram of grass—about twice as much compared to the amounts listed in the recipe.

“I’m so good at this!” Axel praised himself as his confidence rose.

Of course, he didn’t let down his guard just yet. After gathering the juice, he then started on the actual “concoction” part. He mixed the juice, pure water, and stabilizers from the shop into a flask, carefully boiling them over a small Bunsen burner.

Watching it closely so as not to let the mixture boil over, he kept his eyes glued to the liquid.

Slowly, as he could see the dull blue of the mixture starting to turn transparent and even releasing a faint glow, he moved the flame away. Carefully, he took the flask out of the tripod and poured it into a few potion bottles he had readied beforehand.

Just like that, after carefully portioning the contents, he managed to make about ten bottles of “potions” successfully!

“So a single bunch of Prapil Grass can make ten bottles…” Axel sighed, wiping the sweat pooling over his forehead. “Alright, let’s check the quality of what I made.”

He carefully placed one bottle into his inventory and read the item’s description directly, before tilting his head in wonder.

<Greater Recovery Potion Lv. Max>

<A miracle potion crafted with the finest tools and the finest process, using the finest ingredients ever to exist. It can heal any wounds as long as the user is still alive.>

<Parameters: Vitality +10 (permanent)>

<Material Cost: 49 Colts>

“…Huh?” Axel scratched his head. “Did I fail? Weird…”

The result of his crafting should’ve been a “Simple Healing Potion,” as per the recipe stated. However, instead, he got this.

Curious, he went to the shop and checked what this “Greater Recovery Potion” was and…

“Fucking hell…” He couldn’t hold back a curse and felt goosebumps run across his arms. “I… I’m not seeing things, right?! Navi, come here!”

He couldn’t find a “Greater Recovery Potion Lv. Max” anywhere, but he did find a lower-level one at level 7… and it was priced at 1 million Colts apiece. For his max-level potion, he could only roughly estimate it as something worth 1 billion a bottle!

[Hmmm? How did you make a Greater Recovery Potion from a Simple Healing Potion recipe?]

But instead of helping him out, Navi pointed out a wonder that Axel himself couldn’t explain. It was like leaving a duck egg in someone’s care, only for a phoenix to pop out!

[Well, mystery aside, the recommended cost for a max-level Greater Recovery Potion is 100 billion Colts. However, I’d advise you against selling it as is…]

Navi continued—and for the first time in forever, gave proper advice to Axel.

[With your current strength, releasing something this massive would simply make you a target for interdimensional raiders. Remember, your world coordinate is exposed to those whom you sell your items to.]

“…”

Axel paused, remembering how Teruria had reached him without even asking for his permission. He was lucky that Teruria had no ill intent toward him at all. But if someone who wished to “steal” his recipe by force appeared…

“At that point, I’d become a slave to print money for them, is that it?” Axel finished what Navi kept hidden between his words.

Right now, he was still barely able to avoid getting robbed, as his “most precious items” were priced about 50 million Colts at most. It wasn’t cheap, but not something someone would go out of their way just to steal.

But this recipe he just made, which could fetch a trillion with just one batch of items, was literally a hot potato.

If he failed in handling this, then not only his life, but also all the girls would be at risk!

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