Elemental Potions

Night lay hazy outside, and the chandelier on the living room ceiling filled the house with bright yellow light.

On the dining table...

There was boiled Black-Backed Bass, steamed ribs with a secret seasoning, and Golden Shrimp Balls. Well, although his shredded potatoes had turned out a little thick, Li Qiuzhi had still managed to make the dish.

He felt rather pleased with himself. See? I can do this after all.

Eula and Amber sat opposite each other at the rectangular table, with Li Qiuzhi seated to one side.

"They look pretty good."

Eula nodded slightly, giving the dishes on the table a passing grade.

"Ah, mm!" Amber popped a Golden Shrimp Ball into her mouth with her chopsticks and said through puffed cheeks, "This is delicious."

Mondstadt and Liyue used different eating utensils. The women generally used knives and forks.

Eula did not force herself to use chopsticks, which she had yet to master. Instead, she speared a Golden Shrimp Ball with her fork. Unlike Amber, she did not eat it in a single mouthful, but parted her soft lips and took a gentle bite, displaying all the elegance of an aristocrat.

Time slipped by as they ate, and before long, the three of them had cleared every dish on the table. Eula lightly dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, while Amber leaned back against her wooden chair to rest, thoroughly satisfied.

A faint smile rested on Li Qiuzhi's face. As expected, the Character Panel first displayed a Friendship notification from Amber:

[Amber felt fondness toward you. Gained 90 friendship points. Current friendship level: Lv.3 (260/300)]

He was almost at level four. Excellent. Eula's notification followed:

[Eula felt fondness toward you. Gained 60 friendship points. Current friendship level: Lv.2 (65/200)]

Looks like they're both pretty satisfied. If you're happy, I'm even happier, Li Qiuzhi thought to himself.

After resting briefly following dinner, Eula and Amber said goodbye to Li Qiuzhi together. Before they left, he readily handed Eula the hundred thousand Mora for this month's rent.

That made his rental of the little courtyard house official. They had not signed a rental agreement, perhaps because Eula already trusted him quite a bit.

Late that night, the bookshelf against the study wall held only the two books he had borrowed from the library. A candle burned quietly inside its glass shade.

Thanks to Miss Eula, I finally have a study of my own, Li Qiuzhi thought happily.

After all, being in a room specifically intended for reading and studying made it easier to settle into a focused state, almost as though some mysterious power were helping him.

At that moment, two Elemental Potion Recipes lay on the desk.

To make adventuring in the wilderness and farming experience points easier, it was essential to have powerful elemental attacks at his disposal. The Treasure Hoarders achieved that indirectly through their potions.

However, these two recipes were rather unstable, and brewing them involved some danger.

The Treasure Hoarders' recipe for a Pyro Elemental Potion used Flaming Flower stamens as its primary ingredient, followed by mystic enhancement ore and luminescent spine in a ratio of three to two.

Flaming Flower stamens contained abundant Pyro energy. They first had to be simmered into a liquid, then mixed with powdered mystic enhancement ore to stimulate that energy into an active state.

The slightest carelessness during this process could cause problems.

Add too much, and it would explode. Add too little, and he would only discover after finishing that the Pyro energy in the potion was completely inactive. It would be unusable, a wasted batch.

These ingredients were not cheap. Every failure meant lost Mora.

The luminescent spine added at the end served as a "preservative" once the potion had been successfully brewed. After all, even if a successfully activated Pyro Elemental Potion went unused, the Pyro energy inside would dissipate on its own.

Luminescent spine was necessary to slow that dissipation.

Only after every step had been completed without incident would he have successfully brewed an Elemental Potion. Stored in a small container, it could be used as a grenade.

The method for brewing an Electro Elemental Potion was much the same.

The main ingredient simply changed from Flaming Flower stamens to electro crystal. Mystic enhancement ore and luminescent spine were still required, along with one additional ingredient: lizard tail.

According to the recipe, the lizard tail ensured that the electro crystal retained its properties while being melted into a liquid.

After reading through the detailed recipes, Li Qiuzhi could not help frowning in frustration.

The main problem was how unstable the brewing process was. Without someone who had made these potions dozens or hundreds of times supervising him, he would not dare attempt it himself.

It's not as though I can go ask the Treasure Hoarders, Li Qiuzhi thought, the idea flashing inexplicably through his mind.

Elemental Potions were not actually all that rare. As far as he knew, members of the Knights of Favonius always carried a few when undertaking dangerous missions.

The person responsible for supplying the Knights of Favonius with potions was none other than Miss Lisa, the librarian.

Li Qiuzhi remembered that one of her talents in the game was "General Pharmaceutics." Calling her a master potion maker would be no exaggeration.

If he took these two Elemental Potion Recipes to Lisa for advice, she might be able to suggest ways to improve their stability. But he could hardly show up empty-handed.

She certainly would not be interested in the Elemental Potion Recipes themselves. To Lisa, they were probably nothing more than crude beginner-level work.

Well...

Li Qiuzhi had traded one headache for another.

Still, potions this rudimentary did not necessarily require a master like Lisa. Either Timaeus or Sucrose, the two alchemists over at the crafting bench, could probably solve the problem.

After all, brewing Elemental Potions was also part of alchemy. Li Qiuzhi knew that Sucrose often needed bones from strange animals for her experiments. Getting her help would not be difficult; he only needed to bring her some monster bones.

As for Timaeus...

Hmm, never mind. If I can ask a cute girl, why would I go hang around with a grown man instead?

Monster bones were not hard to find. He could pick some up during his next adventure, so there was no rush for now.

Having thought of a solution, Li Qiuzhi breathed a small sigh of relief. He put the elemental recipes away on the bookshelf for the time being, then took down Favonius Swordsmanship: Fundamentals and began reading.

He had already grasped the basics in the book on Favonius archery, so he no longer needed to read it. From now on, he could simply use experience points to raise its level.

Favonius Swordsmanship also provided detailed explanations accompanied by illustrations, marking out the key points of every movement.

It covered the opening stance characteristic of the Knights of Favonius, downward cuts, rising cuts, thrusts, and sword recovery, among other moves.

On the whole, it was straightforward and easy to understand. He believed it would not take much practice to grasp the basics.

Through the long night, with no desire to sleep, Li Qiuzhi devoted himself to studying this Favonius Swordsmanship "secret manual."

The next morning, Li Qiuzhi rose early and practiced Favonius Swordsmanship in the front courtyard with the scimitar he had obtained from the Treasure Hoarders.

After all, like a one-handed sword, it was a one-handed weapon. It might be somewhat less suitable in combat, but it posed no problem for practice.

As he practiced, he checked his movements against the book and corrected them one by one.

Although the results were not as good as having a teacher guide him, it was enough to learn the basics.

Haha, this chapter was a little late.