In the evening, Locke stepped onto the cobblestone streets of Chimera Market. Many Wizards instinctively glanced at the official Breeder Badge displayed on his chest.
Locke stopped before a Magic Potion Shop bearing a sign of an owl clutching a cauldron in its beak.
Essie and Angulo were both students of the same Wizard Mentor and classmates, maintaining a good relationship. Hence, they worked part-time at the same Potion Shop.
As First Class Wizard Apprentices required vast amounts of Magical Resources for meditation and research, it was practically impossible for any of them to hold just one job.
Holding two jobs simultaneously was considered normal. Even time management experts who worked tirelessly every day, juggling three jobs while occasionally completing academy-assigned tasks, were nothing out of the ordinary.
At the moment, the Owl Cauldron Potion Shop still had quite a few customers.
Among them, a particular Potionology Assistant caught Locke's attention.
This Potionology Assistant bore the appearance of a middle-aged man, wearing a grimy Wizard Hat and a rather old, tattered Wizard Robe—patched up with needle and thread in places.
The assistant was speaking with Angulo and Essie, but after just a few words, Angulo and Essie had him escorted out.
Standing at the shop entrance, the Potionology Assistant glanced at Locke, who was also waiting outside, before turning back to Angulo and Essie.
"My [Worm Regeneration Potion] has been fine-tuned in my Personal Pharmaceutical Room—its effects are definitely superior to those produced in other pharmaceutical rooms," he insisted.
"If Owl Cauldron procures my Worm Regeneration Potion, you won't regret it."
Seeing Angulo and Essie's waning patience, the assistant hurriedly added, "Both of you are Potionology Assistants too—just give me a chance."
"If you stock even a small batch of my newly refined [Worm Regeneration Potion], I'm certain it'll attract more customers soon..."
"Time will prove everything."
Essie waved him off impatiently. "Robert, how many times do Angulo and I have to tell you? Our shop only collaborates with large-scale Personal Pharmaceutical Rooms or purchases Potions with market-proven efficacy."
"Stop making things difficult for us."
"Why not try smaller Potion Shops? They might be more in need of your Potions. Once your Potion gains market validation, we'll be quick to purchase from you."
"Angulo and I are just employees. This is Madam Irina's business—we can't recklessly procure products from a brand-new Personal Pharmaceutical Room with no transaction history."
Angulo nodded beside her, forcing patience as she explained, "Robert, it's not that we're disregarding you. You'd likely get the same response from other major Potion Shops these past few days."
Robert remained unwilling to give up.
Two years ago, he recklessly set up a personal pharmaceutical room and invested at least three thousand Magic Stones along with considerable effort into improving the production process of the Worm Regeneration Potion. He even published two C-grade papers on it and had already passed animal trials, human trials, and wizard apprentice trials.
But now there was a problem.
His Worm Regeneration Potion was only slightly more effective—not significantly better—making it an almost negligible improvement.
However, because the production process had been altered, most large-scale Magic Potion Shops were unwilling to stock his Worm Regeneration Potion, even though he had obtained the academy's certification for production approval and had all the experimental data.
After all, major potion shops already had stable supply channels for Magic Potions, so there was no real need to take a risk on this newly modified potion.
Robert himself didn't want to settle for selling his potion only in small shops for the time being.
Over the past two years, he had lost too much money and was now desperate to recoup his losses—otherwise, his personal pharmaceutical room would have to shut down.
This was a common predicament among First Class Wizard Apprentices in Lilith's Cottage.
Not every First Class Wizard Apprentice could be like Locke, continuously producing groundbreaking products while smoothly securing projects and sales channels.
Most First Class Wizard Apprentices, acting on impulse, ended up in financial crises after setting up their own pharmaceutical rooms.
Especially those who used loan contracts to obtain Magic Stones for their pharmaceutical rooms—they had it even worse, often facing complete financial ruin. Not only did they fail to earn money for their research and cultivation, but they also severely delayed their own progress.
Locke glanced at the First Class Wizard Apprentice named Robert, who was clearly a senior apprentice. Yet his Mana was only a little over two hundred points—the same as Locke's three months ago, barely stronger than his past self.
'He must have poured most of his resources into his pharmaceutical room, leaving nothing to support his meditation. Completely missing the point.'
Locke quickly assessed. 'His innate talent probably isn't great either. Otherwise, after all these years, even with just the Advanced Meditation Technique, his Mana wouldn't be this pitiful.'
The gap between First Class Wizard Apprentices was truly wider than that between humans and dogs.
The thriving ones were Wizard Seeds nurtured by major wizard organizations, already delving into fields reserved for Formal Wizards.
As for the struggling ones? Their lives were simply unbearable.
One word—miserable!
Locke glanced at Robert, who was deeply disappointed after failing to find a large Magic Potion Shop willing to purchase his potion, but had no intention of helping him.
First, it had nothing to do with him.
Second, this Potionology Assistant had only made minor improvements to the production process of the Worm Regeneration Potion.
In other words, he hadn't altered the potion's formula—just tweaked the manufacturing method slightly, since different production techniques could marginally affect the potion's efficacy.
But it also meant he had misjudged the market demand.
Theoretically speaking, what had nearly bankrupted his Personal Pharmaceutical Room wasn't anything else, but his own miscalculation of both his financial capacity and market demand. He had spent two years conducting experiments that the market didn't particularly need.
He might as well have let his pharmaceutical room produce processed Potion Ingredients required by large pharmaceutical rooms, or followed conventional practices to manufacture existing Potions. At least then he might be making some modest profits now.
Even selling technically simple products like Advanced Growth Serum Gel, Advanced Nutrient Soil, and Advanced Nutrient Solution wouldn't have left him in such dire straits.
Angulo and Essie finally noticed Locke. The impatience on their faces instantly vanished, replaced by smiles.
Essie raised an eyebrow at Locke. "Locke, did you pass the Breeder exam? I heard it's even harder than becoming a Potionology Assistant."
"Congratulations," she added.
Angulo looked at Locke curiously. "But Locke, what brings you here so late?"
Locke cleared his throat. "I recently opened a Personal Pharmaceutical Room too. I've obtained the academy's production license for a new Potion Recipe."
"So I wanted to see if your shop would be interested in carrying it."
(End of chapter)