Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In order to know the authenticity and value of these potion formulae, William made use of a great amount of connections, and finally found a pharmaceutics Master from the Pharmacist Guild. With the discernment of that pharmaceutics Master, William’s guess was confirmed. These potion formulae were indeed from the Dark Age, and differed from any known formulae from the Pharmacist Guild.
William couldn’t contain his excitement upon obtaining this knowledge. He felt like he had picked up a gem, which hadn’t happened to him for a long time.
However, what that pharmaceutics Master said next dampened William’s enthusiasm like a bucket of cold water. “The formulae are probably authentic, but they involve a few concoction techniques that were lost in time. Even I can’t make the potions successfully by following these formulae,” the pharmaceutics Master told him candidly.
Upon hearing these words, William was immediately stunned. A formula that couldn’t allow you to concoct a potion successfully was just a piece of waste paper. So what if it was from the Dark Age? When the corresponding concoction techniques were lost and even a pharmaceutics Master couldn’t concoct them, what was the use of holding onto them himself?
William had somewhat given up at first. After all, this pharmaceutics Master was publicly acknowledged as a very knowledgeable man. Even he couldn’t concoct the potions, let alone the others from the Pharmacist Guild.
However, not long after this incident, the news about a great number of high-level pharmacists appearing in the Tower of Dusk spread like wildfire in the Breezy Plains. Every faction immediately started to pursue these high-level pharmacists. How could this kind of widely known news escape the ears of William, who was in charge of the Time Consignment Store?
In fact, several competent subordinates had suggested that Time Consignment Store should also join in this pursuit…
William, however, was clearly more farsighted than the other factions. He immediately felt something was amiss about this emerging Tower of Dusk; it wasn’t as simple as it appeared to be. Without understanding the situation, it was unwise to offend the Tower of Dusk for the sake of a few pharmacists…
Thus, William didn’t hesitate to reject the suggestion by his subordinates. At the same time, he thought of the potion formulae from the Dark Age which were lying in the attic…
Although the price that he’d paid for the formulae was so insignificant compared to his net worth that it wouldn’t hurt him to throw them away, he just couldn’t accept it knowing that the formulae were authentic. It was as if seeing a gem buried in dust.
William didn’t have high hopes that those high-level pharmacists could help him concoct the potions. Although he didn’t employ any high-level pharmacists personally, he didn’t have to wait till now if he wanted to find high-level pharmacists to help him with the potions given his abilities.
Moreover, even that Master from the Pharmacist Guild acknowledged that he couldn’t concoct the potions from the formulae. He even claimed that there wasn’t possibly anyone in the entire guild who could concoct the potions. If so, was there any high-level pharmacist even more knowledgeable than a pharmaceutics Master? It was clearly impossible.
When the other factions only saw those frenzy-inducing high-level pharmacists, what William noticed was the Tower of Dusk that was behind these high-level pharmacists. Why was there a sudden appearance of high-level pharmacists in the Tower of Dusk, a newly established faction? Though the Tower of Dusk was a Guild of Magic supported by the Supreme Council, the Supreme Council was, after all, not the Pharmacist Guild. Even the Pharmacist Guild wasn’t able to get so many high-level pharmacists in such a short time, let alone the Supreme Council.
In this world, not all mages belonged to the Guild of Magic. Similarly, not all pharmacists belonged to the Pharmacist Guild. Hence, William made a bold guess that this batch of high-level pharmacists might not be from the Pharmacist Guild, but rather from another less known pharmacist organization. There was likely to be one or two pharmaceutics Masters behind these high-level pharmacists. If not, it’d be impossible to nurture so many high-level pharmacists.
Since that pharmaceutics Master had said that nobody in the entire Pharmacist Guild could possibly concoct the potions using those formulae, what about people outside the Pharmacist Guild? If he could think of a plan, maybe he could get the help of a certain pharmaceutics Master through the Tower of Dusk to concoct the potions successfully from the formulae! This thought was too tempting for William to ignore.
So, with this thought in mind, William arrived at the Tower of Dusk, hoping that he could revive the glory the formulae had during the Dark Age with the hands of a pharmacist Master behind those high-level pharmacists.
