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The carriage came to a halt outside the magic materials store, and the Rogest family crest on the carriage was almost instantly recognized in the streets of Holy Lotean City. Someone quickly came to assist Aresia.
Aresia’s guards remained outside the store. She instructed them to wait and entered the shop alone.
The magic materials store was quite spacious, and it had various sections for different types of materials. Since the primary clientele were mages, the shop was relatively quiet. Aresia made her way directly to the area with alchemical ingredients. As she examined the various ingredients displayed on the counters, she handed a list to one of the store attendants.
“Do you have the materials listed here?” Aresia inquired.
The list consisted of nearly twenty common low-grade alchemical ingredients. These weren’t the materials she needed for brewing a soul elixir, which were much rarer and expensive. To avoid the awkward situation of listing unavailable ingredients while not having the funds to purchase them, Aresia had included some materials she planned to acquire as well as other items for different purposes.
The store attendant carefully checked the list and confirmed that they had the listed materials in stock.
“Show me the ones with the best quality,” Aresia requested.
The shop attendant got busy, and Aresia continued browsing through the section dedicated to alchemical ingredients. Very valuable alchemical ingredients often required specific storage conditions. They were not displayed on the counters for customers to pick freely. Instead, there were labels on the shelves with images, textual descriptions, and prices of the materials.
The rarer and more precious materials, which weren’t suitable for open display, had dedicated catalogs with detailed descriptions. Customers who came to buy such items usually knew precisely what they needed and would ask the shop attendants for the products directly. Highly valuable alchemical ingredients were typically auctioned and rarely found in material stores.
This arrangement was convenient for Aresia, who wasn’t very familiar with pricing in this world.
Aresia had already determined that the magical materials in both worlds shared similarities in properties, appearances, and even their names, albeit some differences and historical terms. There was no issue of her not recognizing them.
She scanned the labels, and she quickly assembled the materials needed to create a specific soul elixir. Due to her budget constraints, she had to opt for a lower-grade version of the elixir, which used more affordable and easier-to-find materials.
The magic materials store had a vast selection of items, and she soon managed to collect the necessary components for the soul elixir. The total cost was significantly higher than what she had anticipated, particularly the primary ingredient, Devil’s Rest Tree branches, priced at a hundred gold coins per gram. Compared to her other world, the cost had increased at least tenfold. In this world, there was no known practice of cultivating this magical plant artificially, making its price reasonable in local terms.
The Devil’s Rest Tree was a highly dangerous magical plant that emitted a unique fragrance to attract nearby creatures. Once lured in, these creatures would be compelled to relax and approach the tree, eventually falling asleep. Unless they were rescued, they would sleep until death overtook them, and the tree’s nutrients would absorb their life essence, leaving behind a pile of white bones for each towering Devil’s Rest Tree.
Moreover, the Devil’s Rest Trees harbored the parasitic Bloodthirsty Strangle vines, which were carnivorous magical plants that helped the trees fend off external threats. Getting close to the tree and obtaining its branches was no easy task.
While the scent of the tree’s flowers had a mild hypnotic effect, its branches, when ignited, could enhance a mage’s meditation effects. When used in combination with other materials, the incense created from these branches had even greater effects. Although it was challenging to acquire, it was highly sought after by mages, especially the affluent ones who didn’t hesitate to spend money on it.
As the shop attendant brought the materials from the list for Aresia to inspect and select, she purchased enough quantity to make five portions of soul elixir. In total, she spent 1,800 gold coins, and the majority of the cost was associated with the incense materials. The ingredients listed on her shopping list were quite ordinary and common, despite the quantity she acquired. A whole bag of them cost just a few gold coins.
Carrying her purse with ease, Aresia didn’t directly empty a sack of gold coins onto the counter but instead used a magical item in her possession. She had a magic bracelet that was given to her as a fifteenth birthday gift from the Duke and Duchess. This bracelet acted as a space container and was large enough to hold ten thousand gold coins.
Aresia possessed several magical items, some of which were defensive in nature. Nobles typically carried several pieces of defensive gear, but items like space containers were relatively rare.
After paying for the materials, Aresia bundled the components for the soul elixir with the rest of her magical materials. She instructed the guards to take them back to the carriage and then turned her attention to the Adventurer’s Guild, where she posted a quest to buy low-level spider silk glands.
