Chapter 124: My Stomach Hurts a Little, Could It Be...

Ring-ring—

At noon the following day, Lan Qingyou was jolted awake by her Alarm Clock.

She had set it for herself.

Although the dead of night offered perfect tranquility, she did not consider herself much of a Night Owl. Whenever possible, she preferred to operate during daylight hours.

Furthermore, everyone else was active during the day, with very few logging on at night like she did.

To avoid falling behind on work and to make communication much easier, Lan Qingyou had no choice but to forcefully adjust her sleep schedule back to normal.

Even though she had only slept for six hours, Lan Qingyou looked completely refreshed.

This was especially true after she finished washing up.

Today was the day she would finally attempt to create a Magic Shield.

She pulled out her Card and sent a message to the group chat.

Tower: "@Star, I have a question. When you make clothing, do you tailor the materials into a garment first and then apply the Enchantment, or do you enchant the fabric before cutting it?"

Lan Qingyou had actually wanted to ask this since yesterday.

However, by the time she thought of it, it was already late at night and the group chat had gone completely dead. This inconvenience was the primary reason she decided to fix her sleep schedule.

Otherwise, waiting around wasted far too much time.

Ruan Qingyi, who had just been waiting for Gu Xiaobei to deliver her meal, immediately replied upon seeing Lan Qingyou's question.

Star: "Craft the item first, then apply the Enchantment. However, when cutting the fabric, it is best to avoid a Sever Ties scenario where you slice the symbols in half. Keeping the symbols perfectly intact makes it much easier to connect them later."

Tower: "That makes sense, thanks for the tip."

Star: "Why do you ask? Are you planning to make something with the Magic-Patterned Fabric?"

Tower: "Yeah, I want to take a trip outside soon. Since your Magic-Patterned Fabric happens to be waterproof, I figured I would use it to craft a camping Tent."

Star: "I see. How exactly do you plan on making it?"

Tower: "I am going to sew the finished Tent first, and then attempt to engrave the Magic Shield Circuits along the inside."

Star: "Why don't you let me make it for you? I actually haven't crafted a Tent before, so it would be a fun experiment. Once I finish sewing it, I will hand it over and you can just focus on drawing the circuits."

Tower: "Alright, deal. Just let me know what kind of Potion you want in exchange."

Lan Qingyou honestly had not expected the other woman to volunteer for the job.

Still, since someone else was willing to handle the manufacturing process, there was no reason for her to do the heavy lifting.

Was it not always better to leave specialized work to the experts?

Star: "No, let's skip the exchange. I actually think this could be a lucrative business opportunity. After all, you aren't the only person who might want to explore the wilderness. If the final product turns out well, we can partner up and have Moon handle the sales."

So that was her angle.

Still, it was undeniably a fantastic proposal.

Lan Qingyou nodded to herself, entirely on board with Star's business plan.

An Alchemist was rarely short on funds, but that certainly did not mean they disliked turning a profit.

Lan Qingyou was very obviously the type of person who loved raking in cash.

After all, more wealth meant more capital to buy precious materials, right?

Chariot: "No wonder you asked me to prep a vehicle for you. Are those Blue Luminous Orbs you mounted on it for this trip too?"

Tower: "Yeah. They are little gadgets featuring Self-Luminescence that act as an Insect Repellent while also scaring off certain D-rank Magical Beasts."

High Priestess: "You can actually make something like that?"

Tower: "It was my own design. I figured it is always better to play it safe when traveling. It cannot repel everything, though, so it will still be somewhat dangerous out there."

Chariot: "I see. Well, having them dangling loose like that looks way too ugly. Send them over to me and I will reforge them into proper Lanterns. They will look much more pleasing to the eye."

...

'We are out here discussing specs and survival, and you are worried about the aesthetics?'

'Besides, they do not even look that ugly. I went out of my way to encase them in blue slime just for the aesthetic.'

Lan Qingyou could not help but grumble internally, but she still obediently mailed the orbs over. After all, who would turn down a free custom modification from a Master Mechanist?

Tower: "Just so you know, I refuse to accept any gritty post-apocalyptic wasteland designs."

Chariot: "Relax. Since you are a Witch, I will make sure they fit the whole mystical Witch aesthetic perfectly."

'...I get the distinct feeling that this burly Nordic guy is using some Hidden Meaning with that comment,' she mused.

Empress: "Tower, do you have any more of those mosquito repellents left? I could really use them for my fields."

