Amature Alchemy

Jun Soryu left the place with new documents and the key in his hands; the procedures for purchases of even big estates were quite easy due to advanced technology and governmental coordination.

(Current Balance: 25,788,814.21 Credits)

"Half my wealth vanished in a flash," Jun Soryu scoffed; it was just now that his heart felt the pain of losing money.

"It's not loss! It's an investment! Investment!" Jun Soryu nodded, and with a deep breath, changed his direction deeper towards the city.

"It's tough being an adult," he chuckled and just walked deeper into the city; by now the sun had already almost left the skies, with the moon slowly rising from another direction.

Now his next goal was the second quest he had obtained from the system just a few dozen minutes ago while waiting for paperwork for his new home.

[As the Heavenly Monarch System aims to make you omnipotent, how can the host be left to rely on just a little family for his finances!]

[First step to live in a capitalistic world: be rich!]

[Chained Quest: Establish a legitimate source of monthly income, earning at least 50,000 credits through legal business means.

Reward: Eyes of Profound Fortune (玄运之瞳)

Time Limit: 30 Days]

...

"What a pain in the ass." Jun Soryu sighed, "You want me to be omnipotent like God yet make me work like a peasant."

[...]

No response from the system, but this just made Jun Soryu even more annoyed. "If you were human, I bet you would look like a fat baldy with a leaking snot!"

[...]

Still no response.

"Tch!" Jun Soryu clicked his tongue, and while walking all annoyed, he mumbled, "How will I make a business like this in a mere month?" Jun Soryu sighed briefly in deep distress.

'An average family of 4 has a monthly income of 5000 credits per month to gain a source of income with 50,000 credits per month by legal means... There are one or two ways to do it.

First, I will be going to jade gambling markets every month and cracking open some emerald jade from shit stone sold cheap, but of course I'm no immortal incarnate, so I'd rather not try.

And another option is, of course, opening some business. I still have 25 million credits left, so I can use that capital to invest, but on what exactly...?' Jun Soryu was just thinking about that, but the answer was all around him, all along.

"Hmm..." He raised his head, expanding his senses towards all the directions; from the visions in front of his eyes to the noises in his ears, it was all about this unending trouble of the people.

"My my~" Jun Soryu sniggered and looked right ahead in front of him, at the enormous billboards filled with the exact same, if not similar, advertisements.

"Beauty is a thirst that never dries, is it?" Jun Soryu chuckled as the next instant, he just vanished into the air without a trace.

...

About an hour later, Jun Soryu was seen standing in front of his newly purchased home with nothing but his family portrait and bare minimum belongings packed in a big bag. And there were also 3 huge packages, placed on the ground beside him.

"... The world is damn expressive." Jun Soryu mumbled with a pale face as if someone had sucked the soul out of his body; the reason was...

(Current Balance: 2,670,650 Credits)

"To think almost all my money was spent on a bunch of books... Since when was knowledge that expensive?!" Jun Soryu mumbled with an absolutely shaken look over his face as he opened the doors of his house.

And stepping inside, it finally felt like a little burden had lifted off his shoulders. The bright and humble luxury, compared to years living under a roof which could fall from a cat standing over it, was more than enough to brighten up his moods.

"Jun Soryu... Jun Soryu... You better not fail this gamble," he mumbled like a possessed ghost, and that night, he didn't even see his bedroom; instead, he just fell down on the floor, unpacking 3 big packages containing nothing but books relating to alchemy, botany and chemical engineering.

His physical appearance instantly shrunk down to his original size too; the thick books were thicker than his arms, and for instance, Jun Soryu almost started to regret buying all this.

"No use crying over spilt milk," he mumbled and opened the book, devouring all knowledge inside like a greed-filled monster.

The height of those books was taller than Jun Soryu, but Jun Soryu's intellect was way higher. He was flipping through those pages, sucking in the knowledge; he didn't even realise, but he was in a state of trance already.

A trance is a state where comprehension capability and focus of the individual multiply several times, allowing for the most optimum consumption of any technique or knowledge.

Normally, what would have taken a decade to learn for even geniuses, it took Jun Soryu a mere night to memorise and master all knowledge inside those expensive manuals and books.

"Yawn~"

With early morning chirps of birds outside his window, Jun Soryu also stood back up with an exhausted look on his face with heavy dark circles under the eyes.

"... This is child labour, I tell you." Jun Soryu mumbled, and the next instance, with a bright smile, his attention finally moved over to his phone on the sofa behind him.

"Well then... let's be economically self-independent." With that, he picked up his phone, with one number in his contacts.

