Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce

Suddenly, Leo remembered what Eugine had said back then when they were still inside the huge room. The latter was so delighted at that time, so it was easy to remember.

Leo quickly turned to look at Eugine and asked, "Didn't you just said back then that you have finally discovered what should be the missing ingredient to complete the recipe. So, does this mean that you can finally complete the Invisibility Potion?!"

"Hehehe..." Eugine scratched his head, a bit embarrassed at what he had just said back then, "Actually... I was just so excited back then after suddenly getting inspired, so I blurted out those words unknowingly. To be honest, I'm still not a hundred percent sure whether it's indeed what the Invisibility Potion lacked or not. It's just that, I've actually never tried... No, to be more precise, no one amongst all of those Alchemists that tried creating the Invisibility Potion has actually ever tried walking in this path I thought about."

"You see, back then when there were still a lot of Alchemists that wanted to create the Invisibility Potion, all of us were only thinking of using ingredients with properties related to invisibility, such as lowering one's presence, blending in the surrounding, cloaking, and similar ingredients, using the conventional way. Simply put, all of us only thought of using ingredients with positive results or effects in order to avoid any ingredients that might cause negative effects."

"At that time, because we were creating something that no one has ever created until today with all the references only coming from people with a similar starting point as us, no one ever dared to try adding something that doesn't have any of those properties. All of us were afraid that we might just accidentally create something similar to the Poison Mist Disaster that had happened to the Dragon Horn Empire a decade or so ago."

Hearing the mention of the Poison Mist Disaster that had happened to the Dragon Horn Empire in the past, Leo immediately turned cautious as he secretly glimpsed at Ash by his side.

Similar to him, Ash also secretly glimpsed at him. But she only showed him a smile to let him know that he should not worry about it.

Despite Ash's smile, he was still worried, so he secretly looked at Sebastian, Dan, and old man Torre, wanting to know how they would react as well. But surprisingly, they were also just showing a calm and relaxed expression on their faces. It was like they weren't the ones who had caused that Poison Mist Disaster to the Dragon Horn Empire at all.

What Leo was still unaware of is that the reason for their calm and relaxed expression is simply because of the fact that a decade or so has already passed, which means Ash's appearance is no longer the same as in the past. In the Human territories, there might still be people able to recognize Ash despite how much her appearance had already changed after a decade or so. After all, Emperor Yuta belongs to the Human race. But in the Elves Kingdom, in particular the Emerald Tree Kingdom, there is not that much to worry about, because the Potion Mist Disaster didn't affect them directly. They only heard the news about that disaster. And just like every news, it would eventually die down and will all just be nothing but a part of history, especially to people that weren't involved or belong to another race.

Well, since they are just calm and relaxed about such a matter, Leo also decided that he would do so as well. Of course, he still has his guard up, in case of any danger. He turned to look at Eugine again while thinking in his mind, "What kind of reaction would Eugine have if ever he discovered that the person who had caused that Poison Mist Disaster is actually Ash?"

Leo's thoughts though only lasted for a few seconds. Of course, he doesn't want Eugine to realize that Ash was the person that had caused the Poison Mist Disaster. After all, it would become really troublesome for them once that happens. In fact, if ever that indeed happens, then he would have no other choice but to eliminate Eugine to keep his mouth forever shut.

"... We have discovered thousands of ingredients with those properties. But still, even after combining all of those ingredients into tens of thousands of different variations, making them into potions, elixirs, or even medicines, we were still unable to successfully make an Invisibility Potion. Even after many decades of experimenting, the best result we have ever made was only being able to make a fourth or so of an Alchemist Rat's body invisible. It was only last year that the Alchemist Association of the Emerald Tree Kingdom was able to make half of the Alchemist Rat's body turn invisible."

"What you want to say is...?" Leo asked as he was still oblivious about what Eugine meant with his words.

"What I want to say is; the missing ingredient for the Invisibility Potion... is perhaps just a type of poison," Eugine replied.

"Poison?" Ash asked dubiously. How could poison, a harmful and dangerous kind of Alchemist product, be one of the possible ingredients to successfully create an Invisibility Potion. That's just nothing but absurd and ridiculous! If they really add that, then it might just be possible for those people that used the Invisibility Potion to die.

