The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 308: Profits rolling in

The best part about Percy’s growing yield was that it didn’t just increase his output. It also stretched their profit margins, since he started each session with the same number of ingredients regardless of his yield, but he ended up with a greater dosage of the final product if his yield was higher. In other words, their operating costs remained constant, but their revenue continued to climb.

Earlier, the magic potions hadn’t been worth his time. The ingredients had cost about 60% of the final price, making them far less profitable than the healing potions. But this changed once Percy’s yield stabilized, that number dropping below 30%. A good thing too, because the market was already almost saturated with healing potions, so he’d had no choice but to diversify a bit more, giving attention to the other products.

Another thing that had changed was his brewing time. Alchemy was essentially a race to process the ingredients as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Getting better at it didn’t just increase one’s yield. It also shortened the duration of each session. Before his latest improvements, Percy had needed about eight minutes per alchemic step, but he only needed around six now.

So, a lot of co-dependent factors had changed favourably all at once: his yield, their profit margins and his brewing time. Adding the impact of the scaling principle, it was easy to see how steeply Percy’s output had increased.

“20,000 doses of healing potion, 10,000 doses of magic potion, and 1,500 doses of healing ink.” he whispered, handing the spatial amulet to Nesha.

“This much?! In just the last two weeks?!” she asked, her voice incredulous.

He shrugged.

“I made a couple of breakthroughs.” he replied vaguely.

She remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly running the calculations in her head.

“It’ll take us some time to sell everything, but we should be able to make around 350,000 contribution points from this stuff. Adding the 100,000 we made from the last batch, and we’ll have over 1.5 times the money we need for the secondary ingredients.” she eventually said.

Percy nodded. He hadn’t bothered to work this out by himself, but he’d expected nothing less after realizing how much stuff he’d brewed recently.

“I’m ready to switch to the… you-know-what. Do you think you can get me the ingredients in the next couple of days?” he asked.

They were currently standing outside an abandoned building in the 11th district. This had been Percy’s and Nesha’s meeting spot since they abandoned the 115th district a couple months ago. It was dark, and there was nobody around as far as he could tell, but Percy still spoke with caution.

Nesha grinned.

“Way ahead of you.” she said, handing him a spatial amulet of her own. “This is only a third of the stuff you need, but I trust it’ll be a while until you use it all up.”

“At least a month.” he nodded.

“Alright. I’ll have the rest ready before then.” she replied.

He estimated he’d need a total of three months to convert the entire stash. Adding the nearly two-and-a-half months that had already passed, it would mean that Acton and Micky would spend an extra eleven years inside the Valley. Not ideal, but still much shorter than their previous estimates.

More importantly, Percy should have Micky’s share of the elixirs ready in around two weeks. Once he delivered those, the crow’s second core would stop stagnating. By then, Micky would have only spent around four-and-a-half years without Aurora Dew.

Perhaps, he could have sent a clone over to bring his familiar some teal powder, that he could turn into paste, minimizing his losses. This was what the rest of them had done until he finalized the new recipe. But if the clone got stuck in the crow’s body, he wouldn’t be able to send him Aurora Dew later, so the bird would lose even more time overall. For now, their safest bet was to wait.

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‘I wish I had taught him Crystallization… Then again, he can’t really use it in front of Acton.’

But he shook his head. There wasn’t any value in crying over the losses. A couple of wasted years were still regrettable, but not that significant in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully, the familiar’s second core would still advance before the first one.

“What about the mushroom deal? Any update on that?” Percy asked.

Taking into account all the time they’d already spent cleansing their cores, Percy estimated they’d need to stay in the Valley for about thirteen years for all of them to advance. Granted, Elaine had switched to Aurora Dew a few years after him and Nesha, but she’d also reached Green five years sooner than Percy, so their current progress wasn’t that far apart.

Considering that everyone besides Micky had two cores to cleanse, and that they had to do that three times per day, they would drink just over 110,000 doses of Aurora Dew. This included the amount Micky would consume by himself, by the time the others joined him.

