So, where does creating the Intellect Potion even start, excluding the preparatory stage I successfully completed?
Of course, with another preparatory stage: blacking out the room and turning on the red light.
A thick, unsettling semi-darkness flooded my little apartment, turning it into a semblance of an alchemical lab or a maniac’s photo room.
Fortunately, my apartment pseudo-lab was already set up on the table, and the instructions were clearly engraved in my memory.
So, we begin with the extraction of Phantasmine.
Ghost Orchid pollen is not a powder, as an inexperienced observer might think, but a pollinium — a single waxy mass.
In the case of the Ghost Orchid, it’s a dazzling white with a slight pearlescent sheen.
I carefully removed it from the center of the flower that had materialized from the inventory, using tweezers.
Naturally, there were no other light sources in the apartment except for the crimson glow of the lamp.
I placed the waxy piece of pollinium on a small lab scale.
The numbers on the display froze: 57 milligrams.
It falls within the 50–70 milligram range needed to create one dose of the potion.
So, we continue.
With that intention, I placed the weighed pollinium into a completely dry and clean 50 ml flask.
Then, using a graduated cylinder, I measured exactly 20 milliliters of isopropyl alcohol — its sharp, sterile smell hitting my nose for a moment — and added it to the flask with the pollinium.
Turning on the dry heating block, I quickly set it to gradually heat up over 5 minutes from 30 to 40 degrees, followed by maintaining exactly 40 degrees for the next 10 minutes.
Placing the flask in the block, I started waiting, periodically checking if the pollinium dissolution process had begun.
In theory, it should start dissolving, tinting the alcohol with a barely noticeable opalescent hue.
My nerves were stretched taut.
Luckily, at the tenth minute, the process started.
After another 5 minutes, when the heating block clicked quietly and stopped working, I poured the resulting solution into a centrifuge tube and started the device.
A growing, monotonous hum filled the room.
Five minutes later, all insoluble particles — wax, flower debris, dust, and the like — settled to the bottom as a dense, whitish sediment.
What I needed was only the clear liquid on top — the supernatant — which I carefully drained using a syringe into a new sterile flask.
This was the purified Phantasmine extract.
I immediately added exactly 5 ml of colloidal silver to it.
The solution reacted immediately, becoming slightly cloudy, which indicated I was on the right track.
Before the almost final, most important step, I placed the flask into the inventory, filled a deep bowl with cold water, added salt and ice to it, and then returned the flask with the extract to reality.
The box with one of the charged quartz crystals silently appeared on the table.
Picking up the ceramic tweezers, I grasped the crystal with them — a faint tingling seemed to emanate from it — and pressed it against the outer wall of the flask standing on the table.
I didn’t risk doing this operation in my hands, afraid of destabilizing the quartz’s charge.
Now everything should go fine.
I hope…
The crystal’s vibrational field penetrated the glass and triggered the chain reaction I had expected.
First, the liquid became very cloudy, turning milky white.
I patiently continued waiting, holding the crystal against the flask and feeling the air around me seem to thicken.
After about 3 minutes, the liquid began to rapidly clear up.
It looked like fog dissipating in fast-forward.
After another minute or so, the liquid became perfectly transparent and clear, like water.
Additionally, a light, fresh scent of ozone spread through the apartment — another sign of successful activation.
Without removing the crystal from the glass, I carefully picked up the flask with other tweezers and placed it into the prepared ice-cold salt water.
A faint hissing sound.
The sharp temperature drop stabilized the unstable molecular structure of the potion, making it suitable for consumption and storage.
After a minute, I took the flask out of the ice bath.
The now-discharged crystal, having become an ordinary stone, went back into its box.
Next, I took a small lightproof glass vial and, using a syringe, poured about 25 ml of the potion into it.
That’s it.
The Intellect Potion is officially ready.
Luckily, the system agrees!
[Normal complexity potion created: “Intellect Potion.” Complexity: Normal.
+200 CP received!]
Phew, finally!
I did it!
So much effort, so many expenses, so many plans and ambitions riding on this Potion, which the system aptly dubbed a potion.
And here it is, in my hand.
I wanted to drink it right then and there, but I held back my impulse.
Not the time…
Especially since I still have the process of creating 4 more Potions ahead of me.
So, putting the vial into the inventory, I started the “potion-brewing” process, hah.
[Normal complexity potion created: “Intellect Potion.” Complexity: Normal.
+150 CP received!]
[Normal complexity potion created: “Intellect Potion.” Complexity: Normal.
+100 CP received!]
[Normal complexity potion created: “Intellect Potion.” Complexity: Normal.
+50 CP received!]
[Normal complexity potion created: “Intellect Potion.” Complexity: Normal.
+40 CP received!]
The system really slashes rewards for successful but repetitive actions.
It’s annoying, but I think I’m already used to it.
