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A week had passed since Mia, the apprentice alchemist, had successfully completed Vanessa-san's potion request, and the ordinary routine of her life had quickly begun to settle in.

Cleaning the spacious workshop, managing the herb inventory, and practicing alchemy.

The Formation skill, which she had only been able to use on top of a magic circle, was now—

「It’s quite difficult to refine the fine details of the shape.」

She had reached a level where she could barely manage it and was attempting the long-cherished dream of making a penguin shape.

She was still struggling fiercely with the unfamiliar work and couldn't create it exactly as she wanted. However, the ability to deploy the [Formation Field] without relying on the magic circle and create things using only her own power made her feel that she was moving forward step by step.

「Sorry to interrupt your skill practice, but please appraise this potion for me.」

「Ah, yes. Understood.」

Of course, she did not neglect her assistant duties. Since she had been hired as an advisor, she was diligently appraising the potions and striving to contribute to Lord Clein's research.

Initially, she felt incredibly daunted to speak her mind to the Court Alchemist, but she had now completely accepted it as her job.

「Hmm, the inconsistencies are significantly reduced. I didn't think it was possible to create a potion of this level using the poor-quality herbs bought from the Adventurers Guild.」

「I thought the same thing. This proves that by utilizing a multi-layered deployment of Blending and Formation, we can overcome the poor quality of the materials.」

Lord Clein was advancing his research on the new potion creation method and its component analysis. Little by little, various things were becoming clear while I practiced the Formation skill.

「For now, the biggest advantage seems to be that it significantly reduces the creation time and cost compared to a Middle Potion, right?」

「That’s right. Creating a Middle Potion, which is classified as an Intermediate Potion, takes time because the herbs need to be dried. The advantage is also great in the sense that it is unaffected by the rainy season, when the weather is poor.」

As the research into creating this new potion progressed, the workshop, with only two people, gained vitality. Every day brought new discoveries, led to thoughts on improvements with every creation, and resulted in high-quality potions being born. This was the most delightful and enjoyable thing of all.

Well... if the creation method were a little more practical, she wouldn't have a single complaint.

「The problem is the difficulty in mana control. Unless high-quality herbs are scarce, like now, the drawbacks might be greater.」

「The poorer the quality of the ingredients, the more mana water and herbs we need, and it takes more time.」

「One needs the skill level of at least a C-Rank alchemist to handle it appropriately.」

「As the blending volume increases, the burden on the caster also increases, so mass production seems difficult...」

Just contemplating the disadvantages made a cold wind seem to blow through the workshop, and the sense of vitality vanished instantly. After all, even Lord Clein, who had mastered the Formation skill, was struggling.

Even if he spent an entire day on it while preparing the herbs, he could only create twenty potions. For me, who was still practicing the Formation skill, the mana consumption was too high to master it.

「Is there even a point to creating potions using this method?」

「You can never have too many ways to create good-quality potions. We’ve only just begun the research, so it's too early to draw a conclusion.」

「Do you think so?」

「Don't rush. Alchemy research is usually conducted over the course of years. Finding a new generation method is already a far too large achievement.」

The reason I felt like saying, I wonder about that..., might be because I hadn't yet felt a real sense of accomplishment as an alchemist.

I had created a large quantity of potions, but I hadn't received any feedback on their use yet. Even though I checked the quality properly, they were the first products I had made entirely by myself, so a feeling of anxiety lingered in my heart.

It's good that people aren't getting injured and the opportunity to use potions is decreasing, but... hmm, is everything really alright?

「Are you unconvinced?」

「Ah, no. I was just thinking that there's still so much I don't know.」

「It's no exaggeration to say that you're already a full-fledged alchemist, only lacking experience.」

「Please stop exaggerating. I'm still practicing my basic skills.」

「If you specialize in blending, the Alchemists Guild will jump at the chance to have you.」

「I don't want Vanessa-san to push any more strange requests onto me.」

「That's true.」

As we were talking, there was an unusual knock on the workshop door. Neither Lord Clein nor I expected a visitor, given how rarely anyone came to this workshop.

Since we couldn't pretend not to be home, I opened the door. There, the very Vanessa-san we had been talking about stood panting, with an unusually solemn expression.

「I have an emergency request for both of you. I need you to make potions immediately.」