Merlin opened the glassware and saw a thick black smudge. The potion exuded a disgusting foul scent.

"Is this Coagulation Potion?"

Merlin's expression revealed his confusion. According to Wizard Howl's description, Coagulation Potion would be black and had a faint refreshing scent. How could the one he formulated end up like this?

"Let's give it a try!"

Although Merlin's Coagulation Potion seemed to be somewhat different from the usual ones, Merlin would not be at ease if he did not at least try it.

"Swish!"

Merlin used a sharp dagger to slit his arm several times without mercy. All these only led to one shallow cut, which showed how strong his current physical attribute was.

After making a cut on his arm, Merlin hurriedly applied the newly prepared coagulant to the wound on his arm. This Coagulation Potion was for external application and did not need to be consumed hence it reduced possible risks that might arise and Merlin was not worried to test this potion out.

The effect of Coagulation Potion was to stop bleeding quickly. When Merlin applied the coagulant to his arm, he immediately felt a burning pain. Then, the wound on his arm almost rotted at an alarming speed, even visible to the naked eye.

Merlin was shocked but managed to remove Coagulation Potion from the wound with the sharp dagger before it took his arm entirely. Although Merlin was tough, he still felt excruciating pain as he sucked in air through his gritted teeth.

Merlin frowned as he looked at the piece of rotten flesh that had fallen to the ground. The Coagulation Potion that he formulated had undoubtedly failed.

Merlin's heart sank. He did not care much about the injury on his hand. With his current physical attribute, the wound would heal in a few days.

Merlin's current confusion was the failure of the formulation even though he had clearly followed the steps to the letter. He had also controlled the dosage of the potion ingredients strictly according to the Matrix, but why had it not worked out well?

"The most important thing in potion-making is to control the dosage of potion ingredients and the steps to formulating it!"

Merlin carefully recalled every step in formulating the potion and the dosage of potion ingredients used. Merlin had definitely followed the steps strictly in accordance with the tips provided by the Matrix, and he had also utilized accurate instruments. Hence, it was impossible to perform mistakes.

As for the potion formulation steps, Merlin played the records in the Matrix repeatedly and it seemed that he had not done any obvious error.

At the moment, Merlin was confused. He would not dare to try formulating Magic Monster Potion if he did not first figure out the reason for this failure. After all, some ingredients of the Magic Monster Potion were too precious. There was not much in the silver-haired old man's ring, and naturally, he could not afford to squander them at will.

Moreover, the worst thing that could happen was that a mistake in preparation might turn Magic Monster Potion into a highly toxic potion.

"Fire, right, it must be fire. There must have been some unknown changes that happened in the heating process!"

A thought flashed across Merlin's mind. Often, in the process of formulating potion – heating, cooling, or sometimes even more special processes were required.

Perhaps, during the heating process, Merlin did not grasp the right temperature, which led to the failure of formulating this potion. It was the same with chefs. Although all the steps were done accordingly to the recipe, the taste of the dishes would not necessarily be the same, mainly due to the temperature.

The concept of temperature was similar to a Spell Caster being familiar toward potions. This was something even the Matrix could not have precise control over.

As practice makes perfect, once again, Merlin began formulating Coagulation Potion. In comparison to other Spell Casters, Merlin still had a natural advantage because he had assistance from the Matrix. For others, maybe they could only attain a deep understanding of potions after many formulation trials and loads of ingredients wasted.

However, Merlin did not need to go through the same process. He only needed to do accordingly as the Matrix instructed and focused on keeping an eye on the temperature.

Sure enough, although Merlin failed again the second time, he successfully formulated Coagulation Potion the third time, with a 30 percent success rate.

This success rate was quite terrifying. Even Wizard Howl who had studied potions for such a long time might only able to achieve a 30 percent success rate.

"A 30 percent success rate is totally acceptable!"

Merlin often felt that his energy was limited. It was not possible for him to put all his energy into potion-making as he might become a great master of potion-making but not a great Spell Caster.

In the next few days, Merlin spent part of his time each day in potion-making. He wanted to familiarize himself with the temperature of fire in the formulation process to ensure that the success rate was improved when he was ready to formulate Magic Monster Potion.

Since the last crazy encounter with Laurinka, Merlin had not seen her around anymore. Although Merlin sort of missed that one night of madness that they shared together, he did not take the initiative to look for her. Instead, he made the best use of his time in potion-making and Mind Meditation.

After all, there was only another month before the Dark Magic Region conference would take place.

…

A few days later, Laurinka finally appeared in front of Merlin. However, this time, Laurinka was done dealing with her affairs and would soon be sent out of the Dark Magic Region.

These few days would be the last chances she had with Merlin.

