Blademaster Ascension

21- End of 'Hide and Seek'

[  Analysis complete. Necessary amount of information has been collected. A more thorough analysis of the second grade potion has been completed. ]

Rowan barely woke up at dawn and heard Chip's voice when he was in toilet. Despite his obvious excitement, he held himself from trying to jump and shout in excitement. It would make for a highly destructive scene if he stood up jubilantly at this particular moment since he had yet to clear his bowles.
Indeed, there is a time and place for everything.

"Show me the summarized data," he said.

[  retrieving data...
   Grade one : 5
   Grade two: 3
   Grade three: 1 ]

Underneath was the details of these potions and Chip's personal analysis. This was practically a treasure trove, he realized. The amount of information recorded was enough for him to learn much more advanced formulas than before. Of course, the biggest haul was the grade three potion. But he resisted the urge to dive into the pile of formulas right then. He had work to do.

After coming out of the toilet, he pumped his fists in a celebratory gesture and studied the new analysis of the potion he would be concocting soon. Almost all of it was explained in a detailed manner there. Chip was even able to surmise that the potion would be deadly for any living creature because its main effect was likely to transform the flesh of a creature into acidic liquid similar to itself which could be used as highly poweful corrosive; almost like the reproduction process of biological creatures. However, that still didn't answer his questions about why she would use such precious potions on anyone. Could it be that she has found an extremely valuable monster somewhere and hopes to hunt it? But this potion would destroy the monster's body and everything valuable about it. And if she needed it just for the corrosive effect, there are far too many potions with similar effects and cheaper value.

After ruminating over the issue for a while, Rowan finally consoled himself by saying it wasn't his business what she did with the potion. He was just the brewer. He started preparing for the first batch. The fire, the cauldron, pestle and mortar, everything was placed before him. Taking a deep breath, he began.

Despite Chip's analysis, this was the first time he would be concocting a potion so difficult. He didn't have high hopes for success. As he prepared the ingredients, he realized that without prior experience, even this beginning task would result into failure. Luckily, Chip's scanning ability was almost godly. It could give him the most accurate numbers and measures regarding each ingredient and let him produce a near-perfect amount of ingredients from the rough materials.

Hours passed. Many times, Rowan was out of patience. The process was just too slow and required an overly meticulous observer who could tend to it at any moment, tirelessly. The room was humid and hot from the constantly burning fire. Despite having an enhanced physique, Rowan was still human. He couldn't keep his concentration focused for hours at a stretch in such conditions. As this was his first time, he made some mistakes every now and then. His hopes of getting a perfect result on the first try was long gone. He just wanted to get himself familiar with the whole process despite knowing the final product wouldn't be anything close to the desired result.

Predictably, it was a spectacular failure. The potion nearly exploded in the end and he had to run outside because of the heavy stink of sulfur. While waiting outside for the smoke to be cleared, he contemplated each and every of his mistakes in the process and wrote them down. He had to take a break since it was nearly evening and he missed lunch time.

He still had enough ingredients for nine and a half litres. But there's bound to be more failures in future. He'd have to tread very carefully. After making and eating his lunch, he took rest for a couple hours before starting again. This time he was a bit more confident. Every time he came close to repeating a mistake from the previous try, Chip would alert him. This almost reduced his mistakes to half. However, he made some new mistakes this time and still failed to concoct the potion properly.