Chapter 53: Slight Progress

Medicinal garden, Gao De's workshop.

Gao De carefully opened the box, took out a small bottle of Basic Mana Potion, and held it in his hand.

"Extravagant!" He couldn't help but sigh again.

The price of this one small bottle of potion was enough for the expenses of eight people in the medicinal garden for nearly ten days.

And he practiced the guidance method, consuming one small bottle every two days.

The money was already spent, so Gao De didn't struggle with it anymore and lightly pulled out the bottle stopper.

A strange medicinal liquid smell permeated, which was not unpleasant.

Gulp~ Gao De tilted his head and drank the bottle of Basic Mana Potion in one go, and only after confirming that not a drop was left did he put the empty potion bottle back into the box.

Rinse it, and it can be recycled for making medicine later; it can't be wasted.

"At such an expensive price, don't let me down."

Gao De muttered to himself, then quickly entered meditation, entering the quiet state necessary for guidance method cultivation.

As soon as he entered the quiet state, Gao De felt the difference.

A stream of heat was continuously emerging from his abdomen; that was the endless mana.

In a normal state, mana floats in the outside world, and he needs to guide it into his body through the guidance method, and then convert it into his own magic power.

But now, mana was gathering in his abdomen; where was the need to guide it into the body from the outside world?

Gao De had never seen such a good thing, so he hurriedly operated the guidance method as if starving, greedily absorbing the mana gathered in his lower abdomen and converting it into his own magic power.

Feeling the increasingly full magic power in his body, Gao De, in the meditative state, couldn't help but raise a smile on his face.

It wasn't until his mental power consumption reached the critical point that Gao De woke up from meditation and stopped the cultivation of the guidance method.

"Sure enough, you get what you pay for; the progress of this one cultivation is worth five or six times in the past." Gao De carefully felt the progress of his magic power and sighed sincerely.

"If I persist in drinking Basic Mana Potion to assist in the cultivation of the guidance method, my magic power will be able to go up another level in three days..."

His predecessor spent two years to cultivate the guidance method and meditation technique to the realm of five cantrips and five lotus petals respectively.

This was on the premise that his cultivation talent was already outstanding compared to other apprentices in the medicinal garden.

In fact, not only the apprentices, but even Master Seda's mage talent was far inferior to "Gao De."

In the case of occasionally drinking Basic Mana Potion, Master Seda only reached the Third-Rank Apprentice level at the age of thirty-five.

In fact, even if the scope is expanded to all mage ranks, the predecessor's mage talent should be able to rank in the middle to lower reaches.

Even so, he averaged 144 days, or 5 months, to break through a small level.

If calculated according to this cultivation efficiency, if Gao De's predecessor wanted to cultivate the guidance method from entry to Third-Rank Apprentice (twenty cantrips), and didn't slack off for a single day, it seems it would only take 2880 days, which is eight years.

Of course, cultivation cannot be calculated by such simple accumulation.

The reason why mage apprentices are divided into First to Third Rank is that the time required to increase a small layer of magic power increases by one level for each rank promoted.

In colloquial terms, it's like progressing from sixty to seventy, and from seventy to eighty; although both are an increase of ten, the effort and energy required are definitely different.

Under normal circumstances, the time it takes for the same person to increase a layer of magic power at the Second-Rank Apprentice stage is 1.5 times that at the First-Rank Apprentice stage.

"From Second-Rank Apprentice to Third-Rank Apprentice, magic power needs to be increased by fifteen small levels; one small level is 144 days multiplied by 1.5, which is 216 days." Gao De calculated in his heart.

"If you want to reach Third-Rank Apprentice, then you need to..."

Gao De calculated slightly and got the answer: "3240 days."

Exactly 9 years.

Plus the previous two years, that's 11 years.

And those with more average mage talent, if they want to cultivate to Third-Rank Apprentice, it would even take more than twenty years by this calculation.

"No, it can't be calculated like this either. With the breakthrough of meditation techniques and the growth of mental power, the time that can be used to cultivate the guidance method in a day will also increase, and the efficiency of absorbing mana can also be improved..."

