New Ingredients

Sitting up slowly, Lin Ye massaged his temples, his brows furrowed.

Although he had mostly recovered from the strain of before, translating still left him feeling dizzy.

But it was a little better than last time.

"Monument."

[Monument Owner: Lin Ye]

[Strength: 0.70]

[Agility: 0.57]

[Constitution: 0.64]

[Intelligence: 0.55]

His Strength and Constitution had each increased by 0.05 compared to two weeks ago—a huge improvement, nearly equivalent to a Potential Point combined.

Of course, the main reasons were the head coach's sparring sessions and post-training massages, as well as the fact that he was still in the beginner stage, so his progress was especially noticeable.

Now that he had passed the beginner stage, it would be difficult to make such obvious gains in such a short time.

Besides that, his Agility and Intelligence had each increased by 0.01, an unexpected bonus.

His gaze fell on his Intelligence stat.

He guessed that the reason translating felt a little better this time was probably related to the increase in Intelligence.

He put away the Monument and looked at the complete recipe for the [Heart of Dark Night Boiling] in front of him.

The preparation itself wasn't complicated. The only troublesome part was finding a cave.

But there were plenty of wild hills outside Coast City. Even if none of them had a suitable cave, there was also a nature reserve in the suburbs.

Its most famous attraction was a cave with a stream running through it, called "Pearl Water Cave."

It was supposedly an ancient human ruin, with passages extending in every direction and many untouched tunnels that had yet to be developed.

At worst, he could go in during the day, hide quietly when the scenic area closed at night, and come out the next day.

"Small increase to mental power..."

That was actually what he cared about most. If his guess was right, raising his mental power should also improve his Intelligence.

Even if it didn't, just increasing his mental power would make him more resistant to the dizziness he felt while translating.

And greater resistance to dizziness meant he could translate the rest of the notes faster and obtain more potion recipes.

Some of them might even have more powerful effects.

He put the recipe away and got up to leave.

"Next stop: South Shore Wuyue Plaza."

The announcement sounded. Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes and casually took off his headphones.

"South Shore Wuyue Plaza. Please take your belongings and get ready to exit."

"Hiss—"

After getting off the bus, Lin Ye walked through the plaza. The bustling high-rises still filled his view.

The enormous mermaid statue in the center of the plaza was still just as eye-catching.

Some people were checking in; others were taking photos.

But seeing it again this time, his state of mind was completely different. That feeling of looking up at it had vanished.

He entered a mall in the plaza and glanced at the directory.

"6F—South Bank Night."

He didn't take the elevator, but went up the escalators, floor by floor. His mood grew lighter with each step.

He knew what this feeling was. The first time he'd felt it was in his previous life, after successfully completing the Surge of Power challenge.

It was a feeling of being above the world—or perhaps beyond it.

Simply put, he was getting carried away.

That wasn't a good thing. He'd gotten himself into serious trouble because of that attitude before, and had nearly been hit by a truck.

After calming himself down, he looked ahead at a huge advertisement plastered with all kinds of oddly shaped exotic pets.

"Go left fifty meters. South Bank Night Pet Shop."

Following the directions, he passed mostly pet stores, some selling dogs and others cats.

"Welcome to South Bank Night."

As soon as he entered, a young woman behind the nearby counter smiled and bowed.

"Hello. Do you have any Golden-Thread Night Bats?" Lin Ye asked.

The young woman's eyes lit up. "We do!"

When she'd been at Tieqin, these had sold very well—so well, in fact, that demand had outstripped supply.

But who could've guessed that once she returned to Coast City, nobody would want them?

She'd been worrying about how to get rid of them.

It'd be great if he bought a few more. Better yet, all of them!

She led Lin Ye to the back of the store. A faint scent of incense drifted through the air.

The room wasn't large. An incense burner stood in the center, and more than ten transparent boxes, each as tall as a person, were neatly arranged along the walls.

Black cloth covered the tops of the boxes. A branch hung inside each one, with a Golden-Thread Night Bat dangling upside down from it.

"Take a look, sir. The mane around a Golden-Thread Night Bat's neck isn't gold at first. It gradually turns gold as it grows. This process is called gold transmutation."

"The quality of ours is among the best on the market. You wouldn't necessarily find better ones even in Tieqin."

Lin Ye nodded. The manes on these Golden-Thread Night Bats had almost all been completely transmuted to gold.

The better the quality, the more usable Gold-Transmuted Mane could be harvested, which made them better value for money.

"How much is one?" he asked.

The young woman brightened. Asking the price meant there was a chance!

"Anyone can tell you're a pet lover, sir. I'm sure you know the market price is no less than 1,500 each."

"How about 1,400 each?"

Lin Ye glanced back at her. As expected, the prices online couldn't be trusted.

Then he picked out a few.

"This one, plus this one. Three in all. How about 5,000?"

The young woman relaxed at the mention of 5,000. Good thing he hadn't bargained too hard. She'd still make a profit.

"Sure, 5,000 it is! Would you like us to remove the venom glands?"

"If not, please sign a liability waiver."

These things were highly venomous, after all. She didn't want to get into trouble over one.

But most people who bought Golden-Thread Night Bats chose not to have the glands removed. They were after the thrill.

"Have them removed."

"Of course. I'll pack them for you... Huh? Remove them? Oh! I'll take care of it right away."

Before long, the young woman had packed up the three Golden-Thread Night Bats with their venom glands removed.

"Here you are, sir. This is the Golden-Thread Night Bat care guide. If you have any questions, you can call us."

"Sorry for the trouble."

Lin Ye nodded. He probably wouldn't need the care guide. He'd cut them open as soon as he got back.

After paying, he was about to leave when a glimmer of flowing silver caught his eye.

He looked over, and his breathing suddenly quickened.

He hurried over. A small silver snake slithered around inside a transparent box.

It was over a meter long and two fingers thick. Strangely, even its flickering tongue was bright silver.

But what really caught his attention wasn't the snake's appearance. It was that this was actually an "ingredient"!

[Ingredient Name: Silver Ba Snake]

[Ingredient Category: Flesh]

[Ingredient Rank: Mortal Rank]

[Edible Part: Gallbladder]

[Effect: Slightly increases Strength and Intelligence; moderately improves the ability to track moving objects.]

"Trace..."

A small increase seemed to be about 0.01. Did "trace" mean the increase was less than 0.01?

If he ate a large amount of them as a regular food ingredient, would the effect be more significant?

"How much is this one?" he asked.

Compared to the stat increase, what interested him more was the "improves the ability to track moving objects" part.

If that ability improved enough, could he enter a state like bullet time whenever he wanted?

The young woman looked pleased and chirped, "You have a great eye, sir!"

"This is the Silver Ba Snake, a specialty of the Black Continent! Just 30,000 each!"

"But since it's your first time here, I'll give you a ten percent discount!"

"No thanks," Lin Ye declined without hesitation.

It simply wasn't worth the price. For that much, he could buy enough ingredients for ten batches of Heart of Dark Night Boiling.

He looked around. Other than the Silver Ba Snake, there were no other "ingredients."

But if an ordinary animal like the Silver Ba Snake could be an "ingredient," there had to be other kinds among the beasts as well.

They might be rare, though. If he had time, he could take a look around the zoo.

"I'll come back when I have time," he said.

This was the only store in Coast City that sold Golden-Thread Night Bats. After he became an official disciple of the boxing gym, he'd still need to buy the rest.

"Of course, sir. Take care, and we hope to see you again."