"Greetings, Mr. Hao. What do you think of the potion?"
Adam went straight to the point.
Having known Hao Jun for years in his first life, he knows that the man before him was not one to waste time on pointless pleasantries.
This is especially true when the relationship dynamic has not been properly established yet.
He gave the guard a potion to be presented to Hao Jun. It serves as extra proof of his identity.
And more importantly, of his caliber as an alchemist.
Health Potion (Superb Quality)
Description: A mixture that restores a decent portion of one’s health. Users can drink up to 3 flasks of this potion before any side effects start to manifest.
Details: Restores 150 HP
Cooldown: 1 Hour
It was the superb-grade potion that Adam had recently made. At this point, the only potions he had sold in the Mercury Auction House were only the notable grades. While a notable grade potion has impressive effects, it is clearly beneath the superb version that he just presented to Hao Jun.
Adam scheduled the auction for the superb potion to be placed on sale a few weeks after he met with Hao Jun.
In this manner, Hao Jun will be the first player to know of the potion's existence.
This way, it will reinforce Adam's identity as the sole creator if no other superb-grade potion is available on the market for the next several weeks.
Besides, the notable potion needs some time to be in the market circulation to maximize Adam's profit.
Only then will he sell superb-grade potions publicly.
"It is undoubtedly an impressive potion," admitted Hao Jun. "The potions made by others are worthless in comparison."
Now that his credential has been established, it is time to move on to the most important topic.
"So, what do you want?" asked Hao Jun.
"I want to utilize your laborers for two sets of tasks," Adam responded directly in kind.
This is the main reason why Adam agreed to meet. He needed help completing the two remaining tasks given to him by Vetius.
Ten thousand chopped wood and ten thousand kilograms of ore is simply too much and far too many for Adam to handle alone within a short period.
While he can certainly complete the task, given time, he estimates it would take at least a month or two to do so. He simply can't afford to wait that long.
If he is just a craftsman, this would have been fine. But as a fighter and explorer who also intends to take part in several raids, this time frame is unacceptable.
"And in return?" inquired Hao Jun.
It is obvious where his question is leading.
"Mr, Hao Jun, I think we both know why you reached out. You want me to teach you Alchemy."
"HA! HA! HA!"
Hao Jun laughed loudly.
"HA! HA! HA!"
It was loud enough that Chang Yichen and the rest of the guards outside were so alarmed by his outburst that they entered the tent without permission.
"Is everything alright sir!?"
"Are you okay, sir!?"
But Hao Jun ignored them and just continued laughing.
"HA! HA! HA!"
Finally, he regained his composure and wordlessly sent his guards away.
"That is correct," he finally said. "I am indeed looking for someone who can provide reliable instruction for me to follow."
However, he suddenly changed tracks.
"But tell me, Mr. Mianju, why should I let you teach me?"
He expressed interest by reaching out to Adam. But now, he demanded that Adam prove himself.
Push and pull. A reversal. A classic negotiation tactic.
Adam is not surprised by this. Hao Jun, after all, is a businessman at heart.
And in most situations, he would be outgunned in the negotiations.
But Alchemy is something that he understands fully. So all he needs to do is to keep the conversation focused on Alchemy to gain the upper hand in the discussion.
Simply put, he needs to demonstrate how good he is in Alchemy.
"May I see some of the potions you've made?" responded Adam.
Hao Jun handed him a bottle of health potion; he knew what Adam was trying to do. But he doesn't mind.
After all, he would want to make sure that the man before him is indeed a skilled alchemist.
Health Potion (Poor Quality)
Description: A mixture that restores a small portion of one’s health.
Details: Restores 20 HP
"Thank you."
Adam examined the potion.
A mere 20 HP restoration effect with no other details added; it is the lowest of the lowest kind of potion one could make.
When a potion has no other identifying information, it usually means that it is highly toxic and not recommended for consecutive drinking unless one has no other alternative.
With the benefit of knowing who the man before him is in his first life, Adam is internally amused to see his mentor handing him a poor-quality potion for inspection.