“What potion formula is there that nobody in the entire Pharmacist Guild can concoct? You must be exaggerating, Mr William. Tell me about it! I’m interested to know what these formulae that nobody can concoct look like.” Upon hearing William’s full story, Wilkinson was more unconvinced. He wasn’t someone that William was looking for—a pharmacist from an unknown pharmacist organization. He belonged to the Pharmacist Guild since the very start, and was a proud disciple of President Balbo. How could he tolerate other people doubt his teacher’s pharmaceutic abilities?
William noticed Wilkinson’s displeasure, but didn’t know why he incurred it. He merely thought that Wilkinson didn’t believe him, and said, “If you want to know, let me tell you about a formula here. The name of this formula is long lost, only the ingredients needed and a few concoction techniques remained. The herbs needed are: Abyss Blood Crow Tongue, Heaven Three Leaf Grass, Sword Bamboo fruit, Autumn Bell flower, Dark Shadow Flower stamen, Icefield Seaweed… A total of 47 herbs.”
“Haha, this is ridiculous! How is this a formula? Even a pharmaceutics disciple knows that this formula can’t possibly let you concoct any potions.” Wilkinson felt so cheated right after hearing what ingredients were needed for that formula, and began to criticize it mercilessly.
Normally, Wilkinson would only laugh it off if he got such a potion formula, and not be so fed up. However, William had aroused his interest and provoked him by doubting the abilities of the Pharmacist Guild, yet Wilkinson ended up realizing that the so-called potion formula was a scam. How could he not be angry?
“First, there is an extremely foolish mistake that can be spotted at first glance. This formula needs 47 herbs? Looks like the person who faked it is brainless, and didn’t have any pharmaceutics knowledge. To say that this thing is a potion formula and take it to us is a total disgrace!”
Wilkinson was angry over the fact that even the basic common knowledge was gotten wrong. Even if one wanted to cheat, couldn’t he do it using more technicalities? Did he really think that everyone was a fool? Wilkinson doubted if William had even looked for other pharmacists, and wondered what kind of people he had sought out to look at the formulae. Even an old man who swept the floors of the Pharmacist Guild would never make such a mistake.
“Mr William, you are an appraiser, and a manager of a consignment shop. Maybe I cannot demand too much from you regarding pharmaceutical knowledge, but you should know at least some basic pharmaceutical knowledge as an appraiser! The characteristic of appraisers is being a jack of all trades but master of none. If you don’t even have such general knowledge, how can you be a jack of all trades?”
Appraising was quite an awkward occupation. One needed to know a bit of everything, yet couldn’t be an expert on anything due to constraints of time and effort. To be a jack of all trades but master of none was the best description of appraisers.
If this was said by any other person, William would have 1,000 methods for him to die miserably. However, since the one who spoke was a high-level pharmacist, he wasn’t offended at all.
“If you don’t know, I can tell you that in this world, the most fundamental and important rule of pharmaceutics is the rule of balance. It is right to say that any potion formula is a reflection of the art of balance. To lose balance would result in losing everything. This is something that even pharmaceutics disciples know because it’s the first piece of pharmaceutics knowledge they learn.”
Facing Wilkinson’s consecutive rebuttal, whether he was right or wrong, William had no motivation to refute him, and could only agree with embarrassment.
However, William’s attitude couldn’t cool Wilkinson’s anger. For any pharmacist, pharmaceutics was a solemn affair, and the slightest negligence would lead to detrimental effects.
Pharmaceutics in the Anril World wasn’t just grinding a pile of herbs and throwing them into a pot to make a soup. It was about the interaction between different kinds of energy. A seemingly insignificant grass might contain sufficient energy to explode a house. Even the slightest mistake could seriously harm the pharmacist who made it. For example, if Lin Li hadn’t destroyed that dangerous potion in time when he’d first visited the Pharmacist Guild, the entire Guild would have exploded.
“Just talking about the rule of balance, your so-called potion formula is untenable. But let me tell you, there’s a more fatal problem.” Wilkinson had always detested such behavior that put other people’s lives at stake. Of course, anyone who really attempted to concoct the potion according to this idiotic formula was a fool. Although Wilkinson didn’t know who came up with William’s potion formula, he rightfully scolded William since he was the one who had it.
