Chapter 104: Sweet dreams are easy to wake up

"Bitter, I am so bitter."

In the afternoon a few days later, Ji Jue finally couldn't help but start wailing again.

After he finally crawled out of the library with a gray face, he was already dying.

It was like a child who started to be ignorant and longed for school before the end of every summer vacation. After the initial joy disappeared, he was pressed to the ground by the coursework and rubbed frantically again.

Before, he thought his modern alchemy had at least entered the door.

Then Professor Ye told him with practical actions and continuous interrogation and pressure, no, you didn't, you are still far behind.

After a test, after throwing the test paper that politely scored 59 points to him, she opened a large list of books that was enough to bury Ji Jue, telling him that your task for the next few months is to read all of these and write a report according to your own understanding and accept Professor Ye’s random inspection and torture from time to time.

"Discussion on the Four Elements of Alchemy", "Discussion on the Heterodoxies of the Ascension Path", "Modern Alchemy Foundation I, II, III, IV", "300-400 Annual Registered Craftsman Exam Analysis", "Discovery of Two or Three Points Based on Waste Recycling in Water Quenching"...

At first, Ji Jue was worried about how to find these books in such a large library, until Ye Chun took him to the corner, pointed to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth bookshelves and told him, no need to find, just read them all, they are all here.

After realizing that Ji Jue’s own understanding ability was enough for self-study and research, Professor Ye’s teaching style became much rougher, mainly stuffing ducks, and after stuffing, she tortured him according to the weak points of understanding, and then let him turn back to look again, making even Ji Jue dream of brushing questions and memorizing books and doing real questions.

Every time he smelled the library, Ji Jue started PTSD.

Such a vicious alchemy, who invented it...

Now his daily schedule is filled with all kinds of beatings.

First, he was beaten by Professor Ye in spiritual quality offense and defense at eight in the morning, tortured by Professor Ye in teaching and testing at ten o'clock, and beaten by various theories in the library from noon to afternoon. In between, he went to the warehouse to be beaten by the Dissociation Technique.

Besides beating, it’s beating.

Beaten until Ji Jue was already blurred in consciousness, like a maggot lying on the ground wriggling and groaning, "Is life always to be beaten, or is it only like this when you are an apprentice?"

"Young people don't be depressed because they are beaten at the beginning." Ye Chun comforted while touching the dog’s head: "Because you will gradually get used to it later."

"I don't want to! I still have a great youth..."

Ji Jue covered his face and screamed: "Senior Sister, save me!!!"

"Senior Sister has already been rolled to death by you!"

Ye Chun, who had been working overtime to catch up on the thesis, pulled up her messy hair and sneered: "You chose it yourself, idol!"

"When you rolled others at the beginning, why didn't you think of today? This is the end of the roll dog! Dead miserably, absolutely miserably, miserably!"

Speaking of hatred, she couldn't help but pinch Ji Jue’s neck and shake it hard: "One day, I will sprinkle your ashes into Tianmen Lake, ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

In the living room, the sound of the TV, the little moped curiously poked its head out, with a small bird on its head, watching the scene of the two persecuting each other.

Soon, it retracted its gaze without interest and returned to the front of the TV, continuing to focus on the food program above.

"Looks so delicious."

Gloria looked at the picture of the roast chicken coming out of the oven and started swallowing saliva.

And the little moped heard the words, rolled its eyes and looked up at the alchemical creation on its head that seemed to belong to the bird family like the one on the TV, and couldn't help but nod in agreement, eager to try.

Then the two little ones started to lean toward his backpack stealthily while Ji Jue wasn't paying attention, trying to take his phone to order a takeaway to taste.

Ji Jue saw it in his eyes and sighed but didn't stop it.

After all, it’s better than them being smart, carrying a plastic model in the middle of the night and letting Gloria hide in the head to order food, and as a result, the waiter was scared to faint... Thanks to them, there is another legend of a terrifying diner who comes to claim his life in the middle of the night in the horror stories of the North Mountain District...

Besides, he was hungry too!

It just so happens that when the takeaway comes, grab it from their mouths, and it will taste even sweeter.

Brother Ji is under great pressure, Brother Ji takes it first!

