Imperial Crown.

Chapter 204: Refining the Magic Potion
Hovey City, Fox Castle.

Montreal looked at the documents on the desk, his expression changing constantly.

It contained Raven's entire life story.

If Montreal had not seen Raven with his own eyes, it would be difficult for him to connect a "little bee" active in the lower levels of Mon'en City with the nobleman who is now the county governor and may be promoted to viscount at any time.

Montreal recognized Raven's Machiavelli.

The tug-of-war between him and Earl Tyrone was truly spectacular.

But surprisingly, Raven also made considerable achievements in the economic field. Not only did he run his territory successfully, earning praise from the spies he sent out, but he also formed a business alliance.

Through the lavish display of Viscount Hyde, the youngest son of Earl Tyrone, trading with the Merchant Alliance and gaining more points in exchange for high-quality products and equipment has shown signs of becoming a popular trend.

This can be seen from the increasingly violent temper of his eldest son Gul'dan and the increasing curses on Raven and Hyde.

Montreal had to admit that Raven was indeed a role model among the younger generation of nobles in the Nord Province.

At this moment, a melodious bell sounded. Montreal looked up, the door of the study was opened, and a fiery red figure flowed into the room.

She had two ponytails on her head that looked like flaming ribbons, which jumped up and down with her movements, making her lively and cute. Her apple-like face was not made up, and her eyebrows and eyes carried an inseparable mixture of childishness and arrogance. The corners of her mouth were slightly raised, revealing dimples on her cheeks.

Facing Montreal, she lifted her bright red pleated skirt with her hands wrapped in white silk gloves, revealing two pink calves in white stockings. After she put her right foot in front of her left foot, she tapped the ground with the toes of her round-toed leather boots and saluted, "Father, you called me?"

Montreal looked at his daughter, a dazed look in his eyes.

The older she gets, the more she looks like her mother, in every smile and voice.

This also made Montreal think of his deceased wife every time he met Nancy, and realize again the fact that she had left him forever.

Turning his gaze slightly away, Montreal asked softly, "How's your training been lately?"

"I'm already a third-level magician! Look, father!" Nancy stretched out her hand and a bird covered in flaming feathers immediately landed on her shoulder: "This is my magical pet, Finie!"

Montreal smiled and nodded: "Very good, our Fox family finally has a genius."

Then, seemingly casually, Montreal said, "However, I heard that there is another genius in our Nord Province."

Nancy was aroused by her competitive spirit: "Who is it?"

"Raven, Raven Ota Griffith." Montreal said, "He has only been a magician for a little over a year, and I heard he has already reached the second level."

I thought my daughter would fly into a rage, or at least show some resistance, but after hearing this name, Nancy actually smiled: "Father, you also know it. I told you that his talent in magic practice may not be as good as mine, but he has an affinity with the four elements!"

"And he's also very good at leading troops in battle. At the beginning, I thought..."

At this point, Nancy quickly changed her words: "I heard that he only brought more than a hundred people to charge up the bloody heights and killed the third-level Sand King Heleti!"

Montreal didn't care about Nancy's little thoughts. He actually knew that Nancy had gone to the Bloody Heights with Raven.

But in the final analysis, he didn't really care about Nancy's life or death, otherwise he wouldn't have pretended to be ignorant. Instead, he would have severely reprimanded her and taught her to cherish her life.

"It seems that you have great respect for Raven." Montreal smiled kindly: "Then I have a question for you."

A few minutes later, Nancy walked out of the study, skipping and looking quite happy.

Montreal drummed his fingers on the table and whispered to the butler, "Prepare the car and tell Gul'dan to take over the territory temporarily. I'm going on a long journey."

The butler was a little surprised: "My Lord Earl, where are you going?"

"Eagle Leader."

At this moment, Raven didn't know that Montreal was coming. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have any extra thoughts.

If you have too many lice, you won’t be itchy. If you have too many debts, you won’t have to worry.

I have to say that if you want to demystify something, the best way is to have long-term contact with it.

In fact, after playing chess with Crouch for several days in a row, Raven's sense of mystery about the rumored strong man was quickly stripped away. At least Crouch's joys and sorrows were not much different from those of an ordinary old man.

On this day, Raven was playing chess with Crouch again.