Tower: "I do. I made about a dozen of them in one batch. However, they only have a lifespan of thirty days, and the countdown starts the moment they are crafted."

Empress: "Roughly how large of an area can a single orb cover?"

Tower: "I have never actually tested the range."

Empress: "Send them over to me, then. I will test them out."

Tower: "Alright. Just trade me some tomatoes or whatever you have lying around. I need to supplement my vitamins anyway."

Empress: "Not a problem. I will also pick some of my experimental corn crops for you; they are just about ready for harvest anyway."

Tower: "Oh! That sounds fantastic! I have not eaten corn in ages."

And just like that, another smooth transaction was completed.

Because Lan Qingyou had generously handed over more than a dozen of her gadgets, Empress Jiang Lan went above and beyond, sending back over fifty kilograms of plump tomatoes and roughly twenty kilograms of fresh corn.

Although Lan Qingyou rarely cooked and possessed practically zero culinary skills, boiling a pot of corn was foolproof. It would make for an excellent late-night snack whenever inspiration struck and she decided to pull an all-nighter in the lab.

As for the tomatoes, they were perfectly suited for eating raw right off the vine.

Besides, with her temperature-controlled storage room, a massive fifty-kilogram hoard of produce would never spoil.

Lan Qingyou did not even have to worry about gaining weight. Her magical Talent practically negated the concept of gravity for her, and ironically, increasing her physical mass actually boosted the raw power of her Talent.

Of course, vanity was still human nature.

While she did not fear getting fat, she still vastly preferred maintaining a curvy, hourglass figure.

Crunch.

After washing a large bowl of tomatoes, Lan Qingyou could not resist taking a huge bite right then and there.

What's that? Was she worried about getting an upset stomach from drinking unpurified water?

Please. As if her pristine Spring of Rest could even be compared to some dirty little Stream out in the wilderness. Lan Qingyou had absolute faith in her water supply.

And honestly, eating these tomatoes raw was incredibly satisfying.

Jiang Lan's tomatoes had delightfully thin skins and burst with a perfectly balanced sweet and tart flavor that made them utterly delicious.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Right at that moment, a message notification popped up from Gu Xiaobei.

"Hm?"

Lan Qingyou cast a curious glance at her Magic Desk. Gu Xiaobei spent almost all her time over at the villa these days, so why was she suddenly messaging her out of the blue?

Was she worried her message would get buried in the group chat?

Or was this some sort of emergency?

Gu Xiaobei: "Boss, are you able to manufacture salt?"

When Lan Qingyou clicked open the notification, she was left utterly speechless.

She had genuinely thought it was something urgent.

And it turned out to just be this?

Lan Qingyou: "Please. Extracting salt is literally one of the fundamental basics every Alchemist must learn."

Gu Xiaobei: "Could you process a large batch for me, then? My Kitchen is almost completely out of salt. Oh, and if you can synthesize MSG, throw some of that in as well."

'...How bizarre,' she thought.

'Do I look like some sort of spice merchant?'

'I cannot believe she is actually coming to me for grocery supplies.'

Still, it was not exactly a difficult request. Salt could easily be refined from seawater. MSG was even easier; she could easily synthesize it from the leftover corn and wheat Jiang Lan had traded her earlier.

Of course, since The Abandoned Land featured a vast coastline, extracting it directly from sea kelp would yield a much more natural flavor profile.

With that plan in mind, Lan Qingyou prepared to type out her reply.

But at that exact moment, a sharp, twisting cramp erupted in her stomach.

'Ugh... my stomach hurts a little... Could it be...?'

She slowly turned her gaze toward the bowl of bright red tomatoes sitting on her desk.

Lan Qingyou: "Give me a minute."

Lan Qingyou's face rapidly shifted from rosy pink to pale green, and finally to an ashen blue. After firing off that brief reply, she scrambled out of her chair and sprinted madly toward the West Building's Bathroom.

'Why on earth did I put the Bathroom all the way over in the West Building where I hardly ever go?!' she screamed internally.

'I must have lost my mind when I drew up those blueprints.'

'This is unacceptable. I definitely need to relocate it to the Third Floor the first chance I get.'

'And I need to synthesize a massive batch of anti-diarrhea Potions... and maybe some cold medicine while I am at it.'

Sitting on the toilet, resting her chin on her fist like The Thinker statue, Lan Qingyou began to seriously evaluate her life choices.