I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

Chapter 86 Identification Techniques and the Second Stage of Copper Plague! (1/5)

While pondering this in his heart, Evan did not announce his discovery.

He knows what he should say and what he shouldn't say.

The Copper Plague, a new phenomenon resulting from the unexpected fusion of two different power systems, is not something that should be easily understood by anyone.

"it is good."

His voice remained cheerful and casual.

"I'll take charge of this line!"

Armitage gave a satisfied "hmm".

The old man turned around, opened the drawer, and took out an envelope sealed with bright red wax. The wax seal had a raven with outstretched wings printed on it, and the wax surface gleamed with a dark red light under the lamp.

"Give it to Otto Forem, head of the Clinical Physiology and Chemistry Laboratory at the Sage Medical School."

Ivan took the envelope with both hands; it felt heavy in his palms.

Armitage leaned back in his chair: "His main research areas are: chemical analysis of blood and drugs, toxin screening, and drug toxicity testing."

He said with a smile, "This direction suits you quite well."

"When he was young, he studied alchemy at the University of Michigan."

The old gentleman added at the end, "He is an expert in philanthropy."

Ivan's mind raced through the legacy information belonging to the Witcher.

The Tree of Life path includes one of the three professions: the virtuous person.

Their core strength lies in integration.

Carefully putting away the letter of recommendation, Evan took the opportunity to reveal his ulterior motives.

"Doctor, I've run out of my previous batch of potions. Where can I restock them normally?"

Armitage said, sticking the pen into the ink bottle.

"There are many places that produce potions. Besides our University of Michigan, the Healing Church, the Red King's Laboratory, and the Byron Group all have potion sales businesses."

The old man leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of him.

"Potions aren't just used by witchers; other professions use them too. It's just that most don't make potions the core of their development like witchers do."

At this point, a hint of warning crept into his tone.

"Those companies have been secretly using ordinary people for drug experiments, so you need to be careful."

"Their R&D departments are driven by performance targets, and they will stop at nothing to conduct experiments."

"Every year, the living people who disappear from sweatshops, workhouses, and immigrant detention centers, whether they are alive or dead, or even whether they are still human, only they know."

Evan was secretly overjoyed, but he kept a respectful and proper demeanor on the surface.

"Doctor, could you give me an address, or a qualification to purchase it?"

Armitage pulled a notepad from the corner of the table, dipped his pen in ink, and wrote down the addresses and codes of several departments.

The old man wrote while whispering instructions.

"The investigators at the University of Michigan have always had a good reputation. As long as you don't provoke them, they generally won't cause you any trouble."

After he finished writing, he folded the note into a square and handed it to Ivan.

"Read it once, write it down, and burn it later."

Ivan took the note with both hands, glanced at the few lines of text twice, then folded it back up and put it in his suit pocket.

After noting down the address, he immediately raised his next question due to time constraints.

"Doctor, what are these magical artifacts? How do you get them? Are they expensive?"

Armitage picked up the blue-and-white porcelain teacup and moistened his throat with the warm black tea.

"There are both expensive and cheap ones. They are generally rated according to five dimensions: effectiveness, cost, portability, number of effective times, and range of application, and divided into five levels."

He held up five fingers and started counting down from his little finger.

"Level five items are small trinkets. Lucky pendants, love charms, and the like all belong to this category. The snakeskin amulet you have is one of these."

"This level has almost no negative effects or costs, and its functions are the most basic."

"Level four is more powerful. At this level, it can already create obstacles and barriers on the material level. For example, invisibility, bulletproofing, short-term levitation, spatial isolation, and so on."

"The higher-level, third-level, and first-level ones are rarely available on the market. I'll tell you about them later."

Ivan's eyes lit up as he leaned forward and asked.

"Doctor, if I manage to obtain a magical artifact myself, how do I test its effects?"

Armitage smiled; he could tell that Ivan must have gained something extra from Alcott, but he didn't point it out.

"That's simple. I'll teach you a ritual; you can use this."

