Chapter 3 The Apothecary's Identity

Passing through several streets.

Finally, Gune stopped in front of 155 Old Stone Street in the Blackmap District.

The Blackmap District was a mixed bag, with many thieves and robbers.

Some young, inexperienced noble scions who wandered in would often come to grief.

But Gune, who had lived here for sixteen years and was a native, naturally had no petty thief foolish enough to try picking his pocket.

If any petty thief actually did so, he might not be able to use that hand for thievery again.

The former Gune might have needed some protection from "Old Man Cohen."

But now, with the system and having idled for half a year, Gune was far beyond what any petty thief could provoke.

He unlocked the door with his key.

As soon as he entered, Gune detected a faint medicinal scent.

This medicinal scent was barely noticeable to ordinary people.

Under Gune's nose, the composition of the materials, the suitability of the temperature, and the duration of boiling in the potion were all laid bare.

Generally speaking, even a high-rank supernatural apothecary would not have such a miraculous ability to sensitively perceive potions.

Yet Gune, who was not a supernatural, possessed this extraordinary sense of smell.

The reason was.

Gune's supernatural scripture, "Bone Origin Potion Secret Incantation," had been forcibly idled up to as high as the sixth level through half a year of idle cultivation.

The Bone Origin Potion Secret Incantation was a secret incantation that comprehensively improved and enhanced perception and insight into potions through training in taste, vision, smell, touch, and control over mixing strength, thereby increasing the success rate of potion making.

Many apothecaries would practice similar supernatural scriptures, "Potion Secret Incantations," to improve and strengthen their control over potion mixing.

Even if the Potion Secret Incantation had not reached the first level, only entry-level.

One could become a qualified apothecary.

Even so.

Out of a hundred apprentice apothecaries, only seven or eight could truly become apothecaries.

Many old apothecaries who had spent their lives in alchemy would, at the end of their days, only have their Potion Secret Incantation at entry level, barely reaching the first level.

This shows how difficult it is to cultivate the Potion Secret Incantation.

After all, the Potion Secret Incantation was a true supernatural scripture, difficult for ordinary people to glimpse its true essence.

It was only natural that the difficulty of cultivation was high.

Even a first-level Potion Secret Incantation was this difficult.

As for those who possessed a second-level or even third-level Potion Secret Incantation.

Needless to say, they would definitely be the core cultivation targets of many supernatural forces.

Those rare individuals with a fourth-level or even fifth-level Potion Secret Incantation were undoubtedly legendary apothecaries who had left their names in the history of the continent.

And Gune.

After half a year of idling, his Bone Origin Potion Secret Incantation had risen to the sixth level, and in a while it would reach the seventh.

A Potion Secret Incantation of this level was unprecedented in the entire history of the Oya Continent.

The power of the idle system was evident.

Having detected the potion's composition, Gune clearly knew what it was.

Its name was "Essence Healing Potion."

Compared to ordinary healing potions, which simply overdrew life force to heal injuries.

The Essence Healing Potion relied more on the life-healing essence attached to the potion itself to treat the injured.

The Essence Healing Potion was much more difficult to brew than ordinary healing potions.

It was one of the most difficult potions to mix among beginner potions, even harder to mix and brew than some intermediate potions.

Even Old Man Cohen, a certified junior apothecary recognized by the Apothecary Guild, had only a fifty percent success rate.

But Gune's success rate was over ninety-nine percent.

Therefore, in Old Man Cohen's apothecary shop, many potions that were difficult to mix were mostly brewed by Gune.

Opening the secret door, Gune descended the stone steps into the spacious and bright underground alchemy laboratory.

"Back!" An old, slightly hoarse voice came over.

White-haired but full of energy, wearing glasses, Old Cohen was mixing a large beaker of Essence Healing Potion on a complete set of distillation, boiling, separation, and mixing potion-making equipment.

"Mm!" Gune replied softly.

Then, Gune walked over to the large beaker, large enough to hold his head, paused for a dozen seconds to gaze at it, and then spoke.

"The temperature is a bit high. Lower the temperature a little, then add 180 milliliters of purified water. In twenty minutes, a high-quality Essence Healing Potion can be perfectly produced."

Saying this, Gune slightly lowered the flame temperature under the beaker, then casually opened a test tube containing purified water and poured 180 milliliters into it.

That test tube of 200 milliliters of purified water, in Gune's dexterous hands, was precisely poured out 180 milliliters, leaving 20 milliliters, with an error margin of less than one percent.

Old Cohen beside him also turned his head to look.

