Chapter 123: Preparing for Rain

He downed the black coffee in one gulp.

As the coffee's unique bitter-sweet flavor bloomed on his taste buds,

Gunie finally let out a breath.

All told, the resources sent by the Pioneer Corps alone amounted to three or four hundred thousand gold pounds.

Not to mention the laboratory and the allocation of related experimental and support personnel.

Gunie himself had invested no small amount of Life Spring Water.

Every day, Gunie poured in seven to eight hundred milliliters of Life Spring Water, and on some days, even over a thousand milliliters.

At market prices, just the Life Spring Water cost over ten thousand gold pounds a day.

Although the Pioneer Corps also gave Gunie a fair amount of Life Spring Water each cycle, compared to what Gunie himself invested, their contribution was clearly a small fraction.

And to ensure that the experimental personnel wouldn't discover the potion was entirely Life Spring Water,

after preparing the Rune Potion, Gunie would always dilute it with refined Source Spring Water.

Diluting after preparation wouldn't destroy the already formed transcendent properties—it would only slightly weaken the potency.

But for Silver-Armored Rats, which were so small, even diluted, the lethal effect remained strong.

Over this period, Gunie had killed quite a number of Silver-Armored Rats.

Having poured in a vast amount of resources, he had finally achieved results.

“Rune Potion No. 132, with the side effect of deep sleep?”

Gunie quickly recalled in his mind the relevant information about this No. 132 Soul-Type Rune Potion.

“It contains six components, one of which is the transcendent property of the ‘Soul-Drop Flower,’ a transcendent plant that can heal soul injuries but puts the user into a state of deep sleep.”

“Moreover, the content of ‘Soul-Drop Flower’ in this No. 132 Rune Potion is quite high.”

“It seems that in subsequent research, the dosage of this ‘Soul-Drop Flower’ should be slightly reduced.”

“That way, the drinker won’t enter a state of soul sleep, because soul sleep might lead to never waking up.”

“That this Silver-Armored Rat woke up doesn’t mean that a human transcendent using a standard dose would also wake up. If they don’t wake up, then this Rune Potion loses much of its significance.”

After pondering this, Gunie looked at Dr. Henry.

“Over the next couple of days, I’ll speed up the research on derivative potions of No. 132.”

“And you need to keep up with the supporting detailed research, making a thorough assessment of soul sleep.” Gunie said.

“Alright, rest assured, I’ll fully cooperate with your research.” Dr. Henry affirmed.

After a brief discussion, Dr. Henry took his leave.

Once Dr. Henry had left, Gunie got up and walked toward his private alchemy lab.

For every Rune Potion, Gunie kept detailed records of the exact mixing ratios, methods, material concentrations, and formula ingredients.

In the documentation, Gunie found the original file for Rune Potion No. 132.

Sixth-tier Nightmare Fragment: solubility 12.8%.

Around 200-year-old Black Vine Root: solubility 33.4%.

Around 200-year-old Soul-Drop Flower: solubility 29.6%.

Sixth-tier Nightmare Dragon Solid Blood: solubility 18.6%.

Around 150-year-old Soul-Saliva Grass: solubility 24.6%.

Around 200-year-old Sea Soul Flower: solubility 24.4%.

These solubilities were obtained by Gunie through detailed observation of the active state of transcendent properties using his transcendent vision, achieving the optimal ratios.

“Priceless!” Gunie murmured softly as he looked at the list of solubility ratios and the recorded experimental methods.

Then he put away the formula sheet.

Before achieving results, these ineffective solubility formulas had no confidentiality value.

But now that results were achieved, Gunie needed to securely store all related data in the system space.

“Reduce the proportion of ‘Soul-Drop Flower’ by a certain amount, lowering its transcendent property by one level, so that the user enters ordinary sleep or deep sleep rather than soul sleep.

That way, if any unexpected situation occurs, the transcendent who drinks the potion can wake up in time.”

“Regardless, this No. 132 Soul Rune Potion, with only the side effect of deep sleep, has finally been formulated.”

“The usage standard has been met.”

“What remains is optimization: weaken the negative effects and enhance the improvement of soul transcendent properties.”

“Currently, this Soul Rune Potion can raise the Silver-Armored Rat’s soul transcendent property intensity from 0.42 to 0.66. After optimization, with the same dosage, it might reach 0.76 or even 0.86. The stronger the effect, the better.”

After lighting the small high-temperature furnace, turning on the steam engine, activating the Source Energy Tower, and restarting the entire potion test bench, Gunie quickly entered work mode.

This time, Gunie would use Rune Potion No. 132 as a blueprint to develop a series of subsequent potions, adjusting ratios to find the optimal formula.

…

Two and a half hours later.

Gunie stopped working.

On the workbench before him lay five Soul Rune Potions, labeled 132-1 through 132-5.

“Hand them to Dr. Henry and wait for the results,” Gunie thought to himself.

Then he let out a long breath.

With the potion blueprint ready, Gunie felt much more relaxed.

After all, the transformation of soul transcendent properties from “ordinary soul” to “elite soul” had been his long-standing pursuit.

Relieved, a thought naturally surfaced in Gunie’s mind.

That was:

“Should I… stockpile some materials now?”

Gunie was well aware that once the perfect “Soul Rune Potion” was developed and the formula handed over to the Pioneer Corps’ top brass,

the Corps would soon mobilize its resources to ramp up purchases of such materials across the Yulan Empire, even throughout the northern market of the Oya Continent.

Based on past experiences with panic buying of salt and rice,

when major events occur, even with significant government regulation, prices double.

And in this market, where macroeconomic regulation is nearly absent,

once a buying frenzy erupts, prices become unimaginable.

These materials, aged one to two hundred years, fluctuated in value between 20 and 50 gold pounds.

Once the Pioneer Corps launched large-scale purchases, prices would inevitably rise.

If news leaked that these materials could be used to make Rune Potions,

prices could break through one hundred or even two hundred gold pounds, reaching an astronomical four to five hundred gold pounds.

At that point, the cost of producing Rune Potions that enhance soul transcendent properties would also rise accordingly.

Wealthy transcendents were willing to spend large sums just because “high-grade rare potions” could slightly enhance various attributes.

Once these Rune Potions were available for public sale, they would surely pay even more to acquire them.

These potions, costing hundreds of gold pounds to produce, could be marked up seven or eight times, even ten times.

It was certain that these Rune Potions would not be accessible to ordinary transcendents.

Even ordinary nobles might not qualify to use them.

In fact, these Rune Potions might even become strategic items for the Pioneer Corps or even the Yulan Transcendent Association.

But for now, none of this had happened yet.

The materials listed in the documentation were still quite cheap at current market prices.

“Stockpiling some is only right. After all, even if I don’t engage in speculative reselling, I need these materials myself to make potions and enhance my own soul transcendent properties.”

“Stockpiling now also lowers my own enhancement costs, so I won’t end up in the ridiculous situation where I can’t even buy materials to make the potion I developed.”

“I won’t stockpile too much—too much might tip people off. Just stockpile around thirty to fifty thousand gold pounds’ worth of materials.”

“But the problem is…” Gunie rubbed his temples.

“Where do I get that many gold pounds?”

Lately, Gunie had made some profit from brewing potions, plus the gold pounds left over from before.

Currently, Gunie had just over three thousand gold pounds on him.

That three thousand-plus gold pounds was a drop in the bucket compared to thirty to fifty thousand.

“Maybe…”

“I could…”

As he thought, Gunie came up with a good idea.