116 Stupid Alchemis (1/2)
Only when Xu Miao was in the Isolation Training Space, he could examine the new quest and the message logs.
A quest had been forced into Xu Miao's hands. There was no time limit like the tutorial quests. Yet, Xu Miao wasn't happy. The existence of higher beings dictating his fate made Xu Miao uncomfortable.
'I'm glad I didn't pick the MAX LEVEL option when I answered those questionnaires. Had I picked that choice, I would have gotten stuck under one of those gods forever.'
Jia Shan taught Xu Miao that accepting a god's dao or power would make him a vessel of that god. Therefore, accepting illogical OP strength from a god would be the same as volunteering to be their slave.
With that logic, Xu Miao had a theory regarding the system. He glared at the system menu with a deep frown.
”Are you also a dao or a will of some gods, system?”
\u003c\u003cNo. Your system has never given you freebies since everything requires you to earn it with your hard work while you're betting your life on it. Secondly, your sponsor has never given you [Dao], [Knowledge], or some of his memory. Therefore, you don't owe anything to your sponsor.\u003e\u003e
That was a piece of good news. Xu Miao was relieved that he wouldn't become someone's vessel.
”What about you? Am I owing you anything?”
\u003c\u003cNo. Everything that you've acquired, including the dual-cultivation skills, dantian, essence, items, or various perks, comes from tutorial quests. Tutorial Quests are something like a forced gamble - you either earn big or die trying.\u003e\u003e
Another piece of good news, the system was not a dao. Xu Miao was still a freeman.
”What are you, then?”
\u003c\u003cI'm a system.\u003e\u003e
”…”
Xu Miao had a surprised-Pikachu-face expression. The system avoided his question, and he couldn't get the answer to what kind of relationship between dao and the system.
”What is the sponsor's goal? Why did he give me the system?”
\u003c\u003cYou don't have enough authority to access this information yet.\u003e\u003e
Xu Miao rolled his eyes, ”When can I access it, then?”
\u003c\u003cPlease complete a campaign with the five-star difficulty.\u003e\u003e
Hearing about the campaign mode, Xu Miao was interested, ”What's the campaign mode? What's the five-star difficulty?”
\u003c\u003cYou don't have enough authority to access this information yet.\u003e\u003e
”…”
The system kept trolling Xu Miao. It seemed that he had to kill Xie Tian and unlock this mode to explore the detail himself.
Even then, Xu Miao got enough information. As long as the system wasn't a dao of some gods, he didn't have to worry about continuing using it.
Xu Miao opened the system shop since the previous system messages informed him that it had new items.
.
Low-Grade Healing Pill (10): 10 Yang Essence
Low-Grade Spirit Pill (10): 10 Yang Essence
Low-Grade Refreshment Pill (10): 10 Yang Essence
Low-Grade Berserk Pill (1): 10 Yang Essence
Low-Grade Spirit Poison Pill (1): 10 Yin Essence
[Items]
Succubus Menstrual Blood (1ml): 100 Yin Essence
Ring of Yin Slave (1): 10,000 Yin Essence
Alchemist Starter Pack: 1 Yang Essence
Yin Yang Divine Vein Pill Ingredient Pack: Free (Sponsored by Kunwu)
[Permanent Skill]
Yang Flame Resistance (5%): 5,000 Yang Essence
Yin Flame Resistance (5%): 5,000 Yin Essence
[Unlockable Mode]
Alchemy System: Free (Sponsored by Kunwu)
[Recipe]
Yin Yang Divine Vein Pill: Free (Sponsored by Kunwu)
.
Seeing that the new items were free, Xu Miao bought all of them right away, including the Alchemist Starter Pack.
The alchemist starter pack ejected 100 five-year-old spirit ginsengs and a 30-centimeter brown high cauldron from the system screen.
\u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e
\u003c\u003cYou have unlocked Alchemy Feature.\u003e\u003e
A new menu appeared. On the screen, two giant windows partitioned the menu. On the left side, it contained the list of alchemy recipes. On the right side, it showed a successful percentage and possible results.
Currently, all recipes showed a big [0] as Xu Miao's alchemy mastery.
The recipe was for a low-grade healing pill, which was being sold in the system shop. It was pointless to make extra healing pills since Xu Miao could buy them, but these ingredients could serve as a practice.
In the recipe, Xu Miao only needed one spirit ginseng root as an ingredient. It also showed the alchemy process from the beginning, including how to use Yang Qi and Yang Fire.
Xu Miao looked at the cauldron and the pile of ginsengs.
'I can use a bit of yang fire. It's the same as yang flame from my dual-flame, but it's milder.'
Following the recipe's instruction, Xu Miao separated the leaves from spirit ginseng roots. The recipe said that the leaves were the main ingredient of low-grade refreshment pills, so he didn't discard them.
As for the roots, they would be cooked with Xu Miao's yang fire to become a low-grade healing pill.
After processing all 100 ginsengs, Xu Miao rubbed his hands, having fun doing something new other than fighting or having sex.
'I've dreamt of doing this for a long time. I wonder how alchemists in cultivation worlds cook their pills. I'll gonna have a lot of fun burning the shit out of these roots!'
Xu Miao tossed a root into the brown cauldron. Then, he summoned his yang flame and dropped it into the container. He closed the lit and began controlling the fire and the ginseng with his Qi.
…
5 minutes later, Xu Miao finished cooking the root. When he peeked inside the cauldron, he found only black ashes.
Of course, no rookie could complete a pill with only a recipe or without direct supervision from a senior alchemist.