On top of that, there was that faint, ever-present cool gaze he could always feel watching him. The relaxed mood the holidays and New Year had brought was fading fast, replaced by a groundless urgency creeping quietly up from the bottom of his heart.
"I've got the 'Royal Honey' now. Let's just run through the same steps again."
Handling the various materials with practiced ease, he ran through the entire compounding process in his head.
His mind settled, and he muttered to himself:
"If my technique holds up, if I don't botch any of the steps, and if the materials problem really is solved..."
"...then this time, there shouldn't be any unexpected snags."
As the words left his mouth, he carefully poured a solution with an orange base, rainbow light flickering through it, into the beaker. Then, focusing completely, he channeled his Magic and began the most critical step: the compounding.
...
Time slipped away in the repetitive, dreary trials.
Once.
Three times.
Twelve times...
With each failed attempt, the Scholar's Heart skill on the Falna across his back flickered like a breath, on and off.
Lost in concentration, Leon had no idea that as he repeated the seemingly tedious process over and over, his proficiency with the alchemy work and his command of the compounding were climbing, step by solid step.
Until the thirty-third attempt...
Like some invisible barrier, it cracked apart with a soft "pop."
The next moment, Leon felt as though all his knowledge and technique around compounding suddenly clicked into place, as if his very soul had become transparent and clear!
"Wait, there's still one tiny flaw in this process..."
"No, the twelfth material should go in at the 3.55-second mark of the reaction."
His furrowed brow gradually smoothed, and the light in his eyes only grew brighter.
"I get it!"
"So that's how it works!"
"Haha, now there's nothing I'm missing!"
He raised a hand and gave his own forehead a light tap, pressing down the excitement in his chest. After several deep breaths to settle himself, he steadily began the compounding once more.
...
Step one...
Step fifty-five...
Leon's hands were rock steady. He kept the compounding stable while maintaining a precise output of Magic, his mind splitting three ways as he watched the reactions shift inside the beaker.
The instant the third round of bubbles quietly surfaced...
"Now!"
The words were barely out before he tilted the test tube of Royal Honey, swift and smooth, three drops of golden, glistening honey landing precisely in the beaker.
And then...
"Pssshhh...!"
The moment the Royal Honey melded into that orange solution shimmering with rainbow light, the entire beaker seemed to come alive. The loose iridescent sheen instantly fused with the orange liquid, turning into a single even, brilliant, stable flow of light.
"Huh?"
Staring fixedly at that dreamlike potion solution, Leon went briefly blank.
But the next second...
His composed state of mind shattered.
He blurted out a loud curse before he could stop himself:
"Holy shit!"
"...It worked!"
...
First floor, the sitting room.
Kureha was frowning over the materials about the Lower Floors that Rose and Jeanne had brought back from the Guild, when that "Holy shit" boomed up out of the basement. It startled her so badly her whole body jolted, and her hand instinctively darted to her side...
"...Ah!?"
It took her half a beat to catch up... this was her own home.
"Honestly... scared me half to death."
And it wasn't just her. Even Jeanne, who had been zoning out, eyes vacant on the ceiling, curled up in the sofa with her bare feet propped on the armrest, swinging idly and unconsciously curling her cute toes, was yanked back to reality by the sudden, excited cursing.
"What's going on?"
She blinked blankly and asked without thinking.
Up in the second-floor hallway, Iri leaned out curiously, the gear she'd just finished organizing in her arms:
"Don't tell me... Leon actually made the 'Wild Mixture'?"
"Mm, that's pretty much the only thing he's been working on lately."
"The 'Wild Mixture'?"
Rose, apron still on, had just set the freshly baked sweets and snacks down on the tea table. At the words her eyes shifted faintly, an interested smile rising on her face.
As the familia's head steward, aside from Leon, who was more obsessed with gold than anyone, she was the one in the whole familia who cared most about finances. As the saying goes, you don't know the price of rice until you run the household.
Rose understood all too well what the 'Wild Mixture's' success meant for the familia.
Just as Leon had said, once the potion was successfully developed and could be mass-produced, it would become the familia's second "gold mine" after the Monster Hunter Special. Not the unstable income that came from Dungeon exploration, but a steady, reliable stream of revenue.
For everyone's quality of life, the cost of daily training, the maintenance and upgrading of equipment, the impact would be enormous.
She didn't keep them waiting long. Only a few seconds after that excited bit of cursing rang out, a frantic patter of footsteps came tumbling from the basement stairwell, and then Leon's disheveled figure appeared before them.
None of that mattered, though.
Nobody paid the slightest attention to Leon's appearance. Whether it was the three little heads poking out from the second floor or everyone else in the sitting room, every eye was locked firmly on the cup of dreamlike solution in the glass container in his hand.
"So this is... the 'Wild Mixture'?"
"It really worked!"
Without realizing it, everyone held their breath and crowded in close, studying the liquid in the cup as its hazy rainbow light flowed.
It was obvious the 'Wild Mixture' Leon had made was a success. Never mind its effects... just the dreamy color and top-tier quality alone were enough to fetch a fine price.
Potions, after all. Those in the know, know.
In most people's minds, a potion always came across as more "high-end" than a dish, let alone a one-of-a-kind compound like this.
Stat boosts, lasting effect, no side effects, stunning looks, scarce supply, exclusive availability... the moment the 'Wild Mixture' was born, every buff was already maxed out.
"Leon Leon Leon, does this really do the same thing as the Monster Hunter Special?"
"If it does, then does that mean people can just pick one or the other?"
Looking at Laurier's innocent face, Leon grinned:
"No, no, no. Pick one or the other? That's seriously underselling it."
"Why don't you consider... that maybe the effects of the Monster Hunter Special and the 'Wild Mixture' don't clash at all?"
Laurier's little mouth parted, and she froze, dumbstruck:
"...Huh?"
But Aura kept her gaze fixed on the colors swirling in the cup and calmly picked up the thread: "If it's as Mr. Leon says, that the Monster Hunter Special and the 'Wild Mixture' can be taken at the same time without interfering with each other... then the stacked effect..."
"...would probably be staggering."
Leon raised an eyebrow and gave the first batch of potion in his hand a little swirl:
"So then... who wants to test it out?"
"Relax, compared to the Monster Hunter Special's slightly awkward side effect, the 'Wild Mixture' will only make you a bit excited. Once you adjust, it's basically negligible."
The instant he brought up the Monster Hunter Special's side effect, everyone who knew the details flushed in the cheeks and promptly shot Leon a big eye-roll.
"I'll do it!"
The Sword Saint stepped forward!
Watching Kureha volunteer herself as the guinea pig, Leon wore a look that said he'd seen it coming.
"Here, just drink it straight down."
...
...
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