Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Duke knew in his heart that getting this thing was unlikely to be easy.

The subtle gloom between Harrison’s brows suggested that the Giant Rock Commerce Association probably paid a considerable price this time.

Duke didn’t ask much and simply noted it in his mind.

He just reached out and picked up the teapot from the table, refilling Harrison’s teacup.

The tea swirled in the cup, steam rising and blurring the elderly face that wore a forced expression of ease.

"Thank you," Duke said softly.

...

A few days later, the Star Dome Commerce Association sent over the Aurora True Liquid, gathering all the materials.

Oliver from the Star Dome Commerce Association personally delivered a sealed box to the Six-Ring Tower. When Duke received the box at the Seventh District dormitory entrance, he could feel the unique pulse of the Aurora True Liquid through the two layers of Mithril shell and a temperature control rune.

It was the extremely subtle energy tremor generated when the liquid light flowed slowly inside the sealed container, like someone had sealed a strand of aurora in a bottle.

By then, the materials for the Star Sea Sheltering Dew, Pupil of the Rule Horizon, and Silent Eternal Seal potions were fully gathered, with no substitutes among them.

The next step was to find someone to refine them. Third-Level Potion refining was beyond Duke’s capability.

In the process of refining a Third-Level Potion, many critical steps require the alchemist to assist with Rule Power, such as peeling away impurities at the microscopic level without damaging the active ingredients during high-level material extraction, or integrating Rule Fragments into the potion’s structure during the final potion-forming stage.

At present, Duke hadn’t even crossed the threshold of the rules, and forcing himself to proceed would only ruin these hard-won materials.

He needed a true magic potion master, one who was Level 3 and above, and had rich experience.

Duke pre-booked an appointment with a magic potion master from the Magic and Alchemy Technology Department of the Six-Ring Tower, Ed Wilkinson, a Level 4 Mage specializing over two hundred years in magic potion refining.

The appointment date was scheduled for the fifth day after the materials were gathered, a very short period considering a Level 4 Magic Potion Master’s schedule.

On the appointed day, Duke arrived at the Six-Ring Tower.

The Magic and Alchemy Technology Department occupied several entire floors of the tower, and behind every door extending from the corridor was an independent alchemy room, with the name and title of the respective alchemist carved on the door signs.

The corridor was filled with a complex scent, a mix of residues from dozens of magic potion materials, including the spicy Dragon Blood Grass extract, the slightly sweet Starlight Pollen, the pungent sulfur refinement, and a strange odor resembling burnt honey mixed with rust, which words couldn’t describe.

Occasionally, lower-level alchemists clad in long alchemist robes hurried past in the corridor, carrying trays filled with materials. Upon seeing Duke, the unfamiliar face, they merely nodded slightly before continuing their way, with the entire department enveloped in an orderly, bustling atmosphere.

Wilkinson’s independent alchemy room was located at the deepest part of the seventy-first floor corridor, with his full name and title engraved on the door sign: Edwin Wilkinson, Deputy Head of the Magic and Alchemy Technology Department, Level 4 Magic Potion Master.

Duke stood in place and gently knocked three times on the door.

A low, "Please come in," could be heard from inside, and he pushed the door open and entered.

The alchemy room was much larger than he had anticipated, with a circular shape and a diameter no less than thirty steps. The dome was three stories high, with a spiraling metal track ascending along the wall, lined with dozens of alchemical crucibles of various sizes, ranging from Level 1 crucibles the size of a fist to Level 5 giants big enough to accommodate an entire rhino.

At the center of the room was a large workbench polished from a single piece of Obsidian, with a dozen separate temperature-control rune arrays embedded in the tabletop. Different stages of semi-finished magic potions floated above each array, some slowly bubbling, some already in the resting and aging phase, gathering a thin crystalline film on the surface.

The air was filled with a faint scent of Dragon Saliva Grass and Starlight Sand mixed and heated, completely distinct from the pungent mixture in the corridor outside.

A lean figure stood with his back to the door, at the workbench, using a silver-white dropper to add some fluorescent blue liquid into a flask floating over a temperature-controlled array.

The intervals between each drop were so precise that one might suspect he was using some form of timing magic.

Upon hearing footsteps, he didn’t even turn his head, but merely pointed with his free left hand to a chair by the door, gesturing for Duke to sit down.

Duke did not sit; he quietly stood aside without making a sound to disturb, watching Wilkinson finish adding the last few drops, stir three times clockwise with a glass rod, then one-and-a-half times counterclockwise before placing the flask back onto the temperature-controlled array, finally turning to face him.

Edwin Wilkinson appeared older than Duke had imagined. Duke had no way of knowing his actual age, but the wrinkles on his face were deep, looking as though they were chiselled into an oak board, each crevice representing at least decades of potion-making experience.

His grey-white short hair was cut extremely short, close to the scalp, with only two long, slender sideburns extending to his jaw, also gray-white, meticulously trimmed.

He wore a deep blue alchemist robe, with the silver thread emblem of the Six-Ring Tower’s Magic and Alchemy Technology Department trimming the cuffs and collar. The robe was speckled with various potion stains from who knows when, some faded from washing, some still fresh, indicating that this robe was his true battle garment used in daily work rather than a mere decoration for receiving guests.

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