Above the mage!

Chapter 548 Magic Element Diagram and Magic Element Reaction Formula
Healing potions are among the most in-demand magical potions for ordinary people.

The exact size of Carmond is still unknown, even though it is a city.

Even in a small city like Hogan, the demand for healing potions can reach more than 300 bottles a day.

Of these 300 bottles, 90% are controlled by the top potion shops, while the remaining 10% circulates among smaller, scattered pharmacies.

Leni's weak healing potions can reduce the income of the three major potions stores by 50%, which means that the potions she sells every day must make up for the original 150 bottles that belong to the three major potions stores.

Including the scattered markets she has captured herself, her actual daily sales are probably close to two hundred bottles.

The problem is that concocting potions requires a lot of energy, time, and mental strength.

The mental strength of a second-class mage apprentice is inherently weak.

Each time a potion is prepared, one needs to concentrate one's mental energy to enchant the materials and observe the changes in the potion's properties during the preparation process; otherwise, the potion preparation will fail if one is not careful.

Even a highly experienced first-ring mage, working at full capacity all day, couldn't produce a tenth of Leni Thorns' output.

How could a second-class apprentice like her achieve such a production volume?

This doesn't make sense at all.

Leni finally understood what God wanted to ask.

But for a moment she didn't know how to answer. She subconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, her light brown eyes filled with conflict.

She wanted to find an excuse to get by, but couldn't find a suitable and plausible reason for the time being.

be honest?

She was also a little worried.

Gaode's "Emotion Perception+" was on throughout, so he immediately sensed Leni's tension, hesitation, and unease.

Perhaps my tone was too serious?

Gao De lowered his voice and spoke in an extremely gentle tone: "I know this must be a secret to you, very important, a treasured piece of knowledge and skill."

But don't worry, Phoenix takes intellectual property rights very seriously. We will reward you according to the value of the knowledge you provide, and we won't take your work for nothing.

Although Leni had never heard of the term "intellectual property," she could easily deduce its meaning from the context.

She quickly waved her hand, her face slightly flushed, and explained with a hint of urgency, "Your Highness, that's not what I meant. It's because...because my methods are considered heretical by other potion masters, an insult to potion-making, and utterly unacceptable."

"That's true. Apart from commoners, mages don't even look at the potions I concoct. I'm afraid of you."

"Heretical? Not respectable?" Gao De's tone was clearly surprised, even raising his voice slightly. His gaze was fixed on Leni, as if he had heard something unbelievable.

"If such an amazing skill can enable a second-class apprentice to produce potions at a rate that even a first-ring mage cannot achieve, then what can be considered respectable?"

Sunefa nodded slightly, her cool voice carrying certainty: "Practicality is truth. The North never values ​​'orthodoxy' or not, only whether it can solve the problem."

Leni felt a little embarrassed by what the two said, and her heart began to soften, her concerns disappearing.

She took a deep breath, as if she had finally made up her mind, turned around and walked quickly to the bedside, lifted the blanket at the foot of the bed, and pulled out a parchment book tied with a thick hemp rope from under the covers.

The book's cover was yellowed and the corners were badly worn, clearly indicating that it had been read countless times.

She carried the book back to the stone table, her hands trembling slightly as she handed it to Gao De.

This is my method.

Gao De looked at the parchment book in front of him.

The parchment looks very rough; it's not some refined magical parchment, but rather made from the most ordinary animal hides, with tiny traces of fuzz remaining on the surface.

The edges were worn and frayed from years of handling, and there were even a few holes, which were simply patched with hemp thread, with crooked stitches.

It doesn't seem like some kind of "burning technique," but rather like an ancient book forgotten in a corner of the attic.

Gao De untied the somewhat loose, coarse hemp rope from the book. Opening the book, he realized it couldn't really be called a book; it would be more appropriate to call it a notebook or a draft.

The handwriting on it is scattered and irregular, some of it is written with charcoal pencil, with thick and messy lines, like inspiration jotted down in a hurry.
Some were outlined with ink, but due to uneven ink color, they blotted out patches of dark marks.

In some places, there were symbols that looked like "ratio formulas", but they were repeatedly erased and rewritten. Some lines were drawn so densely that they eventually turned into a blurry black stain.

