The verdict stunned Chen Tu.
To Chen Tu, nothing hits him harder than being told there are no Two-Star Pills found in the seventy Grain Pellets. And with this result in hand, doesn't that equivalent to telling him that the modified recipe doesn't work as intended?
But at the same time, there's no doubt that his newer recipe had a greater yield and higher success rate. The only regrettable part concerning this recipe is the questionable medicinal potency of the concoction.
It might be safe to assume that the mixture was too diluted to achieve a greater yield. Thus, the end product ended up slightly meeting the minimal requirement of a standard pill. Although this concern could be handled with enough patience, there's no shortcut for Chen Tu to use here.
In Alchemy, a shortcut is akin to a double-edged sword. You could uncover the essence or go astray from your primary intention. Hence, it was also why such a thought was considered taboo in this profession.
It also wasn't a secret to the people about a faction opposing the doctrine of the Heavenly Alchemist Association. This powerhouse is known as Sacred Alchemist Cave.
The former attention was placed on medicine, while the latter's attention was on poison. The two were like the alter ego of one another, supporting while contradicting.
As a matter of fact, Chen Tu had been warned during his pill refinement process. And thanks to the urge to satisfy his curiosity, he tried to be innovative on his last three sets of ingredients. The result is naturally the ten below-standard pills in the lot.
This outcome had given Chen Tu enough reason not to partake in alchemy malpractice. Of course, including the ten problematic pills during the inspection also gave Chen Tu leeway to avoid suspicion.
After all, how many people would believe that Chen Tu can modify the Pill Formula in this short time and increase its yield and success rate?
"junior Chen Tu, I am still waiting for your answer." the worker said. He couldn't wait for Chen Tu to slowly make up his mind. And thanks to the limited number of staff, this worker cannot stay too long away from his counter.
If he did, those people in the queue would increase by hundreds.
"Please process the payment for me, senior. As for the remaining pills, I'll be bothering the Supply Office to keep them." Chen Tu quickly answered.
"Alright. The two pills will be temporarily kept in our Supply Office's drawer. This here would be the payment of thirty-two Spiritual Coins. Would you like to count them before I left?" the worker asked with the wooden tray in hand. He was ready to leave if there was nothing else from Chen Tu's side.
"I will be fine, senior." Chen Tu politely accepted the payment without counting them and gestured to the worker reasonably that he would be fine alone. And without other overly cordial exchanges, they went on their own way.
Chen Tu's attention temporarily stopped at the Assignment Board. But a few seconds later, he left quietly.
He didn't take anything from here because Chen Tu felt he was still lacking. After all, his cultivation was merely on the third level in the Body Tempering Layer. This strength was simply a starting point outside the Blood Refining Grotto.
Unless he intended to endanger himself, it would be better to think about it after advancing to the fourth level and mastering one of the Martial Arts. Furthermore, The rewards for the assignment he could take were similar to the pay for helping out in the Spiritual Garden.
This means that it wouldn't mean much to Chen Tu for now.
Chen Tu reviewed everything he went through today once he stepped out of the Supply Office. His total expenses for today were twenty-five Spiritual Coins. Fifteen of them naturally came in the form of ingredients. As for the other ten Spiritual Coins, it was a direct conversion for a Contribution Token.
After deducting the cost with the total from his pill sales today, he had an extra seven Spiritual Coins. Still, it was far to assume it was profitable. He can't forget that there are still small losses to offset from yesterday.
As he stays in his deep thoughts, Chen Tu unconsciously wanders to the Spiritual Garden.
"What brought you over here, junior brother?" Qin Lei greeted Chen Tu after noticing him from afar. He appeared to be busy with the basket of grasses on his back.
"I was simply walking around. Are you lack helpers today?" Chen Tu asked. His question didn't come out of kindness either. It wasn't a secret that Chen Tu was rearing some Crimson-Tailed Pheasants in his land. And to ensure they're fed, collecting these grasses here was necessary.
