Being a Caster himself, he was well aware of the tricks of the trade.
When helping others forge Witchcraft Artifacts, Casters typically requested extra materials as a contingency.
If the forging succeeded on the first attempt, however, these materials would be written off as "spoilage" and pocketed by the Caster. That was why Qiu Ze’Er claiming to be poor in front of him was utter nonsense.
That sort of talk might fool a fresh-faced novice just starting down the path of a Wizard, but there was no way it would work on him.
Seeing that Andre was ignoring him, Qiu Ze’Er’s eyes darted about as he prepared to strike up another conversation.
Just then, a crisp, feminine voice cut Qiu Ze’Er off.
"What are you doing here?"
A tall woman in leather watched Qiu Ze’Er from nearby, her expression guarded.
"What do you mean, ’what am I doing here?’ Why can’t I be here? This is my friend’s shop."
As Qiu Ze’Er finished speaking, he looked toward Andre.
"Alright, you two. You bicker the moment you see each other. I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve had this argument right in front of me."
Andre set down the test tube in his hand and looked at the woman who had just entered.
The woman snorted, then handed Andre an order form.
When Qiu Ze’Er saw the form, he reached out to grab it.
But the woman simply lifted her hand, and he grasped at nothing but air.
"This Potion again... Who in the world needs this?"
Andre took the order from the woman’s hand, and his brow furrowed the moment he glanced at it.
"What’s wrong?" Qiu Ze’Er asked, curiously walking over to Andre’s side to look at the Potion order.
"Blood-Burning Potion and Body-Burning Potion... Damn, someone’s planning a fight to the death. Who is it? Karina, who are you ordering this for?"
Qiu Ze’Er stumbled back two steps the moment he saw the names of the two Potions.
"None of your business. Get lost!"
Karina shot Qiu Ze’Er a look of utter disgust.
Qiu Ze’Er rolled his eyes, turned, and walked out of Andre’s Potion room.
"This is the fourth time, isn’t it?"
Andre set the order down, his expression complicated as he looked at Karina.
Karina nodded, her gaze serious as she met Andre’s.
"Can you still make them?" She knew she had been coming to Andre for these two Potions a little too often lately.
"I can make them, yes. But each dose of these two Potions reduces the user’s lifespan by three to four years."
"This is the fourth order. Including the previous three, if it’s all for the same person, they’ve already lost ten years of their life."
"Ten years of life might not seem like much to Official Wizards like us, but this frequency... Once a month? Over time, it will damage the user’s Talent."
Andre told Karina, his expression grim.
"Who on earth is it?" Andre asked again.
Karina opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she closed it again.
"I won’t ask again." Seeing Karina’s pained expression, Andre didn’t press her any further.
He immediately started concocting the Potions. Andre retrieved the necessary Magic Plants from his Storage Ring.
He tossed them into a grinder and an extractor, beginning to draw out the juice from the Magic Plants.
While the equipment whirred, Andre took two vials of Beast Blood from his Storage Ring.
These two vials of Beast Blood were the primary ingredients for the Body-Burning Potion and the Blood-Burning Potion.
Of the two, the Beast Blood for the Body-Burning Potion was taken from the tail of a Dark Snake, while the blood for the Blood-Burning Potion came from the heart of a Furious Ape.
Andre took out the two Beast Hearts, uncorked the vials, and then produced several other Potions.
He then dripped the other Potions into the vials, one by one, following the quantities specified in the formulas for the Blood-Burning and Body-Burning Potions.
As the drops fell, a shadowy serpent materialized in the Potion room. The spectral snake slithered through the darkness, radiating a bone-chilling cold.
It was followed by the image of an ape, roaring at the heavens and relentlessly pounding its chest, which also appeared in Andre’s Potion room.
Karina took two steps back when the Soul phantoms of the Dark Snake and the Furious Ape manifested. She then watched as Andre purified and mixed the freshly extracted juices before adding them to the Beast Blood.
After six repetitions, two streaks of blood-red light flashed past.
And just like that, Andre had concocted one Blood-Burning Potion and one Body-Burning Potion.
"Here!" Andre stoppered the test tubes and tossed the two Potions to Karina.
Karina nodded and walked out.
’I wonder who this person hiring Karina is. Why would they need so many Blood-Burning and Body-Burning Potions?’
The moment Karina left, Andre’s expression darkened.
Karina’s role at the Main Institute was that of a broker. She specialized in using her beauty and fine physique to get others to hire her for tasks.
He himself had met her for that very reason.
He had needed to gather information, so he’d spent Magic Stones to hire Karina, the broker, to do his digging.
As the two became more familiar, some of Karina’s clients began using her as an intermediary, passing their Potion orders on to Andre for him to fill.
’Could it be a Body Refining Wizard?’
After pondering for a moment, Andre’s suspicions once again fell upon the Body Refining Wizards.
He had first suspected a Body Refining Wizard the second time Karina had come to him for Blood-Burning and Body-Burning Potions.
This was because only Body Refining Wizards required Blood-Burning and Body-Burning Potions in such large quantities.
Few other Wizards had any use for these two Potions.
This was not only because of the life-draining side effects, but also because while the Potions amplified one’s physical Power, they did so at the cost of damaging the user’s Spiritual Power.
The damaged Spiritual Power would take a significant amount of time to recover.
Only Body Refining Wizards, who had minimal reliance on Spiritual Power, could bear such a heavy toll.
’This isn’t something I should be getting involved in right now.’
After a moment’s thought, Andre reined in his speculations and went back to concocting Potions.
「And just like that, a year passed.」
As the start of the expedition drew near, Andre’s Potion business boomed.
His stockpiles of Magic Stones and Magic Plants grew ever larger.
He took the opportunity to purchase a large quantity of materials for his own use as well.
"Ah, that should do it!"
That night, Andre stood in his Potion room, surveying the contents of his Storage Rings.
He now had four Storage Rings on his person. The smallest offered 300 square meters of space, while the largest boasted 800.
His most valuable possessions, however, were stored safely away in his Secret Realm.