Miniature Meditation Potion.

This Potion had been around for a long time. At first, of course, Potion Makers only made it for their own use. But once something like this was invented, it was hard to keep it from spreading. After all, profit was hard to resist.

Ethan actually knew a little about how it worked, though he hadn’t learned it at the Magic Academy.

Magic power flows toward the Demon Realm. Meditation is the process of focusing your mind to communicate with the Demon Realm, draw on its magic power, and make your body more receptive to it. In fact, meditation has several levels, corresponding to the different ranks of Mages. The deeper your meditation, the more magic power you can draw. Advancing to a higher level of meditation means advancing as a Mage. Once the depth of your meditation increases, it’s only a matter of time before your Mage rank rises, too.

This Meditation Potion lets you briefly experience a deeper state of meditation ahead of time. It increases the strength of your magic-power draw and speeds up the changes in your body. It also helps you get used to the feeling of a more powerful meditative state, which is why it can speed up advancement. Traditionally, it’s considered a Potion with no downsides beyond the cost.

As Ethan watched Tori extract the essence from ten Moongrass plants, then add Ice Mint and a little bone-worm powder, his heart was in his throat.

“By the way, Young Master Ethan, what does ‘flushing method’ mean in this recipe?”

“It means you keep letting magic power flow through it. As you stir, flush the mixture with magic power while the ingredients react, and repeat.”

Tori nodded. “I see. So that’s what they mean by technique!”

Ethan froze.

The question had slipped out of Tori before he could stop himself.

Tori followed Ethan’s instructions as she worked, and said, “Don’t worry about it, Young Master Ethan. Look, making this Potion will benefit everyone, right? We’ll make a fortune from it—that’s good for everyone, isn’t it? Whatever you want to do, Young Master Ethan, you’ll need money for it. Even the cheapest staff starts at twenty silver coins. Your gear isn’t cheap, either, is it? Your own money isn’t the same as your family’s money. Don’t you think?”

“Do you know something?”

Tori blinked innocently. “Know what? You know a Potion Maker, don’t you, Young Master Ethan? Is this some kind of test they’ve set for me? You’re evaluating me on their behalf to see if I’m qualified to be their apprentice. That’s why you didn’t tell me the exact amounts or how to do it, and wanted me to figure it out myself. Oh, don’t worry about it so much! I’ll tell you a few things. Of course, I won’t admit to this later—but I’ve learned a lot from you, Young Master, so I can share a little with you, too.”

The wooden stick in her hand kept stirring.

In theory, using a wooden stick wasn’t ideal. Some substance in the wood might affect the finished Potion. Glass would actually be better, but getting one custom-made wasn’t easy, either. In the end, the real problem was that the place was too small and they had too little money.

“I don’t really care about becoming a Potion Maker. Like I told you, all I want is money.” Tori was letting him see a little of her true feelings. She tried to gauge the reaction of the presence inside Ethan and decided she might need to earn a little trust. To get someone to trust you, you had to tell them some truths. “Adventurer, knight, merchant, Magic Swordsman, Potion Maker, blacksmith—they’re all just parts of someone’s identity. A means to an end. A profession. To me, they’re all equal.”

“Equal,” Ethan repeated.

“Right. Most people consider adventurers and merchants low-ranking professions, Potion Makers extremely prestigious, and knights outright nobles. But I don’t care about that. I only care about what can bring me the most profit. Right now, being a Potion Maker seems like the most profitable option, so I’m researching Potions with everything I’ve got. But if I can’t become a Potion Maker, it won’t make much difference to me. I’ll just earn money more slowly. I can still build up my starting capital. I can still make drinks and other things, then build up capital and expand. Those are all things I’m going to do, and becoming a Potion Maker won’t stop me from doing them.”

“You mean…”

Tori felt the Potion in her hands beginning to come together, and her answer slowed. “I mean that Potions are just one way for me to make money. They’re not everything to me. So if that Potion Maker you know disagrees, I hope you’ll pass that along. I might not be the kind of apprentice they want. But I won’t give up studying Potions, either. I’m not going to leave a piece of pie this big sitting there uneaten.”

Ethan watched the wooden bowl in Tori’s hands. To be honest, Tori really was different. Plenty of Potion Makers—even apprentices—would start by buying a complete set of Potion-making equipment. Tori didn’t care about any of that. She made Potions the same way she cooked.

But she was serious about it.

“I’ll pass it along.”

As he spoke, blue liquid appeared in the bowl.

