“Really? The competition has already reached the top eight?”
“Yeah.” Mo Li, sitting at the dining table, was silently battling with a whole roasted piglet.
“Hey, that little beastkin girl who usually eats here didn’t come today?” Norma noticed that Limdis, who usually followed Mo Li like a little tail, was absent today.
“Yeah, she’s probably feeling a bit embarrassed.” Mo Li pondered.
“Embarrassed? Why’s that?” Norma was puzzled.
“She’s going to duel with me tomorrow, and coming to mooch off my food tonight would be a bit much, even for someone with a thick skin.”
“Your opponent tomorrow is that little beastkin girl… Well, if you both made it to the finals, a battle was inevitable.”
“Seeing how confident you are, I assume you’re fully prepared?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I mean, you seem so calm and collected, you must be ready for the final battle.” Seeing Mo Li mumbling with a pig’s trotter in his mouth, Norma had three black lines on his forehead.
“No, I haven’t even figured out the exact effects of her bloodline.”
“Then, surely you’ve prepared to give it your all?”
“I haven’t even had time to check my crossbow strings.”
“…”
“These things can’t be rushed.” Mo Li said, peeling off the last piece of meat from the pig’s trotter and tossing it into his mouth before standing up and burping.
“Alright, time to get down to business.
Uncle Norma, can I borrow your alchemy lab?”
“Uh… sure, but it’s not really mine, so my word doesn’t mean much.” Norma was a bit embarrassed.
“Not yours?” Mo Li was taken aback, then quickly understood.
After all, as a count of the Holy See, how could he not have his own private alchemist?
“You’ll have to talk to her yourself.
My word doesn’t mean much, as alchemists tend to have peculiar tempers, including the one at my place… She’s here today.”
Recalling the last time he used the alchemy lab without permission, Mo Li felt he should indeed meet the person.
He made his way to Norma’s alchemy lab with ease.
“Aren’t you going in?”
“No, no, my alchemist doesn’t like being disturbed during her research.
If we go in, we’ll definitely get scolded.” Norma waved his hand.
Mo Li found it odd.
No matter how eccentric an alchemist was, they were still employed, right? It’s one thing to have a temper with servants, but to show it to their lord seemed a bit too bold.
Pushing open the door, the lab was no different from other alchemists’ labs, filled with a strong, pungent medicinal smell.
A boiler was burning with flames, and herbs and colorful potions were scattered around, indicating the lab was in use.
“Who is it? Didn’t I say not to enter my room casually?” A voice came before the person was seen.
A woman in a dark green alchemist’s robe sat on a wooden chair, her back to Mo Li.
“If there’s nothing, hurry up and leave.
If you’re delivering herbs, just pile them there, don’t interrupt my experiment.” The woman spoke without turning her head.
Is this the private alchemist hired by Uncle Norma? Mo Li quietly closed the door and slowly moved closer.
The woman, seemingly too engrossed in her work, didn’t notice Mo Li’s approach.
“Tsk… this is troublesome.” The woman’s experiment didn’t seem to be going well, her face full of distress, muttering to herself.
“Damn it, there’s too little ‘mental fear’ element in the swamp flower root, can’t extract it, and can’t find similar materials to supplement… This kind of mental poison can’t be developed at all!”
“Damn, what kind of hellish material is this, with less than ten percent content? What kind of alchemist can extract it?”
While the woman was immersed in her research, Mo Li had a thoughtful expression.
“Ten percent, is it hard to extract?”
“Isn’t that obvious?? Ten percent is something only a scarlet-level alchemist can extract, how could I do it?” The woman complained.
“Then, since you can’t do it, you could try adding frost grass, a material with a single element, using the ‘cold poison’ in frost grass to counteract the ‘flame poison’ in the swamp flower root.
This reduces the effective components.
Although it doesn’t increase the ‘mental fear’ element content in the swamp flower root, it naturally raises the percentage of ‘mental fear’ by lowering other components.” Mo Li shared his analysis.
“…Huh? Seems like that’s the case.” The woman suddenly looked enlightened, only then realizing there was someone beside her.
“Kid, I don’t think I’ve seen you before.
You’re not a servant of the count’s house, are you?”
“Nice to meet you, Lady Lana.
I’m the one who used your lab without permission last time.”
“Oh…” The woman’s eyes narrowed.
“So it was you.”
“Hmph, since you gave me a little tip, I won’t pursue it… Hey kid, do you have a master?”
“Uh, I do.”
“Figures.” The woman shook her head self-deprecatingly.
“A good teacher produces good students… Can you tell me if that idea just now was your own?”
“No, my master taught me.” This was true; the method was part of the basic alchemy knowledge taught to him by Mirabelle.
If he told Miss Lana that this was just the most basic alchemy knowledge, he wondered how she would react.
“Alright, since you have a master, I won’t play the fool… So, what do you want from me?” Lana straightforwardly got to the point after sizing up Mo Li.
“I’d like to borrow your alchemy lab.” Mo Li got straight to the point.
“That, huh? Sure, but you’ll have to wait until I’m done… By the way, kid, I smell something special on you.”
“?… Special smell?” Mo Li was puzzled.
“Yeah, a smell called ‘kindred.’ Do you often come into contact with poisons?”
“…As expected of a senior, I can’t hide it from you.”
“Ha, I see, you’re interested in poisons too.” Lana crossed her legs, looking at Mo Li with interest.
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me what you usually do with poisons?”
“…Well, what else can poisons be used for?”
“Hahaha, that was a stupid question, don’t mind… But from the way you talk, you’ve done your fair share of killing and looting?”
“Killing is killing, but I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
“Pfft, no need to explain too much.
What’s wrong with killing? Who in this world can say they don’t have a few lives on their hands?” Lana waved her hand nonchalantly.
“Since you’re also interested in poisons, I’d like to make a deal with you, how about it?”