"This is equivalent to the cultivation speed of the guidance method rising with the breakthrough of meditation techniques."

Superimposing this layer, Gao De could no longer perform precise calculations.

But it's good to know that the total time required will be far less than 9 years. Let's estimate it as seven years; seven years later... he will only be twenty.

At twenty, he could reach Third-Rank Apprentice.

"And you can also drink Basic Mana Potion to speed up the cultivation progress; now after drinking Basic Mana Potion, one day is better than five days..."

"A set (3 small bottles) of Basic Mana Potion can be used for my six days of cultivation, but this is because I am still a First-Rank Apprentice; once I reach Second-Rank Apprentice, I will need to consume one small bottle of potion a day."

"If I drink Basic Mana Potion throughout the whole process..."

Calculating in his heart, Gao De got the answer again: "43.2 days to increase a small level; the next level will be broken through soon; excluding the uncounted ones, there are still fourteen small levels left."

He calculated for a while longer.

604.8 days, 1.68 years.

That's right, if he persists in "taking drugs," he can reach Third-Rank Apprentice in at most no more than two years, the same level as Master Seda.

This is the charm of "taking drugs."

"A set of Basic Mana Potion is 6 gold and 10 silver; calculated at the consumption speed of a Second-Rank Apprentice, it takes about 201 sets of Basic Mana Potion, which is 1306 gold..."

Gao De spread his hands and stopped calculating.

Can't afford to calculate.

"Better to be down-to-earth; this medicine can only be taken occasionally." He became honest and stopped daydreaming.

It's just that Gao De frowned again, thinking of a key problem.

He had only been in this world for two months, and his meditation technique had already broken through from five lotus petals to seven lotus petals! "If there is no potion assistance, my meditation technique progress will soon pull the guidance method progress far behind..."

"But if I want to drink Basic Mana Potion for a long time, this expenditure is definitely not something I can afford."

The contradiction between the two is irreconcilable.

A penny can stump a hero, but it definitely can't stump Gao De.

But 1306 gold would stump two Gao Des.

"If only I could get the recipe for Basic Mana Potion," Gao De muttered.

For Primary Spider Venom Potion, if all raw materials are purchased, the material cost for a set of potion is 30 silver.

If you have your own medicinal garden and cultivate the raw materials needed for medicine making yourself, this material cost can be reduced by more than half.

The acquisition price offered by the Phil Potion Shop to potion makers is 2 gold per set.

And after the Primary Spider Venom Potion goes from the potion maker to the shop, after such a turn, the selling price will rise to 2 gold and 10 silver.

By this rough estimate, if Gao De could prepare Basic Mana Potion himself, the cost of a set of Basic Mana Potion could be reduced from the current 6 gold and 10 silver to about 3 gold, or even lower.

It's just that this is almost impossible.

The recipe for Basic Mana Potion could never appear on the market.

For any potion maker, this is a non-sale item!

After drinking Basic Mana Potion, the cultivation speed of Gao De's guidance method finally caught up with the meditation technique for the time being and began to surge forward.

Just as he estimated, three days later, on the 13th day of the Green Bud Month, the guidance method, which had been slow like an old ox pulling a cart and made Gao De feel anxious, finally had a breakthrough.

As the mana from the potion in his lower abdomen was absorbed and converted into his own magic power, gradually becoming harmonious with his own magic power and becoming huge, suddenly, his whole body trembled slightly, and the magic power flow expanded by 20%.

Gao De knew what was going on and let out a long breath.

"Finally broke through; now my magic power is enough for me to cast six cantrips."

If the guidance method is cultivated to perfection, the magic power cultivated is enough for him to cast twenty cantrips in one breath.

Although the guidance method does not have a clear realm division, it is only roughly divided into First to Third Rank Apprentices.

But according to the number of spells he can cast in one breath with his current magic power, Gao De can also deduce every bit of his progress.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 54 =====