The Deceitful One

First, Bryan emptied the bottle that contained 60 ml of distilled water into the bowl. Then he put 10 grams of hibiscus grass powder into the water.

After meticulously stirring the liquid with the spoon for 2 minutes, the crystal clear water had now turned gray. He then grabbed 40 grams of Dusk Crab's crystal from the black box and gently dropped it into the bowl.

When he had bought the Dusk Crab's crystal from the secret gathering, the entire crystal was 50 grams. Bryan had already removed the excess 10 grams from it and kept it aside beforehand. The remaining amount was all he needed for the potion.

The moment the black trigonal crystal touched the gray water, it began to sizzle and slowly break down. A few minutes later, the black crystal had completely broken down, making the liquid inside the bowl much thicker and darker.

Bubbles started to form on the surface of the liquid as it turned hotter by the second. Bryan immediately put 60 ml of orikonta fruit pulp into the liquid to cool it down.

After the liquid had cooled down, Bryan grabbed the vial containing 10 ml of Sea Kolag's blood and emptied it inside the bowl. The liquid had now turned the darkest shade of red as it began to heat up again.

Finally, Bryan grabbed the vial that contained 10 drops of dawn agave extracts and carefully emptied it into the dark red liquid.

Soon, the liquid began to cool down once again as the dark red color now contained a tinge of gold in it.

Bryan wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead and heaved a tired sigh, "Phew! That was fucking taxing!"

He then looked at the potion that lay dormant inside the bowl with bright eyes. The concoction process was a success and now, the potion was ready!

Benny hopped onto the study table and looked at the potion inside the bowl with curious eyes.

'Is it done?' He looked at Bryan and asked mentally.

Bryan nodded his head as his lips curled up into a bright smile, "Yes! Now I need to consume the potion within the next five minutes."

There was a reason for this. Every potion concocted, had a time limit within which it retained its maximum potency. Therefore, it was imperative that the Apprentice drank the potion within that time limit.

The Apprentice could certainly drink after the time limit was up, however, that would lower the chances of a successful advancement.

Bryan gently picked up the ceramic bowl and walked toward his bed. He carefully kept the bowl at the center of the bed, got on top, and sat down in a lotus position.

He then took deep breaths to calm down his emotion and clear his mind before he consumed the potion.

Exactly 361 days ago, Bryan had started his journey as an Apprentice and today he was finally going to become a Transcendent! His heart was churning with tumultuous waves and he found it difficult to calm down.

Benny who was comfortably lying down right in front of Bryan, suddenly waved his right paw. A gentle gust of wind blew in the bedroom out of nowhere and Bryan could feel the soothing wind tug at his hair and clothes.

His mind now became calm as a lake with no ripples to be found. Bryan looked at Benny for a few moments and smiled gently. He didn't know what the little bugger had done but it sure did the job, "Thank you."

"Meow~" Benny lowered his head as his eyelids drooped a little, however, his entire attention was on Bryan's every move, whether external or internal.

Bryan looked at the dark red potion speckled with a golden tint inside the bowl with a calm yet determined look in his eyes.

He then picked up the bowl with both hands and chugged the entirety of the potion in one go!

A few moments later, Bryan put the empty bowl beside him and closed his eyes as he patiently waited for the mental imprints of the two Transcendent creatures—Sea Kolag and Dusk Crab—to attack his mind.

As he was feeling the warm yet cold sensation of the potion in his stomach, the mental imprints that he was expecting, never arrived even after a few minutes had passed.

But right at that moment, just as he was feeling confused, Bryan felt his consciousness turn blurry and the next moment, before he knew it, he found himself in a pitch-black environment.

After feeling around for a while, he speculated that he was in an underwater region, probably the benthic zone at the bottom of a lake or a river. Because he was able to feel the solid ground underneath and the terrifying underwater pressure from above.

Everywhere he looked, there was only darkness. He didn't know how long had passed as he was engulfed in the harrowing darkness.

Fear gradually began to creep inside Bryan's heart but just the next moment, the area around him was illuminated all of a sudden and he was able to see everything clearly.

However, everything was dyed a shade of fluorescence. Bryan even had the feeling that his vision right now was even better than that during the daytime.

And that's when he realized! That it wasn't the environment that had changed but his eyesight!

Trying to confirm his speculation, he looked down to take a look at this body. And as expected, it wasn't his body. It was that of a fish, more precisely, the Sea Kolag's!

'That's right! This must be the information regarding my innate abilities that comes with the potion. And one of Sea Kolag's innate abilities was Night Vision!' Bryan confirmed in his heart.

He then tried to move his body and swim through the rocks, coral, seaweed, and other underwater vegetation. Soon Bryan got the hang of it and began to agilely swim through the underwater obstacles.

His speed gained momentum by the second as he overtook the various underwater creatures that were bigger and smaller than him. That's when another piece of information flooded his brain!

'Immense physical boost… high speed and high agility!'