Chapter 27: Blue Moonlight
"Roger, you’d better not leave us homeless." Jessica said this before retreating to the living room, where she turned on the television for the first time ever to listen to the Muggle BBC news.
A few days ago, she had taken the agreement to a Muggle bank, where the staff rattled off a barrage of financial terminology. By the end of it, Jessica hadn't understood a single word. She did, however, grasp that the house could not be recovered for the time being because her son already owed them several hundred million Muggle currency.
Several hundred million... Jessica had been stunned at the time; she had never seen such a massive figure in her life. She feigned composure as she returned home, going about her day tidying the house and caring for her son.
Yet, deep down, she made a silent vow: regardless of the outcome this time, she would never let Roger touch another golden Galleon in the house. It was too terrifying! And while she was at it, his monthly allowance would be cut in half, effective immediately.
"Whew..." Unaware of his impending fate, Roger ran back to his laboratory and retrieved the vial containing the dragon-head flower leaves.
Dragon-head flower leaves must be harvested within three days of a full moon, and when used, they must be sliced into uniformly sized fragments with a silver blade. The star-glow bearberries and other materials were similarly ground or sliced according to the instructions before being placed into stainless steel containers or dark glass vials.
Roger meticulously prepared most of the ingredients, then picked up the most critical one: Moon-Essence Dew. This dew, collected on the night of a full moon, could balance the terrifying power hidden within dragon blood and allow a young wizard to sense the magic of the moon.
It was also the most expensive ingredient in the entire recipe, and its use was extremely demanding: one only had three seconds after opening the cap. Once that time passed, the Moon-Essence Dew, which cost a fortune per gram, would turn into worthless plain water.
Roger checked the other prepared materials once more with meticulous care, lingering over the final portion of Moon-Essence Dew, unable to make up his mind. He had always suspected that there was some crucial step or variable in the production process of Blue Moon-Essence that he had overlooked, and he felt it likely had something to do with time.
Glancing at his watch, Roger initiated the simulation at exactly 6:00 PM: "Start simulation."
[1] You begin brewing the potion; the Moon-Essence Dew successfully extracts the starlight hidden within the bearberries.
[2] You extinguish the heat source; the silver-blue potion explodes just before crystallization.
"Stop simulation." Roger opened his notebook and recorded the results.
At 18:01, the simulation showed the potion exploded just before crystallization. Judging by the color, the potion had already reached the ideal silver-blue state, meeting the prerequisites for crystallization mentioned in the recipe.
"Everything went perfectly until the cooling process. The problem always lies in the final cooling and crystallization," Roger wrote heavily, circling the words "cooling and crystallization."
After multiple comparative validations, he found the panel's simulation function to be incredibly helpful for his potion-making. The discrepancy between the simulation and his actual experiments was minimal, caused almost entirely by his own manual execution errors. Since the simulation indicated failure, there was no need to waste the final batch of materials.
Roger picked up the original recipe to re-examine it, confirming that no information was missing. He had spent nearly 1,000 Galleons; surely he wouldn't end up with nothing? He tossed the recipe aside and began scouring his previous experimental logs, analyzing and comparing them.
"There were no major issues with the recent attempts; the only difference is the time of day." Roger drew a straight line in his notebook, divided it into segments, and marked the hourly intervals.
He then estimated the completion rate for each experiment and represented them on paper using a bar chart, with the simulation results on top and the experimental results on the bottom.
"That's it! The silver color of the potion was brightest at 21:00, and worst at 12:00... it even stopped reacting the moment it turned azure." Roger clenched his fists in excitement; he had finally caught the culprit.
"Since the completion rate is higher at night..." Roger discarded the daytime experiments and started his statistics from scratch. A curve that rose as the date progressed appeared before his eyes.
"A positive correlation! I finally know what you were hiding!" Roger looked up out the window; the twilight was fading, and the full moon had already risen.