Even with the reduction, from 5 Intellect Potions I got a net +540 CP, and my total balance reached a mind-boggling 685 CP.
A sum I couldn’t have dreamed of a couple of days ago.
But reality quickly sobered my excited mind.
It’s not enough for three system pulls, only for two: one for 200 and one for 250.
I can’t afford the third one, for 300, because I’d be left with 235 CP, a hundred of which will most likely go towards unlocking the Muscle Stimulant (unless something more interesting drops from the system).
After thinking it over once more, I ultimately decided that this really was the best option.
But tomorrow. Get faster updates on g.com.
Before the pulls and further planning, I’ll definitely take the Intellect Potion.
Why tomorrow?
Well, it’s night now.
After a productive and successful day’s work, I’m really feeling sleepy.
So I can get some sleep and act with a clear, well-rested head.
Agreeing with this ironclad logic, I finally turned on the normal light, cleaned up all traces of my makeshift chem-lab, and crashed.
Sunday morning greeted me, just like the previous day, with an incredible surge of energy and motivation.
After a quick shower and breakfast, I took the Intellect Potion out of the inventory, downed it in one gulp, and waited.
The effect came on pretty quickly.
It felt like a veil falling from before my eyes and cotton being removed from my ears — the world became sharper, clearer, and my thoughts, which had only been fast before, now raced at the speed of light, forming perfect logical structures.
Feeling an unprecedented lightness of mind and a sensation that I could achieve anything, I didn’t waste precious time and opened the system, activating the first “pull” for 200 CP!
[Common blueprint received – Refined Extremis Formula (Marvel).
(Blueprint unlock costs 500 CP)]
The Extremis virus — the latest development in the pursuit of creating a super-soldier.
It grants a person superhuman strength, lightning-fast reflexes, and unparalleled endurance.
Extremis users acquire a unique ability to generate extreme heat through a metabolic process, allowing them to heat any part of their body to thousands of degrees Celsius at will.
Regeneration with Extremis is impressive: wounds turn into smoldering ash, from which lost tissues are restored within minutes, returning to normal skin, flesh, and bone.
However, this power comes at a cost: the body glows on thermal sensors, and excessive overheating can lead to a catastrophic explosion.
Use with caution!
This…
turns all my plans upside down, making them suddenly irrelevant and insignificant.
Freaking Extremis from this same universe!
Well, okay, it’s not necessarily from this one, but…
Whoa, even under a strong neuro-stimulant, I can’t contain my excitement.
I want it, I want it, I want it!
It was almost a physical desire, a hunger for power that this blueprint promised.
Especially since it’s a refined version, meaning the risk of explosion from the virus injection is absent.
However, overheating, unfortunately, remains a problem.
But damn, how appetizing this looks, especially considering I have 485 CP left, and I can get the remaining 15 CP in literally half an hour.
That means I can acquire the knowledge of how to manufacture a freaking super-soldier serum, practically without leaving this spot and in the very near future.
Forcing myself to calm down, I started thinking.
Emotions aside; only cold calculation.
Extremis is here and now — or rather, the recipe.
Unlike the (by the system’s standards) simple Intellect Potion, I doubt I’ll be able to get by with what I have on hand.
If my memory serves me right, and given the neuro-stimulator the chance of that is low, the creation of Extremis directly involves nanotechnology.
That’s practically the big leagues already.
A more advanced lab is needed, resources, money, and more knowledge!
The latter, moreover, is the most important thing.
Unlocking the recipe now would be like buying blueprints for a starship while having only a pile of scrap metal and a wrench in your backyard.
Tempting, but absolutely useless at this stage.
However tempting the blueprint unlock was, I restrained the impulse.
Clearing my mind again, I spun the gacha a second time, for 250 CP, hoping I’d get something just as good or even better than the cheaty super-soldier serum recipe.
Damn, this recipe has Common rarity, and nothing higher than that has dropped for me yet.
Maybe now?
[Common item received – Magical Ore Crate (Every One Returns Home).
(Item unlock costs 400 CP.
Make sure you have 1 free inventory slot!)]
What blacksmith can do without metal?
In this world, equipment matters a lot, and without quality materials, a craftsman cannot unlock their potential.
Fortunately, you have a spacious storage crate (2x2x1 m), filled to the brim with pieces of raw ore — from ordinary iron to the rarest celestial metals.
The more valuable the ore, the less of it is in stock.
I hope you have tools for smelting and forging it!
The crate’s supplies will replenish every month.
An item!
Yes, finally!
And at that moment, my brain, working at its limit, instantly formed a chain.
Extremis is the goal.
The ore crate is the means to achieve that goal.
It’s not just money.
It’s a foundation.
It’s an endless source of resources for building a lab, creating equipment, achieving financial independence.
Why the hell is this “Common” Ore Crate so cheaty?