Old Cohen was not at all surprised by this scene.

Gune's alchemical skill had long surpassed his own; he was well aware of this.

If Gune wanted, he could go to the Apothecary Guild to take the apothecary examination.

He could easily become an officially certified apothecary, then quickly become a senior apothecary, or even an expert apothecary.

But Old Cohen knew Gune's nature.

Such a showy affair with little benefit was certainly not something Gune would do.

"Dad, the shop doesn't seem to be short of these Essence Healing Potions. Besides, we still have plenty of spare ones mixed with purified water... um, I mean those healing potions that ordinary adventurers can't tell apart."

"Why brew so many Essence Healing Potions?"

"Heh heh..." Cohen laughed with a slightly hoarse voice.

"Take a look at this..."

Cohen pointed to a copy of the Magnolia Steam Daily on the newspaper rack.

The Magnolia Steam Daily was a highly timely newspaper compiled and published by the Magnolia Empire's premier newspaper office.

Compared to ordinary regular section dailies, the supernatural section that Old Cohen subscribed to was more than ten times more expensive, and the information recorded in this supernatural section was all supernatural-side information inaccessible to ordinary people.

Gune walked over, picked up the newspaper, and looked at the front page.

What met his eyes was a bloody and brutal scene.

Fortunately, it was a black-and-white image, so it wasn't too horrifying.

In the image was a mountain of heads piled together, a head-high mountain of skulls.

The heads had their eyes and mouths open, ferocious, pained, and frenzied, with blood soaking the surrounding area for several meters.

As if they were enduring some indescribable pain even after death.

Behind the horrifying piled skull mountain, numerous headless bodies were dismembered and scattered about.

Even Gune, who had some understanding of the supernatural world.

Still felt a chill down his spine when confronted with such an eerie ritual and terrifying death scene.

There were corresponding annotations on the side.

"Anke Province, border town 'Blacktooth Town': over two hundred people brutally murdered, their heads severed. Preliminary investigation suggests it was deliberately carried out by followers of the 'Giant God Cult' to create a 'Blood Sacrifice Ritual.' After the incident, the Anke Province 'Supernatural Association' has intervened in the investigation."

"Giant God Cult? Anke Province? We're in Anke Province." Gune's heart stirred, and he blurted out.

"Yes."

"And Blacktooth Town is only about fifty kilometers from here."

"Judging by the scale of this operation, there won't be few of these cultists."

"And our Sugg Ruins City has a large floating population, making it an excellent hiding place."

"Some of those cultists are bound to have fled into our Sugg Ruins City."

"In fact, it's even possible that some of the cultists who performed the evil ritual in Blacktooth Town came from Sugg Ruins City."

"Baron Tram came to see me this morning. The Fourth Garrison Guard of Sugg Ruins City under his command will deploy troops to search out and eliminate those cultists. There might be some fierce fighting."

"So he came to buy a batch of 'Essence Healing Potions' from me."

"You know, Baron Tram has a good cooperative relationship with us."

"So the potions sold to him are all genuine." Gune quipped in turn.

"Those sold to others are also genuine, just slightly less effective." Cohen shrugged, showing no shame for his profiteering behavior.

"Have these Giant God Cult followers become so rampant? Daring to commit crimes openly?" Gune furrowed his brow in thought.

Since he had transmigrated into this steampunk world.

Over the past half year.

Although Gune had obtained much information from newspapers.

This world was not peaceful; in fact, it was turbulent beneath the surface.

Among the reports, the most frequent were about the brutal and bloody methods of those evil god cultists.

But most of the time, they operated covertly, and the scale usually involved only a small number of people.

Overall, they hadn't made any big news; even when they did, the reports only occupied a very small corner of the Steam Daily, easily missed if one wasn't paying attention.

This time, they had openly slaughtered over two hundred people and dared to perform a blood sacrifice ritual.

This was indeed much more brazen than usual.

"It's not just here. From what I've learned, similar things have happened in other border areas, just not reported." Old Cohen said while handling the medicinal herbs.

As he spoke, Old Cohen looked at Gune.

"Things might get chaotic for a while. If you don't have to, it's best not to go out."

Rubbing his brow, Gune narrowed his eyes in thought.

After a moment, Gune nodded slightly.

"Mm, I know."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I found that supernatural scripture on the Supernatural Knight Breathing Method you asked me to find." Old Cohen suddenly looked up and said abruptly.

"This is a complete Supernatural Knight Breathing Method."

"A Supernatural Knight Breathing Method, and a complete one at that." Gune's heart leaped with joy upon hearing this.