Chapter 58: The Potion Brewing Can Begin

October 15, 2123, 10:12:51 in the morning.

Su Miao glanced at the time, knowing she had to make use of every second. Searching through her magical space, she retrieved an unused induction cooker, a frying pan, and various cooking utensils.

“Sister, is there anything I can help with?” Xia Xiao’an asked, seeing Su Miao take out so many things.

“Help me wash these mushrooms,” Su Miao said, placing the beautiful mushrooms she had collected from the mushroom room onto the table. “I’m going to refine these mushrooms into potions. The security team will deliver more later.”

“I’ve filled the sink with water; use as much as you need, don’t worry about wasting it.” Xia Xiao’an nodded obediently at the sight of the lovely mushrooms. “Okay, sister.”

Su Miao opened her book, *Magical Pharmacology*. With time pressing, she didn’t study it as thoroughly as before, instead flipping straight to the section on the magical array needed for potion-making.

This array, once infused with magic, would assist in analyzing, separating, extracting, and purifying the required substances.

With the foundation she’d acquired last time, Su Miao learned quickly. Her only obstacle now was how to inscribe the magical array.

She read on.

“Inscribe the array with mithril. I don’t have mithril…”

“Use juice from special magical herbs to draw the array. The relevant herbs are…”

“Use fresh animal blood to inscribe the array.”

Animal blood…

As she pondered this, she heard a commotion downstairs.

Her expression changed instantly. She quickly grabbed her M416, moved aside the cabinet blocking the staircase, and looked down—without having to go all the way, she could already see two enormous rats creeping up to the stairwell.

Animal blood—these mutated rats should work.

Bang! Bang!

Two quick shots, both precisely hitting the rats’ skulls.

The rats began to thrash violently; perhaps because their bodies were so large, even a hole in the head wasn’t enough to kill them instantly.

Su Miao hurried downstairs and shot each rat again to ensure they were truly dead.

On the first floor, she noticed the cabinet blocking the door had been gnawed open by the rats—there was a large hole. They must have been drawn in by the lingering scent of blood in the villa.

How terrifying! What if she and Xia Xiao’an had been asleep when these huge rats broke in?

Fortunately, she’d also blocked the stairway.

“Sister, what happened?” Xia Xiao’an rushed to the stairwell in panic, alarmed by the gunshots.

“It’s nothing, just a couple of rats. They’ve been dealt with.” Su Miao re-blocked the main door, then went over to the rats. She retrieved a slightly curved dagger from her magical space and, with a few swift cuts, severed all four limbs of the rats.

This was to prevent the possibility of the rats’ bodies, even in death, attacking her through some kind of muscular reflex. By removing the limbs, she could also more easily collect the blood.

Ten minutes later, Su Miao had filled two buckets with rat blood.

More than enough.

But what to do with the rat corpses? She thought for a moment, then shifted the cabinet away from the door, wrapped the two corpses with a small water sphere, and rolled them to the entrance.

She’d let Chang Jieming take them away when he came—consider it a thank-you for the security team’s help gathering the beautiful mushrooms.

She certainly wasn’t going to eat rat meat herself.

Worried that more rats might find their way in, Su Miao left some mutant catnip atop the barricading cabinet as a precaution.

She stored the buckets of rat blood in her magical space, then headed to the second-floor living room.

After going up to the third floor to fetch her supplies, she moved everything down.

She and Xia Xiao’an would be living on the third floor; if something went wrong with the potion refining, they’d need a safe place to stay. The second floor, already ravaged by earlier battles, could hardly get any worse.

Looking through her magical space, Su Miao found a makeup brush. She dipped it in rat blood and began to draw the magical array on the floor as described in her book.

Twenty minutes later, the array was finished.

“Looks fine,” Su Miao said, checking against the book and nodding in satisfaction.

She placed the induction cooker at the center of the array, then set the frying pan atop it.

The preparations were nearly complete.

Su Miao returned to her magical book, ready to study the crucial steps for potion-making—and, ideally, to find a case study.

Flipping through several pages, her eyes lit up.

[Hallucinogenic Elixir]

This was a potion refined by extracting the hallucinogenic toxins from the beautiful mushrooms. According to the description, those who consumed it could experience becoming a god, a fairy, a giant, a dragon, see little people, see naked fairies, see dragons, witness the gods, or even take a day trip through heaven and hell—such were the “special effects.”

The entry also detailed methods for extracting and refining mixed mushroom toxins and savory compounds during the separation process, and warned that if the extraction wasn’t thorough, the potion could become a deadly, incurable poison instead of a mere hallucinogen.

Such a potion must never be consumed—it would be fatal.

“This is exactly the effect I want!” Su Miao was delighted by the additional notes.

She read on.

[...Given the high value of the mixed mushroom toxins, we can attempt to extract some as reserve material when using mushrooms as the base ingredient.]

[However, we know that high temperatures will irreversibly destroy some of these mixed toxins, rendering them ineffective. This is a critical concern during the extraction process.]

[Therefore, we must employ the following methods to maximize preservation of the mixed toxins and ensure they are perfectly retained...]

Su Miao nodded as she read.

Worried she might make a mistake later, she pulled out pen and paper to jot down key points and reminders for the brewing process.

“Sister, the mushrooms are washed.” Xia Xiao’an brought down a bowl of clean, beautiful mushrooms. Even though she had been prepared, the sight of the blood-drenched magical array on the floor and two buckets of rat blood nearby made her shiver.

“Put them here,” Su Miao instructed.

The washed mushrooms weighed about five pounds; not nearly enough. She would need far more.

At that moment, Security Captain Chang Jieming arrived.

“Miss Su Miao, we’ve brought you beautiful mushrooms—an entire sackful. See if that’s enough,” he called, knocking on the door.

After returning, he’d gathered his men to collect mushrooms. To his surprise, an old colleague had pulled out a huge sack of mushrooms from a woodpile outside.

The sheer quantity gave Chang Jieming chills.

When had his brother gathered so many?

But, remembering this old colleague could wrangle venomous snakes with his bare hands and extract their venom, Chang Jieming decided not to ask.

With such a haul, he could deliver them directly.

Upon reaching the door, he saw the two sturdy rat corpses. Judging by the wounds, they’d been shot.

“All right, just pass them through the hole in the door,” Su Miao said, opening the gap in the barricading cabinet.

Chang Jieming slid the snakeskin sack through, making no attempt to peek inside the villa.

“Miss Su Miao, anything else you need from us?”

“Just keep collecting beautiful mushrooms for me. The two rats at the door are yours,” Su Miao replied.

Chang Jieming’s eyes lit up at the sight of the rats. “Thank you, Miss Su Miao.”

After last night’s events, the mountains were suddenly empty of rats, leaving the security team at a loss for how to find more. These two would solve their problem perfectly.

With the sack of beautiful mushrooms in hand, Su Miao was overjoyed.

Everything was ready—she could begin refining the potion!