Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 142
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 142
Shwip!
The moment he arrived in his room, Lion latched the window firmly shut and drew the curtains, completely sealing off the inside from the outside.
Then he pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote a warning in thick letters.
※Experiment in Progress※
ENTRY STRICTLY PROHIBITED
“Hmm, this should do it, right?”
He did it hoping to prevent anyone from wandering in and getting hurt.
Of course, none of the household servants ever entered Lion’s room without permission anyway, but unforeseen circumstances could always arise, so it was better to block things off excessively.
Lion banged nails into the door to fix the paper securely in place.
The fine door of House Asteri ended up with nail holes driven deep into it, but Lion didn’t care.
If anything, a somewhat brutish appearance was more likely to make people steer clear, wasn’t it?
“With this much, no one’s going to come in.”
Lion gazed proudly at the nailed-up paper, then went inside and locked the door behind him.
Click!
And the servants who had been watching Lion’s actions…
“We should inform the other servants as well, shouldn’t we?”
“Yes. And let’s also tell them not to come anywhere near this area, just in case.”
They were… surprisingly calm!
In truth, it was only natural.
The servants had grown quite accustomed to Lion’s eccentricity.
Besides, while he certainly did a lot of peculiar things, had any of them ever actually resulted in harm to the servants?
In fact, he tended to help them.
When the spirit mage from the Elf Country and the spirits caused a disturbance, it was none other than Lion who had resolved the situation.
“Just thinking about that day still makes my heart pound.”
“Truly. If it hadn’t been for the young master, we would probably have suffered for a good month at least.”
“It was to the point where we’d have had to live with muscle aches every single day.”
For the servants, that day had been like a nightmare.
A nightmare of the hardship stretching out before them!
They had very nearly been forced into a massive undertaking, hauling out and replacing every single item in the household…!
The eldest young master had spared them that ordeal.
“Let us absolutely not interfere with the young master’s work.”
“Yes!”
What Lion had overlooked was that the servants’ loyalty was greater than he’d thought…
But either way, since access was restricted just as he wanted, it didn’t really matter.
The servants nodded at one another and quickly put distance between themselves and Lion’s laboratory—no, his room.
Lion, who had no inkling of how that access had been controlled, took out the ingredients from his chest one by one.
“Let’s see…”
Lion looked over the ingredients and reviewed the recipe in his head once more.
The process would be quite complex, but he didn’t think there would be any failures.
As he’d said earlier, wasn’t alchemy his main specialty?
If anything, the part with the higher failure probability had been crafting the potion bottle.
Which was why he had made such exquisite use of the Shilling Shop.
‘And on top of that, Artisan’s Touch even grew.’
He had even managed to succeed at the enchantment along the way.
A huge amount of experience points had piled up in an instant.
‘That’s a relief.’
Lion did not let himself grow the least bit arrogant.
Wasn’t getting cocky the surest way to end up in trouble?
Moreover, this potion was ultimately being made to save the demonic beast egg from its pain.
So he had to stay calm until the potion was complete.
He could pat himself on the back later, after the egg was perfectly stable. That would be soon enough.
“And once it’s all done, there won’t even be time to celebrate.”
Lion tipped the prepared materials one by one into the mortar that came with his alchemy tools.
The very first thing he put in was none other than the Glowstone.
[Usage: Alchemy, Beast Taming, Cooking]
Since it was a material used in both alchemy and Beast Taming, it absolutely had to go into this recipe.
Truthfully, he could have just used Glowstone Powder since he was going to grind it anyway, but he wanted to use the best possible ingredients while he was at it.
And besides…
‘The description bothers me.’
The Glowstone Powder obtained from a failed mining attempt had this description written on it.
-Has lost its value as a Glowstone.
Wouldn’t the system treat Glowstone Powder from a failed attempt differently from grinding up a perfect Glowstone?
The second thing he added was an item he had obtained just moments ago while finishing a potion.
[Abyss Slag]
-A byproduct of Abgrund iron. Pitch black. Contains more residues like obsidian than iron.
-Trace amounts of a Witch’s Magic Power are detected, though not at a dangerous level.
[Usage- Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Painting]
[☞Click to view recipe.]
Going by the description alone, it looked like what you’d call “junk loot,” but its true worth was not something to be dismissed as junk.
Just looking at the usage, it could already be used in three different fields!
‘But Painting is in there?’
Probably because it was as black as coal and could be used for pigment or dye.
Now that he thought about it, this recipe followed a somewhat similar direction, didn’t it?
Though it resembled the process of making cement more than making dye…
‘Anyway, I really do have to stockpile it.’
Lion nodded contentedly, poured the slag into the mortar with a trickle, and then…
began to grind!
Thud!
Lion raised the pestle and brought it down hard.
Fortunately, the Glowstone was comparatively easy to crush; the hidden snag was the slag.
“Ugh.”
A sharp vibration rang through the hand gripping the pestle.
This was the reason he’d said there wouldn’t be time to celebrate.
Even if other things were mixed in, the slag contained Snow Mountain Iron, which was notorious for its hardness.
‘At least it’s an alchemy mortar and pestle. That’s a relief.’
If it had been an ordinary mortar, even if the sky split in two, Lion’s strength would never have crushed it.
The mortar itself might have broken first, but…
‘It’s working.’
