When Emery and his friends arrived at the Magus Hub, the symbols on their hands issued a notification. They all looked at it the same time.
[Five days left until Magus Games starts]
Realizing that it was also past noon upon their arrival, it meant that they only had 5 days left to prepare and gather all they could until the Magus Games began. Although they had managed to finish the Master Tahoggum's task of gathering one ton of titanium each faster than what they had first expected, seeing the time dwindling by one second each, a sense of urgency sprang up inside them. Time was of the essence.
The group decided not to waste any time by grouping together in everything they do, so they divided their tasks. Emery, Thrax and Chumo would travel to the Golden City and would go their separate ways after Thrax and Chumo got off the carriage.
They would meet with the blacksmith master to collect reward as well as to fix Thrax's bent tier two spear. They would also ask Master Tahoggum or any other blacksmiths if they had any tasks that would reward them with tier three weapons, while Emery would go to Apothecary Institute to analyze the newfound plant and also to gather more information from Cedric.
Klea and Julian would go find more information about the Magus Games from their respective institutes. Both of them have a good relationship with their magus guides, they are confident to find more information about the game. Especially Klea with a few institutes that she can inquire upon.
The group then agreed that once they spend the whole day doing these, tonight they would meet at Klea's residence to discuss tomorrow's plan.
After saying goodbye to Thrax and Chumo, Emery stayed on the carriage until it reached the Apothecary Institute. He asked the receptionist if Cedric was in the building, however, the receptionist replied that he wasn't. Emery then inquired if Master Grom was now available, however, again didn't blink as he coldly replied that Master Grom was still unavailable and if he needed to meet with him, Emery had to set an appointment in advance.
Emery squinted his eyes. His initial suspicion of this receptionist was doing this on purpose was getting stronger. Nevertheless, he let it go and went to another receptionist on the other side of the room.
This receptionist was more accommodating than the other person. Emery asked to see the apothecary store. And like his experience with Aeon, this receptionist tapped on the counter and a translucent crystal hovered in front of him, showing information.
[APOTHECARY STORE]
[Herbs] [Tools] [Potions] [Knowledge]
Emery pressed the projection that had the word knowledge and it immediately responded with showing him a list of spells. He browsed through the list and when he saw the names of the knowledge he was looking for, he muttered, "Damn," under his breath.
[Universal flora knowledge - rank 2 - 5,000 white spirit stones]
[Analyze flora - rank 2 - 5,000 white spirit stones]
The rank two spells cost 10 times more compared to the first rank. Emery then asked if there were other ways to get these spells or if there was a service to get a plant appraised; the receptionist replied that the skills could be given as a reward for the institute's apprentices if they succeeded in reaching rank 3 apprentice.
As for the plant function appraisal, the receptionist mentioned that he, being a member of the Apothecary Institute as well, could provide a service like that. Emery showed the tier three plant, and the receptionist gave it only one look to recognize it was a tier three plant. For the cost of 300 white spirit stones, the receptionist offered to analyze it for Emery.
Since Emery only had 300 white spirit stones, he figured it would not be helpful even if he knew more about the plant because he still needed some tools to actually concoct this tier three plant.
Emery looked at the projected light coming from the crystal and pressed the tool tab. He found what he was looking for.
[Beginner Cauldron - Tools - 1,000 white spirit stone]
[Beginner Mortar and Pestle - Tools- 500 white spirit stone]
Once again, Emery muttered a swear underneath his breath. He calculated what the total cost would be spending. And he arrived at the conclusion that even if he sold all his strength pastes, and cleansing potion, it wouldn't be enough to cover all his expenses. Not to mention, he still needed to do some experimentation with the plant in order to make sure he would get something out of it.
He then checked out the potions tab to see if he could find anything under tier one or tier two that may help them with the upcoming Magus Games.
[Blazing Potion - Tier one] [Freezing Potion - Tier one] [Sparking Potion - Tier one]...
[Fire Resistance Potion - Tier one] [Ice Resistance Potion - Tier one] [Lightning Resistance Potion - Tier one]...
[Strength Potion - Tier one] [Speed Potion - Tier one] [Perception Potion - Tier one]...
The first set of potions were the offensive positions. Emery noticed the number on the side indicating how many they had on stock. Since it was such a high number, they were all available. However, these offensive potions started with a price tag of 300 white spirit stone for tier one and 1,000 white spirit stone for tier two. The resistance potion was twice the price of the offensive potions, while the utility potions, the ones that could increase a person's strength, speed, perception, etc, were even more expensive. At least twice the amount of tier one resistance potions.
Reading through all the price tags, Emery shook his head to clear himself of shock. It seemed like whether he was in his own world or in this Magus Academy or anywhere else, money was everything and in this case, spirit stones. On the other hand though if he succeeded to become an apothecary master then he wouldn't need to worry about spirit stone isn't he?
Seeing Emery's reaction, the acolyte then said, "Since you are an acolyte of the Magus Academy, you know you can buy these with contribution points."
Ah yes, he had quite plenty of those. Since Thrax and Chumo had gotten off earlier than him, the symbol on Emery's left hand had notified him that he had received an additional 500 contribution points, bringing his total contribution to be more than 3,000. Since the exchange rate of contribution points to white spirit stone was 1:1, Emery figured he could buy all the tools he needed and more.
Just before he was about to trade it, a thought came into him. Contribution points could be traded for spirit stones, however, he couldn't exchange it the other way round. He suddenly changed his mind to buy using the contribution point. His instincts said there were more to it.
After careful consideration, Emery decided just to analyze the rare plant with the 300 spirit stones he had. He really hoped the rare plant could open doors for him to get leverage in the upcoming Magus Games. If the plant turned out to be useful, then he would find the spirit stones he needed to start experimenting and concoct it.
Emery placed his palm above the receptionist's palm.
[Trade 300 white spirit stones?]
He said 'yes' on his mind and the white spirit stones from his storage ring disappeared.
Now that he had paid the acolyte receptionist took the plant, the receptionist placed it on the counter to be scanned. The floating shot out a beam of light and after a few seconds later, the light dimmed. The acolyte asked Emery to open his palm once more and the information of the plant came to his mind.
[Analyze]
[Carcass Flower - Tier 3]
[Herb cost 50 white spirit stones apiece]
[Main ingredient to create tier 3 acidic potion]
[Acid is a liquid that can melt an item or object that it touches]
Emery was surprised that he was carrying something dangerous. Based on its description, it sounded like the way the dumas dissolved a carcass into bones. This was also probably the reason why the dumas could do such melting of flesh.
On the flipside though, he was happy. The risk of getting this flower was worth it because he had something that was used for concocting an offensive potion. Once more reading the description, Emery wondered how many of these potions would he need to destroy Rowe's shield.
A short moment after his inner laugh, he remembered about the price of those tools, other ingredient to create it and also just hundreds of those duma that he doesn't yet know how to kill
After Emery asked around the institute and received all the information he could find, he then returned to Klea's residence to meet with the others.