The old man got up and led Evan to the inner side of the study.

It was a small, dark room; the temperature dropped several degrees the moment you stepped inside.

Looking around, you can see traces of numerous magic arrays on the ground.

Various chalk lines, both new and old, intertwined with blackened marks from burning.

On the walls on both sides, there are various star charts that have turned yellowish, as well as cross-sectional diagrams of the twelve zodiac signs.

These blueprints have been here for who knows how long; the edges are curled up, showing the marks of time.

On the square table directly in front, dozens of candles of various colors were piled up, some of which had completely burned out, and they were of different shapes and heights.

Various small ornaments and odds and ends were scattered on the corner of the table.

For example, a stone slab engraved with runes, a piece of amber that has cracked, a bronze incense burner covered in rust —

The air was filled with a mixture of sulfur and sandalwood scents.

Fortunately, the smell wasn't unpleasant, otherwise Evan's enhanced nose wouldn't have been able to stand it.

"This is my magic workshop."

Armitage explained, "I have been performing rituals here for many years. My spirituality has accumulated in this room day after day, leaving behind a large amount of spiritual residue."

He pointed around: "The walls, the floor, the tables—every inch of them has been repeatedly imbued with incantations and magic."

"These residues can increase the success rate and reduce the risk."

Ivan looked around and sighed, "I get it, there's a familiar feeling that the whole room has been polished by a soul."

Armitage smiled and nodded in agreement, picked up half a piece of chalk from the corner of the table, bent down and drew a new magic circle on the edge.

This is a simple magic circle with a square on the outside and an equilateral triangle on the inside.

Finally, in the center of the entire magic circle, he drew a symbol.

The old man took a pocket watch out of his vest pocket and placed it directly above the symbol.

Then he poured a drop of mercury from the glass tube next to him and placed it on top, then turned and grabbed a handful of white sea salt from the drawer and placed it on the left side of the triangle.

He then picked up a few more pieces of moonstone and placed them on the right side.

Armitage explained as he operated the equipment.

"Today is Monday, which corresponds to the moon, making it more suitable for magic related to dreams, health, and recovery."

"For a higher success rate, you'd better choose Wednesday, which corresponds to Mercury and is suitable for communication, divination, and enhancement magic."

He looked up to make sure Ivan was listening attentively, then continued.

"However, I have this magic workshop that I've built up over many years, which can provide an additional bonus."

"I'm about to cast a spell, watch closely."

Ivan nodded seriously, his eyes wide and his breath held.

As the old man spoke, he knelt on the ground and skillfully recited a deep incantation.

"Mercurius, speak truth."

"Unveil the hidden state."

The moment the incantation was cast, the three offerings suddenly burst into flames.

The white sea salt kept pulsating, the moonstone cracked in the middle, and the mercury vaporized directly into blue smoke.

Ultimately, all the energy converged on the central symbol.

As a faint blue light flashed across it, the flames of several candles in the room were simultaneously drawn in one direction by something.

Immediately afterwards, Ivan saw a soul appear out of thin air.

A hazy blue light appeared out of nowhere above the pocket watch, its outline resembling both a child's and an old man's face.

It spoke, and its voice was neither male nor female.

"It's called a precision pocket watch! It's always accurate and always running."

"In return, users need to pay it two dollars every Monday."

"Otherwise, it will explode immediately."

As soon as he finished speaking, the blue light vanished.

Ivan stood still, blinked twice, and then grinned.

"It seems like it'll be fun."

He crouched down and looked closely at the lingering smoke on the ground.

Then, suddenly realizing how sensitive his nose was today, he stopped in time and straightened up sullenly.

Armitage laughed as he propped himself up on his knees and patted the chalk dust off his trousers.

"This is the basic appraisal technique, which is considered one of the essential auxiliary spells for all extraordinary individuals."

"The materials, the incantation, the pattern—with your memory, you should have memorized them all."

"You can try it yourself on Wednesday."

Ivan closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the entire ritual.

