Mass Production

"There are still enough Quasit True Blood in the storehouse to refine 1,000 Bloodline Potions. Each portion is priced at 140 merit points. I, Anthony Silvercoin, always keep my word—I won't take a single point of commission from Scholar Eno. A special offer: 120,000 merit points." Anthony Silvercoin took out a hundred sealed glass vials containing crimson blood.

True blood from extraordinary creatures had a shelf life. For ordinary Rank 1 extraordinary creatures, their true blood would lose its rune-inscribing properties within minutes and its bloodline properties within a month.

If Quasit True Blood had not been languishing unsold for so long, the exchange building would never have kept a stock of 1,000 portions.

"Fine! One thousand portions it is. I'll also need 500 Rank 0 Scarlet Blood Crystals, one map of the Landon Duchy, and ten Alchemical Bombs." Yin Ming spoke with a reluctant expression, then paused before adding.

"Scarlet Blood Crystals will cost 50,000 merit points, Alchemical Bombs 10,000 merit points. The map of the Landon Duchy is a complimentary gift. Never go to any place marked as a forbidden zone on it—even formal Wizards may face mortal danger there," Anthony Silvercoin said.

Yin Ming took his things and left, while Anthony Silvercoin wore a suspicious expression.

Even for practicing the preparation of Bloodline Potions, there was no need for 1,000 sets of materials.

And he had chosen Quasits, the shame of Rank 1. Their combat strength was abysmally poor; if there were any other choice at all, no one would become a Quasit Warlock.

Finished Bloodline Potions were also slow-selling goods.

[Collect...]

Yin Ming stored all the materials in his gourd and synthesized them according to the original Bloodline Potion formula.

[Name: Bloodline Potion (Rank 1) x1000.]

[Ingredients: Quasit Essence Blood: 30%, Scarlet Blood Crystal: 31%, Blood-Melding Vine: 31%, Harmonizing Agent: 8%.]

[Note: Upon consuming this potion, you will completely transform into a juvenile Abyssal Quasit King. Method of consumption: Oral.]

[Mutation: 96%.]

"..."

"The potions are ready! Next, I just need to find some monkeys."

Yin Ming left the Flameburner Undercity and unfolded the map. The entire Landon Duchy lay before his eyes.

Half the duchy's territory belonged to the Green Forest Mountains. They not only shrouded the entire Green Forest City, but even half the territory of Landon Royal City lay within the mountains' reach.

At the heart of the Green Forest, two words were marked in blood-red lettering: 'Forbidden Zone.'

"What a vast forest..."

An hour later, Yin Ming entered the forest's boundaries.

As ordinary wild beasts, monkey troops usually lived along the outer fringes of the Magic Beast Forest.

Moreover, as territorial creatures that lived in groups, finding one monkey meant finding dozens, perhaps even hundreds.

If he found a hunter familiar with the forest nearby and asked around, he would most likely learn the monkey troop's territory.

"Before that, though, I need to deal with... the tail behind me."

Ever since leaving the Flameburner Undercity, Yin Ming had noticed someone following him.

Setting aside the profits from Golden Sore Medicine, a scholar's monthly income of 3,000 merit points was already a considerable fortune to an ordinary Rank 0 Wizard Apprentice.

And the one controlling that fortune was merely a Junior Wizard Apprentice. How could that not tempt people?

"Why did he suddenly stop? If he went a little deeper, we wouldn't even have to wait until nightfall to make our move."

Several figures hid in the jungle. Seeing Yin Ming conceal himself behind a large boulder rather than continue deeper into the forest, one of them said irritably.

"Wait until nightfall! Don't reveal killing intent when you keep your eyes on him. Treat him as part of the scenery. A Wizard's spiritual perception is troublesome as hell." Another man wiped down his musket and issued orders to the others.

Before becoming Rank 1, Warlocks could only partially beastify and could not completely transform into extraordinary creatures. If they did not want to use their flesh to endure a Wizard's spells head-on, they could only rely on nimble reactions and use muskets for long-range attacks.

[Rank 0: Lava Demon.]

Yin Ming took out the Metal External Core and activated nine Rank 0 True Name Runes. A Lava Giant standing ten feet tall appeared.

Then he took an Alchemical Bomb from his gourd. His palm condensed into cooled black lava as he gripped the bomb in one hand, aimed at his target, and hurled it like a cannonball blasted from its barrel.

The explosive force of an Alchemical Bomb was not concentrated enough to effectively kill a Rank 1 Warlock, but against Rank 0 apprentices, it was an overwhelming barrage of firepower.

Still, anyone capable of throwing an iron ball weighing dozens of pounds more than five hundred meters in two or three seconds could not possibly lose to Rank 0 apprentices. To Yin Ming, Alchemical Bombs effectively conserved mental power and magic power.

"What is that? An Alchemical Bomb..."

A tiny black dot arrived in an instant, and the group realized it was an Alchemical Bomb.

Their bodies rapidly beastified, but it was already too late to flee. Blinding firelight completely swallowed them.

"Boom..."

With an earth-shaking roar, everything within five hundred meters was leveled to the ground.

The devastation stretched as far as the eye could see. The shockwave from the explosion snapped enormous trees as thick as millstones cleanly in half.

Severed limbs and mangled corpses scattered in every direction before being buried beneath the dust kicked up by the blast. Yin Ming took one glance and gave up on collecting the spoils.

"Done..."

Shielded beneath his Dharma Form, he had not been affected by the explosion's aftermath.

Yin Ming put away the External Core. He had consumed only 4 points of magic power and mental power.

[...]

Windneighbor Town, Landon Royal City.

Following the map, Yin Ming found signs of habitation and was preparing to look for an old hunter to ask about monkey troops along the forest's outskirts.

He discovered that the whole town was eerily silent. No serfs labored on the estates, no freemen wandered the streets, and no knight guards patrolled the castle.

"Hey... you there..."

He finally came across a balding middle-aged man.

The moment the man saw him, it was as if he had seen a ghost. He decisively turned around and hurried home as though his wife were about to give birth.

"Ding..."

A gold coin rang crisply.

It continuously flipped through the air and landed precisely half a step beside the middle-aged man.

After a brief inner struggle, Lucas picked up the gold coin with agile movements.

He bent at the waist in a standard salute and forced out a smile. "Honored sir, how may I help you?"

Like most Wizards, Yin Ming spent long periods alone studying spells. He was not skilled at socializing, especially with strangers, but the saying that no one blamed a person for being polite held true in both worlds.

"Why did you run when you saw me? And why is this town so deserted?" Yin Ming asked.

"You may not know this, sir, but something strange happened in Windneighbor Town two days ago. Viscount Roland's knight order, along with every adult male in his household, all died overnight! They died horribly, as though something had drained every drop of blood from them and turned them into dried corpses." Lucas still had lingering fear as he described the knights' deaths.

Dried corpses! Nothing unusual.

Over the past two years, supernatural incidents had become rather frequent. The association explorers' duty had never been to save people, but to uncover the source of supernatural incidents.

For ordinary people in the extraordinary world to be absolutely safe, they needed to avoid greed, lust, gluttony, bloodlust, and...

They also needed incomparably firm willpower to resist the temptations of Abyssal demons, and their luck needed to be good enough that they were not swept into the aftermath of battles between powerful beings.

"Is there any hunter familiar with the forest outskirts? Hmm... one who's still alive." Yin Ming was a scholar, not an explorer, so he did not continue delving into supernatural matters.

"Uh! Yes, Old John is still alive." Lucas, who had just organized his thoughts and was preparing to launch into a lengthy account of the supernatural incident, froze for a moment before answering.