522 Divine Potion

"How stupid must you be to put the Heaven Three Leaf Grass and Dark Shadow Flower together! The Heaven Three Leaf Grass contains the purest light energy, while the Dark Shadow Flower is formed from the purest darkness energy. To put these two together is sure to cause death!"

With shaking hands, William took out his handkerchief and wiped his forehead, yet just after he did, he began to sweat again. Although he didn't know the two herbs Heaven Three Leafed Grass and Dark Shadow Flower, the conflicting characters of light and darkness were common knowledge for even people with no pharmaceutics background.

Water and fire were conflicting energy forms commonly known by people. However, anyone with a slightly better understanding of magic would know that these two were not always conflicting, but rather initiated change and integration. In contrast, light and darkness were always conflicting forms of energy, with no chance of any integration or peaceful interaction.

Wilkinson learned not only pharmaceutics knowledge from his teacher Lin Li, but also his way of teaching. One needed to know that Lin Li's pedagogical methods were scolding and punishment. Though he had never beaten Wilkinson before, scolding was also part and parcel of it during those days. Now he could be considered applying what he had learned. Since he was also angry at William in the first place, Wilkinson's words were incredibly savage.

"Nobody can concoct the potion? Indeed, nobody can. Do you think that a bunch of random herbs written together can be considered a formula? You are not a kid, how can you do such a thing? Do you really think that a random stone you've picked up is a gem?"

Wilkinson's scolding was merciless. Though William laughed bitterly upon hearing the scolding, he didn't have any intention to defend himself. Meanwhile, as the only one who could stop Wilkinson, Lin Li didn't say a word after hearing that the formula required 47 herbs.

Lin Li, who appeared to be calm on the outside, was actually very shocked. This formula that William was talking about was very similar to the one he had seen back in the Endless World, and was likely to be the same one.

Back in the Endless World, Lin Li had once met a pharmaceutics Guru who lived in seclusion during a mission. As the smurf account was specially for developing an avatar with every profession maxed out, he had purposely interacted with that pharmaceutics Guru. He used many ways to fill up the 'relationship bar' of the Guru, and frequently got lots of goodies from him.

After they became friends when the relationship bar filled up, the pharmaceutics Guru spoke of a potion called Divine Potion. However, he wasn't sure of the specifics of the formula, either, and only told him a few characteristics of this formula such as the number of herbs needed.

A true formula was not only listing of all the ingredients, but—more importantly—specified the amount of each ingredient used, the preparation method for each ingredient, the special techniques used during concoction, etcetera. The making of a potion was a very serious process where a slight mistake could result in immeasurable outcome. The less serious would be wastage of precious ingredients, while the more serious threatened the life of the pharmacist. Therefore, only knowing the ingredients needed for a potion was of no value in regards to the concoction of that potion.

If it was only a half-finished formula, that pharmaceutics Guru didn't have to tell Lin Li about it only after the relationship bar had filled up. The truly important thing was that the last potion that a certain Divine Smith had concocted before he rose to become a Divine Smith was the Divine Potion.

Though Lin Li's Hunter account didn't have pharmaceutics as a sub-occupation, he still had quite some knowledge about pharmaceutics—at least more than William. Upon hearing the pharmaceutics Guru's description of the formula, he had exactly the same thoughts as Wilkinson now, thinking that such a formula was impossible.

Yet, Lin Li witnessed the true power of the Divine Potion not long after that conversation.

It was a Level-B mission issued by the system. The goal was to escort an important personage from a certain kingdom, and they needed to travel through what was known as the untraversable land—the Rift Valley of Hell. Everyone who saw this mission thought that it was too difficult for a Level-B mission since any mission that was related to the Rift Valley of Hell was generally a Level-S mission. Even Lin Li dared to go to the Rift Valley of Hell twice only after obtaining the Stars of Fury.

Lin Li had obtained neither the Stars of Fury nor the seven debris of the stars at that time, and could only be considered a high-level Hunter with pretty good equipment. He had accepted this likely bugged[1] mission only for the sake of escaping the pursuit of other players who wanted to kill him.

When the escort team had reached the Rift Valley of Hell, a large number of hell creatures swarmed out, and instantly surrounded the 1000-man team. Out of those hell creatures, the most terrifying were the dozen-plus three-headed hell dogs guarding the Gate of Hell that even a Legendary powerhouse wouldn't provoke easily. The team with close to 1,000 people couldn't even defend themselves for 15 minutes. Even Lin Li had prepared to give up.

