Leo jogged through three pitch-black alleys, cradling the six silver-white eggs in his arms. It wasn't until he pushed open the wooden door of his home that he finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
This was a small alchemy laboratory, only a few paces wide. Shelves lining the walls were packed with glassware of all shapes and sizes. A few test tubes still held leftover residue from potions he hadn't had time to clean, and the air was thick with the scent of herbs and sulfur.
Breathing in the familiar aroma, Leo walked straight to his workbench and carefully placed the six silver-white eggs onto a clean piece of flannel.
He picked up one first and tapped it gently against the tabletop, only to feel a slight elasticity rebound against his fingers.
Leo frowned and applied a bit more force, but the eggshell remained unbroken, still retaining its elasticity.
So, he brought the egg close to his eyes, pinching both sides of the shell with his thumb and index finger, and squeezed hard. To his surprise, the shell actually dented inward slightly, only to spring back to its original shape the moment he let go.
“Huh, interesting.”
A gleam flashed behind Leo's glasses. He turned around to retrieve a slender metal engraving knife from his tool rack. Pointing the tip at an inconspicuous spot on the shell's surface, he carefully applied pressure.
With a soft click, a tiny crack appeared on the surface of the shell.
He immediately set down the knife and pried the crack open with both hands. The shell split in two with a snap, and the clear egg white, cradling a plump, round yolk, slid into a prepared glass dish.
Leo didn't spare the egg liquid a single glance. His gaze was locked onto the two silver-white shell fragments, and he immediately set to work without a moment's rest.
He first washed away the residue, then ground the fragments vigorously in a mortar.
Next, he poured the powder into a distillation flask, added a measured amount of distilled water, and placed it over a gentle flame on the heating apparatus to simmer.
Leo stared intently at the changes inside the flask while rapidly scribbling down data on a piece of parchment.
Filtering, extracting, filtering again, and purifying... By the time he carefully poured the final pale blue liquid into a test tube, the first ray of morning light was already filtering through the window.
He hadn't slept a wink all night, yet he was frightfully energetic right now.
Leo gripped the test tube, a thin layer of sweat breaking out on his palm.
From a drawer, he pulled out a test strip specifically designed to measure the mana concentration of liquids. It was made of pure white paper that would change color when exposed to mana—the darker the shade, the higher the concentration.
Holding his breath, he gently dipped one end of the test strip into the test tube.
At first, there was no change. But soon, an extremely faint blue tint appeared at the edge of the strip, slowly spreading toward the center.
It started as a light blue, then gradually darkened, eventually turning a sky-blue color.
Instantly, Leo's hands began to shake. Trembling, he pulled the strip out of the tube and held it up to his eyes. He stared at it repeatedly, confirming that the blue color was indeed real.
He swallowed hard, then took another test strip and repeated the process. The result was exactly the same.
Leo finally couldn't hold it in anymore. He slammed the test strip onto the desk and leaned back heavily, his shoulders crashing into the back of his chair, though he felt no pain at all.
“Haha... Hahaha...”
A low chuckle escaped his throat, quickly growing louder and more unbridled. In the end, he leaned against the edge of his workbench, throwing his head back as his shoulders shook with laughter.
“Moon-glow Herb juice... Moon-glow Herb juice!”
He shook his head as he laughed, the expression on his face a mix of mockery and pure joy. “The market price is five silver coins per standard dose, and that's depending on the season and origin!”
Leo looked down at the remaining whole silver-white eggs on the table, his eyes burning with intense heat.
“And that's just from one egg! Just a single eggshell! It can yield a mana extract with a concentration higher than Moon-glow Herb juice!”
Leo tapped his index finger on the desk, forcing himself to calm down as he began to calculate rapidly.
An egg cost one silver coin. Even factoring in the losses during purification and the consumption of materials, the average cost wouldn't exceed two silver coins.
And the mana extract purified from a single eggshell, if formulated into standard doses, could make at least three to four portions of raw materials with equivalent potency.
One had to know that a single portion of Moon-glow Herb juice sold for five silver coins on the market. An extract from a single shell was worth three to four portions, meaning its value was fifteen to twenty silver coins.
Yet the egg itself only cost one silver coin.
Even including his labor for purification and equipment wear and tear, a single egg could yield a profit several times its cost.
More importantly, this raw material was completely unaffected by seasons or geographic origins. As long as the chickens at Silver Sand Lake kept laying eggs, he would have a stable and cheap source of supply.
Leo laughed out loud again. He grabbed a silver-white egg, holding it close to examine it from every angle before putting it down and picking up another.
The toughness and hardness of this shell far exceeded anything ordinary, and the purified mana concentration was incredibly high... Just how on earth did Her Highness raise chickens in the Golden Sea?
He had absolutely no idea.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was the value of the egg itself, and the fact that almost no one in Windrest City had noticed it yet.
Those fools whose eyes were blinded by the Princess's thank-you letter had no idea what the truly valuable thing was.
A smug smile spread across Leo's face. He could easily buy up the eggs at a low price before anyone else caught on, since most people were only after the letter anyway.
By the time they realized the true value of the eggs, he would have already made a fortune.
The moment this thought surfaced, the smile on his face became completely uncontrollable. He laughed out loud for a while longer, and then his gaze fell back onto the dish holding the egg white and yolk.
If the shell had mana, what about the egg liquid?
Leo's Adam's apple bobbed. He placed the small pool of egg liquid into a freshly cleaned, small evaporating dish, setting it over the lowest possible flame of his heating apparatus.
As time passed, the egg liquid slowly solidified, and a rich, fragrant aroma of cooked egg wafted out, filling the entire laboratory.
Using a pair of wooden tongs, Leo carefully lifted the evaporating dish and let it cool for a moment. Then, he picked up a spatula, scraped off a tiny piece from the edge of the cooked egg, and popped it into his mouth.
The instant it entered his mouth, Leo froze.
A delicate texture melted across his tongue, carrying a natural, savory sweetness he had never experienced before.
Though absolutely no salt or sugar had been added, the flavor spread out perfectly, sliding from the tip of his tongue all the way down his throat.
Then, he felt as if his vision suddenly brightened, and everything became exceptionally clear. He could feel an extremely faint, cool sensation spreading from his stomach to his limbs.
With every breath, he felt his mana recovering at an unspeakable speed, and it had even increased by a tiny fraction.
Leo paused. In disbelief, he stared down at the cooked egg on his spatula, then looked up at the remaining five silver-white eggs on the table. He laughed out loud once more, but this time, his laughter carried a hint of dread that he hadn't even noticed himself.
“What kind of chicken is this...”
He muttered to himself, his voice laced with a trace of fear. “Just what kind of chickens is Her Highness raising in the desert... What do they eat... What do they drink...”
He couldn't imagine it at all. He only knew that these were absolutely not ordinary poultry eggs, and everything about this completely transcended his understanding of what an "egg" could be.
But soon, that sliver of dread was overwhelmed by an even greater wave of excitement.
Leo sat back down in his chair, his gaze drifting over the eggs on the table.
After a few seconds, his eyes focused. He suddenly chuckled in a low voice, pulled a clean wooden box from his drawer, and carefully placed the remaining five eggs inside. He wrapped them in flannel, closed the lid, and locked the box away in a hidden compartment beneath his workbench.
Then he stood up, walked over to the window, and pushed open the small frame.
Feeling the cool morning breeze rush in, Leo formulated a plan in his heart:
Before anyone else could react, he would gather as many Silver Sand Lake Eggs circulating on the market into his own hands as possible.
Rate on N.U.
