Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

Gerald didn't really want to join any of the masters here as an apprentice, and at the same time, he also didn't want to take on the dangerous jobs in the Warriors Guild, at least not yet.

He gently stroked the Blood Codex and murmured to himself, "If headmaster Orin knew what a treasure he gave me for free, he would probably die from shock!" He smiled to himself just thinking about all the good stuff that was recorded on the crude paper pages.

Just the potions in the book could make him filthy rich if he could produce them. Although he did have a bit of experience with chemistry from his numerous hobbies and short-lasting interests, he didn't actually have any experience making medicine…or in this case, potions.

There was also a problem with a residence. He couldn't just brew potions in the Inn. That would be too inconvenient and distracting. All the noise coming from all around him could easily make him lose his mind if he was exposed to it for long periods of time.

Besides, he didn't even know if he could get his hands on all the ingredients, and he also didn't know the general price of these potions. That's why he decided to visit a few shops on the merchant's side of the city.

The potion shops were all well maintained and many people were doing business at all times of the day. Gerald entered a random store named The Burning Bottle. Immediately a pleasant smell of herbs, flowers, and spices assaulted his nose.

The shop was selling all kinds of herbs, flowers, and other alchemical ingredients. There were a few old men buying bundles of herbs, empty vials, and some glass beakers, while also selling small chests full of bags of red powder and vials of potions of different colors.

Gerald soon figured out what was going on. They were alchemists that came to buy supplies and at the same time, they sold their products to the shop owners in bulk. It made it much more convenient for them to sell like that, so they could let the professionals deal with sales while they could focus on potion brewing and research.

The shop sold three kinds of healing consumables. From the low-grade to high-grade they were Healing Powder, Healing Potion, and Health Potion. Their respective prices were 5 silver, 25 silver, and one gold coin each.

Of course, that was not all there was. After looking around, Gerald found Smoke bombs, Flashbang grenades, Scent-removing powder, and a Stinky ball, that was supposed to attract monsters. He also found paralyzing and blinding poisons, all for the use against beasts.

"Well, if you aren't the best at strategy or fighting, you always have the option to throw money at the opponent until they die I suppose," Gerald almost laughed at the insane amount of crazy accessories.

That was absolutely confirmed after he found a pair of potions, called Bottled Thunder, that become extremely unstable when mixed together and would then explode on impact. It was basically a hand grenade.

All of these were quite expensive and they were probably meant to be used as a last resort if you were in a pinch.

Next, Gerald focused his attention on the herb section. On this side, he was a bit disappointed, because the herbs were all really common, and not at all what he needed for those amazing potions from the Blood Codex.

After searching for a while, he found the main ingredients for Healing Powder and Healing Potion. It was a plant called Healing Root. It was a small plant with quite chubby red roots. As the name suggests, the healing properties could be found in its roots.

The whole process of potion-making from this plant was extremely simple. You just basically had to extract the juices and then slowly heat them up to reduce the water content. If it lost too much water, it could only be completely dehydrated until it became powder, and that was the Healing Powder.

If you wanted to make a Healing Potion, you had to remove about 50% of the water content, and then add a pinch of Pure Etherium dust, while sending some of your own Mana in, to mix and activate the potion.

The Pure Etherium was called so because it was untainted by a creature's own Magic Element.

From looking at the prices and from the knowledge Gerald had, he figured out that to make a simple Healing Powder, you needed 3-4 Healing Roots. Because the roots cost one silver coin each, you needed 3-4 silver coins to make a Healing Powder.

And because the vials also cost one silver, you could make a small profit or just about break-even, depending on the efficiency of extraction. For a Healing Potion, the Pure Etherium Crystal dust was needed and that added a few silver coins to the initial cost. Of course, the profit was much bigger, going up to nearly 20 silver coins for each potion.

Since the process was so simple, no one made Healing Powder on purpose. It was just that getting the exact water content was not so easy and even experienced alchemists failed sometimes. Healing powder mostly came from the apprentices and mistakes that came during the brewing process.

But simple doesn't mean easy. The process was really slow, lasting a few hours at a time. If the temperature was too hot, the potion would be ruined. Also if the temperature was too low, it would last too long and the healing properties would once again, be lost. That's why one had to have good discipline to keep track of the progress.

Gerald was tempted to buy a few herbs and try brewing potions for himself, however, he just had a bit over a gold coin and no income to speak of.

When he checked for the herbs required for the muscle and bone strengthening potions, he found out that they used pretty rare herbs and if he wanted to buy enough for just one potion, he would need to spend five to ten gold, depending on the potion.

"Aaah…" Gerald was frustrated, "I have so many good recipes but I can't use any of them. The money barrier is just too cruel!" He shook his head in disappointment.

Among all the flowers, roots, and herbs he didn't find the one thing he was most interested in. The God's Blood or Good's Joke, as they called it now.

"Excuse me, mister! Do you perhaps have a herb called God's Joke?" Gerald asked the merchant.

"Eh?" The man looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "God's Joke? Never heard of it," he answered with an annoyed voice. He was convinced Gerald was messing with him. "Why do you youngsters always have such bizarre questions. Go bother someone else and let the grown-ups do their business." He waved his hand indicating Gerald to get out of his sight.

"Tsk. Such nice hospitality. I'm definitely not buying anything here in the future," Gerald murmured to himself and left the shop.

"Sigh, that was the biggest alchemy shop and that old geezer didn't even hear about God's Blood." Gerald sighed. "I'm probably not going to find it that easily." He placed his hand on his forehead to block the sun. "It's going to be night in about five hours… I still got some time today."

"Guess I'll go and register at the Guild and we will go from there," he said to himself and soon arrived in front of a big, two-story building with many people walking in and out.

From his estimations, there were a few children around the age of fifteen all the way up to adults aged 40-50. They were wearing all kinds of attires. From simple cloth robes, leather, and studded armor all the way up to partially and fully-plated iron or steel armor.

Staves, maces, daggers, and bows as well as crossbows, swords, and spears. Every kind of weapon imaginable was present here. Gerald felt a bit overwhelmed by all the versatile equipment.

Finally, he gathered the courage, firmly walked to the front door, and stepped inside.