Chapter 509: Formula

In reality, pharmacists had the same potential for spawning disasters as Necromancers. However, pharmacists were in higher demand; hence, they still had some value. If necromancers were needed, all their past sins and mistakes would be forgiven and ignored, regardless of how many there were.

However, the Pharmacist Guild had also made compromises. For example, potions like Bone Erosion Powder were listed as forbidden concoctions, and members of the guild were prohibited from learning about and researching them. They were only strict about it on the surface.

At this moment, the faces of the 35 pharmacists grew sullen, for they felt angry at Lin Li for making a fool out of them. Their anger did not arise from the fact that he wanted them to concoct shady potions, but rather it was because Bone Erosion Powder was a high-level potion which could only be concocted by a senior pharmacist or pharmaceutics Master.

Yet, he requested them to concoct such a difficult potion, and only allowed them three chances of failure each despite the fact that they were only intermediate and low-level pharmacists. Even their mentors might not able to concoct the potion with just three failed attempts, let alone them. They felt that Lin Li was obviously out to take advantage of and exploit them.

“President Felic! We think that you’re intentionally trying to humiliate us,” said a pharmacist who seemed to be extremely young.

“Oh, why is that so? Is there anything about you people that’s worth humiliating?” Lin Li asked provokingly.

Most of the pharmacists were also mages, though they might not be that great at it. Hence, a few of the pharmacists immediately began chanting a spell as soon as Lin Li finished speaking.

“What are you guys trying to do? Stop it!” interjected an intermediate-level pharmacist who seemed to hold some authority among the group even though he was much younger than his peers.

After hearing him, the pharmacists who’d begun chanting spells had no choice but to stop reluctantly. However, they were still keeping their eyes fixed on the man who had humiliated them.

Lin Li stared at the young pharmacist and finally remembered that he still didn’t know the names of these pharmacists. He realized that it seemed to be inappropriate for him to scold them if he had not been polite in the first place. “What’s your name?”

“Hey, did you hear that? He doesn’t even know Wilkinson!”

“Wilkinson is Balbo’s best apprentice. He became an intermediate pharmacist at the age of just 21 years old…”

“No one in Alanna can compare to Wilkinson in terms of pharmaceutics.”

“How ignorant…”

The crowd rushed to introduce the young intermediate pharmacist, sounding extremely dignified and proud of him while staring at Lin Li provocatively. In the history of the pharmacist industry, Wilkinson could be said to be an absolute genius for becoming an intermediate pharmacist at 21 years old, so much that the other talented and young pharmacists were in absolute awe of him, without feeling jealous about him at all. They were instead proud of him because they were well aware that they would only be frustrated if they were to get jealous of Wilkinson.

However, there was one thing they couldn’t figure out. Why was he, too, exiled to such a place despite being the proud disciple of Master Balbo? Had he lost his favor? Impossible! Even Elin who had made a huge mistake had now been forgiven by Master Balbo. How could Wilkinson be exiled too?

Several pharmaceutical Masters of the Pharmacist Guild, including President Balbo, had all given Wilkinson a very positive evaluation, and they were all certain that he was very likely to reach the Master level in pharmacy before the age of 30. Clearly, the pharmaceutical Masters regarded Wilkinson highly; he even could be said to be the hope of the Pharmacist Guild.

Even Wilkinson himself had no idea what mistake he had committed to deserve such treatment. Someone said that Elin had bad-mouthed Wilkinson in front of Teacher Balbo, but Wilkinson was well aware that Teacher Balbo wouldn’t be easily affected by the comments of others, unless he was truly displeased with Wilkinson. But then again, what had he done wrong!?

“Wilkinson, I don’t agree with you guys if you think that I’m deliberately humiliating you. You guys are not worth my time. Besides, what evidence have you got to prove that I’m deliberately humiliating you?” Lin Li said nonchalantly to Wilkinson while ignoring the gazes of the other pharmacists.

“Well, then I shall ask you this, President Felic. You should know that we people have limited abilities. In this case, why are you making us concoct an advanced potion and only allow us to make up to a maximum of three failed attempts? Is your agenda to use such a lowly trick to get some funds for your guild?” Wilkinson asked in a calm but sarcastic tone. He was just trying to say, “Are you so poor that you have to use such a method to get money from us?”

“Hahaha, an advanced potion? If this is advanced to you, your abilities are really limited and disappointing,” said Lin Li who continued to provoke them instead of getting angered by their words.

Wilkinson frowned, but reached out to stop his companions who were about to lose their temper and attack again. He could sense that there was something fishy about Lin Li’s words. At the thought of it, he turned around to look at the blackboard, only to see the words “Bone Erosion Powder” written clearly in a large font. However, the content below began to look strange.

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Bone Erosion Powder was listed as a banned potion, and only a few people were likely to see its classified formula. Although Wilkinson was a proud disciple of President Balbo, he was not allowed to look at the formula, either. However, as a pharmacist, especially one who had a solid foundation and rich knowledge, Wilkinson was certain that the formula was a low-level one.

At this moment, the others noticed that Wilkinson was staring at the blackboard without saying anything. They couldn’t help but look at it too. Wilkinson was not the only one who could tell that the formula for the potion was simple. The others could too, for they were all talented pharmacists. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been selected by Balbo. In fact, if they had not been affected by the anger, they should have been able to tell that there was a problem in the formula.

