'Bomber'

Shang Chuan: "I've gathered everything for you. Go ahead and collect it."

Lan Qingyou: "All right. If you need any other tools later, just let me know."

Shang Chuan: "No problem."

Shang Chuan worked quickly.

In just over half an hour, he'd delivered the Mineralogy book Lan Qingyou needed, along with a measuring tool—a caliper.

He'd also brought a bullet sample and some minerals.

There was copper ore, iron ore, saltpeter, sulfur, and even charcoal. It was obvious these were meant for making gunpowder.

Without another word, Lan Qingyou picked up the Mineralogy book and the steel wool, went back to her room, and started reading before bed.

Come on, it was already so late. How could she start experimenting now? She might as well read first.

Building up her knowledge of this world was the key.

After all, even though this world had copper and iron ore, they were still somewhat different from the copper and iron ore on Blue Star.

For one thing, minerals on Blue Star didn't come with the property of "containing magic power."

Early the next morning, after enjoying the breakfast Gu Xiaobei brought her, Lan Qingyou told the steel wool to go play by itself and began working on today's preparations.

Shang Chuan seemed to be in a hurry for bullets, but Lan Qingyou wasn't in any rush.

She'd only gotten the book yesterday, and she hadn't even distilled and absorbed the knowledge in it yet. How could she already be at the experimenting stage?

Put simply, the bullet-making project was a collaboration where both sides got what they wanted.

One urgently needed bullets; the other urgently needed knowledge.

They hit it off, and Shang Chuan instantly became an investor in Lan Qingyou's experiments.

Naturally, success would be best. If it didn't work out, then as far as Shang Chuan was concerned, his investment would simply go down the drain.

Any professional businessman ought to know what investing in a laboratory meant.

Of course, Lan Qingyou wasn't saying she wouldn't do it. Wasn't she making potions and reading at the same time now so she could produce bullets?

After all, making bullets was also an alchemical challenge for her.

But there was one nice thing.

She'd gotten the sulfur for free.

Both Explosive Potions and Flame Potions needed the stuff.

Of course, she also needed an E-Rank Fire Element Devilish Creature Crystal Core.

So now Lan Qingyou was wearing a face mask.

Come on, she was going to toss sulfur into a cauldron and boil it. That would definitely produce poisonous fumes, wouldn't it?

She wasn't sure if it really would, but she put on a mask anyway.

Yes, good kids, don't try this at home.

After eight hours of work, her three potions were finally ready.

[Rough Grade Explosion Potion (E-)]

[Effect: Creates an explosion in a 3×3 area, dealing 30 points of instant damage and inflicting 1 point of burning damage per second for 10 seconds.]

[Description: Its blast radius and power are both unimpressive. It's not even good enough for fishing.]

[Rough Grade Flame Potion (E-)]

[Effect: Creates a fire in a 3×3 area, dealing 2 points of damage per second for 30 seconds.]

[Description: Its area of effect and power are both unimpressive. Perhaps you could use it to keep warm.]

[Apprentice Grade Fire Resistance Potion (E)]

[Effect: Increases fire resistance by 10 points for 10 minutes.]

[Description: A standard Apprentice Grade potion. It can provide you with a certain degree of fire resistance, but remember, it's not omnipotent. Learn to stay within your limits.]

After dividing the potions into individual bottles, Lan Qingyou used her glasses to inspect all three and decided to go test them while there was still plenty of daylight.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but luckily there was a monster spawn point nearby.

It was also a swamp spawn point that hardly anyone visited, making the experiment very easy for Lan Qingyou.

And since it was past five in the afternoon, she didn't have to worry about anyone seeing her.

But the results weren't ideal.

Although the potions exploded, the 3×3 blast radius didn't do much damage to the Sludge Monsters in the swamp.

Actually, it seemed that Flame Potions and Explosive Potions simply weren't suited to use in a place like this.

Monster Studies said that monsters had attributes, and that you needed to find the right elemental weakness to maximize damage.

But that was fine.

Was damage what Lan Qingyou was after?

Of course not.

All she wanted was the thrill of being a "bomber."

With a flick of her little hand, a dozen or twenty Explosive Potions dropped in a neat line from above, setting off a chain of explosions across the swamp.

The sight reminded Lan Qingyou of the Fusang People back when they'd been living high on the hog.

"Combat! Awesome!"

Although the Sludge Monsters' disgusting ability to heal themselves meant Lan Qingyou hadn't managed to cause any real damage, she'd achieved immense satisfaction on a spiritual level.

If she hadn't only had two hundred potions on hand, she might really have kept bombing the place until nightfall.

After returning from the swamp, all Lan Qingyou wanted to do was take a bath.

You might not believe it, but flying around up there had actually made her sweat.

Apparently, happiness could effectively boost a person's metabolism.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak—"

Seeing Lan Qingyou return, the steel wool immediately rushed over to protest that she'd gone out to play again without taking it along.

Lan Qingyou couldn't understand it, but she could more or less guess what it was saying. She rolled her eyes at the steel wool, set it on a towel, and went to take a bath.

After she finished bathing, Lan Qingyou immediately sat down at the Magic Desk, set the steel wool on her lap, and opened her friends list.

Lan Qingyou: "[Fire Resistance Potion] Interested?"

Li Huai: "Yes. Name your price."

Lan Qingyou: "Twenty potions for one Fire Element Essence, two potions for one pound of Flame Bell, and one potion for one pound of sulfur."

Li Huai: "How did you know I had a Fire Element Essence?"

Lan Qingyou: "I guessed."

Ever since getting a Water Element Essence, Lan Qingyou had suspected that Li Huai, who was sitting at the Volcanic Crater, might have a Fire Element Essence. The same went for sulfur.

So she'd wanted to sound him out.

She hadn't expected him to actually have one.

Since he hadn't mentioned the sulfur, he probably had some of that too. It was even possible that he'd supplied Shang Chuan with the sulfur.

Li Huai: "One Fire Element Essence for a hundred potions."

After a while, Li Huai sent her a message after giving it some thought.

Lan Qingyou: "Deal!"

Was a hundred potions for one expensive?

Honestly, not at all.

Lan Qingyou agreed without a second thought.

Li Huai realized he'd miscalculated!

In the end, Lan Qingyou traded two hundred Fire Resistance Potions for one Fire Element Essence, twenty-five pounds of Flame Bell, and twenty-five pounds of sulfur.

Of course, she wouldn't receive the Flame Bell and sulfur until the next day. Those were on order.

[Fire Element Essence (D)]

[Effect: Can be used for alchemy and Enchantments, or for starting a fire to keep warm. It can also effectively increase the growth rate of nearby fire-element plants.]

[Description: The purest gathering of fire-element energy, born from the long entanglement of Fire Element magic power.]

"What a treasure."

Lan Qingyou exclaimed as she read the description of the Fire Element Essence.