Chapter 7: Patrick

Patrick scrutinized his guest.

Seventeen or eighteen years old—excessively young.

Dressed exquisitely—not short of money.

Calm and composed—seemed full of confidence in what he was about to show.

He looked at his watch. "Five minutes, you have five minutes to tell me your intention, it had better be worth you breaking into someone's office without permission."

Murphy smiled. "One minute is enough."

He waited for Patrick to pour himself a glass of water and wasn't in a hurry to speak.

"Young man, your time is running out." Patrick reminded.

Murphy nodded. "Mr. Patrick, some reporters say you are the best pharmaceutical salesperson, you must have done quite a bit of research on medicine. Then, what do you know is the best medicine for treating external injuries?"

"Treating external injuries?"

Patrick frowned; this statement was quite amateurish.

The treatment of external injuries involves too many aspects. Does it refer to the suturing of wounds, the reconnection of bones, or disinfection and sterilization, or stopping bleeding and pain?

The medicines or medical devices used in these steps are different. A simple question like 'what is the best medicine for treating external injuries' is like asking 'what food is the healthiest,' leaving one unable to answer.

This kid is definitely a layman.

However, he still patiently said: "Do you mean antibiotics for disinfection and sterilization? For treating wound infections, penicillin is still the most commonly used medicine, and cephalosporins are also quite good, with few side effects..."

"You misunderstood." Murphy interrupted the other party. "I mean medicine that can help wounds heal."

Patrick glanced at Murphy. "Young man, I don't know if you have taken any medical courses. If you have basic medical common sense, you should understand that the main factor affecting wound healing is actually infection..."

"Is there no medicine that can promote cell division and accelerate wound healing?"

"No! If you mean so-called growth factors, the Nobel Prize in Medicine last year was indeed awarded to Stanley and Rita, but that substance is still a long way from medical use..."

"If I say, the bottle of potion in my hand can make any wound heal in a few minutes or even a few seconds, do you believe it?"

"Impossible!"

Patrick insisted. "That kind of effect is not something medicine can achieve. What you are talking about only exists in those science fiction novels."

Murphy smiled and pulled a pair of scissors from the pen holder on the table. "Mr. Patrick, are you ready to witness a miracle?"

"You, what do you want to do?" Patrick saw the scissors in Murphy's hand and was obviously nervous.

However, Murphy didn't answer, took the scissors, and made a cut directly on his wrist.

Blood immediately gushed out.

"Oh! No! God! What are you doing!" Patrick screamed.

"Calm down! Patrick! Calm down! Then, watch carefully! I don't want to cut myself again!"

Murphy said, using the Essence of Dittany. A few seconds later, the bleeding stopped, and the wound disappeared.

Murphy wiped away the blood with his hand, then raised his wrist, which had only a faint blood mark, in front of Patrick.

"See it?"

"This is impossible!" Patrick widened his eyes. "Magic trick?"

"There's more in the bottle, you can try it yourself."

A few minutes later, after cutting himself and his assistant twice in a row, Patrick believed it.

Chasing away the assistant who was frightened by being cut twice by the boss, Patrick paced back and forth in the office with a solemn face.

While thinking, he asked several questions in a row, which were similar to David's questions at the time, asking about the source of the medicine, whether there was a patent, and so on.

But he asked more, including whether the medicine had been registered, the production method, the output, and whether it could be mass-produced, etc.

Murphy answered truthfully. "The medicine hasn't been registered yet, I don't quite understand the process. In terms of output, its preparation method is actually very simple, as long as the raw materials are sufficient, batch production is no problem."

Patrick nodded. "We must arrange clinical trials as soon as possible to prove the safety of the medicine, then register a patent, and at the same time buy a factory. We can produce it first. As long as the clinical trial results are not too bad and the side effects are within an acceptable range, it will definitely sell well! Even if the results are not ideal, it has many uses."

"We?"

"You specifically came here to find me, you want to poach me, right." Patrick stared at him.

"I know my ability, many people want to poach me, but Blue Mountain treats me well, and I have no intention of leaving. However, you are different... this... you call it White Potion? White Potion is different!"

"Although more verification is needed, it has already convinced me. In fact, no one related to the pharmaceutical industry can refuse such a medicine!"

"This is simply magic, a miracle! Just like the appearance of penicillin, it is a great invention that subverts people's cognition and changes the world!"

"I can't miss such an opportunity."

Speaking of this, he asked: "How much start-up capital do you have?"

Murphy thought about it. "About 1.5 million."

A Porsche 959 is less than 200,000 US dollars, which is less than 150,000 pounds, and the two million tossed around, still left more than half.

Jim was right, two million pounds is indeed enough for him to live without worry for a lifetime.

Patrick was a bit shocked. "That's quite a lot, enough for us to acquire some good pharmaceutical factories. I have more than 500,000 here, which should be enough to cover the various expenses in the early stage."

Murphy thought about it. "Actually, I just want to hire you. For this medicine, I need to have absolute control."

Patrick nodded. "I understand. But please believe me, I am worth you taking out a portion of the equity."

This slightly bald man looked directly at Murphy; he must have practiced such an expression deliberately.

Focused and calm gaze, making it easy for people to feel his sincerity and generate trust.

"I can't promise now, but I will seriously consider it." Murphy said.

Patrick was slightly disappointed, but soon collected his mood. "I need you to tell me the production process of White Potion roughly, you don't need to reveal the confidential parts, but I need to know what kind of process and equipment should be used to produce this medicine, so as to find a suitable factory."

"Okay."

Actually, there is nothing to keep secret, the production of Essence of Dittany is very simple.

Its original production method was to boil it through a cauldron and use a purification spell.

But after testing, Murphy found that the purification spell was unnecessary.

He used the water solubility of Essence of Dittany, designed an extraction experiment, crushed fresh dittany leaves, put them into a reaction kettle, added water and glycerin, stirred, filtered, heated, controlled the temperature, and then condensed. After repeating it a few times, the Essence of Dittany obtained had a purity far higher than the method refined through traditional cauldrons.

Even a Muggle, as long as they have dittany, can obtain Essence of Dittany through this simple extraction.

This is completely contrary to the basic principles Murphy learned in potion class.

Wizards believe that the production of any potion inevitably involves, intentionally or unintentionally, the will of the wizard and magic.

Now it seems that this is likely just wishful thinking by wizards.

Magic does not only exist in the wizard's body; the effect of potions still mainly depends on the reaction between substances, not the wizard's will.

Describing the experimental steps to Patrick roughly, Murphy emphasized: "Raw materials are the key to White Potion. This raw material can currently only be provided by me."

Patrick nodded. "It sounds like the key step in making White Potion is extraction."

He looked for a piece of paper on his desk.

"Then the most suitable for us are not these chemical synthesis factories, herbal manufacturers are our target."

He crossed out most of the names on that list and finally left three or four.

"These few might meet the requirements, I will go and inspect them personally tomorrow, and give you a report by tomorrow afternoon at the latest."

"Ready to start now?" Murphy admired this action.

"Of course! I seem to have returned to the time when I first entered the industry, as if the whole world is waiting for me to open up and conquer! I can't wait for a moment!"

Murphy smiled. "I'm starting to feel that I should indeed give you some shares."

Patrick also smiled. "Motivating employees requires empty checks, you've already learned, boss."

"Then, what should I do?"

"Think of a good name, register a company, prepare the money... I will handle the approval of drug registration, others... temporarily nothing... oh, by the way, you said raw materials are the key to White Potion. You might need to guarantee the supply of materials."

"I have a premonition that we will soon face order pressure."

(End of chapter)