Regardless, it was a good thing that Kang Wooju had knowledge of traditional medicine.
Security was paramount for something like this, and it was better to handle it themselves than to risk bringing in an outside doctor.
Taeseong led him inside and showed him the alchemy furnace.
“Whoa!? What is this?”
Wooju’s eyes went wide the moment he saw it.
“It’s a bit hard to explain precisely, but if you put herbs inside and infuse it with mana, it creates elixirs.”
“Good heavens… Do things like this really appear as mission rewards?”
“Something like that.”
Usually, the only ways for hunters to obtain mysterious items were through the Score Shop or mission rewards.
Since the Score Shop didn’t carry anything like this, it was natural for Wooju to assume it was a reward.
Lee Taeseong didn’t bother revealing his secrets and let the remark slide.
“Wow. As expected of our Guild Master. I guess these kinds of mission rewards show up if you get more than ten consecutive perfect scores?”
Wooju was fascinated but didn’t think too deeply about it.
He figured it made sense.
If it was the super-genius Lee Taeseong he acknowledged, then anything was possible!
“Are you going to make elixirs with this and sell them to others?”
“Yes.”
“The guilds are going to flip out.”
“The effect isn’t that great. And it’s useless to take it more than once.”
“Even so, it’ll cause a frenzy. Even my mother, who’s a shaman, would say the same.”
Wooju got goosebumps just imagining the impact.
No matter how weak the effect was, it was an elixir that increased mana.
Such things couldn’t be found in the Score Shop, and one had to be a veteran-class hunter to even hope for one as a mission reward.
Therefore, even if the elixir’s potency was low, every hunter would undoubtedly want to try it.
“Is that why you asked me to look for a factory site? Because you plan to mass-produce and sell them later?”
“Yes, that’s right. Can you do it?”
“Of course! I’ll take charge and handle it perfectly!”
Wooju gave a sharp salute and started moving busily.
***
Wooju was a surprisingly capable person.
During their first impression, Taeseong hadn’t been particularly fond of him due to his gaunt face and deep dark circles, but he handled work exceptionally well.
After contacting Manager Song Sang-yeop, Wooju quickly rented a vacant factory site and even completed the rental of the necessary equipment inside.
Then, they loaded the alchemy furnace onto a truck and departed immediately.
“Careful, careful! Heave—ho!”
After finishing the move of the furnace to the center of the factory, Wooju wiped his brow with a satisfied smile.
“Great work, Guild Master!”
“You’re the one who worked hard, Wooju. Thanks to you, the trip was easy.”
“I did this kind of work a few times when I was at the Blue Dragon Guild. It’s nothing.”
“Do they make hunters do things like this there?”
“Not exactly. My father runs a business in the countryside, so I’ve been helping with related tasks since I was young. I used that experience to help out a few times while I was with the guild.”
“Heh… That’s impressive.”
Wooju wasn’t just skilled in combat; he was also familiar with administrative and logistical tasks.
Taeseong even thought that they might not even need to hire separate office staff for a while.
‘I see why the Blue Dragon Guild siblings said he was an outstanding person.’
Contrary to his arrogant first impression, the man was certainly thorough with his work.
A businessman father and a shaman mother—he was born with a silver spoon and possessed incredible talent.
If it had been the old Lee Taeseong, he would have thought it impossible to keep such a person under his command.
However, Wooju was looking at Taeseong with eyes full of respect.
“What’s so impressive about me? Compared to you, Guild Master, who brought back such a terrifyingly amazing item, my skills are just parlor tricks!”
Wooju sincerely believed that.
After the alchemy furnace was installed, Taeseong explained the necessary recipe.
He focused on the efficacy and effects rather than the herb names, as they differed from those in the Dream World.
“It needs to have a calming and detoxifying effect. This looks like licorice would work. For energy reinforcement, we need milk vetch, and for blood circulation, cnidium and cinnamon… Vitality promotion? I think chrysanthemum, which supports liver function, would be enough for that…”
Wooju listened intently, even taking notes, and systematically organized a list of how to substitute the ingredients with modern items.
Just as he claimed, his knowledge of traditional medicine allowed him to come up with equivalents as soon as Taeseong described what was needed.
After finishing the recipe, Taeseong asked, “What do you think? Can we purchase the things I mentioned?”
