Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 109 Major Side Effect Verification Period
Sophia the witch looked up at Locke in surprise, frowned, and then lowered her head to gently sniff the ointment. About half a minute later...

Sophia the Witch looked up, frowned, then raised an eyebrow, giving a slightly comical expression. "Lucky?"

“Locke, you have an amazing intuition.” As a first-circle potion master, Sophia immediately understood what Locke had done after hearing him explain the key to his thinking. “The spores of the maidenhair fern have a special natural magical structure, similar to the trick model of the Tranquility spell from the Enchanting school. And the combined effect of Tranquility and Concentration Ointment…”

"It might have some kind of memory-enhancing effect." Sophia, a first-circle potion master, quickly deduced the effects of the memory ointment based on the existing properties of the medicine. "Locke, I'm lucky to have a student like you."

Sophia the witch said with some worry, "After teaching you, I'm afraid I'll feel a sense of loss when I teach other students, and I won't be able to muster any enthusiasm anymore."

"A student like you is a rare find."

The witch Sophia said, "It seems that you also have a great talent for potion making, and you have a very keen intuition for potion formulations."

“If you hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have noticed that the calming properties of maidenhair fern spores can enhance memory,” the witch Sophia said thoughtfully. “That has actually given me some inspiration.”

"Perhaps I can also concoct a new memory-related potion, but I'll pass on that for now; I'm too busy. I'll think about it after I go to the Starfield Sea. The Starfield Sea is a mid-to-high magic environment, and the magical resources there will be more abundant."

Sophia the Witch looked at Locke and said, "But there's a problem now. Even if I can roughly guess the effects of your potion and see from experience that it's truly effective."

“Those ordinary wizards are different from me, and there are others like you who can’t pass the academy’s review.”

Locke asked, "Teacher, what should I do now?"

Sophia the witch smiled. "If you need to find test subjects, first use animals, then mortals, and then wizard apprentices."

“Going through the whole process will take at least one or two years, and that’s assuming your ointment is truly effective and doesn’t have any major side effects.”

"After all, I'm not sure if your ointment has any side effects. If it has significant side effects and enters the 'major side effect verification period,' it could take four or five years to complete."

"I mean, after five years, the White Wizard Association will ban their sale and they can only be used for research."

Locke frowned, sensing that this was a troublesome matter.

Indeed, it will take a year to complete this process, and the key issue is that I am currently short of money.

I can't wait that long.

No wonder people say potion-making is an expensive profession; it really is.

I know that the memory ointment has no side effects, but others don't.

Because I can see the entries but others can't, I need to conduct an experiment to gain the trust of the White Wizard Association, the academy's higher-ups, and others.

But this process is too complicated.

Sophia the Witch hesitated for a moment, then said, "Actually, I don't think your ointment will have any side effects, because the main part is still the Concentration Ointment, just with a slight change in the process. Maidenhair fern spores are also a relatively safe ingredient."

“In this situation, I suggest you skip some procedures as appropriate,” the witch Sophia sighed. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

"If we strictly follow the procedures of the White Wizard Association, we potion makers will starve. Developing a new potion and waiting for it to be tested takes several years, but the window of opportunity to become a full-fledged wizard is only a dozen years."

"By the time I enjoy the benefits of developing new potion formulas, I will have missed the best age window to advance to a formal wizard."

Sophia the Witch said, "So regulations are one thing, but we have our own set of unwritten rules. Generally, when the development is relatively safe, the materials used do not involve highly poisonous potion ingredients, and the existing formula is just an improvement on the existing potion formula, some procedures can be skipped appropriately."

The witch Sophia raised her right index finger and said, "You can conduct experiments on animals and mortals at the same time."

"Once both experiments are about a third complete and it's basically confirmed that everything is fine, we can proceed directly to the wizard apprentice experiment."

"The three processes can be carried out simultaneously, which can shorten the time to about four or five months. If you are really sure that there are no problems at all... you can even shorten the time even further. In the end, you just need to produce three reports."

