Chapter 460: Concocting Rejuvenation Potion III |
Two minutes later...Felix had finally finished obliterating 95% of all microorganisms. The moment he was done, he deactivated the Quantum vision and swiftly went back to the glassware table.
Upon seeing that the long swirly tube was packed with greenish smoke, appearing like it was about to explode, Felix quickly opened up the tab, releasing it into the long test tube.
The instant it was filled, he closed the tab and also the lid of the test tube.
Then, he took it out of the ring holder and placed it in a metal steel rack. He left it there and went back to fill another test tube to the brim.
He repeated this process until grass paste started to release a burnt smoke.
Click!
He turned off the burner and opened the tab of the swirly long tube, allowing the useless smoke to spread around.
However, it didn't go beyond his station, like there was a barrier blocking it off from affecting other witches.
This was the beauty of experimenting in the UVR, everything was possible inside!
'Felix, even though you are in the UVR, don't make a habit of releasing excessive smoke like this in your lab since it could contaminate your materials and glassware.' Teacher Hala advised telepathically to not bother the others.
'Noted!'
The only reason Felix released the smoke instead of properly dealing with it was that he knew that the Marmador grass's smoke wasn't harmful to him or the materials.
Though she was right that he might make habit of it if he kept doing it. When he ends up working with harmful materials, he subconsciously might release the excessive smoke and ruin everything.
"You are doing great everyone, carry on." Teacher Hala encouraged them after seeing that most witches were done with creating a couple of portions of the catalysts...Felix included.
The greenish vapor inside the tubes had been condensed into a green liquid.
Each test tube was 10% filled, making Felix pour all of them into a Cylinder beaker until it was half full.
To be exact, it was 50 millimeters full.
'I need only 40 mm as a catalyst.' Felix went back to the bronze cauldron on his station and poured exactly that amount inside.
Then, he put away the cylinder beaker and turned on the fire under the cauldron.
He left the catalyst to heat up and went to mix the main and subsidiary ingredients together as teacher Hala did.
When he was done, he requested the Queen to remind him about the mixture after two minutes.
Felix didn't waste those two minutes doing nothing as he started working on another batch of Marmador grass by turning them into a paste.
Compared to other witches in the class who had already finished preparing three or four batches at once, he was quite slow.
It was the same as a chef preparing food against an amateur.
But Felix didn't let their speed affect them since he wasn't considering this as a race or a way to prove himself before the witches. He simply saw it as a learning opportunity and a perfect place to grow.
Two minutes later...Felix had poured the mixed ingredients inside the bubbling green liquid.
Although he had already taken care of more than 95% of microorganisms, Felix still activated his Quantum Vision, wanting to eliminate the rest for practice purposes.
To not ruin all of his efforts, he played it safely by increasing his mental energy pressure slowly. This led him to kill off another 3% before the ingredients were fully melted in the cauldron.
The fact that he barely destroyed 3% was a joke compared to Lara who was able to exterminate at least 94% in the same time spent.
The rest of the witches all had different percentages they were able to kill off in that 30 seconds window before the concoction enter its last phase.
For rank 1 potions, the higher the percentage of microorganism elimination, the higher the chances for the potion to turn successful. As for rank 2+, this was only part of what could cause the potion to fail.
'Time to increase the heat.'
Felix closed the lid and increased the heat to the limit for five seconds.
Then, he opened the lid at once and a greenish smoke had emerged from the cauldron, bathing him in an aromatic fragrance.
The moment Felix smelled it, he smiled in delight since he knew that the potion concoction had succeeded.
When the smoke cleared out, he noticed that Teacher Hala, Lara, and a few more witches were all staring at him with a complicated look.
"The 1st ever potion made by a non-witch." Naima murmured to herself, having absolutely no idea that Lady Sphinx was concocting potions before her race was even born.
"Congratulation Felix." Teacher Hala said with a smile, "Is this your first successful concoction?"
"Third." Felix clarified while waving the smoke away from his face, "But all my attempts required me to eliminate microorganisms in the preparation stage. Thus, I still haven't succeeded to truly concoct a potion."
"Don't worry, follow my daily exercise and you will get there eventually." Teacher Hala patted his shoulder and walked away, wanting to supervise the rest.
