Cryptic Realm Lineage: Plants and Fungi

Lude and Sally had breakfast once again.

After finishing their meal, Lude went to the local general store to buy five kilograms of high-quality kerosene for lamps, along with a portable oil lamp.

Lighting tools held a significant place in many rituals, so he had to purchase the best one available.

Lude even planned to forge a gas lamp that could double as a flail once he successfully refined Resist-Steel.

That thing would be much brighter than an oil lamp!

After buying an axe, a few candles, and a coil of rope, Lude and Sally headed to the mountain goods market together.

Although some common crops could be used as materials—for instance, fermenting wheat into beer was technically a form of simple alchemy—Lude was clearly not aiming for such basic fare. He needed to start with materials containing [Spirit Essence] at the very least.

[Spirit Essence] was the spiritual energy solidified within a material that provided supernatural properties.

Lude felt a bit ashamed to admit that he had only learned the formal name for these supernatural properties this morning. Alchemy was filled with so much technical jargon that even with his "Transmigrator's Linguistic Mastery" talent, he found reading the treatises quite exhausting.

Many materials containing Spirit Essence looked like ordinary items unless triggered by special means.

The local villagers often went into the mountains to dig for wild goods and herbs, and among them were many low-level materials containing Spirit Essence.

Some physicians, while unaware of the supernatural, knew how to utilize the basic effects of these herbs, which was a path of its own.

Soon, Lude found what he was looking for at a stall.

At a stand selling mountain goods, sitting beside a pile of boletes and saffron milk caps, were a few plump, mercury-colored mushrooms. They appeared to belong to the Amanita family, but thick, translucent liquid was constantly dripping from their caps.

Lude reached out to pick one, but another somewhat pale hand bumped into his.

Lude was slightly surprised at the sight. "Miss Sally, are you interested in this mushroom as well?"

"Agh, don't, don't call me that!"

Sally grimaced and shook her head, a flush of embarrassment appearing on her cheeks. "What miss? A wild girl like me is no miss. If Silverback and Crow heard that, they'd tease me again."

"Come to think of it, you like using Silver-Cap Oil Mushroom oil for your lamp? That stuff has quite a pungent smell."

Watching Sally try to change the subject with a look that said, "This mushroom is truly a mushroom," Lude just chuckled.

"The value of a mushroom has nothing to do with whether it grows in a ditch or on a treetop. What determines its future is always how the person who possesses it chooses to use it."

As he spoke, Lude took several small vials from his pocket and collected all the silver-black oily slime overflowing from the caps.

"This mushroom is called the [Lipophilic Silver-Cap Amanita], though it is generally referred to as the [Silver-Cap Oil Mushroom]. It usually grows in dark, dry environments. The dripping oily slime can burn in water and is often used in the creation of [Flame Urns] and [Fire Oil]."

[Urns] were a shorthand for a class of supernatural items, usually appearing as closed jars with a capacity of about 100ml.

[Urns] were like grenades of the hidden world, typically made by filling ceramic jars with various materials. When thrown and subjected to violent impact, they would release elements like fire, lightning, or ice mist to envelop the surroundings.

[Fire Oil] was an enchanting item used to imbue weapons with elemental properties.

[Fire Oil] usually appeared as a black, viscous solid block, but it would rapidly soften and heat up upon contact with metal. Its final temperature could reach 800°C. Ordinary iron weapons could hardly withstand such high heat, so it was usually used for alchemical weapons like Resist-Steel swords.

It should be noted that alchemical weapons already possessing elemental power could not be subjected to conflicting enchantments.

[Fire Oil] was considered the most common enchanting material; in ancient times, many national armies even distributed it to mortals for use.

However, if mortals didn't even need to avoid using supernatural items, then what exactly was the hidden world concealing, and what was it afraid of mortals coming into contact with?

Lude briefly brushed aside his chaotic thoughts and picked up the treatise in his hand.

Cryptic Realm Lineage: Plants and Fungi. This treatise looked like a small booklet the size of a palm, but when fully unfolded, it contained a full 2,608 pages, each the size of an A4 sheet.

This book recorded the properties of hundreds of plant and fungal materials and was among the most precious in Professor Beshe's collection, especially since it contained many of the professor's own annotations.

For Lude, who possessed a photographic memory, finishing such a massive tome was still quite a challenge.

Along the way after that, Lude collected quite a few interesting things.

A bundle of Evergreen Grass; eating this directly could relieve muscle fatigue and was also very effective for treating colds.

Two clusters of Humming Flower; this was a herbaceous plant parasitic on tall trees, said to be transformed from moths that failed to break out of their cocoons. Holding it to one's ear allowed one to hear a faint humming sound, and listening to it for a long time or consuming it could evoke deep-seated passion within a person.

A handful of Red Sand Berry; these extremely sweet berries tasted like a mix of persimmon and fig and could be used to replenish blood for the wounded or those on their periods.

Three bottles of Ochre Smoke-Spore Ganoderma powder; these spores could remain suspended in the air for a long time, making them very suitable for creating diffusive consumables. For example, adding Ochre Spores to a Flame Urn could allow its fire to linger and burn in the air for over ten seconds.

A large chunk of Thunder Pine resin; this would emit arcs of electricity and sparks when subjected to violent impact.

And a full kilogram of Flammable Bolete. The name of this mushroom was actually a misnomer. The person who first named it saw these plump mushrooms burn to ashes the moment they touched an open flame, but this was actually just a phenomenon triggered by its properties.

The true property of the Flammable Bolete was that it would be assimilated at an extremely high speed when it came into contact with unstable elements.

In other words, the Flammable Bolete wasn't being ignited by the flame; rather, the entire mushroom transformed into fire in an instant. This property also applied to elements like lightning and frost, and later generations invented items like Flame Urns and Thunder Urns based on this characteristic.

Thunder Pine resin, Flammable Bolete, and Silver-Cap Oil Mushroom oil—these were the main materials for a Flame Urn.

First, coat the inner wall of a glass jar with Thunder Pine resin, then fill it with chopped Flammable Bolete, and finally pour in five milliliters of Silver-Cap Oil Mushroom oil. After fermenting for a period of time, a Flame Urn capable of exploding and bursting into 800°C flames would be complete.

It was a pity that since the invention of explosives, Flame Urns had been completely phased out, though Thunder Urns and Holy Urns still held some value.

According to Professor Beshe's notes, with the continuous progress of mortal technology, many things that only spellcasters could once do had been successfully replicated by mortals. In modern times, a handgun often played the decisive role in battles between spellcasters.

No incantations, no rituals, no sacrifices—this thing was far more useful than various spells and complex alchemical tools!

After all, not every spellcaster pursued eternal power or would undergo alchemical modification or implant organs of supernatural creatures. For them, the status of a spellcaster was merely a tool to help them live a better life.

What Lude found interesting, however, was that along the way, Sally had set her sights on the same target as him at least five times.

"Sally, have you studied knowledge in this field?" Lude asked curiously.