Flora stood with her hands behind her back, tilting her head up slightly as she looked at him, two signature dimples appearing on her face.
"Inside are some very basic potionmaking methods. Learn them, and you can earn quite a bit of extra money."
They had all seen Lance's efforts during that time.
Seeing the sincerity in the young woman's eyes, Lance felt a warmth rise in his heart.
"Thank you."
He spoke those words of thanks with genuine emotion.
The two of them carried their chosen books to the counter to pay.
However, when the old gentleman named the price, Lance's relaxed expression froze instantly.
The three books were priced exorbitantly, each one costing between two and four silver coins.
Lance quickly did the math in his head.
This stack of paper alone cost more than the iron-plated leather armor he was wearing.
No wonder this shabby bookstore was usually deserted. This was not selling books—it was daylight robbery.
He awkwardly touched his coin pouch.
The joy of having just made a small fortune vanished completely. Even counting every last coin, he only had enough to buy one of them.
Just as he hesitated over which two books to return, a fair little hand reached over.
Several shining silver coins were gently placed on the counter.
"Let's pay for them together."
Flora's voice was soft, but to Lance's ears, it was as sweet as a goddess descending from heaven.
In the end, it was only with Flora's help that Lance managed to bring the three weighty volumes of knowledge home.
When they left the bookstore, Lance patted his chest and promised that he would repay her as soon as he started making money.
Flora, on the other hand, did not seem to care much. She simply smiled and waved goodbye before hurrying back to help at the potion shop.
Over the following days, until the next rest day arrived.
Lance's life returned to its usual calm and routine.
During the day, he worked as an inconspicuous copyist at the Adventurers' Guild. At night, he gathered with the girls at their usual spot to play Three Dragon Cards.
He spent the rest of his free time devouring the books he had bought at such great expense.
Hard work paid off.
Before long, an entry for Botany appeared on the system panel.
But to Lance's surprise, it did not appear under the [Skills] tab. Instead, it opened up an entirely new category of its own.
Knowledge: Botany LV1 (2/1000)
This was a brand-new section.
Compared with skills, knowledge was clearly much harder to improve. The experience required to level up alone was several times greater.
Lance tried adding the 10 points of [Knowledge Experience] he had received from his previous quest into Botany.
The instant the experience flowed in, a wonderful sensation surged through him.
It was not merely the infusion of memories.
He felt as though the isolated fragments of knowledge in his mind had come alive, sprouting countless delicate tendrils that extended into unknown domains.
For example, the book recorded a kind of "Cup Mushroom" that grew in Copper Creek Forest.
Originally, all he knew was that it was nonpoisonous, crisp in texture, and could be used as emergency food in the wilderness.
But as his knowledge expanded, he suddenly grasped a new trait as if inspiration had struck.
The cap of this mushroom had a special structure that could filter dew and store it in the center of the cap.
In an emergency where water was scarce, it could be consumed directly as a source of fresh water.
This knowledge had not simply been stuffed into his head from nowhere. It was a logical deduction and extension built upon what he already knew, which was incredibly miraculous.
Moreover, this growth was exceptionally stable, becoming entirely Lance's own instinct.
If he continued using Knowledge Experience to fill it over time, Lance felt that the breadth of his knowledge would soon surpass that of those so-called veteran scholars.
At the very least, neither the Copper Creek Herbal and Mineral Compendium in his hands nor the potionmaking book Flora had recommended mentioned that Cup Mushrooms could store water.
That did not mean this piece of knowledge was especially rare.
Rather, the books' authors had been limited by length or focus and had not included it.
But the knowledge granted by the system could fill in such overlooked details.
And with the opening of the Knowledge section, a new function module unlocked beneath the panel.
[Research Section]
Seeing this interface, Lance could not help raising an eyebrow.
This function had also existed in the original game.
In the game, the Research Section had two main directions.
One was Biological Research.
Back then, veteran players had developed this feature to its fullest potential.
By conducting in-depth research on a specific species, not only could one increase the damage dealt to that species.
As for what kind of "damage" that was, those who knew, knew.
On the other hand, researching different types of demi-humans could grant special physical enhancements, making it easier to defeat them.
Lance remembered clearly that, in order to unlock a special interaction scene called "Deep-Sea Kiss," he had deliberately spent a great deal of time researching aquatic monsters. In the end, he successfully obtained the ability of "Underwater Breathing" from a certain kind of fishman, allowing him to dive beneath the sea.
Now, it seemed that this function had also been perfectly adapted to the real world.
However, the Biological Research tab was currently completely empty.
He would probably have to come into contact with living species other than humans before related projects could be unlocked.
Meanwhile, beneath the [Potion Research] tab, the first project had already appeared.
[Hemostatic Ointment (Improving)]
This was the simplest formula recorded in Basic Botany and Simple Potionmaking, which he had just read earlier.
He had not expected it to enter Potion Research directly.
This medicine was a common item in adventurers' packs, with a small jar selling for a little over twenty copper coins.
Its primary ingredient was a low-level plant called Blood-Clotting Moss.
The system's first research quest was remarkably straightforward:
Quest Objective: Personally gather, dry, and produce 30 ounces of Blood-Clotting Moss Powder.
In this world's units of measurement, one ounce was roughly equivalent to the weight of a kingdom gold coin, or about 28 grams.
Thirty ounces of powder meant nearly a kilogram of finished product.
Considering the losses during drying, he would need to collect a large quantity of raw materials.
Fortunately, Blood-Clotting Moss was not particularly rare in the forest. Lance planned to grab some whenever he accepted a quest next time.
What truly attracted Lance was the expected reward after completing the quest.
Effect: Coagulates blood from small to medium-sized cuts at medium speed (+), forming a protective medicinal film with a slight anti-infection effect (+).
The Hemostatic Ointment made by others actually worked at normal speed and did not have that additional anti-infection effect.
Although he did not know exactly how much faster "medium speed (+)" was compared to ordinary products on the market.
That extra anti-infection property was unquestionably a life-saving ability.
When injured in the wild, bleeding was not the most frightening thing. What people truly feared were high fevers and complications caused by infected wounds.
Once this formula research succeeded.
The Hemostatic Ointment Lance made in the future would utterly outclass everyone else's products.
Nothing was more profitable than mastering core technology.
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