"No one would deny it," he said, "it's an eight-grade, class-eight potion. The top-tier Gene Awakening Potion."

"Uh, that's not bad either." Lyra’s expression seemed slightly disappointed. "Although it is an eight-grade, class-eight potion, its value is considerable. Based purely on market price, it already meets the threshold for a ten-grade potion."

Yang Ying knew what she was thinking. The way an alchemist viewed a potion was different from how ordinary people saw it. Alchemists weren't short of money. While top-tier Gene Awakening Potions were expensive, they were useless to the alchemists themselves; they could only be sold. After all, an alchemist capable of formulating an eight-grade, class-eight potion would certainly have awakened. No matter how talented an ordinary person was with potions, their ability would peak at seven-grade concoctions. Once a potion reached the eighth grade, mastering spiritual power was mandatory for its creation.

Yang Ying hadn't inquired about Lyra's family background. However, many details suggested her family was wealthy and influential. After a year as classmates, Yang Ying knew she was someone who genuinely loved pharmaceutics. The difficulty of formulating the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion was close to the ninth grade, yet it hadn't reached that level; at best, it was merely an excellent tool for making money among eight-grade potions. In her eyes, its value was less than that of any nine-grade potion, which sold for a tenth of its price.

"Top-tier Gene Awakening Potion," Dannan mused, his expression reminiscent. A year ago, it was this very potion that changed his life, transforming him from an ordinary person into an Awakened. Therefore, though his passion for pharmaceutics wasn't less than Lyra's, he held deep affection for this specific potion.

Dimas remained silent.

"The potion you submitted for graduation was the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion. A single dose probably wouldn't excite you this much. You mentioned trading for quite a few at the Roalan Market just now. Did you gather many doses?" Tisa asked.

Yang Ying nodded, a smile spreading across his face. "A lot. A great many."

"How many?" Dannan inquired.

"Two! Ten! Doses!" Yang Ying enunciated each word distinctly.

"What!"

At this utterance, everyone was stunned.

"What did you say? Twenty doses? Are you sure you didn't mean two?" Dannan stammered, his speech slightly slurred.

"I don't know why, but my luck was extraordinary, just like winning the lottery," Yang Ying replied, placing a satchel he carried onto the desk. He opened it, revealing bundles of medicinal ingredients—some wrapped in paper, others in vials, some in jars.

Dean Faskerlun examined them one by one, murmuring softly, "Hmm, ten portions of Umekal grass leaves, authentic, good. Sky Sovereign Stone powder, this amount is sufficient too..."

After his inspection, the old Dean looked up, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light. "All the ingredients needed to make twenty portions of the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion are here."

Everyone crowded around, discussing animatedly.

"Igor, you really hit the jackpot. No, perhaps not even the lottery offers these odds. Go buy a ticket quickly," Lyra urged.

Although this wasn't the result she had hoped for, the actual outcome was undeniably dramatic. Twenty doses of the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion—good heavens, she wondered if the entire Apothecary Hall produced that many in a year.

"They didn't," the old Dean seemed to answer her unspoken question, though it was likely a coincidence. "In the last academic year, the Apothecary Hall produced a total of twelve doses of the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion; that number isn't twenty."

"Then the one I drank—what about that one?" Dannan asked.

"The one you drank counts," Tisa interjected, answering for him. "Basically, there are only about ten doses every year. The Glacier Central Academy is one of the top institutions in this star system, the primary choice for hundreds of billions of people. Every year, many talented ordinary students are admitted, just like you, Dannan."

"And the Academy requests top-tier Gene Awakening Potions from our Apothecary Hall to facilitate their awakening. However, we are almost always short every year. The top-tier Gene Awakening Potion is perpetually in high demand. Fortunately, Dannan entered our Hall; since we make the potions, our new students have priority. If you had chosen another academy, you might not have gotten this chance to awaken."

"If they can never awaken, then their future is bleak?" Lyra asked, surprised. "For those students, do you resort to the secondary option, using high-grade Gene Awakening Potions?"

"Certainly not," the old Dean shook his head. "Gene awakening can only happen once. If it fails, even using the highest grade next time will be useless. Wouldn't that ruin the student's talent? A student with exceptional talent today will create far greater value after graduation than a single bottle of the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion. Therefore, if such a situation arises, the student needs to wait a little longer for the Academy to purchase a top-tier Gene Awakening Potion from outside the campus, and then administer it to them."

"Of course," Tisa added. "It's not given freely. The unit price for the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion is one hundred and twenty million. That price, including interest, must be repaid after the student starts working."

Dannan nodded from the side; having drunk one, he clearly understood the rules.

Tisa paused in thought, then continued, "Actually, this one hundred and twenty million is just a market reference price. By using this price to provide the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion to Dannan, he has already benefited. The potions purchased from the market will have a higher markup. The highest price last year was..."

