HP: god of potions

previously in chapter 19

"Gray Knight... you mean this thing is Deadboy?" Draco yelled in surprise as they all looked Gray up and down. "What's with your exaggerated reaction? I just grew a couple of inches." Ron laughed and said, "Try a couple of feet! What did you do, bench press a mountain?" Draco backed away and muttered, "What are they feeding you, troll food?" Just then, Lucius Malfoy appeared, pushing Draco aside with his walking stick. "Now, now, Draco, play nicely," Lucius said smoothly before turning to Harry. "Mr. Potter... we meet at last." He shook Harry's hand, leaning in to examine his scar. "Your scar is legend, as, of course, is the wizard who gave it to you."

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Chapter 20

Harry stood firm, replying, "Voldemort killed my parents. He was nothing more than a murderer." Lucius raised an eyebrow. "You must be very brave to mention his name. Or very foolish." Hermione chimed in confidently, "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." Lucius glanced at her, recognizing her instantly. "And you must be... Miss Granger. Yes, Draco's told me all about you... and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?" He turned to the Weasleys, eyeing their appearance with disdain. "Red hair, vacant expressions... tatty, secondhand books... you must be the Weasleys."

Then he turned towards Gray and said, "And what are you? Surely not a second year?" He tutted. "What has Hogwarts come to, letting another half-giant in?" Gray sighed for the last time and said, "I see, it's hereditary... having a stick up your ass, I mean." Lucius frowned and said, "Respect your elders, but then again, what do I expect from half-breeds nowadays?" Gray replied, "Don't demand respect; it only makes you a bumbling fool. But then again, what else should I expect from an inbred?" As Gray walked away, Lucius reached sneakily for his wand, but a burst of magical energy emitted from Gray, who had planted his cane firmly into the ground.

"Please, take out your wand," Gray demanded, making Lucius hesitate for a second. Just then, Mr. Weasley approached, ushering the children toward the door. "Children, it's mad in here. Let's go outside." Gray sighed as he took a deep breath before walking away. Lucius muttered under his breath, "Wild mutts," as he left with his son. Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny watched from the window. Ron said, "Remind me to never call him Deadboy again," to which Hermione replied, "I've told you many times, but you don't listen." Ginny then asked, "Who is he?" Harry answered, "Gray Knight, he's the same age as us," which Ginny found hard to believe.

-Scene Change-

In one of the many rooms in the Leaky Cauldron, Gray could be seen inside his suitcase, placing his wand and coat on the hanger before taking out a large amount of gold coins from his money pouch. This money was gained by selling his Sleepless Potion in the darker parts of Diagon Alley as well as some experimental beautify potions which although were experimental, they weren't harmful. "So much money," Gray muttered, practically drooling over the amount of gold before him. On his first trip, Gray didn't truly appreciate money until he started spending it on tons of ingredients, which is when his love for wealth developed. Now, the sight of something shiny made him drool. "Hmm, time to get back to work. Tomorrow, the second year begins," he thought as he got to work.

He glanced to his side, where he saw one of the plants he had obtained from Yamatai Island. With a single thought, the plant floated towards him effortlessly. "Gosh, I love increasing my magical potency," he chuckled. That's right, the reason why his magic bursted out without him intending to was because he permanently increased his magic potency.

after leaving Japan and returning to Diagon Alley, Gray got to work experimenting with the plants, testing their effects. From early June to late August, Gray did nothing but create potions. Sometimes, he would go straight 24 hours without sleeping. He did nothing else, and when his mana was depleted, during the 400-minute cooldown period where his mana regenerated, Gray would organize his data and prepare ingredients. This obsession led him to run out of materials frequently and sparked his obsession with money. But his hard work paid off.

Not only was Gray able to create another permanent potion that increased his magic potency, making his magic four times as potent, but he also leveled up, reaching Grade 5 in his Potion-Creation skill.

[ Name: Gray ]

[ Mana: 500/500 ]

[ Skill:

Potion-Creation: You can create a potion using two or more materials as long as they can harmoniously blend together. Any potion created using the Potion-Creation skill has a 10% chance of granting permanent effects. There is a 35% chance of failure when this skill is used. Cost: 5 MPM lv.5 (13%) ]

Which did increase his chance of creating a permanent potion, but also decreased his chance of failure, but it did come with the added penalty of his mana consumption increasing, meaning that his mana only lasted for about 100 minutes while the cooldown period was increased to 500 minutes. This almost made him crash out since he was still in the middle of experimenting, and this decrease in the time he had to create potions as well as the increase in the cooldown. If it weren't for the fact that he was finally able to push past medium potions and create the next grade.

[Name: Elixir of Eternal Bloom]

[Grade: High]

[Description: The Elixir of Eternal Bloom is a peak-grade potion designed to extend the lifespan of the consumer by decades with a single dose. Crafted from the life-altering plants found in Queen Himiko's tomb on Yamatai Island, this potion is a blend of Everlife Petals (flowers that bloom only in the presence of decaying souls) and Soulvine Tendrils (a vine that thrives on the energy of both life and death). When consumed, the potion strengthens the body's life force, slowing the aging process and enhancing vitality by 500% permanently, although it doesn't make the drinker immortal. But it comes at a cost: the elixir subtly drains the life energy of surrounding living beings, making its prolonged use dangerous.]

[Deterioration Rate: 100%, the freshness of the potion]

That is right, one of his successful experiments was a High-grade potion that slows his aging. But there was no way he was consuming it, not unless he wanted to look like he does now for a while, so he stored this potion, which was arguably the best potion he had ever created in his life. He even had it framed in a box that preserves the potion inside.

which was a lot to say given that he had only lived for one year and some months in this world, and he had already reached level 5 while the system limit on his skill was level 20, meaning that he was already 1/4th of the way there. But he was not getting complacent. In fact, these two months nearly broke him—physically, mentally, and financially—to the point where going to Hogwarts was seen as a break to him. He turned around and looked at his prized potion, framed and stored on the top of his shelf.

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A/N: Yeah, there's a lot to talk about. First of all, you can probably guess whose hand Lucius is going to die by. Secondly, increasing the mana consumption rate seemed fair, as his chance of success and the chance of creating a permanent potion increased. After all, I wanted balance. Lastly, as I mentioned, other worlds are going to impact Gray's adventure. This one was the first, so it had the smallest role, but it provided Gray with materials to experiment with, which will contribute further to his immortality potion.