Chapter 28: Compendium of Potions

Park Road.
Noon Café.
The café had a rustic decor, styled in simple shades of gray. The atmosphere was quiet and quite elegant.
Qin Yuan glanced around briefly, then found a seat near a corner and waited quietly.
A few minutes later, he noticed a slender young man with thin eyebrows and a crew cut stepping out of a taxi, walking toward him with excitement.
Having met in the game several times, Qin Yuan recognized him instantly and waved to signal him over.
After sitting down, Zhang Wenbin said enthusiastically, "Hehe, Big Boss! I finally get to meet you in person."
Although the two had met in the Land of Souls and chatted on WeChat, this was indeed their first face-to-face meeting in the real world.
It felt quite different.
They didn't rush into the main topic and chatted idly for a while.
Once the waiter brought over two cups of coffee, Zhang Wenbin took a sip, then suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously:
"By the way, Big Boss, let me tell you a secret. This is inside information I only learned this morning."
"What is it?" Seeing his expression, Qin Yuan’s curiosity was piqued.
"I heard that last night, a monster appeared in the suburbs! That’s right, the kind of monster from the Land of Souls—a ghoul. The Federal Public Security Bureau is still investigating the matter, and the scene has been cordoned off. The exact cause is still under investigation."
"But when it was discovered, the monster was already dead, presumably killed by another player. The strange thing is, even though the fatal wound was to the head, the monster's stomach was also sliced open. No telling what kind of pervert did that..."
"There’s such a thing!?"
Qin Yuan looked shocked, realizing the gravity of the situation.
He pressed for more details.
The current speculation was that a passing player had killed it, and likely one with some mental instability.
There was another strange point: unlike in the Land of Souls, these monsters did not disappear upon death; their corpses remained.
After listening, Qin Yuan fell into deep thought.
Sure enough, this world was beginning to show some anomalies...
He only hoped it wouldn't disturb his own life...
After a while, seeing that they had chatted enough, Zhang Wenbin brought up the business at hand:
"Right, Big Boss, you mentioned wanting to sell gold coins. How many are you looking to offload? I’ll tell you, this stuff is highly sought after right now, but I suspect the price is at its peak. Once players level up and their earning capacity increases, the price will likely drop."
Qin Yuan didn't speak; he simply took the gold coin he had prepared from his pocket and placed it gently on the table.
The coin reflected a dazzling luster, appearing exceptionally striking in the sunlight.
Zhang Wenbin picked it up lightly, inspected it for a moment, and nodded.
Although he didn't know how to authenticate it, the system notification could not be faked.
Plus, he trusted the "Big Boss" in front of him.
Therefore, Zhang Wenbin didn't beat around the bush and said he would transfer the funds shortly.
After agreeing to keep in touch via WeChat if anything came up, they parted ways.
His efficiency was indeed high; about half an hour later, the agreed-upon amount arrived in his bank account.
Qin Yuan planned to head to the farmers' market first to get things ready in advance.
Besides that, he intended to go back to the usual spot in the afternoon to practice casting spells.
...
Evening.
In the room, the owl was chewing greedily on a piece of bread that emitted an enticing aroma.
Watching this, Qin Yuan felt a bit strange.
"Who would have thought an owl would like to eat this kind of thing..."
"Forget it, I can't make that comparison. This isn't an ordinary owl..."
Qin Yuan chuckled and shook his head, then opened the forum to find the trade post he had made that morning.
There were a dozen or so replies, but still no players claimed to have what he needed.
"It seems two-star magic materials are still too high-level for the current player base..."
Qin Yuan felt a bit helpless seeing this.
If they were one-star magic materials, they should be much easier to find...
"Hmm?"
"Wait a minute..."
As this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly realized something.
Back then, he had also obtained a special item called the Greed Roulette from the vampire’s storage bag.
The item description stated that by inserting a one-star magic material called Volcanic Stone, one could spin it once.
Because he hadn't found a use for it, it had been gathering dust in his inventory for several days.
Thinking of this, he realized he could try posting a trade request to see if anyone else had one.
Qin Yuan immediately edited a new post.
The lowest price shown was 96 silver coins.
He paid the amount without hesitation.
After all, having had the experience with the Purification Powder, he suddenly felt this price was actually quite cheap...
"Now, it's just a matter of waiting for news..."
Qin Yuan yawned and looked toward the other side of the room.
The Grimoire of Whispers had dug up another copy of *Legends of Past and Present* from somewhere and was reading it with great interest.
However, it was reading far too quickly; the pages rustled incessantly. At this rate, even a thick dictionary wouldn't last long.
