Chapter 173: A Good Start is Half the Battle

  "So that's how it is..."

  After listening to the guild master's expnation, Alex and Nanalie finally uood his point.

  Waterbirds are elemental creatures from the Water Elemental Realm. They devour all living things and vert them into pure life essence. By analyzing these life elements, one determine whether what they ed was beneficial or harmful. If the life essence is abundant, the ed material is nutritious and beneficial to health. versely, if the essence is low, it may tain dangerous toxins.

  The e fruit tree that the waterbird had just swallowed tained an exceptionally high amount of life essence—far beyond the norm. This was undoubtedly the effect of the "fertilizer" made from slime secretions.

  Although Alex couldn't uand most of the elder's expnations, he grasped the key clusion. Simply put, fruits grown with this fertilizer were not only safe but also signifitly more nutritious, sweeter, and tastier. The proof? Culia’s ravenous, almost predatory expression as she devoured them.

  "This is a revolutionary breakthrough in alchemy. Whether it’s greenhouse farming or slime-based fertilizer... Ezio, Nanalie, your discoveries have truly exceeded my expectations."

  Seated at the table, the elder did not hold back his excitement, which made Nanalie feel a little uneasy. She had never imagihat she would one day sit across from the head of the Alchemist Association and discuss matters on equal footing.

  "You’re overpraising us, Guild Master, we—"

  "No, no, not at all, Miss Nahe elder interrupted with a wave of his hand.

  "We have known about slimes for hundreds, even thousands of years. Over the course of history, tless alchemists—perhaps tens of thousands—have studied them. Yet, out of all these geions, only you have discovered their true potential and turheory into reality."

  "B-but it wasn’t just my effort alone..."

  Nanalie g Nimf, who stood silently behind Alex. In truth, it was the little angel who had first made the discovery. However, her Alex nor Nimf seemed ied in taking credit for it.

  "Holy, we just had a wild idea. Without Miss Nanalie’s help, we wouldn’t have been able t it to life."

  "Yes, and your ideas are truly unique, Ezio. Have you ever sidered studying alchemy? I believe you might have a talent for it."

  Hearing Alex’s respohe elder nodded approvingly before extending an invitation. This wasn't mere fttery; he genuinely admired Alex’s creativity. Every alchemist has their share of wild ideas, but there’s a stark differeween pure imagination and innovation grounded in practical application.

  Even more remarkable was that Alex’s cepts weren’t just theoretical—they had real-world utility and could potentially reshape entire industries. In the elder’s eyes, if Alex were to formally study alchemy, he would undoubtedly have a bright future ahead of him.

  "Thank you for the offer, but I’m afraid I have no talent for alchemy."

  Alex would have liked to accept, but he was well aware of his own limitations. He had attempted alchemy before, only to fail spectacurly—far more than Nanalie ever had. At least when she failed, it was while experimenting with new iions. He, oher hand, couldn’t even follow established procedures without something blowing up.

  Some skills just aren’t meant to be forced.

  "What a shame."

  The elder sighed at Alex’s reje but didn’t press further. After all, everyone has their own path.

  "Now, let’s get back to the main topic... Do you pn to make greenhouse farming and slime fertilizer publicly avaible? If so, we issue an official annou."

  The Alchemist Association’s business model revolved around patents. When an alchemist ied somethihey would submit it to the guild for review. Once approved, the association would register the patent and make it avaible for others to purchase.

  Take potions, for example. If an alchemist developed a new healing formu, they would sell the recipe to the guild. The guild would then make it avaible to various alchemist shops and workshops, which could choose to purchase a "patent lise" for a fee. Once lised, they could produd sell the potion freely.

  And for every healing potion sold, the inal ior of the formu would receive a small pertage of the profit. While this might only amount to a few copper s per bottle, when scaled up to national or even global sales, the numbers could easily reach thousands or even tens of thousands of gold s per day.

  As for the issue of falsifying sales reports, the Alchemist Association had never been ed about it. Every alchemical product had to be sold exclusively through the association's designated "official stores." This ehat the produ and sales numbers of all alchemical creations were meticulously recorded.

  Of course, some might attempt to operate illegal bck-market shops, but if caught, they would face hefty fines or even prison time.

  Generally, the Alchemist Association did not engage in advertising campaigns for all iions. Instead, they piled a monthly catalog of neroved iions ahem to major alchemical shops. After all, alchemy rimarily driven by ercial demand—only when merts saw value in a product would alchemists bother to manufacture it.

  Military applications, however, were handled on airely different level.

  What the elder was suggesting was more akin to a "national certification reendation." If they could establish credibility early on, it would be incredibly beneficial. However, Alex had his own pns.

  "Thank you for ynition, Guild Master, but we have our own strategy. In fact, I don’t think making these formus public right now would achieve much. If people don’t uand how to use them, then even if they successfully produce the fertilizer, it would just be a waste of time."

  "Hmm... that makes sense…"

  The elder furrowed his brows and nodded. He was well aware that alchemical products were not like potions that produced immediate effects upon ption. Many alchemical iions sounded promising in theory, but if the general public didn’t uand how to use them properly—or if they misuood their purpose—the result would be widespread dissatisfa. The association had seen such failures numerous times before.

  "So, do you already have a pn?"

  "Of course."

  Alex was brimming with fidence. He might not have been skilled in chemical experiments, but when it came ty and marketing, that was his specialty. After all, if you wanted people to i money in something, the first step was to sell them on the idea.

  As for his pn, Alex had already mapped it out. Sihe Guild Master had firmed that the e fruits were pletely safe, and given how much Culia was enjoying them, this was the perfetry point.

  The experimental orchard was about to reach harvest time. If they brought these es to Keha City for sale, they were bound to create a sensation. Ohat happened, Alex would take the opportunity to acquire several plots of nd aablish a dedicated greenhouse farming and slime-fertilizer research base.

  Not only would this boost produ, but it would also allow others to witness firsthand the bes of greenhouse farming and slime-based fertilizer. Alex was certain that once people saw the results with their owhey wouldn’t be able to ig.

  Keha City was located in the northern part of the Holy Kingdom, where winters were exceptionally long. It would still be two months before spring arrived, and under normal circumstances, fresh es wouldn’t be avaible for at least another half a year.

  But now, fresh, sweet es would appear in the snow-covered Keha City right in the middle of winter.

  What kind of se would that be?

  Just thinking about it made Alex incredibly excited.

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