Since he wanted to please the divine magician, Raven naturally could not keep up his killing spree. Instead, he began to let him go little by little, and intentionally or unintentionally told Crouch some patterns. This also allowed Crouch to gradually see a glimmer of hope after repeated failures.

Four more games were played today, and Raven won three and lost one.

The victorious Crouch was as happy as a child, his gums popping out with joy, and he "generously" let Raven go.

After Raven returned to Eagle Castle, he began to deal with some daily affairs, such as communication with Denise.

There was no trace of ambiguity in the correspondence between the two. Apart from some of the latest news from Mon'en City, they were basically talking about official business.

This time, Denise collected the last three ingredients of the magic-making potion, which is the mage awakening potion, and sent it to Raven along with the letter.

The letter also mentioned that a batch of slaves ordered from Slave Bay had been loaded and would arrive in Mon City in about a month.

Slave Bay is a well-known neutral zone located in the west of Middles Continent, across the sea from the mainland by Stormfjord. As the name suggests, various slaves are often sold abroad.

This time, Raven ordered one hundred war slaves and five hundred artisan slaves with various skills.

War slaves will be sent to the arena for performances, and artisan slaves will be added to various industries in the territory.

After putting the letter away, Raven put the raw materials into the secret room, and then ordered someone to call the alchemist Buggy.

The first thing Bucky saw was the swaggering Kumquat.

Extending from the pot are six branches, as thick as chopsticks, with bamboo-like knots growing about two centimeters apart. The orange-yellow bark has light red root-like patterns.

The six branches have no leaves, but three flower buds growing on the top of each branch. The silver petals are as thin as cicada wings, and each petal holds a fruit the size of a peach pit. The peel is like an orange, bumpy and pure gold in color. Three purple threads are wrapped around it, dividing it evenly into four parts.

The third-level magic plant, Congyun Kumquat, produces fruits of different qualities depending on the growing environment.

Three purple lines mean that they are definitely third-level fruits, and one fruit costs nearly 4000 gold coins!

There are eighteen of them growing on this kumquat, which means more than 70000 gold coins!
Enough to drown Bucky in it!

"My Lord Baron, are you... planning to make the 'golden suspension'?"

Golden suspension, a second-level potion, can increase the meditation efficiency of a second-level magician by about 45% and last for one month.

"That would be such a waste." Raven shook his head: "What I want to make is a third-level magic potion..."

Bucky's throat moved. The most unlikely answer, but the only possible answer in the current situation, appeared in his mind and flowed out of his mouth: "...You mean, magic potion?!"

Raven did not answer, but said: "I will tell you only if you make a soul oath."

The Soul Oath is the heaviest oath a magician can make. Once a magician breaks the oath, whether actively or passively, his soul will disintegrate from the inside and completely lose all traces of his existence. This is also the most confidential oath.

Although they cannot cast even the most basic magic, alchemists do have magical powers and are qualified to swear soul oaths.

Bucky had almost no hesitation. For him, if he could get access to the formula for the magic potion, it would be totally worth it even if he died immediately!

He took a deep breath and knelt on one knee, the magic power in his body began to rise and fall: "I, Bucky, swear hereby that what I see next will not be passed on to any other existence in any way."

"Whether I am active or passive, whether I am awake or confused, when any message comes out of me, the language I speak, the words I write, and the pictures I draw will become incomprehensible, and my soul will collapse and dissipate!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the magic power in Buggy's body began to boil, flowing upstream through his skin, condensing into an indescribable shadow behind him, and then disappeared.

Bucky was sweating profusely, as if he had just been fished out of the river. He stood up, his tone trembling with anxiety: "Baron..."

Raven took out an ancient scroll from his belt. It was the scroll he got from Anno, which contained the formula for the magic potion!
Taking the scroll with both hands, Bucky carefully unfolded it as if he was holding a newborn baby, and then the contents came into his eyes.

Bucky read the contents intently, his expression like a devout believer facing God.

"He is simply possessed." Black Cat Sikoret whispered.

"You can't live without being crazy." Raven shook his head and said with emotion.

After a long while, Buggy, who was immersed in the scroll, finally looked up: "So this is the magic casting potion... It's really... wonderful!"

"I asked you to come here not just to watch." Raven said, "Next I am going to mix a third-level magic potion, you come and help me."

“What?” Buggy was stunned for a moment: “But a third-level potion must be prepared by a third-level magician. You…”

"Who do you think I am?" The black cat blinked.

A talking black cat?