Ring... Ring... Ring…

The ringtone rang for a duration of six seconds before a bright voice was heard from the other side of the call.

(Hello, Sir White Fox Child! What can this old Bai do for you?

It was the Bai Family's Old Patriarch, Bai Zhengyuan, whom Jun Soryu met in the park the previous morning.

"How is the health, Elder Bai?" Jun Soryu questioned with a smile.

(Haha! Extremely healthy! My children are all jumping up and down in joy seeing the technique you passed down to us! Turns out my granddaughter Doudou is extremely compatible with the Flowing Shadow Scripture (流影經); she has received some sort of enlightenment and has entered closed-door training to reach mastery in this technique!

"Congratulations, Elder." Jun Soryu nodded in a pleased manner.

(Thank you for the well wishes; given her genius, she will be able to reach 1-star mastery by the end of this month.)

"Hmm..." Jun Soryu remarked, 'Mastery, huh... To any technique, there are 5 stages of mastery from 1 star to 5 stars. There is a clear difference in each stage with factors like less energy consumption, effectiveness and efficiency of technique, as well as its impact. It takes months for people to master even a Mortal Grade technique... As for me'?

Jun Soryu just smirked mysteriously and, with a pleased expression, questioned Bai Zhengyuan, "Elder Bai, actually I'm in a little bind here; I called to request some 'Drifting Cloud Mushroom (浮云菌), Black Ice Orchid (黑冰兰), Jade Spirit Grass (玉灵草) and Scarlet Yang Root (赤阳根)'. Would it be possible to have them delivered to my residence?"

"Your residence?" Bai Zhengyuan's eyes immediately flashed with a glint of sharp opportunity. 'Sir White Fox Child is obviously no mere existence. The medical herbs he requested are all low grade and intermediate at most; he is actually giving us the opportunity to let us know his residence in case we even need his help! What an insightful man!!'!

(Don't worry, sir. I will have them delivered in an hour!)

"Thank you, Elder Bai. "

Jun Soryu finally ended the call with a big grin. Bai Zhengyuan, on the other hand, misunderstood Jun Soryu's laziness for an opportunity, brimming with excitement.

"Hahahahaha! My Bai family is on its path to rise! Rise!!!! Hahahaha!!!" He grinned like a fool, forgetting his age, and as promised, within an hour, 4 trucks full of herbs were found standing outside Jun Soryu's home with the Bai family's personal men carrying the goods inside his home.

"Say my thanks to Elder Bai." Jun Soryu waved his hands with a smile; the people nodded and left just the way they came.

"Now then..." Jun Soryu closed the gates with a big smile, closing all curtains as he unpacked all the herbs with a single flash of his hand.

"Time for some child labour." Jun Soryu smirked, and extending his internal energy, he lifted a set of those herbs in the air, filling the whole hall with a pleasing aroma and scent straight from waterfalls and wild jungles of nature.

'As expected, it's quite pleasant.' He nodded, and the next instant, he started to squeeze those herbs, extracting the pure essence of those herbs.

'I'm not an alchemist, so I do not yet possess alchemy flames that can help me refine these herbs properly, but even without that. I can use modern techniques to compensate for my lack of skills!' Jun Soryu grinned as he stuck his arms inside rubber gloves and lab glasses, even grabbing a beaker and test tubes, making his own little laboratory in the hall.

"Good! Good!" Jun Soryu mumbled as the squeezed essence of two herbs was collected in a glass container, with blue and red essence mixing together, creating a bubbling hot purple liquid, but that was just the start.

Szzzz...

The sizzling sound started to come out in about a minute, and Jun Soryu immediately clicked his stopwatch in hand while pouring the rest of the two essences in a 3:7 ratio; in an instant the liquids changed their colour to bright blue.

Waiting 47 seconds with eyes set over that liquid turning into serene past, finally a bright smirk flashed over Jun Soryu's face.

"Success!" Jun Soryu grinned, 'It really is nothing too extraordinary or interesting to watch without alchemy skills, but—it's still my product!!!'

Jun Soryu grinned and drew some ruins over a plain sheet of paper. 'I may not have qualifications as an alchemist, but I can't just refine these precious herbs over a gas stove. Instead...' Jun Soryu spread some internal energy over the ruins on paper, and as he expected, white flames suddenly lit up.

"Nice!" Jun Soryu grinned, 'These are the lowest-grade alchemy flames used for beginner alchemists to practice; even those with low internal energy can make it with the help of ruins.'

With that, Jun Soryu placed the breaker on heat. "Now all I need to do is refine it about 7 times and let it cool for a week!"