“Is this… the formula for Bone Erosion Powder?” The rest of them could not believe their eyes at all. How could the legendary banned potion have such a simple formula? They could totally believe that it was just a simple and low-level potion.

Bone Erosion Powder would probably be regarded as a weapon of mass destruction in the world of Anril. Although Lin Li didn’t consider himself to be an upright role model, he did not want to spread the formula of the poisonous banned drug. Besides, it would be very troublesome if there were to be any accident during the process of preparing it. Only Master-level pharmacists would have the confidence to concoct it, and it would be impossible for low-level and intermediate pharmacists to do it.

Noticing the looks of bewilderment on everyone’s faces, Lin Li walked towards the blackboard, and said, “Strictly speaking, this should be called an improved Bone Erosion Powder, or rather a weaker version of the original one. The toxicity of the powder has been greatly reduced after swapping out some of the materials, though the effects are still the same. Given your capabilities, concocting this potion shouldn’t be a problem.”

Although these pharmacists were very dissatisfied with Lin Li, in the end, he was still related to President Balbo. Unless they didn’t want to be part of the Pharmacist Guild anymore, they would have to endure the harsh treatment and indignity. The group did not answer, and instead looked at Lin Li, who was standing in front of the blackboard. They decided to ignore him so as to vent their frustration.

Only Wilkinson, who had just spoken, was acting differently from the rest at this moment. He shifted his gaze onto Lin Li with a look of apprehension on his face. As a proud disciple of Balbo, the President of the Pharmacist Guild, Wilkinson got to where he was not only because of his talent in pharmacy, but also his extraordinary efforts. Although he had only been promoted to an intermediate pharmacist less than a year ago, he had already collected nearly 1,000 pharmaceutical formulas, all of which he had memorized.

However, Wilkinson was puzzled now—the formula of the Bone Erosion Powder on the blackboard did not exist in his memory at all. In other words, the formula of the so-called weakened version of Bone Erosion Powder had never been published before.

Did he…

Wilkinson was greatly taken aback by his own crazy idea, and immediately put his thoughts away and shifted his gaze away from the young President. He glanced at the blackboard and began to find his own ideas rather amusing.

The formula of every potion would be tested several times by the pharmacists, who often risked their lives and put in tremendous effort to formulate them. The more advanced the pharmaceutical formula, the more difficult the process would be. Everyone knew how poisonous the Bone Erosion Powder was, but who knew how many pharmacists had gotten a taste of it during researching it?

The research of pharmaceutical formulas was complex and difficult, and it wasn’t easy to modify the formulas, either. A ton of effort had been put into every formula, and it could be said that modifying a pharmaceutical formula was even more difficult than researching to develop a new one—especially when it came to advanced potions like Bone Erosion Powder where modifications were dangerous for the pharmacist.

Wilkinson could say with certainty that even his own teacher, Master Balbo, would not be able to make any beneficial changes to the formula of the Bone Erosion Powder. Therefore, he did not believe that President Felic, who was the same age as him and was not an official pharmacist, would be able to make any modification to the Bone Erosion Powder formula in his own capacity.

Hence, the name of the so-called improved Bone Erosion Powder formula was just borrowed from the original Bone Erosion Powder, and did not have anything to do with the original at all. Having figured it out, Wilkinson took a deep breath and felt amused by his crazy thoughts. He’d never thought that he was the best genius in pharmacy, but he felt that there would be a limit to how capable one could be in pharmaceutics.

Wilkinson would definitely be amazed by how talented the young President of the Guild of Magic was if he were to be a middle-level pharmacist. However, if he were a Master of pharmaceutics, Wilkinson would have to recall his “crazy” idea.

The rest of the pharmacists thought the same as Wilkinson. A pharmaceutics Guru should be an elder like President Balbo, and not a 20-year-old.

Lin Li, who had been completely disregarded, simply smiled indifferently and turned to leave the room without saying anything. He left the group of young pharmacists to study the formula of the potion by themselves. Since they were talented individuals who had been sent by Balbo, it should not be a problem for them to formulate such a low-level pharmaceutical formula.

This Bone Erosion Powder which had been greatly weakened was what Lin Li planned to use for defending Black Clouds Town. Although it would be better to deal with the enemy using a greater power, it ought not to be left with the citizens of Black Clouds Town for too long lest the formula was leaked. There would be no way to salvage it at all. Although it was to be used to deal with the enemy, Lin Li needed to reduce the effect of the potion for the safety of the residents while ensuring that it worked too.

In fact, there were also some poisonous formulas amongst the low-level potions that would result in things like lethargy, vomiting, or itchiness, but those effects were really minor and might miss the spot. Therefore, Lin Li chose a somewhat troublesome method to improve an advanced potion.

The effects of the Bone Erosion Powder were powerful and overbearing, and reducing the dosage would only slow down the attack while the damage caused would still be incurable. The improved formula of Bone Erosion Powder, which had been altered by Lin Li, required less materials and was simpler to prepare. It also had a stronger penetrating power. Most importantly, the damage caused by it could be cured by another medicine. Although it was a low-level potion, the effects were middle-level.

Lin Li intended to make amendments to a few more formulas. Although the effects shouldn’t be too strong, the toxicity of a few potions combined together would make even the strongest Legendary powerhouse succumb to them.

After Lin Li left, the pharmacists, who were initially focusing on the blackboard, immediately broke into boisterous laughter like students who were left alone without their teacher.