Chapter 416: Convenience Post

Chapter 416: Convenience Post

Zheng Yichen slept straight through until the next day. What was Zheng Yichen doing during this time?

Of course, he was playing with the loli in his old haunt. Loris always had a personality unmoved by external things. Even when they were together, because she didn’t have any particular hobbies, conversations would often become completely stiff after just a few sentences. He had thought about this many times. Wouldn’t it be great if she, like Annie and the others, had some small interests?

Even though she seemed to have recently started actively learning some things, for instance, she was recently studying knowledge related to magic potions, and she even personally made a few bottles of Recovery Potion, which prompted Zheng Yichen to take some time to study them. Loris was by his side at the time, but the research results… a Witch’s Talent was never ordinary!

The potion was a good potion, but it was basically unusable. Even though Zheng Yichen whimsically used his own ability to adjust it a bit, slightly altering the nature of the Power of Annihilation contained within, he couldn’t avoid the treacherous nature of this potion. However, the effect changed. As for what that change was?

It became similar to an item like a fate coin in games, something that relied on luck. With good luck, it could be used as a powerful restorative magic potion. With bad luck, it would only make things worse, turning this potion into a self-destruct Divine Artifact that finished off your last bit of health.

This was already the result of Zheng Yichen’s efforts. Loris’s power influence had already penetrated deep into the potion. If that part of the power was completely eliminated, it would mean rendering most of the potion’s power useless, downgrading it to the level of an ordinary potion, which wasn’t worth the loss. Maintaining its efficacy meant the Power of Annihilation contained within could exert its effect in another form.

Influenced by Zheng Yichen’s assimilation power, it bypassed the destructive power damage to the user, allowing that power to take effect through other channels, such as affecting external forces on the user, like Curse Power, or ongoing magic damage, etc. It was equivalent to an alternative Purification Potion, but with the difference of having a high restorative effect. After all, it was a magic potion made with a Witch’s Power; its inherent quality far surpassed potions made by ordinary people.

In short, if you used it while having external invasive forces on your body, there was a chance for this to happen. If your body only had pure physical damage, then there definitely wouldn’t be a recovery without side effects!

This thing was a life-gambling potion.

What did Zheng Yichen say about such research results? Should he directly tell Loris that she might as well research harmful potions, where the effect would double? Could he say that? All he could say was, “Hehehe, our combination is just perfect. We can even make something like this that tests one’s character… blah blah…”

What was even more frightening was that after Zheng Yichen clearly explained the characteristics of this potion, Dan Marina put it in her Online Store and someone actually bought it!! Well, if Dan Marina’s factor was added to such a fate coin-type potion, it probably could bias it towards a certain success or failure direction. She obviously wouldn’t do that, though.

Anyway, regarding that potion, only five bottles had been released so far. After that, Loris didn’t make any new ones, and Zheng Yichen certainly wouldn’t ask her to. Well, no matter what, wasn’t this ultimately a pretty good topic?

Although Zheng Yichen wanted to talk about other things, like games… it was a pity that the current conditions were really limited. He could only come up with games like Gomoku, Go, cards, or Minesweeper. Loris didn’t seem very interested in those. Magic potions… that wasn’t her interest either. The reason she studied them was purely because Zheng Yichen was also studying them.

“I’ll wait for those games you described to appear.”

After waking up at the Border Great Wall, Zheng Yichen rested his chin on his hand, pondering the last words Loris said. Those games… of course, they weren’t blush-inducing, embarrassing games, but the rich variety of Online Games and various large and small standalone games Zheng Yichen had described. Waiting for those games he described to appear… that wasn’t something that could be achieved just by talking about it.

Being able to realize Earth’s games in the Otherworld meant that Zheng Yichen’s attainments in Magic and the use of Spiritual Power had reached an extremely high level. In a word, as long as the foundation was strong enough, everything would be fine!

“So was the purpose of those words encouragement?” Zheng Yichen scratched his head. It felt a bit strange. After all, if he counted the time in the Otherworld, it had been several years. Adding the days lived on Earth, he wasn’t that young, right? In terms of encouragement, he felt that in Earth’s environment with its explosion of network information, it was really hard to be stimulated.

Want to motivate? Offering tangible temptation was far more useful than a bunch of inspirational talk; it was more stimulating.

Putting on an act, he rubbed his eyes. Just after leaving the break room, someone came to find him. The person came to ask if Zheng Yichen wanted to eat. Either he could return to the break room and wait a while, and someone would bring food over, or he could go to the Potion Department’s cafeteria to eat, though the quality of the food there might be lower. The cafeteria wasn’t a place for special meals.

“Hmm, the cafeteria,” Zheng Yichen said without even thinking. A cafeteria… it had been a long time since he had been to such a place. Being able to go again now made him feel a little excited just thinking about it.

“Please follow me.”

