Good News, Bad News
After spending most of the day studying carefully at home, David ended up with both good news and bad news.
The good news was that he had made a real breakthrough. In a quiet corner where no one could see him, David let out a smug little hum. "I really am a genius."
After hours of cross-referencing the formula with the rest of the notebook, he finally understood why the potion worked the way it did, and that understanding opened the door to far more than just a single recipe.
Drawing on his research into the notebook, he had successfully recreated a basic version of the Dragon's Breath Potion, assuming it truly had no side effects, as Dragapult claimed.
With a few adjustments to the original formula, based on each Dragon-type Pokémon's secondary type and whatever effect was needed, he could create a brand-new potion suited to other situations.
Take Dragapult, for example. Its secondary type was Ghost, and his father's Dragapult also happened to be skilled at Psychic-type moves.
If David kept the part of the formula meant for physical strengthening, things like dragon bone powder to harden bones and dragon eye fruit to improve overall fitness (in games, it raised Defense; here, it worked a little differently), he could build on that foundation.
That physical-strengthening portion was exactly what had drawn Dragapult to the potion in the first place, and what gave it that warm, pleasant feeling.
Even though the Dragon's Breath Potion was mainly meant to boost energy, the underlying idea was that energy alone was never enough on its own.
Focusing entirely on strengthening breath-based attacks would put too much strain on a Pokémon's body over time. That was why part of the potion was set aside to quietly reinforce the body as well.
This was also why Dragapult had felt so comfortable after drinking it. Because Dragapult was already so powerful, and because David's potion was only a first attempt, the effect on it had been fairly mild.
Still, that was impressive enough on its own. After all, it took a well-made potion to have any effect at all on a Dragapult that had already reached the peak of Elite rank.
Keeping the same body-strengthening ingredients, David figured he could simply swap out the Fire-type gem powder and sun-gold flower stamen for tender moonflower leaves along with Ghost-type and Psychic-type gem powders.
The tricky part was that Psychic and Ghost-type energy did not always blend smoothly. The two types tended to interfere with each other in subtle ways, so getting the ratio right would take some careful testing rather than a simple substitution. That meant brewing this version for Dragapult would actually be harder than making the original.
Now for the bad news. Aside from a dozen or so pages outlining the overall research plan, the notebook only contained two complete formulas: the Dragon's Breath Potion and one other, called the Dragon's Will Potion, which was meant to sharpen a Pokémon's mental focus.
David could not tell whether the previous owner simply never got around to finishing the other formulas, or if they had just never written them down. Either way, the gap left a noticeable hole in what was otherwise a remarkably thorough body of research.
"Well, getting two full formulas is already more than I could ask for. I'll just treat the rest as homework left behind by my 'teacher.'"
David did not seem too bothered by the missing formulas. The most valuable part of the notebook, after all, was already in his hands.
Walking away with two complete formulas was already incredible luck. There was no point being greedy about it.
He decided he would simply work out the rest on his own later. He could think of it as his own graduation project.
Since David planned to keep training and developing as both a Trainer and a researcher, once he fully understood this Dragon-type enhancement system and could work out the remaining formulas himself, he might genuinely be able to call himself a Potion Master.
"Pfft."
A breeder who can't brew a decent potion isn't much of a breeder at all, he thought, and the idea made him laugh out loud.
Once he composed himself, David got to work brewing another batch of the same Dragon's Breath Potion that Dragapult had gulped down earlier.
Thinking it was another treat made just for it, Dragapult wandered over, ready to swallow this one whole as well, but David quickly grabbed its tail before it could.
"No, no! No more sneaking snacks, Dragapult. This one's a test sample. You can't eat this."
Stopped in its tracks, the "poor, pitiful" Dragapult had no choice but to slump into a corner and sulk, drawing little circles on the floor with the tip of its tail, as if that alone could express how unfair the whole situation was.
David glanced at its sulking and simply went back to work, unbothered.
He had not known Dragapult very long, but he already understood its personality well enough not to take its little tantrums too seriously.
Brewing a second batch turned out to be much easier. With the experience from the first attempt, he finished it quickly, nothing at all like the old stereotype of alchemists who blew up their labs trying again and again.
If anyone outside knew that David had figured out how to brew an advanced potion in under half a day, they would be stunned.
David himself did not feel particularly proud about it, though. His foundation in Pokémon care and breeding was already solid, and he had a complete set of notes and a working formula right in front of him.
Once the new batch was ready, David picked it up, along with the still-sulking Dragapult, and headed toward the Imperial Capital Research Center.
No matter how confident he felt, a potion still needed proper testing before it could be trusted, especially one this powerful. And while Dragapult insisted it felt perfectly fine, a quick checkup at the research center would put everyone's mind at ease, David's included.