Chapter 44 - 44. I Became A Guinea Pig For Potions Brewery

"Wha... WHAT ARE YOU DOING...?!?!" I managed to holler when Joan advanced towards me and suddenly she gripped my mouth and popped the test tube cover open and poured the contents directly in my mouth.

"Aarrgghh... PTUI... PTUI..." I tried to spat out whatever Joan had concocted down my throat as she took a few steps back and looked at me. The taste of whatever Joan had poured from the test tube had a honey taste and I DEFINITELY DO NOT WISH TO BE TREATED LIKE A GUINEA PIG...

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT????" I screamed at her and felt the substance began to have a reaction from within. It was warm, then turned violently hot and then I felt a chill as though I was dipped into a tub of ice water. The interface began to ring like a broken down MP3 music inside my head and I wasn't able to comprehend a single word it said.

The feelings I've got right now and the ringing of the announcements in my head was making me crazy. Joan slipped a chair behind me and pushed my shoulders down as I was forced to sit there as a mix unknown sensations coursed through my body.

Joan stood there with her arms folded across her chest as she looked at the clock behind her and checked when she had administered that poison and how long was the effect. One moment I was breaking into a cold sweat and the next I was convulsing as if I was going to die the next moment.

My body felt light and heavy at the same time and after 3 minutes or so, I felt a calm, peaceful feeling as the ringing of announcements had subsided and I felt as though my body was back to normal again.

"How do you feel, Audemars?" she asked as she held a clipboard in front of her and was taking down some notes for her experiment on me. "I FEEL LIKE KILLING YOU RIGHT NOW." that was my reply to her question.

"Tsk... Tsk... Tsk... Audemars, would I dare to poison an MC of this novel eh? You can't think so pessimistic my dear Audemars. If I were to ask you in a polite manner to drink the potion, I don't think you'd want to do that."

"OF COURSE I WON'T WANT TO HAVE ANY CONNECTION WITH YOUR POTION AT ALL..." I screamed again and my voice somehow boomed and passerby heard it very clearly.

"Calm down. You are in one piece right now, are you not? Go check yourself out first." Joan advised as she poured tea and offered me one and I flatly refuse. I opened up my interface and it was a bit fuzzy because of the interference from the potion that was forced down my throat. Suddenly I saw a change in the statistics. "Resistance +170%"

"Is this permanent or just a temporary buff," I asked myself and finally, I calmed down and told her my Resistance had increased +150% against all elements.

"Very good indeed. I am sure you have a system where you can check for yourself. Don't worry, this is only temporary and it would wear off 15 minutes later." Joan explained while she continued, "Why are you here in the first place?"

"Definitely not going to be a Guinea pig for you, Joan. Here... Take this and let me know what you think about it. Its a 'Head To Toe' Shampoo meant for at least 10 uses for showering." I explained as I place the porcelain bottle on top of the glass counter where I was forced down to sit on a chair earlier.

Joan took the porcelain bottle and looked at the design and its feel. I guess I had the right choice of getting a simple porcelain bottle to store the contents. One look of it, the ladies would have surely fallen in love with it.

Joan opened up the stopper and a lingering scent immediately wafted out of it and she can't help herself but took a long whiff and a blush of pink emerged from her cheeks, turned it, rosy and at the same time make her a little... Errr... Attractive?

"Aaahhh... This scent is indeed very nice. I could sense some kind of magic in this as well. You said before you were an Alchemist, am I right? A bit of in-between of an Alchemist and a Herbalist, you'd say?"

"Yes, that's what I said before to you when I asked about the instruments that you had used and how I could procure them." I simply replied as I can't forget the way she manhandled me to force the potion down my throat. At least give me a heads up next time, lady...

"I can sense something within it as well, is it a magic spell that had been enchanted within or something? It felts very fresh, invigorating and somehow it manages to get rid of some of the tiredness I felt these days. What did you do?" she asked with her inquiring eyes and held a magnifying glass over her face as she looked at me like Sherlock Holmes would do.

