Wishing Water

After Foster finished explaining, the corner of Liu Xuan’s mouth twitched.

Wasn’t that just a joke of a potion?

As for whether the three people who made wishes had their wishes granted… technically, it seemed they had.

But the way those wishes came true was pretty awful.

Liu Xuan suspected that even if he made a wish to become the strongest person in the world right now, with the time limit clearly specified, the damn Wish Water would still find some way to screw him over.

For example, “the world” might only refer to this battlefield. Or perhaps everyone he couldn’t defeat would temporarily leave this world, allowing him to be “the strongest in the world” for one second before they all returned. That would technically count as granting his wish.

It was entirely possible.

You could hardly even say for sure whether the previous wishes had been fulfilled by the Wish Water at all.

What if it was completely useless? After all, there had only been three cases.

Still, Liu Xuan figured there was no harm in making the potion. He could always decide later whether to drink it.

And if he ever reached a point where drinking it was unavoidable, perhaps it could serve as a safety net.

As it turned out, Foster told him that the Wish Water had to be infused with a “wish” during its production, and it had to be drunk immediately after it was finished. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.

It wasn’t something he could prepare in advance, then drink and make a wish whenever he needed it.

“Even more useless than I thought…” Liu Xuan grumbled inwardly.

But then he thought of a wish that should be difficult to exploit.

So he asked Foster, “Is the alchemist we’re training skilled enough to make Wish Water?”

“His proficiency is still a little lacking.” Foster shook his head, but the fingers of his right hand, resting at his waist, began twitching even faster. “However, I can personally assist him. In that case, we can make it right now.”

Liu Xuan glanced at those fingers, which looked like they were about to rub sparks into existence, and understood the hint.

“Just name your price.”

“Five gold coins!”

“Deal!”

Five gold coins for a possibility. What a bargain!

Soon, the alchemy apprentice Zhang Meng had been training arrived.

Foster and his apprentice worked together to make the Wish Water. The so-called “infusing it with a wish” involved Liu Xuan burying his face in a basin of water while Foster poured some black alchemical liquid into it.

Liu Xuan silently focused on his wish. A substance resembling white mist slowly flowed from his ears into the black water in the basin.

Foster had the apprentice extract some of the mixture, then refine it together with the other ingredients. In less than half an hour, a fresh bottle of Wish Water was ready.

It was completely transparent and stored in a glass bottle. It looked just like purified water.

Liu Xuan eyed Foster suspiciously. “This isn’t just a scam, is it? Like some kind of placebo.”

Foster smiled. “Whether it works or not, only the person who drinks it can find out.”

Liu Xuan shook his head and downed it in one gulp.

At the same time, he made his wish: If he ever found himself in a desperate situation where death was certain, he would be given one chance to turn the tables.

He didn’t want strength or immortality. All he wanted was one chance to reverse the situation.

Even if the potion gave him that chance only for him to immediately find himself back in a deadly predicament, Liu Xuan wouldn’t have lost anything.

He would have died anyway.

But if he managed to seize that glimmer of hope, then the Wish Water would have rendered him a tremendous service.

Seeing him drink the potion, Foster wiped the sweat from his brow and went to sit down nearby.

“It’s been a long time since I participated in potion-making. This brings back memories.”

“Mr. Foster, thank you for your help. But there’s one more thing I’d like you to examine.”

Foster looked up at him in surprise. “Oh? You took it out only after the Strange Mushroom, so I assume it’s even more valuable than that?”

“It should be a little bit more valuable.”

Liu Xuan took out the Immortality Grass he had obtained in the Cursed Forest.

Foster merely glanced at it, but his whole body sprang to its feet, trembling violently.

“This… This is…”

Seeing him shake even more violently than before, Liu Xuan didn’t dare hand over the grass. If Foster accidentally flung it away, he would have nowhere to cry afterward.

“Stop! Mr. Foster, just stay right there and tell me from where you are.”

“…”

It took quite a while before Foster finally calmed down. Then he let out a sigh.

“This is the Immortality Grass, isn’t it? I know what you’re going to ask, but I truly can’t process this.”

“You can’t?”

Foster smiled bitterly. “This is a legendary-grade material. Even at the height of my abilities, I wouldn’t have been qualified to handle it. You need at least a master-level alchemist to refine it. There should have been someone of that level in the royal capital in the past, but now…”

He glanced at the alchemy apprentice beside him.

“You’ll have to wait for your own people to reach that level.”

“How long will that take?”

“Hard to say. Alchemy starts out simple, but the more advanced it becomes, the more rare and valuable materials it requires. His talent is fairly decent. If he gets enough opportunities to practice, it’s not impossible for him to reach the master level.”

Foster sighed again.

Back then, he had stopped at the advanced alchemist level precisely because he couldn’t obtain enough valuable materials for practice.

This profession was simply too expensive.

Even though advanced alchemists could earn a substantial amount of money, that still wasn’t enough to reach the master level.

You had to master more than a hundred costly recipes and accumulate experience from them before you could elevate your skills to the level of a master.

The problem was that many of the things produced by those recipes couldn’t be sold.

For example, there was a potion that would turn the drinker into a tree for an entire day.

How many people would actually buy something like that?

Yet the materials alone cost dozens of gold coins, and even then, the potion might fail.

That was why improving one’s experience was essentially the same as burning money.

Those who managed to become masters usually had powerful factions supporting them from behind the scenes.

After hearing this, Liu Xuan realized that he wouldn’t be drinking the Elixir of Immortality anytime soon.

Money wasn’t a problem for him now. The issue was that he didn’t have enough alchemical materials.

He could either collect them bit by bit through constant grinding across the entire battlefield, or…

A man didn’t grow rich without a windfall.

He could rob other battlefields!

After leaving Foster’s place, Liu Xuan went to look for the city’s blacksmith.

The senior blacksmith of Orenburg had also survived. However, he was already old and no longer strong enough to work the forge, so he was willing to pass on his blacksmithing skills.

When Liu Xuan saw the old man’s white beard and skinny frame, he found him completely different from the image of a typical blacksmith. He was a little worried that Mr. Hawk might react just as dramatically as Foster.

So he gave him a warning in advance.

“Mr. Hawk, I have an extremely, extremely, extremely valuable material in my possession. I’d like you to take a look at it, but please don’t get too excited.”

Because of his advanced age, Hawk was sitting in a chair. He glanced at Liu Xuan.

“Young man, I’ve crossed more bridges than you’ve walked roads. What rare materials could I possibly not have seen? I’ve long since learned to take everything in stride.”

“That’s good.”

Liu Xuan then took out the Stone of Sharpness he had obtained from the Fortune Tree a long time ago and looked toward Hawk.

The old man gave it a casual glance, yet remained firmly seated in his chair.

Liu Xuan couldn’t help praising him. “As expected of a veteran—so composed.”

But in the very next moment, Hawk’s eyes rolled back, his head lolled backward, and with a “thump,” he slid out of his seat and passed out cold.