Chapter 479: Well, It’s Usable Anyway…

Chapter 479: Well, It’s Usable Anyway…

“Ah… why is it like this.” Zheng Yichen looked expressionlessly out the window. Beside him, a young girl kept asking questions that made his head throb. As for this girl, her name was Emily… yes, a rare genius in the Potion Masters Association. In Zheng Yichen’s view, she was more than just a genius. After arriving at the association’s headquarters, he had met this girl. She seemed far too free and unrestrained here.

Even some members of the Potion Masters Association who encountered her would greet her, making Zheng Yichen wonder if she was the granddaughter of the association’s President. Well, for now, he’d better think of a way to deal with her first. This girl was just like those troublesome kids he’d met before crossing over—she couldn’t read the room and had an excessive amount of energy, which made him feel quite uncomfortable…

Starting with topics about Magic Potions, the conversation then shifted to this Alchemical Puppet, and later even touched upon his true form. Although his head was throbbing, Zheng Yichen had to admit one thing: this girl was a true genius, a purer existence compared to someone like him, whose “genius” was built upon knowledge accumulated from Earth.

From their conversation, Zheng Yichen even picked up many unique insights—quite a few of which broke with the traditional views of Magic Pharmacists. From what she said, she had gained these insights by directly analyzing the Magic Potions Zheng Yichen had made. Zheng Yichen didn’t comment on that; some things were simply unavoidable. He had long anticipated that his potions would be deciphered by others.

What he hadn’t expected, however, was the extent to which this girl had cracked his potions: “Ahem, some matters aren’t worth nitpicking over.”

Zheng Yichen gave a light cough and spoke to the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association, whose expression was quite unpleasant. Even though Zheng Yichen said this, the old man’s face remained conflicted. Some words could be taken seriously, while others were just politeness. Which one Zheng Yichen meant, he couldn’t tell…

Regarding Emily, the Vice President felt helpless. He had specifically instructed her beforehand, yet she had still run out. Fortunately, Zheng Yichen seemed able to converse with her quite well, even if he had grown a bit impatient later—though he never showed it outright.

“Let’s not talk about this for now. I have important matters to attend to later, so I won’t be staying here long. As for the exchange meeting or whatever, let’s skip it. I came this time to discuss a potential collaboration with you,” Zheng Yichen said, looking at the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association. “Can you make the final decision on this?”

The Vice President nodded immediately. Besides the President, he held the highest authority in the Potion Masters Association. He was usually in charge of daily affairs here, so of course he could make decisions on matters Zheng Yichen raised. But instead of an exchange, a collaboration… what kind of collaboration would it be?

This was much better than an exchange meeting. Even though the exchange meeting had been prepared in advance, and Zheng Yichen’s absence would require backup plans, strictly speaking, whether Zheng Yichen came or not didn’t make a huge difference—it would just change the nature of the exchange meeting.

“May I ask what this collaboration entails…”

“Take a look at this first. We can discuss the details after I return.” Zheng Yichen shoved a file into the Vice President’s hands. After spending less than an hour in the main hall of the Potion Masters Association headquarters, he hurriedly left. The reason was none other than the little genius of the Potion Masters Association—she was simply too clingy.

The questions she asked gave Zheng Yichen a headache. His foundational knowledge was solid; he wasn’t some fraud. Yet even he was worn out by her, which showed how tricky those questions were.

“…” Staring dumbfounded as Zheng Yichen swiftly departed, the Vice President of the Potion Masters Association glanced helplessly at Emily beside him, who wore a look of regret. Seeing her unsatisfied expression gave him a headache. The genius they had painstakingly nurtured within the association—would she be lured away by that dragon?

From their earlier conversation, he had heard many eye-opening insights in Zheng Yichen’s responses. Although many broke with tradition, having devoted most of his life to Magic Potion research, he didn’t view Zheng Yichen’s words with bias. Some of those insights really sounded… damn impressive!