And the reason why he has become so "generous" recently, even ordering takeaways casually, is largely because Ji Jue’s financial situation on the account is finally not in a state of debt on the verge of bankruptcy at any time.

After all, going out for a trip is not a white run.

Considering his financial situation, among the many materials he left behind, Professor Ye helped him sell some materials that were temporarily unused and not particularly precious.

The payment arrived yesterday morning.

Now the money on the account, after deducting his and Lu Ling’s student loans, still has more than 700,000.

Save a little, enough for Ji Jue to lie flat for ten years.

For the first time in his life, Ji Jue, who had such an exaggerated amount of money lying on his account, was rarely generous. He not only bought gifts for everyone in the family, but also went to Old Zhang’s massage shop to handle a membership card that the whole family could use.

Originally, he had to deduct the money owed to Sister Laila, but she refused to produce the bill, only saying that friends help each other. Since it is friends helping, Ji Jue didn't say much, and decisively accepted this favor. If there is anything needed later, he will help more.

In the bitter stuffing life, sweet money has become Ji Jue’s spiritual pillar. Every time he was beaten and desperate, he took out his phone to check the account balance.

Happy and unable to stop.

"Get, start again."

Ye Chun rolled her eyes, glancing at Ji Jue holding a phone and laughing silly, shaking her head helplessly.

Forget it, forget it, this kind of drooling even if cured.

Sweet dreams are hard to find, let him sleep for a while.

Sooner or later, there will be a tragic reality to give him two slaps.

After eating in the afternoon, Ye Chun received a call and sent Ji Jue to push the cart to pick up the goods.

At the door of the workshop, a man in a suit and leather shoes got off a black van, smiling friendly and enthusiastically. After shaking hands with Ji Jue and handing over his business card, he also handed over a cigarette. The attitude was enthusiastic, and after moving the sealed jar the size of a human head onto the cart, he stood in place and waved, waiting until Ji Jue entered the door before returning to the car and driving away.

"Is sales rolling so fiercely now?"

Ji Jue curiously fiddled with the sealed jar that was heavy and unbelievable: "What’s inside?"

"Aren't you going to practice Fluid Alchemy?"

Ye Chun took a look: "This is the purified extraction mercury that Aunt ordered from the Libra Chamber of Commerce. The things are not easy to find, and they just arrived today."

I have to say, the mercury after spiritual quality fusion and transformation is much easier to operate than the transformed mercury that Ji Jue made casually.

Ji Jue just reached out and processed it simply, and it was like an arm.

As if a snake dancer, just waving his hand casually, the mercury in the jar rose slowly, wriggling in mid-air with his movements~

Sometimes Ji Jue’s face appeared, sometimes Ye Chun’s appearance appeared.

Incomparably agile.

"So convenient!"

Ji Jue’s eyes also lit up: "I’ll get some at home later! This little bit is not enough."

"That would be more troublesome. If the order quantity is small, Libra is not willing to do it." Ye Chun bit the pen and reminded without raising her head: "About half a kilogram minimum order."

"Kidding, look down on who!"

Ji Jue sneered, waving his hand: "Give me ten pounds!"

"Oh, okay, if you use Aunt’s gold membership card, seven thousand per gram." Ye Chun took out her phone, aimed the screen at him, and smiled gently: "Scan the payment code."

"How much?!"

"Hmm?" Ye Chun didn't understand, as if she reacted, lowered her head and flipped through the PDF purchase list on her phone: "Sorry, I made a mistake—it’s seven thousand six hundred and thirty-six, but there is a discount for buying more than one kilogram, which is about seven thousand two hundred per gram."

Ji Jue’s hand holding the jar trembled, and trembled again.

If he didn't calculate wrong, his account balance... only enough to buy sixty-nine grams?

Grass, no wonder the grandson who delivered the goods just now smiled so enthusiastically!

If it were Ji Jue, Ji Jue would definitely smile brighter than him.

What kind of profiteer is this!

He carefully placed the mercury jar that was at least seven or eight pounds on the ground, carefully and seriously covered the lid to avoid volatilization, and then wiped the cold sweat and asked tremblingly: "Is it so expensive?"

"Yes, what do you think?"

