The Furnace, Potion Garden, Core Area.
Standing at his workstation, Lynn skillfully retrieved the relevant information for Rejuvenation Overnight and quietly proceeded with his final potion of the day.
The flickering potion liquid reflected in his focused gaze, yet his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
It had been a month since he signed that contract with Rosalind.
During this time, none of the concerns he initially feared had materialized.
At first, Lynn suspected that hidden traps lay beneath the contract, but as time passed, his worries seemed unfounded.
For the past month, he had devoted most of his time to translating the Azure Sky Meditation Method, even forgoing opportunities to earn extra money.
Each day, after completing his assigned tasks, he would immerse himself in deciphering the complex wizarding script.
Finally, yesterday, he successfully translated all the content for the apprentice stage.
Yet, the crises he had envisioned never appeared.
That meant either his mentor hadn't left any traps, or the trap simply hadn't sprung yet.
"Or maybe... I'm just not strong enough to trigger it yet. Well, whatever, I'll leave that problem to future Lynn to deal with..."
Lynn recalled his initial analysis, weighing the pros and cons before ultimately deciding to sign the contract.
Had he refused, he would have been forced to scour for an advanced meditation method, wasting precious time and effort.
Now, he could stay in the Potion Garden, focusing on potion-making and self-improvement the optimal choice.
Ding!
A crisp sound pulled Lynn back to reality.
He carefully sealed the newly crafted Rejuvenation Overnight potion in a glass vial and set it aside.
His brewing tasks for the day were complete.
Since he had finished translating the Azure Sky Meditation Method apprentice volume yesterday, he no longer needed to spend time studying those lengthy wizarding texts today.
"Today… I can finally do something else."
Lynn murmured, a relaxed smile appearing on his face.
He had long planned to brew a specialized maintenance potion for Little Green.
This had been prepared a month ago, but Rosalind and Azure Sky Meditation Method had forced him to put it on hold.
"Finally, I can continue."
Rolling up his sleeves, Lynn skillfully organized his potion materials, his eyes flashing with excitement.
He neatly arranged the various ingredients before him, checking them one by one:
"Ten grams of Heavenbane Wood powder, ten grams of Blood Amber fruit pulp..."
Finally, he carefully took out the most important ingredient a pink watermelon.
At first glance, the watermelon seemed ordinary, but Lynn handled it with extreme caution.
Taking a deep breath, he picked up a sharp knife and gently sliced it open.
As the blade slid through, the watermelon split into two halves, revealing a shocking sight within:
Instead of the usual fruit flesh, the interior contained a series of tiny, intricate rooms, as exquisite as miniature works of art.
And inside these rooms five tiny green fairies, no larger than a fingertip, resided.
The moment they were disturbed, the fairies opened their eyes wide, their wings flapping furiously as they shrieked in high-pitched tones sharp, glass-scraping noises that stabbed at the eardrum.
But Lynn was well-prepared. Swiftly, he cast out a specially made capture net, ensnaring the five panicked, fleeing fairies and securing them onto a pre-arranged fixture.
Each fairy had delicate features and graceful figures, all crafted to match human aesthetic preferences.
Not because fairies were naturally beautiful, but because they had been selectively bred and meticulously cultivated.
The merchant who sold them to Lynn had boasted that these five fairies represented a variety of appearances from mature elegance to youthful charm. He had shamelessly marketed them with a lecherous grin, using this gimmick to extract a hefty three hundred points from Lynn.
Lynn picked up one of them, observing her enchanting face, now filled with terror as she chattered away in an unintelligible fairy tongue.
Lynn had not formally studied the fairy language he only understood a little so he could vaguely tell that she was probably cursing him.
Not that he cared.
Instead, his gaze sharpened as he meticulously examined the tiny creature before him.
He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "So this is what that unscrupulous merchant called the 'mature type'?"
After securing the fairy, he donned a fresh pair of gloves, picked up a silver scalpel and tweezers, and prepared to process his experimental material.
"So fairy blood is green…"
Lynn murmured with curiosity, "Though, that might be unique to garden fairies. Other types… I'll have to dissect them to find out."
Focused and meticulous, he began the process of disassembly and analysis, his blade gliding smoothly over the mature fairy's tiny body without hesitation.
Though these fairies bore humanoid appearances, to Lynn, they were merely experimental materials no different from ordinary potion ingredients.
Blood, wings, bones… Each part was carefully separated and categorized.
Since arriving in this world, Lynn had fully embraced the mindset of a great wizard.
Handling these human-like materials didn't disturb him in the slightest; on the contrary, he was exhilarated by the prospect of discovering new alchemical possibilities.
This was his first attempt at crafting this unnamed maintenance potion, but as an experienced apprentice potion maker, he was already proficient in multiple brewing methods.
Thus, he remained calm and composed throughout the process, executing each step flawlessly.
When the final stage arrived, he carefully infused the energy factor, seeking to harmonize the potion's overall structure.
"The first attempt…"
Lynn muttered, his mental energy intensely focused as he observed the potion's reaction.
The base liquid in the beaker was pink. He added the garden fairy materials and supplemented them with energy factors.
However, the expected transformation of glowing orange hues and a surge of lush green vitality did not occur.
Failure.
"Again!"
Lynn clenched his teeth and resumed his work, refining his technique with each repeated attempt.
Despite multiple failures, he could feel himself growing more proficient. Success felt within reach.
But just then, a piece of news interrupted his focus.
A group of his colleagues had gathered, their expressions grim as they murmured among themselves.
The information they shared weighed heavily on everyone's minds:
A month ago, Lord Rand had resigned from the Potion Garden, determined to earn military merits in exchange for resources to become a full-fledged wizard.
But now, word had arrived Rand had perished in the Furnace War.
"Just a month ago, he was joking around with us. Who would've thought…"
"Sigh, I always knew the battlefield was too dangerous. It's safer to stay in the Furnace Garden…"
"I heard only a quarter of his body was recovered, with the rest devoured by magical beasts. Horrible…"
"He's dead… No surprise."
Lynn had no ill feelings toward Rand. The man had been easygoing and got along well with the apprentices.
But now, Rand had become just another fallen soul on the Furnace battlefield.
Today, people mourned him, whispering words of remembrance.
Yet, as time passed, his name, his face, and even the traces of his existence would fade away, eventually forgotten by all.
The path of a wizard was a long pursuit of truth, and along this road lay countless corpses of those who had perished.
Lynn took a deep breath.
He refused to be just another lifeless body on the roadside.
He would go further.
Steadying his mind, he returned to his potion-making, his eyes sharp, his focus unshaken.
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