But the other party had left in too much of a hurry. The Vice President looked down, conflicted, at the file folder in his hand. He squeezed it; it seemed to contain quite a few papers. This at least assured him that Zheng Yichen hadn’t just left something random to brush him off. The contents were likely substantial. He would have to go back and examine them carefully.

“You’re not thinking of chasing after him, are you?” Noticing Emily’s lingering gaze, still fixed in the direction Zheng Yichen had left, the Vice President couldn’t help but ask. Emily nodded somewhat hesitantly.

“Vice President Grandpa, when do you think I can really go out on an adventure?”

Ah—tsk! What’s a Magic Pharmacist talking about adventures for? Have you been reading too many novels on the Forum to have such ideas? The Vice President rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “Unfortunately, we Magic Pharmacists don’t really need to go on adventures… Let’s head back for now. I’ll keep an eye out for opportunities related to this in the future. Also, the prerequisite for wanting adventures is being very strong.”

“How strong do I need to be?”

The Vice President thought for a moment, then extended his hand and clenched his fist. “At least as strong as the Vice President here.”

“Huh? That seems pretty easy?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. The Vice President pretended not to hear Emily’s somewhat hurtful words. Easy… well, it was indeed easy. In terms of direct combat power, he was only a bit stronger than Mid-Rank Professionals. Against High-Rank Professionals, the outcome was uncertain. Of course, if he used Magic Potions, the result would be one-sided. Magic Pharmacists weren’t Warriors or Spellcasters.

“Sigh… really, why is there a troublesome kid here?” Zheng Yichen grumbled, feeling a headache. He glanced back at the Potion Masters Association headquarters, saw Emily’s longing expression, and quickly walked away. He had originally planned to stay for a couple of days to see what the Potion Masters Association was like.

After all, this was the first organizational body he had genuinely come into contact with since arriving. Something called an “XX Association” sounded impressive. Moreover, Magic Potions currently brought him the greatest benefits, so establishing a relationship with the Potion Masters Association was necessary. As for the Trading Module in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book… well, it’s just that the people of the Otherworld weren’t like those on Earth, where everyone had a Mobile Phone.

The Magic Weapon Summoning Book… in the Otherworld, it was somewhat like during the early days of mobile phones. It was good enough if every household had one; many families didn’t even have that and still used landlines. Additionally, data usage wasn’t like before he crossed over, where you could use it freely or even get a plan that made it hard to exhaust your data in a month with normal use.

If the Magic Weapon Summoning Book could really be like mobile phones on Earth, what would the profits from making Magic Potions matter? That would be a joke! Just taking a cut from daily transaction volumes would allow him to spend money without worry. In this world, no one would come to collect taxes from him!

The Empire? The lord of the territory? Those people couldn’t control him.

“Good thing I had the foresight to prepare some materials in advance…” After leaving the Potion Masters Association headquarters, Zheng Yichen pretended to take out a Spatial Expansion Pouch and pulled out a bicycle, heading toward the Stone Forest. The situation at the Stone Forest wouldn’t change for now, so he could take his time. He might as well enjoy the scenery along the way, treating it as an extra plan to make up for the time spent lingering at the association.

Since arriving in this world, except for the initial days, he had always been rushing about, rarely slowing down to truly experience life. Now, having this bicycle journey felt quite nice—the only thing missing was the real sensation of cycling. The Alchemical Avatar was powered by Mana; as long as the joints weren’t damaged and the Mana supply continued, it was theoretically a perpetual motion machine…

It didn’t give you the feeling of real exhaustion, which Zheng Yichen found somewhat frustrating. Once he finished developing the Transformation Magic, Zheng Yichen felt that would be the start of a new chapter in his life. As for the dragon body… thinking about it, it didn’t really count as crossing over. He was originally human. Without that step, where was the fun in crossing over? Did it mean he really had to go looking for a Mother Dragon?

Damn!

