Derot shared the information on the potions with his merchants and employees before sitting down with Zach and writing down the details of their business agreement. They divided the profits, responsibilities, and objectives fairly.


    Derot and his merchants were in charge of sourcing supplies and distributing and selling the potions and creations of Zach''s alchemist. In reality, it was something any merchant could do. A third of the profits was theirs. If they wanted to earn even more, they would just have to sell more, buy better but cheaper ingredients, gather sponsorships, and so on.


    Zach''s alchemists producedmon potions but also potions that others in the Empire hadn''t even heard of. Those kinds of potions wouldn''t be popr at once since they were an unknown. And unknown potions had unknown effects and side effects.


    But the Gaville House was a trusted merchant house. Their name guaranteed the safety and efficiency of the new potions entering the market. In a way, Zach borrowed their name to sell those potions, which would have been difficult to do otherwise.


    However, that only increased sales in the short term. In the long term, Zach was confident his potions would earn a reputation and sell like hotcakes even without the Gaville name.


    So, the fact that Zach''s merchants were the only ones who could create those potions earned them seven out of ten parts of the profits. The one thing that didn''t get them eight out of ten parts was the group of rogue alchemists who had stolen both materials and recipes instead of waiting for Zach to return from his break.


    But the recipes they had were limited, and Alzara had already created new ones that would leave them in the dust. So, Zach wasn''t worried, even Derot was. The young merchant had to consider potentialpetitors and defamation.


    Zach had been on a break for three months and then waited another month before initiating sales outside Basilia. If those alchemists had already started producing and selling potions simr to the ones Zach and Derot were trying to sell, they could be used of theft and improper business ethics.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Derot decided to look into that as soon as he left Basilia with his carriages loaded with potions. If those rogue alchemists were going to be a problem, it would be best to deal with them as soon as possible.


    Zach started working on papers and documented history of ownership, creation, and theft of ingredients. Just in case something came up, it would be good to have evidence.


    Zach waved off Derot and the merchant carriages with an expectant smile. All possible trouble aside, the next time Derot returned, he would be carrying a bunch of money and a slip of paper recording everything deposited in the Imperial Bank. It would be the first money Zach truly earned on his own. It would be a product of efforts and not scamming the people of Basilia just to gather funds to buy more materials and supplies. None of that had gone to him. It had all gone into cirction.


    But the potion business would be profitable. That meant Zach would earn disposable ie. It was great.


    He couldn''t wait.


    However, he could keep himself busy.


    The Underworld had set a six-month deadline for the ceasefire. Two of those six months remained. Zach and the others spent one month training, studying, preparing, and crafting.


    It was difficult to grow stronger in such a short time, but the ones who had been a hair away from level twenty finally reached it and summoned their third familiars, adding a punch to their avable forces.


    Dukiel had spent his break working in the city, so he had ended upgging behind but only slightly behind Nessa and Violina. He was thest to summon a third familiar, and he summoned a mostly see-through blob of water-like slime. Since it looked like he had summoned a coherent puddle of water, it had disappointed Dukiel.


    Then, he looked at his summoning interface. It was an S-rank. Since the Transformation Cube had been an S-rank, he knew his next familiar would be at minimum the same rank. But he had needed the interface to confirm it for him.


    He still wasn''t sure what his Symbiotic Slime did, though. But it clung to Dukiel with its soft body, quickly warming his heart.


    Second-tost to summoning their third familiar was Violina with her S-rank Frost Wraith. The short ghost-like familiar had already gained a reputation for scaring the first-years as it floated through the Academy''s walls in the middle of the night, looking for snacks.


    Violina might have been second-tost, but she was only a day behind Nessa, who summoned a bat familiar with a pattern of a red circle and orange waves on its furry, ck, back that resembled a rising sun. The pattern on the bat''s back wasn''t for nothing. It had something to do with its name Dawnthief Bat.


    It was an impressive name, even more so if it had something to do with its history. Since it was an S-rank familiar, it was entirely possible there was more to the name than it simply having a pattern resembling dawn on its back.


    Whatever the case, Nessa couldn''t stop bouncing around in joy ever since she summoned it. Zach and the others had to lock their doors to stop her from barging in at any time of the day and night to tell them about her S-rank familiar whenever she got excited again.


    It seemed part of her contract skill with the Dawnthief Bat made her resistant to the nightly urges of living people. Ever since summoning it, she had a much easier time staying awake at night.


    She was even worse than Anerias, who also summoned his first S-rank familiar, a Darkwing. It was a little simr to Nessa''s bat. It had membranous wings. It was kind of ck in color. It had short, smooth fur. But that was where the likeness ended.


    The Darkwing had a longer snout with more, sharper, and longer teeth. It had sharp ws at the tips of its wings. It didn''t have any ears. And it was a few timesrger than the Dawnthief Bat.


    Anerias wouldn''t stop bragging about it by having it flyps around the others'' heads and the Academy at surprisingly fast speeds. When it flew at top speed outside the Academy, the students had to exert themselves to see it as more than a shing blur.


    But at the end of the day, Violina and Dukiel, who summoned S-rank familiarsst time, were a little disappointed that they hadn''t summoned any SS-ranks this time. Zach had summoned one after summoning an S-rank, and he had done it as his second familiar.


    Now, he wasn''t just one familiar ahead of them in terms of rank.


    The two couldn''t help but want to catch up. But they had ended up further behind. Anerias felt simrly, but he was encouraged by his Darkwing. It had brought him closer. He was confident his next familiar would be SS-rank.


    Nessa was happy just to have left her C-rank self behind.