Ye Chun glanced at his ignorant appearance, "Anything that touches alchemy will immediately go to the sky, okay?

Most craftsmen buy raw materials and process them themselves. This kind of mercury is because the processing equipment is too unpopular and not in the workshop, and buying it specifically for this is not worth it, so Aunt took it to make up the order, otherwise, where would there be things for you to practice?"

As she spoke, she pointed to the sweeping robot in the corner.

"Now you know why you have to wear work clothes when entering and leaving the warehouse?

Just the ash left after your usual practice and the physical properties of the waste are overloaded, the market price is one hundred grams and four thousand federal coins, or more.

It is sold by the hundred pounds on the market, and it is sold out in seconds on the shelves. The demand is terrifying. If this were in other workshops, an apprentice like you who has no foundation and no relationship, even if you work hard to be a supervisor, don't even think about getting the job of waste recycling, okay?"

You know, the ash left after the physical properties of alchemical products are overloaded and collapsed is actually useful.

Because they have experienced alchemical processing exceeding the upper limit before collapsing, these ashes have become bad reaction bodies of spiritual quality, and it is not easy to have any reaction with other spiritual qualities. Therefore, after being collected, they are often fired into special bricks. Used to cellar certain materials that need aging, or to make tombs for certain chosen ones who are easy to scam after death but not convenient to cremate, or to build buildings with special functions.

For example... prison.

In every big city in the Federation, there is at least one building built with such materials. It is not just the material cost, but the total cost of the shackles, mysteries, and various equipment inside... has become an astronomical figure that a poor guy like Ji Jue who has just escaped poverty dare not dream of.

The Ember Path is like this, while making money, it also means ten times or a hundred times the money burning of other paths.

Compared to other paths, the promotion requirement of the Ascension Path is inspiration and understanding, the improvement requirement of the Tianyuan Path is self-control, the Bai Lu Path is to win the weak with the strong or the weak eat the strong, the Wasteland Path is to be close to the essence of the world, and the Heart Pivot needs to understand one’s own nature...

Ember is much more simple and sturdy—take money.

Krypton gold may not necessarily become strong, but not krypton gold, definitely not strong!

More than 90% of Ember chosen ones are wild roads, not because they don't have the opportunity to become formal, but because they really can't afford that high price.

Wanting to cultivate a registered craftsman, the early investment is massive. But it is biased to invest so much, but it may not necessarily have results.

Compared with other newcomers who are poor and white, Ji Jue is already a dream start.

There is an enlightened and unconstrained teacher, a senior sister who tells him what to do at any time, and a whole warehouse of waste that he can toss about at will.

But if you want to make progress, or even accelerate the progress, then you must face the bottomless pit of demand.

Once you enter the workshop, it’s like going to engage in telecommunications fraud.

A mature apprentice must learn to reflect on himself three times a day: Is the account balance enough? Can the credit card still be swiped? Are there any small loans that haven't been touched?

Even, can relatives and friends still afford the money?

Do dry dads and dry moms need hooks?

Faced with the current predicament, it’s not that Ji Jue has no way. After all, he just dismantled Mercury’s workshop and brought back so many materials. Even if it is high-end, it is not impossible to downgrade and make do.

It’s just, are you sure that in this broken village good sword of yours, you must add the life gold used by the Sage specifically for legendary weapon enhancement +12?

"So, recognize your status, Ji Jue."

Ye Chun patted his shoulder, earnestly: "It’s not that I don't care about you in the past, but you must understand the gap and chasm between us—you, an apprentice born of a concubine, dare to compete with me, the eldest daughter born of a wife?"

As she spoke, she raised her chin, pointed to the refrigerator, and ordered: "Go, bring me the Coke! Sugar-free."

Ji Jue obediently slipped over, holding the Coke with both hands and returning: "Please, please."

Ye Chun tutted, shook her other hand that was still empty, "Potato chips, mustard flavor."

Ji Jue followed the flow, holding a pile of things back, flattering: "There are three styles of mustard flavor, which one do you need?"

"Hmm, let’s eat barbecue flavor today."