With a grumbling mood, Zheng Yichen pedaled the bicycle, admiring the roadside scenery. A thunderous sound of galloping came from the distance, making him go “Huh?” as he looked toward the source. It was a group of fierce-looking, unfriendly, “friendly” people. They charged over menacingly. After observing them, Zheng Yichen concluded that these people were probably here to rob him!

However, the leader at the front, upon clearly seeing Zheng Yichen’s face, widened his eyes to the extreme. Without hesitation, he signaled to his followers behind him, turned, and led the dust-kicking retreat. Zheng Yichen faintly heard shouts like “That’s the dragon, run!”

Uh, well, this bandit leader might be a Magic Weapon Summoner. Zheng Yichen watched them and cast Detection Magic. This magic was also something he’d seen in Irene’s notes. Its main effect was to detect certain special conditions of a target, such as… Grudge!

Similar to a paladin’s “detect evil,” you could cast it on someone and the result would basically be “This enemy is worth fighting!”—then draw your weapon and start fighting. However, there were many types of grudges. This magic was an improved version by Irene. When detecting, there was a ratio; grudges below a certain ratio belonged to ordinary people. After casting this magic, the fleeing Bandits immediately became covered in swirling red specks of light.

“Mmm… alright then.”

Zheng Yichen immediately felt the urge to take action! Grudges dissipated easily, especially those of ordinary people. They would fade away in about half a month. Deeper ones might last longer, perhaps several months. Without special conditions, ordinary people’s grudges rarely formed anything substantial enough to affect the one they clung to.

As for those that reached that level, why would there be lingering grudges? The person involved would have already undergone Corruption and become an Evil Spirit for revenge!

Flipping through the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, Zheng Yichen pulled out a greatsword wreathed in flames. He threw this greatsword like a projectile!

The small red dots swirling around the Bandits were manifestations of grudges. Dots smaller than a fingertip were basically grudges from ordinary people. Having so many manifest meant they had recently committed some act of slaughter. Therefore, since he had encountered them, Zheng Yichen naturally wouldn’t hold back!

Not only did he not hold back, but when Zheng Yichen threw the flaming greatsword, he also pulled out a soul-harvesting magic from Bona Kaine’s Magic Book. After the Flame Judgment, thrown into the midst of the fleeing Bandits, plunged into the ground, the erupted flames instantly turned their area into scorched earth. The magic Zheng Yichen cast took effect immediately, harvesting all the Bandits’ Souls and confining them within a Magic Barrier to prevent their escape. As for the crowdedness from stuffing so many souls inside—what did that have to do with him?

Zheng Yichen directly extracted their True Spirits and discarded them, then tossed this Magic Barrier into his Personal Space. His true form kneaded and compressed it into a large, high-quality piece of Soul Material, handing it to a Ghost Maid to deliver to the workshop for use as consumable material. The Ghost Maid carrying the Soul Material walked with light steps. Not only was she happy, but the other Ghost Maids felt similarly. The maid-version Alchemical Avatars they could use were almost ready for deployment!

They all preferred to retain their own appearances, so production was a bit troublesome. Zheng Yichen had to prepare the related molds first. As for the molds… he had the Ghost Maids make their own imprints. He couldn’t possibly have them stand naked before him one by one while he recorded their body parameters. After all, their Avatars were somewhat special—unlike his, which relied on Projection for indirect control.

Theirs were more like “artificial bodies,” fully containing their spiritual forms. So if the Alchemical Avatar’s body parameters were even slightly off, it would feel like wearing clothes several sizes too large; if too small, the same issue. Therefore, collecting these parameters needed to be extremely precise. As for personally looking over all the Ghost Maids’ bodies, even taking detailed measurements…

Just thinking about it felt both exciting and somewhat insane!

So Zheng Yichen eventually came up with a compromise: he provided them with some molding materials and let them create molds of their own bodies… well, it’s usable anyway.