Later, Jenna learned about Zheng Yichen’s choice to go to the cafeteria. She nodded. Understanding a person wasn’t just from conversations; many daily behaviors were important references for understanding someone. Clearly having better dining conditions, yet Zheng Yichen straightforwardly chose to go to the cafeteria—this conveyed a message: he was easier to get along with… ahem, at least he didn’t act like some geniuses who always felt superior and acted aloof and exceptional.

For future interactions, this opened up many new arrangements. There was no need to specifically choose very tolerant people… you must know, the Border Great Wall had previously accepted genius magic pharmacists with less-than-ideal personalities. Those were truly infuriating. Although they were eventually disciplined thoroughly after the department head intervened, such geniuses were not ideal.

It wasn’t wrong for geniuses to have their own pride, but this pride wasn’t a capital that required one to be superior everywhere. Excessive pride really wasn’t very welcome, even if some geniuses could truly be that arrogant.

Now that Zheng Yichen had made such a straightforward choice, and acted very familiar and natural in the cafeteria without any unnatural or forced reactions, indicated he wasn’t being pretentious. Of course, if he was purely acting, as long as he didn’t slip up later and maintained this consistently, it wouldn’t matter much before exposure. Faking it for long enough made it real. Hmm, that is, provided it wasn’t for doing bad things.

Thinking about it, Jenna also left her office and came to the cafeteria. She didn’t come to the cafeteria often, not because she had special meals, but because she usually ate in her office to avoid wasting time walking. Especially these past few days, she had been extremely busy. Numerous magic potion reserve information needed to be counted and reviewed.

Magic potions were not permanently effective. A few special potions could be stored long-term, or high-end potions could be stored for even longer—this was also why high-end potions remained potent; they could be stored for a long time without consuming additional resources. But this only applied to high-end and above potions. Other potions were different. For those potions, it wasn’t possible to waste extra costs for additional storage to extend their shelf life… doing so would be worse than making new ones.

So the magic potion reserves at the Border Great Wall were also fluid. Every so often, a portion of the potions stored for too long were disposed of externally. The price naturally wasn’t high, but being able to break even was fine. Now, because of the Undying Witch problem, this area needed to be re-planned, though it was a minor adjustment within the original plan.

But these months had been eventful. Several new types of magic potions had emerged, and each was quite distinctive. The Mana Enhancement Potion, which hadn’t appeared for a long time, had become a new star in the low-end market, especially popular. No adventurer or mercenary didn’t like to take a few bottles of Mana Enhancement Potion when heading out.

This item was also among the magic potions the Border Great Wall stored in large quantities. However, the formula for this thing… was also a bit puzzling. The difficulty of cracking it far exceeded previous low-end potion formulas… one could even say that from the beginning until now, none of the potions Zheng Yichen had innovated had been fully cracked. It wasn’t a problem of ingredients but the production process was particularly puzzling!

Anyway, the Potion Department here had already cracked the ingredient formula for the Mana Enhancement Potion. The real problem was encountering obstacles in reproducing the production process. Using many methods, the potions produced always either didn’t taste right or were unusable fakes, as if missing some extremely crucial step.

After Jenna learned about Zheng Yichen’s operation of matching Base Potions, she suspected if that was the missing step. However, even knowing, researching it would take a long time… it was better to put more effort into working with the Purple Vine Guild. As for directly asking Zheng Yichen for the formula and such, one couldn’t be that shameless, right?

Even from an organizational standpoint, shamelessness was fine if it helped the organization’s development. But given the Purple Vine Guild leader’s capabilities, wasn’t it likely that Zheng Yichen had signed some Contracts? Leaving aside other things, just preventing the potion’s Creator from actively leaking the formula was definitely included. This was a basic condition.

Otherwise, how could they give the creator a share based solely on a formula for nothing?

Asking for the formula wasn’t practical. Even if one could be a bit shameless as a person, one couldn’t force others against their will, especially with contract restrictions in place. This wasn’t like a contract on Earth, where violating it only meant paying a penalty fee. Violating a Contract here meant consequences beyond one’s control.

So, not hoping to get the formula from Zheng Yichen, just being able to learn some of his unique techniques was enough. Of course, techniques were something people created. Others, even if they knew, would only master a trick, a new way of thinking. It didn’t mean they could completely replicate Zheng Yichen’s exact path based on this.

The Mana Enhancement Potion had already become an important magical potion resource. Unfortunately, currently, it could only be stored through purchasing, not produced independently. Then there was the Paralysis Potion. This thing had an even greater role in warfare; even if the price was slightly higher, diluting it for use was fine. The Semi-Awakening Potion was similar…

Zheng Yichen looked at the woman before him. Although somewhat surprised, he wasn’t that taken aback. Even though she sat down in front of him… Before his transmigration, when he attended School, he could casually see the school’s directors or teachers in the cafeteria… well, as long as the timing was right.

So even knowing Jenna was one of the Potion Department heads, it was normal for her to come to the cafeteria to eat. Leaders didn’t have banquets every day… otherwise, when would they have time to work?

