In his own laboratory, Kevin Carpenberg was sorting through the materials he had on hand.
B-Rank: Jade Crystal Bone.
This came from the Dark Continent, gifted to him by Jin Freecss. It was likely top-tier among B-Rank materials.
C-Rank: Moonmilk Opal, Gemfish Scales, Full Twin-Wolf Horns, Shadow Larva, Iron Turtle Shell.
The Moonmilk Opal was something he'd purchased earlier. The Gemfish Scales were a gift from Biscuit. The Twin-Wolf Horns were obtained when one died. The Shadow Larva was captured just yesterday.
As for the Iron Turtle Shell—Kevin had "borrowed" it from Begel's warehouse.
Begel's personal stash contained all sorts of bizarre biological materials, some of which were rare collectibles.
But most were biological samples left over from past research projects, which had since lost their utility.
The Iron Turtle Shell belonged to the latter. It had a faint aura of desire, comparable to that of the Moonmilk Opal.
And in certain countries, Iron Turtles were even farmed. So it wasn't exactly rare—arguably the cheapest material in Kevin's possession.
Other usable materials that couldn't induce desire were all uniformly classified by Kevin as D-Rank.
With the Iron Turtle Shell in hand, Kevin finally found a material that matched well with the Gemfish Scales.
If these two were used to craft a potion, it should theoretically boost the body's defensive capacity. What remained unclear was the form that enhancement would take.
Previously, his experiments had stalled due to the absence of a crucial fusion agent for the copper scale of the Balance.
But yesterday, Kevin found a perfect alternative—the acidic fluid from the Sulfuric Pool. After testing, the results were excellent.
After many experiments, Kevin discovered that this acid acted as a universal fusion agent when combining minerals and rigid materials.
The only issue was how difficult it was to preserve. Kevin had obtained some previously collected acid from Beirut, but tests showed its effectiveness had drastically dropped—virtually useless.
And it had only been just over a week since it was collected. This meant the acid had a shelf life of barely seven days once removed from the pool.
Kevin summoned the potion-crafting station and laid out the materials.
Gold Scale: Gemfish Scales (whole – 10g)
Silver Scale: Iron Turtle Shell (fragment – 25g)
Copper Scale: Green Acid (1ml)
[Effect: Enhances aura and skin's resistance to blunt force.]
A simple, straightforward effect. Kevin had actually made a similar potion the day before, using ground-up versions of the two materials, and the description was the same.
This time, he wanted to see if using whole materials would change the outcome.
Material form could indeed affect the final result.
Taking a deep breath, Kevin placed his hand on the machine and entered "Zetsu," feeling both stamina and aura gradually drain.
After about twenty minutes, the crafting station stopped, and a new potion popped out.
Potion-making seemed to come with a kind of "proficiency." The more he crafted, the faster the process—though the resource drain remained constant.
This time, Kevin used about 2,000 to 3,000 units of aura—slightly more than the previous 2,000 used.
The potion's color hadn't changed from before, and under sunlight, a faint hexagonal shimmer occasionally appeared on its surface.
Once the station vanished, Kevin drank the potion without hesitation.
It took effect immediately.
"Definitely stronger than yesterday's." That was Kevin's immediate impression. It seemed these two materials worked better when left unground.
He activated his aura and let it flow throughout his body.
"It feels heavier, but aura flow isn't slowed—just an illusion," Kevin noted while documenting his observations.
Then, he clenched his right fist and punched his left arm.
"Hm?"
Kevin noticed something unusual.
At the moment of impact and defense, his aura clashed with itself and seemed to "solidify" slightly. It formed a hexagonal shape during the impact.
To confirm what he saw, Kevin increased the tempo, rapidly striking both hands together.
"No mistake—it's definitely hexagonal."
This was a first. His curiosity flared.
Even while deep in focus, his ability Blank Meteor stayed active, automatically learning and adapting to the new change.
After further study, Kevin concluded his hypothesis was correct: the hexagonal shape formed by aura was key to the enhanced defense.
And thanks to this property, not only did defense improve upon taking a hit, but offense also benefited.
During attacks, the aura wrapped around his strikes would harden on contact, forming hexagonal layers.
"In that case, I'll call this one the Ironwall Potion."
With that, there was no reason to hesitate.
He still had enough materials to craft over twenty more potions.
The most expensive ingredient was the Gemfish Scales—rare and irreplaceable, since they came from a special mutated variant of the creature.
Still, even spending all of them on twenty-plus potions would be worth it.
Currently, thanks to the Power Potion, Kevin's aura burst technique had reached 25% efficiency—almost identical to the potion's original effect.
He wondered: if he mastered similar aura transformations from two different potions, could those forms coexist?
When using both potions, their effects didn't seem to conflict.
If that held true, his attack and defense would scale even further, amplifying his Enhancer-type abilities.
Either way, crafting came first. He had the supplies, and the Ironwall Potion didn't drain too much aura.
Based on his own calculations, Kevin's latent aura pool now sat at about 13,000 units.
This was largely thanks to boosts from the Digestion Potion and rigorous training.
Currently, he could use the Digestion Potion once every eight days, followed by one day of intensive training.
His manifest aura far exceeded the average, sitting at around 1,500 units—primarily due to the Power Potion.
With Blank Meteor active, his body trained itself while learning, sharpening abilities precisely.
And once he activated the aura burst he'd already mastered, his manifest aura jumped to over 1,800 units—making his offensive and defensive stats fearsome, well beyond others of his level.
However, this also meant he might fall short in endurance during long fights compared to other Enhancer-types.
After all, the more manifest aura he used, the faster his latent aura and stamina were drained.
Maybe a potion could fix that flaw.
Potions are also a manifestation of my Nen. They're the fruit of my effort! Kevin thought.
Next on the agenda: a potion that could accelerate stamina and aura recovery—or one that, like the Power Potion, directly boosted them.
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