Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 63

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Successor’s Ignorance, or Perhaps Some Healing Instead — Episode 63

‘Come on, no matter how skilled Master is, this has to be impossible.’

Freya had certainly entertained the thought of making potions with Spirit Stones before, but she’d always failed in the end.
The problem wasn’t the potion itself—it was processing the Spirit Stones that proved the real obstacle.
Spirit Stones might look like ordinary rocks, but each type carried finicky properties depending on its element.
Take Water Spirit Stones, for instance: a single drop of water touching them and they’d evaporate in an instant. Fire Spirit Stones couldn’t even be heated with ordinary flame.
Wind Spirit Stones were too soft—apply even modest pressure and they’d shatter completely. Earth Spirit Stones, meanwhile, were so hard that reducing them to powder required an enormous amount of time.
In other words, processing itself was difficult, and on top of that, they reacted with violent intensity to their corresponding elements, making them a nightmare to handle.
While Freya’s mind wandered for just a moment, lost in other thoughts—

“There. Finished.”

A transparent liquid streamed out of Lion’s Distiller in a thin, steady trickle.
The scent was distinctive and refreshing.
At a glance, it was clearly a high-grade Digestion-Promoting Potion.

“Wait—when did you…?”

A potion made that quickly?
…Did I doze off?
Freya rubbed her eyes.

“Didn’t see it clearly?”
“I—I’m terribly sorry. Could you perhaps show me once more?”
“Sure. I need to make one for each of the guests anyway.”

Lion cheerfully proceeded to demonstrate the process again.
He dumped the measured ingredients into the vat, then stirred the contents with practiced sweeps.
Finally, he scattered Alchemical Powder generously across the surface and brought it to a gentle boil—done.

‘This… this can’t be right.’

Freya’s mouth fell open.
She hadn’t missed it the first time.
There was nothing she’d overlooked.
It was simply that Lion Asterius, her temporary master, had added the ingredients without the slightest hesitation, and this was the result.
But how was that even possible?
Alchemy was a discipline that tolerated not a single mistake.
Only meticulous planning and flawless execution.
One had to scrupulously exclude any trace of personal intuition.
A single misstep could throw off all the calculations, and something bizarre could emerge from the crucible.
Indeed, you might intend to create a liquid elixir and instead have a slime monster materializes—a genuine calamity.
In Freya’s own cases, Salamander had incinerated them for her, so she’d been spared the worst…

‘No, that’s not the point!’

In any case, it simply wasn’t a discipline where you could just toss in ingredients haphazardly and sprinkle Alchemical Powder by feel and end up with a finished product…!
And yet.
It had turned out flawlessly.
Not just acceptable—of exceptional quality, without a single impurity!
Which meant every action Lion had taken was perfect.

“The Alchemy I know…”

Freya went on watching, deflated, as batch after batch of high-grade potion materialized.
Though nominally a temporary student, Freya herself had invested considerable time and effort into the study of Alchemy.
For that very reason, she wanted desperately to be of at least some help.
Right, so Lion’s next attempt is what you’d call a futile endeavor!

“Master, I’m asking just to be sure—surely you’re not trying to process a Spirit Stone, are you?”
“So you already knew. Yes, I’m going to process this Spirit Stone and—”
“It’s impossible.”
“What? Why?”

Freya explained the fundamental properties of Spirit Stones that she’d recalled earlier.

“And… I’ve failed at it myself…”

Embarrassed as she was, she described her own failed attempts.
But Lion answered with perfect composure.

“I see, so that’s how it is. Still, I’ll give it a try. It’s not like Spirit Stones are in short supply anyway.”
“What? No, failure is a foregone conclusion—why would you—”

Does he not trust me?
But looking at his expression, that wasn’t it.
He really meant it exactly as he’d said—he was simply going to try.

“You can learn things even from failure. And besides, a good method just occurred to me.”
“…”

There was no way to tell.
Since she couldn’t even gauge how many steps ahead Lion’s skill was compared to her own, all she could do was follow along.

“I’ll study hard!”
“Right. But like I said before, there’s still a chance I could fail?”
“That’s fine! If the mist becomes a problem, my Salamander can handle it for us!”
“Thanks.”

…Or so he said.
But Lion’s thoughts were something else entirely.

‘I don’t think I’m going to fail.’

Now that he’d heard Freya’s explanation, he was even more certain.
If he used these Spirit Stones properly, he could create something rather special—a new potion.
Which is to say, the Recipes he’d obtained when he’d reached Alchemy Proficiency Level 1.

‘The ones I haven’t fully grasped yet.’

One of them had unlocked the moment he saw the Spirit Stone.
More accurately, he’d naturally come to understand it.
He’d simply looked at it and thought: Oh, that’s what this is!
It seemed that the Recipes were temporarily locked away for ingredients Lion didn’t know about or hadn’t seen directly.

‘If I could make that…’

I could resolve this Fluffy Cloud Incident.

Ssshhhhh—

The mist was already beginning to creep into the room where Lion and Freya were.
Even Salamander’s containment was reaching its limits.

‘Any further disruption would be problematic.’

For one thing, Lion didn’t want to be caught in such a situation, nor did he want to be the cause of it.
But neither of them had bad intentions, so what was there to do about it?
I’d just have to work quietly.
Lion organized his alchemical supplies once more, then retrieved the Spirit Stones.
The Spirit Stones he currently possessed embodied the four fundamental elements.
Water, fire, earth, wind.

“Freya, have you ever worked with all four elements before?”
“That is…….”
“What about with Salamander’s help?”
“No? Well, only when I tested heating a Spirit Stone as an experiment…….”

In other words, she’d never received any significant assistance beyond that.
Then.

‘It’s possible.’

