Yelan's Invitation

Although she knew this teapot was miraculous, even with mental preparation, Firefly was still surprised when she saw this scene.

"Put the alchemy pot and crafting table on the third floor."

"Understood, Master."

After all that last night, Liu Bai was broke again.

The original 2.5 million had dwindled to a pitiful 20,000—but it was enough.

"Firefly, Little Gui, pick any room you like. I'm going to check out the other equipment."

The most important equipment was the two things he had just bought—especially the alchemy pot.

Alchemy in the game was a very interesting mechanic.

The mechanism was simple: throw a bunch of miscellaneous things into the pot, wait a while, and it would randomly give you something.

For new players, alchemy was basically a place to recycle junk while pulling gacha and gambling on dreams.

For veteran players... alchemy was a reliable way to turn a small investment into a big return.

Every item in the game had a hidden value—let's call it its alchemy value.

Put simply, the alchemy formula was (x+x+x...)/2.

In the end, the item with an alchemy value closest to that result would be selected as the alchemy result.

On the third floor, Liu Bai looked at the large pot of bubbling green liquid before him and began tossing things into it.

Mysterious meat, Starshrooms, ordinary pork, potatoes...

"Boss Liu, are you making potato, mushroom, and meat soup?" Guinaifen poked her head in from the doorway after catching a whiff of the aroma. "Didn't we just finish breakfast?"

"Go away, go away."

Guinaifen made Liu Bai's expression darken as he chased her off.

Well, he really couldn't refute that. Veteran players had said the same thing plenty of times when playing with alchemy pots.

Especially since the minimum amount for low-level ingredients was 100 grams...

It really did look like cooking soup.

"Got it! Boss Liu, don't you dare keep it all to yourself~"

If the hidden values of these mod ingredients hadn't been changed in the update, then the result should be...

Potion of Wisdom (Drink)

Depending on the amount consumed, reading efficiency increased by 1% to 100% for one hour. Effects from the same item could not stack.

Liu Bai stirred the pot with a ladle for several dozen seconds, then successfully fished out a small bottle filled with green liquid.

This was currently the most practical item Liu Bai could concoct.

Anything above this was either useless to him or had alchemy values that were far too high. Most of those values had several digits, making it impossible to concoct anything good from them.

Continue.

This time, Liu Bai used less mysterious meat and added some Activated Starshrooms.

Well, the highest-grade item among these was actually the mysterious meat—because it could identify virtually any kind of meat.

It was equivalent to a small meat loot box.

Of course, after identification, its hidden value would most likely decrease. Only rarely would it become a precious meat ingredient like "Imperial Honkai Beast Elephant Meat"—though who knew whether it would still be edible after being identified.

Alluring Aroma (Item)

Effective after being completely applied. When favorability increases, the effect is increased by 50%; when it decreases, the effect is reduced by 50%. Lasts one hour and cannot stack with other favorability buffs.

None of these things had changed.

One was for quickly studying books, while the other was for quickly raising favorability.

After confirming that the alchemy values had not changed, Liu Bai kept only the necessary ingredients and threw everything else into the pot, making several more of each in the same way.

Then Liu Bai went out to greet Guinaifen, returned to the real world, took out the physical training book he had bought yesterday, drank the entire potion in one gulp, and began reading while watching the house.

Started reading "Basic Physical Training." Current progress: Page 1, 1%...

Physical training skill unlocked. Experience increasing...

Reading progress has reached 50%. Physical training level increased to 2.

Three hours later, his physical training level successfully increased, and a warm current began filling Liu Bai's body.

Ding-dong~~

"Is Mr. Liu Bai home?"

Was that... the doorbell?

Yelan's Invitation

"...Ms. Yelan?"

Liu Bai was still unsure when he heard the voice. Only after seeing the visitor did he confirm that it really was Yelan, not Rita, whom he had been waiting for.

"Hello~" Yelan was still wearing the same cloak-like outfit as yesterday. She smiled at Liu Bai with easy familiarity. "What's with that expression?"

"I'm just... a little surprised?"

Liu Bai told the truth.

"I didn't expect you to come to my door."

"Ah—how direct." Yelan smiled with her arms crossed. "Were you waiting for Rita, Mr. Liu Bai?"

"...Aren't you being rather direct too?"

"That's called speaking plainly." Yelan did not intend to enter. She merely glanced around the inside from the doorway. "Is your sister... Raven here?"

Liu Bai was not too surprised by Yelan's question, nor by how she had found him.

