Gu Xiaobei: "Big shot, do you have a lot of enamel mugs?"
Lan Qingyou: "Yeah."
Gu Xiaobei: "Could you sell me a few?"
Lan Qingyou: "Sure, take them and use them."
Enamel mugs?
Lan Qingyou turned to look at the enamel mugs and stone slabs that had been washed clean and stacked in the corner of the room.
Then she walked over, picked up more than twenty mugs, and tossed them over.
The nightmare of cleaning tools today had taught her one thing: more wasn't always better. She'd keep a hundred on hand and just bring them out when she needed something to practice with.
Gu Xiaobei: "Thank you, big shot! Thank you! Give me a moment."
Inside a stilt house built against the mountainside, in a corner of the Abandoned Forest.
Gu Xiaobei examined the enamel mugs she had just received from Lan Qingyou, turning one this way and that.
There was still water on it, so it must have been washed recently.
But at this stage, the only water available for washing was creek water.
So, to be safe, she stood up and went to the fire pit in the wooden house. She lifted the kettle hanging over the fire, poured some hot water into an enamel mug, and rinsed it.
Then she went to the stove inside the wooden house and opened a steamer about half her height. Wrapping her hand in a towel, she took out a wooden bowl and carried it over to the Small Screen.
With a sharp crack, the wooden bowl split in two.
"As expected, wooden bowls really aren't suitable for steaming things."
Gu Xiaobei muttered to herself, then carried an enamel mug over to the Small Screen and traded it over.
Although Lan Qingyou had told her to take the mugs and use them without mentioning payment, Gu Xiaobei was an adult. She couldn't bring herself to get something from a kind person for free.
In less than a minute, Lan Qingyou received the enamel mug.
Gu Xiaobei: "Big shot, I made this. It's a little hot, so take your time eating it."
Lan Qingyou read Gu Xiaobei's message, then looked at the food in the enamel mug and fell into thought.
It was best to be wary of others, so she'd use the Small Screen to appraise it first.
[Silverfish Potato Noodles (E-)] [Effect: Restores 1 point of Magic Power per second for 10 minutes.] [Description: A delicious dish made with a broth simmered from silverfish, Ascetic Herb, and Yellow-Tail Flower, combined with sliced fish, potato noodles, Yellow Flower Grass, Green Jade Seedling, salt, Sichuan pepper powder, black pepper, and other seasonings. It is still rather crude, but delicious and fragrant.]
This... This was...
After seeing the appraisal results on the Small Screen, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but widen her eyes.
Good grief, didn't that amount to 600 Magic Power?
Eating it was equivalent to sixty times the natural recovery rate?
Lan Qingyou: "What's the story behind this dish?"
Lan Qingyou asked curiously.
Gu Xiaobei: "My family runs a restaurant. After seeing you make potions yourself, I wanted to give it a try."
Gu Xiaobei: "I originally wanted to make Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles, but I didn't have any rice noodles, so I had to use the potato noodles I got instead. This is what I ended up making."
After reading Gu Xiaobei's explanation, Lan Qingyou didn't know what to say. In the end, she could only slowly type out a reply.
Lan Qingyou: "I hereby dub you the sweet vegetable."
Gu Xiaobei: "Hehe. Then enjoy your meal, big shot. I made several bowls. Once I sell them, I should have enough to upgrade to a Level 2 Shelter."
Lan Qingyou: "Did you want the enamel mugs to hold food?"
Gu Xiaobei: "Yeah. The wooden bowls I got are too flimsy."
Lan Qingyou thought for a moment. "I know a pretty good stone mason. Maybe you could ask him if he can make stone bowls."
Gu Xiaobei: "Really?!"
Lan Qingyou: "Yeah, his name's Li Huai. You can search for him. If you say I referred you, he should accept your friend request."
Gu Xiaobei: "Okay, okay. Thank you, big shot."
After saying that, Gu Xiaobei went to contact Li Huai.
Meanwhile, Lan Qingyou stared at the mug of potato noodles, at a loss.
She wanted to slurp up the noodles, but she didn't have any chopsticks.
She looked at the Material Treasure Chests stacked in the corner.
With no other choice, she stood up and dismantled a self-heating hot pot, taking out the chopsticks that came with it.
A little while earlier.
As night was about to fall, a man in a well-tailored Anuni suit and gleaming leather shoes returned to his shelter, carrying two rabbits in one hand and two Material Treasure Chests over his shoulder.
The man looked to be about thirty. He wore his hair slicked back, and his appearance was neat and polished.
Li Huai was in a great mood today.
In his trade with Lan Qingyou that morning, he'd gotten nearly fifty Mana Potions. He could fight monsters without having to stop and start like he had over the past few days, which had been frustrating.
Then he used the Dagger left behind by some idiot who'd tried to rob him to prepare the two rabbits and started roasting them.
Treasure chests could yield food and water, but it was better to save them when possible. He'd put away all the food that could be stored long-term, keeping it for emergencies.
Once the meat was roasted, he sat at his desk, sprinkled some instant noodle seasoning over the rabbit meat, and ate while reading the Chat Channel.
This had become a daily routine for him—and probably for all the Transmigrators.
After all, humans were social animals, when you got down to it.
No matter how much of a lone wolf someone was, they still needed to know what was going on outside so they could adjust accordingly.
As it happened, he saw people discussing potions in the channel.
"+30? It's a little low, but not bad. The quantity's there."
As he said this, he bought a hundred on the spot.
Three thousand basic resources would sting a little, but he could afford them.
Of course, the main reason was that he'd gotten a taste of what it was like to have plenty of Magic Power today.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Someone was calling.
Li Huai saw that he didn't recognize the person, but Lan Qingyou had referred them, so he accepted the friend request. Then...
Gu Xiaobei: "May I ask if you're a stone mason? I'd like to order some stone bowls."
Li Huai: ...
Li Huai was baffled.
A stone mason? When had he become a stone—
Oh, right. He'd made quite a few stone slabs for Lan Qingyou today. Had that woman decided he was a stone mason because of that?
He! Li Huai! The owner of the S-Rank Talent 'Storm Monarch'!
Had become a stone mason?
Li Huai was a little angry. This was a provocation. He had to give this person a stern—
Gu Xiaobei: "[Silverfish Potato Noodles (E-)]"
Li Huai: "What do you need?"
After seeing what Gu Xiaobei sent, Li Huai let go of his anger.
All he wanted to say was, 'That's delicious.'
Gu Xiaobei: "I need stone bowls that are ten centimeters and twenty centimeters across, a hundred of each. How much would they cost?"
Li Huai: "Can I ask where you got this food?"
Gu Xiaobei: "I figured out how to make it myself."
Great. It looked like she was a technical talent, just like Lan Qingyou.
If that was the case...
Li Huai: "How much of this food can you make?"
Gu Xiaobei: "I don't have many ingredients, so I can't make much. But if I had more, I could probably make thirty to fifty servings a day. I'm not sure."
Li Huai: "How about this? I can make the stone bowls for you, as many as you need. I can even give you meat every day. In return, all you have to do is give me ten servings of this Magic Power-boosting food every day."
Before you continue