Chapter 8. The First Profession
Three days had passed since the last Swordsmanship Class. During those three days, Fulan could only stay in her dormitory and practice the Harmonization Method.
Cuilan Academy’s class schedule was extremely relaxed. Courses were arranged across an entire academic year.
Even if a student enrolled in ten courses, there would still be plenty of time left to do other things.
Fulan had only three remaining courses, which made her schedule even more leisurely. It was not that she did not want to take more classes to earn additional credits.
The problem was that course selection was only available during the first two months of the academic year. Now she could only wait.
Art Appreciation was scheduled for next week. Swordsmanship Class would not take place until the week after that. Arithmetic was also next week, immediately after Art Appreciation.
On the first day, she had originally planned to increase the proficiency of her Breathing Method.
However, after practicing so intensely that she fainted on the first day, she abandoned that idea. Practicing it twice a day was enough.
Her Breathing Method proficiency was currently (73/100). Practicing twice a day gave her six points of proficiency.
As long as she could level it up before the next Swordsmanship Class, that would be sufficient.
After consuming the forty-sixth batch of materials, her Harmonization Method finally advanced to a new stage.
[You have once again produced a solution with an unknown effect using the Harmonization Method. Proficiency +3]
[The Harmonization Method proficiency is full. Level increased.]
[Harmonization Method (Mastered) (Proficiency: 1/1000): You can skillfully fuse two materials together in an aqueous solution.]
She then began attempting to brew a Strength Potion.
Taking out three portions of materials, she placed them into the full set of potion-brewing tools she had purchased for four silver coins.
The set of tools was extremely expensive. In reality, it was nothing more than grinding and cutting instruments along with several glass flasks.
However, considering that this world had apparently not yet developed large-scale production, the high cost of these tools likely came from their manufacturing difficulty.
In any case, after visiting several shops, this was still the best price she could find. Reluctantly, she bought it.
Fulan first followed the method written in “Basic Compendium of Herbs” and plucked the petals from the Blood-Feed Flower. She placed them into the mortar and slowly ground them into powder.
Next, she chopped the animal meat into small pieces and mixed it with fragments of Weathered Crystal.
She threw the meat and the Weathered Crystal into a beaker first and began using the Harmonization Method to fuse them together.
When the fusion left only a small piece of material remaining, she added the powdered Blood-Feed Flower.
After that, she continued fusing the ingredients until the entire bottle of solution turned yellow.
Her first genuine potion had been successfully brewed.
The entire process required no stirring, no heating, and no conventional preparation methods. Everything relied purely on mental power fusing the ingredients in midair.
This was the alchemy of another world.
[You have successfully created a Strength Potion. The Harmonization Method proficiency is full. Level increased.]
[Drug Identification, Herb Processing, and Harmonization Method have merged into Pharmacology.]
[You have obtained a profession: Alchemist]
It had finally appeared.
She had noticed the prompt indicating that these skills could merge long ago. Yet after raising the Harmonization Method to the Mastered level, nothing had happened.
So it turned out that she also needed to brew an actual potion.
As for this newly acquired profession, it was an unexpected delight. She had never imagined that professions could even appear.
This was her current status panel.
[Name: Fulan
Profession: Alchemist
Attributes: Constitution: 1.0 Spirit: 1.8
Skills:
Pharmacology (Mastered) (Proficiency: 631/1000): You are extremely skilled at brewing potions, but it seems you have only ever made Strength Potions?
Astrology (Beginner)
Swift Wind Breathing Method (Beginner)
Magic Missile (Unlearned)
Trait: Move With the Wind]
The first thing she noticed was that her Spirit had actually increased.
It had risen by 0.4 from its previous value of 1.4. She guessed that the Alchemist profession had raised her Spirit.
Pharmacology had also started with more than six hundred proficiency. That was probably because her previous mastery of related pharmaceutical skills had carried over.
What a pity. I have already mastered Pharmacology, so why have I not gained a new trait? Do I have to level it up again?
Still, the fact that forming a profession could increase attributes meant something important.
If she acquired more professions, would her attributes increase rapidly as well?
As fundamental attributes, even an increase of 0.1 now represented a qualitative improvement for her.
The previous increase in Constitution had been the key reason she was able to defeat Mars. Without that slight improvement, she might not even have been able to hold a sword steadily.
The new increase in Spirit was even more addictive.
While using the Harmonization Method, she could clearly sense that her mental power spread over the ingredients faster. The speed and precision of fusion would certainly improve as well.
She also remembered something a teacher had said during a basic general education class.
“Spirit is the key to learning spells. All of you have already reached the minimum spiritual requirement. In theory, every one of you can learn magic.”
If her Spirit attribute increased, perhaps it would also accelerate the rate at which she gained spell proficiency.
She felt that was very possible.
There were also many other professions similar to Alchemist in this world—Magic Artisan, Enchanter, Scroll Maker, Alchemist…
If she managed to collect all of those professions, would her base attributes not soar?
Of course, that was a matter for the future.
Right now, reality remained the same.
Learning those professions would require money, and her current finances were a disaster. Money only flowed outward, never inward.
She needed to find a way to make money.
Her gaze fell upon the Strength Potion she had just brewed.
She remembered that Instructor Lita had once told her to come see her after learning the Harmonization Method. Now that the potion was finished, it was time.
She placed the potion into the designated storage box and left the dormitory.
---
Lita held the Strength Potion up toward the light, examining the quality of the liquid. After observing it for a while, she placed it on the table and took out a small dropper.
She drew a small amount of the solution and dropped it onto a piece of specially prepared paper.
After observing it for a moment, she turned back to Fulan.
“Not bad. This Strength Potion is well made. I can see that the fusion was done properly. Your Harmonization Method has been practiced quite well…”
“The material processing is also flawless. However, the timing of adding the Blood-Feed Flower was slightly incorrect. You added it too late. Otherwise, the potion’s effect would have been even better…”
“How did you make such a mistake? That is usually an error only made during a first attempt. I heard you purchased dozens of sets of materials. This should not be your first one…”
Fulan rubbed her forehead.
She knew that Instructor Lita had misunderstood.
Yes, she had purchased dozens of materials—but they were not all for Strength Potions.
Instructor Lita probably assumed that she had spent over a hundred silver coins buying dozens of ingredient sets and had been frantically brewing Strength Potions at home.
That must have been how she improved her Harmonization Method so quickly.
However, Fulan had no intention of correcting the misunderstanding.
If she explained the truth, she would also have to explain why she had purchased two completely unrelated materials just to fuse them together.
Would that not make her seem insane?
People in this world did not possess a game-like panel like hers. They did not know that as long as she practiced something, it would level up.
For ordinary people, after brewing dozens of potions they would eventually master the process.
But her panel was unreasonable in one particular way.
If a normal person mastered the crafting of a Strength Potion, it did not mean they could easily brew other potions.
Every material had different properties, sizes, and fusion speeds. At best, they would gain some experience that allowed them to learn other potions more quickly.
Her panel, however, directly raised her familiarity with all materials through the Harmonization Method.
Because of that, even if she attempted to brew a potion she had never learned before, she could still succeed on the very first try.