Chapter 53: How About... Developing Something for Fun?

Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring—

Amid the blaring alarm and a ticklish sensation on her face, Lan Qingyou wearily opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was her adorable little Steel Wire Ball.

Its wise little eyes stared at Lan Qingyou, and then it leaned in for another nuzzle.

"Tickles..."

Still groggy from her poor sleep, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but grumble.

Then she sat up, silenced the alarm, grabbed the cauldron of mana potion beside her and poured it directly onto the magic shield core in the corner, then followed up with a second cauldron.

Her movements were as practiced as refueling a car.

That's right — before sleeping, Lan Qingyou had specifically come up from the second floor to the third, thrown together a makeshift bedroll from some quilts right on the floor, and crashed right there.

After pulling an all-nighter that lasted a solid day and night of continuous work, there was a very real chance she'd lie down and sleep for ten hours straight, never to rise again.

Thankfully, between the alarm and Steel Wire Ball, she'd managed to be roused — barely.

After replenishing the shield's mana, Lan Qingyou flopped back onto her bedroll.

She wanted to sleep, but the howling wind, pounding rain, thunder, and lightning outside made it impossible.

Crack—

Another bolt of lightning struck, and Lan Qingyou shot upright.

'If I can't sleep, then I won't sleep.'

As for brewing more potions?

Sorry — not happening.

She'd come to her senses.

Sure, fewer survivors meant a smaller customer base, but it wasn't like she was in the business of commerce. If every last customer died, it didn't really affect her all that much.

Shang Chuan: "Come on, don't stop now! Business is booming — we're making a killing!"

The instant Lan Qingyou suggested she was done brewing, Shang Chuan panicked.

Did she have any idea what a single +30 mana potion was going for right now?

50 units! A whopping 50 basic units per vial!

Granted, the exchange rate between basic units and shield energy was one-to-one.

And a +30 mana potion was only worth 30 energy points.

But the volume was enormous!

Most lone wolves were far too busy to care about a small markup.

One cauldron produced 400 vials — a full 12,000 energy points. All you had to do was pour and it was done in under thirty seconds. No need to sit by the core feeding it one vial at a time.

Tell me you don't want in.

Lan Qingyou: "That's you making money, not me. What's it got to do with me?"

Shang Chuan: "How does it not?! How can it not?!"

Shang Chuan: "'The Dabbling Alchemist,' 'Mana Isn't Everything,' 'Basic Mechanical Engineering,' 'Basic Materials Science.'"

Desperate, Shang Chuan immediately deployed the most effective countermeasure against Lan Qingyou.

Lan Qingyou: "Those are part of what you already owe me."

Shang Chuan: "No — these are a gift. Completely separate from the outstanding balance."

Lan Qingyou froze: "A gift?"

Shang Chuan: "A gift. Free. Freebie. Delicious."

That infuriating man.

He'd hit Lan Qingyou right in her weak spot.

Because who doesn't love free stuff?

Lan Qingyou: "Fine, I'll brew one more batch. But this is the last one."

After saying that, the four books were delivered into Lan Qingyou's hands.

Shang Chuan: "Sure, no problem at all."

'One batch' was still a hundred cauldrons — 1.2 million mana points' worth. Who wouldn't be dazzled by that number?

That was enough to keep four and a half Level 3 shelters fully charged for three days.

Managed well, it could mean quite a few premium customers surviving the ordeal.

With that, Shang Chuan sent over 21 additional cauldrons, replacing the ones Lan Qingyou had kept for herself yesterday.

'You swindler. Sooner or later, lightning's going to strike you dead.'

Staring at the wall of large iron cauldrons, Lan Qingyou slapped the back of her book-holding hand in frustration.

'Why can't I ever control these hands of mine?'

Back to brewing it was.

After all, a hundred cauldrons meant the prep stage alone — placing pedestals and drawing alchemy arrays — would eat up over an hour.

Once this batch was done and delivered to Shang Chuan, Lan Qingyou swore she would never do this again.

At worst, she'd just have a few fewer minions down the road.

So.

After completing the second batch and handing it over, Lan Qingyou completely collapsed.

She sat at the Magic Desk like a body without a soul, idly petting Steel Wire Ball while staring blankly at the glowing magic runes on the wall across from her.

Then the idle thoughts began drifting in.

'Come to think of it... these magic runes are probably an application of symbology, right?'

'And symbology falls under the umbrella of alchemy studies, doesn't it?'

'And since it's alchemy, then an alchemist like me should be able to study it, right?'

'And once I've mastered it, couldn't I build my own magic shield — one that isn't restricted to a shelter — and roam freely across the Kalim Continent?'

"Alchemy is omnipotent! — Albert"

She had no idea how it happened.

But once Lan Qingyou's idle musings hit a certain critical mass, she started hallucinating Albert's passionate, full-throated proclamation ringing in her ears.

Yes! Alchemy was omnipotent!

If this magic shield was originally developed by some alchemy lunatic in collaboration with others, there was absolutely no reason she couldn't learn it too.

Lan Qingyou — who'd been staring into space with a vacant expression just moments ago — felt her excitement build as the idea crystallized. The light returned to her eyes.

Without another moment's hesitation, she put on her Appraisal Glasses and began studying the magic runes around her.

And then!

Then she gave up.

She'd never looked closely before, so she'd had no idea.

But now, examining them in detail — good grief, this was something far, far beyond someone at her current level.

Even a cursory glance was enough for Lan Qingyou to realize that this supposedly "modest" magic shield incorporated a staggering number of disciplines she recognized.

Symbology, Magic Circuitry, Material Science, Metrology, Architecture, Drawing...

Setting aside everything else—

The magic circuits alone, thinner than a strand of hair, were impossible for her to replicate right now.

And that wasn't even touching on the things she couldn't see — mana storage, activation, recovery mechanisms — all of which represented even deeper fields of study.

Of course.

She could probably cobble together a budget version, but it would be nowhere near as powerful as the shelter's shield.

The Appraisal Glasses rated it at D-rank, sure.

But that was only because her shelter was Level 3.

Upgrade it to Level 8 or 10, and who knew what rank it'd climb to.

Lan Qingyou's conservative estimate was that the shield was at least A-rank at its full potential.

So she began attempting to develop a budget magic shield.

The result was predictable.

She didn't even know where to begin.

"Aaaaaagh—"

Under Steel Wire Ball's bewildered gaze, Lan Qingyou tore at her hair in frustration.

"Forget it. Everyone has their specialty. If even that hard-to-guess alchemy maniac needed to partner up with someone else to build this thing, then doing it solo was always going to be a tall order."

"In that case, let me try something in my own wheelhouse."

"Come to think of it, I've never actually tried to systematically develop a potion that doesn't exist in potioneering textbooks."

With that thought, Lan Qingyou looked down at her own legs.

She had nothing better to do anyway.

'How about... developing something for fun?'