Magic pet!!
Bucky couldn't believe what he saw. The shock was even more intense than the formula of the magic potion!

Raven, actually became a third-level magician?
He is only twenty-two years old this year!
There have been magicians of 22 years old in history, but Raven has only been a magician for two years!
If he advances one level a year, maybe the speed will slow down later, but where will his end point be?
A seventh-level great magician, an eighth-level great mage, or even the legendary ninth-level legendary magician! ?

At this moment, Buggy forever lost the desire to compare himself with Raven and truly began to look up to this lord.

"I understand, Lord Baron. I will do my best to assist you in completing this task!"

The formula of the third-level magic potion is complicated. In addition to the Congyun Kumquat and the golden magma produced by the locust-headed bees, there are nine other magical raw materials. There are hundreds of steps involved, and every step cannot be sloppy.

For the next eight days, apart from playing chess with Crouch at a fixed spot every day, Raven spent almost all his time in the secret room.

After decades of work, Buggy has accumulated quite mature operational experience, and Raven has the Eyes of Truth and his mental strength has become more stable, so things are gradually getting better.

Finally, on the afternoon of the ninth day, after consuming the eleventh Kumquat, the first magic-casting potion was successfully refined.

It has a sticky and thick texture with tiny bits of silvery debris floating in it, just like the deep night sky bottled in a bottle!
"It's done, it's finally done!" Holding the bottle, Buggy's tears kept rolling down his eyes: "Third-level magic potion, third-level!!!"

"If I had this medicine earlier, why would I have to..."

At this point he broke down in tears.

When he awakened, Buggy took a first-level magic-making potion, which allowed him to successfully awaken his qualifications as a magician, but it also cut off his path as a magician, forcing him to be an alchemist for the rest of his life!
Now he finally had the third-level potion in his hand, but it was too late. The blocked road could not be cleared no matter what!
“Bucky.”

"Lord Raven!" Buggy came back to his senses and wiped his tears with his sleeves.

Although he was happy, Raven's brows were still furrowed. "I think the potion we made still has flaws."

"The medicinal properties of Congyun Kumquat were not fully utilized. Instead, a lot of it was consumed during the refining process."

Baki didn't expect that Raven could remain calm after achieving such an achievement. Recalling the details of the refining process, he agreed: "I think it may be because the quality of the Congyun kumquats you planted is too high."

Raven raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean?"

"You still lack experience in alchemy. There are many things that are not in the books." Baki said, "In fact, these days, I gradually discovered that the essence of magic potion still lies in Congyun Jinju."

"All other auxiliary materials are used to stimulate the medicinal properties of Congyun Kumquat as much as possible and reduce its side effects."

"The quality of the Congyun kumquats you grow is so good that there are almost no side effects. In this case, some auxiliary materials may not play a supporting role, but may be a disturbance."

"Just like the 'Green Root Peach' you cultivated, when I use it to refine the primary recovery potion, I will also reduce the amount of auxiliary materials as appropriate."

Raven already had some ideas about these during the refining process, but his primary goal before was to refine the magic-casting potion. Now that he has succeeded, he can consider improvements.

Even with the third-level magic potion, the awakening success rate is only around 80%. What Raven needs is to increase this probability as much as possible.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Raven said calmly, "I allow you to experiment with the Congyun kumquat and help me list the possible methods."

Then, Raven turned his gaze to the black cat: "If he needs to use third-level magic power, then you can help."

"Me?" Sikoret wagged his tail. "No!"

“Three brown dace a day.”

"Gojo!"

"make a deal!"

The black cat opened its mouth and spit out a black vortex of magic, which turned into a silver bell and flew to Buggy's hand: "Yes, next time you need me, ring the bell. Remember, you can only ring it once!"

Buggy took the bell and said, "My Lord Baron, I will definitely not let you down!"

In the blink of an eye, it was May 5th.

Summer has arrived inadvertently. Pedestrians on the street have already changed into light summer clothes. Cicadas have crawled out of the soil, climbed onto the branches, and started chirping.

Two full years had passed since Raven became a baron.

Eagle Castle became lively again.

Because today is the day Raven was adopted by the orphanage, which is also Raven’s birthday.

This is the first time he celebrates his birthday.

In addition to celebrating birthdays, there is another big event today.

That is, Raven is going to enthrone the first batch of knights.

……

(End of this chapter)