Chapter 233: 233
Draco felt the reality surrounding the cauldron freeze for a split second before everything reversed like someone had pressed the rewind button on a remote . Immediately, the almost ruined concoction returned to the moment it had just been transformed by the Worldly Energy .
Draco would have missed it before, but after learning subjective magic, he easily recognized that this was the result of a time enchantment .
His heart froze when he pondered over the cost the person who had crafted this cauldron must have paid to fuel this enchantment in Soul Stones . After all, time and space were part of the pinnacle elements .
Making enchantments for them cost more than an arm and a leg . Draco would naturally know, since he had made the Chaotic Blades set for Eva . He had designed Void Blade in a way it gained an active skill related to space whereas the Chrono Blade had an active skill related to time .
It was even the very fact that he had doubted his ability to provide enough Soul Stones for the enchantments that led him to try out an Aether Crystal, which had opened his eyes to the magic of Aether Crystals .
He then skyrocketed to become the first Grandmaster in Enchanting in this age and became able to cut his costs on Aether Crystals greatly . However, before that it had still cost him around 10 medium-grade Aether Crystals back then before he hit Grandmaster Rank .
So, imagining the cost in Soul Stones, which were a greatly inferior source of energy… an Enchantment like this might have required the creator to annex many clan treasuries .
However, all of these were just speculative thoughts . Right now, he began the crafting process once again . To his satisfaction, the Worldly Energy concentration had already started to fill up again .
Unfortunately, it was not even close to normal, only about 30% of the usual amount, but it was enough to buffer the process slightly . Not only that, but Draco noticed that his Refined Star Technique was showing signs of breaking through to level 5 .
In his past life, level 3 of his Refined Star Technique had been his limit, and it had allowed him to gain a stable success rate when crafting Epic potions .
Even when the system had evaluated the technique through Madam Carrie carrying out the appraisal on the Dragon's Blessing potion, the concoction technique had been rated as God-tier .
Level 4 had allowed him to merge his knowledge from his past life with his Control to create a more efficient process that guaranteed a higher success rate .
He had achieved that a few weeks ago, while he was still busy in the Flora and Fauna quest . Now, under the stress of these circumstances, he was on the cusp of yet another breakthrough .
What baffled Draco was that he had crafted so many times before, with some even under worse conditions than this, yet he had never felt the 'barrier' to the next level present itself .
Both his Body of Godliness and his Void of Perfection had been greatly buffed, so it was natural that the techniques that used them as a foundation would evolve with it .
It was like play a world building game . The edge of the map entered into infinite darkness, and it was the limit of where any character on that map was supposed to access before hitting a wall .
However, if that border was increased and more territory was added to the map, it was natural that the characters within would be able to step further .
As such, Draco clenched his teeth and let go of the small Worldly Energy he had gathered . He went back to relying solely on the fire and his Control-based Refined Star Technique .
Using his insights from his previous failure, Draco was able to step further this time . He lasted 6 minutes before it started to become unstable, and it swiftly reached the breaking point after another 3 minutes .
Return on Failure!
The active skill had three charges, and he had already used one up . This marked the second one, so he had only one retry left after this .
However, Draco felt that he was 70% on the way to the next level of the Refined Star Technique, so he wouldn't stop . He immediately went on with the concoctions after the whole cauldron reset .
This time, he found that he was able to go for a whopping 9 minutes before it finally went unstable… for another 6 minutes before it reached the cusp of explosion!
This was a crazy growth process . Most people would use the Return on Failure and fail three times in the same manner, but Draco had been able to push further with every attempt .
As long as he could maintain the concoction's stability for a total of 10 minutes, which was his current time penalty, he would be solid!
Since he had just reached 9 minutes and was able to maneuver the unstable material for 6 extra minutes, he felt like his knowledge of the process had grown greatly .
He was now 99% of the way to level 5 of the Refined Star Technique . After activating the final charge of the Return on Failure active skill, Draco felt like he would succeed this time .
He immediately began working on every problem he had noticed during his previous attempts, perfectly curbing them before they could sprout .
This included temperature changes, reagent compatibility, timing, fusion, and concentration . All of these minute details required a very sharp mind and a steady hand to manage, but this was the very essence of the Refined Star Technique .
As such, Draco reached the place where he had lost control in his previous attempt with relative ease . He also maneuvered around the issue that appeared at this segment and moved into the final sixty seconds .
Every subsequent second was new ground for him, but he was able to push through and finish the concoction through careful management .
The moment it was completed, he felt himself enter the next level of the Refined Star Technique smoothly . It was almost as if his success was timed with his upgrade, meaning that Draco got double the dose of satisfaction .
On the fifth level of the Refined Star technique, Draco's success rate for Epic potions increased from 20% to 30% . It was a very significant jump this time around, and when it was added to his bonus from using Worldly Energy, the Inventor title etc, his total success rate would now be above 80%!
Whew!
80% success rate on Epic potions without even reaching in the Master Rank . If the other Alchemists of the world would learn this, would they just die from shame? Comparisons were truly odious .
「Congratulations on creating new potion: Unnamed (consumable) (Epic)
Rewards:
1,000% Tradeskill Exp
1,000% Exp
20,000 gold
1,000 reputation with the Tradeskill Association」
Unlike what had happened when he had created the Angel's Kiss and All-Sight potions, Draco actually received a reward for his first craft of the potion . Angel's Kiss and All-Sight were chanced upon, being recipes that someone else had already discovered .
As such, aside from the basic Tradeskill experience he would receive, he would gain nothing else but the finished product . However, by taking some steps outside his comfort zone to come up with something new, so he would naturally be rewarded .
The only other time this had happened was with the Semi-Legendary Dragon's Blessing potion, so it was quite the achievement . Draco knew that it was far easier to create unique weapons than potions/poisons .
This was because as long as he styled an ingot reasonably differently while hammering, and then used variant enchantments based on his own discretion, he could naturally create a unique weapon .
However, Alchemy was only one Tradeskill, and even then, it was heavily dependent on established recipes . If everyone could just throw in random materials and create something new, many people would be Grandmasters .
Draco decided to place the 1,000% combat experience into Pair Dadeni, bringing the cauldron to 21,100% from 20,100% . As for the Tradeskill experience, he had suffered intense trauma just earlier .
He would rather stockpile it en masse until it could make a great difference… otherwise his poor heart wouldn't be able to take it .
Draco realized that he had spent almost an hour on this one potion, but he hadn't named it yet . First, he decided to inspect it and see what it was about .
「Unnamed – Consumable
Rank: Epic (100% effectiveness)
Effect: Transform an upper limb into that of a Low-Rank Fire Dragon for 1 minute . 」
While it might sound unimpressive, such a potion had many uses . For example, someone could transform their arms and then shave the scales off - ignoring the horror and excruciating pain - acquiring genuine Dragon Scales!
Or - if they used their brains - they could capture an innocent third party or buy a slave and use them as their proxy . It really depended on the moral compass of the user, but then again, that argument could be used for any item .
A person could - wastefully - use it for a power boost in combat . The claw of a Low-Rank Fire Dragon would possess no aura or fire, but its sturdiness would rip through any species easily .
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