The man called Mordecai didn't bat an eye at Sorin's assessment. "I can accept that I'm a little lacking compared to my peers, but don't you think you're going too far with your questioning? You're the one who accepted my request for an interview."

That's a fair point. He knows I've been having trouble recruiting apothecaries because Fineas is competing with me for talent. The ball is in his court.

"What convinced you to apply to join my practice?" asked Sorin, changing tact. "My remuneration is below standard, and it says here that you're a three-star mage, which is why I was interested in meeting you in person. It also says here that you cultivate the Hargrave Clan's subsidiary art. I won't be able to guide you properly unless you adopt the Kepler Clan's subsidiary art. Given your last name, however, I don't see that happening."

The man nodded. "I spoke with your cousin Fineas just yesterday. He's been especially generous in hiring apothecaries of late. I believe most people worth their salt have already accepted his offer. Even a pseudo-three-star apothecary like me is finding it difficult to reject such a generous offer."

Sorin was frustrated but undeterred. "Why didn't you accept his offer?"

"I was going to," said Mordecai. "In fact, I'd already asked for authorization from my clan to accept it. The only reason I haven't is that Young Master Charles called me in. He suggested that I not accept Fineas's offer and consider working for you instead."

Sorin hadn't expected such a development, as Charles always seemed to have a bone to pick with him. Maybe he's trying to strengthen our small friendship because of tensions with the Hyde Clan?

"I'm surprised to hear that, given our strained relationship," said Sorin. "He was also never one to admit defeat despite my dominant victories."

"Unfair victories due to cultivation method suppression, according to Young Master Charles," said Mordecai. "Now, to be clear, I would never believe such an excuse. It's more the reluctant recommendation that's interesting."

"You're not good at selling yourself, are you?" said Sorin. "Thus far, you've not given me a single reason to accept you on the team. Though I do require a three-star apothecary, I'm confident in raising someone from the two-star to the three-star level in two years. As for you, you appear to have reached your limit. You've failed the apothecary examination again and again, and I have no reason to expect you to do anything different."

"Then there's another matter: you're a member of the Hargrave Clan. Though on paper, our families have a decent relationship, it remains that I can't teach you certain recipes. I can't teach you our clan's proprietary skills either." Part of Sorin's plan had been to guide a team of apothecaries in the tincture-making process to secure quick profits, and with Mordecai, that would be impossible. "May I ask how your hair turned white?"

"This?" said Mordecai, pulling a few strands of hair forward to examine them. "It's not really relevant to my profession—just an experiment gone wrong. In truth, I used to be quite the powerful plague mage, an adventurer by trade. I didn't become an apothecary until my late twenties when said failed experiment weakened my body and diminished my reflexes to the point that I became a liability."

"Out of curiosity, what was the goal of your experiment?" asked Sorin.

"Creating a new spell, what else?" answered Mordecai. "The spell's name was Plague Counter. The idea was to create a poisonous shield that could devour and convert other forms of mana into poisonous mana that could then be used to fire back at an attacker.

"The description might not sound impressive, but the results were quite astounding. Back when I was only five percent sanctified, I was able to use this incomplete spell to kill an arena beast at thirty percent sanctification."

"If it worked, why the backlash?" asked Sorin.

"I got greedy," answered Mordecai. "The spell was fine, but I had to go ahead and try to work blood magic into the spell. The idea was to infuse my blood with poisonous mana to give myself an extra-large mana reservoir."

Did he take inspiration from the Ten Thousand Poison Canon, or was this an original idea? Either way, the idea has merit. "You never gave, did you?" asked Sorin. "The damage to your body isn't old, but fresh. You recently injected yourself with poison that's rampaging in your body even now."

"Guilty," said Mordecai, raising both hands. "It's a weakness of mine. Once I latch onto an idea, I just can't let go."

Sorin rapped his fingers on the table and thought about his current situation. Mordecai wasn't the ideal employee, but beggars couldn't be choosers. His dedication to a particular research topic was also impressive. If that could be harnessed into something that interests me…

"I believe I see why you're here," Sorin finally said. "As a God Seed, Charles is likely familiar with the requirements for my advancement. He knows I need to experiment with poisons and develop increasingly potent poisons to become stronger.

"You weren't just a plague mage. You were a researcher. A spell researcher, but a researcher nonetheless. You haven't given up on your idea and are wondering if the key to your research lies in the direction I'm currently pursuing."

"That is correct," said Mordecai. "The job posting mentioned that experimentation is a key component of the position. This is my preferred avenue of employment, and I can even accept the lower compensation in exchange for access to the facilities and the new poisons you are developing. I don't mind signing confidentiality agreements are required."

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"How would these poisons be of any help to you if you can't produce them?" asked Sorin.

"The key wording is 'can't produce them in poison form,'" answered Mordecai. "The idea would be to take said new poisons and convert them into equivalent spell frameworks, which I will then use for my spell research."

"Equivalent spell frameworks?" asked Sorin. "I'm not familiar with the term."

"Not surprising, given that your attention is spread across three different occupations," said Mordecai. "I heard you're a member of the Mages Guild. Do you even know any three-star spells?"

Sorin shrugged. "I learned Veridian Spell Spear and the Cunning Viper's Analysis to complement my ranged offerings and my practice. There was no need to learn anything else since most of my short-comings at mid-ranged have been made up for."

"I'm sure," said Mordecai. "Both of these are B-Tier spells. That is likely your limit at the three-star level without spending a significant amount of time learning magical theory.

"Don't get me wrong—I am not a believer in overly splitting one's attention. That you can do this much at least makes it easier for me to explain the theory.

