Chapter 13

Mao hour.

White dew turned to frost, and the evening mist was heavy.

It was still pitch black outside, but in the small cottage by the stream, Luo Chen was already busy.

In his previous life, he had exactly this kind of personality.

As long as he had a goal, he would persevere in doing it.

Working 996 was very tiring, and even after getting off work, he still had to attend meetings on WeChat, but he had never been late even once.

Compared to the painful daily wake-ups back then, at least now, running the Changchun Art once every morning and evening brought him a very comfortable experience after finishing, and getting up wasn't that difficult.

It was just that he couldn't practice for more than three times at most, otherwise his head would ache unbearably.

In that state, even basic work like processing medicinal materials was impossible.

The workload today was heavy, but in fact, there wasn't much to do.

Processing raw materials for Grain-Bigu Pills and Zhongmiao Pills.

He was already familiar with Grain-Bigu Pills to the point of no return, especially with his Grandmaster-level proficiency, which not only made his refining process handy but also made the initial medicinal material processing process much smoother.

The processing of raw materials for Zhongmiao Pills was also faster than last time.

Sometimes, when Luo Chen was free, he would also study his system.

A plain and unremarkable attribute panel, with the only two functions being the increase of proficiency and the ability to use achievement points to enter the basics of cultivation methods of the same realm.

Not to mention the achievement points, he was becoming increasingly familiar with the proficiency function.

It was not limited to success; having enough failures would actually bring proficiency as well.

And every time his proficiency broke through a realm, it seemed to bring him an extra kind of insight.

He could be certain that the conventional "practice makes perfect" was not enough to explain that kind of insight.

It was more like after reaching this level of proficiency, the system filled in all the insights belonging to this level for him.

Therefore, in the same type of skill, he was relatively more comprehensive than people at the same level.

This comprehensiveness was reflected in the fact that his Grandmaster-level Grain-Bigu Pills had a stable output rate and quality guaranteed at the superior grade.

If the Grandmaster-level proficiency was maxed out, he didn't know if there would be any follow-up, but presumably, the grade of Grain-Bigu Pills at that time would be enough to reach the top grade!

Top-grade Grain-Bigu Pills... aren't they still just Grain-Bigu Pills!

Common goods, high market saturation, many competitors, and slow customer consumption.

Even top-grade ones were useless; Zhongmiao Pills were better.

A small exclusive product, a blue ocean market, with mild medicinal effects, and one could imagine there would be quite a few repeat customers.

The disadvantage was that the cost was too high, five spirit stones per pot, and the failure rate was also high.

Moreover, the so-called blue ocean market itself was not large.

Most of the loose cultivators who were still persisting in the Dahe Market were those with aspirations for Foundation Establishment.

There weren't actually many who indulged in enjoyment.

However, for now, this was the only trump card product Luo Chen could bring out!

Therefore, expanding production was a must, even if the current input cost and recovered benefits couldn't generate net profit yet.

But Luo Chen had to persist!

As long as the success rate was brushed up, he, Luo Chen, would have a promising future!

Lunch was still beef rice.

Because his proficiency in Grain-Bigu Pills had reached Grandmaster level, his wastage had dropped to the minimum.

Originally, the frozen beef should have been consumed faster, but after switching to refining Zhongmiao Pills, the consumption speed slowed down instead.

Luo Chen even felt that the spiritual energy inside the yellow ox monster meat was leaking out too much.

So, recently, whenever he cooked, he simply cut off an extra finger-thick piece of meat.

After eating a beautiful meal, Luo Chen let out a satisfied burp.

It was milky and fragrant!

Whether it was the materials for Grain-Bigu Pills or Zhongmiao Pills, they all had to go through the final processing step of time.

Sitting by the stream, he set up a fishing rod to fish.

Luo Chen discovered that recently, the fish and shrimp in this stream originating from the Lancang River had increased.

He planned to catch a few to satisfy his cravings.

While fishing, he clicked open the attribute panel.

【Name: Luo Chen】

【Lifespan: 27/75】

【Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth】

【Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer: 76/100】

【Cultivation Method: Changchun Art Proficiency: 257/300】

【Spells: Cleaning Spell Basics 52/100, Entanglement Spell Proficiency 176/200, Fireball Spell Perfection 315/500, Xiaoyaoyou Proficiency 102/200】

【Skills: First-Order Alchemist: Grain-Bigu Powder Grandmaster 510/1000, Zhongmiao Pill Basics 13/100】

【Achievement Points: 1 point (can be used for entering the basics of corresponding realm cultivation methods, spells, and skills)】

This time, the panel display made him very happy.

