Alchemy

Outside the room.

"Thump, thump."

Die clutched her chest, inexplicably nervous, her face flushed crimson.

"He... he likes me too! Ahhh, how embarrassing..."

After calming herself down, Die did not dare linger and hurried away.

Ding! Favorability +1. Obtained 1 Favorability Coin.

Chen Mo: "..."

He had not expected a confession to raise so much favorability at once.

The host's level experience had now reached 93.

Favorability had also reached 91.

If he kissed her little mouth again...

Wouldn't that be fantastic?

Chen Mo found himself inexplicably looking forward to it. Though they had not yet reached the point of becoming Dao companions, with 91 favorability, a little kiss should be fine, right?

Pah, shameless.

When Chen Mo had said his injuries were not serious before, he had only meant they were not life-threatening. As the saying went, it took a hundred days to heal injured bones and tendons. Even now, his body still ached sharply.

Of course, normal activities such as walking were no problem, but he could not take steps that were too large. Even walking slightly faster would tug at his internal injuries.

It seemed cultivation and practicing Dou Skills would have to wait for now.

But what was this Top-Tier Fire Control?

Chen Mo tapped it to take a look.

According to the system's description, Top-Tier Fire Control allowed him to manipulate flames perfectly and control their size and temperature at will.

In other words, with this talent skill, the Buddha Fury Fire Lotus in Chen Mo's mind could be brought into reality. Moreover, for alchemy, this skill was practically divine.

Of course, it was not omnipotent. It offered no help with things like refining or absorbing flames.

After learning about these things, Chen Mo began flipping through the Medicine Saint Pill Codex to see whether there were any pills that could heal his current injuries or improve his current cultivation.

Among the first-grade medicinal pills, those that could restore injuries included Spring Return Powder, Blood Clotting Powder, Recovery Pill, Restoration Spirit Liquid, and more.

Among them, Restoration Spirit Liquid had the best effects.

Flame Condensing Pill increased the efficiency of absorbing fire-element energy.

Qi Gathering Pill could effectively improve the absorption of Dou Qi.

Chen Mo copied down the ingredients for all these medicinal pills before walking out of the room.

However, the moment he stepped outside, two spears were pressed against his neck.

"Without Her Majesty the Queen's orders, you are not permitted to leave this room."

Two brawny snake-person guards stood to the left and right of Chen Mo's door, holding spears.

Under the system's detection, both of them had cultivation at the Da Dou Shi level.

It seemed Queen Medusa truly regarded him as a slave, even restricting his personal freedom.

Hmph, one day, I'll pin her to a bed and whip her hard until she calls me Master.

After grumbling inwardly, Chen Mo smiled as he moved the spears away from his neck and said with an awkward laugh, "Brothers, do you have an alchemy room or shops around here?"

There was no response.

"Then did Her Majesty the Queen say what I am allowed to obtain?"

Still no response.

Uh.

"Where does Die, Queen Medusa's younger sister, live? Can I go find her?"

The snake-person guards finally responded. "No."

Uh, did they have to be so stingy with words?

"Then could I trouble you to notify the Queen's younger sister?"

The other party fell silent again.

"Damn it."

Chen Mo cursed under his breath, calmed himself, and put on a smile again. Taking out the paper he had copied from his Storage Ring, he handed it over and said,

"Then could I trouble you, brother, to report this to Her Majesty the Queen and ask whether she can prepare these medicinal ingredients and a medicinal cauldron for me?"

The two snake-person guards exchanged glances. One of them took the paper and looked it over before saying, "Watch him!"

After seeing the other snake-person guard nod, he left.

Inside a magnificent and imposing palace hall.

This was Queen Medusa's bedchamber.

Queen Medusa reclined lazily on her throne, propping her head up with one hand while holding a sheet of paper in the other. Her red lips curved slightly.

"Interesting. He actually knows alchemy as well? Fine, prepare everything according to his request. However..."

"These are the medicinal ingredients Her Majesty the Queen prepared for you. But Her Majesty has a condition: once you finish refining the pills, ninety percent of them must go to Her Majesty."

The snake-person guard took all the medicinal ingredients and the medicinal cauldron out of his Storage Ring, piling them into a small mountain inside the room.

"Ninety percent?!" Chen Mo was stunned. "Brother, did you hear that wrong? Ninety percent? That cut is way too high, isn't it?"

The snake-person guard ignored him. After putting down the ingredients, he walked out of the room.

Chen Mo was on the verge of tears. So Her Majesty the Queen was a skinflaying profiteer.

But since they were her medicinal ingredients, Chen Mo could only endure it in silence, looking forward to the day he could turn things around.

His first time refining pills.

It went far more smoothly than Chen Mo had imagined.

Refining these first-grade medicinal pills posed no difficulty whatsoever.

In less than half an hour, Chen Mo had refined a Recovery Pill.

The pill was the size of a longan, brownish in color, and gave off a rich medicinal fragrance.

Most importantly, the pill was nearly perfect, with only a trace amount of impurities.

That was due to the medicinal cauldron. It was merely an ordinary cauldron and could not withstand high heat, forcing Chen Mo to keep the temperature within its limits. That was what caused impurities to appear in the pill.

Chen Mo swallowed it immediately.

After spending around ten minutes recuperating, Chen Mo began refining the next batch.

This time, rather than refining them one at a time, Chen Mo refined three at once.

He directly put in three portions of ingredients for the Recovery Pill.

Based on the first pill, this was child's play.

Half an hour later.

All three Recovery Pills were successfully refined, each one nearly perfect.

But Chen Mo felt that this was still not his limit.

Unfortunately, Queen Medusa had only prepared five portions of ingredients for each type of pill.

Chen Mo began refining Restoration Spirit Liquid.

This time, Chen Mo threw in all five portions of ingredients.

By the time night fell.

Chen Mo had refined all the medicinal ingredients into pills.

While Chen Mo was refining pills.

Die came to see Chen Mo once. When she heard from the guards that he was refining pills, she was surprised, but in order not to disturb him, she left.

"Creak."

Chen Mo opened the door and handed the prepared pills to the snake-person guard. "The pills for Her Majesty the Queen are all in these jade bottles."

The snake-person took them and glanced inside. "Ninety percent. Why are there only two of each?"

"Do you understand losses? So many medicinal ingredients were lost in the process. Having two of each is already pretty good. As for Restoration Spirit Liquid, I do not have a single portion left," Chen Mo said.

The snake-person guard eyed Chen Mo suspiciously before leaving with the jade bottles.

After closing the door.

Chen Mo revealed a sly smile.

You may have your clever schemes, but I have my own way around them.

You want to take ninety percent from me? Not a chance.

"He refined all of these?" Queen Medusa asked in surprise, holding a brownish medicinal pill.

"Reporting to Her Majesty the Queen, he did."

As for the timeline, I currently plan to set it when Xiao Yan is ten years old.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them.