Chapter 171: Emerald Tablet Fragment
After Kewby left, Leonardo opened his suitcase and stepped into the case world.
He went straight to the barren desert layer. There was nothing living here except him.
He summoned the system and checked the loan details.
[Loan Name: Emerald Tablet Fragment (annual)]
[Repayment Time Limit: 365 days]
[Loan Contents: A stone tablet inscribed with thirteen axioms, symbolising Hermes' magical aptitude.]
[White Magic: A+]
[Dark Magic: B+]
[Defence: A]
[Transfiguration: S]
[Potions: S+]
[Alchemy: SS+]
[Magic Power: A+]
[Loan Task: Under your own name, sell 30,000 alchemical items or potions, earning a total of 150,000 Galleons.]
Emerald Tablet… fragment…
Leonardo remembered that the Emerald Tablet was said to come from Egypt. The thirteen axioms carved upon it were rumoured to be the origin of all alchemy in the world, laying bare its deepest mysteries.
And this "Hermes" was not the Olympian messenger from Greek myth, but Hermes the Egyptian pharaoh.
Together with his father, the god Thoth, and his son, the high priest Tat, the three formed a trinity that was also regarded as the god Hermes.
By rights, this should have been god level talent, like Loki's Faceless gift. But…
There was no SSS grade "divine" talent listed here. The highest rating was only SS+ in Alchemy.
Was it because it was a fragment?
Because the Tablet was incomplete, the aptitude it granted was reduced as well?
And the other ratings were not particularly high either. They did not match the title of "origin of alchemy".
"System, if I fuse this talent plate, will it affect my existing talents?"
[When the host fuses multiple talent plates, lower-grade talents are overwritten by higher-grade talents. They do not stack or upgrade.]
Overwritten by higher talents. Good.
Leonardo pulled up his current talent template.
[White Magic: S]
[Dark Magic: SS+]
[Defence: S+]
[Transfiguration: SSS]
[Potions: A]
[Alchemy: A+]
[Magic Power: SS]
Right. If he fused the Emerald Tablet Fragment, his Potions and Alchemy aptitude would jump, patching the weak points he had been carrying.
The rest would not change much. Loki's Faceless would still be the foundation.
As for the loan task, "under your own name"…
Leonardo asked, and the system answered.
[These alchemical items or potions must be personally developed by the host. Production and sales may be handled by others. The buyer must know the inventor is the host.]
In plain terms, he had to be the researcher. He could only sell products he invented.
But manufacturing and sales mattered too.
Thirty thousand units and one hundred and fifty thousand Galleons.
Witches and wizards made up less than one ten-thousandth of the human population. Britain had fewer than four thousand magical folk. Worldwide, two or three hundred thousand would already be generous.
That number made sense. If there were many more, there would be no need for the Statute of Secrecy at all. Wizards could simply rule Muggles openly.
To sell thirty thousand units total meant, on average, ten items per British witch or wizard.
So Britain alone was not enough. He would have to expand into other regions.
And he still had to earn one hundred and fifty thousand Galleons. Averaged out, that meant five Galleons per item or potion. For most witches and wizards, five Galleons was not cheap. Ollivanders sold a wand for seven Galleons.
But the sales count and the sales revenue did not have to come from the same products.
Low-cost, practical goods could push the unit count. High-end, expensive goods could push the revenue.
Different customers, different product lines.
The loan never said he could only sell one kind of item. As long as the alchemical tools and potions he developed were good enough and aimed at different markets, it would work.
With S+ Potions aptitude and SS+ Alchemy aptitude, research would not be a problem.
The trouble would be production and distribution. Ingredients. Cost control. Processing.
The more Leonardo thought about it, the more he found himself smiling bitterly. Carrying on the family tradition, was it? He had not expected that even in the wizarding world, he would end up returning to old habits.
Still, he wanted those two aptitude boosts. And…
There was a strong feeling in his chest that the Emerald Tablet Fragment could be completed. This annual loan might be only the beginning. SS+ Alchemy could potentially rise to SSS, that truly godlike level.
Leonardo had already experienced what SSS aptitude could do. When it came to learning and mastering knowledge, the difference was overwhelming.
This annual loan trial would also force him to raise his skill in Alchemy and Potions. Everything he learned would be profitable.
Having tasted the benefits once, there was no way he would casually let this chance go.
An annual loan trigger only happened two or three times in a year at most. If it could be taken, it should be taken.
Perhaps because it was incomplete, the Emerald Tablet Fragment's task requirements were relatively reasonable.
If it had started with a god tier annual loan, Leonardo could still remember how ridiculous Loki's Faceless loan task had been at the beginning. It had not only been absurd, but endlessly long.
"System, I want to borrow the Emerald Tablet Fragment (annual)."
[Ding. Loan application for Emerald Tablet Fragment has been approved.]
[Evaluation: The source of all perfection is here.]
As the prompt sounded, a solid gemstone tablet floated into existence before Leonardo.
It was made entirely of emerald, its surface engraved with orderly characters.
But the tablet, which should have been dazzlingly beautiful, was no longer whole. A massive crack split it apart, and more than half of the inscription was missing.
Leonardo recognised the script as Latin. The axioms he could still make out included:
"True without falsehood, certain and most true."
"All things were from One, through the mediation of One."
"The Sun is its father, the Moon its mother; the Wind carried it in its belly, the Earth is its nurse…"
Just looking at the tablet and reading those lines made something in Leonardo's mind loosen. Questions about alchemy that had been stuck for ages suddenly showed signs of shifting.
Full of anticipation, he slowly raised his right hand and let his fingertips rest against the crystal clear fragment.
In an instant, the massive emerald tablet cracked apart without a sound, bursting into countless points of brilliant stardust, like a startled green dream.
Before Leonardo could even react, the flowing emerald dust moved as if alive. It slipped down between his fingers and rapidly coated his entire right hand.
Then, from his palm, a clean, lively emerald radiance flared into being.
The light shot upward and, in the middle of the desert, became an ancient tree that reached for the sky.
Branches and leaves forged from light swayed in the void, turning the wasteland into a hidden garden that looked like a miracle made real.