Just then, a court mage beside that important personage suddenly drank a tube of light golden potion. A golden light beam pierced through the night sky and landed on that court mage, and powerful aura emerged from the body of that court mage.

Seeing it with his own eyes almost made Lin Li shout out a certain famous movie line. That court mage was still thin and feeble, but nobody thought he was weak. Instead, he seemed to be towering over everyone[2].

Within seconds, the world was completely changed. The entire dimension seemed to be in the hands of that mage. Thousands of ferocious hell creatures, including the dozen of three-headed hell dogs no weaker than Legendary powerhouses, all turned into ashes under such devastating power comparable to that of the gods.

Lin Li then realized why this mission was only Level-B in difficulty—if they could survive the first round of attack by the hell creatures, they didn't have to worry about anything after that. After that incident, Lin Li racked his brains, and finally got the information from the court mage that the golden potion was actually the Divine Potion that the pharmaceutics Guru had told him about.

Back at the Scar of Death in the Blackstone Mountains, Lin Li had only been an Archmage who relied on the All-Knowing Potion to reach the Legendary-realm. That court mage from the Endless World, however, relied on the Divine Potion to reach the Sanctuary-realm instead. It was indeed rightfully named 'Divine'.

This was the terrifying ability of pharmacists, and also the reason why they had always towered over mages no matter what status they had.

Since then, Lin Li had always wanted to find the complete formula of the Divine Potion. Besides the fact that this heaven-defying potion could turn a human into a god, it could also help to prepare his smurf account for the rise into a Divine Smith. This was because Lin Li had a vague feeling that this Divine Potion was likely to be the key for a pharmaceutics Guru to become a Divine Smith.

Unfortunately, Lin Li hadn't been successful in his search even when his Hunter account had gotten the Stars of Fury and the seven pieces of debris of the stars, when he had smashed the eyeballs of the Dragon of Destruction, and when he had exhausted all means and put out all kinds of rewards to get the complete formula. After he had traveled to the Anril by using the scroll of Wishes, this issue was naturally forgotten by him.

Lin Li couldn't believe that the problem that had perplexed him all this while was so easily answered in this world. He had originally given up all hope of finding the formula for the Divine Potion, yet it appeared by itself now. Life was simply intriguing.

How could Lin Li let this benefit that was delivered to the door escape just like that? However, this enormous benefit didn't make Lin Li lose his composure. His face didn't reveal any desire.

Though Lin Li didn't have any business skills, he knew that he had the upper hand since William had some favor to ask of Lin Li. However, once he had shown even a tinge of eagerness, William would have spotted that with his acute sense of judgment as an appraiser and reclaim the upper hand. Since Lin Li wasn't close to William in the first place, it was wise to optimize his own interests.

"Wilkinson, don't be mad. I think William didn't do this on purpose. Why don't we hear what Mr William has to say?" Lin Li feared that Wilkinson would scold William too much, turning him away. This fella was not only quick to learn pharmaceutical knowledge, but also scolding people.

Now Wilkinson and his companions regarded Lin Li's words as the absolute truth. No matter what Lin Li said, they would follow it without any questions. It couldn't be helped. Though everyone had their own personality, after the countless experiences of being taught lessons for not obeying, it was now a reflex action to listen to Lin Li.

Upon hearing Lin Li's words, Wilkinson reacted quickly. He shut up before he finished scolding William as if something got stuck in his throat.

William glanced at the two of them. Astounded, he felt that he had underestimated this young President. What was his relationship with these high-level pharmacists? He even dared to speak to these pharmacists as if they were his subordinates.

"Mr William, do you really have nothing to say?" Lin Li prompted William while he stood there, stunned.

William snapped back to his senses, and immediately replied, "Ah, yes, President Felic, Mr Pharmacist. Please allow me to explain it to you."

Although William was scolded by Wilkinson, he felt much more at ease. He still believed that those potion formulae were authentic. After all, they'd been appraised by a pharmaceutics Master, and he had personally verified the ingredients needed in the formulae.

[1] As in, it could've only been so difficult by some mistake or error in the game.

[2] Perhaps a LOTR reference.