บท 102: Promotion Mission
"Plant life? Not bad."
For alchemists, plant life is a valuable resource, and its worth is far from insignificant.
"Hey, Mr. White Plague, I'm a summoner now, but my permanent summon is a young Nocturne Piranha. Do you have any way to make it grow faster?" Demacia asked, activating the power of his contract.
A one-and-a-half-meter-high purple flower began to emerge. As soon as it settled on the back of the mechanical dragon, it seemed to sense something. Its eyes rolled back, and it collapsed, motionless.
Demacia: !!!
He stared at his summon, wide-eyed, shouting anxiously, "Hey, Xiao Mo, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me."
He quickly checked the status of his summon, only to find the glaring words: [Fainted].
Demacia's anxiety froze instantly. His expression twisted as he realized he had wasted an opportunity to acquire valuable equipment for this useless creature.
It was actually frightened and fainted? And with no one even targeting it!
White Plague stepped forward to examine it. He pulled out a life-restoring potion, opened the purple mouth, and poured it in.
The life force began to flow, and the Piranha Plant slowly opened its eyes, only to see White Plague. It rolled its eyes and fainted again.
White Plague:
He hadn't even thrown away the empty potion bottle!
Speechless, White Plague simply stopped caring about this strange plant. Although Nocturne Piranhas were known for their extreme timidity, this fainting spell was excessive. The dragon's breath hadn't even been directed at it.
This could only be attributed to Demacia being especially unlucky—but White Plague couldn't help but feel some glee. The Nocturne Piranha's ferocity is famous, but it undergoes a dramatic personality change. They start as timid creatures and, upon reaching adulthood, become aggressive, like honey badgers of the plant world.
Demacia was in for a surprise.
"There are several ways to speed up its growth. Long-term exposure to life energy is one option. The cheapest method is a physical recovery potion. The next option is plant growth hormones, or you could feed it the flesh of high-level creatures or rare plant materials."
"As for hormones, you could visit the people at the food base. They should be happy to sell them to you. But be careful—don't overdo it. It's best to give them one milliliter every seven days."
Bai Yi spoke in a soothing tone, "Your information this time is very important. I have some stamina recovery potions here. I'll give them to you."
Demacia looked at his summon with a complicated expression. The carnivorous plant hadn't even killed a chicken since being summoned, except for occasionally attacking its master.
He could already imagine charging into battle, staff in hand, with his summon trembling behind him. In despair, he canceled the summon.
Demacia's dream of becoming the best in the country had just been shattered.
After accepting the five bottles of medicine, Demacia thanked White Plague. "Thank you, Mr. Bai Yi."
They arrived at Dongwu City, where Bai Yi placed Demacia at the inner city gate before heading off to inspect the intercontinental missile installation. In the Apocalypse military camp, alchemists from the Difeng family were busy assembling launch silos. The number had reached seventy, which was impressive.
It's a shame the players would be offline for the next two days. With Demacia's example, they could have thoroughly investigated the hidden dangers in the area.
After gathering materials purchased by Sabo, Bai Yi returned to his lab to continue his work.
[You created 1 Alchemical Energy Furnace, experience +3000, skill point +1, additional experience +3000.]
[You created 1 Solar Energy Collection Core, experience +2000, additional experience +2000.]
[You created 1 Magnetron, experience +1...]
[You created 1 gold-eating bug, experience +1...]
[You created 1 mechanical mosquito fly x1, experience +3...]
Perhaps the panel judged that individual tiny machines were particularly weak or that their creation had become so simple after gaining proficiency that the experience points were minimal, sometimes even absent.
Bai Yi carefully studied the panel's experience system and discovered a pattern.
How does an alchemist level up?
It's by creating alchemical products. During creation, your mental and magical powers are trained. This is why only alchemists can gain experience by crafting items.
Bai Yi wasn't sure how the system calculated experience for combatants, but it was clear how alchemists gained experience. Their growth was driven by the creation process itself.
The accumulation of magical power and mental strength transformed into experience points. Only the additional experience points were influenced by the panel—this could be considered a form of special growth.