"...one hundred and fifty million, and it was ultimately sold, and the student who drank that potion is now indebted by one hundred and fifty million plus interest."

"How do you intend to handle these twenty portions of ingredients now? Do you want to formulate them into finished potions?" Tisa turned to Yang Ying and asked.

Yang Ying replied, "Yes, I have already ordered the auxiliary materials. They said they would be delivered within an hour. Calculating the time now, it should be almost ready."

Tisa nodded. "You recently reached the threshold for nine-grade potions. Although you haven't been assessed by the Imperial Alchemist Association and your title hasn't changed, you are practically a senior alchemist like me now. Handling the formulation of an eight-grade, class-eight potion shouldn't be an issue, right?"

Yang Ying smiled. "No problem." Of course, no problem—did he think those three hundred thousand doses were mixed for nothing?

"Then let's settle on that," Dean Faskerlun ruled. "You formulate the potions. If possible, let the Academy purchase them. These twenty doses, plus what the Apothecary Hall produces this year, should be enough to cover the needs of the incoming freshmen. However, don't overreach; let's stick to the market reference price of one hundred and twenty million. What do you say?"

"Agreed." Yang Ying accepted instantly. After all, his knowledge of pharmaceutics was learned at the Academy, and with the advantage of exchanging refined ore for materials, earning money in the future would be as easy as taking candy from a child.

At a unit price of one hundred and twenty million, twenty doses amounted to two billion four hundred million Imperial Credits. After deducting half for taxes, the remaining one billion two hundred million would be enough to purchase a private pharmaceutics virtual laboratory.

Just then, a message arrived on Yang Ying's light terminal. The material company's delivery robot had arrived. The address Yang Ying left was his dormitory villa, but not the one he shared with Dimas; he had moved to a new residence, living alone in a separate villa, also equipped with a robotic attendant.

A few minutes later, the villa's robotic attendant also sent him a message, confirming receipt of the package from the material company. Yang Ying instructed it to deliver the package to the Apothecary Hall's laboratory building.

He then briefly explained the situation to everyone. Dean Faskerlun said, "The auxiliary materials have arrived? Very well then, you should go."

"Last time, when you graduated, I observed you formulating the top-tier Gene Awakening Potion once. Since you are making twenty identical doses today, I won't tag along. Once you finish the potions, just let me know, and the four of us can go out for a meal," Lyra suggested.

"Mhm, making over two billion in one go, you should definitely treat us to dinner," Dannan agreed enthusiastically.

Dimas nodded, not uttering a word.

"Alright, haha," Yang Ying clapped them on the shoulders. "I'll definitely treat you all then."

Leaving the Dean's office, Yang Ying headed straight for the laboratory building. At the entrance, after a short wait, a disc-shaped flying craft approached from a distance. Upon reaching the laboratory entrance, it suddenly transformed, becoming the robotic servant from Yang Ying's villa, holding the package Yang Ying needed in its hand.

Yang Ying took the package, sent the robot back, and entered the laboratory building, securing a lab. He sighed, preparing to repeat the procedure he had already performed thirty thousand times.

Fortunately, his spirit was tenacious; any ordinary person repeating a task thirty thousand times over would surely suffer a mental collapse.

The formulation time passed quickly. Yang Ying entered the lab around noon, and by the time the sun reached its zenith, the formulation process was entering its final stages. All twenty potions were successful, without a single failure. Afterward, he reported the good news to the old Dean and waited in the laboratory.

Soon after, Dean Faskerlun entered with another middle-aged man. Yang Ying recognized the man; he was the clerk in charge of procurement for the Apothecary Hall, someone he had interacted with frequently over the past six months. Though not a professor, the materials students used for "part-time work" were allocated through him, earning him general respect.

Yang Ying was quite familiar with him too. Upon meeting, he stepped forward to greet them: "Dean, Teacher Tenk, you've arrived."

Dean Faskerlun waved his hand. "Are all twenty potions done? Or shall we count what's finished first?"

"All done, of course," Yang Ying replied. He mixed four doses at a time, completing five batches in total, each taking approximately one standard hour, finishing all twenty doses within five standard hours.

"That was fast." The old Dean laughed. "With a student like you, us teachers can relax a bit more. Alright, let's see the potions."

Yang Ying arranged the twenty bottles of dark purple potion in two rows on the lab bench. The old Dean stepped forward, examining each bottle, nodding continuously. After viewing them all, he said to Tenk, "They are all top-grade. Even I couldn't produce anything better."

Tenk started, glancing toward Yang Ying, as if seeing the former student anew—no longer just a student, but an alchemist, no, a senior alchemist.

Since Yang Ying hadn't used materials provided by the Academy, there was no question of the Academy taking a cut. Tenk readily handed over the two billion four hundred million payment, taking all twenty bottles of potion. As for the Imperial taxes, Yang Ying would have to submit those himself.