Adam checked everything, from the color of the potion to the faint smell it was emitting, to the consistency of the liquid, and other identifying factors.
He inspected the potion, not with any activated skills but with raw observational skills.
Before saying anything, Adam asked for one more bottle of potion and analyzed it as well.
Hao Jun obliged and gave him another.
And after a few minutes, he was done.
"Well?" asked Hao Jun after seeing that Adam placed the bottles down.
"For the first bottle, you used a Resentful Dindle", said Adam while gesturing towards the first bottle.
"You boiled it for 2 hours straight in water with equal volume as the Resentful Dindle you have, right?
"I'd say, 1 kilogram of Resentful Dindle and 1 liter of water."
Hao Jun did not respond.
But Adam didn't mind; he was not done providing his analysis.
"Most Dindle plants require a water volume equal to its weight and you did that correctly."
"But where the process went wrong was the lack of preparation for the dindle. Did you remove the pollens before you placed it in water?"
At this, Adam paused- clearly to wait for Hao Jun's answer.
Hao Jun slowly shook his head.
"You are correct on both counts, Mr. Mianju," he replied. "It is Resentful Dindle, 1 kilogram. And I boiled it in 1 liter of water."
"But I did not know I was supposed to remove the pollen," Hao Jun continued. "The recipe made no mention of it."
"You need to remove the pollen first- those are poisonous and ruin the health potion," said Adam to reiterate his point. "That is why the healing effect is heavily diminished."
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Dindles are a sunflower-like family of plants native to the Lorikan Republic.
It is a reliable source of many ordinary herbal remedies that the Lorikan society uses.
However, the herbal remedies are only applicable to its petals.
The pollen of the Resentful Dindle is notorious for causing poisoning if taken even in small doses. It is not deadly, but it would cause someone to feel ill for a few hours if it was ingested.
Therefore, if one were to create a potion but not remove the pollen, the restoration effect would be drastically lessened by the pollen's poisonous effect.
Lorikan students seeking to avoid going to school would fake illness by deliberately inhaling the pollen of this dindle. And then they would take a remedy soon afterward to enjoy the rest of the day after being sent home to rest.
Of course, this kind of information would only be known to someone who had spent time interacting with Lorikan residents or at least had acquired a recipe that mentioned this crucial detail.
The recipe that Hao Jun had acquired gave the most basic instruction that assumed the reader knew to remove the pollen before boiling it.
That, and the fact that the recipe is poorly made.
Just like every item in the game, there are some recipes better than others.
Unfortunately, there's no way to determine the quality of it; the system will not offer any information to help players determine its legitimacy.
Instead, it is up to the potion maker to ascertain the possible outcome of the recipe based on what they know.
Furthermore, this kind of information is not common for players at this point as they have not had the opportunity to interact with the regular residents of the Lorikan Republic.
At the moment, the majority of the player's interaction with Lorikan residents is strictly limited to transactional business. No one has yet to establish a social connection purely to understand Pangean norms and traditions.
The kind of gamers/streamers that would focus on the world's rich culture and history will not rise to prominence at least until after half a year.
Hao Jun, who had so far only spent his time inside the Forgotten Temple, would have had no way of knowing this.
And this applies to nearly every player.
Adam moved on to the second bottle.
"As for the second health potion, you used Bleedwort Mushrooms. It was harvested from this very cavern."
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
Indeed, the cavern is beginning to show signs of regrowing the ingredients that Adam thoroughly harvested a month prior. It is not surprising that Hao Wei would take advantage of it and try their hands at crafting with uncommon ingredients.
The subtle crimson glow of the second health potion is unmistakable as only Bleedwort Mushroom-based health potions have this effect. This is why the mushroom is called that; they are luminous fungi and their glow makes them look like they're bleeding.
Adam then proceeded to describe in great detail the way Hao Jun prepared it.
He boiled it in water while occasionally stirring it. It took approximately 4 hours of continued stirring to reach the current state of the potion.
Adam further described the smell and consistency of the liquid in every stage of the process, and the fact that the system did not give him any Essence for crafting these potions.
