Chapter 1 The Workshop

The Imperial Workshop was divided into different research institutes according to function, with the most important research on Exotic Blood Potions and Exotic Beast Equipment being conducted at the Imperial Hunter's residence.

In the Fire Pit District of the capital, there was also a branch of the Imperial Workshop, which was mostly responsible for conventional products, potions for ordinary people, ordinary equipment, weapons, and so on.

Rumor had it that there was another research institute located in a more secret area, conducting closed research on more confidential technologies, but he had only heard about it.

Zhou Jing weaved through the city and finally arrived at the workshop in the capital, where he was stopped by the guards at the entrance and asked about his intentions.

Learning that this person was another apothecary applying to join the workshop, the guard's expression remained unchanged, and he skillfully reported it.

Soon, a small old man in a workshop uniform came out, sizing up Bill's rather approachable appearance.

"So, you're the one who wants to join the workshop? What's your name, young man? What kind of apothecary are you? What formulas do you know?"

The old man didn't exchange pleasantries and directly threw out a series of questions in a practiced manner, making it seem like an interview.

"My name is Bill, and I know more than a dozen formulas, mostly ordinary potions, including two hunter potions..." Zhou Jing introduced himself.

The old man nodded without any other expression and asked:

"You look young, so you haven't been an apothecary for many years, have you? Who taught you?"

"At first, I studied with the local doctor in my hometown, occasionally making potions for the villagers, accumulating a lot of experience. Some time ago, I came to the capital and exchanged ideas with colleagues before deciding to seek a position at the Imperial Workshop, hoping to have a stable job where I can concentrate on research..." Zhou Jing offered a set of prepared remarks.

If he honestly said that he had only been an apothecary for a month, he would definitely be turned away, so he had to add some artistic embellishment to increase his "years of experience" a bit.

"Hmm..." The old man shook his head and said, "Your qualifications are quite ordinary, not enough to join the workshop. We only accept elites."

Zhou Jing was not surprised and asked, "Can I make a potion to demonstrate my skills?"

"There's no need for that." The old man still shook his head. "If you're skilled, we'll know. Since you haven't been in the capital for long, you should familiarize yourself with the place first."

After saying that, the old man turned and returned to the workshop, not wanting to waste any more words on Zhou Jing.

In fact, he had come out to deal with Zhou Jing with the intention of dismissing him, and he didn't even bother to tell Zhou Jing his name.

Every year, many craftsmen from other places come to apply to join the Imperial Workshop, and such things are commonplace.

Too many craftsmen are eager to join the workshop, and there are a large number of candidates every year. The workshop basically rejects unfamiliar craftsmen who take the initiative to apply and rarely accepts outsiders of unknown origin... unless they are famous in the industry.

The workshop's largest source of new recruits each year is actually students trained internally and apprentices brought by various workshop members because their character and abilities are well known, making them more reliable.

The normal way for outsiders to join the workshop is to find a workshop member and become his apprentice, giving them an advantage and making them half of the "inner circle" of the workshop. Strangers are inherently at a disadvantage, but this is only human nature.

In the old man's eyes, the "Bill" who came to the door was just another young man with fanciful ideas who came to try his luck, no different from others. After determining that his qualifications were average, he decided to refuse him without even bothering to test his practical skills.

Seeing this, the guards came up to drive him away, but they were not rude, they just advised: "Alright, the workshop doesn't hire people casually, don't linger around here, go back."

Zhou Jing wasn't too surprised. The unsuccessful attempt to join the workshop was one of the expected outcomes.

Even though the level of civilization was quite primitive, the Imperial Workshop was, in a sense, a national academy of sciences, and you couldn't just walk in whenever you wanted. After all, as long as you wanted to learn, you could learn a little about apothecary, which wasn't as high a barrier to entry as an Exotic Beast Hunter.

He rolled his eyes, took out a few silver coins from his pocket, secretly stuffed them into the guards' hands, and said with a smile, "Brothers, I want to ask, how can I join the workshop?"

The guards' eyes lit up immediately.

This guy was good, sensible, and approachable.

