Chapter 37: Chapter 24: Where Have I Ended Up Again?

For Dream Wizards, Alchemy holds a far greater significance than it does for an ordinary Wizard. It’s not just for aiding Meditation or Transformation.

There is a type of Magic Potion called a Dream Potion, which could be considered a specialty item for Dream Wizards. Whether taken personally or administered to others, it makes it easier for the target to enter a dream.

Charles’s master once helped someone brew a Dream Potion. He observed and learned from the sidelines, though he couldn’t understand the process. It was a Magic Potion that required at least Tier Three skills. Still, he memorized almost everything his master said, planning to decipher it later when he was skilled enough.

"A Dream Potion?"

Sean mused, "So if I buy a bottle of a Dream Potion, take it, and fall asleep, am I guaranteed to have a dream?"

"That depends on what kind of dream you want to have," Charles said.

Names ending in ’Magic Potion’ or ’Potion,’ like ’Dream Potion,’ are usually just umbrella terms created for the convenience of laypeople. In reality, they can be subdivided into countless varieties—enough to fill thousands of pages of tables.

It’s not that Magic Potions that guarantee dreams don’t exist. For example, there’s ’Bloody Saliva,’ ’Fishman’s Tears,’ and ’Untouchable Wine,’ which correspond to terrifying nightmares, tragic stories, and beautiful romance, respectively. To put it simply, they create customized dreams.

But that’s not what Sean wanted.

If there was any outside interference, his dream would be altered, defeating the whole purpose.

"Are there any that let you have a natural dream?" he asked. "The kind that don’t affect the dream’s content."

"They exist, but they aren’t one hundred percent effective," Charles replied. "The one my master brewed was that kind. It can only play a supporting role. In the end, whether you dream or not still depends on the skill of the spellcasting Wizard."

A natural dream is a projection of a person’s mind and innermost thoughts. To artificially create one would be equivalent to forcibly extracting sealed memories and forgotten experiences from the target’s brain. It could almost be considered another form of ’Soul Search.’ The difficulty is immense and can’t be overcome by a mere potion.

Sean understood. ’Looks like I’ll have to find a professional Wizard to teach me after all.’

"Do you know his name?"

"I don’t." Charles looked troubled. "Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. We have rules in this line of work. We can’t reveal any information about our clients."

"Oh, right. That was careless of me," Sean said apologetically. "Forget I asked. My apologies."

"It’s fine." Charles scratched his head. "I really can’t help you much with this. All I can tell you is that there are Wizards in the Void Technique Space who practice dream Cultivation. As for who they are, you’ll have to find them yourself."

Sean thought of a certain Flame Crow Maiden again.

’Elvire’s status in the Void Technique Space is quite high. She must have a lot of connections, right?’

’Kate the Light Attendant might know a Wizard like that, too.’

But Sean wasn’t in a hurry to contact them.

’I should focus on raising my Magic Power first.’

’At the book signing in five days, Quill is bound to come at me hard. Just having Kate as a safety net isn’t enough.’

Sean didn’t doubt Kate’s Power. If the classification of a Wizard’s Magic Power by Tier hadn’t changed in the last few centuries, then a Tier One Wizard should command 1 to 3 Lak.

Tier Two: 4 to 10 Lak.

Tier Three: 11 to 50 Lak.

Tier Four: 51 to 100 Lak.

A Tier Five Wizard would have over 100 Lak. Not even ten Quills could stand up to that.

But in the end, that was Kate’s Power, not his own. Unless he had no other choice, Sean wouldn’t pin all his hopes on someone else. ’I have to become powerful on my own.’

"I’m heading out. Get ready for the delivery."

After saying goodbye to Charles, Sean left the Void Technique Space and went to the post office to mail the materials.

The two lived in cities that weren’t far apart, and Sean paid extra for expedited shipping. He mailed the package at noon, and it arrived in Charles’s hands by evening.

"Whoa, this is a lot!" Charles said, a little excited as he unpacked the box.

This wasn’t his first order, but it was by far the largest he’d ever received. After all, most newly-awakened Wizards were dirt poor. It took them ages to scrape together the materials for a single Demon Spirit Potion. Only someone with as much "personal Charm" as Sean could possibly come up with so much at once.

Clearly, Charles still believed the materials Sean had given him were inextricably linked to that handsome face.

’There’s nothing embarrassing about admitting it,’ Charles thought. ’A pretty face is a type of ability, too. If I had Sean’s looks, who would even bother trying so hard!’

’This isn’t just about making money; it’s about my personal safety.’

’With a powerhouse backing me, I at least wouldn’t have to be constantly hiding.’

Take him, for example. Every time he settled in a city, he had to leave after a short stay to avoid being targeted. He was constantly on the move. Stability and peace? They didn’t exist for him. He was lucky if he wasn’t discovered by those Witch Hunters and their Smell Crows.

But Charles didn’t feel tired. He’d been living like this since he was a child and was already used to it. In fact, even though he was still a wanderer, he found his current life more exciting than before. With a sword hanging over his head, the chase was all the more thrilling.

And that wasn’t even mentioning the Void Technique Space. He’d met so many friends there—people he never could have before. Even if they were just "online friends" he could never meet in person, at least he was no longer as lonely as he used to be.

He liked his life now.

Unlike Sean’s messy apartment, Charles’s rented room, though small, was kept exceptionally clean—especially the kitchen.

