In Mushoku Tensei with an A.I. Chip

Luke looked at the vial he held in his hand with a feverish gaze. It was filled with a slightly luminescent blue liquid, a little more viscous than water. Though it looked like something others would disdainfully deem as radioactive waste, it was a treasure in Luke's mind. 

The A.I. Chip had outdone itself, achieving results way faster than he had expected. In his hand held a modified potion originating from the Magus World, made with ingredients from the Six-Sided World. 

It had taken a week for the A.I. Chip to finish analysing, cataloguing and then cross referencing the New World ingredients with ingredients and potion recipes from the Magus World, and then exactly 46 days after that to deduce and simulate a functioning recipe for a potion. 

Luke had predicted it would take years for there to be even a half-success, but to think it had only been a month and a half since the A.I. Chip began its deductions and simulations… It might have just been a wild stroke of luck, a fluke, a statistical implausibility, but Luke didn't care. 

The tincture he held in his hand now represented not just a single successful potion recipe, but evidence! It was evidence that ingredients in the Magus World could be successfully substituted with ingredients from the Six-Sided World. It was proof of concept that potions from the Magus World could indeed be recreated in the new world. All he would need was time. 

The A.I. Chip's database was 87% damaged, meaning only approximately 10% or so of its database of Magus World ingredients and potion recipes remained intact. Many recipes were irreversibly damaged, being over 80% incomplete or more. Those that had 50% damage or less had already been in the process of reconstruction since the split soul entered this world. 

Without needing Luke to even give the order for the A.I. Chip to do so, it already began the process of salvaging what it could when Luke was still just a fetus in Selena's womb. Needless to say, however, with such heavy damage to its database and memory, it was a slow and ineffectual process that yielded little results. 

But with the newly replenished database of ingredients from the new world, it could now start the slow and agonising trial and error simulation of replacing Magus World ingredients with the ones here. 

It was like trying to brute force a password by attempting thousands upon thousands of alphanumeric combinations over and over in hopes of hitting the perfect combination. 

His first priority was for a recipe to a potion that could increase his magic power. There had been a few ancient recipes the Original had relied on to raise his magic power and spiritual force. Though it was only when he was an acolyte and a rank 1 warlock. Reliance on potions ceased when he reached rank 2. 

These potions were usually made of strange and esoteric key ingredients such as souls. The Magus World had techniques, typically associated with Dark Magi, of capturing and refining souls. Unluckily enough, all of these methods were lost to the spatial storms of the Astral Plane. 

When the Original ascended to become a Rank 6 Breaking Dawn Monarch, as a Warlock in the Central Continent full of Magi, he had been invincible under Rank 7. It was, hence, easy for him to 'request' copies of all types of archives and research from all Magi organisations. 

No one dared to say no to the strongest Breaking Dawn Monarch in the world at that point. 

It was ironic that while the Original could only rely on a handful of potions he deduced himself to increase his Spiritual Force and Magic Power when he needed it, when he no longer needed these recipes he suddenly had hundreds at his disposal. 

But even if the Original did not need potions to raise Spiritual Force and Magic Power any more, he was the type of person who would never overlook anything that could potentially help him on his all consuming mission for eternity. 

Of course, only a fraction of these were complete recipes. Most were fragmentary recipes due to age or whatever reason. And the damage only got worse after the Split Soul went through the Spatial Storm. 

Not all were recipes for raising Spiritual Force and Magic Power either. There were offensive concoctions used for attacks, defensive decoctions used to protect, physique tempering elixirs for strengthening the body and all manners of esoteric draughts used for varying purposes. 

The Original liked using potions for combat when he was just starting out in his journey as they only needed some time and resources to craft but let him save his Magic Power for other purposes. 

This particular tincture he held in his hand, however, was not a combat oriented potion. It was a recipe for an elixir that could raise his magic power. 

Cerulean Ocean. It was a potion used in the Central Continent of the Magus World primarily by Rank 1 Magi to increase their Spiritual Force. It was a rather popular recipe amongst the Official Magi in the Central Continent primarily due to its ease of concocting and minimal side effects. It was one of the rare recipes that survived the spatial storms of the astral plane with near 100% completion. 

And serendipitously, the ingredients used for the Cerulean Ocean were uncommon in the Central Continent, but not exactly rare or priceless. The total cost of brewing the potion from scratch was 6 Silver Asura Coins, give or take a few coppers, which was about twice the monthly salary of a maid in Notos Keep - not at all expensive for a nobleman, but prohibitively so for a commoner. 

There were altogether twenty eight ingredients used in the modified recipe, five more than the original recipe from the Magus World, but it worked and with a smashing 76% efficacy to boot! 

However, the retrofitted process of brewing this potion was incredibly complicated and finicky, though not particularly time consuming. To the point that even Luke only had a 30% chance to successfully brew the potion. It was impossible for anyone else to do so without the A.I. Chip's assistance. 

And mind you, this was only the first iteration. The A.I. Chip was only going to keep deducing and simulating it further, increasing its potency, reducing cost and simplifying the process as well. 

Based on the biochemistry of his body, the A.I. Chip had given Luke approximately 98 days before he hit puberty, so this potion could not have come at a better time. 