On every aspect of the analysis, Adam is spot on.
He sounded more like a detective than an alchemist when he was making his deductions.
Hao Jun cannot remember the last time he listened with this much attentiveness and genuine curiosity to someone describing how he did something wrong.
No one in his company would have dared to do so, yet here he is listening like a student to a man much younger than he is.
But the information Adam gave cannot be refuted, and so Hao Jun listened with an open mind.
"Right on every account, Mr. Mianju," said Hao Jun with a nod.
It is amazing enough that the man before him managed to describe the potion-making process in such detail. This goes to show that he is indeed qualified to offer his service as a mentor to Hao Jun.
However, there was one thing that did not compute for him. There's something that did not fit in what he heard.
"I have a question, Mr. Mianju," asked Hao Jun. "How did you know that we found the mushroom here?"
Adam had no reason to lie.
"Simple, Mr. Hao," replied Adam. "I was here first and I harvested everything in this cavern to create my first potions."
"Ah, I see." nodded Hao Jun.
There was no point in further delaying the matter: they would need to negotiate their terms.
The pair then started their discussion and it did not take long for the two to reach an agreement.
Adam is to teach Hao Jun, and only him, how to craft basic potion recipes.
Basic potions are what players collectively refer to as health, stamina, and mana potions.
Adam will teach Hao Jun three recipes each for health, stamina, and mana potions- or nine recipes in total.
In exchange, Hao Wei will dispatch laborers to chop twelve thousand pieces of wood.
Adam initially asked for fifteen thousand to act as a buffer for the real quantity that he needed. But Hao Jun countered that such a number is too much for what he is getting in return.
Eventually, the pair settled on twelve thousand.
This is the value that Hao Jun judged to be worth the long-term benefit of being able to craft three types of basic potions- which he can teach to the other alchemists in the guild once he mastered them.
The most crucial detail of this agreement is that Hao Jun must be able to craft the potions by himself and get at least an average-ranked yield.
Only then will Hao Wei give Adam the lumber he asked for.
But Adam didn't mind, he already knew that the man before him would become the future Saint Alchemist. The idea of Hao Jun failing to craft a health potion once proper instruction is given to him is laughable.
Additionally, Hao Wei Guild will provide the ingredients that they will be using for the Alchemy sessions. Adam gave him the list of all the ingredients for the potions that they would need to craft.
He was careful enough to select the recipes with ingredients that could not be combined to form a potion with two effects. While he knows the man will become an Alchemy prodigy very shortly, there is no need to make it easy for the Saint Alchemist by handing him potions he can combine.
Hao Jun asked for a basic potion, and so he will get basic recipes.
As for the next task and item that Adam needed, ten thousand kilograms of ores, a different agreement was reached.
Hao Jun flat-out refused to give Adam ten thousand ores for just a few recipes and Alchemy lessons.
He deemed it to be too much cost both in manpower and time to be exchanged for just some basic recipes.
Instead, Hao Jun proposed a trade; for every ore that he wanted, Adam was to provide potions in return.
Hao Jun knows that Adam will not easily share the more powerful potion and its recipe so he chose this arrangement.
And having no way to refute his reasoning, Adam agreed.
They then polished out the exchange rate not long after:
1 Health Potion (Average) = 0.50 kg Ore
1 Stamina Potion (Average) = 0.75 kg Ore
1 Mana Potion(Average) = 1 kg Ore
1 Health Potion (Notable) = 0.75 kg Ore
1 Stamina Potion (Notable) = 1 kg Ore
1 Mana Potion (Notable) = 1.25 Kg Ore
And the list goes on.
All things considered, the exchange rate that they agreed upon is more or less fair in terms of value.
Hao Jun also proposed a variation of the exchange rate where Adam can ask Hao Wei guild for the ingredients but the ore exchange will be lesser when he trades in the potions- roughly 30% less than the main exchange rate.
It is suspiciously in favor of Adam as Hao Jun could have said 50% less and it would still be a reasonable deal.
However, it is clear as day that Hao Jun is trying to decipher the ingredients needed for the more powerful potions based on what he will be asking for.