His master had taught him that Magic Potions are meant to be consumed, making them a type of food. Even when brewing one for an enemy, the entire Alchemy process must be kept clean and sanitary.

You can put poison in a Magic Potion, but you can’t throw in disgusting things like cockroaches or duck necks. This is the most basic rule of etiquette for an Alchemist.

"The Era of Polymath may be a thing of the past, but the courtesy and elegance of us Alchemists will never go out of style." —Those were his master’s exact words, which Charles kept firmly in mind.

So, after inventorying the materials, he first changed into clean clothes, washed his hands with antiseptic soap, and then used a "Dust-removal Technique" for a secondary cleansing. Only then did he walk into the kitchen, humming a little tune, and open his rice cooker and a clay pot.

Let the Alchemy begin!

Charles’s reputation as an "Alchemy Genius" wasn’t just for show. His success rate far surpassed other Alchemists of the same Tier, and his brewing speed was also incredibly fast. Knowing Sean was in a hurry and waiting for the potions, he decided to just pull an all-nighter.

When he emerged from the kitchen early the next morning, his face was black with soot, his hair was singed and curly, and it was still smoking slightly.

He’d accidentally caused a pot to explode.

But his overall efficiency was still astonishing. From twenty sets of materials, he had produced sixteen Demon Spirit Potions.

Charles took a shower and cleaned himself up. Without even stopping for breakfast, he headed out to mail the Magic Potions to Sean.

Expedited shipping, of course.

After a full night of Alchemy, not only had he not earned a single cent, he was actually out of pocket for the shipping fee and a new clay pot.

When Sean received the Magic Potions that afternoon, he was taken aback. ’This guy’s efficiency is almost too good to be true.’

He had originally planned to take a nap. Since he couldn’t control his dreams yet, his plan was to just sleep more, increasing his total sleep time to raise the probability of dreaming.

It was undoubtedly a crude method, but Sean was used to taking afternoon naps anyway. Plus, ever since what happened with Chris, he hadn’t really had a good night’s sleep. The mental drain from the Void Technique Space, on top of practicing Magic, meant Sean had been in a near-constant state of exhaustion lately. He had no choice but to rest.

He had already done his prep work, spending the entire morning thinking about Elvire.

It wasn’t just Elvire; he also thought about the Void Technique Space, the Hall of Truth, and the Saintess.

’Isn’t there a saying? "What you think about by day, you dream of by night."’

’If I do manage to dream, I hope it’s about one of those subjects. Any one of them will do.’

But now the Demon Spirit Potions had arrived... ’Meditation comes first, then.’

In Sean’s eyes, Magic Power was the highest priority. He dropped the crushed Rust Ore particles into the vial of potion. The Rust Ore didn’t show any signs of corrosion, proving the potion was non-toxic. He then filtered the particles out with a piece of gauze, downed the potion without another thought, and entered the Void Technique Space. Finding a spot on West Street, he began to meditate.

Every Wizard visualizes a different scene during Meditation. For some, it’s a forest; for others, a canyon or an ocean. Regardless of the scenery, the essence remains the same: to successfully meditate, the Wizard must satisfy their body’s instinctive needs and desires within that scene, but in a manner that transcends primal instinct.

Normally, a Wizard’s Meditation landscape doesn’t change much from session to session. That makes the first time the most difficult. Afterward, as long as they hold the concept of "Meditation" in their mind and let themselves get hungry, entering the state becomes relatively easier.

To this end, Sean had gone online the previous night to look up various ways to cook cactus, memorizing over a dozen recipes.

Previously, he wouldn’t have been able to find the cookware and spices needed to cook a cactus in the desert. But now, the Demon Spirit Potion would help. The potion’s effect was to act as a sort of conceptual breakthrough, compensating for the lack of "tools" by providing the meditating Wizard with items that shouldn’t exist in the current scene.

’So, as long as my approach is correct, I’m sure I can find a more efficient way to consume it.’

However...

Perhaps his obsession with dreaming was too strong, but to Sean’s surprise, this Meditation didn’t take him to the familiar desert. In fact, he couldn’t quite tell if he was meditating or dreaming.

Because he found himself in an exquisite bedroom.

The first thing that caught his eye was a bed.

A luxurious, oversized bed draped with a light gauze canopy, its white wooden frame inlaid with gold thread and jewels.

A faint, pleasant fragrance drifted through the air. It was a lovely scent, and a familiar one.

On the bed, behind the gauze curtain, a woman sat with her back to him. She was completely nude, her smooth, beautiful back like a canvas of flawless white jade. The gentle curve of her spine traced a path down from her wing-like shoulder blades, sweeping past a slender waist before disappearing into the swell of her hips. Partially obscured by the curtain, the half-hidden view was utterly enticing.

Sean’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He could feel his cheeks begin to burn for no reason.

’Where the hell did it bring me this time?’

’The Saintess’s bedchamber?’

’Is this a repeat of that scene where the Saintess pinned me down?’

Following the sense of familiarity stirring within him, Sean tentatively called out, "Olivia?"

The young woman turned her head slightly, revealing a side profile that was every bit as stunning as Olivia’s, but the face was completely different. Her gaze was chillingly cold, and her voice was sharp enough to freeze a man solid.

"At a time like this, you’re *still* thinking about her?"

Sean: "..."

’It’s not Olivia?!’

’Oh, hell!’

...