I'm not a Witcher anymore.

The sun has risen high.

In the sheltered clearing enclosed by several gray-white rocks, the tools were already laid out in order.

A copper crucible rests on a flat stone surface, a distillation flask and glass tubing stand quietly to the side, and a metal mortar, three layers of filter screens and several tightly sealed empty bottles are also in their proper places.

The leather bladder containing the dwarven spirits was placed on the far side, next to honey, rock salt, and dresh fruit that had been bought before leaving town.

Further in the middle, there was the Night Eye Crystal that had been cut out of the owl bear's corpse.

Sunlight filtered through the branches and leaves, falling in dappled patterns and reflecting on the dark amber-colored crystal surface.

The misty light inside drifted quietly, like a wisp of night sealed deep within the stone shell.

Zig squatted down in front of the rock, raised his hand to straighten the last empty bottle, and then turned his gaze back to the few things in front of him.

Unlike "Sequence Maripo Forest", this medicine does not modify pain receptors, reaction nerves, or the adrenaline in the blood that will be forcibly increased.

It changed the eyes.

More precisely, it gives the user the ability to see in the dark.

What Zieg needs to do is reduce the potency of this medicine, which was originally enough to kill mortals, to a level that mortals can also tolerate.

He reached out and took the Dresden fruit.

He had already done this step once.

Pour dwarf spirits into the distillation flask, add the whole fruit, and seal the flask.

The flames below the crucible quickly stabilized, and the heat climbed up the bottom of the glass little by little, forcing tiny bubbles to rise in the clear liquid.

The steam flowed back and forth through the closed conduit, repeatedly bringing up that overly sharp, bitter smell, only to push it back into the bottle again and again.

Zig watched quietly, without urging the fire to ignite.

He never wanted the whole fruit.

It's just the pigments in the peel that awaken the senses, and the cleanest bit of nerve activity deep inside the pit.

As for things that cause mortals' stomachs to churn and their limbs to spasm, they should naturally be carried away with the first round of steam.

With the experience from last time, his hand movements were more stable and faster than before.

My body knows exactly when to reduce the heat, when to rotate the bottle, and when to release the most turbid layer.

When the liquid at the bottom of the bottle finally settled into a clear, pale gold color, Zieg removed the fire and slowly poured the extracted liquid into the crucible.

Then, he reached out and picked up the Night Eye Crystal.

The Night Eye Crystal didn't look big, but it felt strangely heavy when pressed between my fingers.

Its surface was smooth, and its edges were cold, like a small piece of hard crystal that had been cut from an animal bone after being soaked in the night.

Zieg didn't rush to grind it.

He first took a shallow glass dish, poured in a small amount of dwarven spirits, and put the Night Eye Crystal in, making sure the liquid just covered its surface.

The dampness in the forest is slowly receding.

As the wind blew through the gaps in the trees, it brought with it a cool breeze carrying the dampness of the grass and trees, which slowly swept past the rocks.

The surroundings were so quiet that only the occasional soft crackling of the small fire beneath the crucible could be heard.

Initially, nothing happened.

After a while, the dense layer of dark light on the surface of the Night Eye Crystal loosened slightly.

Extremely fine cracks gradually emerged from the edges, like lines slowly loosening deep within the permafrost.

The liquid seeped into those cracks, gradually softening the solid outer shell.

Zig then scooped it up and placed it in a metal mortar.

The first press of the pestle did not send a loose, gritty sound back to the knuckles like herbs breaking apart, but rather a rough, sharp friction, like an extremely thin crystal being ground layer by layer on an iron surface.

He didn't increase the pressure.

It simply pressed down steadily.

a bit.

Another one.

The entire piece of Night Vision Crystal is first broken into fine particles, and then the fine particles are slowly ground into a lighter and thinner powder.

The color also faded little by little during this process, from the original dark amber to a nearly transparent gray-gold, with a faint, cold glimmer still remaining at the edges.

Zieg poured the powder into the bottom liquid in the crucible.

The fire was kept very low.

The liquid surface was only trembling slightly; it was not actually boiling.

The fine, grayish-gold powder did not disperse immediately after it fell in; instead, it sank into the wine for a while.

It took a few moments for it to dissolve.

The color, which originally carried a hint of warmth, gradually changed, as if something deeper and colder had seeped into it from underneath.

That spirit is still there, but it's no longer just on the surface.

Zig watched for a while before reaching for the rock salt.

The rock salt had already been ground to an extremely fine powder.

