Above the mage!

Chapter 550 Quantitative Potion Studies (Part 2)
After establishing a mentor-apprentice relationship, Leo imparted all his understanding and experience of the new system to Leni without reservation.

In this process of instruction, Leo's research on the new system made a new breakthrough:
While processing magical plants, Leni accidentally dripped the juice of moonscald into the reacting mixture and discovered its amazing catalytic effect.

The reaction, which normally takes ten minutes to complete, was finished in just thirty seconds, and the resulting potion was more stable than usual.

Leni keenly sensed something unusual and, instead of treating it as an experimental accident, reported it to Leo.

After repeated experiments, the two finally discovered that the juice of Moonlight Moss itself is stable and does not contain obvious magic elements, but it can greatly promote the combination of [Life Magic Elements] and [Purifying Magic Elements].

It can accelerate the reaction, but it does not participate in the reaction itself.

They realized that there were materials that were stable in nature but could greatly promote specific magical element reactions.

They named this material a catalyst.

The catalyst allows magic elements to combine quickly and stably without the potion master expending mental energy to perform the magic transformation.

This discovery gave them the first glimpse of the possibility of completely skipping the "enchanting" step, and it was also the key to mass production of potions: as long as the materials were prepared in the correct proportions and a catalyst was added, anyone could make qualified potions!
The research has taken an unprecedented turn for the better.

They conducted in-depth research on "catalysts" and found a variety of catalysts suitable for different magic element reactions.
Unfortunately, their good fortune was short-lived. Just as they were preparing to organize their findings and refine the magic element system, Leo came to the end of his life.

Before his death, he left Erwin's notes, his crude experimental tools, and his meager possessions to Leni.

He also entrusted his unfinished business and all his hopes to Leni, to this farm girl whose talent he saw far surpassed his own.

Compared to Leo obtaining Irwin's initial notes, Leo used his wisdom and hard work to turn the blueprint into a preliminary construction plan and find the key tools.

The second edition of his notes was a hundred times clearer than the first and pointed out the path forward.

After inheriting everything from Leo, Leni continued to study and improve the notebook.

She embodies the wisdom of two generations, Erwin and Leo.

Moreover, she possesses a mindset unbound by traditional Buddhist education and an extreme pursuit of practicality and efficiency rooted in the land.

In just a few years, Leni rapidly perfected and pioneered this system.

First, she redefined the "magic unit".

Leo previously used the "weight of the consumed reference material" to measure magic essence, but Leni found that this method was too affected by the humidity and purity of the material and was not accurate enough.

Leni defines the total amount of "heat magic" contained in 1 gram of pure pepper powder dried at room temperature for 72 hours as 1 "heat magic unit".

By analogy, she established a standard unit system for many basic magic elements, which became the "measure" of the new system and the cornerstone of the entire system.

Leni then created sophisticated measuring tools, elevating the experiment from a rough estimate to a precise one.

After completing these two steps, she used her sophisticated measurement system to systematically and in large quantities determine the precise magic element composition of hundreds of common magical materials, and compiled a new atlas, which is the "Magic Element Atlas" of the new system.

These are the improvements made to the new system.

Once the basic theory is perfected and the materials are quantified, the patterns will naturally emerge.

Leni's greatest contribution was that she captured these patterns and used them to propose and create the "Magic Element Reaction Formula," transforming the complex "step descriptions" of traditional potion recipes into concise "formulaic expressions."

For example, the traditional recipe for a basic healing potion is: "Grind one enchanted silverleaf into powder, add one ounce of concentrated enchanted calming flower juice..."

The entire recipe includes all the details such as enchantment, herb processing, and proportions, and is over a thousand words long.

However, under Leni's new system, this complex process can be summarized by a simple magic element reaction formula:

【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)——>【弱效疗伤药水：复合愈-净30/载体水114】+【残渣：生5】

The Magic Element Reaction Formula reveals several revolutionary facts:

First, the reaction is quantitative, also known as the law of conservation of magic element.

That is, before and after the reaction, the total amount of all magic elements remains unchanged. They will not disappear or decrease out of thin air. Some of them will form a new whole, and the excess magic elements will settle as residue.

Second, the crucial role of catalysts.

Without a catalyst, the magic element reaction will be slow and incomplete.

Although catalysts hardly participate in the reaction, their presence can increase the reaction rate by thousands of times.

Third, the essence of the traditional demonization.

When a mage consumes their spiritual energy to transform materials, they are essentially acting as a "temporary catalyst" at the microscopic level. However, this catalyst is unstable, and its effects vary from person to person.

