Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"Morning, Adept Levine."

Eren greeted the potion master with a courtesy bow. He had come to the small library attached to the potioning lab, where Levine was busy reading through some books. The latter looked at him and raised her brows before replying:

"Hmm? I don't think we have a lecture set for today, Eren. is something the matter?"

Eren flashed a broad grin at the Adept rankers before replying:

"I got it. The thing that you were looking for."

It took a while for Levine to realize what Eren was talking about. The look of urgency was seen on her face as she could only utter a few words to describe it:

"Show me."

Eren didn't play the tease and retrieved the runic container from his storage space. Levine practically snatched it from his hands as soon as she saw it appear in front of her.

Levine freed the C-Rank ingredient from its confines and observed it closely. An inspectional glance soon replaced urgency, paving the way for unmasked ecstasy.

"Brillant, Eren. This Malva Hibiscus is top-notch. Just the way I wanted it.

You have even harvested it the right way. I'm utterly satisfied.

I know you want my discipleship to use my name and contact, Eren. But for this favour you've done for me, I don't see that as a problem.

Here, take this. Bind it with your blood and mana."

Levine handed a token to Eren, which had an image of a cauldron on one side and the name Montmorency on the other. There were also intricate runic inscriptions that seemed to glow with a faint light as soon as Eren touched them.

This was a ranked item. Eren just didn't know which one. But he didn't dally and did what Levine told him to do. Soon the item was bound by the butcher who then looked at the D-Ranker for an explanation:

"That's your discipleship badge, Eren. It will prove useful to you in the future. From today onwards, you are my disciple and I'm your teacher.

I'd give you more details regarding our arrangement. But not now. Give me a few days to sort out some affairs that need my immediate attention. I'll contact you when the time's right."

Levine was clearly in a rush and wanted to deal with her problem immediately. Instead, she wanted to talk to the person who had become the delivery man for what she desired the most. Eren had realized this but he couldn't help but add a comment of his own:

"Thank you, teacher Levine. I'm glad to be under the tutelage of such a talented potionier.

But I'd like to remind you at the risk of sounding ignorant about your expertise. Malva Hibiscus is a mild ingredient in nature. But its effects would change drastically if it's distilled with mana-core-healing potions that also tend to be mild. If you…"

Eren wanted to continue warning Levine about something but the latter just chuckled before interrupting him:

"Hehe! Eren, you mean to say I won't be able to handle the effects of my creation because I made some rookie mistake?"

Eren shook his head before replying:

"No, I am not saying that. But I'm saying that instead of adding another agent in your potion to act as the neutralizer, why not use the side-product of the same ingredient that it is compatible with?"

"You have stored the irritant gas of the ingredient as well while harvesting?"

Instead of confirming Levine's questions, Eren removed a portion of the irritant gas that was released by the C-Rank ingredient as a defence mechanism. He had another container of the irritant gas with him that he kept in his storage space.

"I think this much should be enough."

Eren handed the vial to Levine, whose face was etched with surprise. The kid in front of her didn't understand the value of this irritant gas, but she did.

With this, Levine now had both the ingredient and a stabilizing agent to concoct the potion she needed for so long now. She felt happy, yes. But her happiness was overshadowed by Eren's in-depth preparation to harvest the ingredients the right way even when he knew nothing about their effects.

'The boy came prepared, I must say.'

Thought Levine before smiling wholeheartedly. With the irritant gas added to the distilling process, the potion's quality she was preparing to brew would be exceptional even by her standards.

"Eren, do you know about my mana core damage?"

Levine couldn't help asking when she heard the guy talk about healing potions that treated damaged mana core. Malva Hibiscus could have been a dead giveaway if it wasn't used in various potion recipes.

So Eren coming with that spot-on conclusion was still somewhat surprising for Levine who was waiting for her new disciple to answer her question.

"Oh, I just guessed after talking with my aunt Nina about Malva Hibiscus. You have regressed in your ranking journey, right? Although a C-Rank ingredient is ideally not suited for your requirement, I'm sure potioners at your level will have countless ways to deal with such an issue."

Eren used Nina's name again to skip any explanation about how he knew about things, which he knew because of the past timeline. Levine had regained her ranking status as a C-Rank Expert ranker in the past timeline. All thanks to her past-future disciple finding her the Malva Hibiscus. So he thought Levine had regressed to D-Rank from C-Rank.

But he underestimated the effects of compatible stabilizing agents the potions at higher rank needed to up their quality. The same stabilizing agent he had provided to Levine.

"Oh! So it was your healer guardian that might have come up with that conjecture.

Hehehe! You are right about my regression alright. But let's just say that you underestimate me not only as a potioneer but also as a ranker."

Eren was confused about what Levine was talking about. So he was about to ask for an explanation but it seemed that he didn't have to. That's because Levine provided it for him with her next statement:

"Had it been only Malva Hibiscus, I would have only regained my status as a C-Ranker. But with the compatible stabilizing agent in my hands, I might just be able to create a Master rank potion. You know what that means right?"