Above the mage!

Chapter 549 Quantitative Potion Studies (Part 1)
The originally hasty "diary-style questioning" came to an abrupt end, replaced by a line of charcoal handwriting that penetrated the paper.

It's as if, after countless nights of agonizing struggle, Erwin finally grasped that "glimmer of truth":
"The nature of all things can be analyzed; the transformations of magic potions can be traced."

These fourteen words encapsulate the fundamental worldview that Erwin established for this potion system.

Following that, he first proposed the hypothesis of magic element, using the concept of magic element to refer to the basic unit that makes up the ingredients of potions.

Erwin believed that the Flame Grass burned because of "Flame Magic Essence," and the Ice Crystal Flower froze because of "Ice Magic Essence."

This is the first time someone has visualized potion ingredients as analyzable basic units.

To test this hypothesis, Erwin conducted the most "crude" yet most direct experiment he could think of.

The notes detailed the experimental process: he mixed the Flame Grass powder with Ice Crystal Flower petals and observed that both lost their magic at the same time.

He drew two crossed arrows next to this record, one labeled "Flame" and the other "Ice".

The word "Neutralization" is written at the intersection of the arrows.

Another possibility was added below: "If there is more heat than ice, then there is residual warmth; if there is more ice than heat, then there is residual cold."

When magical elements intersect, they may neutralize, annihilate, or combine; all these processes leave traces.

This verification was very crude, but it opened a completely new door.

Finally, Erwin proposed a key theory, which is also an important direction for subsequent research:

Once a method is found to measure the amount of magic essence contained in each potion ingredient, potions can be precisely prepared, just like cooking.

These conclusions may seem sparse, crude, and riddled with flaws:

There are no precise definitions, no rigorous derivations, and even the experimental data are subject to subjective assumptions.

But no one can ignore one fact: before Erwin, no one had ever proposed any of this.

What he accomplished was not a refinement "from 1 to 100", but a breakthrough "from 0 to 1".

Like lighting the first torch in the darkness, the light may be faint, but it illuminates the way forward.

Irwin's contribution to this system is undeniable.

No one knows how much time and effort Erwin spent, or what he went through, to get this far from nothing, from scratch.

He was like a lonely pioneer, struggling forward on a path no one understood.

Unfortunately, Erwin's research ultimately stopped at a crucial point.

His handwriting on the notebook stopped abruptly.

Looking back at Irwin's research now, it's not hard to see that it has fundamental limitations. It is extremely crude and cannot be applied in practice; it can only be considered a conjecture.

First, Irwin lacked precise measuring tools and concepts.

He knew that magic essence could be categorized into "quantities," but he couldn't define the specific unit of "quantity."

His notes are filled with vague words such as "a little", "a lot", and "strong reaction".

This is completely unacceptable for a rigorous system.

Secondly, he was unable to separate the mixed magic elements, and therefore could not prepare a "standard reagent".

For example, when Erwin faced a snake tooth grass that contained both [poison] and [life] magic elements, he was unable to measure the content of either one alone.

In the end, he still believed that "enchantment" was a necessary step, and his idea was to use other methods to replace the mage's personal enchantment, but he failed repeatedly.

Irwin drew up a grand blueprint, pointed out the direction to go, and proved the existence and feasibility of the path, but he himself did not get very far.

In this respect, the notebook can be summarized as a collection of ingenious ideas, chaotic experimental data, and records of failures.

In short, after Erwin's likely unfulfilled death, this notebook, which contained his life's work, was forgotten in a deserted corner and by time, just like its owner.

Fortunately, the books in this world are extremely valuable.

This notebook, which records Erwin's conjectures, was not understood because of its "advanced" content, but it survived the test of time because of its "parchment material" and "textual medium".

It's like an exquisitely crafted box; you don't know what you'll use it for, but you instinctively keep it instead of throwing it in the trash.

No one knows how many people this notebook passed through after Erwin's death.

Ultimately, it ended up in the hands of a fairly prominent mage family.

The monk in the family who was in charge of reviewing ancient books casually flipped through his notebook.