After a few passionate exchanges, Laurinka draped her fair arm over Merlin's body. She heaved a soft sigh and said gently, "Merlin, I'll leave the Dark Magic Region in a few days, and there are some things I've to tell you. My family is a small Spell Caster family. The strongest of the family is just a Third-level Spell Caster, who has been missing for many years. There's only a handful of First-level Spell Casters among the rest. Potential members of the family would usually be sent to a spell casters' organization..."

Laurinka shared details about her family. Merlin listened carefully as this was not information he got to hear often.

Laurinka's family had been established for centuries and could be considered as possessing a long legacy. Therefore, they had the ability to send potential members in the family to various spell casters' organizations for further training.

However, there were only so few who eventually became First-level Spell Casters. Most of them were like Laurinka, who, upon returning to the family, would be given up and not be able to obtain even any cultivation resources. Eventually, they would succumb to death in desolation.

Perhaps many people, like Laurinka, would gamble their life before leaving the organizations, and make every effort to pull strings with some Spell Casters who had the potential to become official members.

However, only a handful were able to get what they wanted! As Laurinka said, sometimes, people had to make choices no matter if they were right or wrong.

"Don't worry, I'll remember Shadison Family of Tolle City! I'll go to you as soon as possible..."

Merlin's tone was firm and determined.

Laurinka pouted her lips slightly and replied with a faint smile, "Well, then I'll wait for you, First-level Six-Elemental Spell Caster. There hasn't been one since the establishment of the Dark Magic Region…"

When Laurinka finished her words, she looked at Merlin eagerly, and the next second, both of them were entangled together once again...

…

Three days later, Laurinka was sent out of the Dark Magic Region. Her seventy contribution points, as well as the 500,000 gold coins her family gave her, were also converted into contribution points and transferred to Merlin.

At present, Merlin had a total of one hundred and fifty contribution points, which was quite rich for a Spell Caster who had just entered the Dark Magic Region for slightly more than half a year.

Due to this, Merlin paid a visit to the Resource Tower. Seemingly inspired by the discovery of Magic Monster Potion, he looked for potions that could increase Mind Power.

Unfortunately, Merlin did not find a potion that was able to increase his Mind Power, except several ancient potion recipes. The effects recorded in these recipes promised the possibility of Mind Power enhancement.

However, its price alone was enough to make Merlin shake his head helplessly. Each formula required at least five hundred contribution points or above, which was more expensive than many other casting tools. What puzzled Merlin more was that these potions were all covered in thick layers of dust, as if they had been left unattended for a very long time.

Merlin also specifically consulted the gray-robed Wizards in the Resource Tower regarding the potions. The potion ingredients were mostly priced at a higher range so they were pricey to Entrance-level Spell Casters such as Merlin. On the other hand, a few hundred contribution points would not matter a lot to Spell Casters in the Dark Magic Region of Fourth-level or above.

However, Merlin had been told that there were no potion ingredients!

The fundamental reason that no one showed interest in those potions which were able to enhance Mind Power was basically that the ingredients for these potion recipes were not available in the Dark Magic Region.

Not only were they not available in the Dark Magic Region but also in many surrounding spell casters' organizations.

Spell casters' organization had control over the growth of a large number of precious ingredients. Naturally, it was due to this reason that these spell casters' organizations were able to become stronger. Even many Spell Casters families would do everything possible to send potential members from their family into the organizations.

If the Dark Magic Region and several other spell casters' organizations did not have the ingredients for these potion recipes, then these potion recipes were basically as useless as chicken ribs.

Merlin also carefully looked through the Resource Tower for some of the ingredients needed for Magic Monster Potion. As expected, these ingredients were extremely rare in the Resource Tower as well. Furthermore, most of those ingredients also cost an exorbitant price.

This made Merlin experience first-hand the cruel reality of being a Spell Caster – the scarceness of resources!

It wasn't surprising that Laurinka, even if she was to lose her freedom and become Merlin's attendant, was willing to do so just to stay in the Dark Magic Region. In the outside world, various resources were scarce. The main reason the roaming Wizards were not better off than Spell Casters in organizations was due to the fact they had no access to knowledge from systemic learning, they also had no means of obtaining the required resources.

"It seems that formulation of Magic Monster Potion must be done with extreme caution. I would rather postpone it at the moment and begin when I have thoroughly familiarized myself with the various steps of formulating it. I must not simply fail the formulation and waste these potion ingredients."

Merlin had already planned to formulate Magic Monster Potion. After all, the Dark Magic Region conference was nearing with each passing day. Merlin needed to increase his strength quickly. He was even ready to try constructing First-level Furious Flame.

Therefore, Merlin successfully formulated several kinds of potions. With the help of the Matrix, he finally grasped the methods of potion-making, and he was ready to formulate Magic Monster Potion!