Eye of Evolution - Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Start of Actual Field Training
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Bai Xiaowen sat on the bar stool and closed his eyes for a minute. After going through Sun Hecheng’s concoction steps in his mind, he opened his eyes and began concocting.
However, Bai Xiaowen did not completely “copy” Sun Hecheng’s steps.
Although the success rate of “copying” was high, Bai Xiaowen had to understand this process in order to learn.
Now that he had a teacher like Sun Hecheng by his side to guide him, if he tried to concoct potions through his own understanding, he would have more chances to discover problems.
Sun Hecheng nodded slightly as he watched Bai Xiaowen weigh the medicinal herbs methodically and carry out the initial preparations. He realized that Bai Xiaowen was very talented. He had only demonstrated it once, but when Bai Xiaowen was concoting the potion, he managed to remember every step. Even the proportion formula and the weighing of the medicinal herbs were all done very well.
While Sun Hecheng was in awe, he was also reminded of Bai Xiaowen’s previous performance. As an assistant, Bai Xiaowen had memorized every step of the process without making any mistakes, regardless of the formula.
Bai Xiaowen was smart, cautious, and pragmatic.
A teenager who had all these traits was a natural born pharmacist.
Sun Hecheng felt a strong desire to cherish such talent.
After Bai Xiaowen successfully concocted the Brutal Bull’s Strength potion, the admiration that he felt turned into shock.
“Master Sun, I have succeeded.”
Bai Xiaowen heaved a sigh of relief. He was surprised that he had succeeded in the concoction process just from following his understanding of it.
However, this was a relatively low-grade combat potion, so the process was relatively simple. If it was a complicated enhancement potion, it was basically impossible for Bai Xiaowen to successfully concoct it with his own understanding. He had to copy every move that Sun Hecheng made.
“Have you concocted the Brutal Bull’s Strength Potion before?” Sun Hecheng suppressed his surprise and asked.
“No,” Bai Xiaowen replied.
“You succeeded on your first try…” Sun Hecheng smiled bitterly. “This is the first time I’ve encountered such a situation. I really don’t know what to say.”
Bai Xiaowen chuckled. “Master, you taught me well.”
“Bai Xiaowen, have you ever thought about becoming a full-time pharmacist?” Sun Hecheng had a serious expression. Coupled with his thick eyebrows and square face, he looked like a secret agent from those underground organizations. His look was like a still from a war drama.
Bai Xiaowen shook his head. “I want to be an Awakened. I’m willing to learn pharmaceutics, but it won’t be my main occupation.”
Upon hearing that, Sun Hecheng sighed. He was a little disappointed. “What’s so good about being an Awakened? Being a pharmacist is the best career choice. If you can be as capable as our store manager, countless Awakened will beg for your help. It’s a waste of talent for you to become an Awakened.”
Bai Xiaowen smiled and said, “Master Sun, I’m only a high school student now. It won’t be too late to consider becoming a full-time pharmacist after I finish university.”
Sun Hecheng suddenly recalled Bai Xiaowen’s age.
He thought, “Oh, I almost forgot. He’s only 17 years old and hasn’t reached adulthood yet…”
Sun Hecheng could not help but think, “How old was I when I first successfully concocted a potion?”
At this thought, Sun Hecheng felt a little disheartened.
“What a pity. If you’re willing to be a full-time pharmacist, the shop will immediately sign a contract with you. With your intelligence, it won’t be long before you can have your own alchemy lab like Zheng Li,” Sun Hecheng remarked.
Bai Xiaowen shook his head and chuckled. “I still think it’s better to be a part-time assistant under you.”
If he had just transmigrated, Bai Xiaowen might have been ecstatic over a pharmacist contract. However, after half a month, Bai Xiaowen had a clear understanding of his abilities.