As for Adam, he decided to use both exchange rates as needed; some materials are already well-known as good ingredients so there's no harm for him in letting Hao Wei procure the ingredients for him even with the reduced exchange of ore.
In regards to the ingredients that are not yet known by anyone, he can just buy them on his own even if it costs a bit.
On the subject of money, Hao Jun told Adam that he would provide him with a monetary payment that would be sent to him via the auction house as a "bonus" in their arrangement.
It is clear to Adam that it is an attempt to entice him to join Hao Wei without being too obvious about it. But there is no reason for him to refuse easy money so he gracefully accepts it.
The fact that Hao Jun made no mention of asking Adam to join is highly unusual for someone of his stature. The only explanation is that he judged Adam to be someone who would not join just about any guild.
And to be fair, he is spot on with this analysis. The proof is the dozens of guild offers that Adam casually deletes in his inbox.
After everything had been made, they shook hands and agreed to meet again in the cavern within 3 days in-game.
Hao Jun explained that his laborers would need some time to gather the material that they would need; Adam gave him a list of potions he would need for trading with the ores.
This signaled Hao Jun that he would need to acquire as much ore as needed to ensure he had enough to trade with Adam's potions. He wants to make sure the high-quality potions are monopolized by Hao Wei even without directly employing Adam's services.
But Hao Jun underestimated Adam's skill as an alchemist.
There are two simple, glaring factors that even Hao Jun missed in his deal with Adam.
The first is that the potion procedure that Adam would teach him is exclusively suitable for single-potion brewing. Creating potions in huge batches is a different arena than crafting a single bottle of potion.
Hao Jun, as a completely new player, had not considered this. So far in the game, every single alchemist player is only crafting potions by the bottle.
Many would learn the hard way that the procedure for mass production of a potion would be different from crafting a single bottle.
Of course, it is not a secret that an alchemist of sufficient level can create a large batch of potions- the tools that can handle several dozens of liters are proof of that. But no one as of yet has reached the minimum level of competence to pull it off.
That is, except for Adam.
When Adam was taking lessons from Hao Jun in his previous life, he would be repeatedly told to perfect the process of crafting single potions first before trying his hand at preparing large batches.
This is what Hao Jun said to him, and this is what other alchemy teachers would tell their students.
While it is true that crafting a large batch would mean saving a lot of time and earning a large amount of Essence, the likelihood of something going wrong is also much higher.
Within the alchemist player base, there is a huge difference between an expert alchemist who can only craft single potions to a player of the same rank who can craft potions in large quantities.
There are three tiers that alchemists and potion makers are categorized under, and this does not include their class proficiency rank. First are those who can only craft single bottles, and the second are those who can craft them in dozens. And finally, those who can create potions in hundreds of batches.
At this moment, only Adam is capable of creating hundreds of batches of potions in one go. And what's more, he is experienced enough to craft several types of potions at the same time.
No one, for a long while, will be capable of doing something like this. Not even the Saint Alchemist.
The reason that Adam can and others can't at this point is because of his experience in the real world.
The need for potions is at an ever-present high due to the otherworldly threat humanity faces.
Potion makers are required to be able to produce as much as they can while minimizing the waste of materials.
This pressure one faces when crafting a large reservoir of potions, knowing that the outcome would either save lives or end them, is something unimaginable to the people in the present time.
But Adam doesn't need to imagine it, he lived it.
His alchemical skills were forged during harsh times and survived in it, so he came out as a diamond.
Meanwhile, the other players- Hao Jun included, are just beginning to grasp their way into the art of crafting potions.
As for the second factor, it is something that even Adam did not consider as one. But it would be something that Hao Jun would misunderstand during their next meeting.
The pair concluded their discussion.
Instead of walking, Adam used a teleportation scroll to go back to the workshop; he would not leave a trail for Hao Wei scouts to follow him.
And so, acquiring the ten thousand logs and ore is only a matter of time. And Adam doesn't need to do as much work anymore.
Shortly after arriving at the workshop, he promptly logged out.