Chapter 171: Far Superior
After thinking for a few moments, Priam spoke seriously.
"Dandara, I want you to talk to the Storm Falcons. We need the ingredients for the potion. They must want something in return, right? Ask them what they want so we can make a fair trade."
She was stunned at first. His words meant that... he intended to make the potion?
"Boss managed to make powerful connections in the sect in just one day!"
It was a logical conclusion. Priam had to know someone he trusted to make it. But...
"No. I just ’wasted’ the whole day observing how things work inside the sect. As for the potion... I think I can make it myself," he answered without hesitation. "We have just under a month of free time. I’m going to isolate myself for a few days and devote myself entirely to this. During that time, we need to solve this issue."
"Yes!"
Dandara didn’t ask any questions. If he said he could do it, she would accept it and carry out what he asked. She didn’t even want to waste time sleeping. She immediately ran toward the forest, determined to complete her task.
Meanwhile, Priam entered his room.
As soon as he sat down on the bed, he turned his thoughts toward the system.
[Total: 7,000 Germination Points]
He took a deep breath.
The points he had just earned from Dandara’s Loyalty increasing had come unexpectedly, but at the perfect moment. With them, Priam felt he could truly produce that potion.
After all, he was capable of perfectly synthesizing the energy of herbs.
Of course, he wasn’t an alchemist.
There had to be a correct order and an extremely precise method for preparing the mixture. Besides, a potion was something completely physical, not a Power Rune. Therefore, he needed the unique abilities that only a Catalyst Mage possessed.
And for that...
[Catalyst] [Level: Basic]
[-7,000 GP]
[Accept?] [Yes / No]
---
Priam spent the following days studying with absolute focus everything he had acquired.
Not only the knowledge related to Catalyst Mages, but also the concepts of Yin and Yang. After all, medicinal herbs possessed energies similar to those of the five natural elements; they were a combination of both.
With every hour he spent studying, his confidence in being able to produce that potion grew even stronger.
After an entire day of studying, Dandara returned to see him.
The Storm Falcons had been very straightforward. They would agree to trade if he provided them with the best food possible: powerful high-level Yang lightning.
Dandara explained that they lived near the great Lightning Peak, the exact same place where she had found the woman who had supposedly been about to "commit suicide."
After hearing that, Priam immediately agreed, excited.
That was when he learned that every Beast race living within the sect inhabited regions with an enormous concentration of the element they were naturally connected to, allowing them to develop properly.
The Storm Falcons had been born with an affinity for the lightning element and had spent their entire lives absorbing it into their bodies, developing absurd resistance. Even so, not even they could gather large quantities of that Yang lightning.
Now imagine an ordinary Mage from the outer sect.
In practice, the Storm Falcons’ request was equivalent to driving Dandara away while indirectly making it clear that they had no interest in negotiating with her.
They had no idea that such a request could actually be fulfilled by a Mage.
Priam wasted no time and asked Dandara to take him there.
...
Two hours later, they arrived.
It was literally a gigantic peak, where black storm clouds filled with lightning relentlessly battered the summit.
The power of those lightning bolts was more than enough to kill a Mage. Even a careless Sage could end up seriously injured.
Even so, without the slightest hesitation, Priam rushed toward the summit alone.
Dandara turned pale at such a reckless act. She remained on the ground, anxiously staring upward.
But...
Just a few minutes later, Priam returned completely unharmed, wearing the same indifferent expression as always.
The Storm Falcon tribe lived on a nearby mountain.
Countless caves covered the mountainside, where hundreds of members of that race lived.
The moment Priam arrived, he felt countless bloodthirsty and hostile gazes fixed on him.
Ordinary Beasts truly hated Mages.
Even though they lived under the sect’s protection, it was obvious that the legacy of that ancient hatred continued to be passed down from generation to generation.
Instinctively, they wanted to stay as far away from Mages as possible, because they knew any one of them represented an enormous threat.
That was the reality of ordinary Beasts throughout the universe. They were far too weak to protect themselves, even against a Mage Disciple.
A Mage might be punished or even expelled from the sect. But that didn’t give them complete security. There were plenty of lunatics, arrogant fools, and reckless people. By the time those individuals were punished, many Beasts would already be dead.
Without a doubt, incidents like that had already happened throughout the history of the outer sect.
The leader of the race stepped forward.
It was an enormous, ancient figure, with lightning coursing through its feathers and eyes.
Priam didn’t say a single word.
He simply raised his hand.
The next instant, an enormous amount of Yang lightning poured out of the Nexus Seed.
The entire tribe instantly went on high alert, believing he was about to attack them.
However, the lightning simply remained floating above Priam, perfectly stable and under his complete control.
