Chapter 30: Upgrade Night

Even after the System’s voice faded from her ears, Lily Rhodes remained motionless. She stared blankly at the basin of green water in front of her. Oh, wait, it should be called Cold Potion now.

After a long while, she chuckled and whispered, "I thought Azurea was the only amateur operation. Turns out, it’s pretty much the same in another world."

With the potion issue resolved, the next step was to find containers for it. This wasn’t a big deal for Lily. She went to the glass workshop and crafted a batch of test tubes specifically designed to hold potions. While waiting for the test tubes to be made, she produced a lot more Cold Potion.

With the System’s recognition, she didn’t need to mix it manually anymore. As long as she had enough raw materials, she just had to click to craft. It was incredibly simple.

After bustling about for half an hour, the test tubes were ready, and the first batch of Cold Potion officially went on the shelves. She didn’t set the price too high—just twenty units of basic materials. This price was incredibly generous.

After listing the items, Lily posted a message in the regional channel.

"Cold Potion, specially formulated to treat colds and fevers. Only twenty units of basic materials. Limited to one per person. Stock limited to one thousand vials."

She wanted to make more, but she simply didn’t have enough Golden Leaves on hand. A new batch was still being cultivated.

Her single message instantly caused the previously complaint-filled regional channel to boil over with excitement.

"Thank you, boss! I managed to snag one. The moment I drank the potion, I stopped feeling sick."

"I got one too. My kid fell asleep right after drinking it."

Soon after, more and more people who managed to buy the potion stepped forward to express their gratitude.

"I didn’t get one. How are your hands so fast? Boss, can you list another batch?"

Seeing this, Lily thought for a moment before replying.

"Materials are limited."

Subsequently, she exited the regional chat channel and went to the trading area. The Healing Water, salt, and other items she had listed earlier were all sold out. She had successfully traded for quite a few seeds and saplings. She counted them and found there were several dozen varieties.

It seemed quite a few people had obtained seeds. Aside from those who had the proper conditions and chose to plant these crops, the vast majority lacked the means to cultivate them. The seeds were useless in their hands, so the best option was to trade them away.

Among these seeds, only two had special effects, and both were fruits.

[Blood Grape: Requires massive amounts of flesh and blood for nourishment. Once mature, the grapes are rich in nutrients and rapidly restore stamina. Suitable for those lacking vitality.]

[Lightweight Cherry: Upon consumption, reduces body weight for a short duration.]

After taking inventory of the seeds, Lily stored them all in a designated Bronze Treasure Chest, planning to find time to plant them tomorrow.

With the direct trades concluded, it was time to handle the offers that required her personal judgment. She opened her private messages and filtered out the useless junk to focus only on the trade offers. Among them, most people offered items she didn’t really need but demanded exorbitant prices, immediately asking for a full liter of Healing Water.

Seeing this, Lily chose to ignore their messages. She wasn’t a sucker. There was no way she would trade Healing Water for something she had zero use for.

After browsing through all the messages, Lily’s gaze paused on one particular private message.

"You probably need this, right? I need a large amount of Healing Water."

[Mutated Wood Stone: Has a probability of causing beneficial mutations in surrounding plants.]

Another stone, and a Wood Stone at that.

Previously, Lily had never considered acquiring this type of stone from others. Aside from the fact that it was obviously extremely rare, anyone with half a brain wouldn’t willingly part with such an item. Even if someone did want to sell it, the price would undoubtedly be astronomically high, and she might not be able to afford it. But now...

This person was actually willing to bring out a Mutated Wood Stone and specifically requested a large amount of Healing Water.

Lily hesitated for a moment before sending a reply. Unable to resist the temptation of the Mutated Wood Stone, she decided she would accept even an exorbitant price.

"How much Healing Water do you want? Let me be clear first, the Healing Water I have isn’t infinite."

The other party quickly replied.

"How much can you provide?"

"Ten liters."

Lily glanced at her current remaining stock of Healing Water. Deducting what she had given Mother Orca, what she had used herself, and what she had just consumed to craft the Cold Potion, she had about ten liters left. Although the Healing Water Stone could continuously produce Healing Water, the speed wasn’t actually very fast.

This time, the other side didn’t reply immediately. Lily wasn’t in a rush; their silence meant they were hesitating, which proved they were tempted.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the reply came.

"Deal, but I demand full payment upfront."

"Agreed."

Lily packaged ten liters of her remaining Healing Water and sent it over in the trade. In the next second, a green, smooth cobblestone appeared in her hand. Compared to the emerald-green Wood Stone she had obtained earlier which could accelerate plant growth, this Wood Stone was a green with a hint of blue. It looked exceptionally beautiful.

Seeing this, Lily casually tossed the Wood Stone out. The moment the stone touched the ground, it merged into the earth. Then, she glanced at Sprout, who was currently enjoying its all-you-can-eat buffet.

She noticed that at the exact moment the Wood Stone merged with the soil, Sprout’s movements clearly paused for a split second. And then... nothing.

Looking at the unchanged Sprout, Lily sighed. It seemed mutation wasn’t something that happened overnight.

Several hours later, the Sea Beast tide finally dispersed.

"It’s finally over. There are only four days left," Lily thought as she walked over to the fence, intending to retrieve the Sea Beast corpses from the water’s surface just like usual. However, as soon as she approached, she saw Sprout using its vines to drag the Sea Beast corpses onto the shore one by one.

Sensing Lily approaching, Sprout paused its actions and waved its vines. It looked as if it was saying, "Look how amazing I am! Hurry up and praise me!"

"Great job."

Lily gave Sprout a thumbs-up. Then, she walked over to the pile of corpses. She needed to decompose these bodies as quickly as possible.

...

Half an hour later, Lily finished decomposing the final Sea Beast corpse. Looking at the newly extracted Biological Energy Cluster, she realized it brought her total to exactly nine hundred Biological Energy Clusters—neither more nor less. It was enough for Shelly to level up twice in a row.

"Shelly, eat this Biological Energy."

Hearing Lily’s instruction, Shelly happily devoured all nine hundred units of Biological Energy in one go. Immediately afterward, Lily felt a tremor beneath her feet. Even though the darkness of the night obscured her vision, she could sense that Shelly was undergoing an earth-shattering transformation.