Selka smiled and said in her mind. "So basically, don't sell it then".
She banished the thought of selling the brewing method to anyone and asked. "What type of elixirs do you want me to brew exactly?".
"As many vials of the elixir of vital synthesis and one vial of symbiotic rebirth".
Lucien sounded nonchalant, but by the time he finished, selka's eyes were wider than the city of Rosehaven itself, the elixir of vital synthesis is an elixir that is used to refine physical strength, it's common for rank one awakens to use it, especially Casters and Spirits.
But the elixir of symbiotic rebirth is on another level entirely, it's notoriously impossible to brew, especially by commoner awakens, even the royal family would be lucky to brew one once every fifty years, and yet, Lucien requested it from her so casually.
"Did I hear you right my lord?... The elixir of symbiotic rebirth is practically a myth, how could I possibly brew something like that?".
Lucien nodded, as if agreeing with her, but his next words completely toppled her understanding of the classes of awakens.
"The method for brewing the elixir of symbiotic rebirth is written down in the paper I gave you, but even if you follow every detail to the letter, you will still not be able to brew one, but together, you and I might be able to make something just close enough…
Your skill in extracting the life essence of druids and my control over mana, including some other random ingredients".
Selka finally opened the paper and began to go through it. "So you're an awakened caster?". She asked randomly while admiring the complex brewing method.
Lucien didn't see the point of lying to her, but he also didn't want to explain the fact that he was a heretic, a class outside of the three primary classes.
"I'm not a caster, but I do have a method that will allow me to manipulate mana… not just mana, but the soul essence of awakened spirits and martial might of awakened warriors".
Selka gulped. At this point, it was clear that Lucien was one of those monstrous talents everyone spoke off.
"What other ingredients will we need? Everything written here seems to add up".
Lucien went silent, Selka assumed he didn't want to say, but a moment later, he spoke coldly.
"The random ingredient is the spirit essence of a spirit Awakened, I need you to use your divine virtue on a human".
Selka Moor was an orphan that grew up in the outskirts, she survived by stealing and doing odd jobs, so naturally at some point in her life she has had to have taken a life or two, but refining a living human, that was something else entirely.
She straightened her back, as if to seem more imposing, her attempt at chasing a confidence she didn't have at the moment.
"I don't have a problem with doing it if you provide the ingredient…". She said just as cold. "But I'm not sure if my divine virtue can refine the essence of an awakened, I have never tried that before".
Lucien smiled for the first time since he came across this strange caster. "Worry not, your divine virtue can definitely refine an awakened".
Selka was unsure where Lucien's confidence in her divine virtue was coming from, she was unaware that the two of them fought side by side in a different time, she didn't know that in a different time she would live and die at the behest of the infamous evil young lord.
Selka settled the turmoil in her heart and asked.
"Where do you intend to find a living spirit awakened, they're pretty rare and difficult to beat in a fight?".
"Let me worry about that".
Hmm
The druid caster suddenly smiled cheerfully. "Let's talk about price, shall we?".
Lucien smiled inwardly, Selka's love for gold has always been her strongest driving force, even in his previous life, they first met by making a successful business deal, and later became pretty close friends.
"Name your price Selka".
She rested her back to the chair, crossed her leg and held her chin in thought. She wasn't thinking about anything, she'd been calculating the total cost of ingredients she would need in brewing while they spoke, a skill she developed in her youth.
"A hundred and twenty thousand gold coins?". She said flatly, but Lucien was familiar with her tactics, so he countered.
"Fifty thousand gold coins". He replied, directly cutting her price by more than half.
Selka almost fell off her seat, her eyes teary, if Lucien wasn't familiar with her, he would have actually felt sympathy for her.
"Which normal person cuts the price by more than half". She screamed with her hands on her head. "Are you some kind of demon, yes, that must be it, you're a bloody demon".
Lucien sighed helplessly, the moment she starts ranting, it takes her hours to stop, so he found a little stool and sat down, a few hours later. Selka managed to calm herself down.
She coughed lightly, realising she was being shameless again with her customers.
"How about this, I don't actually have one of the major ingredients for brewing the potion of symbiotic rebirth, the nine cycle fire lily, it looks like a lily with nine cycles of fire curling around its petals".
Lucien's face was ugly after being forced to wait and listen to her constant nagging and exaggerated wailing.
"The nine cycle fire lily only grows in places where both life and death occurred simultaneously, it takes two hundred years to grow from a sapling and another fifty to bloom, it's a rarely seen treasure that is rarely found even in rosehaven where major guilds meet, do you know where I can find such a plant?".
Selka groaned with her eyes slightly closed, as if in deep thought.
"Well, hmm… there's been rumours of the plant appearing in the mountains a few years back, it caused a storm of blood, even awakened spirits and experts from foreign races openly competed for it, but I heard it was obtained by a group within rosehaven".
"Which noble house was it?". Lucien asked without a second thought.