Mercure Elixir

At the center of his small room laid a polished stone altar, its surface adorned with intricate symbols that seemed to pulse with a faint, otherworldly glow. These runes had been carved with a pristine, silver knife rested beside it, a tool essential for the upcoming ritual, and which he manipulated with great ease.

Lewis began by lighting a series of crimson candles, their flames casting eerie, dancing shadows on the chamber's stone walls. The flickering light lent an ethereal atmosphere to the room as he muttered incantations under his breath, invoking the ancient connection with the demon realm.

With a steady hand, he drew the knife across his palm, and a single drop of his own blood trickled onto the obsidian altar. The moment the blood touched the surface, it shimmered with a faint, otherworldly luminescence. He could feel Noctis, the intermediate-rank demon with which he had made three offerings already.

Next, Lewis turned his attention to the herbs, each one chosen for its unique properties to enhance the ritual's potency. He gathered sprigs of sacred vervain, crimson thistle, and moonlit nightshade, meticulously crushing and blending them in a mortar and pestle. As he ground the herbs, their fragrances filled the air, creating an intoxicating aroma that seemed to heighten the mystical energy within the room.

Taking a deep breath, Lewis carefully sprinkled the herbal mixture over the drop of blood on the obsidian altar. The herbs merged with the blood, creating an iridescent crimson paste that pulsed with an otherworldly energy.

Now, with Noctis' own blood essence infused with the power of the herbs, Lewis knew it was time to condense it into a more manageable form. He held out a vial, its crystal-clear glass reflecting the candlelight. With a delicate touch, he scooped up the blood-herb mixture with the silver knife, letting it drip slowly into the vial.

He did not need an appraiser to grasp the purity and excellent quality of the Mercure Elixir he had just refined. With Noctis' intermediate-rank shadow demon blood essence at its main ingredient, it was one of the best regent to increase one's blood essence density.

As a blood slave, Lewis did not have any bloodline purity issue, unlike Orianna. He was the first generation of a mutant race, created from arcane experiment and the crystallisation of thousands of experiments. This meant that his bloodline was as pure as it could get. Its potency, however, could be improved. 

Ten magic crystals.

It was not a very expensive sum, per se, and most beginner rank acolytes could gather it in a couple of one-star missions. However, the Mercure Elixir was a recipe used by bloodline acolytes, one that would be revealed only fifty year from now, when the dragonborn invasion started. The rare [Mangra Root], now worth a measly 2 magic crystals per unit, would cost hundreds of magic crystals as they needed decade to mature and gather rare thunder elemental particles.

Using the fact that there was low demand to purchase the ingredient, Lewis managed to brew the potion on his second try, an unexpected success in a gamble. Even with decades of experience as an alchemist, he was never gifted in the craft. He was rigorous, hard working but lacked the innate talent, the hunch that geniuses had whenever they brewed a potion.

Alchemists were ranked in stars, representing ranks. Each rank was divided in four sub-realm: beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert. Despite spending decades and thousands of magic crystals in experiment, Lewis had only managed to become an beginner 0-star alchemist. Though it was a great achievement in itself, it was pretty much the basic standard for alchemists in the arcane faction. According to the rumours, Elder Kayle was an expert 0-star alchemist, which was part of the reason why no one dared to offend him.

Still, Lewis possessed knowledge and benefitted from breakthroughs that would only be democratized and shared in the higher classes of acolytes. He had learned tricks that allowed him to brew potions with high-quality consistently, and at the end of the day, it was more than sufficient to sustain him as a beginner rank acolyte. It might support him until the peak of the intermediate rank acolyte realm, but after reaching the advanced rank, he would need to turn towards a real alchemist master to brew the potions he needed.

But...This would have to wait. After all, he was just an elite beginner rank acolyte at this point. There was no point in rushing things.