Filed to story: A Bullied Boy Died: A Mafia King Woke Up In His Body
Cooldown: 30 seconds
He hadn’t received another title or skill, but it was good enough. He then dropped a small amount of the residue into the potion.
Addictive Stamina Potion (Basic)
Restores a moderate amount of stamina, along with a moderate temporary high.
Recommended Dosage: One bottle for an adult human male every eight hours.
Repeated consumption over a short period of time may result in addiction.
Ingredients: Poair Leaves, Greis Powder, Pure Euria Minerals, Water
Cooldown: 30 seconds
A small smile appeared on Kyle’s face as he read the description. “Our first drug. And so it begins.”
Bring to Market
Five days later…
Six associates were lined up in a spare empty room, with only two long, wooden tables in the middle and at the side, along with chairs. They stared in awe at the equipment on the tables and the crates filled with flasks and portable arctech stoves.
Kyle had gotten Keith to use the remaining extra cash to buy them, with the one costing the most being the arctech stoves.
“You. You’re number one. You’ll weigh each of the ingredients before putting them into separate bowls.”
Two weighing scales were on the table, the counterweight already perfectly calculated. Kyle had gotten Keith to write labels on parchment and glue them onto the weighing scales, indicating which ingredient they were for.
“Number two.” Kyle motioned to another one. “You’ll take each of the ingredients, put them into the same flask, and fill it up to the brim with water.”
“Number three. You’ll boil the flasks, for exactly three minutes each.”
Kyle then moved over to the other table, where there were only Euria Seeds and a few sets of mortars and pestles.
“Four-grind as many Euria Seeds as you can. Pour the oil out into a flask.”
“Five-boil the flask as long as possible until you see a dark-yellow residue like this.” Kyle showed an example. “Then, for every other flask the group makes, drop in just a pinch.”
“Number six. You then pack the normal flasks separately from the ones that have received the Euria Seeds residue. Everybody clear?”
They all nodded, except for number one, who had his hand raised. “Sir, sorry to ask, but what exactly are we making?”
“Stamina Potions. A stern reminder-anyone, associates or even vipers, caught drinking the Euria-infused potions will be heavily punished and imprisoned. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Start now.”
The operation began, with the associates fumbling about as they got used to handling the equipment. However, they went slow and steady, afraid of being chided by Kyle, who watched over them like a hawk.
Soon, after ten minutes of repetitive action, the muscle memory began to be engraved into them, making the job faster and more similar to a factory line. Kyle nodded in approval before leaving the room.
The associates felt a sense of belonging and like they were part of a greater whole. They might have had more passion for the job if they didn’t realize that they were basically performing menial labor, just like factory workers.
Kyle’s idea of the production line wasn’t exactly unique to them-there were already plenty of workshops and factories in the vicinity doing the exact same thing for other products, though they had yet to see one making potions en masse due to tight supply controls by the Alchemist’s Guild.
As they continued to work, they began to mutter to themselves, “Wait a minute… Didn’t I join the gang so I wouldn’t have to do this kind of thing?”
Kyle wasn’t too worried about the recipe leaking; he didn’t expect to retain a monopoly over such a simple modification to an already existing potion. He assumed there were already thousands of alchemists who could do exactly what he was doing right now; the issue was the Alchemists’ Guild and its apparent laws against mass production.
He had yet to learn about the exact restrictions, but it was enough for him to try to lower the production cost while evading detection. This alone would be more than enough to cut into the market and begin making some much-needed profits to fuel his other plans.