If I followed the right sequence, refining the Spirit Stones was entirely feasible.
Lion placed a Fire Spirit Stone into an unheated cauldron.
Click, tumble-tumble.
Several Spirit Stones rolled across the cauldron’s bottom.

“Could you ask Salamander to heat this Spirit Stone for us?”
“Yes? Oh, of course.”

Freya snapped her fingers, and Salamander puffed out both cheeks before exhaling with a whoooosh!
It was like the breath of an ancient dragon extinct for thousands of years.
Only noticeably smaller!

“…….”

Freya nodded.
This much she had done before.
Ordinary fire couldn’t heat it, so she’d sought Salamander’s aid.
But what came after?
No alchemical solution she’d tried had succeeded in altering the Spirit Stone’s nature.
Even using Spirit Stones of different attributes obtained through rare channels had failed.
Spirit Stones didn’t fuse with one another.

“……!”

Freya’s eyes widened at Lion’s next move.
More precisely, at what had happened in the cauldron after Lion performed a particular action.

“It’s… it’s gone?”

The Fire Spirit Stone, glowing bright red-hot, had vanished without a trace!
Freya recalled what she’d witnessed moments before.
Really, it was simple.
Her master had pulverized a Wind Spirit Stone and scattered it over the heated Fire Spirit Stone.
And when the fire met the wind, the flames intensified…….
And disappeared.

“Good. The heating is done.”

She wanted to ask why it had happened, but seeing Lion’s expression, Freya held her question back.
That was…… the face of someone in a different world entirely.
Lion smiled softly and reached toward the Spirit Stones.
Next was earth.
He’d used the Fire Spirit Stone reinforced by wind to heat the cauldron.
And now, into that heated cauldron, he poured in an abundance of the Earth Spirit Stone—the hardest and most unyielding of all.
I never said it wouldn’t bake—only that it wouldn’t blend.
And fortunately enough…….
Lion glanced around the Manor.
The Estate was, regrettably, damp.
The Earth Spirit Stone was damp as well.
And…….
Heat an wet stone, and sometimes it explodes.
Even a Spirit Stone as hard as that, once cracked through, tends to blend rather well with other attributes.

Crack!

Lion slammed the cauldron lid shut and pressed down with his hand.
It was fortunate he’d brought along the Gloves that came with the Naerisarang Formal Attire, just in case.
Clang, clang-clang-clang!
The cauldron shook violently.
It was nothing like when he’d made the Fish Ring.
That had felt like a live fish thrashing inside, trying to burst free—but this was like holding a shield against an explosion.
If the cauldron hadn’t been of the highest quality, it might have shattered.
Once the cauldron’s trembling subsided, Lion opened it and poured the contents into the Distiller.
The sludge-like substance—neither liquid nor solid—bubbled and boiled…….
To anyone watching, it might have looked like a failure.

[Salamander is drooling.]

But Salamander’s reaction, watching from beside him, was far from ordinary.
The rest of the process was identical to making the Digestion-Promoting Potion.
The liquid in the Distiller filled the Potion Bottle to the brim.
The color was a deep caramel, and the consistency was thick as honey.

[Spirit Water Concentrate (Incomplete)]
-A dark brown, highly viscous liquid. It bubbles and froths, though the temperature itself is not particularly high.
-However, it seems one attribute is still missing.
[Use: Food, Potion]
[☞Click to view Recipe.]

“Wow, is it finished?”
“You can think of it as the Concentrate now.”

Lion picked up the Potion Bottle and shook it lightly.
Just as expected, viscous bubbles rose and churned with the motion.

“Eek. It’s—it’s bursting!”

Alarmed by its appearance, so unlike a normal potion, Freya thrust Salamander forward as a shield.

“It’s fine.”

Salamander, too, seemed to judge it harmless—he tapped Freya’s fingers gently with his front paw.

“Now we just mix this with the Digestion-Promoting Potion.”
“M-mix these two together?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Mixing different potions together is…….”

Something that should require enormous calculations and meticulous work……. But.
Freya trailed off mid-thought.
Even so.
She was curious.
What kind of potion would result from combining those two?
Lion, as if reading her mind, immediately poured all the Digestion-Promoting Potion he’d made so far into the Alchemical Cauldron.
The potion filled the cauldron halfway, releasing a cool fragrance as it rippled gently.
Next came…….

Pop!

Lion uncapped the vial of Spirit Water Concentrate.
A crisp sound accompanied the lid’s opening, and

Glug-glug!

Once around, twice around.
As casually as one might be cooking, he swirled it in with a light flourish before sealing the cap again.
It was an odd proportion.
No matter how much the Spirit Stone had been compressed to its limits, could that paltry amount really account for dozens of bottles of Digestion-Promoting Potion?

“Want to stir it with me?”

Lion withdrew another stirring rod and offered it to her.

“Um, is it all right if I help too?”
“Of course. It’s just stirring, so no problem.”
…….

In truth, it wasn’t just stirring, but…… never mind. No, she wouldn’t think like that.
Freya swallowed the sudden resistance that welled up inside her, then began gently stirring the contents with the rod.
And then.

Glub-glub-glub!

Though the cauldron’s heat hadn’t risen, bubbles began forming as if it were boiling.

‘Oh wow…….’

Honestly, it was her first time doing something while emptying her mind like this.
Every time she’d practiced Alchemy before, she’d been gripped by the compulsion never to miscalculate, but now it felt like she was simply pursuing joy.
It was almost as if she were a small child awakening her senses through tactile play.
Though of course, the two liquids inside the cauldron remained separate, drifting apart like oil and water that would never mix.

‘My teacher will handle it.’

Perhaps because of what he’d shown her so far, some inexplicable trust had taken root.
As she stirred the cauldron in that state of absorption…….
a subtle resistance began to emerge from the contents.
They were beginning to blend.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————