She went straight to Lara and couldn't help but praise her after seeing the holographic details of her concoction. "Good progress, you already reached 95% in such a short period of time."
Lara nodded her head at the compliment and focused back on her 2nd potion.
'Her hyperfocus additional trait is truly too good for concoction.' Teacher Hala looked at her with a hint of envy before walking away.
She knew that the reason Lara was outperforming most of the 1st-semester students was due to that trait.
It allowed her to enter the 'zone' manually unlike other witches that could only chance upon it if they were really feeling it.
That state was too useful in higher-leveled concoction since absolute focus was required. Otherwise, the concoction would go to shit.
Meanwhile, the rest of the witches either failed the potion or succeeded luckily with a lower elimination percentage.
Regardless if they succeed or fail, they didn't take it to heart as they began preparing for the next one like Felix.
He repeated the same process as in the first one, playing it safe. That resulted in him concocting another potion successfully.
However, during the 3rd attempt, he started practicing like the rest by trying to eliminate the microorganisms during the concoction.
Sadly, it ended up in failure. But Felix wasn't displeased since he had managed to improve a bit by eliminating 5% this time!
If he kept practicing like this, it wouldn't be long before he minimizes the gap in his foundation between him and the witches.
...
Sometime later...
"This is your last concoction, don't prepare for another one." Teacher Hala informed while glancing at her bracelet.
Two hours had already gone by and it was time to rap things up.
When she spoke, Felix was just about to open the lid after concluding his 10th concoction attempt.
Whoosh!!
Pitch black smoke emerged from the cauldron, forcing Felix to close his breath as the nasty stench it was releasing.
'Damn, another failure.' Felix waved the smoke away from his face while closing down the lid.
'I can eliminate 7% now.' Felix pondered, 'My mental energy control is improving drastically compared to when I was practicing alone. Does this have to do with me drinking the Neuron Enhancement Potion?'
Felix could only come up with that as a reason since that was the only difference that happened between then and now.
He didn't know how exactly his mental energy control was affected but he wasn't complaining in the slightest.
A couple of minutes later...All witches had concluded their last concoction and placed their successful potions neatly on the preparation table.
Then, they started chatting with each other while teacher Hala was being informed by the Queen on each classmate's number of potions.
Just as Naima wanted to ditch her station and go visit Felix, teacher Hala clapped both of her hands and said, "Stand straight in front of your stations, I will be announcing the results of today's practice."
Upon seeing that everyone was in their positions, teacher Hala waved her hand at the holographic screen behind her and a long list had emerged.
//
1) Lara: 15 Rejuvenation Potions/9 Successful potions in a row.
2) Mouna: 13 Rejuvenation Potions/7Successful potions in a row.
3) Samar: 13 Rejuvenation Potions/7 Successful potions in a row.
4) Naima: 13 Rejuvenation Potions/6 Successful potions in a row.
..
35) Felix Maxwell: 10 Rejuvenation Potions/2 Successful potions in a row.
36) Soka: 8 Rejuvenation Potions/2 Successful potions in a row.
37) Luna: 8 Rejuvenation Potions/2 Successful potions in a row.//
From rank 36 to 50, all the witches had the same results since it was impossible for them to have a high fail ratio unless they were super unlucky.
Most of them had a 60% chance to succeed and if Felix used the same method as them, he would be ranked as 50th without a single potion concocted.
Thankfully, teacher Hala didn't want to embarrass him by forcing him to practice like everyone else.
The witches also didn't show signs of displeasure by him being above them in rank since they didn't consider him as a threat.
All of them were giving him a look like he was a kindergarten child who was participating in high-school class with them.
Felix could see their disregard as some of them didn't bother to hide it...Like Lara.
'Let's see for how long you will keep having that look.' Felix smirked faintly.
"Everyone log out now." Teacher Hala said while closing her eyes.
When she opened up them again, she saw that everyone was lifting their heads in the classroom.
"Next class we will be covering a different rank 1 potion called Vial of Weakness."
Teacher Hala pointed at the screen that was showing a square-shaped bottle with a brownish content and said, "It will be your homework. I want you to find out about its materials and attempt to concoct three of them. Those who finish the homework perfectly will be rewarded with 200 CP. The others who failed it would lose 200 CP."
"Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Good." Teacher Hala waved her hand at them while saying, "Class Dismissed!"
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