He dissolved it with a small amount of distilled condensate, let it stand for a while, and then filtered out the coarse gravel and impurities settled at the bottom with a fine filter, leaving only the clear mineral salt solution on the top.

This small cup of liquid is unremarkable.

Sieg knew very well that what could truly destroy the eyes of mortals was never just the toxicity of the potion itself.

Once the cat potion takes effect, the first thing to be forcibly removed is a person's vision in the dark.

Without a buffer, that sudden surge in perception will overwhelm the pupils and the back of the eyes first.

At that point, even the faint flicker of a torch or the dim yellow light of an oil lamp would be enough to make the person taking the medicine see whites and burst into tears.

Therefore, rock salt is essential.

It doesn't grant night vision itself, but it acts as a buffer for the medicine, blocking its overly potent effects so they don't rush straight into the eyes.

Zieg dripped the salt solution into the crucible.

A clear droplet falls into it, and the surface of the liquid ripples, creating a very shallow ripple.

After a moment, the slightly trembling, cold golden hue stabilized again, only appearing more subdued under the light.

Finally, there's the honey.

He placed the earthenware pot aside, letting it slowly warm up with the remaining heat. The honey, which had been so thick it was almost solidified, gradually melted and darkened in color as it warmed.

Only when it finally started to flow slowly down the wooden spoon did Zig scoop it up and add it little by little into the crucible.

It wasn't poured in all at once.

Instead, it's a spoonful.

Another spoonful.

Each time, only a very small amount is added.

The moment the honey falls into the medicinal liquid, the cool, golden light in the crucible will gently recede, as if something is slowly closing in from all directions, wrapping the sharpest, coldest, and most restless parts layer by layer.

The smell in the air started to change.

The lingering sourness and bitterness of the dress fruit, the spiciness of the liquor, and the almost cold, hard fishy taste of the night-eyed crystal had not truly dissipated; they had simply been pushed deeper and deeper.

What rises to the surface is the warm and lingering sweet aroma of honey after it has been heated.

Zig added the ingredients while stirring slowly.

The movements are slow.

Yet it remained steady without the slightest hesitation.

He only stopped when the liquid medicine in the crucible had completely settled and its color had gradually changed from a cool, pale gold to a warmer, more mellow gold.

The flame was reduced to its minimum.

Don't let it roll.

Only a very slight tremor was maintained on the surface of the liquid.

The wind in the forest rustled through the branches and leaves, gradually dispersing the thin layer of heat above the crucible.

Birdsong began to rise in the distance, one call after another, which only made the sheltered clearing seem even quieter.

Zig stood by the rock, not moving, waiting for the liquid to settle completely.

Once the last tiny bubbles on the surface of the liquid had completely disappeared and the color had stopped changing, Zieg removed the heat source and allowed the crucible to cool slowly in the air.

The wind in the forest blew through the branches and leaves, carrying away the residual heat above the medicinal liquid.

The aroma, a mixture of sourness, bitterness, spiciness, and honey, slowly sank away.

After a moment, Zieg took out a small glass bottle, divided the liquid into portions, and sealed them.

His movements were very steady.

The angle of the bottle opening, the precise control of the wrist's movement, even the thin line left by the liquid on the bottle wall when the hand finally stopped—everything was perfectly controlled. Not a single drop was spilled, and not a single vial was out of balance.

When the last bottle was filled, only a very faint residual heat remained in the crucible.

Zieg picked up one of them and looked at it in the sunlight filtering through the trees.

The liquid in the bottle was clear and calm, with a warm color, much lighter than "Sequence · Maripo Forest".

On the surface, it looks more like a pale gold warmed by the morning light.

But when the bottle is tilted slightly, and light cuts in from the other side, a very thin, cold glint flashes across the depths of the liquid, disappearing in an instant, like the silent light that gathers in the eyes of a beast in the night.

Zieg looked at it for a moment before adding the potion to his Book of Adventures.

The pages of the book turned silently deep within my mind.

On the ancient parchment, ink slowly rises and solidifies into clear and stable characters.

"Sequence·Cat"

"Efficacy rating: Superior to the original formula. After Night Vision Crystal replaces the essence of water, night vision is significantly enhanced; at the same time, the pupils of the user can automatically constrict according to the intensity of light, and will no longer suffer temporary blindness due to sudden exposure to open flames or bright light."

Toxicity assessment: Safe for general use. Mild dry eyes may occur after the effects wear off, but no other discomfort is expected.