"This is what you wanted, right? I have ten times this amount with me. Where should I put it?"
...
With the negotiation complete, Priam obtained enough materials to produce the equivalent of hundreds of potions.
And whenever he wanted more, that race would happily trade with him again.
After returning to his residence, a female disciple approached him and handed him a spatial ring containing tens of thousands of herbs, along with a potion cauldron and various other alchemy tools.
Earlier, Priam had given her all ten thousand of his points, asking her to buy everything that would be necessary.
After thanking her, he secluded himself in his room once again.
Priam wasn’t arrogant or foolish enough to try making the potion immediately.
He genuinely intended to spend several days studying until he had the minimum confidence he needed. His resources were limited, and he didn’t want to waste any of them.
And that’s exactly what he did.
He devoted himself entirely to studying, because those potions could completely change the fate of the Mages in his faction.
They would also greatly increase his own strength.
He never even considered giving the bottles he had received to anyone.
He was absolutely certain that the potion was still far from reaching its true potential. After all, the energies of the medicinal herbs inside it were only partially fused.
And since each person could only absorb its effects once in their lifetime, it was better for that one opportunity to be as perfect as possible.
---
With three weeks remaining before the first faction competition began, Priam finally walked over to the large cauldron.
He closed his eyes, concentrating completely.
When he opened them again, a bluish aura began flowing around him.
It was the unmistakable aura of a Catalyst Mage.
Now Priam was absolutely certain that, thanks to the knowledge provided by the system and his anomalous class, he could become any Mage class and use 100% of its abilities.
It was something completely different from a Mystic Mage. They could use abilities from any class, but in an absurdly inferior way. Complex tasks such as creation were nearly impossible for them.
Priam extended both hands in front of him.
The blue aura twisted and flowed into his hands.
Without hesitation, he began taking out all the necessary herbs, organizing them into groups.
[Synthesize?] [Yes / No]
He wouldn’t use a traditional alchemist’s methods, because he wasn’t one.
The foundation of the entire process would be Synthesis.
First, he would perfectly fuse the herbs within each small group. Then he would add each group to the cauldron and use the power of a Catalyst Mage to dissolve their energies and form the potion.
For an alchemist, this was the hardest stage of making a potion, because each type of energy naturally conflicted with the others.
Fortunately, thanks to the energies connected through Synthesis and the absolute control he had over them...
...less than an hour later...
"Success!"
Priam exclaimed in delight as he looked at the crimson liquid pulsing inside the cauldron.
After examining it carefully...
"This is far superior to the potion I received. The materials still aren’t 100% connected... after all, I’m not an alchemist, and I still lack the technique for that. Even so, the result is clearly incredible."
After that, Priam transferred the liquid into a potion bottle and immediately began preparing another.
---
With two weeks remaining before the first faction competition...
Dandara received a summons from Priam.
The moment she entered his room...
"Good heavens!"
She nearly fell backward, completely stunned.
Hundreds of potions were scattered all across the floor.
The smell was unbelievably strong, and simply taking a deep breath made her feel slightly dizzy.
Priam looked completely exhausted.
He had spent days producing potions without stopping.
He hadn’t enjoyed it in the slightest, and had even promised himself he would never try acting like an alchemist again.
But he knew he was fooling himself.
Halfway through the process, he had even needed to visit the Storm Falcons again to obtain more ingredients.
Priam picked up a spatial ring and began storing the potions while counting them.
Unfortunately, his ten thousand points hadn’t been enough to buy a larger quantity of herbs.
"In total, there are six hundred potions. That’s practically enough for half of our army," Priam said calmly, handing the spatial ring to Dandara. "Use one on yourself. Then choose the people you believe deserve them the most and distribute the rest. Tell everyone that the others will receive theirs next month."
Dandara remained completely frozen.
She couldn’t even raise her hand to take the spatial ring.
At that moment, Priam remembered something.
"Right! Damn... I completely forgot."
He quickly raised his hand.
Within moments, two Knowledge Runes were created.
The runes floated toward Dandara and entered her body.
"We still have two weeks to prepare. After everyone finishes absorbing the potions, start training them according to the group combat knowledge I just passed on to you."
Hearing that, Dandara’s expression became even more confused.
"As for the other rune... I hadn’t told you yet, but my mother belongs to the Cursed Forest Elf race. The two of us are half-elves of that race, and I possess their complete Ancestral Art. So study that as well."
He could have given her those things much earlier, giving everyone more time to train.
But Priam had become so completely absorbed in producing the potions that he had forgotten about everything else.
Fortunately, everyone was still focused on increasing their own levels. So it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
In fact, it might even be better for them to start practicing those techniques only near the end of the preparation period.