Chapter Thirteen: The Master of Secret Remedies

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A plume of green smoke rose from Lin Qi’s head as his hair was singed by the intense heat of the small fireball, turning to ash that floated high into the air. Not just his hair, but his eyebrows, eyelashes, and the faint mustache on his upper lip were all burned away to nothing. Lin Qi’s upper body felt as though it had been dunked in boiling water, scalding him so badly that he couldn’t stop howling in pain.

“Damn old freak!” Faced with a fireball capable of killing him in a single strike, Lin Qi, in a desperate gamble, pulled a heavy single-edged cleaver from the hidden pocket in his trouser leg. With a fearless, piercing cry, he swung the blade at the side of the fireball, pouring all his strength into shoving the little orb aside.

The cleaver instantly glowed red-hot, and the flesh of Lin Qi’s palm gave off a foul, charred odor. He screamed again, releasing the hilt. The fireball was deflected less than half a foot, grazing past Lin Qi’s cheek and slamming into the iron door behind him.

Runes, shaped like wild rose vines, flickered on the iron door. The immense power within the fireball was quietly absorbed by the rune array.

Breathless and drenched in sweat, Lin Qi's knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground, cursing under his breath.

The master of the laboratory—the man Lin Qi served, an imperial guest professor of high distinction and a master of secret potions—Kocha, silently stepped over to Lin Qi. His cold, dry hand seized Lin Qi by the collar, and he forced a vial of crimson potion down Lin Qi’s throat.

As soon as the pungent, bloody-tasting liquid hit his tongue, it turned into a surge of burning heat, flooding his belly. Lin Qi’s spent energy was instantly restored, and the burns on his cheek from the fireball quickly began to heal. Exhaling heavily, Lin Qi’s face transformed into a fawning smile, and he bowed low and deferentially to Kocha, greeting him obsequiously, “Respected Master Kocha, it’s been several days since your last summons. Is there anything I can do for you today?”

Kocha was not tall—he barely reached Lin Qi’s shoulder. A voluminous, tattered black robe, riddled with holes, hung loosely on his thin frame, its surface blotched with all manner of strange stains—the residue from his alchemical experiments. Lin Qi had no idea what Kocha actually looked like, for his face was nothing more than a mass of scars.

Likely the result of some secret potion experiment gone awry, Kocha’s face was completely ruined, the scarring running all the way down to his chest, making his appearance unspeakably grotesque. His nose and ears had been dissolved by potions, leaving only a few pitch-black holes exposed. The red, white, and black scars twitched slightly, and every breath Kocha took released a thick medicinal stench.

He casually tossed the crystal vial onto a square table, let go of Lin Qi, and muttered in a deep voice, “Is that so? It does seem like I haven’t seen you for a few days. Hm, there are indeed some things I need you to prepare at once. My laboratory’s food stores are depleted—go replenish them for me immediately.”

As he spoke, Kocha’s belly rumbled, and his scarred face twitched violently a few times; it looked as if he hadn’t eaten in days.

Lin Qi dared not utter a sound and hurriedly nodded his assent.

Kocha’s personality was extremely eccentric and solitary. Aside from Lin Qi, the service attendant assigned by the academy, he forbade anyone else from approaching his laboratory. And Kocha was notoriously unpredictable—sometimes, even Lin Qi could be attacked just by entering the lab.

After four or five janitors had been reduced to ash by Kocha’s spells, the laboratory had become the most dangerous forbidden zone in the Magisters’ Tower. Besides Lin Qi, no one dared approach. So when Lin Qi didn’t come for a few days and Kocha’s food ran out, there was simply no one to replenish his supplies, and he had to starve.

Lin Qi did feel a twinge of guilt. He’d been swamped these past days—just those six rapiers alone had taken up so much of his time, not to mention that some brothers from the outer circle had been arrested by the dragoons, and he had to scrape together the fines to bail them out. With all these matters entangled, he’d quite forgotten about the wretched, dangerous Kocha.

If a distinguished imperial master of secret potions were to starve to death in his laboratory, Lin Qi couldn’t help but shrink his neck at the thought of the dreadful consequences, bold as he was.

He fished around in his sleeve and pulled out half a piece of white bread—a prize pilfered at Iron Hammer’s welcoming banquet, meant as a midnight snack, but now put to better use.

As soon as Kocha caught sight of the bread, his eyes turned a ghastly shade of green. He snatched it up and devoured it in huge bites; his teeth, blackened and jagged by corrosive poisons, ground against the bread with a noise as grating as a whetstone.

The large hunk of bread vanished in just a few bites. Kocha let out a satisfied burp and muttered, “If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have had to subsist on potions. If that really happened, I guarantee you’d have been burned down to a lump of human tallow.”

Kocha gave a few bizarre, chilling laughs, and Lin Qi felt a cold sweat trickle down his neck. No wonder he’d been greeted by a fireball today—Kocha had done it on purpose to vent his frustration! Luckily, he’d arrived in time; had he come any later, Kocha’s threat to render him into lamp oil would not have been an idle one.

This freakish old monster—what’s the harm in him killing a few unlucky attendants? Those damned brass-hats would never make a fuss about a mere service worker when dealing with a character like him.

Now sated and energized, Kocha twisted his deformed lips and rebuked Lin Qi in his raspy, grating voice. Lin Qi kept his head bowed and listened meekly. He was desperate for money, and Kocha was his biggest patron. So, even as Kocha cursed that only a pair of damned wild boars could have spawned such a fool, Lin Qi endured it obediently.

After a full half hour of furious invective, Kocha finally fell silent, content, and pulled a tough piece of parchment from his sleeve.

“These are the ingredients and quantities I need—go fetch them for me at once!”

Fixing Lin Qi with a baleful glare, Kocha rolled his eyes and sneered coldly, “Tell those useless oafs in logistics that the last batch of Five-Leaf White Crow Herb they sent me was too immature, and they botched the processing as well. The result? My powerful stamina potion turned into an extremely potent aphrodisiac. If they dare make such a mistake again, I’ll force them to drink enough aphrodisiac to make a bull’s loins explode!”

Lin Qi shuddered, but inside he was overjoyed, clutching the parchment tightly, a smile blooming in his heart.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Qi was whistling cheerfully as he left the Magisters’ Tower, carrying twelve vials of what Kocha considered failed “stamina potion.” For as long as he could remember, Lin Qi had always been the one to dispose of Kocha’s failed potions.

A potent aphrodisiac strong enough to make a bull explode? Lin Qi’s pupils gleamed with golden light.