A couple of days passed since the horde arrived at the outpost of the howling abyss.

In that time span, Fraser didn’t actively pursue the horde for benefits.

He didn’t even move anywhere at all.

Instead, Fraser continued his hermit lifestyle. After all, he already had research material that needed to be analyzed.

The two alchemy notes from the apprentices who were level 4 broadened Frasers Alchemy to a whole new level.

They were not using the incubation technique which naturally clicked which Fraser, instead, one of the notes was filled with a guide on a brewing technique that was composed of twelve steps.

The techniques could be repeated over and over to create more complex potions. The only disadvantage of that was the fact that it took a lot of time to create a potion with this technique. However, the success rate was unbelievably high.

So it was no wonder that Fraser tried to find the key step which might improve his own alchemy skills.

Naturally, the twelve steps were a viewpoint from a completely different point which allowed Fraser to compare his own technique to this twelve-step technique that allowed for a more basic and easy approach.

Since the twelve-step technique from one of the notes was enough information for a couple of days, Fraser didn’t do much else other than analyzing the note with the twelve-step technique and glancing over the second note.

But he got interrupted midway after a couple of days by a message from the other apprentices.

How? By sending a floating wooden board to him while he was eating the free food in the outpost cafeteria.

Naturally, he was surrounded by his eight loyal servants.

The floating wooden board began to speak:

“We are the apprentices of another wizard. We have heard of the potion skills of you Fraser, so we wanted to ask whether or not you would sell your potions to us. The horde concerns everybody so we hope that we can trade.”

Naturally, Fraser met up with the other group and the trade went smoothly.

After all, everything involved was easy. They wanted the potions and Fraser wanted new materials to experiment upon.

Since Fraser's incubation technique was able to mass-produce potions with ease and had a standard that was good enough, they sold like hotcakes. All of the potions sold like hotcakes. Whether it was the basic strengthening potion, the basic wound mending potion or the basic explosion potion, there was no exception.

In return, Fraser received stuff that he actually wanted, lots of corpses from the horde, more potion materials, notes from different apprentices that somehow were deceased and experimental stuff but everything that was traded, could be described as useful to him.

After the first trade went successful, more and more apprentices would come to him in order to trade for potions. Some would come alone, others in groups and once even an entire faction came to him.

The faction which consisted of about twenty apprentices tried to threaten him, but after a couple of broken bones and tons of reparation costs, they quickly behaved themselves.

So it was no wonder that Fraser would continue his indefinite way of hermit living. Since everything was provided for his experiments and much to learn there is, another half a year passed in a flash.

The second note which was given to Fraser by Magus Sept contained an almost complete Lexica of the fauna and flora of the Magus World. A few magical plants, special materials or rocks were described by the Lexica in detail while also explaining their living habits, use, and rarity.

Very helpful to Fraser's overall knowledge pool, but not experimental material for now.

There was a high chance that Fraser would continue his hermit lifestyle until the end of the outpost period if not for the fact that Vira visited him one day to make an offer:

“We are going to hunt a large number of beasts in the horde. I know that you have something that needs a large amount of flesh as well. Do you want to join us? It is easier for us since Magus Sept allows his apprentices to be in his defensive measurements.”

Fraser declined. After all, he could trade any amount of flesh with potions. So why bother walking out and trying to gather the material himself?

Vira continued with her persuasion.

“So, how about I give you the information to increase your mentality in order to reach Apprentice level 4 and perhaps even level 5? I know that you are already at the peak of level 3. So perhaps this might be something that you are more interested in. We also have a few potion formulas which might interest you.”

Fraser pondered for a moment before asking his AI for information.

‘It is true that the basic meditation technique is almost completely useless to me right now. My spirit growth is almost nonexistent. AI, compare my stats from half a year ago to my stats right now. Also, tell me if my assumption of the apprentice level is true.’

[Half a year ago]

[7.11 strength, 8.02 agility, 3.97 vitality, 8.23 spirit]

[Now]

[7.18 strength, 8.12 agility, 4.08 vitality, 8.41 spirit]

[Assumption correct: ]

[Apprentice level 1: 1-2 spirit]

[Apprentice level 2: 2-4 spirit]

[Apprentice Level 3: 4-8 spirit]

[Apprentice level 4: 8-? spirit]

[Apprentice Level 5: ???]

The numbers which the Chip gave to him, confirmed Fraser’s theory of spirit.

‘Though there is one thing that Vira is wrong about me. I had no difficulties reaching Apprentice Level 4. I didn’t even felt some wall preventing me from passing the number of 8 spirit.’

Staring at Vira, Fraser continued to ponder for a while. As if waging whether or not the proposal of Vira was beneficial to him.

‘The AI-Chip detected some kind of wall, but apparently it was easily solved with my spirit. Was it the influence of that weird insect?’

Since Fraser seemed to take his time, Vira got impatient and it seemed to her that the deal wasn’t good enough.

“Let me add the notes of an Alchemist that we found in a ruin. Then you should be satisfied with the price.”

Fraser only glanced at the notes which Vira gave to him. With his mind wandering to the thinking realm, the words on the sheet of thick paper woke him up.

The notes described something about the process of aging potions. It reminded Fraser of wine in his memories. The theory was that some potions would have a better effect, the longer they would be stored.

These papers actually analyzed the reason with a bunch of thoughts and experiments.

Just as Fraser wanted to take a look at the next page, Vira simply stepped in and said:

“As a new apprentice you might not know how the horde works, but if Master Sept is in a content mood, he will allow his disciples to explore the howling abyss. We found the notes in an abandoned cave which seemed to be the experiment cave of a former apprentice.”

Knowing that Fraser got hooked by the notes, Vira continued:

“And the best way to make Master Sept content is to allow him to laze around. He doesn’t like fighting and is more interested in experimenting. So, what do you say? Slay the horde for materials and Master Sept will allow us to explore the abyss.”

It sounded fishy for Fraser, but he could see that on the next sheet of notes, it experimented with the incubation technique which Fraser preferred and somehow had a really good synergy with, and combined it with the so-called aging process.

Thus Fraser could only agree with the deal to kill the horde in order to allow Mentor Sept a couple of free days.