Lion grinned.
In truth, most of the slag still retained its original shape, but a few pieces had cracked or crumbled.
The highest-grade alchemy tools had not been defeated by the slag!
“Gear really is the best.”
Lion casually shook out his aching hand, then pulled out gloves and put them on.
On top of that, to keep his wrist from being bent back, he wrapped it round and round with bandages for protection and began pounding the pestle again.
In fact, using the mortar’s grinding mode would have shattered it in no time, but Lion had decided not to use that method.
That decision came from knowledge awakened through his Cooking Talent.
Which tasted better: herb sauce made in a blender, or herb sauce made by grinding in a mortar?
In most cases, the one pounded by hand in a mortar tasted better.
Was that just because of the chef’s care and effort?
While that surely played a part, the real reason was a subtle difference in detail.
In the case of herbs, there would be differences in aroma and texture, but what Lion was focused on was “heat.”
‘It’s tricky.’
Using the grinding mode would inevitably pulverize the Glowstone and slag at high speed.
Because that was the best way to get an assured fine powder.
But it would also unavoidably accompany an ambiguous heat treatment.
‘Of course, I could still finish it that way.’
However, Lion wanted the highest-quality potion he could possibly make.
So his only choice was to control each step by hand in finer detail.
Besides, it wasn’t like it was completely impossible.
Even now, with every strike of the pestle, the materials were being roughly crushed.
Thud! Thud!
As he kept bringing it down over and over again, the gravel-thick granules slowly became fine grains of sand.
The sand grains broke apart into a smooth powder, which clung to the bottom and walls of the mortar.
Every time the pestle struck the mortar, fine dust particles puffed and rose into the air.
By that point, almost everything had been pulverized into tiny pieces.
Lion separated the fine particles from the coarser powder with a sieve.
As a result, even though it had been pounded with a pestle, he had produced a fairly decent level of fine powder.
“Phew.”
Lion let out a shallow, long sigh, careful not to make the powder puff up.
His shoulders, his arms—there was no place that didn’t ache, but at least the physically demanding part was now over.
Lion shook the fine powder straight into the alchemy cauldron.
Now he had to bake this powder at an incredibly high temperature, then freeze it.
“Nature. I’m counting on you.”
“Peep.”
Nature, as if sensing exactly what Lion intended, opened its tiny beak and shot out an intense flame.
The cauldron heated up, and the powder inside steamed from the heat and stuck together, turning into another mineral substance: “Clinker.”
Nature did not stop there; at the Clinker that had melted in the heat and fused together like sugar, it now shot a blue flame.
Unlike before, Lion’s mana drained out in a rush.
Though it took the shape of a flame, it was freezing the target at absolute zero rather than superheating it, so it seemed to consume more mana.
Fortunately, since his mana reserves had increased after growing to the 2nd Circle, he still did not feel fatigued.
‘Nature is working especially hard today.’
He would have to make some truly delicious treats.
“Peep.”
Nature, having completely frozen the Clinker, looked at Lion and stuck out its chest proudly, as well as it could.
Of course, its shape was so round and fluffy that someone else probably wouldn’t have noticed…
“As expected! Nature, you’re the only one!”
“Peep!”
“There’s no spirit in the world as smart and amazing as you!”
“Peep!”
But its master Lion recognized it perfectly, clapping his hands and showering it with praise, and Nature peeped in a higher pitch as if asking for more.
Each time, Nature’s down puffed up softly and fluffily, and at the end, it even peeped a faint little hum…!
…It was adorable.
A potato in such a good mood it was singing.
‘I thought I never missed my phone, but today of all days I really wish I could record a video.’
Lion had been someone whose smartphone would never stop buzzing because of work.
So much so that he thought this place, with no smartphone, was actually better—but right now… argh! The regret was painful.
[Spirit Art Proficiency reached Apprentice Lv.8.]
And thanks in part to their good teamwork, his Spirit Art Proficiency even went up by two whole levels!
“Great. We’re really at the final stretch.”
Lion took out the mortar again.
This time, of course, he was not going to grind it manually.
Wasn’t the Clinker already frozen to absolute zero?
Which meant using the mortar’s auto-grind function would not cause any major issues.
Minding the risk of frostbite, Lion transferred the Clinker into the grinder…
Whirr!
The mortar trembled slightly, and in an instant, a fine powder was produced.
[Abyss Camentum (★★★★)]
-A powder that has undergone heat surpassing lava and cold that is lower than a frost giant’s breath.
-Sticks instantly to objects imbued with Divine Power and absorbs that power. Dissolve in water to use.
-Due to the astonishingly meticulous control of a highly skilled alchemist, it does not cause contamination!
-Does not adhere to objects without Divine Power.
‘Yes!’
Lion clenched his fist at the sight of the star rating!
A jolt of pain shot through his overworked knuckles, but an even more electrifying sensation coursed through his entire body!
Simultaneously.
[Alchemy Proficiency reached Skilled Lv.5.]
It had been a while since his Alchemy skill level had risen.
Lion grinned with satisfaction and tapped the notification away.
At that moment.
One more notification floated up before his eyes.
[Spirit Art Proficiency reached Apprentice Lv.9.]
[By fulfilling specific conditions, you can advance to a new realm.]