9: Chapter 9: Boiling medicine on a gas stove, sure enough!

Zhang Mu stepped out of the portal, with Potter's House behind him.

The door slowly dissipated, and a dog immediately scrambled up.

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Da Huang stood on the steps, baring his teeth, a threatening low growl coming from his throat as he poised to pounce.

Zhang Mu wasn't surprised.

If he had been "bonked" like that, he would have had to beat the sneak-attacking bastard to death to call it even.

So he was well-prepared.

He reached out, pulled out a sausage, and bit it open with his teeth.

"Here, boy—" he called out, shaking the sausage.

Smelling the aroma, Da Huang's intimidating aura plummeted at a visible rate, and his body returned to a normal standing posture.

Was I a bit too fierce just now?

Da Huang took hesitant steps, his eyes glancing upward as he bashfully shuffled to Zhang Mu's feet. With a gentle "woof," he carefully bit the sausage and retreated to the side to enjoy it slowly.

The corners of Zhang Mu's mouth curled up. Got him!

Dusting off his hands, he stepped forward to knock, but the door slowly opened inward on its own.

It wasn't locked.

"Mr. Potter?"

Only his own voice echoed in the living room, and the second floor was also silent.

Zhang Mu hurried upstairs, first checking the laboratory—no one—then knocking on another room—also no one.

Perhaps he was out on business and hadn't returned yet, and worrying that Zhang Mu would wait outside in vain, he had left the door unlocked for him.

As for Potter running into trouble, he felt the probability was very low.

Potter definitely came from a big city. To dare to travel alone and arrive safely, he must be highly skilled and bold.

Besides, violent conflicts were prohibited in the town, basically eliminating the possibility of anything happening.

He would brew the potion first. If no one showed up by noon, he'd go out and look.

Thinking this, Zhang Mu took out a single-burner stove and a gas tank from his inventory, connected them with a hose, and then installed the bracket and the twist switch.

With hands on his hips, he nodded in satisfaction.

Although the stove was small, he had required high precision for flame temperature control, which had cost him quite a bit of money.

He took a cup of instant noodles from his inventory and set it aside as today's tuition, then crouched before the pile of herbs in the corner to rummage through them.

Zhang Mu's memory had always been good; after seeing it only once yesterday, he remembered the necessary herbs, the quantities, the order of addition, and so on.

"Heather Grass, Wild Rigid Flower, Thorn Algae... Hmm?"

Picking up a herb, he examined it closely.

The roots, covered in fine bits of soil, were conical, while the stem was cylindrical, about ten centimeters long, and flexible.

At the top grew a round puff of fluff.

Zhang Mu had seen this in the orphanage; the headmistress had told him it was called Huahualang.

Later, when he went to school, he learned that its scientific name was Dandelion.

But the one before him was slightly different from what he usually saw; its fluff wasn't white, but a seductive blood-red.

Because of this, Zhang Mu had spotted it in the herb pile at a glance.

He twirled the stem a few times, lost in thought.

Was it because it had changed under the influence of magic?

When identifying herbs yesterday, Potter had specifically warned him that this pile of herbs was highly valuable and should be handled with care.

And the Dandelion in his hand was the rarest in the herb pile.

This undoubtedly indicated that it was the most precious.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Mu put the herb into his inventory, planning to take it back to the real world to test if it was the same species as the Dandelion he knew.

If it really was, that would be terrifying.

According to Potter, a mage's advancement, the training of Mental Energy, and even the tempering of the physical body were inseparable from potions.

Potions were brewed from herbs.

But many herbs on the Saul Continent were extremely precious and scarce, so the value of potions naturally rose accordingly.

Many low-level Adventurers couldn't even afford potions with superior effects and had to make do with inferior products.

"If I bring real-world Dandelions to the Saul Continent to absorb magic, and they successfully transform, it means I can wholesale priceless potions."

Suppressing his excitement, Zhang Mu took one sample of every herb and stuffed them into his inventory.

He planned to go back and check exactly how many of these herbs also existed in the real world.

After finishing, he brought the selected herbs to the stove, weighed them, and threw them one by one into an earthenware jar to be crushed with a mortar and pestle.

Light the fire, add water, into the pot.

...

Potter searched the woods around the town and returned empty-handed.

Returning to the town gate, he sighed and slowly walked home.

As he walked, he pondered about Zhang Mu, whom he had only known for two days.

Deep down, Potter was somewhat reluctant to take him as a student.

Having traversed the Saul Continent for most of his life, he had seen too many betrayals, even between husbands and wives, parents and children—the closest of human relationships.

Potter was different from others.

No matter how precious a magic book, weapon, or staff was, he would never turn his blade against kin or friends for it.

But he couldn't stop others from having greed.

There was a type of magic crystal stone on the Saul Continent that could imprint others' memories, including magic.

According to the Church's rhetoric, this was permitted by the gods.

Although the magic script preserved this way dissipated at an incredibly alarming speed, there were always people willing to try—what if it worked?

It didn't matter if they didn't learn it before the magic script dissipated; anyway, everyone was killing each other every day, so what was one more death?

Potter's family was destroyed because of this kind of magic crystal stone.

His clansmen had obtained a magic crystal stone by chance, and because Potter was usually generous toward them, they considered him weak and easy to bully.

They secretly planned a trap to kill Potter.

People blinded by greed are unable to see the facts.

Potter used magic to make them understand what absolute power meant.

In one night, the entire clan was wiped out.

Since then, Potter had never married and never took on another student.

Until more than ten years ago, the King's eldest daughter—Avril—passed his test, moved him with her will and conviction, and became his only student.

"Sigh..." Potter stroked his beard. "With the current situation, even if I were willing to be his teacher, there isn't enough time..."

Although Zhang Mu's speed in learning the Meditation Method within a day left him speechless, magic was a different matter altogether.

Potter had never seen a god and wasn't sure if there even were gods on the Saul Continent, but learning magic and practicing the Meditation Method were two different things.

Magic was bestowed by the gods, and the difficulty of learning it was akin to hell.

Throughout history, among those who quickly mastered the Meditation Method, it was not uncommon to find people who never learned a single spell in their entire lives.

The Meditation Method represents the level of talent the body has for adapting to magic; it is the prerequisite for learning magic, and nothing more.

In fact, Potter could very well take Zhang Mu in; if time really got tight, he could just leave.

But he had a responsible nature; if he didn't take a student, that was that, but if he did, he would teach them earnestly.

"Let's wait a few days and see how things go."

Potter muttered to himself, pulling a Crystal Ball from beneath his robes as magic flowed into it: "Avril, the magical beasts around the town are unusually active. Stay safe."

After speaking, he hurried home without waiting for a response from the other side.

Just as he reached the door, his brow furrowed; black smoke was billowing out of the tightly closed windows on the second floor.

"Arrogant fool!"

Potter was exceptionally furious.

He hadn't expected Zhang Mu to be so arrogant as to brew a potion alone without waiting for his return.

"With your meager Mental Energy that you've only just started practicing, you dare to brew a potion?!"

"Do you really think mastering the Meditation Method in one day makes you a magical genius?!"

He kicked the door open and dashed upstairs.

"My precious herbs!"