Simplifying the Evergreen Art

Over the next few days, Lu Chuan finally settled down. He stopped tormenting the chefs and students and focused on refining Spirit Gathering Potions.

It had to be said, Spirit Gathering Potions were still the real money-makers.

After selling just a few dozen bottles, Lu Chuan had earned enough to exchange for Simplification Points, with more than ten potions left over for his own cultivation.

Once he had scraped together the money, Lu Chuan temporarily set the potions aside.

Though Alchemists held high status, Lu Chuan knew well that in this dangerous world, strength was the foundation. Strength was capital.

Host: Lu Chuan

Art: Oceanic Embrace (Great Perfection)

Realm: Second-Rank Martial Artist (8/1000)

Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/(Perfect), Spirit Gathering Potion 1/(Perfect)

Simplification Points: 1043

After glancing at his Simplification Points, Lu Chuan took a deep breath and said, "System, simplify the Evergreen Art."

In an instant, a thousand of Lu Chuan's Simplification Points vanished.

At the same time, familiar text appeared before Lu Chuan's eyes.

Simplifying Evergreen Art... Simplification successful!

Evergreen Art—Eat Vegetables!

"Reasonable. Very reasonable!"

By now, Lu Chuan was no longer surprised by the Simplification System's wild imagination.

Forget eating vegetables—even wearing a green hat might have been possible!

Compared to that, eating vegetables already left Lu Chuan quite satisfied.

Cafeteria.

"Yo, long time no see. How have you been lately?"

Hearing that all-too-familiar voice, the chefs instantly shuddered.

N-no way...

Slowly turning around, the chefs' faces immediately fell when they saw that familiar face.

Big brother, why are you here again?

"What are those expressions? You don't welcome me?" Lu Chuan asked, pretending to be angry.

"How could that be!"

The Head Chef, whose survival instincts were particularly strong, hurriedly said, "Our cafeteria will always be Master Lu's home!"

"What dish would Master Lu like to learn this time?"

"You've misunderstood. I only want to grab some vegetables to eat this time." Lu Chuan smiled.

At those words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

So he was only here to eat vegetables.

"Master Lu, eat as much as you like. We may not have anything else in this cafeteria, but we have vegetables in abundance." The Head Chef patted his chest.

"Alright."

Lu Chuan casually picked up a cucumber and began crunching on it by himself.

But after finishing one cucumber, there was no movement from the panel at all.

This left Lu Chuan somewhat puzzled. What, cucumbers didn't count as vegetables?

Or had he simply eaten too little?

Refusing to believe it, Lu Chuan gnawed through another one.

This time, the system finally reacted.

Art: Evergreen Art 1/100 (Beginner)

In an instant, insights regarding the Evergreen Art suddenly surfaced in Lu Chuan's mind.

The mid-grade technique, Evergreen Art, had finally reached the entry level!

Yet the corner of Lu Chuan's eye twitched.

Big brother, two cucumbers only gave one point of proficiency. If he had to grind this all the way to Great Perfection, would this entire cafeteria have enough for him to eat?

Even if it did, did he have that much appetite?

It has been detected that the host has mastered two arts. Would you like to fuse and simplify them?

Note! After fusion, the art will become more powerful, and simplifying the fused art will not consume Simplification Points.

Arts could even be fused?

Lu Chuan had no time to complain. He immediately responded inwardly, "Fuse the arts!"

After calculation, fusing Oceanic Embrace and Evergreen Art requires one hundred Simplification Points. Your Simplification Points are insufficient to support simplification.

What was a mere hundred Simplification Points? Your bro was not short on those.

Lu Chuan still had some spirit herbs on hand. Though there were not many, they were enough to scrape together one hundred Simplification Points.

Without delay, Lu Chuan left the cafeteria and went to the laboratory, where he took out his remaining spirit herbs and exchanged them all for Simplification Points.

Simplification Points: 112

"System, fuse the arts." Seeing that he had met the requirement, Lu Chuan directly issued the command.

Fusing arts... Fusion successful!

Congratulations, you have obtained the Half-Step Superior Art—Evergreen Spirit Art!

After the fusion succeeded, Lu Chuan's panel changed once more.

Host: Lu Chuan

Art: Evergreen Spirit Art 124/1000 (Proficient)

Realm: Second-Rank Martial Artist (8/1000)

Alchemy: Spirit Replenishing Potion 1/(Perfect), Spirit Gathering Potion 1/(Perfect)

Simplification Points: 12

Because Lu Chuan had ground Oceanic Embrace all the way to Great Perfection, the newly fused art directly granted him Proficient Level proficiency.

And that was not all.

After simplifying the art, the system gave another prompt.

Would you like to simplify the fused art, Evergreen Spirit Art, for free?

"Simplify it."

Simplifying Evergreen Spirit Art... Simplification successful!

Evergreen Spirit Art—Drink Vegetable Juice!

Lu Chuan: ???

Well, damn. No wonder the simplification was free—it had simply fused the simplifications of the two arts together.

"Drinking vegetable juice..."

"Looks like I'm gaining another strange habit."

Before that, Lu Chuan cultivated once, intending to test the quality of this new art first.

After cultivating with his eyes closed for an hour, Lu Chuan suddenly opened them,

His eyes brimming with delight!

"As expected of a Half-Step Superior Art. After cultivating for only an hour, my realm increased by one point."

"If I pair it with Spirit Gathering Potions, doesn't that mean I can increase my realm by at least sixteen points a day?"

"Hiss!"

"At this rate, I can break through to Third Rank in two months!"

"And this is only the Proficient Level Evergreen Spirit Art. If it reaches Great Perfection..."

"This cultivation speed—I don't even dare imagine it!"

After testing the power of the Evergreen Spirit Art, Lu Chuan knew the cafeteria's vegetables were about to suffer.

Still, it would not be right to keep fleecing the cafeteria. He should buy some himself at the market.

With that thought, Lu Chuan asked his teacher for leave and returned home.

Lin City, Lu Chuan's home.

"Master Lu is back!"

"Brother Lu, I won't disturb you any longer."

Seeing Lu Chuan return, a man dressed in a sharp suit bade farewell with a restrained expression.

As he passed Lu Chuan, he did not even dare look at him.

Seeing this, Lu Chuan already understood what was going on. "Dad, it seems your fine steed has finally found its true patron."

"What fine steed nonsense."

Faced with Lu Chuan's teasing, Father Lu said with a look of disdain, "They only saw that you became an Alchemist and wanted to curry favor with us."

"I'm not falling for it!"

"Your dad has no great abilities and can't help you much, but I can at least make sure I don't cause you trouble."

"What trouble could there be between family?" Lu Chuan did not mind. "Besides, you can't sit still at home anyway. Finding an easy job to pass the time would be fine."

"Speaking of work, I just remembered something."

Father Lu pulled Lu Chuan over and explained, "The Lin City Guardian wants to invite me to be some kind of deputy director of his office. Do you think I should go?"

A governor governed a province, a city commander commanded a city, and a city guardian guarded a city.

A city guardian was equivalent to a county magistrate in ancient times.

Lu Chuan had not expected that the dignified Lin City Guardian would take the initiative to invite Father Lu to become deputy director of his office.

But on second thought, Lu Chuan understood that this was also a means of drawing him in.

Unlike others, the guardian was courting Lu Chuan not only for himself, but for Lin City as well.

As long as Lu Chuan held feelings for Lin City, if the city ever encountered danger, he would never stand by with folded arms.

After all, this world was not safe in the slightest.