“Yes. It seems doable. Since they’re common items, I can find them at a nearby herbal medicine shop or even a supermarket! Should I go buy them right now?”
“Please do.”
“Yes, sir!”
Wooju departed immediately.
While he was out shopping, Taeseong began to wipe down the alchemy furnace.
Although they had moved it cleanly, he worried that dust might have gotten inside.
As he meticulously wiped the magic circles engraved on the pot and the base plate, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘Wait. If I copy this exactly, wouldn’t I be able to use it just the same?’
He didn’t know about creating something from nothing, but simply copying a magic circle didn’t seem too difficult.
He grabbed a piece of chalk rolling around a corner of the factory and began to draw on the floor.
*Tap, tap-tap, tap.*
The pot was curved, so it was a bit difficult, but the base plate was flat.
Following the design and drawing it right next to the original was tedious, but not impossible.
After he finished copying it exactly:
*Vrrrrm!*
Taeseong placed his hand on it and infused it with mana.
He had heard the instructions from Elder Miginik.
By breathing mana into it, the base plate would glow and enter a standby state.
However, since it was difficult for a person to constantly supply mana, magic stones had to be inserted to automate the process.
‘Hmm…!’
But no matter how much mana he poured in, the magic circle drawn in chalk didn’t budge.
‘Tsk. That’s a shame.’
He thought it might work.
Did he need to engrave it rather than just draw it?
Having zero magical knowledge, there was nothing more Taeseong could figure out on his own.
He decided to ask Elder Miginik or another mage the next time he met one.
If he could replicate the alchemy pots and make several of them, it would be perfect.
“I’m back!”
While he was waiting, Wooju arrived.
He carried bags full of ingredients in both hands.
“Did you get everything?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Pour them in.”
Taeseong pointed at the alchemy pot, and they tossed all the ingredients inside.
Since this was a basic furnace making the lowest-grade elixir, precise measurements of the ingredients weren’t required.
If such precision had been necessary, Taeseong wouldn’t have thought about bringing it to the real-world in the first place.
*Vrrrrm!*
As soon as he infused mana into the furnace, the magic circles on the base plate and the pot began to glow brightly.
“Wow. That’s beautiful.”
“The ladle! Water!”
“Yes! Here it is!”
With the quick-witted and excellent assistant Wooju by his side, the work began.
Taeseong stirred the mixture of ingredients and water with the ladle.
Then, under the influence of the magic circles, the ingredients began to melt and blend together.
The concentration adjusted itself automatically based on the amount of ingredients added.
He continued to stir while constantly injecting mana.
Before long, the solid ingredients disappeared completely, leaving behind a finished silver medicinal soup.
Thus, the first test batch of the lowest-grade elixir was completed.
‘He said I needed to drink 500ml to see the effect.’
Taeseong scooped out a ladle of the faintly silver-glowing elixir, poured it into a bowl, and handed it to Wooju.
“You try it first, Wooju.”
“Me? Aren’t you going to drink it, Guild Master?”
“It won’t have any effect on me.”
Taeseong had already consumed several elixirs in the Dream World, including the Red Heart Nectar.
A lowest-grade elixir like this wouldn’t provide much benefit to him.
However, the hunters of Earth had absolutely no resistance to elixirs from the Dream World, so even a lowest-grade one would definitely show results at least once.
Wooju, however, misunderstood slightly.
“Yes. I’ll be your royal food taster!”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant…”
“I’m an Assassin, so my poison resistance is excellent. Don’t worry!”
Taeseong tried to say more, but Wooju immediately picked up the bowl and downed it in one shot.
“!”
Wooju’s eyes went wide.
“How is it?”
“G-Guild Master…!”
His pupils shook uncontrollably.
“This… this is definitely going to be a massive hit!!!”
Wooju gave two thumbs up.
Taeseong smiled slightly at the words, which were filled with more than just conviction—they held a firm belief.
***
The number of lowest-grade elixirs produced from one batch in the alchemy furnace was thirty-four small bottles.
The amount of elixir produced varied depending on the ingredients put in.
Since it was a magical furnace and a lowest-grade elixir, the production was very simple.
“Now that we have the product, we need to think about sales channels.”
No matter how good a product was, it was useless without a buyer.
They needed to find the right customers as well.
