Eren's study room.
The smell of old books lingered in the air. There was a large window and balcony outside it.
The large window had a spacious alcove that doubled up as a slightly large single bed. The windowsill had been converted into an ideal place to read and write.
The ideal placement of luminescent gemstones exuded natural light. It made the space well-lit, giving it a soothing ambiance.
This was time to get back to the core of potioning.
Eren was reading a book sitting by the window alcove. He was only wearing his black pants and looked to be completely focused on his studies.
He was lying prone while reading and writing things down in his notebook. He had been doing this for hours on end at this point. Alephee was the only one keeping him company. She was seen meditating by sitting on the ground with her legs folded.
Eren often wondered what use did Alephee's meditation have for her when she couldn't practice any ranking technique. But every time he asked, she would just chuckle before shaking her head.
The alcove bed had many things spread over it. They included some old parchments, scrolls, array disks containing various records, books, and loose pages apart from the books Eren was currently working on.
This was the culmination of what Eren had done so far for his potioning study.
Eren was looking through Levins's books and her research findings as well as her personal recipes. He had also been catching up on all the experiments conducted by her on ales so far.
Eren had learned nearly all he needed to know from the potion book he had received from Purgatory. He would often use it for reference now.
There was also some potioning material shared with him by Layla who tried to refine Eren's potioning standards in her own way. However, Eren would always try to grasp the knowledge brought by Layla with little enthusiasm. Because she would often skip steps and explanations while describing potion recipes and procedures.
Then there was the research he did that pointed to elven heritage. Eren had obtained it through Lensa's help. Lensa had provided handwritten supplements for the steps and procedures that weren't part of human recipes to the extent of her knowledge.
Finally, he also read through Marie's research and hypothesis. The halfling had many theories, hypotheses, and ideas with her. She would often conduct research based on her hypothesis to achieve a breakthrough.
He studied these things simultaneously to find and record the links he found in them. He would often compare the material he was studying with real-life results obtained by him personally. This was to understand what kind of tweaks were needed for him to obtain the same results mentioned in the study material.
'Hm. This Marie was up to something here. I'm glad I roped her in.'
He smiled mildly as he read her research and hypothesis. The halfling was very meticulous in conducting the results. She adhered to the same standards of measurements and quality Levine had instilled in him.
It was apparent that Marie admired Levine's work. Her way of conducting research and obtaining data was almost a carbon copy of what Levine was used to doing. Eren could identify this peculiarity right away because Levine had taught him personally.
This habit Marie also made it easier for Eren to browse through her research papers with ease. He would quickly get the point she was trying to make by the way she conducted the research, recorded her findings, and presented them.
"A lot of her hypotheses revolve around this missing ingredient it seems."
Eren mumbled to himself as he read the discussion Marie had with herself in her research paper. She had conducted a lot of experiments regarding the same topic to prove or confirm her hypothesis. And so far, she had Eren sold.
A cultist way of potioning based on ancient techniques and practices must have worked in Marie's favor. As such, her research and procedures often contained information Eren hadn't encountered before.
Eren had to say that Marie's decision to look for cultist connections and become a Beast Bloods member might not have been wise for her personal life. Her sister Marla has also driven away from her because of that decision. However, she couldn't have gotten anywhere with her groundbreaking research if she had stayed as a normal ranker.
Turning into a cultist and adopting their ways had been a huge success for a potioner and researcher of Marie's caliber. Professionally, she had only benefitted. Therefore, Eren could understand why the halfling made her decisions.
Eren noted down the most crucial points Marie had made about the so-called missing ingredient and its hypothesized properties. He found more links with the data he had read in other study materials as he read more about it.
Eventually, he came to a doubtful conclusion that required immediate verification. He closed all the books and took the study material back into his storage space before getting up from his lying position.
'Time to confirm this hypothesis.'
The butcher stretched his body before disappearing from his position.
The lightning struck in the potion lab as Eren appeared inside out of thin air. He immediately got to work by standing inside the array eye and operating the space adjacent to it.
Many raw ingredients started floating in the air. They were subjected to various elemental treatments at the same time.
Some raw ingredients were getting burned by various types and sizes of flames while some were getting drenched in many forms of floating liquid masses. Some ingredients were getting coated in various paste types while the others were trapped inside wind-element cubes.
Eren had been able to expedite his potioning process by many levels with Adept mana and mana sense. He was getting more and more proficient at crafting potions. Watching him work was like listening to some sound expert playing a sonata.
The butcher's potioning work had started looking like a work of art. The sonnet of potioning he was playing didn't have any acoustic brilliance to it. But its visual impact wasn't something one could easily forget.
AN: The term missing ingredient was first used in chapter 655.