The realm that hadn't moved for a long time had risen from 75 to 76, a full point increase!

Breaking through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining was just around the corner!

There were no surprises in other items; whether it was the Changchun Art, or the Grain-Bigu Powder and Zhongmiao Pills, they all received positive feedback according to the existing progress.

Only the Fireball Spell and Xiaoyaoyou in the spells column made him pay a few more glances.

Xiaoyaoyou jumped from the basic level to the proficiency level, and the change it brought him was that his speed was getting faster and faster.

It wasn't in vain that he ran wildly on the plains every day.

However, he hadn't had time to test the perfect-level Fireball Spell.

Every day when he lit the fire to cook, he only felt that it was more handy.

Half an hour later, in the dug-out water pit, there wasn't a single fish!

"How can I be so addicted to enjoyment? It's time to practice protective arts!"

Luo Chen cast aside the fishing rod and aimed a fireball at the deepest part of the stream.

Boom!

The calm stream suddenly exploded with a huge splash, and the scalding steam spread in all directions.

One by one, fish corpses burned to charcoal fell onto the pebbles at the bottom of the stream, and with the stream water rolling down from upstream, they slowly floated up again.

Luo Chen looked at the results of this Fireball Spell with satisfaction.

One fire burns the stream, all fish sink!

It was worthy of being a perfect-level Fireball Spell!

After slightly feeling the consumption of spiritual energy in his body, Luo Chen couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"Eh, in the past, one Fireball Spell would consume ten percent of my spiritual power, but this time it only consumed less than five percent!"

"Does this mean I can cast twenty Fireball Spells in one breath?"

It doubled!

This was an absolute qualitative change!

And... the speed seemed to have doubled as well?

Before, when lighting the fire to cook, he followed the steps to pinch the incantation and chant, fearing that he would blow up the stove, and the injected spiritual power was also very small.

Just now, he didn't have that concern and threw out a fireball casually.

Only then did he discover that the speed of the two couldn't be mentioned in the same breath.

A normal cultivator takes three breaths; when Luo Chen was at the proficiency level, it was shortened to two breaths, and now at the perfect level, it broke through to one breath.

"One breath, releasing a Fireball Talisman wouldn't be much better than this!"

The activation of a talisman also has a process: injecting spiritual power, guiding the spiritual energy within, and aiming at the enemy.

This process often requires an experienced veteran to activate it calmly and quickly.

After all, it is an external object.

Feelings are often prone to illusions.

To avoid illusions, Luo Chen simply aimed at the stream and swish, swish, swish, cast three more Fireball Spells.

No mistake!

Three Fireball Spells, plus the first one, only consumed twenty percent.

The speed was also much faster than before, comparable to activating a Fireball Talisman.

Having obtained the experimental results, Luo Chen couldn't help but show a happy smile.

The spiritual power he absorbs and converts every day by practicing the Changchun Art is very small, and every time he uses all his strength, he only recovers one-fifth.

This led to the fact that he couldn't study spells in large quantities, fearing that his internal spiritual power would be empty and he wouldn't have the ability to escape if he encountered danger.

But now that the consumption of the Fireball Spell has decreased, it means he can brush his proficiency twice as much every day.

And, what made Luo Chen happiest wasn't this.

"Comparable to the activation speed of a talisman, in a surprise situation, I can completely catch the enemy off guard."

"I finally have a combat method I can take out!"

All along, Luo Chen lacked effective combat methods; it was just that he was as humble as dust, and no one cared about him.

But no one caring and having combat ability oneself are two different things.

His anxious state of mind eased slightly, and Luo Chen almost wanted to look up to the sky and roar.

But after thinking about it carefully, forget it, keep a low profile.

Next time he breaks through the realm and becomes a great cultivator in the middle stage of Qi Refining, then he will look up to the sky and roar!

Picking up a fish from the shore that had been stunned by the steam, he could have an extra meal tomorrow.

"Hmm, caught a fish today, fishing skill proficiency plus one!"