“Anyhow, since we are on the topic of substitute ingredients, we might as well continue from there,” Vaan stated.
“How many ingredients can be used to substitute the Summer Avens? Of course, you have to name them all as well.”
After hearing Vaan’s next question, Cyrena Ashenborn’s eyes quickly turned serious.
“Including the Ruby Paprika, four other supplementary ingredients could be used to substitute for the Summer Avens. They are Tiger Pepper Leaf, Red Pygmy Caraway, Three-Petal Volcanic Flower, and Sanguine Lotus.”
“Did I answer everything correctly, Mr. Cadieux?” Cyrena Ashenborn asked shortly after listing the ingredients.
“You did; you answered very well. No doubt you have memorized the contents of Devonshire’s Book of Hundred Substitutions,” Vaan calmly nodded with acknowledgment.
Cyrena Ashenborn felt strangely proud to be praised by Vaan.
But before Cyrena Ashenborn could stay proud for long, Vaan suddenly added, “However, you said you excelled in potioneering, Lady Cyrena. I expected more than a textbook answer from you.”
“If we are just looking at Umbra’s Study of Myriad Herbs and no other books on potioneering ingredients, I can very well tell you that there are still another four possible ingredients that you could use to substitute the Summer Avens.”
“Can you guess what those ingredients are, Lady Cyrena?” Vaan calmly asked shortly after.
“Another four possible ingredients?” Cyrena Ashenborn furrowed her brows with surprise and doubt.
Cyrena Ashenborn wanted to retort Vaan’s claim, but she had underestimated him once. Thus, she didn’t want to repeat the same mistake and embarrass herself further. She decided to give Vaan the benefit of the doubt.
“Another four ingredients, huh?” Cyrena Ashenborn pondered hard. Hundreds of herbs and rare plants flashed across her mind before she paused on an ingredient. “Sunglazed Rockflower?”
“Anything else you can think of?” Vaan casually asked with an unreadable expression, neither agreeing nor denying Cyrena Ashenborn’s answer.
Nevertheless, Cyrena Ashenborn felt like her answer was, more or less, correct.
But no matter how much she pondered, she couldn’t think of any more possible ingredients to substitute the Summer Avens without altering the effects of the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion.
“If you have any doubts, feel free to mention them. I will answer them all at once. After all, it is my role as a teacher to enlighten you, Lady Cyrena,” Vaan stated.
Cyrena Ashenborn pondered a bit longer before eventually shaking her head in defeat.
“I can’t think of any other ingredient, Mr. Cadieux. The Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion is a potion that uses two lightning-attribute monster ingredients as the primary ingredients, three fire-attribute and two ice-attribute herbal ingredients as supplementary ingredients to make.”
“Summer Avens is a fire-attribute herbal ingredient, so it makes sense to substitute it with other fire-attribute herbal ingredients like Ruby Paprika and the like. Although Sunglazed Rockflower is a bit more intense than the other fire-attribute ingredients, it’s still a fire-attribute ingredient with stimulating properties.”
“I’ve thought of other fire-attribute ingredients in Umbra’s Study of Myriad Herbs, but the effects of those fire-attribute ingredients are too potent to be used as supplementary ingredients for the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion.”
“If we try to use them, say, the Fiery-Heart Lotus, for example, it would overpower the primary ingredients and alter the desired effect,” Cyrena Ashenborn mentioned.
In such instances, the potioneer is more likely to ruin all the ingredients than to create a new potion as a byproduct of their failure.
“Are there really three other ingredients that can be used as a substitute for Summer Avens from Umbra’s Study of Myriad Herbs?” Cyrena Ashenborn doubted.
“Of course,” Vaan slightly smiled and said, “You can’t think of them because your mind is only set on fire-attribute ingredients.”
“It is as you say before; the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion is a potion that uses two lightning-attribute monster ingredients as the primary ingredients, and three fire-attribute and two ice-attribute herbal ingredients as supplementary ingredients to make.”
“However, this is actually an unbalanced recipe,” Vaan continued.
Although the additional fire-attribute ingredient enhances the effect of the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion, it also has the side effect of making the body heat up like adrenaline. Normally, this side effect can be ignored if the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion is taken moderately. But if you abuse it, it will harm the body like poison.”
“If you want to remove the side effect while keeping the primary effect of the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion, you can use wood-attribute ingredients like Edia Leaf, Mellow Cilantro, Sirre Root, or Spring Lotus to replace Summer Avens,” Vaan calmly listed.
“Edia Leaf, Mellow Cilantro, Sirre Root, or Spring Lotus…” Cyrena Ashenborn muttered softly with a thoughtful look as if she was trying to absorb the information.
Although the information was new to Cyrena Ashenborn, Vaan spoke methodically with reason, making a lot of sense.
Cyrena Ashenborn was quickly absorbed in Vaan’s lecture.
However, Cyrena Ashenborn suddenly paused when she realized Vaan listed four ingredients. She quickly raised her head to look up at him with doubt.
“Was my answer incorrect, Mr. Cadieux? We can’t use Sunglazed Rockflower as a substitute ingredient?” Cyrena Ashenborn asked sincerely with the intention to learn from Vaan.
“Your answer was correct, but at the same time, not exactly either,” Vaan replied vaguely with a smile before explaining, “We were only looking at single-ingredient substitution for the Rank 1 Pore Stimulation Potion.”
“If you want to replace Summer Avens with the Sunglazed Rockflower, you will also have to replace Wolf Seed with a more potent ice-attribute ingredient like Winter Thyme or Mountain Frostflower.”
“Of course, there are many more combinations for you to play with. The purpose is to create harmony in the ingredients. As long as there is harmony, your potion will succeed—even if it isn’t the potion you intended to make. I call this the Equilibrium Principle,” Vaan stated with a calm smile.
Whether it was Cyrena Ashenborn or Hester Thornton who was listening on the side, they both had their minds blown away by Vaan’s profound lecture.
“The Equilibrium Principle…”