I Refuse To Be A Mage - Chapter 8

At the entrance of the Interlet Potion Shop, Brandon looked at Ji Chi with a complicated expression as he wore his “black cloak” outfit—this lunatic had taken off his academy robe, flipped it inside out to hide the academy emblem and patterns, then draped the whole thing over his head to make it look like a cloak.

Brandon felt that Ji Chi’s outfit was quite sneaky, and walking with him would damage the dignity of the Elliott family.

“…Can I not help you with this favor?” Brandon felt very embarrassed. “You can make another request, and I’ll definitely agree to the next one…”

Ji Chi glanced at him from under the pitch-black fabric and said agreeably, “Sure.”

Brandon’s face lit up with surprise.

“Then bring me here again tomorrow?” Ji Chi quickly made his request.

Brandon’s face fell.

“What, is the young master of the Elliott family going to break his word?” Ji Chi looked at his constantly changing expressions with interest, emphasizing the accent on his surname.

“How could that be! I would never tarnish my family name!” Brandon’s eyes widened, but the next second he deflated his noble spine. “I’ll introduce you using the Elliott family name, but whether they’ll accept you still depends on yourself…”

“Don’t worry.” Ji Chi had already prepared two epic potions in his pocket. “They’ll definitely let us in.”

These were the only two epic potions in his backpack—he hadn’t had time to put them up for sale in the marketplace before crossing over.

Given the precious nature of potions in this world, epic potions should be enough to get him preferential treatment.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll just use legendary ones—I have plenty of those in my backpack.

Honestly, Brandon held no hope at all. After all, this potion shop only served qualified alchemists. Even though the Elliott family was second to none in the mage world, he would at best be politely escorted out.

Brandon sighed helplessly and shuffled forward, pushing against the exquisite and solid steel door of the Interlet Potion Shop, but it wouldn’t open—the door remained tightly shut.

Soon, however, a man dressed as a servant heard the commotion and opened the door from inside, looking somewhat surprised at the unexpected visitors outside.

“I’m very sorry, distinguished guests, but this door has identification magic—it only opens automatically for those wearing high-level alchemist badges,” the servant apologized sincerely, but his right hand remained on the door frame, showing no intention of inviting them in.

Brandon coughed and unfastened his robe collar, revealing his family emblem. “I am Brandon, son of Count Elliott. I need to see your manager.”

The Elliott family’s reputation shone brightly in every corner of the Saint Trilley Empire, especially here in the capital, the center of power.

Sure enough, the servant was startled and his expression became serious.

But he still hesitated, “So you’re Young Master Brandon. May I ask what business you have? If you wish to purchase potions, I can recommend several excellent potion shops. We don’t sell potions to the public here—please understand.”

Brandon shook his head. “I’m not here to buy potions. I’m bringing a family guest to appraise potions.”

He gestured toward Ji Chi, who was covered in his cloak. “He’s an apprentice to an Eastern alchemist, here to appraise newly developed potions for his master.”

Hearing it was related to potions and had the Elliott family’s introduction, this was beyond what a mere servant could handle.

The servant paused, stepped back, and bowed. “I’m terribly sorry, distinguished guests. Please wait in the shop for a moment—I’ll fetch the manager immediately.”

Brandon glanced at Ji Chi with some surprise—they actually got in! Although they might be thrown out the next second, at least they had stepped through the door!

This was a place only high-level alchemists and above could enter! Even my father has never been here!

Unlike ordinary potion shops, Interlet was actually an alchemist’s club where those alchemists at the empire’s pinnacle often came to exchange and appraise extremely precious potions. It could be said that Interlet housed all high-tier potions.

The first floor’s main hall had no display windows or cases—only ceiling-high solid wood bookshelves distributed around the reception area. Precious concentration magic arrays were drawn on wool carpets, and waves of soothing herbal fragrance wafted through the air.

The two were invited to sit on comfortable soft stools, with cups of richly fragrant elf flower tea placed before them.

Brandon picked up the porcelain white teacup and took a sip, looking amazed. “This is elf flower that only grows beneath the elf mother tree. It’s becoming increasingly rare lately, yet here it’s used as guest tea?”

“Worthy of being the Elliott family’s young master,” a warm, magnetic voice said with a laugh. “However, this is also our shop’s limited supply of elf flowers, only used to entertain distinguished guests.”

Brandon smiled modestly, but was obviously quite pleased by this flattery.

Ji Chi showed no particular reaction. Most of his vision was obscured by the dark cloak—he could only see neat, dignified alchemist robes and a golden badge on the chest.