Sure Luke had methods to delay his inevitable biological maturity. He could use Healing spells to alter the hormonal makeup of his body, suppressing testosterone production. But there would be lasting side effects for doing so, ones that could not be easily fixed with Healing Magic, at least not with the magic capacity he currently had. 

Luke decided not to hamstring his body's development just for the sake of meagre natural mana pool growth. 

Within the secure confines of his personal lab in a secluded wing of the Notos Keep, Luke admired the Cerulean Ocean elixir for a minute longer - its luminescent glow, the perfect viscosity and consistency of the liquid within the vial, the potential it represented - before deciding to bite the bullet and down the alchemical mixture in a single swig. 

Glug, glug. His throat muscles contracted as the surprisingly sweet and fruity concoction went down his gullet. Not a single drop was wasted, and every bit of the potion was ingested. 

Luke then immediately sat in a magic circle he had already prepared beforehand. 

Magic circles was another field of research Luke was very interested in. The fundamentals of the subject had been learned through books, and Anthony had shared what more he knew on the topic.

Firstly, there didn't seem to be any discernible language used in designing and drawing a magic circle. From the illustrations from books and demonstrations from Anthony, magic circles were comprised entirely of shapes, patterns and markings encapsulated in a circular form. 

No one really knew where magic circles originated from, at least the authors of the books Luke read as well as Anthony didn't, or how they even really worked. Sure they knew that drawing certain shapes would evoke certain magical reactions, but the how and why was left out of every and all explanations of the subject. The magicians of this world were too content with their ignorance, Luke disdainfully condemned.

Although deep dives of magic circles by the scholars of this world were lacking, criminally so in Luke's opinion, it did not prevent him from making use of them. The best illustration he could use as an analogy to describe magic circles was programming code. Certain lines of code (a set of letters, numbers or other characters) represented particular instructions that, when layered and combined, formed algorithms which could be seen as functions. 

And when it came to programming, nothing could beat an A.I.

The particular magic circle drawn to mechanical perfection with white chalk Luke now found himself sitting within, was designed by the A.I. Chip to maximise the effects of the Cerulean Ocean. Not specifically Cerulean Ocean, but more around the concept of 'digestion' to minimise wastage of the magic power production. 

Theoretically, it would also aid in digesting regular food quicker. 

He cleared his mind of distractions and focused on absorbing the potion. 

It began slowly, with Luke not feeling anything at first before a dull ache suddenly throbbed in his core. The pain wasn't bad, akin to indigestion, but it was a sign that the potion was working as intended. 

He could feel the magic power within him roiling, circulating even without any conscious control, as cerulean blue mist was breathed out when he exhaled. Spots of light glowed beneath his skin, giving Luke an ethereal appearance as though freckled with light. 

[Beep! Changes detected in Host's Magic Power!]

[Magic Power has increased by 1.2!]

[Magic Power has increased by 5.3!]

[Magic Power has increased by 8.8!]

The dull ache slowly intensified for a few minutes longer before greatly intensifying at the last moment, like Luke had just been stabbed by a rusty knife. However, his disciplined mental state and high pain tolerance let him endure the pain without making a single sound. 

The final burst of sharp pain was a good sign, however. It indicated the completion of potion digestion. All of these aches and pains were in line with the original recipe of the Cerulean Ocean. If Luke had not felt anything after consuming the potion, it would have instead been concerning. The entire process took only 5 minutes with the help of the magic circle that faded away once its purpose was fulfilled. 

Magic circles were usually single-use, unless made permanent by engraving it in the foundation or inlaying the patterns with magic-conductive material. This particular magic circle was drawn with ink infused with mana. 

Luke sat with the pleasant sensation of a soothing coldness that had immediately replaced the sharp pain within his core for a minute before asking the A.I. Chip for a report. 

[Beep! Magic Power has increased by 60.9! Total Magic Power is now: 309.6!]

[Potion efficacy detected estimated within range of 69% - 70% of original recipe. Medicinal properties slightly degraded due to inadequate magic circle and imperfection of ingredients used.]

Luke couldn't help the grin that stretched from ear to ear. Nearly 61 points in his Magic Power was more than the amount of his natural mana growth with training over the past year!

And with more than 300 magic power, he finally had enough mana to cast a Saint-rank spell! 

The Cerulean Ocean was not a one time only potion, as he could take it again to further raise his magic power. However, the next time he took this potion, the effectiveness would most likely be halved, and then every subsequent usage thereafter would only keep decreasing in benefit until it was as useful as drinking water. 

But even then, it didn't matter. With the Cerulean Ocean as a proof of concept, it would only be a matter of time until the A.I. Chip modified more potions with similar effects. 

And the Cerulean Ocean's recipe wouldn't become useless just because he could no longer use it for himself. 

In a world where magic power was widely believed to be fixed from birth, and could no longer be raised past prepubescence, how valuable would the Cerulean Ocean be? 

In other words… How much would a potion that could increase mana capacity be worth to the magicians in this world who all believed they could not have a larger mana reserve? 

Luke had a cold, sly smile on his face as he began preparing the next set of ingredients needed to brew the Cerulean Ocean.