"Compressing the time to three months is not a problem."

"The White Wizarding Association and the academy's higher-ups mostly turn a blind eye to this, since the regulations are based on ideal conditions, and there are many conflicts of interest in reality," said Witch Sophia. "As long as it's not too outrageous, the academy generally won't investigate further." "Of course, potion-making assistants who know their potions have major flaws but conceal them, delay entering the [major side effect verification period], and even use wizard apprentices as test subjects, are a different story."

Upon hearing this, Locke immediately thought of Angron, a first-class wizard apprentice.

That guy's mental enhancement drug can no longer be described as having side effects; it's more accurate to say that the side effects are even greater than the drug's effects.

As a result, that guy still went around looking for wizard apprentices, deceiving others into signing contracts to become his experimental subjects.

The witch Sophia gave Locke a slight warning: "There are a very small number of official wizards in the academy who will protect their outstanding students and conduct very radical potion experiments, even ignoring the serious side effects of the potions themselves."

"Even if something goes wrong, they will use their influence to suppress it."

“But I am not that kind of person. Locke, I hope you will not lose yourself in power, you must learn to respect power.”

The witch Sophia cautioned, "The arrogant people I've seen have never come to a good end, no matter how proud they are now."

Locke nodded seriously. "Don't worry, teacher, I will definitely not tarnish your reputation."

Sophia the Witch smiled with satisfaction. "It seems you really need to establish your own independent pharmaceutical lab; otherwise, you won't be qualified to enter the drug formulation review process."

“I can lend you all three of my students,” Sophia the witch said, a hint of weariness flashing across her face. “Anyway, I haven’t had time to teach them lately.”

“The academy has been assigning me quite a few new tasks lately,” said the witch Sophia. “So you can just find another second-class wizard apprentice yourself.”

Locke nodded, his mind quickly flashing through a list of many second-class wizard apprentices, while also thinking about who he should use for his experiments.

First, since he was absolutely certain that his ointment was safe, he could directly use a third-class wizard apprentice as a test subject. The best candidate would be Pierre, who possessed a special constitution.

Being a guinea pig for someone else's new potion formula is a huge risk for others, but for me, it's basically like getting a free benefit. I can use my own memory ointment for free, and even get the magic stones I paid for.

Locke wouldn't have done something so unprofitable if it weren't for having to appease the academy and the White Wizard Association, and for obtaining experimental data that others could believe.

So, for such a great opportunity, I should definitely bring along my good friend Pierre.

Fortunately, he has a special constitution with low magic resistance, so the experimental data he produces is the most convincing.

If even a wizard prodigy with low magic resistance and a high risk of allergies can use it for three months without any problems, then no one can say anything.

The witch Sophia gave Locke a document, which was about the Healing Hand Clinic. Locke took the document and asked in confusion, "What's this?"

Sophia the Witch said wearily, "The fighting on the front lines is fierce, and the academy has recently seen many patients."

"Therefore, I was assigned a lot of healing tasks. Other formal wizards have a lot of wizard apprentices to help them, but I don't, so this has consumed a lot of my energy."

“Furthermore, I also have to participate in the teaching qualification examination in the Starfield Sea, which puts me in a very difficult position. The academy's higher-ups would probably be happy to see me fail the teaching qualification examination and stay in the academy to teach,” said Witch Sophia. “So I would like to ask you for your help.”

“I didn’t originally plan to do this, but after seeing your talent in potions, I just changed my mind. Gaining more practical experience will be very helpful for your future development in potions.”

Sophia the Witch looked at Locke with a smile in her eyes.

Locke nodded solemnly. "Yes, teacher. It's what I should do."

"You should have asked me for help a long time ago."

"That way you can focus on taking the teaching qualification exam in the Starry Sea."

Sophia the Witch paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Locke, thank you for trusting me so much."

(End of this chapter)