Chapter 617: Rapid Growth No. 2

When I told Lady Fabienne about the impromptu recital held last night, she immediately seized upon the subject. She said she wished she had heard such a magnificent song, so I would have to remember to invite her the next time I performed. Naturally, we also decided to record it on her gramophone.

Nero had described the splendour of my performance to her with such passion that even I could only smile awkwardly, just like Mira.

Please don’t spread the story too far.

Ah, I should probably tell the entire family that.

“Today, we’ll develop Rapid Growth No. 2. We can’t create the clover field until it’s complete.”

“Will Rapid Growth No. 2 also be classified as fertiliser?”

“No. This time, I’ll classify it as a magic potion. It looks as though it’ll be rather unusual.”

Lady Fabienne nodded, apparently agreeing that this made sense. Together, we headed for the compounding room.

To avoid disturbing everyone already at work, we used an empty workbench at the back.

Was the room starting to feel a little cramped now that more people were using it? Perhaps we should open the compounding room in the annex that Grandmother once used. Alternatively, I could ask for the entire annex to be made into my private compounding room and develop new magic potions there.

“Is something the matter?” Lady Fabienne asked.

“I was wondering whether to use the compounding room in the annex. For now, I think I’ll leave things as they are.”

“If any more people join us, it may be better to split into two groups.”

As we talked, we gathered the ingredients needed for the magic potion. First came mana grass, the key ingredient in this formula. We would also use porous trevi fruit to improve the mixture’s ability to retain its active components. There would be little point if all those valuable components simply washed deep into the ground.

“First, let’s replace the medicinal-herb component in the original formula with mana-grass extract.”

“Understood.”

As when making Rapid Growth, we heat-treated the ingredients to extract their components. This time, however, we soaked the trevi fruit directly in the mixture. Unlike when we had made fertiliser before, there were no other substances mixed in.

“Now, will it work? …Oh. It failed.”

“Hmm. It doesn’t appear to have any effect.”

“What? Lady Fabienne, have you awakened the Appraisal skill too?!”

“Have I?”

Lady Fabienne tilted her head, seemingly unaware of it. This was a major development. Her habit of carefully observing magic potions while making them must have borne fruit: she appeared to have acquired the Appraisal skill.

“Lady Fabienne, look closely at this mana grass. Can you tell what quality it is?”

“Hmm… High quality, perhaps?”

“Correct. Your skill still seems a little unstable, but you’ll become accustomed to it as you use it.”

I said she would become accustomed to it, but using Appraisal repeatedly should also raise the skill’s level. Once that happened, she would be able to perceive far more information. From now on, I would have to make magic potions while also considering how best to train her skill.

“Perhaps the ingredients were too simple. Let’s try adding chigo fruit. We may still need some medicinal-herb extract as well, so we’ll mix in just a hint of it.”

“If the effect becomes too strong, I believe we should add giant-honeybee honey.”

“Good idea. Let’s add that too.”

From there, we entered a cycle of constant trial and error. As we made one prototype after another, we gradually approached the magic potion we wanted.

In the end, trevi fruit alone didn’t work, and we had to mix in a certain amount of leaf mould. Nevertheless, we finally completed it.

Rapid Growth No. 2: Highest quality. Bestows mana upon the earth. Effect: Minor. Duration: Major.

“Excellent. We’ve finally completed a highest-quality magic potion, and its effect is exactly what we wanted. One application to the field should last for an entire year.”

“Then we won’t have to apply it repeatedly. Still, I didn’t expect that it wouldn’t require the chigo fruit used in plant nutrient.”

“Neither did I. Perhaps the mana grass already contains a mana component, making chigo fruit unnecessary because its own component would compete with it.”

We had failed many times, but we had also made many new discoveries. It had been ages since I last immersed myself so completely in experimentation with magic potions, and I was thoroughly satisfied. Having someone nearby with whom I could discuss ideas was wonderful too.

This was why I could never give up making magic potions.

“As expected of Lord Julius and Lady Fabienne,” one of the Royal Magic Pharmacists said. “We have attempted to develop new magic potions ourselves, but we could never do so this quickly.”

“You were watching us? How embarrassing. We became completely absorbed in our work.”

Apparently, the Royal Magic Pharmacists had been observing us. We had repeatedly made prototypes and discarded them, so they must have wondered what we were doing.

“More importantly, Lord Julius, you can tell that a potion has failed merely by looking at it. I envy that ability. We must devote ourselves to our studies as well.”

“If you continue making magic potions, I’m sure you’ll acquire it one day.”

It seemed the Royal Magic Pharmacists had realised that I possessed the Appraisal skill. However, they didn’t appear to know the full extent of its capabilities.

The conditions for acquiring skills were still poorly understood. Perhaps that was precisely why research into them had made so little progress.