Just when Elara thought this dreary, rainy weather would continue indefinitely, the sun finally hung in the sky once more—the weather had cleared.
Nearly half a month had passed since the day Elara discovered the secret of the emerald droplet, and she had long since grown impatient waiting. On the night the sky cleared, she finally witnessed again the marvel that had occurred four years prior: countless bright specks of light, densely clustered around the small phial, forming an enormous orb of light.
The moment Elara saw this wondrous sight, the heavy stone that had been weighing on her heart finally dropped. This basically confirmed that the small phial was not a one-time consumable but a wondrous item that could be used repeatedly.
After another seven days of waiting, another emerald droplet finally appeared in the small phial. Although Elara had been almost certain this would happen, she was still exceptionally happy when she saw the droplet appear inside. This indicated that she would have an endless supply of rare medicinal herbs in the future and would no longer have to worry about it.
It was known that the preciousness of medicinal herbs was largely assessed by their age. Only the older an herb, the more potent its efficacy. Similarly, older medicinal materials were harder to find and usually grew in remote places like deep ancient forests or on steep cliffs, places unfrequented by humans. One couldn't even think of obtaining them without risking some danger.
Although some alchemists or physicians nowadays specifically cultivated certain medicinal herbs, these were mostly commonly used materials that could be utilized after a short growth cycle. Most people wouldn't be foolish enough to plant things that required over a dozen, or even several dozen, years to become useful.
However, some wealthy and influential noble families, as a precaution, would have people specifically cultivate a few very rare herbs to be used for life-saving purposes in critical moments. These medicinal materials wouldn't have any significant efficacy without accumulating considerable age. Because with their financial resources, these people could easily purchase slightly more common materials; why would they go to such great lengths to cultivate them specifically! Moreover, these noble families could often pass down wealth for generations, so they didn't care about the length of time spent cultivating these herbs. No one knew if their family would ever need them in the future. Therefore, these herbs were often top-grade items requiring hundreds of years to cultivate, or rare, unique specimens, one in ten thousand. Ordinary people lacked the financial and material resources to do so.
Occasionally, some rare medicinal herbs found in the wild would make a fleeting appearance on the market, but they were mostly acquired by these noble families. This caused the price of rare herbs on the market to rise steadily, often leading to a situation where they were priceless but unavailable.
Elara was not optimistic about Physician Morus's current trip; she estimated he wouldn't have much of a harvest. But now, she no longer had to worry about this. With this small phial, any amount of high-quality medicinal herbs could be matured in a short period.
With a strange sense of excitement, Elara conducted several more experiments on maturing medicinal herbs in the following dozens of days.
Once, she sprinkled the diluted emerald droplet on many different herbs. The next day, she only obtained a large quantity of ordinary medicinal materials with only one or two years of maturation effect, their quality far inferior to those she had obtained the first time. From this experiment, Elara vaguely grasped some patterns.
In the next experiment, Elara simply skipped the dilution step altogether and directly dripped an entire emerald droplet onto a wild "Dragon Root Grass" she found nearby. As a result, when Elara woke up the next day, she had obtained a "Dragon Root Grass" with a hundred years of efficacy, its form and color completely indistinguishable from a naturally grown hundred-year-old "Dragon Root Grass." This experiment made Elara overjoyed, not because she had obtained a rare medicinal herb, but because she had roughly mastered the method of using the emerald droplet.
Subsequently, Elara conducted several more experiments on preserving the emerald droplet. She placed freshly extracted droplets into various containers: porcelain phials, jade phials, hollowed-out gourds, small silver phials, and so on. She found that no matter the container, the emerald droplet could not be preserved for more than a quarter of an hour. Once the droplet was removed from the mysterious small phial, it had to be used within a quarter of an hour, otherwise it would slowly vanish without a trace. Its diluted liquid also exhibited the same characteristic; although it could be stored for a slightly longer time, after a certain period, only the other liquids used for dilution would remain in the container, the components of the emerald droplet having still disappeared.
After conducting several such experiments, Elara completely lost confidence in preserving the emerald droplet in other containers. It seemed impossible to store this mysterious liquid in large quantities. Helplessly, she had no choice but to conduct another test regarding the stacking of medicinal effects.
Elara dripped one emerald droplet onto a green "Three-Leaf Aconite," turning it into a yellow "Three-Leaf Aconite" with a hundred years of medicinal efficacy. A few days later, she dripped another emerald droplet onto it, and its age actually increased by another hundred-odd years.
Seeing that this method was indeed effective, Elara continued to repeat the same practice for more than two months. Whenever a new emerald droplet was produced from the small phial, she dripped it onto this "Three-Leaf Aconite." And this "Three-Leaf Aconite" did not disappoint; its leaves gradually changed from yellow to yellowish-black, and then from yellowish-black to pure black. Finally, after its leaves had become completely pitch-black and glossy, it became a world-rare thousand-year-old "Three-Leaf Aconite."
This test was very successful. It seemed that with perseverance, the age of this "Three-Leaf Aconite" could be further increased. However, for Elara, this was completely unnecessary; it was enough to know that this method was indeed feasible. She didn't need such ancient medicinal materials right now; herbs of several hundred years' efficacy were sufficient for her own use.
After this series of lengthy experiments was completed, Elara could finally stop for a rest and plan properly. By this time, a considerable amount of time had passed since Physician Morus went down the mountain.
Now, Elara, holding that thousand-year-old "Three-Leaf Aconite," was lying on the wooden bed in her hut, staring blankly.
Her eyes were fixed on the dark herb, as if studying it. But if another person were in the room, they could tell from her slightly unfocused gaze that her mind was not on this "Three-Leaf Aconite" at all, but was wandering far away, lost in thought about who knows what.
She now had none of the joy she felt when she first obtained this thousand-year-old "Three-Leaf Aconite." Instead, she was carefully considering the benefits and potential dangers this small phial brought her, making plans for her future.
Elara had read about many examples of "disaster brought by possessing a treasure" in various books from Physician Morus's study. This small phial in her hand could be called a priceless treasure. If outsiders knew she had such a treasure, she absolutely wouldn't live to see the next morning; she would, like many "possessors of great treasures" before her, be devoured by all sorts of greedy people who heard the news. Not to mention distant examples, just taking recent ones, if the several leaders within the Outpost knew the secret of this phial, they would definitely not let her off, would find ways to kill her and seize the treasure, and she would end up with the miserable fate of "treasure stolen, life lost."
"I absolutely must not tell anyone about the small phial! I must also use this phial very carefully within the Outpost. The commotion when the phial absorbs light specks is too great; if I'm not careful, outsiders will discover its secret." Elara made up her mind, determined to keep her lips sealed, not revealing a single word about it to outsiders.
"However, I am currently in urgent need of medicinal materials to aid my cultivation; it would be too much of a pity not to use this phial. I still need to think of a way to have the best of both worlds." She thought of her stagnant cultivation and felt somewhat dejected again. No matter what, the progress of her secret art cultivation could not be delayed. She wasn't cultivating merely to cope with Physician Morus's admonishments, but had already vaguely sensed that some of the unusual changes in her body and perception in recent years were inseparable from the cultivation of this Nameless Incantation.