"To make a complicated matter simple, equivalent spell frameworks are poisonous rune matrices that function much like their original poisons. They're… instructions that mimic the way poisons behave without requiring anything more than poisonous mana.

"There are many ways to develop these spell frameworks, but the best way is through imprinting methods. It's this imprinting method that is the key to the Hargrave Clan's success. By imprinting poisons and working their equivalent spell frameworks into existing spells, we can both tailor these spells and increase their potency."

The notion of equivalent spell frameworks intrigued Sorin. A way to codify poisons? If I knew how to do that, wouldn't I be able to determine the effects of a poison without going through a huge number of in-vivo tests?

"These equivalent spell frameworks," said Sorin. "Can the final result be shared?"

Mordecai shrugged. "That much is simple. There are many tomes on the subject in the Mages Guild, and most of them have been written by the Hargrave Clan. Only the rarest and most powerful imprints have been held back by my clan."

"Then it's settled," said Sorin. "I wish to hire you, Mordecai. No, it might be more accurate to say that I wish to work with you. These spell imprints interest me. I want them for every poison I'm familiar with."

Mordecai raised an eyebrow. "If it's simple poisons you want, there are plenty of books in the library. Over a thousand imprints currently exist at the one, two, and three-star level, each corresponding to its own poison."

Sorin shook his head. "If I did that, I'd need to match whatever imprints I find with specific poisons. That would defeat the purpose of collecting these imprints in the first place."

"Generating simple imprints would be a tedious amount of work," said Mordecai. "It would hardly give me enough time for my own experimentsؙ—which, by the way, is something I will require as part of my contract, along with the authority to buy ingredients at cost."

"Ingredients at cost is no issue," said Sorin. "Let me guess—Fineas has similar authority to mine, but purchase priority is decided according to one's profession. It's only through me that you'll gain access to the best raw poisons."

One of his main missions as a God Seed of Asclepius was to study poisons and further the family's understanding of poison concoctions, poison skills, and advanced treatment of poisons like the family's proprietary tinctures. Even Fineas would have lower priority when it came to base ingredients.

"That's one of the reasons," said Mordecai. "The other reason is naturally that you're most likely to develop advanced poisons. That said, there's only so much tedious labor I'm willing to put up with." He shuddered. "This reminds me of the last batch of poisons the Kepler Clan donated to the medical association. Archiving them properly took me three whole years."

Sorin chuckled. "You misunderstand something: I don't need you to personally imprint these. You can outsource this matter to whichever member of the Hargrave Clan and send me the bill."

Mordecai thought for a moment. "That is acceptable. Mages that have just advanced a star grade typically spend their time imprinting as many poisons at their level as they can. You wouldn't even need to pay them—just supply the poisons, and we'll supply the imprints."

"That only applies to the one- and two-star levels," said Sorin. "At the three-star level, I want you to personally generate the imprints." He summoned five vials and then used a small golden knife to cut his finger. Ten drops of poisonous blood dripped into each of the vials."

Mordecai picked up each of the vials and sniffed them. After failing to identify them, he took a drop from each vial and sent dozens of spell runes at them. Each spell run collapsed uniquely before returning to Mordecai. "It can't be. Are these ten-poisons? At the three-star level? No, they can't be ten-poisons. Ten-poisons wouldn't have such complex frameworks."

"They're hundred-poisons," Sorin confirmed. "I was able to concoct them after 5 years of hard work and haven't been able to make any progress since. The reason for this is that it takes a lot of trial and error to combine poisons. It would take me over a hundred years to concoct a thousand-poison using these poisons as a base. That's time I don't have."

"I think I see what you're saying," said Mordecai, replacing the droplets of blood inside the vials and sealing them each with a spell. "You never knew about equivalent spell frameworks until now, and you're thinking it might be possible to use them to simulate new poisons instead of concocting them each time. Honestly, it's been done before. It's how we increase the corrosion of high-level spells.

"Unfortunately, it's more of an art than a science. The reason for that is that there are simply not enough ten-poisons and hundred-poisons on record. Honestly, these five hundred-poisons would be a great boon to the Hargrave Clan. I'm authorized to purchase these samples from you for a hefty bounty in gold coins."

"I don't want gold coins," said Sorin. "I want new poisons. Stronger poisons. What's more, I don't just have these hundred poisons for you to analyze. I have a hundred-and-fifty-two ten-poisons as well, in addition to sixty failed concoctions that stabilized at the fifty-poison level."

Mordecai paused. "How many did you say?"

"A hundred-and-fifty-two-star ten poisons and 60 fifty-poisons," repeated Sorin. "I also have many new base poisons I've yet to experiment with that even the Kepler Clan has no knowledge of."

Mordecai licked his lips. "With that many samples, I might be able to devise some sort of combination model."

"Then it's settled," said Sorin. "You'll be doing most of the heavy lifting since I need to split my time adventuring and treating patients, but I promise that I'll make it worth your while."

"One second," said Mordecai, holding up his hand. "I haven't agreed to anything. What's more, I don't know your goal. Unless our goals align, there's no point in collaborating."

"My goal?" asked Sorin. "My goal is to generate a comprehensive encyclopedia of poisons that can compare to the Ten Thousand Poison Canon. It will contain not just hundred-poisons but thousand-poisons and ten-thousand-poisons as well."

"That's a lofty goal, considering that thousand-poisons have another name: demigod poisons," said Mordecai. "But I can respect a lofty goal as long as there are goalposts along the way. Count me in, Sorin Abberjay Kepler. Let's make both our dreams a reality."