"Mr. Brand, I heard from your servant that you discovered a new plant? And that its seeds help refresh the mind?"
In an Alchemy Laboratory at the Kaya Empire Mage Academy, an elder Mage with pale white hair, heavy dark circles under his eyes, and a wrinkled Mage Robe looked at Brand with a curious expression.
This elder Mage was Morian Hanfa. He was a Professor of Alchemy at the Kaya Empire Mage Academy, and also the Alchemy instructor for Brand’s incoming class of freshmen.
The elder Mage had a rather deep impression of this student.
In terms of appearance, Brand was unmatched in the Mage Academy. At almost every faculty gathering, Professor Morian could hear those "superficial" female instructors huddled together, excitedly discussing Brand’s every move during class.
Ahem!
Of course, that was unimportant!
As a highly respected Alchemy instructor, he was fundamentally different from those superficial Female Mages.
With Mage Morian’s mastery over Spiritual Power, he could easily gauge the Spiritual Power levels of ordinary people and Mage Apprentices below the Junior Mage rank. Therefore, Brand’s Spiritual Power level held no secrets in Professor Morian’s eyes. He had seen it all—from when the boy enrolled with the level of an ordinary person, to now, having reached the standard of a Junior Mage Apprentice.
Such a rapid increase in Spiritual Power was the fastest among this batch of students. To put it in easily understandable terms, Brand was the top student of his class.
This was the real reason Professor Morian remembered him so clearly—it was absolutely not because of Brand’s enviably handsome yet useless outer shell!
All in all, when it came to such an excellent and unique student like Brand, the old professor had just a bit more patience than usual.
On Brand’s side, upon hearing the professor’s inquiry, he took a few brown "beans" out of his bag and placed them on the table between them.
Next, he explained to the elder Mage, "That is correct, Professor Morian. These are the seeds of that plant, which I call coffee beans.
"They have already undergone some basic processing. Now, they just need to be ground into powder, brewed with hot water, and strained of any residue. This process yields a super potion that instantly refreshes the mind with just one cup. I call this potion ’coffee’!"
The ever-rigorous Professor Morian paid no heed to Brand’s exaggerated boasting.
He had seen plenty of nobles; they always loved to use pompous language to assert that they were right. But Magic was rigorous, and any unverified conclusion was utterly worthless.
After Brand presented the coffee beans, the old professor pulled a magnifying-glass-like Magic Tool from his Magic Pocket and carefully examined them.
It did not take long for him to reach a conclusion. "Although this is indeed the seed of an unrecorded new plant, it appears to be nothing more than an ordinary plant. It has no Magic Power reactions or Extraordinary Traits."
Seeing Professor Morian’s skeptical expression, Brand was in no rush.
He had manifested these coffee beans from the Simulation World. Naturally, physical items lacked Extraordinary Traits. But who said something needed Extraordinary Traits to refresh the mind?
Brand’s lips curled into a slight smile as he confidently proposed, "Although it is not a Magic Plant, it truly possesses the ability to invigorate the mind. How about I make a cup of coffee for you so you can experience it firsthand?"
Had anyone else said this, Professor Morian would have undoubtedly refused. It was just a new species; many were discovered every year. Until its specific value was determined, it was not worth a Master of Alchemy like him wasting too much time on it.
However, he considered that the person making the suggestion was a genius student in his class, the favorite of numerous superficial Female Mages, and supposedly the son of an Empire fiefdom Viscount.
Taking all this into account, Professor Morian smiled and nodded. After all, Magic was not just about knowledge; interpersonal relationships were also important! Without the Magic Gold Coins contributed by Empire Nobles, the research funds for professors like him wouldn’t be nearly as plentiful as they were now!
Moreover, spending a little more time interacting with Brand would give him plenty to talk about at the next gathering, wouldn’t it? Who knew how many "superficial" Female Mages would be captivated by Brand’s alchemical exploits!