Yes, the unlock is pricey, but monthly replenishment of all kinds of ore, from simple stuff to, say, Adamantium or Uru…
No, this is too good to be true.
And there might very well be gold and platinum in there too, which would allow me to solve the money problem.
Obviously, the priority for unlocking technologies has changed.
Second — something from the Arcanum, like the Muscle Stimulant, for survivability.
And third — once I’m more established in this world, with a proper workshop and money — the Extremis blueprint.
So, I now have about another hour and a half to two hours while the Intellect Potion is active.
I need to try to figure out the following points:
1.
Where have I left traces, and have I left any at all, attracting unwanted attention.
2.
How to most effectively earn more CP to get my balance to 400, ideally within the same day.
3.
Calculate the necessary budget for moving out of this dump and how to convert valuable ores from the crate into money without drawing excessive attention.
4.
Other issues, if there’s time, and to generally understand if there are any.
At the very least, recalling key moments in the development of key characters from this universe and comparing them with this world wouldn’t hurt.
After all, having an idea of where the starting point is is necessary.
Okay, let’s go in order.
My brain, like a powerful processor, allocated maximum resources to the first task.
It’s no coincidence I listed possible traces as the first point, because there is one, and it’s not just possible but more than real!
The Ghost Orchid.
Growing at night in a park in one of the central districts of New York, it simply couldn’t go unnoticed.
However, you won’t find any mention of this flower in the public domain, which is actually logical — you won’t find anything about, say, Vibranium in the public domain either.
That is, the existence of the Ghost Orchid is hidden knowledge, only for the initiated, and I encroached upon it.
It doesn’t matter who exactly collects this mystical flower from the park at Bowling Green — SHIELD, some order of mages, or a corporation like Oscorp.
What matters is that on that night when I took it, or the following night, this someone won’t find the flower.
And my main mistake, driven by impulsive greed — I took the entire inflorescence with several dozen flowers!
A single missing flower could be blamed on an animal or a vandal.
The disappearance of the entire plant is a direct declaration of theft.
So, can they track me down?
And how?
Threat analysis: standard methods.
Tracking via cameras, of which there are countless in the city.
Professionals could build a heat map of my movements, track the “digital ghost” my phone, even if it was turned off.
It WAS NOT turned off; it left traces by connecting to towers.
They’ll form a route, narrow the search area down to Hell’s Kitchen, where cameras have their own issues, but they still exist.
Possibly even down to my street, which is considered relatively decent by the district’s standards.
But further than that?
Only by brute force — door-to-door questioning, searching for anomalies — for instance, a sharp increase in my apartment’s power consumption.
Or maybe I left a very obvious trace somewhere and, even with brain doping, I can’t realize it right now.
In any case, special services like SHIELD, if they want to find me, they will.
It’s just a matter of time and the priority of my threat level.
For now, I’m an unknown thief of a rare but still relatively common plant in the world for them.
And that’s assuming I even landed on their radar at all.
But if they find out what I made from it…
Threat analysis: non-standard methods.
Some hypothetical shaman of the Lenape tribe, collecting flowers to make some particularly potent magic tobacco?
If he’s really a mage, then…
I don’t recall local mages having anything like precognition or access to an information field, except maybe through major artifacts like the Eye of Agamotto, which is actually the Time Stone.
I doubt they’d throw a universal-scale artifact into finding a flower.
Besides, I sincerely want to believe that I am a “blind spot” for this world.
My nature as a transmigrator, having the System — this might make me invisible to magical sensors.
And the fact that almost two days have passed and no one has come for me is the best confirmation.
If they are looking for me, it will be through standard methods.
This means there’s certainly something to worry about, but it’s too early to panic.
However, this sets a strict condition for me: I need to expedite the move.
True, with the remaining 200 dollars in my credit account…
Okay, did I leave traces anywhere else?
Material purchases: I tried to use different hardware stores or buy used stuff from private sellers, paid in cash.
Let’s assume that’s clean.
Overall, the materials I have don’t seem to add up to something like methamphetamine from a first impression — just ordinary lab supplies.
Interaction with Mary Jane and Harry Osborn?
I think they’ve already forgotten about my existence.
Okay, note for the future: don’t make gross mistakes when interacting with resources closed to the public.
It could attract unwanted attention.
CP (Creation Points): 235 (next “Forging the Universe” costs 300 CP)
Cash: ~$200
Valuables in Inventory: Intellect Potion (4 doses).
4.
Technologies, Skills, and Items:
Unlocked:
Recipe “Intellect Potion.”
Locked (awaiting CP):
Blueprint “Refined Extremis Formula” (Cost: 500 CP).
Item “Magical Ore Crate” (Cost: 400 CP).
Info Package “Reverse Engineering Risk” (Cost: 100 CP).
Other blueprints and recipes from the “Arcanum” set (Cost: 100 CP with subsequent increase).