"Eh... What are you doing? Actually, I'm a bit of a Herbalist, alchemist and also a wizard. The magic I had imbued inside it is to regain back the vigour that had been lost. Furthermore, it's a healing spell so if you do have cuts and nicks, it would be immediately healed up, I suppose."

Joan dabbed a little if it on her hands and rubbed it and it formed a lathery feeling. She ran her hands under her sink to wash it off and she felt her hands cleaner than before and the smell lingered on after being rinsed off.

She raised her cupped hands and took a long breath in and immediately she felt totally immersed with the scent. I wonder if people would start smelling their armpits as they go along the streets and smelling each other's armpits as well. Hah Hah Hah...

"I love the smell of this. How much are you selling these for? I love the porcelain ware, it looks rather expensive. It would make a great collection at home." Joan said as she kept her cupped hands over her face and closed her eyes as she sniffed long and hard into it.

"I had shown to Rebecca, the matron of the orphanage and the infirmary head and her assistant and they agreed that 60 credits are very affordable to them."

"60 credits? It's not even half of what my potions sell... My health generation potion costs 150 credits, the mana generation potion costs 200 while the health and mana combo regeneration potion costs 300 credits. And you are selling this for 60 credits? Such a low price for a fine product you've got here, Audemars." she said in a shocked manner when she realises that the product in her hand is a real bargain.

"Here, take this. Keep the change. The balance is for the experiment that I had done on you. So you are going to sell this personally? I heard that there's a beauty store behind the Great Hall. The White House as what people mentioned and that's what I heard."

Joan handed me 100 credits through the trade link and I accepted it. "Its called Beauty World and presently we had come up with a single product, and there are a few more products that I would introduce as well for both ladies and men."

"Hmm, that's very thoughtful of you. Are you married and how many kids do you have?" Joan asked me in which the questions were taken by surprise as I never thought she would present such a question for me.

"I'm actually single, err... And not available. I don't have kids in my own but I have 4 children from the orphanage that called me and Patricia as the Daddy and Mummy." I said after I chose the right words to say.

"Heh, fancy being called a Daddy and Mummy at such a tender age, huh? Well, if you have other products for the ladies, don't mind coming over here." she offered and the first thing in my mind was, "I'M NEVER GONNA BE A GUINEA PIG, YOU WITCH..."

.......

"How did it go, Audemars? Have you managed to talk with the ladies you mentioned?" Patricia asked when I enter Beauty World with a smile on my face.

"Ah yes, the matron was the first I met and she told me the price that she is willing to pay, and so I went round and sold off all the 5 bottles of 'Head To Toe' Shampoo even to Joan."

"Ha Ha Ha... So you managed to sell it to Joan the crazy Alchemist?" Patricia asked and I said that it does come with a price. Patricia cocked her head sideways and looked at me and I said "I was made as a Guinea Pig for one of her potions without asking my permission. She alone paid 100 credits for the bottle of 'Head To Toe' Shampoo while the rest paid up 60 credits each."

The moment the children heard it costs 60 credits each, they were silent for a moment since they were holding something that had a future in their lives. Earlier discussion I told them I'm selling them for 5 credits but since it came in a nice porcelain bottle, the price has to jacked up considerably.

"Daddy, in this case, if a bottle of this sells for 60 credits, then a crate of this holds 50 bottles, so the total earning for this would be 24,000 credits right? And after what I heard from Mummy just now, the cost of making this is just 500 credits, so Beauty World has already an assured profit of 23,500 credits" Ingles surprises both Patricia and me when she mentioned about the earnings after every single 400 bottles had been sold off.

There we have it folks, a real accounting girl in the making. On that first day, Ingles, of the eldest among the girls had outshone herself and unlocked her ability. I wondered if she had an announcement that rang incessantly just like mine. *Ding**Ding**Ding*