Chapter 779

After weighing the pros and cons, Su Xiao decided not to use his battle merits for the time being—in other words, to save them.

Although the quantity of Reincarnation Paradise Merits was limited, before capturing the Black Earth Fortress, it was impossible for the Qiyuezhe to exchange all the Paradise Merits. Moreover, compared to Paradise Merits, the price of Soul Crystals was not high, and the focus of various adventure groups would also be on Soul Crystals. There were numerous Qiyuezhe within the adventure groups, and compared to attribute points, their consumption of Soul Crystals was greater.

The quartermaster did not sell Soul Crystals (Large) here, and as for Soul Crystals (Medium) or Soul Crystals (Small), Su Xiao did not have a high demand for either.

Soul Crystals could divert the attention of various adventure groups, which would slow down the speed at which Paradise Merits were exchanged.

Compared to the 191 points of Paradise Merits remaining in stock, the competition for the 【Holy Oak Branch】, with only 1 in stock, would be even more intense; Su Xiao was definitely not the only one eyeing this item.

Moreover, the benefits of the 【Holy Oak Branch】 could be maximized. If Su Xiao raised his physical attribute to 79 points and his mana to 2700 points before using the 【Holy Oak Branch】, the amount of mana and health increased would be extremely astonishing.

As for why he wouldn't raise his mana to between 2900 and 3000 points before using the 【Holy Oak Branch】, it was because that was simply unrealistic. Even if Su Xiao could survive in the war world, he was about to face a promotion world, and the difficulty of a promotion world was actually no lower than that of a war world. Sometimes, being too fixated on perfection would only lead to destruction.

Once Su Xiao's mana could reach 2700 points, a 15% benefit would be 405 points of mana; what kind of concept was that?

As for the increase in health, because health could not be clearly quantified into a total value, he did not know the increased amount for the time being, but one thing was certain: the increased amount would definitely not be low.

Facing the 405-point mana benefit, Su Xiao decided to save. Moreover, using battle merits to exchange for Paradise Merits was, to a large extent, Reincarnation Paradise guaranteeing the benefits of those Qiyuezhe who were not strong.

One had to know that the channels to obtain Paradise Merits were not limited to the battle merit shop. Killing enemy leaders could earn 1–3 points of Paradise Merits, and killing enemy Qiyuezhe could earn 3–5 points of Paradise Merits; that was the bulk of it. Exchanging for Paradise Merits in the battle merit shop was just a lower-risk approach.

Thinking this through, Su Xiao's determination to save battle merits became firmer. It was good if he could exchange for Paradise Merits in the battle merit shop, but even if he couldn't, he could still obtain Paradise Merits through his strength. If one was strong, one didn't have to worry about not having a place to obtain benefits.

Su Xiao closed the exchange list, and a pungent, burnt smell wafted over. He saw the quartermaster, Nicholas Caesar, holding a test tube in his hand, which contained a grayish-brown liquid that was very viscous, just like mucus.

"How could this be? It shouldn't be; this color of reagent hasn't appeared before."

Nicholas Caesar raised his hand, intending to throw the test tube aside, when Su Xiao suddenly spoke.

"If you don't want to burn this place down, you'd better handle this thing with caution."

Although Su Xiao didn't know the exact composition of the liquid in the test tube, with his accumulated knowledge from 【Alchemy Bomb Manufacturing: Lv. 20】 + 【Alchemy Pharmacy: Lv. 20】, he could judge that the composition of the liquid in the test tube was very unstable. It wouldn't reach the level of an explosion, but it would definitely burst into flames after friction with the air.

"What?"

Nicholas Caesar's thin nose wrinkled, somewhat displeased.

"If there's nothing else, leave here."

Nicholas Caesar's tone was somewhat impatient. He had a mysterious confidence in his own goblin alchemy and didn't need advice from a soldier who only knew how to kill.

"Oh."

Su Xiao walked toward the outside of the large tent. Would he leave so simply? Of course not. Nicholas Caesar's identity seemed somewhat special; if he could connect with the other party, there would be many benefits.