After all, according to Raven, Yelan had already handled his information.

"She isn't."

"That woman is really inattentive... By the way, Liu Bai, haven't you gotten a little stronger?"

Yelan's senses were sharp. She had already vaguely noticed the improvement in Liu Bai's physical condition.

However, after only a few exchanges, her familiarity had already made her drop the formal "Mr."

"Ah, just asking. Don't take it to heart." Yelan also felt that her question had been a little strange.

"It's fine. So, Ms. Yelan, what brings you here this time?"

"I was entrusted to invite our extraterrestrial friend—don't worry, our guild isn't interested in you, even if you truly are quite a rare commodity."

Yelan made an inviting gesture.

"I'm actually looking forward to the day Rita notices that herself. No, I'm even more looking forward to Rita discovering that you and Raven are only pretending to be related."

"Could you not look so entertained at a time like this?"

"Watching the show is the privilege of an outsider."

Yelan lazily stretched.

"Though the guild doesn't exactly seem like an outsider anymore. So, can I take it that you accept the invitation, Liu Bai?"

"Wait a moment. I need to find my bodyguard." Liu Bai sighed.

"Hey, hey, Liu Bai, do you have a habit of bringing another girl along when you go on a date with a girl?"

"..."

Liu Bai had no answer.

Yelan patted Liu Bai on the shoulder. "Relax. I'll be your bodyguard today. I don't mind being a third wheel."

"For intelligence?"

"You're a little too perceptive."

Yelan showed a cheerful smile.

"Yelan" has become a temporary companion.

What was this... It was like a prompt from an RPG.

"Then let me tidy myself up first."

Let me put on some perfume first.

"Just asking, how much do you know about our world, Liu Bai?"

In the car, Yelan wore sunglasses as she drove and continued chatting with Liu Bai.

"Hmm... I know quite a bit. Honkai, Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, that sort of thing."

"I see... Though I don't want to admit it, knowing about those things does count as knowing this world. Hey, Liu Bai, does your planet have Honkai too?"

"No—I had never heard of anything called Honkai before coming to this planet." Liu Bai maintained his interstellar traveler persona. "This planet lies beyond the explored boundaries of our universe, and I'm not a professional in scientific research."

"So it's a super remote backwater... According to Gray Serpent's records, you're quite a wealthy merchant in the universe too, right? Were you bragging, or were you serious?"

"That depends on how you define the word wealthy."

"True, definitions are important too. So, is the universe peaceful? By the most basic definition."

"Then it's doomed. It has nothing to do with peace. There's trouble everywhere. If you want to hear about it, I can spin you stories slowly."

"Sigh... My dream of the universe is shattered." Yelan put on a fake sorrowful expression. "Anyway, thanks. Since you gave me intelligence for free, we're even now. Perfect, we're here."

As the two chatted, Yelan's car stopped in front of the guild.

The guild's entrance showed no sign whatsoever of having suffered an attack yesterday.

It looked exactly as Liu Bai remembered—including the white-haired grasshopper standing blankly by the entrance.

Their reconstruction speed was really something else.

"Slacking off during work. One hundred deducted."

After parking the car, the first thing Yelan did after getting out was kick Kiana in the shin.

"Huh—?"

"Talking back to your superior. Another hundred deducted."

"No, I haven't even said anything yet!"

"Still talking back. Another hundred deducted."

Liu Bai quietly watched Yelan play the role of a heartless boss—she seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit.

Then Yelan pointed at Liu Bai.

"What should you say when you see a guest?"

"A guest? Oh! You came again today!" Kiana recognized Liu Bai at once.

"What do you mean, 'you came again today'? Kiana, are you really not planning to grow a brain at all?"

"Yeah, yeah... What was your name again? Welcome to the Liyue Merchant Guild~~"

Kiana drawled out the greeting with a thoroughly perfunctory expression.

"...Sigh, even I get headaches like this sometimes." Yelan sighed helplessly. "Come on, Liu Bai. We're ignoring this girl."

Liu Bai did not really mind. It would have been strange if Kiana had taken this sort of thing seriously.

After greeting Kiana, he followed Yelan into the guild.

Perhaps because it was nearing noon, the guild was much livelier than yesterday, looking every bit like a large shopping mall.

If another attack happened here...

No, it probably wouldn't. No one other than some utterly deranged lunatic would launch another attack with this much traffic around.

Continuing to follow Yelan, Liu Bai spotted Rita in front of a flower shop.