Hunters had deep pockets, but many of them had poor personalities.
Since they possessed superhuman strength, there were plenty of lunatics who tried to solve everything with force when things didn’t go their way.
Getting involved with such people was just an unnecessary hassle.
Therefore, they needed honest and clean customers.
‘Should I contact Manager Song Sang-yeop and ask for an introduction…?’
Or talking to the Blue Dragon Guild might be good.
Since they had told him to reach out whenever he needed help after starting his business, they would surely welcome the contact.
That was when Wooju stepped forward.
“Guild Master. Shall I handle this?”
“You, Wooju?”
“Yes! I know quite a few people. I built up some connections while I was with the Blue Dragon Guild.”
Before Lee Taeseong, Kang Wooju had been the top rookie of last year.
Because he wanted to find someone to learn from, he had joined the Blue Dragon Guild, but before that, he had received love calls from numerous other guilds.
Taeseong hadn’t had that opportunity because he created his own guild as soon as he made a name for himself, but it was different for Wooju.
“Were there any decent places?”
“When I looked at their faces, about 65% of them looked like devious snakes, but the rest weren’t too bad.”
If the physiognomist Kang Wooju said so, it was trustworthy.
“Go ahead with it.”
“Yes, sir!”
They decided to contact the relevant guilds immediately and send out the elixirs they had made as samples.
***
At the Giant Guild, one of the major guilds in Korea.
The Guild Master, Iron Fist Gu Sang-min, sat down with a deep sigh.
“Whew.”
“Great work, Guild Master.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
When his secretary brought him coffee, Gu Sang-min waved his hand weakly.
“Missions really aren’t easy…”
Having just returned from a mission, he was completely drained.
It had been quite taxing, and he had almost failed.
No—failing would have been the least of his worries.
If he had made one mistake, he surely would have lost his life.
“I should just quit this hunter business.”
“Really?”
“No. I’m joking.”
How much revenue did he, the Guild Master of the Giant Guild, rake in every month?
Moreover, as a high-ranker in Korea, his popularity with the public was insane.
And although it was a secret to the outside world, he felt a sense of duty to protect Korea.
However, he had recently felt his strength flagging.
‘I need to get a bit stronger, or at least my mana capacity needs to increase…’
Neither was an easy task.
As he was sighing, his secretary brought in a box.
“Guild Master. A package arrived from the Vice Guild Master of Taeseong Guild.”
“Taeseong Guild? I feel like I’ve heard that name… Ah, the place that rookie started?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. Did they send a gift as a greeting?”
It wasn’t particularly strange.
“But why was it sent in the name of the Vice Guild Master instead of the Guild Master?”
“It turns out their Vice Guild Master is Mr. Kang Wooju.”
“What? Blue Dragon’s Kang Wooju? Why is he there?”
“I heard he transferred.”
“Heh. He wouldn’t budge no matter how much we tried to scout him…”
It was quite surprising that the stubborn man with his strange convictions had transferred.
“So Taeseong Guild is a place where this year’s rookie and last year’s rookie are together. How interesting. Anyway, what did he send?”
“He said it’s a sample of an elixir for sale.”
“…? Let me see.”
Gu Sang-min took the package and opened it.
Inside the box was a bottle well-wrapped in bubble wrap.
It was about the size of a 500ml water bottle.
A silver liquid sloshed inside as he glared at the bottle.
“That brat Kang Wooju… He should know he won’t die peacefully if he lies to me…”
But it sounded too much like a lie. Selling elixirs?
Elixirs were so precious to hunters; if someone had such a thing, they would drink it themselves rather than sell it to others.
After a moment of hesitation, Gu Sang-min immediately twisted the cap and gulped it down.
He believed that Wooju wouldn’t send poison, and he was confident that his steel-like body, reinforced by mana, wouldn’t be harmed by any common toxin.
“!!!!!”
Emptying the bottle, he bolted upright, his eyes bloodshot.
“Secretary!! Contact them right now! Tell them we’ll buy all of this, no matter the price!”
“Yes, yes!?”
“There’s no time! Dammit! Where else did they send this? Please, we have to be the first to order…!”
Gu Sang-min began to move frantically, his actions at odds with his massive physique.
And similar scenes were unfolding simultaneously across thirty-four different guilds.