More importantly, the emergence of the Magic Element Reaction Formula signifies that this new system has officially taken shape, moving from "theory" to "practical application".

After organizing all the rules and regulations, Leni decided to conduct a practical exercise.

Following the reaction formula, she prepared the materials and catalyst, and used her own precision tools to measure and mix them.

In less than a minute, a bottle of clear healing potion was made.

As Leni held the bottle of healing potion she had made herself, she clearly realized that her new system had a revolutionary advantage over traditional potion-making.

The first and most crucial advantage is its mass production capability.

In traditional potion-making, potion creation relies entirely on the potion master's personal skills.

From the enchanting of materials to the preparation process, every step requires the potion master to concentrate fully. Being able to prepare twenty bottles a day is already considered top-notch, and even the slightest distraction can lead to complete failure.

Leni's new system completely broke this "personal dependence" and turned potion making into a "standardized process".

Just like brewing wine in the countryside, all you need to do is prepare a sufficiently large fermentation container.

Then, according to the proportions of the magic element reaction formula, add a certain amount of silver leaf grass powder, calming flower juice, pure water and moonshine moss extract.

Without human intervention, the magic essence inside the container will automatically combine under the action of a catalyst, and hundreds of bottles of healing potions or even more can be mass-produced in a short time.

The second advantage is its extremely low price.

Traditional potions are expensive, not only because of the cost of the materials themselves, but also because of the "potion master's labor costs" and "costs of failure".

Under normal circumstances, for every two potions a potion maker successfully concocts, there is likely to be one failure. The cost of the failed potion will be passed on to the final product price.

The new system reduces costs to the extreme through triple compression:
The magic element reaction formula is accurate to the gram. If you use 20 grams of silverleaf grass powder, you will never add 1 gram more. If you add 10 milliliters of calming flower juice, you will not waste 0.5 milliliters. Every ingredient can be accurately converted into magic potion ingredients without any waste.

Traditional potion makers utilize about 60% of the materials needed to concoct a potion, sometimes as much as 70% or 80%, while the new system can achieve over 98%.

In addition, no potion master is needed throughout the process; ordinary people with only simple training can operate it.

More importantly, if you manufacture potions according to the magic element reaction formula, as long as the materials are of good quality, the purity is up to standard, and the environment does not change significantly, there is almost no possibility of failure.

With this triple effect, the cost of preparing a healing potion under the new system is only one-twentieth of that of the traditional method, or even lower.

The third advantage is the absolute stability of quality control.

The quality of traditional potions depends entirely on the potion master's condition.

The same person and the same formula may produce a stronger medicine in the morning, but a weaker medicine in the afternoon due to mental fatigue.
Even the same potion concocted by different potion makers can have significantly different effects.

Under the new system, the efficacy of each bottle of medicine is completely consistent.

This stability is crucial for scenarios requiring the large-scale use of potions. Finally, it's simple and easy to pass down.

The core of the new system lies in the derivation of the magic element reaction formula.

Once someone derives the magic element reaction formula, even a farmer who has never been exposed to potion-making before can quickly learn to make the corresponding potions after simple training.

But Leni soon discovered that this new system was not perfect and had unavoidable "drawbacks".

These drawbacks act like thresholds, limiting its application scope and making it impossible for it to replace traditional potion-making. It can only be said to have created a new application area.

The biggest and most fatal drawback is the weakening of the drug's efficacy.

Traditional potion makers use a process called "precision enchanting" to unleash the hidden magical potential within the ingredients when concocting potions.

For example, the "healing essence" in silverleaf grass can release 100% of its efficacy under the guidance of a potion master's magic.
The new system relies on catalysts to promote the binding of magic elements, which cannot unleash the potential of materials and can only utilize the basic efficacy of magic elements.

Through comparative testing, Leni discovered that the healing potion made with the new system was only 30% to 40% as effective as the traditional healing potion. It could only treat minor external injuries such as cuts and bruises, and could not deal with serious injuries such as fractures and deep burns.

They are also unable to concoct high-quality potions such as "powerful healing potions" and "rapid recovery potions" using their personal techniques, unlike potion masters.

This is why she prefixed the name of the medicine with "weak".

In addition, because this new system cannot handle extremely complex and unstable high-level magic elements, it is also difficult to produce high-level magic potions.

The final drawback is that this new system is heavily reliant on the completeness of the magic map.

The core of the new system is the "magic element reaction formula," and the derivation of the reaction formula must be based on the "known material magic element composition."