The guards silently pocketed the silver coins and didn't skimp on information, chatting all at once.

They guarded the Imperial Workshop all year round, so they naturally knew a lot of things.

"Every year, I see a lot of people like you who think that if they have some skills, they can join the workshop. It's not that easy."

"Not counting those apprentices, thirteen people who took the initiative to apply were accepted into the workshop this year. Sounds like a lot, right? But there were more people who were rejected, at least two hundred."

"The workshop only recruits elites, but what counts as an elite? Of course, it's someone famous in a certain field. And how does this fame come about? Do you think these thirteen people all made it on their own merits? Heh heh, isn't it because someone on the inside speaks up for them? The more people in the workshop hear about them, the more famous they naturally become."

The guards were shooting the breeze, and if they had a cigarette, they would be the typical security guards chatting while slacking off.

Zhou Jing was thoughtful.

If an outsider wanted to join the workshop, they needed to be famous, and the most feasible way for ordinary people was to get to know some workshop members, build good relationships with them, mix well in the circle, praise each other, and then spread the word through their mouths, so that more members of the workshop would know about them.

As long as their business skills weren't too terrible, they could obtain internal recommendation qualifications when the time was right.

"Circle culture is indeed human nature. Where there are close and distant relationships, there will be circles, and it's impossible to eliminate them."

Zhou Jing curled his lips.

Perhaps some workshop members would turn this internal recommendation into an industry, charging money for services and earning some extra money.

Although he wasn't short of money and had the talent and eloquence to socialize, he didn't like this approach, which was troublesome and required him to read people's faces and fawn over them.

He would rather spend his time welcoming and sending people off on researching skills, which would at least yield results.

"I'd better get some hard stuff."

Zhou Jing stroked his chin.

If he could make a real name for himself in the field of apothecary in the capital, the workshop might even take the initiative to invite him to join, which would not only increase his daily income but also make him more valued.

After saying goodbye to the guards and returning to his residence, Zhou Jing began to think about a plan, secretly analyzing:

"To make a name for myself, one is to have innovation in technology, and the other is to be recognized by more people, that is, to have a market... I have the [Apothecary] talent, which makes the success rate and quality of potion making higher, and I also have the [Item Analysis Function], which may be able to improve the formula?"

Zhou Jing rolled his eyes, took out a notebook, and wrote and drew, copying down the dozen or so formulas he had mastered, thinking to himself:

"Other apothecaries need to constantly try and make mistakes to improve the formula, failing again and again, and in the end, they may not even succeed, but my analysis function can grasp the most subtle changes in materials during production and directly obtain the properties of herbs, directly discovering conflicting or fusing parts..."

This feeling was like, others could only fumble around when making potions, while he was like a newbie with a help mode, with bubbles constantly popping up during production, prompting what to put in, how much to put in, and allowing him to adjust the results of the finished product at any time...

As long as he knew enough herbs, the prompts would be more detailed, with a large number of permutations and combinations.

"The auxiliary function is really a divine skill."

Zhou Jing was happy. If he relied solely on the [Apothecary] skill, he would have to level up several times before he was qualified to improve the formula.

In the following days, Zhou Jing went to the market to buy a large number of herbs, which he stored at home for closed-door research on new formulas.

He focused on three formulas: a healing potion and an energy potion, both of which were general-purpose potions, and a pain-reducing hunter potion.

To quickly gain fame, he had to open up the market. He deliberately chose two general-purpose potions, which were the products with the highest demand from ordinary people.

The capital was large, and there would always be people who were a little sick. Everyone liked healing potions, and naturally wanted to buy high-quality ones for the sake of their health.

As for the energy potion, drinking a bottle of it could make one feel energetic, and many of those who came to buy it were from the wealthy class, who liked to use it for romantic encounters.

The hunter potion was to attract the attention of hunters. Although the hunter market was not large, it was more "authoritative," after all, it was closely related to the workshop, and its reputation was easier to spread to the workshop.

"And with Jason promoting it, as long as I make a high-quality hunter potion, then all the Imperial Hunters will be paying attention in minutes." Zhou Jing calculated in his heart, grinning.

