Earth's Greatest Magus

Emery had received a contribution point of 200 from Master Tahoggum from the exhaustive hard work of gathering minerals he had done with his friends and the three weirdos, which took almost 24 hours. In addition to the 2,510 contribution points he had accumulated back in his home world, from his understanding, such an amount could be considered high; still, he was willing to increase that amount just to give himself additional leverage from those who were on top of the acolyte rankings.

Currently, he had four original recipes. With his current knowledge, he believed they were all in their maximum potential, hence, he was expectant and curious as to how this analyzing machine worked and how many points would he get.

He first laid down the healing paste, the one could be used to heal open wounds at a faster rate, on the white stone panel. Waiting for a few seconds, the floating crystal-like thing hovered above Emery's healing paste, shot out a ray of light, scanning every nook and cranny of the item, just like how Master Tahoggum floating cube had done.

After the crystal finished its scan, it hovered in front of Emery and showed a projection of the healing paste's properties. The symbol on his hand also glowed for a moment and he read:

[Healing paste]

[Maximum Effects - tier 1]

[Originality - rank 1]

[Do you want to share the recipe to the Apothecary Institute's database for 50 contribution points?]

Emery was quite shocked to see the number of points it gave. He took back the healing paste and said, "Wow, the recipe is worth only 50 points?"

Cedric, standing on the side with his arms crossed, said, "It's good that you even received points at all. In fact, most tier 1 recipes, especially items that only cures outside wounds won't even get 10 contribution points. I believe you receive extra point because of the originality, the simplicity of the process needed or the ingredient"

Emery issued a hum as he placed the next item, which was also green in color, to be analyzed on the white stone panel. After the crystal thing did its job, it gave Emery the next result, which read:

[Stamina potion]

[Maximum Effects - tier 1]

[Originality - rank 0]

[Do you want to share the recipe to the Apothecary Institute's database for 1 contribution points?]

"See, told you. Tier 1 recipes only garner a miniscule amount of contribution points. Such as this one, only one contribution points," remarked Cedric on the side, looking a bit smug.

Seeing the points the analyzing machine had given his stamina potion, Emery wasn't that surprised considering he had consumed it himself. The effect of this potion on him hadn't been groundbreaking or beneficial to the extent where it gave him an actual advantage. Hence, he had come to the conclusion that the stamina potion would most only be useful for ordinary people, those who were not a magus or an acolyte, as for those who were, they would find its usefulness value little to none.

The third one, Emery placed the strength paste, which had content. This paste would be red at first usage but as more one spread it, the enhanced parts would eventually become blue.

[Strength paste]

[Maximum Effects - tier 1]

[Originality - rank 2]

[Do you want to share the recipe to the Apothecary Institute's database for 150 contribution points?]

One hundred and fifty contribution points this time. Three times the amount of his healing paste. Cedric didn't say anything. Emery tried to get a glance of Cedric's expression on the corner of his eyes, and when Emery saw it, it was just a plain straight face.

Emery figured this was a bit satisfactory, considering the strength paste had helped him in certain situations.

Lastly, he shared the blue potion called the cleansing potion.

[Cleansing Potion]

[Maximum Effects - rank 2]

[Originality - rank 2]

[Do you want to share the recipe to the Apothecary Institute's database for 200 contribution points?]

The cleansing was equivalent to the gathering of mineral work he had done for the blacksmith.

Emery turned to Cedric while letting the notification of acceptance await his decision. He said, "So senior, should I share all these recipes?"

Truth be told, Emery was actually quite reluctant to share the recipes. For him, these amounts were too little, remembering how much work and hours he had put in to create these recipes back in Mistshire.

Cedric was silent for a while. He cleared his throat, regaining his composure, and then said, "Hmm, honestly for the last two items, I am quite amazed you managed to get rank 2 originality even for a tier 1 recipe. As you can see, those are worth more and the institute has offered you more points. I guess the main ingredient you used for these recipes are very hard to find or limited in your world, isn't it? Anyway, yes, go ahead and share them. In fact, you can also sell those too, I think. Even though there are just too many recipes that can give the same result and properties of your 'original' recipes, you can actually sell them."

There was no reason for Cedric to lie about this, Emery figured. Hence, albeit still hesitant, Emery decided to share his recipes with the institute since he needed all the points he could get his hands on. The next he did was to check how much he can sell the item for.

The crystal shone and sent him the following information:

[Stamina potion - no value]

[Healing paste - 10 white spirit stones]

[Strength paste - 200 white spirit stones]

[Cleansing potion - 100 white spirit stones]

Seeing the numbers, Cedric commented, "Hmm, not bad. The price of similar items in the market are two to three times that, Anyway though, let me tell you, it's a lot of work and hassle to try selling it yourself. You'll never know when it'll be bought."

Emery, on the other hand, was speechless. He was trying his best to keep himself from shouting because his strength paste was worth two-hundred white spirit stones! That meant by just selling five of them, he could get a tier two weapon or armor!

He checked his storage ring, right now, he had about a dozen or so of that strength paste. Of course he would have to save at least five of them for him and his friends. So, he still had some spare, which he could sell. Also, he had a considerable amount of blue powder left and ingredients from which the strength paste was made from. Another option was that he could look up the ingredients with similar properties with the one he had used to make the strength paste and could make or experiment with some time later.

At the moment, white spirit stones weren't much use, but he could use them to buy items which should be more useful for his current situation. Inwardly, he smiled at this information as it gave him more reason to create better potions and bring a lot more… but then he thought of something. Although he couldn't bring the storage ring and the items here back to his world, what about bringing a whole cart of the same stuff or even better concoctions on his third return here, could he do that?

Thoughts of getting more spirit stones was filling his mind. But, calm down, Emery. He was getting too excited. Calming down, he checked out the list of items available for sale, which one of the receptionists on this second floor, showed him.

There were three items he was interested in, so he asked. The first was about the potion for his dagger, which was called the artifact absolve potion. It could remove the blood of Granny on the moon dagger, but cost 1,000 spirit stones but such potion needed to be used together with the formation spells. So, Cedric told him to better check a formation expert to be sure.

The second was about the information he heard that spirit stone could be consumed but somehow it needed to be processed first. Apparently, it was common practice for low-level apprentices to do that. The process, however, wasn't going to increase the potency of the spirit stone itself, but it would be easier to consume and faster to absorb.

"But Emery, do you have that many spirit stones laying around? Normally, it should take like a thousand or two of processed white spirit stones only to increase one spirit force," said Cedric.

"No, I don't have it," Emery quickly responded.

Lastly, Emery told him about the level 5 creature called Duma on the savage planet he would be returning to and its abilities. Emery wondered if there was an alchemy solution for it. Cedric hadn't heard or seen such creatures yet, but told Emery some ideas as to what kind of potions might work.

"Well that's part of being an apothecary practitioner, Emery. You need to do some experimentation," Cedric said.

Emery didn't realize he had spent two hours already with this senior of his. He was about to leave but then he realized his question about the Magus Game hadn't been answered yet. "Senior, thank you for the guidance. But if you have any tips about the upcoming game, it'll be really helpful for me."

Cedric's expression suddenly darkened. He said, "You know… you probably shouldn't worry too much about it. The games are rigged from the start."