Above the mage

Chapter 10 Extraordinary Talent

Snake tooth grass needs to be ground into powder.

Artemisia needs to be boiled by adding a large cup of water (8 ounces) to a crucible and boiling it down until only 1 ounce remains. Then, use this 1 ounce of liquid.

Gao De estimated that 1 ounce was roughly equivalent to 30 milliliters in his world.

The process of dealing with the green spider sac is much simpler; just puncture it and extract the venom.

This step was completed by a mage.

While the venom of the green spider is primarily paralyzing, it also possesses some corrosive properties, so if it accidentally gets on your hands, it can still cause some trouble.

After all the materials have been processed, the final step is to combine the medicinal properties of all the materials together, which is also the most important step in preparing the medicine.

Gao De took a deep breath, took a conical medicine bottle from the shelf on the table, and "skillfully" poured the juice boiled from the sage into the bottle, then added 5 ounces of honey water.

He gently shook the medicine bottle, and after the liquid inside had completely mixed together, he quickly poured most of the grayish-green powder ground from snake tooth grass into it.

As soon as the snake tooth herb powder was added, the liquid in the bottle began to boil violently, and its color gradually changed.

Gao De released his mental energy again and stared at the potion bottle.

Strange ripples reappeared in his field of vision.

This time, however, the ripples are constantly intertwining and merging, changing continuously.

He carefully observed the changes in the ripples and, depending on the actual situation, added snake tooth herb powder from time to time, trying his best to control the final state of the ripples to take shape in the direction he needed.

The amount of snake tooth herb powder should be neither too much nor too little; it's important to find the right balance. If too much is added, a little honey water should be added immediately to neutralize it. If too little is added, it should be added immediately.

To put it simply, this process is just adding flour when there's too much water, and adding water when there's too much flour.

However, it is not so easy to operate. On the one hand, Gao De needs to concentrate his mental energy to observe the changes in the ripples. On the other hand, he needs to have an absolute understanding of the properties of the materials and know how much material to add under what circumstances.

After nearly failing to prepare the potion due to not controlling the amount of snake tooth herb powder correctly several times, Gao De finally calmed down from the chaos, and by then the potion preparation was nearing completion.

After the last drop of green spider venom was dripped into the medicine bottle, the constantly churning liquid gradually calmed down.

A faint gray-green magical light could be seen flashing across the liquid.

This is a sign that the basic spider venom potion has been successfully prepared. If you have the magic skill [Detection Magic], you can see this magical glow again in the potion.

Looking at the slightly green liquid in the medicine bottle, Gao De couldn't help but feel a strong sense of accomplishment and pride.

Basic Spider Venom Potion, Tier 0 potion, has a strong paralyzing effect but is not lethal. It is usually bought to be applied to arrows to deal with wild beasts.

He eagerly took three smaller conical medicine bottles from the shelf next to him and poured the freshly prepared primary spider venom into them.

A standard recipe for a basic spider venom potion can be divided into three smaller bottles for sale. This method is more profitable for potion makers and more acceptable to buyers.

However, after Gaode filled the three small medicine bottles, he was surprised to find that there was still about half an ounce of medicine left in the large medicine bottle in his hand.

According to his memory, a standard recipe for basic spider venom should only yield about three small vials, and each small vial of basic spider venom is only about 2 ounces. How could there be so much left over?

"Unless it is"

A thought suddenly flashed through Gao De's mind.

The next moment, he immediately began searching in the small workspace.

Finally, Gaode pulled out a wooden box from the bottom shelf.

Inside the wooden box were three small vials of basic spider venom potion, six gold coins gleaming with a captivating luster, and dozens of scattered silver and copper coins.

Gao De's heart began to pound.

Without a doubt, this is a huge sum of money.

In this world's monetary system, the most basic currency is copper coin.

Here, the actual purchasing power of one copper coin is equivalent to four yuan plus a few cents before Gaode's time travel.

The second layer of the monetary system consists of silver coins.

One silver coin was equal to 12 copper coins, which is about fifty yuan in purchasing power.

Gold coins were at the top of the monetary system; one gold coin could be exchanged for 20 silver coins, with an actual purchasing power of around one thousand yuan.

Furthermore, silver and copper coins were not necessarily interchangeable between different countries due to differences in minting methods, materials, and national strength, and their actual purchasing power varied considerably in different regions. However, gold coins, being directly linked to gold, did not have these two problems.

They are versatile and their values ​​are not significantly different.

Gao De picked up a gold coin with a captivating luster. Its glittering light was almost blinding, making him squint and fall in love with it.

The region he was from was the Duchy of Sien.

The gold coin currently used in the Principality of Sien is officially called the Sien Gold Coin, which is easy to understand.

The obverse of the Sean gold coin features the face of the founding Grand Duke of Sean, while the reverse depicts a proud and spirited rooster, hence its nickname "Clucking Rooster" or "Little Rooster."

"What an adorable little rooster!" Gao De exclaimed, admiring the exquisite rooster design on the back of the Sean gold coin.

This is by no means because he is greedy for money; he simply likes chickens!

He defended himself in his heart.

After admiring the charming "little rooster" for several dozen seconds, Gaode picked up a silver coin.

The obverse of the silver coin of the Principality of Sien still features the face of the founding Grand Duke, but the reverse has been changed to a three-leaf flower, hence its name: Three-leaf Flower Silver Coin.

Gaode carefully counted them and found a total of 6 gold coins, 7 silver coins, and 14 copper coins.

This is equivalent to the 6400 yuan he had before he traveled through time.

It doesn't seem like there are that many.

However, it's important to know that in this world, under normal circumstances, a family of five would only need 57 gold coins for a year's living expenses, and that's assuming they have to pay rent.

If you own your own house, your annual living expenses can be reduced to less than 45 gold coins.

It is absolutely incredible that an apprentice who came from a beggar background could accumulate such a huge sum of money under such high pressure—after all, the apprentices did not receive any payment for working for Master Seda.

The previous incarnation did not retain any memory of the source of this money for Gao De, but Gao De now understood everything.

Whether it's the remaining half-ounce of potion or the three small vials of basic spider venom neatly arranged in the wooden box, they all tell the same story.

—In his previous life, he was a genius with extraordinary talent.

A genius in the field of potion-making.

Despite the lack of a systematic teaching method, in less than a year, the basic spider venom potion could be mixed according to the standard formula ratio and produced an extra half ounce of finished product.

In other words, for every four portions of basic spider venom potion prepared, one small bottle of basic spider venom potion belonging to Gaode will be produced.

All of this was built upon the predecessor's precise grasp of the properties of materials and the outstanding effect of material transformation, which was a manifestation of the predecessor's talent, and Gao De inherited all of these.

(End of this chapter)