Skimming over those diary-like words and delusional thoughts, I assumed they were just the fantasies of some unknown apprentice monk who was dissatisfied with his mediocre talent.

He casually tossed the notebook deep into the library, sealing it away along with other "useless ancient books."

Until Leo appeared.

Leo was an insignificant member of a collateral branch of the family, not even a true "family member".

His grandfather was a servant of a direct descendant of the family, who was allowed to take the family name because he had made a meritorious contribution by chance.

In this family that values ​​bloodline and talent, Leo was destined for a marginalized life from birth.

After the family mage determined that his "magical talent was extremely mediocre," he was only taught some basic knowledge of magical plant identification and potions before being assigned to the family's potion business.

The plan is to send him to manage a potion shop in a remote town or to guard the family's magic plant garden once he has become proficient.

Leo's life seemed to have its end drawn from that moment on:
Under the family's arrangement, he was to become a law-abiding middle manager until he grew old and passed away, without even leaving a trace of his name in the family history.

But no one knew that this seemingly ordinary young man possessed an astonishing, yet undiscovered, talent in the fields of "research" and "logic".

He can quickly find patterns in messy potion recipes and judge the quality of materials by subtle differences in reaction.

However, these talents went unseen and unused; even Leo himself was unaware of their potential.

Until Leo accidentally opened Erwin's notebook.

Erwin's question, "Does one not have the talent of a mage mean one cannot become a great potion master?" struck a chord with him, and he began to read on.

After carefully reading through the entire volume of notes, Leo, unlike the family mage back then, became almost obsessed with the contents of the notes.

Erwin's seemingly chaotic conjectures and rough experimental records were full of brilliance in his eyes.

He could understand what Erwin meant by "magic element splitting," he could comprehend the importance of "precise measurement," and he believed in the future potential of the new system proposed by Erwin.

From that day on, Leo became the second owner of this notebook and the inheritor of Erwin's unfinished path.

Leo devoted almost all his spare time and energy to the follow-up research on this notebook.

Unfortunately, all his efforts did not bring any change to his life trajectory. He remained an unknown mage apprentice, serving as a mid-level manager in the family's potion shop for nearly fifty years, during which time he made no major mistakes nor achieved any remarkable feats.

However, his contribution to this notebook and this system is truly commendable.

Standing on Erwin's shoulders, he used his own buried talent to lay a solid foundation for this system.

Leo's first breakthrough was that, based on the concept of Erwin Magic Element, he established the concept of "benchmark".

He used materials with extremely simple and pure properties to define the original magic element.

For example, the Blazing Fire Pepper, which contains almost no other interfering medicinal properties besides the "Heat Magic Essence" that brings a burning sensation, is defined as the benchmark for "Heat Magic Essence," while the Dust of the Dead, which contains only the power of withering and decay, is defined as the benchmark for "Death Magic Essence."
Even the most common "pure water" was defined by him as the benchmark for [Water Magic Essence].

Subsequently, he designed the magic element reaction and established the magic element intensity unit.

This was the most brilliant move.

Leo discovered that when [Heat Magic Essence] and [Ice Magic Essence] come into contact, they produce inert water without magic power and release a fixed amount of heat.

Moreover, no matter how many times he repeats the experiment, as long as the amounts are the same, the amount of heat released will be exactly the same.

He defined this process as a “standard neutralization reaction” and realized that it was the “key” to measuring magic essence.

Leo then defined the amount of "Ice Magic" required to completely neutralize 1 gram of pepper powder under standard conditions (specific temperature, humidity, and light) as 1 gram of "Heat Magic".

Subsequently, Leo developed the "titration method," which involves adding a standard solution of known concentration of [Ice Magic Essence] dropwise and observing the endpoint of the reaction (when the heat stops), to accurately measure the total amount of [Heat Magic Essence] contained in any unknown sample.

Through this step, Leo can systematically analyze each common material using this method and formally begin systematically mapping the "Magic Element Map".

Take snake tooth grass as an example.

First, a sample is taken, namely 1 gram of standard dried snake tooth grass powder.