The food supply had to be replenished once every three days to ensure the Crimson-Tailed Pheasants didn't run away once there was nothing else to eat.
"Yes. If you don't have anything to do, why not help us out? I'll register you into the working book later." said Qin Lei. Since there are still a few places unattended, having Chen Tu here would assure him.
"Alright. Where should I go?" Chen Tu folded his sleeves up and helped. Although there are just a few hours before dawn, having Chen Tu's help is akin to having three people working together. Furthermore, Chen Tu always takes his work seriously.
His meticulous and excellent results leave no gap for others to make things difficult for him.
Chen Tu was paid four Contribution Tokens for helping out. Although it was a last-minute participation, his speed alone cleared four plots of Spiritual Herbs before they finished their work for today. And with the status of an elder's Unofficial Disciple, the others naturally had no qualms about him participating.
After all, who dared to question what right Chen Tu had? He can already be considered one of the small bosses here, alongside the senior workers and his six other brothers and sisters.
Qin Lei suggested while the two were on their way to the food canteen.
"Let's visit the Worldly Treasures Pavilion after dinner!" he said. Since Chen Tu also had the same thought, he naturally agreed without thinking twice. Their dinner lasted for a while, and since the pavilion won't close before late at night, they were not in a rush.
"Is there something bothering you?" Qin Lei asked during their dinner. As someone older than Chen Tu by a few years, he naturally sensed something in Chen Tu's head. He had no reason to dig into his matters unless Chen Tu was willing. Anyway, there's a limit to being helpful to his junior. Furthermore, he hates guessing. If there's something he wanted to know, he would simply ask. "It is something related to pill refinement. I am thinking about asking the teacher the next time we're called to help." Chen Tu politely replied and brushed over the topic. Although there's nothing wrong with sharing things with Qin Lei, Chen Tu feels it was slightly irrelevant to share this with Qin Lei. As a matter of fact, there's a reason for this. While sharing what he experienced over these two days with Qin Lei wouldn't hurt him, Chen Tu felt that he shouldn't bother Qin Lei too much concerning Alchemy. After all, the latter did share with Chen Tu that the study in Alchemy wasn't his priority. T
(What a joke!) Chen Tu's refusal was like a slap to the owner's face. Even if he could afford it, why would he spend the money on buying a piece of rock that had no specific uses? Of course, it could have been different if the owner had been sure about the content inside the stone. But obviously, he doesn't. If he did, perhaps the price of whatever was inside could be worth more than five mere Spiritual Coins. Since he couldn't deliver some trustworthiness in his words, who would be willing to pay his asking price? Even in the eyes of passersby, this thing here was simply a useless rock. Chen Tu's expression remained firm and collected. Although the stall owner only asked for five Spiritual Coins, wouldn't Chen Tu have a better place to spend his money? For example... Buying five more sets of ingredients to refine the Grain Pellets? Of course, it would be great if there was really [True Essence Obsidian Ink] inside the stone. Otherwise, he would have wasted the money for nothi
With a more organized yet relaxing schedule, Chen Tu could allocate his time preparing the ingredients before leaving them to mature. Additionally, although his tinkered recipe had a terrible chance of refining a Two-Star Pill, the losses can be compensated by its higher yield and success rate. The freedom of time he had from the preparation would also give Chen Tu more flexibility in his time to visit the Training Hall. After all, with the ingredient partially handled, the concoction time can be shortened to roughly ten minutes per cauldron. The remaining time would be divided evenly to his rest, studying, working, and cultivating. In a blink of an eye, a few days had passed. Over these few days, Chen Tu had a stable income of fifteen to twenty Spiritual Coins from refining the Grain Pellet alone. If the Contribution Token earned from the Spiritual Garden were added, that would be between fifty to seventy coins. While his choice is slightly less than working in the Spiritual Gard