...

After spending a few days experimenting, Zhou Jing finally changed the formulas of the three potions, adding some catalytic ingredients to increase the effects of the potions by more than 30%.

The optimization of the formula not only improved the quality but also produced new effects in the three potions by adding auxiliary herbs.

The healing potion additionally increased healing power, the energy potion reduced side effects and increased sensitivity, and the pain-reducing potion increased physical recovery.

However, better effects required more herbs, which inevitably increased costs.

But he didn't lose out at all.

Because normal apothecaries pay attention to the success rate of making potions, even apothecaries who are several levels higher than him can't guarantee a 100% success rate.

Moreover, if the amount is well controlled, it is possible to achieve the perfect effect and make "enhanced" potions that are better than ordinary potions, but normal apothecaries may not be able to make an "enhanced" potion even once out of ten times... Although they also have measuring tools, there are individual differences in the year, quality, nutrition, and growth environment of the same kind of herb, making it difficult to judge carefully. Even if they can control the amount added each time, there will be slight differences.

However, through the item analysis function, Zhou Jing had completely figured out the best material ratio for each formula, and could almost maintain zero error. He could also directly discover the individual differences in each herb and calculate a more suitable amount.

Not only was the success rate of making potions close to 100%, but he could also ensure that the probability of making "enhanced" potions reached more than 50%.

All things considered, although the cost of the formula increased, there was almost no loss due to failure, and the profit margin was actually greater.

After using a crossing cycle to let "Bill" repeat the work and prepare a large stock of potions, Zhou Jing went out to the street, inspected the location, and prepared to rent a store.

Residents of the capital rarely buy potions sold privately. Having a store can make people feel more at ease.

Improving the formula, manufacturing inventory, and renting a store all cost money. The 300 silver coins he had borrowed had been spent, and Zhou Jing had asked Jason for another 400 silver coins as funding.

Jason, as a hunter, rarely used money, so he used it to support Apostle No. 3 Bill's entrepreneurship.

Because of the ample funds, he didn't have to find a dilapidated and remote place, but directly rented a shop on a busy street in the Fire Pit District at a high price.

After temporarily hiring two coolies to clean the shop, Zhou Jing put the potions on the shelves.

He restrained the desire to raise prices and set standard prices for the potions.

Although setting a high price could attract attention, the residents of this world had a simple intuition and very solid needs. They only consume what they can afford and don't buy into expensive marketing.

He had researched the market and found that good quality and low price were the mainstream strategies in the apothecary industry, while good and expensive products had no market.

Only the hunter group was generous and willing to spend money. They were a bunch of suckers who only bought the best.

But in order to gain fame and avoid being seen as disrupting industry rules, Zhou Jing decided to act normal.

After tidying up the house, Zhou Jing clapped his hands and looked at the well-organized potion shop, nodding with satisfaction and a bit of excitement.

"I can open for business... I hope it's a hit."

...

A new potion shop quietly opened on a lively street in the Fire Pit District, with a wooden sign that read "Bill's Potion Shop."

Because of its good location, many nearby residents noticed it on the first day of opening and curiously entered the store. They found that the store only sold three kinds of potions, and the proportion of enhanced potions was very high.

Although the traffic was not small, everyone just came in to look around, and no one bought potions for the time being.

Residents of the capital were inherently wary of newly opened potion shops and adopted a wait-and-see attitude. It was common for potion shops without an established reputation to have no business.

The shop owner was a young man who looked quite approachable and was quite enthusiastic. He was also pleasant to talk to, and the residents of the capital who came in were willing to chat with him for a while.

But being young meant little experience, and he was also a foreigner, not a familiar apothecary, so everyone was even more afraid to buy, and everyone was waiting for the first tester.

This situation of only looking and not buying continued for several days.

Until the fifth day, a turning point appeared.

A hunter who looked powerful became the first consumer and bought a bottle of enhanced pain-reducing potion.

The next day, the surrounding residents were surprised to see dozens of hunters coming to the Fire Pit District, heading straight for Bill's Potion Shop with excited expressions.