Near the Heavens Arena, inside Kevin Carpenberg's home.
In the basement, which had been remodeled into a warehouse and pharmaceutical lab, Kevin was conducting his daily research.
"Is that too much?" Kevin stared at the display information on the base of the alchemy table.
[Corrosive]
It was clearly a poison.
At that moment, three scale pans each held a different material.
On the silver pan sat a thumb-sized piece of rare protein mineral. It was an extremely expensive pharmaceutical resource—just this tiny piece had cost Kevin one million.
And if the material on the silver pan was already so costly, the one on the gold pan was even more valuable.
There lay the shed horn that the two-headed wolf had gifted him the day he first transmigrated into this world.
This rare item had a market value of fifty million and was now incredibly scarce, with prices rising year by year.
Most importantly, Kevin only had this one horn.
He now fully understood why, back then, when holding that horn, he had felt a faint sense of longing.
It turned out that certain powerful and extremely rare pharmaceutical ingredients would stir a deep craving within him. The rarer and stronger the material, the more intense the desire.
But it wasn't just expensive items that triggered this reaction. For instance, the protein mineral before him, valued at one million, also elicited a faint sense of yearning when he touched it.
Kevin had another rare material, one he had acquired through an online auction for over six million and had delivered via private jet recently.
Yet, oddly, that material had stirred no desire in him whatsoever.
At present, the items placed on the gold and silver pans were the only ones capable of provoking that feeling.
On the copper pan sat a fusion agent. According to the knowledge in his mind and his recent studies, Kevin had tested numerous fusion agents that might combine the properties of the two materials.
But here lay the problem—none of the fusion agents produced a satisfactory result.
The base currently showed the most effective result as: [Faint Detection of Malice]
At first glance, this seemed like a remarkable ability. But for Kevin now, even without any potion, he could already react to malicious intent.
Of course, how precisely he could detect it remained uncertain.
The horns of the two-headed wolf were so expensive precisely because of the legends surrounding them.
The species had always been rare and hard to breed. Over their long evolutionary history, they had developed an ability to sense emotions and distinguish good from evil.
And the source of this ability, legend said, lay in their horns.
People believed that potions made from these horns could alleviate mental afflictions. They were indeed effective, hence the sky-high prices.
This also explained why the two-headed wolf was on the verge of extinction.
Coincidentally, the rare protein mineral that stirred Kevin's craving also enhanced mental clarity and focus. These two ingredients were compatible in nature—what was missing was the right fusion agent.
Another failure prompted Kevin to cross out the new material's result in his notebook.
"There aren't many fusion agents left to try…" Kevin muttered, eyeing his notes.
Shaking his head, he said, "Forget it, I'll continue tomorrow. Let's make use of the newly arrived materials for now."
After prepping the materials that had arrived by air earlier that day, Kevin began crafting potions.
Based on his memory, past research notes, and recent experiments, Kevin had categorized his self-made potions:
Grade D potions: Made from common materials, they function like ordinary pharmacy meds but with quicker and more effective results. A single dose could fully treat ailments like fever, flu, and allergies. These recipes were mostly recorded in the original body's experimental logs.
Grade C potions: Made from pricier and harder-to-acquire materials. Their effects were on par with high-end pharmaceuticals and could even rival surgical procedures. Kevin kept these in regular stock.
Two of these had been previously created by the original body. Two were only theoretical formulas, completed by Kevin using his own knowledge. The last one was entirely Kevin's original creation from the past few months.
[Truth Serum: As the name suggests, anyone with a weak will who takes this will answer any question asked.]
[Bone-Setting Potion: Also self-explanatory. Once a broken bone is aligned, one dose can heal a typical fracture within its effective duration.]
These two were the original body's main source of income.
[Strength Potion: Increases muscle strength and boosts visible aura levels but accelerates stamina and aura consumption.]
[Healing Potion: Accelerates healing of internal and external wounds while also consuming stamina and aura.]
These two were developed from experimental records and modified with Kevin's mental database—joint results of past and present Kevin.
[Digestion Potion: Continuously consumes aura to rapidly break down and digest food, converting it into energy and nutrients.]
This was Kevin's own invention—very effective, primarily used to boost physical training results.
The usage process went like this: binge on a massive, even nauseating, amount of high-calorie, high-nutrient foods—so-called "carb bombs."
Then, within fifteen minutes of ingesting the potion, the food would rapidly be digested. A period of intense physical training would follow, allowing the energy to be directly absorbed into the body.
However, this method and potion put significant stress on the body and couldn't be used too frequently.
Kevin estimated that using it once every 8 to 10 days was ideal, though the interval could be shortened depending on personal constitution.
For example, at first, Kevin needed to wait 15 days before using it again. Now, 10 days was enough.
Thanks to this potion, Kevin had drastically improved his physical condition in just three months—but at great financial cost. Now, it was time to brew more.
Soon, using materials worth a million, Kevin completed a pale green potion with slightly murky liquid.
"This time took 40 minutes and used up 40% of my aura. That's better than before." Kevin was pleased. This was a new way he'd discovered to measure his growth—by crafting the same potion repeatedly and comparing time and aura consumption.
Kevin opened a nearby box packed with specially packaged energy bars.
"Don't focus on the taste—just bite, chew, and swallow," he warned himself aloud.
To fully activate the potion's effect, one needed food with extremely high energy density. Other than rare magical beast meat, only these special bars qualified. As for the taste? "Unspeakable" was putting it nicely.
"I eat! I eat! I—ugh—keep eating!"
Kevin devoured an entire box of energy bars like a whirlwind. His face turned beet red.
"This is the pain of walking the shortcut. Endure it!"
He downed the prepared potion in one gulp.
Instantly, his aura surged and roiled within him, rapidly being consumed as it enhanced his digestive ability. His entire body flushed red and began to heat up.
"Is this, in essence, a type of Enhancement Nen ability?" Kevin pondered.
From a certain angle, the potion's effect resembled an Enhancer using Nen to strengthen internal functions like digestion.
If that were the case, would the potion be less effective on someone who wasn't an Enhancer?
He wasn't sure—after all, he'd never tested it on anyone else.
Fifteen minutes passed quickly. Kevin let out a long breath, his body temperature cooling and skin tone returning to normal.
But then, his stomach started rumbling loudly.
"It's happening!"
Standing right next to the bathroom, Kevin dashed in without hesitation.
What followed was an earth-shattering bout that took half an hour to complete.
"This too… is a necessary price!"
What awaited Kevin next was a full day of intense physical training.
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