Next, the main magic element was measured: it was titrated with the standard solution of [Healing Magic Element] and it was found that a large amount of [Healing Magic Element] was required to neutralize it, thus it was calculated that it contained 25 grams of "Poison Magic Element".

Measurement of the secondary magic element: Tested with other standard solutions, it was found that it could also undergo a slight precipitation reaction with the [earth magic element] standard solution, and it was calculated that it contained 2 grams of "life element" and 1 gram of "earth element".

Therefore, the magic element chart of the snake tooth grass was precisely defined as: [Poison: 25] [Life: 2] [Earth: 1]

Of course, Leo knew that snake tooth grass also contained two or three other trace amounts of magic elements.

However, since the reference material system was not perfect at the time, and no corresponding standard solution could be found, we had to leave it blank for the time being.

Similarly, Leo's research also has fundamental limitations due to constraints.

First, the measurement was inaccurate. He roughly compared the magic element content by consuming the weight of a reference material, which inevitably resulted in a large error.

Secondly, the map is incomplete.

Leo only mapped out rough diagrams of a dozen or so of the most common materials, and the measurement of the enchantment was very inaccurate.

Most importantly, although Leo added key components to the system, he failed to integrate them into a concise and self-consistent system, and the recording method remained descriptive.

This makes his research more like an "experimental log" than a generalizable "theoretical system".

Even if others get the notes, they need to spend a lot of time sorting through them to understand the logic.

Leo had originally thought he would die with unfinished research and regrets.

As a result, in the last five years of his life, he met Leni.

It's all fate, really.

Due to his advanced age and declining energy, Leo was no longer able to manage the potion shop, so he naturally "retired" from it.

Leo devoted all his time and energy to his research, and naturally, he did not marry or have children.

After retiring, he chose to spend his later years in the countryside.

The place he went to was Acorn Village, where Leni lived.

Leo used his savings to buy a small farm near Leni.

To manage the fields, he hired Leni's father to grow crops for him, which is how he met Leni, who was only twelve years old at the time.

Leni is smart and hardworking. She always takes the initiative to help her father with chores and also helps Leo clean the house and organize books in her spare time.

Even though these jobs don't belong to them.

Leo had no children, so he gradually treated this sensible little girl as his granddaughter, often telling her stories from books and teaching her to recognize some simple words.

To Leo's surprise, Leni learned extremely quickly, recognizing over a thousand characters in just six months and even identifying some simple magical plants.

Luck smiled upon Leo and Leni.

When Leo tentatively taught the mage Leni how to practice, he discovered that she actually possessed the talent of a mage.

Although it was quite ordinary, it made Leo ecstatic.

Moreover, Leo's own mage talent is only average, so he naturally wouldn't look down on average talents because of that.

He began to systematically teach Leni knowledge.

For Leni, this was a kind of "luck" she had never dared to hope for.

As a farmer's daughter, her original life trajectory was "to help with the family's work, grow up, get married, and have children," but because of Leo's appearance, she had the opportunity to "read and write and learn magic."

She absorbed knowledge with great eagerness, often studying until late at night.

Leni's learning ability far exceeded Leo's expectations.

To Leo's even greater surprise, he discovered that he and Leni shared a striking similarity in "logic and thinking".

When he talked about "magic element splitting," Leni immediately understood that it was "like grinding wheat into flour and then making different foods."
He explained the "principle of titration," and Leni was able to ask, "Can we use color changes to determine the reaction endpoint?"

This instant understanding allowed Leo to see a successor with even greater potential than himself.

Leo was overjoyed and began to impart his knowledge of potions to Leni as well.

After she entered the household, he took out the notebook that had accompanied him for half his life and solemnly handed it to Leni.

Leo told her the story of Erwin, his research, and the unfinished regrets.

To his surprise, Leni didn't think these were all fantasies like the others; instead, she was very interested in the contents of the notebook.

Leni could even point out "logical flaws" in his experimental records: for example, "Why was the influence of ambient temperature not considered when measuring [Heat Magic]?"

She gained Leo's approval, and the two officially established a mentor-student relationship.

(End of this chapter)