Tori set some of the liquid aside, then diluted it with water at a ratio of one to five.

She picked up the bowl of water, took a sip, and entered a meditative state. Ethan was just about to ask if that was too reckless—after all, he’d even helped catch a few small animals for her to test it on.

Then Tori opened her eyes. “I can tell this isn’t poison, so there’s no need to kill any small animals. It has some effect, but no, this isn’t the ideal state. The proportions need adjusting. There isn’t enough Moongrass.”

They gathered more ingredients and started brewing again.

The process went on for three whole days!

Ethan stayed with Tori in the forest for another three days. During that time, she barely slept, using meditation in place of sleep. She kept herself in a state of high energy, though in reality she was a little lightheaded and weak in the limbs.

But—she succeeded.

“Moongrass essence? Liquid from the crushed essence-rich parts of thirty Moongrass plants, diluted with water to 300 ml. Two Ice Mint leaves. Soaking them isn’t really necessary… but it’s fine. It makes stirring a little easier. Write down: soak for thirty minutes. Two grams of bone-worm powder. Stir using the flushing method until the liquid turns blue. I’ll make a color reference chart when I get back. Dilute the finished Potion with water at a ratio of one to four.” Tori felt like she couldn’t move even one finger. Lying on the ground, she recited the recipe to Ethan and asked him to write it down. Then she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Ethan had watched Tori brew the Potion from start to finish. If he had to say when she first managed to make it, it was at least as early as the first day. It was usable, and it worked.

But Tori didn’t think that counted as perfect. In her words, this was a recipe for a Potion with the best possible results and maximum profit. What she meant was that she could make it for fifty copper coins and sell it for twelve silver.

A regular bottle of Meditation Potion was usually 200 ml. Tori’s batch made six bottles.

He’d tested its effects, too. It was no different from the Miniature Meditation Potions sold elsewhere. In fact, Tori had only stopped experimenting once she’d gotten it to that point.

Could the profit really be that high?

“Can Potion Makers really make that much profit?”

He asked the air.

After a while, he muttered to himself, “Is that kind of profit usually only possible with advanced Potions? It’s only a Miniature Meditation Potion recipe, after all. As long as it works, that should be enough. I guess that’s what makes her different from you.”

What an incredible girl.

Ethan watched Tori sleeping. It felt like she was only ever still when she was asleep. The rest of the time, she was practically bursting with energy. She might really become incredibly rich, just like she dreamed. In a way, this recipe was an improved version of the Miniature Meditation Potion. Was that what she told herself? Though he had helped, too.

He really should get her the qualifications to open a shop. Fortunately, that was something he could handle. She could write an application, he could stamp it, and her shop would be official. She could sell nothing but Miniature Meditation Potions, too. Those would always be in demand. At least in Blackwater Town, only the Witch Church sold them, and they only had a limited supply each week. It might be just Blackwater Town, but plenty of people there had money. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to buy them—they couldn’t get their hands on them.

She shouldn’t have any trouble finding buyers.

He’d told her earlier that she could keep the Potions she needed for herself and hand the rest over to him. Was that a little unfair? With profit margins this good, it didn’t feel right to take them all.

Should he give her forty or fifty percent of the profits? She was the one making the Potions, after all.

Ethan was torn.

When Tori woke up, she found herself sitting in the carriage. “Huh?! Are we already on our way back?”

“Yeah. You were asleep for a long time, so I carried you out.” Ethan was driving the carriage. Tori noticed a Greenlake Crane lying beside her.

Ah—

It would’ve seemed strange to return to town with nothing, so he’d taken the Greenlake Crane’s body out of the ring.

Ethan seemed pretty experienced… In a way, that was proof of his strength, too.

“Um, what happened to the recipe I asked you to write down?”

“I wrote it down. You can look when we get back.”

Tori shook her head. “I remember the recipe. You can keep it.”

“Huh?”

“Call it my payment! Heh-heh~ Now that I can make this Potion, I can already see gold coins waving at me! It’s just a recipe, after all! This is a milestone! Young Master Ethan, the days of having money are almost here! If I can make one kind of Potion, I can make all kinds of Potions. That means endless gold! My future is bright and magnificent!”

Ethan could only think that she was getting ahead of herself.

But did she really need to draw such a clear line between them?

Was insisting on using the recipe as payment her way of saying she didn’t want to owe him anything?

This girl was a little coldhearted. Maybe gold coins were the only thing she truly loved.