“Low-level Senior Apprentice? How low?” The alchemist looked at Vicente while still sitting where he was.
Different talents had different ranges of purity that were indicated for consumption to be affected as one wished.
If someone with the red talent, the lowest of them all, wanted to advance from Senior Apprentice to level 1 Acolyte, they would have to consume something of high medicinal strength and purity. ｂｏ𝚟𝚕.
Just as there were anesthetics with different intensities on Earth, there were pills, potions, and more with similar characteristics but different intensities in the Polaris Realm.
“Orange-grade talents,” Vicente replied.
“Then you definitely need a pill with a purity above 80%. The most suitable for such people would be a Spirit Bone Marrow Pill, which can destroy some imperfections that bodies of lesser talents have.”
The Spirit Bone Marrow Pill was a kind of resource that, if compared to those found on Earth, would be like morphine among analgesics. It was not the strongest in its category but extremely strong in its purpose.
There were several different grades of such pills, and people of lesser talent usually used them to approach breakthroughs.
They were violent in their effects, and once ingested, they would even change some of the essences in the bodies of the magicians who ingested them. Contrary to what one might think, this was not an easy thing to do, but rather a very dangerous one, which increased the chance of death during the magician’s promotion by 50%.
However, low-talent magicians were so inefficient at absorbing the medicinal essence of resources that they would have to use drastic methods if they wanted to advance.
Vicente and Rory looked at each other, knowing that such a pill was among the most expensive they could find.
“I have 2 such pills with 90% purity. I can sell them both for 20 thousand bronze coins. What do you think? Are you interested?”
Rory swallowed his saliva when he heard that. That was 20% of what they had to spend today!
“Is there no potion of the same kind?” The young redhead asked.
Pills and potions could be made with the same substances. Yet, each type of substance had its strengths and weaknesses.
Pills usually had longer-lasting effects, and one had to meditate to digest their medicinal power. Potions, on the other hand, had more immediate effects, and one did not have to do much to benefit from them.
However, because potions were so much simpler, they were weaker than pills and naturally cheaper.
Because of their milder and quicker effects, most existing potions were of the recovery type for healing or restoring one’s mana without any effort.
“No. Someone with that talent level who tries to advance to the 2nd stage will not get what it takes to advance in one try with a potion. At most, they would get closer to advancing, but I wouldn’t guarantee you much.” The alchemist said.
Vicente kept the price of these pills in mind and asked. “What else do you have here? Think of my friend and me. What here can help us? We need something regenerative and also for progress.”
The alchemist looked at their foreheads once more, then at the vials on the table beside him. “What is your level? Junior? Intermediate or Senior?”
The two standing young men were hiding their cultivation, so there was no way for this Senior Apprentice to estimate their cultivation.
“We are Intermediate Apprentices,” Rory replied.
“In that case, I believe that the Mageblood Essence healing potion can repair low and medium-level damage to the bodies of magicians at your level. I have four such potions. I can exchange each of them for 3.5 thousand bronze coins.”
He took one of the pill bottles and said. “For you to get closer to the Senior Apprentice level, I have this pill, Crocodile Tear, with 85% purity.”
Crocodile Tear was a few degrees lower in potency than the Spirit Bone Marrow Pill. It would not put its user at risk of death and would simply give the one who ingested it more essence to attempt a small breakthrough.
It was one of the options for magicians to use in the middle of their magical stage to strengthen themselves quickly.
“Crocodile Tear costs 8.5 thousand bronze coins each.”
Seeing the reflective expression on their faces, the alchemist closed his eyes for a moment and made an offer. “If you take the two Spirit Bone Marrow Pills, two Crocodile Tears, and two Mageblood Essences, I can give you a small discount.
How about 40,000 bronze coins? For that price, one of the two potions will be free.”
Because he sold higher-quality resources, which were more expensive, this alchemist had fewer customers than average. The customers who did know him knew that his pills and potions were excellent. But as a 17-year-old alchemist, he still had a long way to go before his name was known.
If he had the chance to make a big sale like this, he would do it to get rid of these highly perishable products!
Pills and potions would rot after a few weeks of production. So you wouldn’t often see many of these items available for immediate delivery.
But by selling his goods in his master’s shop, this alchemist could usually sell his stuff before it rotted.
However, he only made the most common types of pills for sale. If one wanted him to make something special, one must order it in advance!
“40 thousand?” Vicente heard this suggestion and stopped to think. ‘With that, Rory and I will recover, and we will have a chance to increase our strength with 2 of our men. I would still have 60 thousand bronze coins for more business.’
“OK, I’m interested,” Vicente replied, and the alchemist immediately started to prepare a wooden box where these resources would go.
“By the way, if you are interested in hiring my services, I also make customized pills and potions to order. You can give me the ingredients for the pills and potions you are interested in and pay for my services upon delivery, or even pay me for all the cost of the ingredients, and I will do all the work myself.” He advertised himself before placing his contact in the box.
“Liam Young…” Vincent read the alchemist’s name and address on the box.
Vicente saw Liam packing his things to leave as he paid for the coins and said goodbye. “Very well. I’ll look for you in the future.”
He and Rory still had to buy more pills, but they couldn’t afford Liam’s high prices, even considering the possible discounts this man could give them. On the other hand, the other types of pills that Liam had available to sell today were not interesting to them.
After saying goodbye to him, they walked back through the first level of the Botanica Magica until they saw several people gathered around a tent.