After Chubby left, Lucien opened his suitcase and stepped into the world within.
He arrived at the desolate desert layer, where no living creature could be seen besides himself.
He summoned the system to check the specific loan details:
Loan Name: Emerald Tablet Fragment (Annual Loan)
Repayment Period: 365 days
Loan Content: A stone tablet inscribed with thirteen aphorisms, symbolizing Hermes's magical talent
White Magic: A+
Dark Arts: B+
Defense Against the Dark Arts: A
Transfiguration: S
Potions: S+
Alchemy: SS+
Magic Power: A+
Loan Task: In my name, sell 30,000 Alchemy tools or Potions and accumulate 150,000 Galleons in profit.
The Emerald Tablet… a fragment…
Lucien recalled that the Emerald Tablet was an Egyptian stone tablet. Its thirteen aphorisms were said to be the origin of all alchemy in the world, revealing its deepest mysteries.
And this Hermes was not the Olympian messenger god from Greek mythology, but the Egyptian Pharaoh Hermes.
This Pharaoh, together with his father—the god Thoth—and his son, the high priest Tat, formed a trinity and was also regarded as Hermes.
Logically, this should have been a god-tier magical talent, much like Loki's Mask. Yet Lucien did not see any SSS-level talent worthy of a deity. The highest was only SS+ in Alchemy.
Was it because this was only a fragment?
Since the Emerald Tablet was incomplete, had the talent been correspondingly reduced?
Still, the other talents were not particularly high either, which did not quite match the supposed origin of alchemy.
"System, if I merge this talent block, will it affect my existing talents?"
Host merging multiple talent blocks: lower-level talents will be overwritten by higher-level talents and will not stack for upgrades.
Overwritten by higher-level talents… good.
Lucien brought up his current talent template:
White Magic: S
Dark Arts: SS+
Defense Against the Dark Arts: S+
Transfiguration: SSS
Potions: A
Alchemy: A+
Magic Power: SS
Hmm. If he merged the Emerald Tablet Fragment, both his Potions and Alchemy talents would be elevated, making up for his previous shortcomings.
The other areas would not change much; his abilities would still be dominated by Loki's Mask.
As for this loan task—"in my name"?
After making inquiries, Lucien received the system's reply:
These Alchemy tools or Potions must be personally developed by the Host. The production and sales processes may be handled by others, as long as the buyers know that the inventor of the product is the Host.
In short, he had to be the researcher himself and could only sell products he personally invented.
However, production and sales were equally important.
Thirty thousand units and 150,000 Galleons, huh?
Wizards made up less than one ten-thousandth of the total human population.
Britain had fewer than 4,000 wizards, and the global total was probably only around 200,000 to 300,000 at most.
In fact, this number of wizards was reasonable. After all, if there were many more of them, there would be no need for the Statute of Secrecy or to hide their existence. They could easily establish wizard rule over Muggles.
A total of 30,000 units needed to be sold, which roughly equated to about ten items per wizard in Britain.
So Britain alone was definitely not enough. If he expanded into other regions…
At the same time, he also needed to earn 150,000 Galleons. That averaged to about 5 Galleons per Alchemy item or Potion. For most wizards, 5 Galleons was not cheap. After all, a wand from Ollivanders cost only 7 Galleons.
However, the sales volume and total revenue could be achieved separately. Low-priced common items could drive up volume, while high-end expensive items could increase total profit.
Different products for different target customers.
In any case, the loan did not require selling only a single type of product. As long as the Alchemy tools and Potions he developed were of sufficient quality and could target different customer groups, it would work.
With the boost from S+ Potions talent and SS+ Alchemy talent, research and development would certainly not be a problem.
The real challenge lay in the production and sales chain—raw materials, costs, processing…
Lucien thought it over and suddenly gave a wry smile. It seemed he was destined to inherit the family trade; he had not expected to return to his profession even in the magical world.
However, he truly wanted these two talent improvements. And…
Lucien had a faint intuition that the Emerald Tablet Fragment could be completed. This annual loan might only be the starting point.
The SS+ Alchemy talent clearly had the potential to be upgraded to the highest SSS tier—the level of a god.
Lucien had already experienced the benefits brought by SSS-level talent. It played an unparalleled role in his ability to learn and master knowledge.
This annual loan task and trial would also improve his Alchemy and Potions skills. Learning itself was profit.
Having tasted the benefits, Lucien naturally would not give up such an opportunity easily.
The chance to trigger an annual loan came at most two or three times a year, so he needed to secure it whenever possible.
Perhaps because it was inherently incomplete, the task required by the Emerald Tablet Fragment was still reasonable.
If it had immediately offered an annual loan for true god-tier talent, Lucien recalled the original task from Loki's Mask—it had been not only outrageous but also extremely lengthy.
"System, I want to borrow the Emerald Tablet Fragment (Annual Loan)."
Ding! Emerald Tablet Fragment loan application approved.
Evaluation: The source of all perfection in the world lies here.
As soon as the system prompt sounded, a solid, gem-like tablet appeared before Lucien.
It was entirely formed from emerald, with orderly characters engraved across its surface.
Yet the tablet, which should have been radiant and flawless, was no longer whole. Massive cracks split across it, leaving most of the inscriptions incomplete.
Lucien recognized the script as Latin. The aphorisms he could still make out read:
"True without falsehood, certain and most true."
"That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below."
"The sun is its father, the moon its mother; the wind carried it in its womb, the earth nourished it…"
Merely gazing at the tablet and reading the words made Lucien feel that some of his long-standing questions about Alchemy were beginning to loosen.
With anticipation, Lucien slowly extended his right hand, his fingertips lightly touching the translucent fragment.
In an instant, the massive emerald tablet burst apart soundlessly, shattering into billions of dazzling motes of stardust, like a disturbed green dream.
Before Lucien could react, the flowing emerald dust, as if alive, streamed down along his fingers and rapidly covered his entire right hand.
Immediately afterward, a clear, vibrant emerald light suddenly bloomed from his palm.
The light surged upward, transforming into a towering ancient tree with lush branches and leaves in the desert.
The radiant branches and leaves swayed in the empty air, illuminating the desert as though a divine miracle had descended into a hidden garden.
________
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