Sure enough, it finished it in a few minutes.
"I need to go buy some books for the Grimoire of Whispers tomorrow morning. I feel like I could just go to a recycling station and buy a few hundred pounds of them..."
As Qin Yuan thought about this, he brought up another matter:
"I remember you once said you have a large collection of alchemy potion recipes? And that you can brew potions?"
The Grimoire put down the book it had just finished and floated over.
"Of course, provided you can collect the materials. After all, the old man’s alchemy workbench is in your inventory, and we have the magic crystals now."
"Look."
As it spoke, it took the initiative to spread its pages, and text slowly emerged.
Qin Yuan took it and looked at the index.
The Grimoire of Whispers contained quite a few potion recipes, ranging from one-star to three-star.
The first page recorded a one-star potion with the widest applicability—the Life Potion.
Its function was naturally simple and easy to understand: healing wounds.
However, Qin Yuan was surprised to find that even for the most basic Life Potion, it recorded six different recipes, all of which could produce a potion with similar effects.
Below were the manufacturing formulas.
Formula 1: Water + two Silverleaf Flowers★ + six Crystal-Blue Leaves★ + five grams of Life Dust★.
Formula 2: Water + two Life Grasses★ + ten grams of Magic Spring Water★.
Formula 3: ...
Even detailed steps were described.
But Qin Yuan figured he wouldn't need them; after all, the Grimoire of Whispers was a Level 3 Alchemist, so he could just entrust it with the brewing without needing to study hard himself.
Lying flat occasionally was quite nice...
As he continued to flip through, Qin Yuan saw a vast array of potions.
[Antidote], [Mana Potion], [Water Breathing Potion], [Strength Potion], [Invisibility Potion], [Bait Potion]...
There were dozens of just one-star potions alone, and they were quite comprehensive.
It was truly dazzling.
Next, Qin Yuan came to a new section, which contained only two-star potions.
The materials required for these were also two-star alchemy herbs.
The specific effects were divided into two categories: one was a strengthened version of the one-star potions.
These types of potions included [Greater Life Potion], [Greater Bait Potion], [Greater Strength Potion]...
Apart from these, there were some unique effects that only appeared at the two-star level.
[Flight Potion: Grants the ability of levitation and flight, duration of one hour.]
[Luck Potion: Slightly increases luck, duration of five minutes.]
[Curse Potion: This potion can be secretly added to other potions; after drinking it, a random powerful curse will be applied.]
[Abyssal Potion: Increases your resistance to the Abyss; a mandatory potion for entering areas like the surface of the Abyss, duration of one hour.]
...
Following these were even more powerful three-star potions.
[Teleportation Potion: After drinking it, you will be randomly teleported to a location somewhere in the world (Note: Do you need a spontaneous trip?).]
[Elemental Potion: Permanently increases your elemental affinity in all attributes by one point (can only be used once).]
[Dragon Blood Potion: Can give birth to a portion of dragon blood in your body, permanently increasing your physique (can only be used once).]
Qin Yuan also saw a large number of bizarre potions.
For example, there was a potion called the Gender-Swap Potion, which could perfectly change one's gender and customize one's appearance.
This...
That’s quite a wild play; who on earth invented this thing... throw it out!
Qin Yuan’s mouth twitched, and he remained silent.
After looking through, he returned to the beginning.
After all, the later ones were just for visual pleasure and currently out of reach; by comparison, the one-star potions were closer to reality.
Of course, if he were willing to spend some time collecting the corresponding alchemy herbs, two-star potions weren't entirely out of reach.
But three-star ones were simply too difficult at this stage.
After searching through the one-star potions for a moment, Qin Yuan found his target.
[Arcane Potion: During the duration, slightly enhances the effects of all spells you cast, duration 1 hour.]
[Formula: Water + one Star Grass★ + one Dust Flower★ + 50 grams of Magic Spring★]
[Brewing steps are as follows: ...]
...
[Invisibility Potion: Enter a semi-transparent state (if the enemy is close to you, there is still a probability of being discovered), duration 30 minutes.]
[Formula: Water + one Stealth Flower★ + one Harpy Bird Grass★ + one gram of human tears]
[Brewing steps are as follows: ...]
...
The materials required for these were all one-star, which were relatively easy to collect.
After consulting the Grimoire of Whispers and confirming there were no issues, Qin Yuan edited a trade post on the forum and sent it out.
"I hope to have some harvest tomorrow..." he whispered to himself. He checked the time; it was already nine o'clock in the evening.
He took a shower, lay on the bed for a while browsing his phone, and drifted off into a dream.