Chapter 23: Guide

Putting the matter of Ki Crystals aside, Kai decided to finish the pills first and worry about other things later.

"Let's see... taking a Lesser Vitality Pill every six hours and a Vitality Pill every ten hours shouldn't cause any problems."

Closing the book titled [Safe Way of Taking Pills: A Guide to Becoming Stronger the Easy Way], Kai placed it back into his storage bag. He had borrowed the book earlier today from the library at the shop.

Putting the book away, Kai took out the jar containing the last remaining Lesser Vitality Pill.

Staring at it for a moment, he swallowed the pill with a somewhat fearful expression.

Although the book claimed that taking a Lesser Vitality Pill every six hours was safe—and it had been around twenty hours since he last took one—he was still nervous.

His past experience with Lesser Vitality Pills had made him cautious, but his determination not to become a Slave was stronger than his fear.

As the pill reached his stomach, its effects began to take hold.

[Ki: 210.8]

"Should I take a Vitality Pill too?"

After taking the Lesser Vitality Pill, Kai waited for half an hour to make sure nothing strange happened. But even after all that time, he didn't feel the slightest movement in his stomach.

So, he began to consider taking the Vitality Pill.

To get the answer to his question, Kai once again took out [Safe Way of Taking Pills: A Guide to Becoming Stronger the Easy Way].

After flipping through many pages and skimming several topics, he finally found the information he was looking for:

[For those wondering whether to take a higher-grade pill immediately after finishing a lower-grade one, keep in mind the following:

If you just took a Minor Vitality Pill, you should wait at least half an hour before taking a Lesser Vitality Pill.

If you've taken a Lesser Vitality Pill, wait around 3 hours before taking a Vitality Pill.

After taking a Vitality Pill, wait at least a day before consuming a Greater Vitality Pill.

Important point to... ....]

Finding the information he needed, Kai closed [Safe Way of Taking Pills: A Guide to Becoming Stronger the Easy Way] and put it back inside his storage bag.

Lying down on his bed, Kai began absorbing the surrounding Ki.

Within a few minutes, he felt the residual Ki from the Ki Crystals, along with the ambient Ki in the air, begin to form a full unit.

He guided his Source Ki toward the small Ki ball taking shape within his body. Once his Source Ki devoured it, Kai noticed a change in his Ki reserve.

[Ki: 211]

After taking care of the residual Ki inside his body, Kai took out the book titled [Principles of Herb Weaving], which he hadn't touched for almost a week.

Although Kai was now certain that the D-rank Gift [Ki Control] would allow him to use his Ki as a substitute for Soul Power, he still needed to learn the necessary knowledge to perform [Herb Weaving].

Knowledge such as how to find the essence of a herb, how to safely extract it, and the best and easiest methods for extraction. For this, he had to read many books.

Previously, he had spent all his time studying the uses, characteristics, and properties of Soul Power to figure out a way to perform [Herb Weaving] using Ki instead.

But now, things were different. Once he gained [Ki Control], he would be able to perform [Herb Weaving]—so he needed to study the anatomy of herbs.

Kai spent the next few hours reading and memorizing the internal structures of many herbs he commonly used.

"It's enough for today," Kai said, putting the book away. He could have studied a little longer, but he wanted to digest the newly acquired knowledge first.

After resting for half an hour, Kai took a pen and some paper and began writing down his own insights. Then he folded the paper and placed it inside [Principles of Herb Weaving].

After tidying up his room, Kai left to get something to eat.

"Recently, the signs of a monster tide are becoming more and more apparent. In a few days, we'll have another one."

"Another monster tide? I'm just going to hide inside the town for a week. There's no way I'm going out to hunt monsters."

As Kai approached the dining area of the inn, he overheard two hunters talking about the upcoming monster tide.

Hearing that another monster tide was coming, Kai was surprised.

According to the information humans had bought from Fairies at sky-high prices, all the monsters in the Ancient World were tasked with hunting down as many participants as possible.

For each kill, monsters earn a point, which they can use to either level up or resurrect.

A Monster Tide is the event when monsters get to use the points they've accumulated.

This means that all the monsters that were killed will resurrect, and many will return stronger.

The event lasts for an entire week, and during this time, monsters will attack any living being on sight.

Three monster tides have already occurred in the past.

The first one took countless lives, as no one was prepared. Hunters went out as usual, only to find that the monsters they had killed had resurrected—and many had grown stronger overnight.

After the first monster tide, humans spent a lot of money buying information from Fairies.

Even so, during the second monster tide, many lives were still lost.

Several people Kai once knew died in these tides.

Thinking about the upcoming tide, Kai arrived at the dining area.

Today, there wasn't a single empty table.

"I'm telling you, we should buy Ki Crystals in bulk. Not only do they help increase Ki, but they also speed up Ki recovery."

"But boss, shouldn't we just buy Copper Chests instead? Not only do we get Ki Crystals, but if we're lucky, we'll hit the jackpot and get something rare!"

"You gambler. Boss, don't listen to him—we should just stick to buying Ki Crystals."

"Can I sit here?" Kai asked, having found an empty seat at a table with three hunters.

"Sure, why not," one of the men replied after scanning Kai briefly. The woman at the table also nodded in agreement.