The Awakened world, especially the abundant and mysterious Spiritual Realm with countless planes and hidden secrets, was the path that Bai Xiaowen ought to take. Compared to how exciting the life of an Awakened was, the 10-square-meter alchemy lab was too small. What was the point of spending his life in such a small room even if he could earn a lot of money?
Bai Xiaowen had had enough of being a geek in his previous life and staying cooped up in his room in his previous life. In this life, he wanted to live his life to the fullest and be successful!
Sun Hecheng poured the liquid from the beaker into a bottle and carefully sealed it before handing it to Bai Xiaowen.
“Take it as a memento,” Sun Hecheng said with a smile.
Bai Xiaowen accepted the bottle of potion. Actually, the first potion that he had concocted was the enhancement potion that he had consumed a long time ago. Of course, Bai Xiaowen would not tell Sun Hecheng about it.
“I don’t have a lot of work to do these few days, so I have a lot of free time. Read through this book first. If you don’t understand anything, you can come and ask me anytime.” Sun Hecheng pulled out a thick book from his drawer and handed it to Bai Xiaowen.
Bai Xiaowen took the book and thanked Sun Hecheng sincerely. This pharmacist who looked like an underground party member was indeed a good person.
–
Three days passed quickly.
In the past three days, Bai Xiaowen had learned the prescriptions for another two potions. One of them was an enhancement potion to increase one’s strength, “Gargoyle Power”, while the other was an enhancement potion to increase one’s agility, “Speed of the Velociraptor”!
Bai Xiaowen collected the residue of the herbs and successfully made two bottles of Speed of the Velociraptor.
Bai Xiaowen consumed a bottle and with his 7.9 points of Spirit, he managed to withstand the side effects of the potion. The second enhancement was successful. His Agility increased by 2.1, doubling to 4.2! However, he could vaguely feel that he was at his limit. If he were to undergo the third enhancement, the failure rate would definitely be above 90%!
His total attributes had reached 18.7, so he was less than two points away from the Awakened’s threshold.
Bai Xiaowen also used this opportunity to level up his Basic Combat to Level 3.
The only shortcoming was that Bai Xiaowen’s Physique had not been strengthened. His Physique was only at 2.1, which meant that Bai Xiaowen’s physical fitness was very poor and his resistance to attacks was very weak.
Bai Xiaowen did not think that having a total of 18.7 in attributes was impressive. That was because his Spirit alone had a high value of 7.9. Frankly speaking, Spirit was far inferior to Strength, Agility, and Physique in actual combat.
“Attention, all students of Class 17. Get into the buses now. We’ll leave in 15 minutes!” The voice of the plump form teacher, Xiao Jinsheng, came from the loudspeaker and interrupted Bai Xiaowen’s thoughts.
The students walked toward the two buses.
Bai Xiaowen saw Zhou Yi. Beside him was Wu Xiaoyan, who was standing beside him as usual.
Zhou Yi lagged behind the other students and made a throat-cutting gesture at Bai Xiaowen. Wu Xiaoyan’s face turned pale as she urged Zhou Yi to board the bus.
“He’s such an idiot.” Bai Xiaowen recalled the trauma of being chased and bitten by a dog when he was young.
Dogs that bite did not bark. Zhou Yi’s threats and intimidation were not only meaningless but also made people more vigilant.
However, in Zhou Yi’s eyes, Bai Xiaowen was probably a rookie who could be killed easily. Hence, he looked down upon Bai Xiaowen.
“The last time I used Insight in the hospital, I saw that Zhou Yi’s total attributes were 15.5! His Spirit is very low and his Agility is mediocre, but his strength and physique attributes are very high. In addition to our difference in combat skills, I don’t have much of an advantage against him.”
“However, I’ve already been reborn. I’m no longer a rookie that he can casually kill ‘by accident’. If he really has any ill intentions toward me, I won’t hold back either,” thought Bai Xiaowen.
Bai Xiaowen took out his old phone and sent Bai Xiaojun a text message before boarding the bus.