Chapter 244: Chapter 243: Spartan Warrior Potion! Chapter 244: Chapter 243: Spartan Warrior Potion! Afterwards, Richard followed the familiar process and recreated a dose of the potion in a glass tube.
When the production was finished, the sweet scent of the potion wafted through the air. Richard saw Pandora, who lay on the bed, twitch her nose and seemed to become agitated. He immediately sealed the glass tube tightly with a wooden stopper, cutting off the scent from spreading further. Pandora twisted her body slightly, then calmed down.
Richard let out a sigh of relief, took the potion, and quickly left to proceed with the planned experiments.
The first subjects of the experiment were the various rodents in the courtyard.
As the experiments went on, Richard noticed a steady decline in the rodent population. Apart from those “gloriously sacrificed” for scientific experiments, the rest were increasingly escaping. Richard speculated that this might be due to the screams heard by the rodents that were “gloriously sacrificed.”
If this continued, it wouldn’t take many days before there would be an insufficient number of rodents to serve as experimental subjects.
Perhaps it would be a better idea to specifically breed a batch of rapidly reproducing lab rats, but that would take up a considerable amount of time. Alternatively, he could ask Alex to catch some rodents? He wasn’t sure if Alex would accept such a peculiar request.
While contemplating, Richard used the captured rodents to quickly test the “Spartan Heroic Potion,” inspecting the impact of different dosages.
After a brief moment of testing and disposing of the bodies of the few rodents that had “gloriously sacrificed” themselves, Richard began to record data on the spare lab table beside him.
“Sss sss sss…” The quill, dipped in ink, rapidly wrote on the papyrus scroll, pausing at the end.
Richard stood up, lifted the glass bottle containing the “Spartan Heroic Potion” to eye level, and with a glint in his eye, said, “Next is the human trial. I hope there will be some surprises.”
After finishing his statement, Richard opened the bottle’s stopper, brought it to his mouth, controlling the dosage, taking a very small sip—not swallowing it, but keeping it under his tongue.
This was Richard using sublingual administration, a method to speed up the effect of the potion.
Generally, there are various ways for a drug to take effect in the body, from fastest to slowest: inhalation, intraperitoneal injection, sublingual administration, intramuscular injection, subcutaneous injection, oral administration, rectal administration, and transdermal administration.
Sublingual administration, ranked third, involves absorption into the bloodstream through the capillaries under the tongue, bypassing what is known as the “first pass effect,” thus acting faster than oral administration; the only downside is limited intake, generally used for small dosages.
The most common example is during a sudden heart attack (angina) when patients use sublingual administration to absorb the medicine—nitroglycerin (pharmacologically used to treat heart diseases, chemically used to make explosives)—which takes effect in a very short time, potentially life-saving. Otherwise, by oral administration, the effect could take hours, by which time the patient’s body might already be cold.
At this moment, Richard was absorbing the potion through sublingual administration, standing quietly in place, waiting for the effects to take hold.
Before long, Richard felt the changes.
“Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump!”
His heart within his chest began to beat faster, blood pressure rose, and the blood vessels under his skin protruded one by one.
His breathing became rapid, the oxygen consumption of his body’s cells greatly increased, and metabolism intensified.
“Crack, crack, crack!”
Richard clenched his fists, and a series of cracking sounds came from his joints as his strength considerably grew. At the same time, speed, vision, hearing, and perception were all enhanced to varying degrees.
After a while, the drug’s effects wore off, and Richard “gulp gulp” drank down a large cup of salt water to replenish the water loss caused by increased metabolism during the test. He steadied his mind and began to analyze.
“It seems,” he mused, “that it’s quite similar to what I had guessed earlier. The ‘Spartan Heroic Potion’ is like a stimulant that primarily enhances metabolism and blood circulation to exert its effects, improving the body’s reflexes, endurance, and burst strength, akin to adrenaline in the human body. However…”
Richard’s brow furrowed slightly.
“However… what Macbeth said about it being able to stimulate a ‘Bloodline Seed’—what’s that all about? Is it supposed to trigger a mutation on top of boosting metabolism? But that seems a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it? After all, the direction of mutations can’t be controlled…”
After much thought, Richard failed to make a record and could only sigh, “Let’s put that aside for now. ‘Bloodline Seeds’ are as rare as Wizards, and without research samples, it’s hard to figure out.”
Speaking of samples, there were several on the ‘Lisben’ island. Unfortunately, one was killed by himself, and two were killed by Macbeth, leaving none alive—what a waste.
With a slight shake of his head, Richard went over to his desk and started recording the data and results of his own experiment. Once the recording was done, he took the “Spartan Heroic Potion” and began the process of manufacturing it for sale.
The primary step in the process was to dilute—no, it’s better said, to dilute with water.
This wasn’t because Richard was greedy but rather because he was cautious.
After all, the current version of the “Spartan Heroic Potion” he created had a stronger effect than the original. If it got out, who knows what kind of trouble it might cause?
Besides, without dilution, he could only produce and sell one bottle at a time. Given the raw materials, production process, labor costs, and technical content, although some in White Stone City could afford it, selling it through Alex’s channels would be difficult. After all, those who could afford it were all Wizards, whom Alex had no access to.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Richard poured part of the potion into a large volumetric flask and began adding water.
Tenfold dilution? Twentyfold? Fiftyfold?
Might as well make it a hundredfold.
A large volume of water was added, and the liquid’s color quickly thinned until at last, it was a pale gold, flickering faintly.
He wondered, what to name this potion diluted a hundred times?
Blood of Gold? Wasn’t that a bit misleading?
Never mind, let’s just modify the original name—since it was “Spartan Heroic Potion” before, let’s call it now… “Spartan Warrior Potion.” This way, the origin and backstory of the potion are all set.
Having organized the diluted potions into a wooden box, Richard walked into the laboratory where Pandora was sleeping.
Pandora continued to sleep; her head moved slightly, as if she’d heard—or perhaps not.
But that meant she had heard.
With that in mind, Richard turned and left.