“How was your rest?” Jenna asked. The Potion Department’s break room environment was very good. As long as he didn’t sleep on the floor, she wasn’t worried at all about Zheng Yichen saying he didn’t sleep well.

“Very good,” Zheng Yichen said. He slept with his loli last night, so how could he not rest well? “Regarding me, what arrangements are there here today?”

Zheng Yichen asked. Although it was for exchange, he wasn’t representing any organization, so the arrangements depended on what the Potion Department planned to do. As long as he wasn’t used as labor, it was fine. Zheng Yichen came here with his own purpose.

During last night’s rest, although playing with the loli, before playing, he had some communication with Dan Marina. The Sanctuary Church’s team had already entered deep into the Containment Barrier. The environment inside wasn’t just wilderness; it was very complex. The environment inside was affected by the radiating aura from the Abyss Entrance, and many things had become corrupted and mutated. Even a seemingly harmless blade of grass might have ferocious carnivorous roots hidden underneath.

Even casually sitting on a patch of grass, in the blink of an eye, the person sitting there could be completely devoured, leaving no bones. Inside, even an inconspicuous little insect had to be guarded against; one couldn’t be careless at all. Of course, these corrupted, mutated things were only caused by the aura radiating from the Abyss Entrance. They had a strong dependence on that environment. Unless killed, they wouldn’t leave; only after being killed would they leave… taken away!

With such characteristics, they seemed easy to deal with—just leave that environment. But for those who had purposes and had to enter, those things were endlessly annoying. Fortunately, with the power of the Fixation Potion, the huge lethal threats brought by hard-to-notice little things could be ignored… but this consumed quite a bit of the Fixation Potion, which was why the Sanctuary Church had a big shortage of Fixation Potions.

As for other adventurers or mercenaries entering, they still could only rely on traditional methods to deal with such dangers.

“No arrangements,” Jenna said. “After all, you’re not from the Potion Department. Making arrangements for you isn’t appropriate. Speaking of this, we should be asking you what you plan to do.”

“Huh?” Zheng Yichen was slightly stunned, then came back to his senses. “What to do? My original intention in coming here was to provide sufficient support for those entering the Containment Barrier. Don’t look at me like that; it’s not free.”

Zheng Yichen saw Jenna’s strange look and immediately said, “At the very least, the material costs definitely can’t be on me. I can’t afford it.”

She nodded, not too surprised. Zheng Yichen was just a personal magic pharmacist, not affiliated with any organization. His resources definitely wouldn’t be as abundant as those of an organizational magic pharmacist, especially since he only brought one Spatial Expansion Pouch here. How much could that hold?

“I see. Then you actually have a very good place to go.” Jenna thought for a moment and then said, “The matter of the Undying Witch has brought many outsiders to the Border Great Wall. Some of those people want to contribute to dealing with the Undying Witch, while others have ulterior motives. Although we can’t completely determine, certain things still must be done… if you don’t mind the trouble, that place will do.”

The place Jenna mentioned was like a volunteer group… well, that might not be the right term. It was more like some convenience posts specially set up by the Potion Department during critical periods. The danger at the Abyss Entrance was a matter for all Humanity. In such situations, some would choose to escape, while others would choose to actively respond and come to the Border Great Wall.

For those people, the Border Great Wall certainly wouldn’t ignore their contributions. Hence, convenience posts were established. The Potion Department had related convenience posts. They symbolically charged a small fee to make magic potions for adventurers or mercenaries who provided materials. Of course, the potions made definitely wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

Generally, they were mid-tier or below. Even mid-tier potions depended on whether there was a master stationed at that convenience post. High-tier? Then go directly to the Potion Department… if one could produce materials for high-tier magic potions, why go to a convenience post?

Since Zheng Yichen stated his purpose, Jenna felt arranging him there was very suitable. Moreover, such an arrangement wouldn’t affect the exchange issue. After all, making potions was making potions, regardless of location.

The convenience posts weren’t the open-air type where you made potions in front of whoever brought materials.

“Semi-volunteer, huh.” Zheng Yichen looked around at the constant stream of adventurers, mercenaries, and people or Alien Races who were neither. It was only under the premise that the Containment Barrier inside the Border Great Wall might have problems that it would be this bustling. “Seems I never did this before my transmigration. This identity suits me just fine.”

He muttered silently to himself. As long as he demonstrated sufficient ability, he wasn’t worried about not attracting more people to come to this convenience post to make potions. Then he could use those people to learn about the situation inside the Containment Barrier. Besides, this place had a large flow of people, which could better promote himself, right?

Then let this be a formal start. Zheng Yichen quickly adapted to the environment here and officially began work. As for some whispered gossip about him, he pretended not to hear it… after all, these discussions were among magic pharmacists, and not all were positive. After all, in some people’s eyes, his purpose in coming here was still quite strong, unlike those who came purely to contribute.