"Of course, I have my own reasons for thinking about that," Eugine said, already expecting that they would doubt him. He continued, "Have you ever wonder why unconventional Alchemist that create poisons, specifically dangerous and harmful items, are still being accepted in the Alchemist Association and are still given an equal amount of resources?"

Hearing Eugine's question, Leo and the others quickly began thinking about such a thing. Indeed, why are Alchemist Association still accepting and treating those unconventional Alchemists equally, despite the fact that what they are creating is harmful and dangerous to the people? There should be a very reasonable reason for that, right?

"Oh, all of you actually don't have any idea why?" Eugine said with a triumph smile on his face. He continued, "It's simply because some other people also need poisons to heal themselves. Take the Sleeping Potion as an example. You might not know this, but some people that have trouble sleeping would actually drink a bit of Sleeping Potion in order for them to sleep. Aside from that example, there are also other people that would drink poison in order to combat another kind of poison."

"So what you want to say is, you will add a beneficial poison to the Invisibility Potion recipe?" Leo wanted to confirm.

"That's just one of the ways to go about it." Eugine replied. Of course, he won't reveal what exactly it is to Leo. After all, he had just met him and doesn't trust him yet. In fact, the only reason why he is having this conversation with Leo is because it was his woman's Sleeping Potion that had inspired him. Simply put, this is just his token of appreciation.

Leo also understood what Eugine meant with his words, so he said, "Then just think of it as I've never asked anything at all."

"Anyways, here," Eugine said as he handed Ash three lotuses tokens, "Miss Ash, put these lotuses tokens on the sleeves of your white robe. In this way, people will know that you're a 3 Lotus Novice Alchemist."

Ash accepted the three lotuses tokens from Eugine and bowed her head a bit as she said, "Thank you, Alchemist Eugine."

"You deserve it," Eugine replied before turning to look at Ellen and said, "Ellen, please escort our guess back to the main hall of our Alchemist Association."

"Yes, sir Eugine," Ellen nodded her head before turning to looked at Leo and the others, "Shall we?"

"Then let's meet again if Fate permits, Alchemists Eugine," Leo smiled at Eugine as he already saw the Strings of Fate attached to him and Eugine, specifically a green-colored string, similar to what he has seen from Elvis.

Eugine smiled and didn't reply with Leo's words. He followed them with his eyes until they disappeared from his sight before finally returning with what he was going to do.

"It's time to test this new inspiration, then," Eugine said to himself.

.....

After a few minutes of walking, Leo and the others finally returned back at the main hall of the Alchemist Association.

Just like what Ellen had said before, this time there was still no one that appeared to register and become an Alchemist as soon as they arrived. The people lining in front of those other counters have decreased by a noticeable amount as well.

"By the way, congratulations on passing the Alchemist test, Miss Ash," Ellen congratulated as she turned to look at Ash with a smile on her face.

"Thank you for helping us as well, Miss Ellen," Ash smiled in return.

"I guess we need to go now," Leo said as he put his hand on the hood of Ash's Magic Mantle and pulled it up to cover her face again.

"Bye-bye, Miss Ellen," Cassandra and the other women waved their hands before also covering their faces with the Magic Mantle.

"What are you waiting for, go!" Dan suddenly pushed Sebastian to the front of Ellen.

"Ah, how good it is to be young," Old man Torre expressed.

"Hahaha," Cassandra and the others chuckled while shooting Sebastian a knowing look on their faces.

Leo was also able to quickly understand what Sebastian wanted to do, so he said, "I'll give you five minutes to finish everything that you want to do. Once the time is up, meet us outside the Alchemist Association."

After saying that, Leo quickly leads everyone towards the exit of the Alchemist Association. They were really not interested in watching Sebastian ask Ellen out.

Even Dan who had pushed Sebastian just now also decided to leave. Well, as a single dog, it hurts his eyes watching people like Sebastian.

After seeing them leave, Sebastian slowly turned to look at Ellen while scratching his cheeks embarrassingly, "Ummm..."