In several places, the writing had faded to a faint trace, requiring close inspection to discern the names of magical plants such as "Silver Leaf Grass" and "Concentration Flower."

Besides the words and symbols, there are also a few simple line drawings scattered on the paper.

The paintings depict various magical plants. Some only have the general shape of the leaves outlined, while others have the roots and flowers meticulously drawn. The brushstrokes are childlike but exceptionally earnest, clearly indicating that the artist deliberately painted them to remember the characteristics of the magical plants.

What's even more remarkable is that when Gaode quickly flipped through a few pages, he found that many lines of text had notes next to them that were completely different from the original text.

The ink marks on these notes vary in shade and the font styles are quite different, clearly indicating that they were not written by the same person.

“It has had at least three owners,” Gao De quickly concluded.

The first official's handwriting was bold and messy; the second official's handwriting was thin and neat; the third official's handwriting was round and soft.

Gao De's eyes quickly swept across the notes. Although he was only glancing at them superficially, the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he became more and more alarmed as he looked.

When I turned to the last few pages, the style of the paper suddenly changed.

The font has been standardized, and there are no longer any other annotations or comments.

This indicates that the content of these last few pages was written by the last owner, who is now the owner.

Or more precisely, it should be attributed to Leni Thornton.

These few pages of text made Gao De's breathing slow down instantly, and even his eyes became serious.

He stopped turning the page, gently pressed his fingertips on the paper, and carefully read each word.

The above content is like a summary and overview of the entire notebook:
Under absolutely identical conditions, the same enchanted materials will always fuse in exactly the same way.

Traditional potion-making emphasizes the potion master's personal control, considering each potion concoction a unique art. But do the subtle shifts in the potion's properties, seemingly requiring adjustment with the potion master's mental power, follow some undiscovered, underlying law? An objective, repeatable, and verifiable underlying law?

Each potion ingredient possesses multiple medicinal properties. The first step in concocting a potion is to enchant the ingredients. The enchanting process seems to activate one or more of the desired medicinal properties, but the other properties inherent in the ingredients themselves do not disappear; they are merely suppressed and, to some extent, interfere with the final potion's efficacy. This leads to non-reproducibility: that is, the same potion concocted by the same potion maker at different times and under different moods using the same batch of ingredients will have slight but noticeable differences in effect.

If we consider a potion ingredient as a whole, can its various medicinal properties be understood as the elements that constitute this whole? Let's tentatively call these hypothetical elements that constitute potion ingredients "magic elements."

All potion ingredients in the world are composed of a limited number of basic magical elements combined in different proportions and methods.

For example, the snake fang grass is a whole composed of seven magical elements, including poison magic, life magic, and earth magic, arranged in a specific structure. "Demonization" involves using external forces to temporarily alter the structure of this whole, making the poison magic active and dominant.

The process of concocting a potion involves magical elements being controlled by humans to come into contact and combine, forming a new whole.

This means that as long as the specified magical elements are brought into contact according to a precise ratio and order, the result will inevitably be the creation of the target magical potion. The personal intervention process of magicalization and preparation can be eliminated and replaced by a more stable, batch-operable process.

[Let's tentatively call this ratio and order the Magic Element Reaction Formula.]

The most difficult and crucial aspect of verifying this theory is how to verify and quantify it, and how to build a magic element map.

Numerous theorems, corollaries, and formulas were neatly and densely written on these few pages of parchment, even filling the margins.

At the end of the notes, there is a complete formula:

Silverleaf: [HP: 20 / Water: 15]

Peace Flower: [Purity: 10 / Life Gain: 5]

Pure Water: [Water: 99]

Catalyst: Moonstalk extract

【银叶草粉：愈20/水15】+【宁神花汁：净10/生5】+【纯净之水：水99】--(月光苔提取液|常温|震荡混合10秒)——>【弱效疗伤药水：复合愈-净30/载体水114】+【残渣：生5】

What magic element diagram, magic element reaction formula? Don't think I won't recognize you just because you changed the name. Isn't this just a magic potion version of the periodic table and chemical equations?

With Gao De's scientific knowledge, he could immediately tell that this last formula was the method that Leni used to concoct weak healing potions.