Ye Chun relied on the sofa, drinking Coke and eating potato

Ji Jue pondered for a moment and asked tentatively: "Do you think, with my level, if I opened a studio to help people make fake arms and legs, wouldn't the money roll in like water? Is there any potential in that?"

"Regrettably, no."

Ye Chun shook her head decisively and raised three fingers again: "First, the Ring of Taiyi prohibits the sale of mass-produced alchemical products on the market without a review permit. Regardless of the proportion of alchemy involved, if it contains Ethereal matter and is made of non-standard materials, it counts.

Second, to obtain a permit after submitting a review application, the creator must first become a registered craftsman and have a guarantee from an established workshop.

Finally, not many people can afford it."

"What the hell?" Ji Jue was stunned: "Never mind the registered craftsman qualification and workshop guarantee, a prosthetic limb—the price shouldn't be so high that no one can afford it, right?"

Ye Chun didn't answer; she took out her phone, pulled up the calculator, tapped away for a moment, and held up the screen to show him the result: "According to conservative estimates, the cost price for the basic model of the prosthetic limb you made is about 310,000 per unit."

"What the hell?!" Ji Jue gasped.

"So expensive?! Is that what you want to say?" Ye Chun laughed, "Even though the materials only add up to a few hundred, and the electricity for machining is at most seventy or eighty cents... right?"

"Uh, it does feel a bit like that."

So, Ye Chun nodded and asked: "Did you include the licensing fee for Auntie's technology in that?"

Ji Jue was dumbfounded.

"Did you include your own time cost and labor cost in that?"

Ye Chun asked again, and seeing him hesitate, she waved her hand to interrupt: "You want to say your time isn't worth that much, and your labor isn't that much effort? But you're no longer that penniless college student, Ji Jue."

She sighed: "Now that you are who you are, do you really want to sacrifice the time most precious to you, using the effort meant for refining your studies on throwing money into the water?"

Ji Jue was speechless.

No matter how you look at it, this period of time is the golden age for Ji Jue as an apprentice to focus on theoretical learning. At this stage, an apprentice with even a little bit of potential wouldn't let themselves be distracted, let alone open a studio to contact sales, build channels, sell products, and provide after-sales service.

What's more, let alone Fluid Alchemy, he hasn't even fully mastered modern alchemy yet.

"So, regarding the things you've made, as someone who grew up in a workshop, the only advice I can give you is: it's fine to give them away as gifts, but if you're going to talk money, then sell them at double the cost price. Even lowering it by a cent is a sign of disrespect to yourself."

Ye Chun reached out, patted Ji Jue's shoulder, and comforted him: "Although it sounds mercenary and cold, the state of this world and the market is just like this.

Don't let your favors become cheap, and don't let yourself become that 'cheap' person in others' eyes; otherwise, there will be endless trouble and complications."

Without Ye Chun saying it, Ji Jue understood this principle himself.

No matter how bizarre and complex the market situation is, one must maintain an awareness of reality. Those who overestimate themselves and try to go against the market have long since died out.

What qualifications does Ji Jue, an apprentice who hasn't even passed the registered craftsman exam, have?

A price of 620,000 is basically enough to say goodbye to the market.

You have to know, the price for limb regeneration surgery in the Vortex system is only around 2.1 million, and some Chosen ones' clinics even have a buy-two-get-one-free deal.

"So, stop thinking about those things."

Ye Chun finally handed him a can of iced cola, put the unfinished potato chips in his hand, and reminded him of the cruel reality once again: "After you finish eating, you have to go back to work obediently.

Master Ji, it's time to continue processing the scrap."

Fifteen minutes later, Ji Jue, his dreams shattered, wiped away a few tiny pearls of tears and pushed open the workshop door once again, looking at the twisted longsword covered in scratches and cracks on the workbench.

In the absolute silence, even the sounds of breathing and heartbeat became so clear.

Ji Jue took a deep breath, slowly raised his hands, and with the circulation of Ethereal matter, the complex circuits of Non-Aggression became increasingly distinct. Calm his mind, mobilize Ethereal matter, maintain stability, and finally, trigger a qualitative change.

"If you're bad, practice more!!!"

In that instant, his eyes lit up suddenly, and he slammed his raised hands down toward the scrap longsword on the table.

——Eat my Disintegration Technique!