Chapter 19 - 19 A Month's Pay For A Job's Day.

"So, tell me, how long had you been a botanist? I mean to say expertise on herbs?" Pointus mentioned as he placed some herbs on top of his work table in the backroom to prepare the necessary medicines. He had a small mortar and pestle, some glass tumblers and a small weighing scale.

"Oh, just off and on, as and when to those who needed my assistance. Nothing much really, it's just that I had a vast knowledge on certain herbs such as mushrooms, algae and Ginseng plant."

"Ah, Ginseng plant. I have that in my garden and it was a gift from a friend a very long time ago. It was just a small rhizome before and I planted it and now it had grown like a small shrub, more like some scrawny bush. Is it normal that way?"

"Depends on weather conditions. My wild Ginseng was able to grow fully in about 3 months but since I was studying Wizardry, I managed to make it grow within 3 weeks."

(I can't say that I made it grow overnight by imbuing the soil with Psi Healing Energy Spheres, its a secret and I just wanted it to stay that way.)

"Very interesting, mixing botany with Wizardry... Hmm, do you know what this is I'm preparing?"

I peered at it and I immediately knew it since this herb had already been 'stored in my database'. "That's a Milk Thistle fruit. It is used to treat liver conditions and high cholesterol, and to reduce the growth of cancer cells. Are you making an extract as a liquid form or a pill? How many do you need to produce?"

"Right now I have a basket full of them, about 5 kg of those. It would be best if I could produce pills and then push it to the infirmary so that they could distribute to those who had some liver conditions. This is due to many nights of binge drinking."

"Alright, believe it or not, that's the main reason I took up wizardry in my line of work. Let me try one and see if it works or not."

"Be my guest, my young apprentice," Pointus replied and I gestured him to move back a short distance away because what he may see if going to be a shocking revelation to him. Who would have thought that a botanist would use wizardry in his line of work?

I sat at the counter after taking a handful of fruits. I held my left hand flat and I concentrated the air around me to generate Kamehameha furnace and the flames danced on my left palm. "WHAT IN THE WORLD..." exclaimed Pointus as he saw the dancing red flames on top of my left palm.

Next I rubbed my right palm over my thighs and generated some heat and I held it out in front of me and generated the Psi Energy Healing Sphere and when it was large enough, I placed my right palm next to my left and the reddish flame swallowed the Psi Energy Healing Sphere and it turned bluish-white after being imbued together.

"Alright... Don't worry, this is cold fire, not hot to the human touch or else my left palm would have been burned already. I'm going to start with one fruit first." I said as I threw the milk thistle into it. "Quick, get me something to catch those pills." I motioned for Pointus and he came with a small porcelain bowl and held in his hands.

As soon as I could feel the pills coming out from my left palm, I asked the porcelain bowl to be placed directly underneath as I shook my left hand and the pills slowly dropped out. Tiny pills the size of 5mm and about 0.2g were dropped into the bowl.

"There you are, how many pills are there altogether?"

"6 pills per fruit. This is REMARKABLE... I never knew wizardry could be fused together with botany or pharmacy to make pills."

"Alright, help me with that fruit basket and we could be over this within an hour. I guess you need to have a bigger bowl than this." I said and Pointus nodded and came back with a large metal basin and he placed it on the floor and I shifted my position that the fruits could be easily deposited and the pills are withdrawn without much effort.

Soon, Pointus was feeding my Kamehameha furnace with ladles of fruits and once the pills had been produced, it dropped into the metal basin like rain on a zinc roof. *Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink! Tink!" About an hour later, Pointus had fed the furnace with the last ladle of milk thistle fruits and he saw that the metal basin he had placed on the floor was brimming with thousands of pills.

*Ding* Congratulations. Success on producing 'Milk Thistle Pills' by using 'Pills By Mind Control'. Congratulations. You had levelled up to Level 26/100,000. You had levelled up Basic Herbalist Level 4/10. Progress 36%. Allocated points +40. Allocate now?

"OFF" I muttered and a 'NO' under my breath as I turned the furnace off from my left palm. "Phew, it seems easy but I had spent quite some mana to actually control that flame for more than hour," I said and congratulate myself for gaining 416% which was represented as one herb as 1%. Not bad... Not bad at all. Slowly and surely and I have yet another 40 points to allocate. Woohoo... How cool was that!?!?

"This is the first time I've seen someone worked one Class and one profession to combine together to help aid the profession. And so many pills in such a short time...! Very productive and efficient...! It would take me months to complete extracting these fruits, let alone making them into pills. You're really a lifesaver, young apprentice. I really owe you big time. Come, let's cover this thing up and send it to the infirmary."

"My God...! I feel so ashamed to pass you 20 credits for your work done. A half year's work and it could be completed within an hour. Here, take this full month's pay of 600 credits instead. At least I don't feel bad paying you a month's pay for a day's work. Hahahaha." Pointus open up the interface and I received a pouch containing 600 credits.

"Well, Pointus, my gain and your gain. Just keep this as a secret between us. Thank you for your hospitality and kindness. Since you're going to the infirmary, I'd be heading to Blake's. See you again, my friend." I bade him goodbye as he swiped the whole metal basin into his storage and he and I walked together and separated at Blake's. He shook my hand firmly and I knocked on Blake's and entered.

.....

"Well, hello there, Pointus the Pharmacist, good morning to you, you are up and about early this morning, ya?" greeted the head of infirmary. "Is there any issues with the Milk Thistle so far?"

"Oh, no... There are no issues here. It is just that I wanted to show you the work my apprentice had done today." Pointus innocently explained as he entered the office of the infirmary.

"Oh, have you managed to extract the milk thistle so far?"

"Yes and don't be surprised, ya. It's all done and complete. Here, take a look at this." Pointus explained as he swiped his hand and the metal basin full of medicine emerged on the table.

"Oh, My Goodness Lord... Are these the 5kg of milk thistle that we handed you last evening and now it's all done? It's a MIRACLE... Thank goodness. I don't know how you do it but this definitely would be a boost to those patients of ours that are currently having these liver conditions due to overdrinking...!!" the head infirmary said as she took one pill and measured it with a micrometre and then weighed it on the scale.

"Everything is exactly 5mm at 0.2g. Aide... Could you come in here for a sec? Please take these medicine away and pack it into 2 pills each for 3 times daily and pack them for a 7 day period. Label it and let me know how many packets of pills are there altogether."

As soon as the head of infirmary mentioned to her aide working behind in the other room, she emerged and removed the metal basin from the table, and a few of the infirmary staffs started working on it.

"I won't ask how you and your apprentice did it, but I entrust you with the task and here you go, the payment for the process of those pills. Take it, as there will be more work to be done in the next few days. My God... I can't thank you enough for your fine work." the infirmary head exclaimed and handed Pointus a pouch containing 6,000 credits.

He smiled and thanked the infirmary head and walked away, feeling slightly rich as he had gained 5,400 credits after paying me a month's salary for a day's job.