Chapter 107: [Crystal Nest (D)]

"Why isn't there a more advanced alchemy workshop?"

Lan Qingyou, who originally held some minor expectations, rubbed her eyes and took another look, only to discover there truly wasn't one.

The Elementary Alchemy Workshop corresponded to D-rank. Following that logic, what should appear next was a C-rank alchemy workshop.

However, there was none listed above.

Could it be because none of her attributes had reached C-rank?

Lan Qingyou furrowed her brows as she looked at these facilities.

She originally wanted to expend resources early to enjoy the benefits ahead of time, but as it turned out, the system fundamentally wouldn't give her any loopholes to exploit.

By the way, what exactly was this [Crystal Nest]?

Harboring doubts, Lan Qingyou tapped to view it.

[Function: Increases the hatching probability of Elf Butterfly chrysalises by 100%.]

[Introduction: The Crystal Nest is an exclusive hatching item for Elf Butterflies, while concurrently serving as a playground for young Elf Butterflies to frolic.]

Oh, so it was a nest for Elf Butterflies.

She had been wondering why Albert chose not to hatch these Elf Butterfly chrysalises after obtaining them.

So the crux of the issue lay here?

... Wait, no!

That fellow who dedicated everything he had to alchemy might have simply wanted to use those Elf Butterfly chrysalises as alchemical materials.

She had previously assumed she lacked sludge, hence running out to farm monsters.

In the end, she never expected a Crystal Nest to abruptly pop up to bottleneck her progress.

"Sigh..."

Lan Qingyou sighed, and with a backhand motion, tossed the checklist containing the materials she lacked over to Shang Chuan.

Lan Qingyou: "Do you have these?"

Shang Chuan: "I have some, and lack others. Let me check the manor's memo. I should be able to gather them. However, I'll need to make some inquiries regarding a few of the elemental essences."

Lan Qingyou: "Alright, then make it as soon as possible."

Shang Chuan: "Are these for upgrading to a Level Five Shelter?"

Lan Qingyou: "Correct."

Shang Chuan: "What are the exact specifics?"

Lan Qingyou: "Changes. Basic materials have decreased, but minerals have increased; you know this much. Barring any surprises, it's possible even my shelter's structural model will undergo a massive overhaul. After all, it required a copious amount of wood previously, whereas now it requires stone and various ores."

Lan Qingyou: "However, to be exact, these materials are for the facilities of a Level Five Shelter."

Shang Chuan: "Oh?"

Lan Qingyou: "I'll only know the exact specifics after the upgrade, along with the upgrade requirements for a Level Six Shelter and the like."

Shang Chuan: "Makes sense. Then wait for my good news."

Shang Chuan had already guessed it back when he previously mobilized minerals for Lan Qingyou.

After all, it hadn't been long since Lan Qingyou upgraded to a Level Four Shelter back then, which made him quite curious.

Initially, he wanted to wait until Lan Qingyou finished upgrading to Level Five before asking.

However, after seeing that she required so many elemental crystals, he still couldn't resist asking.

If it were any ordinary time, Shang Chuan, as a merchant, naturally wouldn't speak out of turn.

But because Lan Qingyou had 'rejected all dissenting views' to pull him into Tarot Manor, this favor alone was impossible to repay fully.

After all, whether it involved negotiating pricing power with the Council represented by Chu Yuan, or the purchasing rights to the researchers' outputs, it all allowed him to earn money hands over fist.

Therefore, he decided that no matter what Lan Qingyou needed in the future, he would think of every possible way to help her find it.

As for talking about money or materials...

Tacky!

Unbearably tacky!

Even a profit-seeking merchant like Shang Chuan wouldn't use this sort of thing to gauge his relationship with Lan Qingyou!

Besides, Lan Qingyou possessed a forty percent share of the 'North Mountain Mine'.

She just had to withdraw straight from there; it wasn't like she'd incur a loss anyway.

Having finished her short talk with Shang Chuan, Lan Qingyou immediately sought out The High Priestess, requesting more magic crystals.

The High Priestess: "Ah! You still want more?"

The Tower: "Correct. Give me another two hundred."

Since she didn't know if she would need more later on, Lan Qingyou simply ordered an extra hundred this time, treating it as a stockpile of materials.

The High Priestess: "Then you'll have to wait a bit. I should roughly be able to finish making them tomorrow."

The Tower: "Then give me one hundred first. I need to use them for my Level Five Shelter upgrade."

The High Priestess: "You still haven't upgraded to a Level Five Shelter!!!"

The Tower: "I haven't. After all, not everyone is capable of hand-rubbing these things like you are."

The High Priestess: "Alright then. The mana tide is coming, so I'll make them for you right away. However, you'll have to give me one hundred elementary mana potions. The price will be calculated separately."

The Tower: "No problem. How about 40 vials of +5 elementary spirit potions that last for ten minutes?"

Knowing the other party needed to use these mana potions to produce magic crystals, Lan Qingyou agreed without a second thought.

The High Priestess: "[OK]"

Although Chu Yuan and Shang Chuan had previously engaged in discussions within the group regarding commodity exchange rates and such...

To the manor members, their internal transactions were based entirely on their moods.

What stood out was simply doing whatever they pleased.

Among them, 'The Empress', Jiang Lan, who planted crops, and the old man 'The Hierophant', Nemo, were the prime culprits.

Those two would boast in the group whenever they had nothing to do.

One would say, 'I harvested some vegetables today. Whoever wants some, just toss whatever you have in exchange.'

The other would say, 'How did you know I caught a big fish today? Come, come, come, take it and eat it.'

Who asked you guys about this!

Ah!

Who asked!

The Tower: "By the way, I used your fire stone today."

The High Priestess: "How were the effects?"

The Tower: "The effects were great; it nearly blew off half my kidney. If it weren't for the abundance of potions I have, I probably would have been a goner."

The High Priestess: "Ah! That can't be!"

Since everyone rarely ventured out to farm monsters, The High Priestess received fundamentally no feedback in this regard.

Therefore, after Li Huai joined, she had been amongst the happiest.

However, due to Li Huai possessing formidable capabilities himself, he had yet to test things like these fire stones, leaving her in the dark.

Now that Lan Qingyou offered this feedback, she was dumbfounded.

The High Priestess: "Was there a problem with how you utilized it?"

The Tower: "No, I just hung it at my waist. But because the stone automatically shatters as part of its power source when launching an automatic counterattack, it resulted in my belt, clothes, and skin at my waist suffering varying degrees of injuries."

The High Priestess: "So that's how it is. Apologies, when I tested it, I just placed it on the ground and waited for a monster to attack. I'll make improvements on this aspect. Tomorrow, I'll send over 100 extra magic crystals as compensation."

The Tower: "Alright."

Even though it was an item given away for free, Lan Qingyou had undeniably provided positive feedback. Furthermore, it was quite unjustifiable that her own product had caused Lan Qingyou to suffer injuries.

Thus, The High Priestess immediately provided compensation. Subsequently, she went to find Li Huai, recalling all the belts and stones she had previously given him to test before commencing a new round of experiments.

Right now, The High Priestess felt quite fortunate.

Thankfully, Li Huai possessed sufficient capabilities and hadn't utilized them yet.

Otherwise, the automatic counterattacks fired by that entire ring of magic stones around his waist would probably have been enough to slice Li Huai right down the middle on the spot.

Upon seeing the conversation between the two, Li Huai was currently drenched in sweat.

He was also rejoicing that he hadn't managed to use it.