Chapter 10: Innate Talent

Snakefang herb must be ground into powder.

Mountain Ai must be boiled by adding one large cup of water (8 ounces) to the crucible and simmering until only one ounce remains, then using that one ounce of liquid.

Gao De estimated that one ounce equaled about thirty milliliters in his world.

The green spider sac was far simpler to process: just puncture it and extract the venom.

Gao De completed this step using Mage Hand.

Because green spider venom’s primary effect was paralysis, but still carried slight corrosiveness, accidentally spilling it on the hands would inevitably cause trouble.

Once all materials were processed, came the final step: fusing the medicinal properties of all ingredients together—this was the most crucial part of potion-making.

Gao De took a deep breath, picked up a conical vial from the shelf on the table, and "skillfully" poured in the boiled Mountain Ai liquid, then added five ounces of honey water.

He gently shook the vial, waited until the liquids fully merged, then swiftly poured in most of the gray-green powder from the ground Snakefang herb.

As soon as the Snakefang powder entered, the liquid inside the vial began to boil violently, its color gradually shifting.

Gao De released his mental energy again, fixing his gaze on the vial.

Strange ripples reappeared in his vision.

This time, however, those ripples continuously twisted and merged, changing without pause.

He carefully observed the ripples’ transformations, and adjusted by adding more Snakefang powder as needed, striving to guide their final form toward his desired outcome.

The Snakefang powder could not be too much or too little—it required precise balance; if too much was added, he had to immediately neutralize it with a touch of honey water, if too little, he had to replenish it at once.

In essence, this process was simply adding flour when there was too much water, or water when there was too much flour.

But executing it was not easy: on one hand, Gao De had to concentrate his mental energy to observe the ripples; on the other, he needed absolute knowledge of the materials’ properties, knowing exactly how much to add under each circumstance.

After several failed attempts due to misjudging the Snakefang powder quantity, Gao De finally calmed down from his frantic state—and at this point, the potion preparation was nearing completion.

When the last drop of green spider venom dripped into the vial, the violently churning liquid gradually settled.

Faintly visible, a gray-green magical aura flashed through the liquid.

This was the sign of a successful Basic Spider Venom Potion—a level-zero potion with strong paralysis effects, non-lethal, typically applied to arrows to hunt beasts.

Gao De stared at the faintly green liquid in the vial, a deep sense of accomplishment and pride rising in his chest.

Basic Spider Venom Potion, level-zero, carries potent paralysis, no lethality; commonly purchased to coat arrows for hunting wild beasts.

He eagerly took down three smaller conical vials from the nearby shelf and poured the newly made Basic Spider Venom Potion into them.

A standard recipe’s yield of Basic Spider Venom Potion could be divided into three small vials for sale—this maximized profit for the alchemist and made it more acceptable to buyers.

Yet after filling the three small vials, he noticed about half an ounce of potion remained in the large vial.

According to his memory, a standard recipe yielded exactly three small vials—each small vial being two ounces—so how could there be so much left? “Unless—”

A sudden thought flashed through Gao De’s mind.

The next instant, he began searching frantically within the small workshop.

Finally, Gao De pulled out a wooden box from the bottom shelf.

Inside the box were three small vials of Basic Spider Venom Potion, six gleaming gold coins, and dozens of scattered silver and copper coins.

Gao De’s heart pounded violently.

Undoubtedly, this was a fortune. In this world’s currency system, copper coins were the most basic unit.

Here, one copper coin had purchasing power equivalent to four yuan plus a few jiao from before his transmigration.

The second tier of currency was silver coins.

One silver coin equaled twelve copper coins—roughly fifty yuan in purchasing power.

Gold coins sat at the top: one gold coin could be exchanged for twenty silver coins, with actual purchasing power around a thousand yuan.

Silver and copper coins were not universally accepted across nations due to differences in minting techniques, materials, and national strength, and their purchasing power varied greatly by region; but gold coins, directly tied to gold, had none of these issues.

They were universally accepted and consistently valued.

Gao De picked up a gleaming gold coin, its luster dazzling, making him squint—and he couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

He was in the Duchy of Sein.

The gold coin currently used in the Duchy of Sein was officially named Sein Gold Coin, a simple and understandable term.

The obverse bore the portrait of Sein’s founding duke; the reverse depicted a proud, strutting rooster—so people privately called it “Cock-a-doodle” or “Little Rooster.”

“What a lovely little rooster!” Gao De admired the exquisite rooster design on the reverse of the Sein Gold Coin, murmuring.

This wasn’t greed—he simply loved chickens!

He defended himself inwardly.

After admiring the charming “Little Rooster” for dozens of seconds, Gao De picked up a silver coin.

The obverse of Sein’s silver coin still bore the founding duke’s portrait, but the reverse showed a three-leaf flower—hence its name: Jin Quehua Silver Coin.

Gao De carefully counted: six gold coins, seven silver coins, and fourteen round copper coins.

Equivalent to 6,400 yuan from before his transmigration.

It didn’t seem like much.

But in this world, a typical five-person family’s minimum annual living cost was only 57 gold coins—even with rent.

If they owned their own house, annual expenses could drop below 45 gold coins.

For an orphaned apprentice to accumulate such a fortune under such intense pressure was unthinkable—apprentices received no payment for serving Master Seda.

The original owner’s memories had left Gao De no details about the source of this money, but now Gao De understood everything.

Whether it was the remaining half-ounce of potion or the neatly arranged three small vials in the wooden box, both revealed one truth.

—The original owner was a prodigy.

A prodigy in alchemy.

With no structured instruction, less than a year of practice, and following the standard recipe, he had produced an extra half-ounce of finished product per batch.

That meant, for every four batches of Basic Spider Venom Potion made, one extra small vial belonged to Gao De.

All of this stemmed from the original owner’s precise grasp of material properties and exceptional material transmutation effects—this was the essence of his talent, and Gao De had inherited it all.

(End of Chapter)