Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Potion of Focus

"Uh! Amy, why are you here?" Hughes asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Of course, I'm here to sell potions! These are all the ones I've been saving up. They sell really well now. I've already sold quite a lot in just this short while. If you need magic stones, you can sell yours too!" Amy excitedly grabbed Hughes's sleeve as she spoke.

"Uh...," Hughes started to say something, but seeing a crowd gather to buy Amy's potions, he quietly slipped away so as not to disturb her business.

The trading area was growing increasingly crowded. Hughes squeezed through gaps and finally made his way out of the transaction zone.

"Phew!" Back in his dormitory, Hughes set his belongings on the desk, placing the materials he'd bought earlier alongside those Lindsay had helped him collect.

"Today, I can attempt to brew the Focus Potion!" Hughes looked at the materials on the table and brought over the instrument Lindsay had just delivered.

"Chip! Transfer the analysis simulation for the Focus Potion."

"Beep! Transmitting!"

Hughes closed his eyes, absorbing the analysis and procedure delivered by the chip into his mind.

"Alright, time to begin!" Hughes readied his tools and started preparing the ingredients.

Running his hands over the brand new instrument, Hughes felt the difference—much more efficient than his previous set.

Following the chip's analysis, Hughes began to break down the ingredients. The Focus Potion was considered a mid-tier potion, with a greater variety of ingredients and far more complex decomposition steps.

Time ticked by, and beads of sweat appeared on Hughes's brow.

"Beep! Energy reaction expected in four minutes."

Hughes eyed the semi-finished product in his hands, waiting quietly for the change.

After four minutes, the liquid in the test tube began to display an energy transformation, emitting a faint glow and becoming increasingly hot. Thankfully, the temperature remained within Hughes's tolerance; two minutes later, it gradually subsided, and Hughes proceeded to the next step.

The appearance of Scorpion Grass and Scorpion Tail Grass were quite similar, but only the roots of Scorpion Grass were usable—the leaves were toxic.

Taking a small knife, Hughes carefully separated the root, then clipped a bit from the Golden Vine.

Adding both to the liquid, Hughes began to chant, calming the energy within the potion.

This was the most difficult step. The instability of various energies made it hard to bring them into harmony, requiring meticulous handling of the ingredients and precise control of spiritual power.

"Phew! Finally done this time." Hughes hardly dared to breathe, staring at the semi-finished product in his hands. Most of his previous failures had occurred at this stage; this time, he'd succeeded.

"Just one last ingredient!" Hughes picked up the juice of the Human-Faced Rose.

The juice of the Human-Faced Rose was the final step in the Focus Potion, but using it caused a mental shock—a troublesome effect.

Carefully, Hughes dripped a single drop into the mixture, and immediately a piercing scream sounded by his ear.

"Ah!!!" A shrill cry suddenly rang in Hughes's ears.

He felt as if he'd been stabbed with a needle, his ears ringing.

"What an experience!" Hughes exclaimed, finally recovering his composure.

He quickly checked the potion.

"Thank goodness!" Hughes relaxed when he saw the potion was unharmed. If his spiritual power had faltered just now, the potion would have been ruined.

The potion was now at its final stage. Smoke began to swirl from the test tube, circling in the air, dotted with sparkling lights that spun along with the mist.

Hughes knew this was the last step. He focused intently, channeling his spiritual power into the rotating smoke.

The color of the smoke gradually shifted from white to pale pink as the points of light entered it. When all the lights disappeared, Hughes carefully guided the smoke back into the test tube.

He sealed the tube with a wooden stopper and examined the Focus Potion in his hand.

The color and appearance matched exactly the one Count Ulrot had given him—the only thing left was to test its efficacy.

Hughes decided to try the potion, hoping to experience the same surge in spiritual power as before.

He pulled out the stopper, poured the potion into his mouth, and swallowed. The taste was the same as last time.

"According to the chip's calculations, the Focus Potion works best when paired with meditation."

Hughes sat cross-legged, emptied his mind, and quickly entered a meditative state.

This time, the meditation felt very different from before—his facial muscles twitched, and sweat appeared on his forehead.

After about an hour and a half, Hughes finally opened his eyes, gasping and drenched in sweat.

"Why was this meditation so uncomfortable!" Hughes rubbed both temples.

Normally, after meditation, a wizard apprentice would feel tired, but Hughes had never felt so exhausted as he did now.

He felt as though his entire body had been crushed by something, utterly miserable.

"Chip! Pull up the data changes from my last meditation!" Hughes commanded.

At once, a panel appeared before his eyes, displaying streams of data.

"Beep! Host affected by Focus Potion, spiritual power increasing!"

"Beep! Spiritual power increased by 0.01!"

"Beep! Host's meditation deepened, enhancing effect, spiritual power increased by 0.02!"

"Beep! Host's spiritual power further influenced, increased by 0.02!"

"Beep! Host's meditation technique and potion effects synergize, spiritual power increased by 0.05!"

"Beep! Meditation concluded, host's data altered: Hughes Bruch—Strength: 6.8, Agility: 8.54, Constitution: 10.11, Spiritual Power: 9.71, Mana: 9.71 (Mana synchronized with spiritual power), Status: Healthy."

Reviewing his daily stats, Hughes saw that he'd gained a total of 0.3 spiritual power from this meditation.

"This result!" Hughes looked at the data, realizing that it was indeed less than the first time he'd taken the potion. There wouldn't be any antibodies, but a 0.3 increase was already excellent—it saved him a lot of time and would allow him to quickly sketch out 18 spiritual runes.

"Chip! Analyze: if I take the Focus Potion in bulk, how long will it take to complete the spiritual runes?" Hughes asked.

"Beep! Inputting Focus Potion effect, establishing simulation analysis."

"Beep! Comparing Focus Potion data to host's physical state!"

The chip immediately began its analysis, mechanical voices echoing.

"Beep! Based on host's developing resistance and potency attenuation, it is estimated the host will complete 18 spiritual runes in one month."

"Beep! Host detected to be suffering from mental contamination, current contamination level: 8%."

"This mental contamination is the biggest problem!" Hughes mused, troubled. He wanted to finish sketching all the spiritual runes as soon as possible, but now, despite having found a solution, he faced a new obstacle.

"Chip! Is there any way to eliminate this mental contamination?" Hughes asked, unwilling to accept defeat.

"Beep! After using the Focus Potion for meditation, if no further potion is used within two days, mental contamination will automatically clear!" The chip promptly replied.

"Then, according to this, how long will it take to complete all 18 spiritual runes?" Hughes quickly asked.

"Beep! Estimated time will be extended by one month!"

"Two months? That's not so bad, then I won't worry." Hughes felt relieved; two months was acceptable, and rushing wouldn't help.

Hughes's spiritual power was now at the peak of a third-level apprentice, but the runes were still far from complete.

The benchmark for a third-level apprentice was mastering at least two zero-level spell templates and sketching 18 spiritual runes.

Spiritual runes not only determined whether one had reached the third-level apprentice, but also prepared for the eventual breakthrough to a full-fledged wizard.

This was a brief mention Hughes had found in a book. For some reason, the academy offered very little information about becoming an official wizard; even when it appeared in texts, it was glossed over in a single line, devoid of any substantial value.

If Hughes continued as planned, in two months, once all 18 spiritual runes were completed, his spiritual power would reach 10 or even higher, granting him eligibility to advance to an official wizard. Yet, he had absolutely no information on how to make that advancement.