If information about a certain material is missing from the magic element diagram, it is impossible to deduce the reaction formula that contains that material.

Currently, Leni's magic element chart only records the magic element composition of hundreds of common materials, and most of them are basic magic elements.

For special or high-level materials, she had neither the means to obtain samples nor the ability to measure their magic properties.

This makes it impossible to deduce many potential potion reaction formulas.

To date, she has successfully derived only two magic element reaction formulas: one for a weak healing potion and the other for a weak stamina recovery potion.

Even so, Leni remains confident in the system.

It may not be able to replace the role and status of traditional potion-making in the field of "high-level potions", but its own advantages are incomparable to those of traditional potion-making.

Leni named this new system "Quantitative Potions," distinguishing it from traditional potions.

After Leo's mentor passed away, Leni stayed in Acorn Village for another two years.

That winter, my father caught a cold and passed away.

Having lost her family, Leni simply left Acorn Village and came to Carmond City.

As a young mage, even if he is just a mage apprentice, he cannot stay in a small village for his whole life; he must inevitably go out into the wider world.

In the city of Carmond, Leni rented a small attic in the commoners' district and began to tentatively sell weak healing potions made through quantitative potion-making.

Its potency is only one-third that of traditional healing potions, but Leni priced it at one-fifteenth of the price of traditional healing potions.

For mages, weak healing potions are too basic, impractical, and do not meet their needs.

However, for ordinary people, traditional healing potions are often too potent, but since there are no better alternatives, they have no choice but to grit their teeth and buy them.

They don't need potent medicines to treat serious injuries; they just need affordable medicines that can quickly stop bleeding and relieve pain.

Leni's mild healing potion perfectly met their needs.

So, to Leni's own surprise, her weak healing potions quickly took over the civilian market in Carmond.

With her increased income, Leni was finally able to purchase the resources she needed for cultivation.

She bought "Energy Potion" and "Spirit Herb Juice," and with a lot of resources poured in regardless of cost and a bit of luck, Leni actually succeeded in advancing to the first-circle mage.

This was something she had never dared to imagine.

The study of quantitative potions began to change her destiny.

Claire's rise has threatened the interests of the three major potion shops in Carmond City.

These three pharmacies monopolized the potion market in Carmond, especially healing potions, where they held almost 90% of the market share.

After the launch of Leni's weak healing potion, they suffered a severe loss of ordinary customers, and their revenue plummeted by 50%.

The three major potions shops quickly reached a consensus: Leni must be eliminated.

Their crackdown was swift and ruthless.

First, there was "public opinion smear campaign." Apprentices from the three major pharmacies spread rumors on the streets, saying that Leni's medicine was "poisonous water made with inferior ingredients" and that using it would "leave lasting side effects."

Then came even more despicable tactics: they bribed the city guards to shut down her shop, confiscated her medicine and tools, and even tried to lock her up in jail.

Fortunately, Leni received the news in advance and escaped from Carmond City.

She wanted to start over in a different place, but she found that she had been completely blacklisted by the Potion Masters Association of the Duchy of Farol, and there were even many people secretly tracking her, either wanting to capture her alive or wanting to kill her.

The reason is simple: if her method were to spread, more than half of the potion makers in the Duchy of Farol would be "unemployed".

Leni's quantitative potion-making skills are "forbidden" to them.

These people naturally wished for Leni to die immediately.

However, some "nobles" coveted Leni's quantitative potion-making skills and wanted to control the method to make money.

In this situation, Leni discovered that although the Duchy of Farol was large, there was no place for her to belong.

Left with no other choice, she fled to the City of Black Sails.

Here, Leni intended to continue making a living by crafting weak healing potions, but she discovered that her customers were completely different from those in Carmond City.

The inhabitants of Black Sails are mostly mages or outlaws who need powerful potions to save their lives and have no interest in "weak" potions.

Leni's business plummeted, and sometimes she wouldn't sell a single bottle of medicine for days.

The daily struggle for survival left her with no energy to continue researching quantitative potion science.

Just when she was about to despair, Sarah's talent acquisition program approached her.

Without much hesitation, Leni nodded and boarded the cargo ship bound for the North.

After Leni finished speaking, God and Sunefa remained silent for a moment.

"The ancients were right!" Gao De finally broke the silence, his tone surprisingly calm.

"Huh?" Sunafa didn't quite understand.

"One hundred consecutive draws, and you're guaranteed an SSR." Gao De's answer left Sunefa completely baffled.

(End of this chapter)