"The better the lunar phase, the higher the completion rate. No wonder it's called Blue Moon-Essence!"
Roger sighed in frustration, "I must have been out of my mind. How did I not notice something so obvious?"
In truth, he couldn't entirely be blamed. Not every potioneer would publish their recipes without reservation. The key secret to success was often hidden within an unassuming word or phrase in the instructions.
It seemed that potion-making was not something just anyone could learn. It required talent, willpower, gold, and a reliable mentor.
"Damn it, what a trap! You have to check the lunar phase just to brew a potion? Don't let me catch you!" Roger gritted his teeth in hatred toward the author, though the main problem was that he didn't even know the person's name.
"August 8th is the first quarter moon, and the 16th is the full moon." Roger consulted his calendar, surprised to find that today happened to be the Qixi Festival.
"A lonely bachelor like me doesn't need to worry about Qixi; I'll just stick to my potions."
Roger took a deep breath to calm himself and clear his mind, letting go of the unpleasant emotions before mentally rehearsing the procedure. The moon outside the window was fully visible; Roger opened his eyes and began the actual process.
He added all ingredients except the luminous insect powder, Moon-Essence Dew, and star-glow bearberries into a pristine silver cauldron, then waved his wand to stir the mixture counter-clockwise seven times with a glass rod.
Next, he brought the heat to a boil before evenly reducing it, simmering for five minutes until the liquid turned deep blue.
"Wingardium Leviosa." Roger flicked his wand, lifting the cauldron off the heat. After stirring three times clockwise with the glass rod, he added the luminous insect powder and stirred vigorously counter-clockwise ten times.
He then returned the cauldron to the heat, simmering it slowly. He stirred occasionally until blue-silver steam began to rise.
Roger counted the puffs of steam, his eyes fixed on the full moon outside. Tonight, there were no clouds; the moonlight was bright and magnificent.
"6... 5... 1."
"Now!" Roger quickly opened the Moon-Essence Dew and poured in the star-glow bearberry fragments.
The Moon-Essence Dew was highly penetrative, extracting the starlight from the bearberries in less than a heartbeat. The essence in the glass vial shifted from silver-white to a brilliant silver-blue, so dazzling that one could even see tiny, suspended specks of light within it.
Roger had no time to admire the beauty of the essence; he poured it steadily into the cauldron, not wasting a single drop!
"Perfect!" Roger timed the shut-off of the heat source to the second, flipped the hourglass on his workbench, and waited for the reagent in the cauldron to cool.
Three minutes later, the cauldron shimmered with a mysterious and enchanting silver-blue light. Roger waved his wand, watching with a mix of excitement and trepidation as the reagent inside began to crystallize.
Under his unwavering gaze, the silver-blue potion fully crystallized, then magically transformed into a viscous, smooth fluid.
"It's done!" Roger jumped up in ecstasy, taking a long moment to steady his emotions. He carefully decanted the Blue Moon-Essence into a test tube and tightened the lid. At the same moment, his panel updated, adding a new "Potions" section.
Roger Travis
Magic Power: 0.6/2.3
Spirit: 12
Talents: Dark Affinity, Strong Will, Night Vision
Skills: Wandless Magic, Advanced Potion Making
Potions: Blue Moon-Essence
Spells: Lumos (Lv3, 36/50), Patronus Charm (Lv2, 1/10), Wingardium Leviosa (Lv4, 17/100), Scourgify (Lv4, 17/100), Transfiguration (Lv1, 0/1)...
"That's it! Finally, I've succeeded!" Roger held up the vial, the moonlight passing through it and bathing the entire room in a silver-blue hue.
Starting from scratch, his days of hard work had finally yielded the sweet fruit of success. This was not only the priceless Blue Moon-Essence, but also the first milestone in his journey of potion-making!
He couldn't wait to try it and feel the boost to his magic power. But for now, there was one final step before the Blue Moon-Essence would be truly perfect.