The chalk lines, the placement of the offerings, the chanting of the incantation syllables—after confirming that nothing was missed, he said with a solemn expression of gratitude.

"Thank you, Doctor."

Armitage reached out and patted him firmly on the shoulder twice.

"You're a promising talent, and I can't bear to see anything happen to you."

"Send me a telegram if there's any movement."

Ivan nodded, taking that sentence to heart as well.

After saying goodbye to Armitage, he jogged back to the hotel.

The cobblestone pavement was glaringly bright in the sunlight, and a newsboy on the street corner was shouting last night's headline: "Terrifying serial killer on the run! Sheriff offers a $500 reward!"

When they arrived at the hotel entrance, the group from Sage University had already split into several groups and headed to the station.

Every face was shrouded in lingering fear. Even the usually boisterous rich kids pulled their hats down low and silently carried their suitcases onto the luxurious carriage.

Evan was still responsible for carrying the suitcases, but unfortunately, he had rust on his chest and his left arm was not very good.

But his strong physique easily made up for this.

The group arrived at the station quickly in a luxury convoy.

On the station platform, steam locomotives spewed out large plumes of grayish-white steam, blackening the platform's metal roof with soot.

Looking at the custom-made carriage belonging to the Hearst family, parked at the end of the platform, Evan immediately thought of the brass incense burners of the Healing Church.

He was the first to speak.

"I'll go check the seal."

Garp nodded: "Okay, let's go together."

His square face was expressionless, but his casual tone revealed the veteran bodyguard's attitude towards Ivan.

The two stepped back into the custom-made carriage.

Everything inside seemed to be sealed by this static force field; even the position of the cups on the counter remained unchanged.

Ivan laughed and said, "Brother Karp, I'll start my investigation from room five, you can start from room one."

"Perfect timing! You can also check if I'm qualified and give me a backup plan!"

After thinking for a moment, Karp nodded and said.

"Okay, please check carefully."

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the first private room.

Ivan grinned, turned around and walked straight into room number five, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door closed, the relaxed smile on his face vanished instantly, and his demon hunter form was silently activated.

The familiar heat, the familiar stinging pain.

As before, the panel prompt popped up as expected.

[Curse detected: Compassion Copperification.]

[The Copper Plague has devoured the Copper Curse. Progress +0.1%.]

Ivan smiled happily, put away his demon hunter form, quickly checked the seal with his powerful physique, and calmly walked into the fourth private room.

Number three, number two, number one.

Each time he entered a room, he would first close the door, quickly activate his demon hunter form, then pretend to carefully check all the seals before calmly leaving.

By the time Evan had walked around the entire carriage, the progress of the copper epidemic had jumped from 0.1% increments to 0.5% increments.

This is enough to push copper prices up another 25%!

After checking everything and finding no problems, Karp nodded in satisfaction.

Soon, Erdin and the others got into the car.

The quiet carriage was suddenly filled with whispers and low chuckles.

Satisfied, Evan leaned back on the small folding stool by the carriage door and settled into his role as goalkeeper.

The carriage shuddered slightly, and the steam locomotive emitted a long, drawn-out whistle.

The figures on the platform receded one by one, and the old, dusty station of New Haven slowly disappeared from view.

Soon, the progress of the copper epidemic reached 55.371%, successfully crossing the 50% threshold that requires the second stage feature.

[Phase Two: You can concentrate viruses and bacteria and infect targets through scratching and biting.]

Just as Evan's lips were about to curl into a smile, two new notifications suddenly popped up on the panel.

[Warning: The copper plague trait currently has an excessively high proportion of copperization. If this continues to increase, the copper plague will become completely unbalanced and revert to a copperization state.]

[Warning: 44.629% remaining. At least 40% needs to be replenished by consuming large amounts of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Otherwise, the plague component within the copper plague will be insufficient, and the virus effect will not be effective.]

[Friendly reminder: The greater the toxicity of the copper-based vaccine in engulfing bacteria, viruses, and fungi, the better its effect.]