This system made sense. Without it, White Plague could level up by making gold-eating bugs alone. But with hundreds of millions of bugs to be processed, even without experience points for every one, the sheer number still provided considerable growth.
He placed the solar energy collection core on the assembly line and tasked Or with guarding it. The core needed constant sunlight to charge, slowly extracting solar energy.
It operated much like Blue Star's solar panels, but instead of converting thermal energy into electricity, it directly extracted solar energy, turning it into high-level liquid energy similar to solar flames.
After setting up storage containers for the solar energy and giving Luo Ning a card with 10,000 contribution points to help with salaries and store maintenance, Bai Yi returned to his lab.
Time passed quickly, and when the players went offline, Bai Yi's magical fluctuations intensified.
[You created 1 gold-eating bug, experience +1, additional experience +1.]
[You have leveled up. Your level is now 46.]
White Plague paused, tossed a large Soul Crystal into his mouth, relished the taste, and continued crafting micro-machines.
Meanwhile, the forum was flooded with 150,000 players expressing their emotions. In just two months, they had grown fond of the game—or rather, the continent of Xia.
Magic, technology, power—players from all professions had discovered something in this world they couldn't find on Blue Star.
It was a place where personal ability mattered far more than social skills.
The forum was filled with nostalgia and anticipation as players eagerly awaited the return of the game.
Another peaceful month passed, and Bai Yi's magical fluctuations surged again.
[You created 1 gold-eating bug, experience +1, additional experience +1.]
[You have leveled up. Your level is now 47.]
With players offline, news from other federations was scarce, but the Dawnbreak Federation remained calm. The only noteworthy event was the rise of Diane Difeng, an SSS-level genius, which caused a national sensation.
The Difeng family was already known for producing exceptional talent, and with this news, the public was more interested than ever in their future.
Some politicians even suggested the second generation of the Difeng family have more children, but the patriarch, old man Difeng, quickly dismissed the idea. However, when he returned home, he called his son and daughter-in-law into his study for a lengthy discussion. From that day on, the second generation of the Difeng family was put to bed at eight o'clock, a decision that raised many eyebrows.
As more families in the federation reached the gold level, the Dawnbreak Federation seemed more alive than ever. Meanwhile, no one cared about the movements of the wonders, except for those few who were concerned with their disappearance.
Bai Yi continued his work, his focus unwavering, constantly improving his combat abilities and gaining experience.
By June, White Plague had reached level 49. The Storm Legion was taking shape, with over 700,000 magnetic mechanical units, 300 million gold-eating bugs, and even 1,000 mechanical mosquitoes and flies. The numbers were almost sufficient, and Bai Yi combined them into a giant humanoid machine standing seventy meters tall.
Production of other units had mostly ceased, except for the tiny gold-eating bugs, which continued to be manufactured.
The reason for halting production was simple. With the players offline since March, June had arrived, and they should have been back by now. But AI Zero provided no hint of their return.
Opening the forum, Bai Yi fell silent when he saw the countdown to the public beta test: 47 days, 13 hours, and 28 minutes remaining.
As expected, the time flow rates of the two worlds were different. Thirty years had passed in the game, but only two years had passed on Blue Star. The two worlds seemed to be connected only when the players returned, ensuring synchronized time flow.
Bai Yi closed the forum, then continued making gold-eating bugs. He became a "scoring machine," unwilling to leave his lab until something significant happened.
In July, Bai Yi checked his panel again.
[You created 1 gold-eating bug, experience +1, additional experience +1.]
[You have leveled up to level 50.]
[Your level has reached fifty, triggering the mission.]
Mission: The Road to Strength
Type: Promotion Task
Description: The advancement of an alchemist is not just about knowledge but also the transformation of magic and spirit. Alchemists must find their own path, constantly innovating, and striving to reach the golden position.
However, as an alchemist, you don't need to go through enlightenment or transform your powers. During your seclusion, ancient kingdoms have begun to form in the dangerous wilderness.
Destroy at least one of these ancient god kingdoms to complete the quest.
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