"Crude liquid bomb manufacturing method. Although phosphorus is flammable, it will produce a chain reaction with various materials. The biggest characteristic is that the unfinished liquid bomb is grayish-brown, semi-liquid..."

Su Xiao walked out of the large tent. Just as he stepped out, a shout came from behind him.

"Wait!"

Nicholas Caesar looked at the test tube in his hand, then looked at Su Xiao.

"Green phosphorus is one of the key components of liquid bombs; it has a low ignition point, a high combustion temperature, and is easy to obtain..."

From Nicholas Caesar's fragmented words, Su Xiao could confirm that this was a clumsy alchemist.

"Is that so? Then I won't disturb you."

Su Xiao continued to walk outside. Nicholas Caesar, who had been full of defiance, was now somewhat anxious. In the Iron-Blood Legion, only he had an understanding of alchemy; usually, he didn't even have anyone to communicate with. Now that someone who understood alchemy had finally appeared, would he let the other party leave easily?

In fact, Nicholas Caesar didn't think Su Xiao's alchemy was particularly superb, but he urgently needed an insider to discuss his current research. After all, this boring research had made no progress for two years.

"What do you mean by disturbing or not? This is all part of the job."

Nicholas Caesar put down the test tube in his hand and dragged a wooden chair out from a pile of junk nearby.

"Sit. Have you had breakfast?"

This suddenly enthusiastic attitude was somewhat beyond Su Xiao's expectations. He had been preparing to 'fish' earlier, but now it seemed there was no need for that at all.

"Many thanks, I've eaten."

Su Xiao sat on the wooden stool that only had three and a half legs. If it weren't for his good sense of balance, he definitely couldn't be so calm.

Nicholas Caesar brought out half a bowl of 'wild vegetable soup' from under the test bench; this was what he had left over from last night. Even more outrageous was that there was a chipped corner on the bowl.

"Don't be polite."

Facing Nicholas Caesar's 'enthusiastic hospitality', Su Xiao glanced at the bowl of murky, unidentified liquid, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"I'm not being polite. You should enjoy this 'good stuff' of 'unknown origin' yourself."

"Yo, you know your stuff."

Nicholas Caesar picked up the half bowl of 'wild vegetable soup' and slurped it up, drinking it with great relish. This made one not only suspect that the thing wasn't as unbearable as it looked on the outside.

After drinking a few mouthfuls of 'wild vegetable soup', Nicholas Caesar licked the corners of his mouth, still wanting more, and sighed: "Thick soup made with Geham; as delicious as always."

"Geham?"

Su Xiao had never heard of an ingredient called 'Geham'.

"Unwashed large intestine of a wild ox + pig bladder + troll's manhood + Jilan flower rhizome, all chopped up and dried; collectively called Geham. I invented it; this thing has special effects."

Nicholas Caesar gave a thumbs up and thrust his hips back and forth. Su Xiao understood the other party's meaning: that bowl of soup had aphrodisiac effects.

The raw materials of this bowl of soup were unacceptable to Su Xiao. The chain strike of the excretory system + urinary system made his stomach feel somewhat uncomfortable. One had to know that Su Xiao was someone who could sit on a pile of corpses to enjoy dinner.

Slurp~ slurp~, Nicholas Caesar drank the soup, which was mixed with unidentified meat scraps, to the bottom. At this time, Su Xiao's complexion had already begun to turn ashen; he saw small pieces of what looked like cow dung in the soup.

"Shall I serve you a bowl?"

When Nicholas Caesar said this, it was clearly somewhat painful for him.

"Many thanks for the kind offer, no need!"

Su Xiao refused at a very fast speed. Don't even talk about drinking it; he wanted to vomit just seeing that murky, suspicious soup.

"Let's not discuss the breakfast issue for now. You seem to understand some alchemy?"

Nicholas Caesar carefully put away the bowl with the chipped corner. From this point, one could see that this was an extremely stingy guy. To get benefits from such a guy, it would take a lot of effort.