The entire booklet ultimately contains only this one formula.

This shows that although Leni's summary has a "systematic" approach, transforming vague "experience" into clear "numerical values" and "steps," the "foundation" of this system is far from solid.

This makes even this weak healing potion seem more like a product of a combination of extensive practical experience and luck, rather than a truly replicable and scalable mature knowledge system.

Even so, it is already an amazing product that can be described as "absolutely incredible", making Gaode's heart pound wildly.

It has already provided a general framework and ideas, while the weak healing potion is proof of the feasibility and correctness of this theory.

All that remains is to use more time, more data, more manpower, and more methods to refine and complete this rudimentary theory into a full system.

Gao De suppressed his excitement, handing the notebook to the equally curious Sunefa beside him while staring intently at Leni, who was bowing her head as if awaiting some judgment. "You wrote those last few pages?!"

"Is it?" Leni was startled by his sudden question. She nodded subconsciously at first, but then, as if she remembered something, she quickly shook her head, her light brown eyes filled with panic.

"I simply added my own understanding to the experience of Senior Erwin and Teacher Leo, and then summarized it."

"Senior Erwin was the original owner of the notebook, and Professor Leo was the second. They left behind many scattered records, and I simply pieced them together."

“Irwin, Leo, and you, Leni Thornvine, there are exactly three different handwritings in the notebook.” Godd realized instantly.

Their previous assessment of the "three owners" was confirmed, and their gaze became even more fervent, as if they had discovered a rare treasure.

"Where are Senior Erwin and Teacher Leo that you mentioned? Do you still have a way to contact them? If so, I would like to extend an invitation to them."

“They…they’re long gone.” Hearing this, Leni lowered her head even further, her voice tinged with fear and a hint of barely perceptible loss, and she gently shook her head.

"Gone?" Gao De's voice suddenly stopped, his eyes filled with surprise and regret.

"Senior Erwin was the first owner of this notebook, but even Professor Leo doesn't know when he was born or where he came from."

"Professor Leo found this notebook in a pile of old books that had been sitting untouched for decades in his home library. It only contained the name Erwin."

“Professor Leo said that he had tried to find out about Erwin’s background, but to no avail.”

"It's highly likely that this Senior Erwin is just like him, an ordinary person with no distinguished family background, no great strength, and even very few traces to prove that he ever existed."

"This notebook may be the only legacy he left in this world."

After a moment of silence, and after Sunefa had quickly finished flipping through the book and her eyes showed the same shock and solemnity, Gao De slowly spoke: "Lianie, can you tell me about this notebook and Leo, and about you?"

Perhaps these things had been hidden in Leni's heart for a long time, and she had wanted to confide in someone, or perhaps God finally pointed out her talent for being approachable and chatting.

This time, under Gao De's persistent questioning, Leni, though still timid, finally broke her silence.

Thus, this notebook, which was likely to be silently submerged in the tides of time, and the stories of its three owners, were finally presented to the world in their entirety for the first time, but certainly not the last.

The first to know their story were Gaode and Sunafa.

The first owner of the notebook was Erwin.

Unfortunately, aside from leaving his name and a few pages of somewhat hasty and wild speculations, he left no other stories about himself.

The first two pages of the notebook are filled with Erwin's questions, written like a diary, some of the characters so forceful that they tore the paper:
"Does lacking magical talent mean one can't become a powerful mage, but does that mean one can't become a great potion master?"

"Yeah??"

"One of the three principles of mages: Spells are omnipotent."

"And magic is a kind of art created by humans."

"Is there also a technique that can allow a weak mage to become a great potion master and uncover the secrets of potions?"

"I need to find that 'technique'!"

"."

"Such a technique probably doesn't exist; perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part."

"No, it must exist, Erwin, you can't give up!"

The lines of text are like Erwin's cry across time and space, filled with resentment, anger, and doubts about "orthodox potion science".

From these few words, it is not difficult to sketch his image: a mage with mediocre talent but a passion for potion-making and a stubborn nature.

After two pages of the diary, something happened to Erwin, and suddenly the third page was no longer a "diary," but rather the beginning of formal research and recording.
(End of this chapter)