Chapter 72: [Apprentice Frost Potion (E)]

Although it was true that many people might not be used to the area merger.

After all, everyone had interacted with each other for a month.

Regardless of the methods used to interact, they had at least reached a tenuous equilibrium.

Under these circumstances, merging the areas was tantamount to abruptly shattering this equilibrium.

As the population in the area expanded, social circles naturally expanded accordingly.

After all, humans were social creatures.

Refusing to communicate would render it hard to move even a single step, taking on particular prominence in this alternate world.

However, for Lan Qingyou, or for 'researchers' of her ilk, this area merger was an advantage.

A massive advantage.

[Apprentice Frost Potion (E)]

[Function: Causes an explosion effect in a 5x5 range, with an instantaneous lethal damage of 50 Health Points, inflicting a freezing effect lasting 10 seconds.]

[Description: A perfect potion. Using it, whether for dealing with monsters or chilling food, is an incredibly fun matter.]

This was the result Lan Qingyou had obtained after busying herself for an entire day today.

It was brewed using herbs gathered from the Abandoned Beach.

Although the freezing effect only lasted ten seconds, it was more than enough for Lan Qingyou.

The reason she brewed this item was partly because Shang Chuan had delivered materials over, keeping her materials from becoming tight and stingy.

The second reason was that her hands were getting itchy since she hadn't gone out acting as a 'bomber' for quite a few days.

Of course, the most important reason was that Lan Qingyou wanted to level up.

For over a month now, she hadn't formally gone out to grind monsters to level up.

Therefore, at Level 1, she needed to level up.

Even if she possessed the attributes of a Level 40 thanks to her Title now, she still had to go out.

Because this also tied into one of her plans.

That was why she was so frantically rushing to brew this potion before the Mana Turbulence arrived.

That very day.

Exactly that very day.

Lan Qingyou, having prepared her potions, flew straight for the swamp region, where those Slime monsters were still as abundant.

Floating in the air, Lan Qingyou didn't say a word; she first dropped a Frost Potion to freeze the sluggish fellow before her, then followed up with an Explosion Potion to blow the target into pieces.

Seeing this, Lan Qingyou immediately descended, drew her dagger, and stabbed the largest chunk of ice.

Although the dagger was small, it couldn't be underestimated due to its substantial bonuses.

Now nourished by Mana Potions to +35 Strength, the dagger eliminated this E-rank small fry in a single strike.

[Killed a monster; obtained a portion of mana to be used for individual leveling.]

After killing this Slime, such a sentence immediately rang in Lan Qingyou's ear.

Oh!

So you receive this kind of message following a monster kill.

Lan Qingyou was somewhat surprised. Although the absence of numerical increments like 'Experience +N' made her feel a bit strange, she didn't overthink it, reaching out to pick up a frozen block of Slime ice from the ground.

[Slime Soil (E)]

[Function: Can be used to cultivate some low-level flowers and grass.]

[Description: Soil containing a certain amount of mana.]

Reading the description box popping up in her Appraisal Glasses, Lan Qingyou smiled slightly.

That's right, this was exactly what she wanted.

She had originally wanted to cultivate some medicinal herbs herself to prepare for contingencies, but since it was cultivation, soil was an absolute necessity.

Sludges extracted directly from the swamp by these Slime monsters were undoubtedly the best choice.

Most importantly, because they dropped from monsters, their mana content was relatively much higher than simply digging mud from the swamp herself.

Previously, with only Explosion Potions, she couldn't do much against them.

But now that she had the Frost Potion, the situation had completely flipped; finishing them off was as easy as slaughtering chickens or butchering dogs.

Hence, in a short two hours before darkness fell, Lan Qingyou obtained a whole bag, roughly a cubic meter, of slime soil.

Of course, quite a few potions were consumed.

She hadn't kept a single vial of the freshly brewed Frost Potions made today, but she felt incredibly satisfied.

Because she had reached Level 3.

That's right, two hundred Slimes had only bridged two levels for her.

Since there was no experience bar, she didn't know exactly how leveling worked or how it was calculated.

But at the very least, climbing two levels had granted her another two points of spirit, pushing her spirit stat directly up to 20 points, completely rounding out her MP as well.

Upon returning, Lan Qingyou directly dumped that slime soil from her potion bag onto the Second Floor Terrace.

Once she dumped it out, it was no small matter; a foul, wretched stench immediately emanated across the Second Floor Terrace.

Being swamp sludge, the smell was bound to be awful.

Although it was genuinely pungent, Lan Qingyou paid it no mind.

Are you kidding? You're looking down on alchemists.

What kind of smells hadn't she inhaled while brewing potions? This little bit of pungency barely registered. Besides, once the doors to the second floor were closed, she couldn't smell it inside anyway.

The reason she dumped it here was precisely to sun-dry the moisture out of the slime soil first.

Because only then could it be used as cultivation soil.

Though cleaning it up later might be slightly troublesome, didn't she have the Magic Broom? There was no need for Lan Qingyou to do it herself.

Doesn't this explain why Lan Qingyou was satisfied with that item? No other reason, it was just really handy.

Holding her breath and focusing, Lan Qingyou closed the doors of the second floor, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Having finished all this, she went down to the first floor, tossing the potion bag in her hand into the wooden bucket along with the Moonbright Stone Dagger to soak in Mana Potions.

If it was like any other day, Lan Qingyou would have gone to bathe by now.

But today, because of the slime soil harvest, Lan Qingyou still had quite a few things to do.

After extracting some stones from the Magic Desk, she used them to fence off a small area on the originally empty first floor.

This space was prepared for future cultivation.

Not only was there ample sunlight, but it was also right beside the Alchemy Workshop. By modifying the water tank inside the workshop to set up a whole drip irrigation system or something, she wouldn't even have to look after it.

She had even decided on what she was going to plant.

First and foremost were Flame Bells.

With the Fire Element Essence, Lan Qingyou could cultivate them even inside a tree hole.

By the same token, some other water-attribute herbs could also be cultivated in this space.

She could even grow things like luminescent mushrooms over here.

Thinking about it this way, the originally not-too-large first floor suddenly didn't seem spacious enough?

But perfectly so; she had no arrangements for the third floor anyway, so working it over to expand the cultivation area wasn't impossible.

In the future, the Alchemy Workshop and boiling potions on the second floor would suffice.

Furthermore, once the Shelter reached level 4, couldn't it be expanded again?

Therefore, Lan Qingyou, already aware of the monthly disaster cycles, basically finalized her layout arrangements for her house like this.

After finishing these tasks, she took a bath and got ready to head back to the second floor to sleep.

Because the slime soil was sun-drying on the terrace, she took the internal passage of the tree house.

But for some unknown reason, just as she flew up to the second floor, she felt a sliver of bitter cold.