Chapter 73: Chapter 72: Water Root Grass
As Rein continued to read on, he realized his guess was indeed wrong.
For he saw the following record:
"Canine enhancement: To break the shackles of a canine's nature and increase its potential to become ferocious, you can try a daily nutritional meal as the base, with an additional 2 fluid ounces of the mutant growth potion each month (fluid ounce, a unit of volume)..."
"Of course, this unstable potion could cause unpredictable changes in the canine. It must be administered with caution, and observations should be made closely. Should anything go awry, stop the administration immediately, and use..."
"Mutant growth potion formula: 1 ounce of golden sunflower, 1 pair of nocturnal vampire bat wings, 2 carrion wolf claws..."
Upon reading this, Rein couldn't help but ponder. Connecting with the content previously written by Kole, Rein quickly made a rough guess about the situation of the Hyena Queen in his mind.
Kole must have cultivated the Hyena Queen 'Maria' by chance using just one bottle of the mutant growth potion.
But it seemed just as written in the book, in addition to becoming stronger and larger, the Hyena Queen also mutated.
Only... the direction of mutation was the rarely seen... reproductive direction...
This truly was...
Indeed worthy of being called a mutant growth potion...
Rein couldn't help but shake his head.
Continuing to flip through the book, Rein saw many other cultivation methods for different animals.
Many of the cultivation methods needed to be used in conjunction with potions,
and Rein had never heard of those potion recipes. Moreover, the process of making these formulas often involved sections or paragraphs of text written in an unknown language.
"Is it written in another language to keep it secret, or is it that during the concoction, one needs to recite some kind of incantation?"
This made Rein lost in thought, seeming more likely that the latter was the case.
Gently placing the book down.
Rein always felt that this book wasn't so simple.
Imagine, why would a diary used for recording by a person have such a magnificent cover?
The cover was made of silver, not to mention adorned with noble sapphires, rubies, and turquoise. This was something Rein found a bit difficult to understand.
Shaking his head, since he couldn't figure it out at the moment, Rein decided to let it go for now.
Setting the book aside, Rein picked up the Wooden Amulet strung on a fine leather cord to look at.
But after a long look, aside from seeing that the the animals and plants on both sides of the amulet were carved exquisitely, he could make out nothing else.
However, he also understood that anything 'King of Canines' Kole had put into the wooden box with the book couldn't be simple.
It might be just as precious as this book.
A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Rein's mind.
"Is it possible that both the book and the amulet belong to the same master?"
This immediately made his eyes light up.
In that case, it would be easy to explain why 'King of Canines' Kole placed the two items together.
Furthermore, whether it was the patterns on the silver cover of the book or the designs on the amulet, 'nature' could summarize both.
Rein stroked his chin, nodding occasionally, the more he thought about it the more he felt he was grasping the thread of something.
However...
Understanding something and being able to read it are two different matters.
So, in the end, Rein could only keep the amulet sandwiched in the 'Beast Taming diary' and carefully treasure it.
Afterward, Rein crossed his arms and paced back and forth in the room, deep in thought.
"The canine cultivation in the front part of the 'Beast Taming diary,' I can understand, and the various materials should also be purchasable. I could try to create something using some of the recipes and formulas mentioned."
"Perhaps it could trigger the profession panel related to Beast Taming."
"The issue of canines is even easier to solve. During the last servant training session, I could have obtained a greyhound puppy for my home. Only I wasn't assessed as a dog trainer, so I didn't waste money to claim it at the time since adoption would cost three silver coins."
"I can go to the estate myself later and get the canine situation settled. The rest... that would be the recipes and potion formulas. If I'm just starting out, I can begin with simple recipes,"
"The trouble with the potion formulas is the unknown script, which is quite annoying. I'll need to figure out where I can study this knowledge. Since Cole mentioned that ordinary scholars are not familiar with it, this script must be uncommon."
"But... this can be set aside for now."
"Also, the nutrition meal formula: two ounces of water root grass, two eggs, half a pint of milk, twenty ounces of pork or chicken..."
"It seems I haven't really heard of water root grass, so I'll have to check the potion shop first."
"That's decided then. I'll go to the potion shop to see if there's water root grass for sale. If so, I'll buy the ingredients first, then go to get the canine."
Rein quickly went over what he needed to do and prepared to head out to Abel's potion shop.
Abel's potion shop sells not only ready-made potions but also a variety of herbs and raw materials.
If water root grass is for sale in town, the potion shop is the likeliest place.
Soon, Rein arrived at Abel's potion shop. He noticed that Molly was still the one tending the shop. She greeted Rein with a smile as he entered:
"Rein, are you here to see Abel again today?"
"No, Sister Molly, please pass my thanks to Mr. Abel for his help last time. I've come today to ask if you have water root grass for sale?"
"Water root grass? Let me check." Molly seemed a bit uncertain whether the shop had this herb, and immediately turned around to check the shelves with the herbs.
"Yes, we do, Rein. How many do you want?"
"I'll take three,"
"Three? That won't be cheap, you know. They're priced at five silver coins each, so for three, that would be fifteen silver coins! I really don't know what Abel was thinking pricing this herb so high,"
Molly picked up a pale yellow herb to inspect and muttered complaints about Abel now and then.
"Fifteen silver coins?" Rein couldn't help but be taken aback.
At five silver coins each, if he hadn't made a windfall from the canine estate, he might have found this price a bit hard to swallow.
"Yeah, by the way, Rein, what do you need it for?" Molly blinked her large eyes, clearly curious about Rein's purchase of the water root grass.
"Haha, Sister Molly, here are fifteen silver coins." Rein handed over the money with a smile, deliberately not answering Molly's question directly.
After receiving the three stems of water root grass, Rein quickly left Abel's potion shop.
Water root grass resembled radishes in appearance, with a pale yellow skin. It seemed to be the rhizome of a plant but was much smaller than radishes and had more developed roots.
Upon leaving the potion shop, Rein went to other stores and quickly bought all the remaining ingredients.
When Rein returned home, his parents were still not back.
However, Anna and Bo He noticed right away what Rein was carrying in his hands.
"Wow! Brother, what made you think of buying so much food today?"
"That's great; we can have so many tasty things for dinner!"
"Um... that, Bo He, haha, yes!" Seeing his sister so happy, Rein didn't have the heart to voice what he was actually thinking.
What to say?
That he was planning on trying to make dog food?
It wasn't urgent.
The daily ingredients could always be replenished later.
Naturally, his sister's happiness was more important.
At that moment, a familiar voice came from outside.
"Rein, are you home?" George called from the doorway.
"I am! George, long time no see." Rein opened the door and greeted him with a smile.
"Whoa! Rein, you've changed so much!" George gestured at Rein's height, saying in surprise.