Locke nodded. "Fine, but I can't wait a week. I have multiple Magic Paintings I need you to create—at least six basic ones, and possibly some Magic Painting Traps and a Magic Painting Map too."
"Depending on the situation, there may be even more requests later."
Locke concealed his true needs amidst a pile of trivial demands.
"If you can't start immediately, I'll have to find someone else."
"After all, there should be plenty of Speed Painters around here."
Eragabalus immediately grew anxious upon hearing this, clearly unwilling to miss such a major project for him.
"Wait... wait..."
"I can put aside other scattered commissions for now. Those clients aren't in a hurry anyway—a few more days won't matter. Delays are quite common in this line of work."
Eragabalus smiled. "Compared to those, I'd much rather work on your project. I find it far more artistically inspiring and challenging."
Locke nodded in satisfaction. "Very well then."
"I'll give you the address. By the way... that Magic Painting you placed at the entrance—did it hypnotize me the moment I stepped in?"
Locke had long noticed something off about his mental state. The instant he pointed it out, the true nature of the entire gallery became clear.
The so-called "gallery" had no exquisite decor whatsoever. The walls weren't adorned with luxurious red carpets—just rough, unfinished surfaces resembling a bare concrete shell.
As for Eragabalus himself, while he did wear gold and silver ornaments, none were expensive magic gems—just cheap stones.
Illusions collapse when exposed. The moment one becomes aware of them, they dissolve automatically.
Locke had learned this principle in the All Things Class taught by the dark elf Sassari—a universal solution against spells from the Illusion School.
Caught red-handed, Eragabalus gave an awkward chuckle and sighed. "Times are hard, dear customer."
"The rent at Chimera Market is exorbitant, so I cut corners wherever possible. But you know how it is—artists need proper presentation, or people doubt their capabilities."
"That's why I placed several group-hypnosis Magic Paintings at the entrance, making every visitor see not the truth, but a magnificent gallery instead."
Eragabalus offered a guilty smile.
Locke simply remarked, "It's certainly an economical solution. And it demonstrates your skills as a Speed Painter to potential clients."
Though casually hypnotizing gallery visitors was a double-edged sword—some customers would strongly object to such practices.
Flattered by Locke's praise, Eragabalus beamed. "You truly understand me, good sir."
"Exactly so..."
Eragabalus smiled at Locke. "Collaborating with an art-respecting patron like yourself is truly delightful."
After exchanging a few casual pleasantries with him, Locke left the shop and returned to his own three-piece set.
In the evening, inside the makeshift laboratory of his three-piece set.
Locke mixed a drop of the Fission Potion with water and injected it into a white mouse. The mouse exploded into a bloody mess in less than a second.
At the same time, Locke recorded the reaction time into a potion reaction formula he had developed over the past two weeks and performed calculations.
"After two weeks of careful calculations, the intensity of the Fission Potion is indeed extremely high. If I had taken it before, my constitution at the time would have been borderline between safety and danger."
"But with my current physique, according to my calculation formula, as long as I activate the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat Bloodline within me using Mana during ingestion, I will be in absolute safety," Locke said. "After repeated calculations, my formula should be correct and the results align."
"This way, I can publish an article on the consumption of the Fission Potion."
"This formula for calculating body strength is my original research. Of course, meeting the body strength conditions I calculated is quite difficult. Ordinary Bloodline Modification methods shouldn't be able to achieve it."
Locke took out a bottle of the Fission Potion and, without hesitation, drank it in one gulp. The orange-red potion slid down his throat.
In an instant, his eyes filled with a golden-red hue.
He felt waves of Mana appearing out of thin air, converging toward him. His body was subjected to extreme heat, and in the mirror, he saw himself glowing faintly.
This sudden surge of Mana was due to the Fission Potion triggering elemental fission within his body. Some of the food he had consumed was continuously splitting into fire and light Elemental Particles.
The energy from this elemental fission was the source of his sudden Mana increase.
In essence, this required treating his body as a reactor for an intense reaction.
Without sufficient physical strength, instant death was a real possibility.
Under this extreme pressure, Locke activated the Three-Eyed Tiger Cat Bloodline within him. A Magic Eye appeared on his forehead, and tiger stripes spread across his entire body.
His formidable physique withstood the elemental fission reaction. Even though his entire body glowed and radiated heat, he remained largely unharmed.
After more than twenty minutes, the elemental fission reaction subsided.
Locke deactivated his Bloodline state and used the Amethyst Matrix to measure his Mana, which now stood at 505.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Locke realized he was drenched from head to toe, as if he had just climbed out of a swimming pool, with his clothes completely soaked.
"Indeed, this method can rapidly increase my Mana, and the quality of the Mana is surprisingly high."
"As for the resulting potion toxicity, the Deep Purple Gem can completely eliminate it."
"Taking one dose of the potion can increase my current Mana by 5 points. Though it still causes some harm to the body, so even now, I can only take two doses per month. Subsequent doses will likely have diminishing effects, not always guaranteeing a full 5-point increase each time."
"But compared to before when I couldn't take any doses at all, this is already much better."
Locke pondered: "Given my current physique, I might be able to handle three doses of the Eye Demon Potion per month now."
"Even without joining the teacher's operation to obtain Tartarus Cave Worm Spinal Fluid, I should be able to reach 600 in mental power within six months to a year."
"This speed far surpasses my previous estimate of four years when I was taking the Eye Demon Potion and other resources at maximum capacity."
Locke said: "This is all thanks to the Three-Eyed Tiger Eye Cat's Bloodline strengthening my physique, granting me greater drug tolerance."
"But I'll still participate in the undercover decapitation operation. If I can obtain large quantities of Tartarus Cave Worm Spinal Fluid, it could significantly shorten the time needed to reach the 800 mental power threshold required to impact the Formal Wizard level."
"Moreover, this matter is extremely important to Teacher Sophia."
(End of Chapter)