Silk glands were tube-shaped organs unique to insects and spiders, and only a few types of creatures had them. The silk they produced was usually non-toxic, but it had drawn quite a bit of attention from adventurers.
The previous request from the well-dressed lady was misleading. In reality, the venom was not typically present in the silk produced by common spider-like creatures. Only a minority of higher-level spider-like creatures had the ability to imbue venom into their silk, which made it a rare commodity.
In most people’s common knowledge, aside from the silk from a few high-level spider-like creatures, spider silk was typically considered a crafting material, with no poisonous properties. The sudden popularity of the request was likely due to a misunderstanding or misinformation about the nature of spider silk glands and venom.
Low-level spider-like creatures’ silk was considered garbage, difficult to manage in any way. Although spider silk was extremely resilient and adhesive, making it challenging to handle, once collected, it became a sticky mass that lost its adhesive properties over time, becoming dirty. Except for the rare adventurer who brought some back as a plaything for their children, there was no other practical use for it.
These low-level spider-like creatures were relatively easy to encounter in the wild and posed no real threat to adventurers. They were typically the type of creatures that ambushed their prey. As long as humans stayed out of their hunting range, they wouldn’t provoke an attack. Therefore, they were not considered valuable. Adventurers generally avoided them, considering them a low-value target.
With someone willing to buy spider silk and silk glands, many adventurers were curious about the reward for this task. If the reward was reasonable, hunting these low-level spider-like creatures was a safer option than hunting other, more dangerous creatures.
Aresia’s quest was a long-term purchase mission, and the price she offered was slightly higher than the purchase prices for equivalent-grade magical materials. This made it a good choice for lower-level adventurers with less strength.
Soon enough, several adventurers accepted the mission, planning to do it alongside their other quests.
After completing the mission, Aresia returned to the streets and entered an alchemy shop. Following the shopkeeper’s recommendations, she bought a complete set of high-quality alchemical tools, including a crucible for potion-making. Despite the top-notch quality, these tools came at a cost, and she spent a total of one thousand eight hundred gold coins.
Given the size of her purchase, the shop offered to deliver it to her location, and she left her address. Aresia then made a quick stop at a nearby bookstore to purchase a blank magical notebook before finally returning to the Duke’s mansion.
Back at the mansion, she found the steward and asked him to prepare a laboratory. “Somewhere quiet and away from other people’s living areas,” she specified.
The Duchess had a laboratory, but it had been unused for quite some time. The magic lessons at the noble family generally focused on basic spellcasting during magic classes. Practical courses like alchemy were often left untaught. The noble families usually hired magical tutors who refrained from teaching their young masters such skills  causing them to lack practical skills. As a result, many nobles were not well-versed in practical magic.
Upon hearing her request, the steward said, “Miss, your mother, the Duchess’s laboratory has been vacant for a while. Perhaps you can use it?”
The Duchess of the house was indeed a magician, and the mansion had a well-equipped magic laboratory. However, the Duchess was not particularly enthusiastic about magic, and her laboratory had been set up but seldom used, lying mostly idle.
Today, Aresia needed a laboratory, and the steward quickly led her there.
Aresia confirmed the availability of the laboratory with the steward and made sure there were no personal belongings belonging to her mother stored there. The steward nodded in agreement.
The steward immediately dispatched staff to tidy up the laboratory. After the items arrived from the alchemy shop, they were set up and prepared for Aresia to start her experiments.
The upper-class buildings in the city of Holy Lotean typically featured a Gothic architectural style. They were characterized by massive castle-like structures with soaring spires and vibrant stained glass windows. Turret towers were often part of these buildings.
The laboratory of the Duchess of the house was located in one of these turret towers, connected to the main building of the Duke’s mansion by a flying buttress and an arcade. It was situated on the side of the mansion, and the entire tower was sealed off, except for regular cleaning by servants. No one else was allowed to enter, making it an ideal location for Aresia’s needs.
Aresia inspected the laboratory’s condition thoroughly. Despite being unused, it was maintained in pristine condition, with the steward sending in periodic replacements of equipment to ensure it was ready for the Duchess. However, the Duchess never entered the laboratory. Aresia felt a sense of nostalgia as she looked at the external structure of the tower, which appeared like a magical tower.
Impressed with the efficiency of the steward’s arrangements, Aresia stayed in the laboratory all day. She even had her meals brought in by the servants.