Ahem! That last part was unimportant!
Following that, Professor Morian watched as Brand took a complete set of tools out of his bag, swiftly ground the coffee beans into a fine powder, and asked the servant for hot water to brew it. Finally, after passing it through a filter cloth, Brand successfully produced two cups of the dark brown "Potion."
Although Professor Morian was somewhat dissatisfied with Brand’s crude "Alchemy" techniques, he was close enough to smell the rich aroma wafting from the cups. Taking a deep breath, he felt the exhaustion from his long-term research diminish slightly, replaced by sheer curiosity.
Setting aside the specific effects of this concoction, it was a scent he had genuinely never encountered before.
Once Brand finished his "Potion Preparation," Professor Morian didn’t even wait for the boy to speak. In his impatience, he grabbed the cup of "coffee potion" placed before him and downed it in one gulp.
As the liquid went down, aside from it being a bit hot, a bitter taste bloomed across his taste buds.
The sensation was somewhat difficult to describe. Despite the bitter taste, the keen Perception of an Alchemy Master allowed him to detect an incredibly subtle, cooling sensation hidden within the bitterness. And it was exactly this cooling sensation that imperceptibly uplifted his mental state by several degrees!
Although the process of this change was so subtle that ordinary people wouldn’t even notice, as a Master of Alchemy, he instantly realized what this meant!
"Incredible! This thing contains a natural refreshing substance! A substance that has never been discovered before! It might even be able to replace the main ingredient in the Awakening Potion!"
Staring at the unfinished coffee in his hand, Professor Morian’s gaze gradually grew heated. By extension, he also developed a great deal of fondness for Brand, who had brought him this cup of coffee.
"Mr. Brand, I presume you still have more seeds of this plant named coffee beans? I am willing to purchase them at a high price!"
Seeing that Professor Morian recognized the value of the coffee beans, Brand breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
Despite the confident facade he had displayed earlier, it had all been an act. Acting was a mandatory course for nobles. After all, this concerned whether or not he could pass his final exams, so he had actually been quite anxious the whole time.
In response to Professor Morian’s offer to buy the coffee beans, Brand simply offered a faint smile and made no commitments.
Since the coffee beans’ value in refreshing the mind had been acknowledged, it was now time to negotiate.
A high price?
Brand wasn’t that stupid!
Just as Professor Morian had concluded, coffee beans could perhaps replace a main ingredient in the Awakening Potion. The Awakening Potion was a Potion capable of rapidly restoring Spiritual Power. When creating worlds in the Simulation World, Brand would occasionally buy a bottle or two to drink and replenish his Spiritual Power.
Because of its exorbitant price, Brand had even gone out of his way to visit the Academy’s Alchemy Department to investigate its recipe and brewing techniques.
The Awakening Potion’s expense stemmed from a specific Magic Plant within it that possessed mind-refreshing properties. Currently, no second plant with the same effect had been discovered on the Fains Continent.
Due to the high cost of cultivating the raw materials, and factoring in the success rate of brewing the potion as well as the general expense of Alchemy Potions, the market price of a single bottle of Awakening Potion had reached thirty Magic Gold Coins!
An absolute luxury item!
One had to understand that even someone as habitually extravagant as Brand only had a monthly spending allowance of fifty Magic Gold Coins. Under the influence of Magic, the Kaya Empire did not particularly lack ordinary crops; a single Silver Coin was enough to sustain an ordinary commoner family for an entire month!
Although he didn’t understand why a plant with mere refreshing effects could serve as the main ingredient for a Potion that restored Spiritual Power, that was not something Brand needed to worry about. Since that was what everyone said, he only needed to accept it!
In short, if coffee beans could be used to replace the main ingredient of the Awakening Potion, the profits involved would be massively terrifying. Because of this, the Holland family might take a massive leap down the path of becoming a Great Noble.
Yelsen would probably be ecstatic!