This alchemist badge with a four-pointed star was the most conspicuous proof of a high-level alchemist.

“Hello there, Eastern alchemist. I’m Shelley, the manager of Interlet,” Shelley said, showing no displeasure at Ji Chi’s strange outfit, as if he was already accustomed to such things. “I heard you want to appraise a potion from the East? May I see it?”

He inquired of Ji Chi very gently, without any of the high-and-mighty attitude typical of high-level alchemists.

Ji Chi nodded under his cloak and pulled out the burning potion from his pocket.

[Blazing Entanglement (Potion)]

Quality: [Epic]

Effect: [Adds burning effect to your attacks. When hitting enemy targets, causes burning debuff (Life -5% per second, lasts 5 seconds).]

The effect description was quite long—this was a major characteristic of high-quality items: the rarer they were, the more verbose their descriptions.

Sometimes a legendary piece of equipment could have two or three pages of description, which was quite maddening.

Besides their annoyingly long descriptions, these precious items had another more intuitive characteristic—appearances loaded with special effects.

The palm-sized potion bottle was semi-transparent dark red throughout. The bottle’s material was fire demon crystal, which was extremely heat-resistant and rich in fire elements. A fingernail-sized piece could sell for several hundred gold coins, yet here it was extravagantly used as a container in Ji Chi’s hands.

But this expensive bottle wasn’t the most eye-catching thing—everyone’s gaze was focused on the liquid inside.

It was burning.

The potion inside flowed like flames, shimmering with brilliant fire, bright as lava, even casting the entire reception hall in red light.

The polite smile on Shelley’s face vanished the moment the firelight leaked out. He stared fixedly at this potion, his voice tight and hoarse. “May I… examine it closely?”

“Please go ahead.” Ji Chi handed over the potion.

The dark red burning potion bottle looked scalding to touch, but felt warm as heated stone. The fire demon crystal effectively blocked the searing heat, only letting out some cozy warmth.

As a high-level alchemist with exceptional talent, Shelley could already create most excellent-quality potions. As long as he could craft one fine-quality potion himself, he could advance further and claim the honor badge of a grand alchemist.

This step seemed simple, but Shelley had been stuck on it for several years.

He spared no expense in materials and resources, researching fine potions day and night. He knew better than anyone the effect range of fine potions.

Therefore, he could tell at a glance that the effectiveness of Ji Chi’s potion far exceeded that of fine quality.

“Epic potion…” Shelley murmured. “The empire’s second Saint Alchemist has appeared…”

The title of Saint Alchemist was quite remarkable—only one had appeared in the entire Saint Trilley Empire in nearly a hundred years, enjoying treatment comparable to the king’s, providing only single-digit numbers of epic potions to the empire each year.

Brandon slowly opened his mouth wide, turning to stare at Ji Chi in horror.

Ji Chi: “…” Wait, are you NPCs really this weak? Wake up—this is only purple gear!

Shelley suddenly stood up, pressing his right hand to his chest and bowing deeply to Ji Chi. “I’m terribly sorry that we kept an apprentice of a Saint Alchemist waiting outside. Please come upstairs with me—we’ll do our utmost to make up for our earlier poor treatment.”

The class system in this world was just that harsh—even just being a Saint Alchemist’s apprentice could make high-level alchemists bow and scrape.

However, Shelley didn’t think a Saint Alchemist would take on someone completely incompetent as a follower, let alone have them carry around such rare epic potions. In his view, Ji Chi was very likely the Saint Alchemist’s son, which would also explain why he kept his face so thoroughly concealed.

Shelley had an epiphany and figured it out, but Brandon hadn’t.

He kept stealing glances at Ji Chi several times, looking like he wanted to speak but was scratching his head in frustration.

Ji Chi sighed and asked him quietly, “What’s wrong with you?”

What’s wrong with me?! You still have the nerve to ask me? What exactly is this situation supposed to be? Aren’t you a commoner mage repeater? How are you connected to the new Saint Alchemist?

These words couldn’t be said openly, so Brandon could only convey question mark after question mark to Ji Chi through facial expressions.

Ji Chi hadn’t thought of how to fool him for the moment, then realized he didn’t need to lie anyway—no one believed his honest truth anyway.

He said seriously, “Actually, I’m an alchemist.”

Sure enough, after Brandon leaned in to listen, he rolled his eyes enormously. “And I’m a melee warrior too. If you don’t want to say, fine—who wants to hear it anyway.”

Ji Chi: “…”

This familiar reaction left Ji Chi speechless for a moment.

Just leave the melee warriors alone—they haven’t done anything wrong.