With his current yield, Percy would need around 220,000 doses of elixir to get that much, meaning he was over 45,000 doses short. He was hoping Nesha would find a way to bridge the gap by then.

“We’ve already contacted a bunch of interested parties, willing to buy the mushrooms for around five points apiece. I know it’s not that much, but we have a lot of them left.”

They’d had more than enough mushrooms to cover all of Percy’s needs by the end of the first week alone. But they’d never stopped growing them in the warehouse. By the end of the entire 5-month period, they should have over 10 million mushrooms. At the price Nesha had negotiated, they’d earn about 50 million contribution points, 35 of which would end in their own pockets: after Alexander got his share.

‘Kinda makes me wonder why I even bothered brewing non-stop for the past month...’ he smiled bitterly.

Percy had worked himself to the bone, yet all the revenue he’d brought the team barely amounted to 1% of what they’d earn from the mushrooms. It was a little demoralizing. Yet, that only proved how valuable the mushrooms were, given the ease by which they could be mass-produced.

Besides, it wasn’t like Percy’s efforts had been wasted. If they’d relied solely on the mushrooms to make money, he would have had to stall his alchemy progress by a few more months. That was time they couldn’t afford to have wasted.

And it wasn’t like they could have sold the mushrooms in batches either. Even if they’d found a buyer willing to buy a fraction of them earlier, they would have been hesitant to do that. Their operation would likely come to an abrupt end the moment they handed the first mushrooms over.

‘Anyway, this is enough money to buy almost twice as many elixirs as we need.’

Percy had no intention of brewing all of them before entering the Valley. Just the amount they’d have to drink during their stay. This would delay their infiltration by another two weeks, but it was a small price to pay to ensure nobody ran out of Aurora Dew in there.

The rest, he’d keep for later. They should last for a couple more years after they left, which would give him a chance to look for more. Still, he wasn’t very happy having to constantly run from one place to another, always thinking of a way to extend his stash for another year.

‘At that point, I might be strong enough to return to the Fungal Spire…’ he thought.

Percy had never given up on his idea to create a wasp familiar. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he should be able to create Blue clones by then. Hiding from the Divine Root and infiltrating the hive might be more manageable. If he succeeded, he’d permanently solve his elixir problem. And he’d have to at least try that, at some point, since it was the only way for him to ever grow truly self-sufficient.

Alas, this was a project for later.

For now, he was happy with their arrangements. Percy was done brewing potions and ink, allowing him to switch to Aurora Dew full time. Two weeks from now, he’d have Micky’s share ready, so he would have to send a clone over to deliver it. Then, it would be another three months until Nesha got him the rest of the elixirs and he managed to prepare all the Aurora Dew they’d need.

Satisfied with that, he turned his attention to a different matter.

“What about the actual infiltration? Any information on that?”

Suffice to say, none of their preparations would matter if they ultimately failed to sneak into the Valley. Naturally, figuring out how to do that was another of Nesha’s responsibilities, as her skillset made her the best person for the job.

“Some. I have a clear picture of how the perimeter is guarded. I’ve also got a few ideas on how to break through. But I’m still working out the details. I promise I’ll have a plan ready by the time we get everything else in order.”

“Good. I’ve included a few red mushrooms in the amulet. Can you get them to grow a few of those in some corner of the warehouse?”

Even though the red mushrooms were just as easy to grow as the green variants, there wasn’t much demand for them. Still, Percy wouldn’t mind getting some for himself now that they had the means for that.

“I’ll brew some trollsfury ink too, when I find the time. We should all get ourselves some tattoos from Martina.” he added.

On top of that, he’d have to leave a couple days to reforge his scythes and armour before they entered the Valley. He’d need to replace them with a stronger set once he reached Yellow, but he’d rather not enter such a dangerous place unarmed.

Percy intended to use everything at his disposal, to teach that sadistic kid a lesson he’d never forget…

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