Chapter 521 - Absurd Potion Formula (2/2)
So, with this thought in mind, William arrived at the Tower of Dusk, hoping that he could revive the glory the formulae had during the Dark Age with the hands of a pharmacist Master behind those high-level pharmacists.
“What potion formula is there that n.o.body in the entire Pharmacist Guild can concoct? You must be exaggerating, Mr William. Tell me about it! I’m interested to know what these formulae that n.o.body can concoct look like.” Upon hearing William’s full story, Wilkinson was more unconvinced. He wasn’t someone that William was looking for—a pharmacist from an unknown pharmacist organization. He belonged to the Pharmacist Guild since the very start, and was a proud disciple of President Balbo. How could he tolerate other people doubt his teacher’s pharmaceutic abilities?
William noticed Wilkinson’s displeasure, but didn’t know why he incurred it. He merely thought that Wilkinson didn’t believe him, and said, “If you want to know, let me tell you about a formula here. The name of this formula is long lost, only the ingredients needed and a few concoction techniques remained. The herbs needed are: Abyss Blood Crow Tongue, Heaven Three Leaf Gra.s.s, Sword Bamboo fruit, Autumn Bell flower, Dark Shadow Flower stamen, Icefield Seaweed… A total of 47 herbs.”
“Haha, this is ridiculous! How is this a formula? Even a pharmaceutics disciple knows that this formula can’t possibly let you concoct any potions.” Wilkinson felt so cheated right after hearing what ingredients were needed for that formula, and began to criticize it mercilessly.
Normally, Wilkinson would only laugh it off if he got such a potion formula, and not be so fed up. However, William had aroused his interest and provoked him by doubting the abilities of the Pharmacist Guild, yet Wilkinson ended up realizing that the so-called potion formula was a scam. How could he not be angry?
“First, there is an extremely foolish mistake that can be spotted at first glance. This formula needs 47 herbs? Looks like the person who faked it is brainless, and didn’t have any pharmaceutics knowledge. To say that this thing is a potion formula and take it to us is a total disgrace!”
Wilkinson was angry over the fact that even the basic common knowledge was gotten wrong. Even if one wanted to cheat, couldn’t he do it using more technicalities? Did he really think that everyone was a fool? Wilkinson doubted if William had even looked for other pharmacists, and wondered what kind of people he had sought out to look at the formulae. Even an old man who swept the floors of the Pharmacist Guild would never make such a mistake.
“Mr William, you are an appraiser, and a manager of a consignment shop. Maybe I cannot demand too much from you regarding pharmaceutical knowledge, but you should know at least some basic pharmaceutical knowledge as an appraiser! The characteristic of appraisers is being a jack of all trades but master of none. If you don’t even have such general knowledge, how can you be a jack of all trades?”
Appraising was quite an awkward occupation. One needed to know a bit of everything, yet couldn’t be an expert on anything due to constraints of time and effort. To be a jack of all trades but master of none was the best description of appraisers.
If this was said by any other person, William would have 1,000 methods for him to die miserably. However, since the one who spoke was a high-level pharmacist, he wasn’t offended at all.
“If you don’t know, I can tell you that in this world, the most fundamental and important rule of pharmaceutics is the rule of balance. It is right to say that any potion formula is a reflection of the art of balance. To lose balance would result in losing everything. This is something that even pharmaceutics disciples know because it’s the first piece of pharmaceutics knowledge they learn.”
Facing Wilkinson’s consecutive reb.u.t.tal, whether he was right or wrong, William had no motivation to refute him, and could only agree with embarra.s.sment.
However, William’s att.i.tude couldn’t cool Wilkinson’s anger. For any pharmacist, pharmaceutics was a solemn affair, and the slightest negligence would lead to detrimental effects.
Pharmaceutics in the Anril World wasn’t just grinding a pile of herbs and throwing them into a pot to make a soup. It was about the interaction between different kinds of energy. A seemingly insignificant gra.s.s might contain sufficient energy to explode a house. Even the slightest mistake could seriously harm the pharmacist who made it. For example, if Lin Li hadn’t destroyed that dangerous potion in time when he’d first visited the Pharmacist Guild, the entire Guild would have exploded.
“Just talking about the rule of balance, your so-called potion formula is untenable. But let me tell you, there’s a more fatal problem.” Wilkinson had always detested such behavior that put other people’s lives at stake. Of course, anyone who really attempted to concoct the potion according to this idiotic formula was a fool. Although Wilkinson didn’t know who came up with William’s potion formula, he rightfully scolded William since he was the one who had it.