Qin Lei had left his seat and stood beside Chen Tu at the end of his sentence. Judging from his expression, there's a hint of conflicting emotion fighting inside his head. The conflict was fierce, but as a matter of fact, it only lasted for a few seconds in reality. Considering how Qin Lei's knees gradually bend forward, what he was trying to do is obvious. (I'll kneel in front of junior brother Chen if that's what it takes to get some help...) "Senior brother." Chen Tu's call instantly brought Qin Lei's thoughts back to his physical body. But the strength between his legs was gone as his knees approached the ground faster than they supposed. Fortunately, a foot came forward before Qin Lei's knees touched the ground. A pair of hands firmly grabbed his shoulders simultaneously and helped Qin Lei to stand. "I'm not sure how much I had, honestly... But let us visit the Worldly Treasures Pavilion tomorrow after the harvest. With another day of income, I'm sure we could afford to buy
This time, they only had three newcomers out of the twenty-five participants. By taking Chen Tu and Qin Lei out of the remaining headcount, it was safe to say there were twenty repeating participants. Regardless of how they were chosen, there's no doubt that they're happy to participate in this harvest. After all, only twenty-five people would be chosen from the seven senior workers and Elder Wei Xuan. This means those who weren't chosen could only look at the twenty-five people with a pair of jealous, red eyes. To most, this harvest was merely an excuse for the Spiritual Garden to reward the people they endorsed with Contribution Tokens. While as a matter of fact, that wasn't the case. The reward was plentiful, but not everyone qualified to share the bigger piece of an entire cake. Naturally, some people did well, and some didn't. After all, harvesting a Burial Root properly requires experience, patience, and understanding. If merely using brute strength would get the work done,
Qin Lei naturally saw how that newcomer got accepted by Chen Tu into their group. Being the one closest to Chen Tu, how can he not know what is in Chen Tu's mind? His only worry was Chen Tu being too nice to everyone else. Of course, his concern was not in a bad way. Qin Lei could feel that Chen Tu hardly doubted the intention of other people. Although it was not a bad thing, it wasn't good either. Of course, the worry should only be concerning when they were outside the Blood Refining Grotto. After all, everyone was both junior and senior, brothers and sisters here. Suppose their fellow disciples weren't helping one another in a protected environment. What could be expected when everyone here went outside? Would their sword be pointing at outsiders, or would it be pointing at their own fellow brothers and sisters? Qin Lei decided to keep quiet after he gave it a quick thought. It might still be too early to speak about this with Chen Tu. Furthermore, Chen Tu was merely ten this
Because they're having such an amazing harvest today, Elder Wei Xuan naturally couldn't be stingy with everyone here. When the sky was about to get darker, he had a senior worker bring a word to the canteen, and food was delivered afterward. Furthermore, what they served wasn't the usual menu on the ground level, but the exquisite one available to order on the first level. This kind of generosity was not something one could see often! With a sentence from the elder, everyone came and ate to their heart's content. Of course, that was after someone recorded the number of Burial Roots they handed over to senior workers. Putting the figure today into total, they had harvested seven hundred Burial Roots in this single day. Furthermore, nothing was left to waste because they missed any of them in between. It is also safe to say that there's no matured Burial Roots managed to escape their fat of getting uprooted by these human cultivators. With ten plants in a row, ten rows in one plant
Standing in the middle of their attention, Qin Lei explained his circumstances and reason for collecting such a fund. Naturally, that includes what happened to his father and his intention to buy the Spiritium Velvet Antlers from the Worldly Treasures Pavilion. The exorbitant price of seven hundred Contribution Tokens naturally explained why they needed all they could get. Although this means that not everyone can afford to buy the treasure, there's no say about what would happen if it stays unsold for some time. Although he hadn't intended to eavesdrop on their conversation, the elder could not help but shake his head after listening to Qin Lei's story. Hearing from a distance to a Golden Core Layer cultivator is as simple as breathing. The elder naturally knew who Qin Lei was talking about. After all, the sixth elder, who is also an acquaintance of Qin Lei's father, was the one who asked him to take care of Qin Lei if possible. It was obvious that he knew about this. The only pa