Chapter 134 – Florida Man Purchases Luxurious Sports Cars to Decorate His Parking Lot
A week passed after the merge, Leo's employees settled down to the new lifestyle.
Off-shift employees all entered the "Orlando Planet" to cultivate wood and water Qi. Even muscle-tempering realm disciples tried their luck in there. However, they had to come back to rest and recuperate as the overflowing elemental Qi in that world was too strong for their bodies to handle.
Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei finally understood why Leo assigned them there. As the only seniors in the area, they healed and corrected the weak disciples' Qi and dantians. After the recuperation, the disciples either advanced to the Qi condensation stage or improved their constitution.
Former outer disciples of the Life Sword Sect and the Amazon Sanctuary quickly developed their physiques and inner Qi. After a week, 300 muscle-tempering stage youths became Qi condensation stage cultivators.
The improvement of the teenagers made Hua Jiashan and Dongfang Mei proud even though they barely helped them. Because of the positive emotion, they had fun rescuing reckless youths and observing their growth.
Aside from the daily routine, a new building was erected. East of the Recycling Center, Wu Buyi, Gao Yan, and their alchemy team built the first non-system alchemy workshop of their own. Using the materials from the junkyard, they made 50 alchemy cauldrons to practice making pills.
That day, Wu Buyi and the alchemist team received a new assignment from Leo.
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Leo stood in front of the newly built workshop. He opened the domain system map and noticed that it occupied 100x100 grids. Moreover, the workshop was 10 meters tall, and it came with three floors – The basement, the first floor, and the second floor.
The architecture and design were still rough as the roof was made from clay tiles. Because of its amateurish workmanship, there might be leaks. These alchemists would surely get into trouble during the rainy season.
Although he was impressed by their carpentry skills, Leo didn't forget that it was not a system structure. Soon, it had to be deconstructed and replaced with an upgradable system building.
"I see that you finish making your workstation. Then, Wu Buyi, are you ready for a new task?"
Wu Buyi, Gao Yan, Life Sword Sect's alchemists, and aspiring alchemists gathered around Leo and saluted.
"We're ready, my lord!"
"Good. Here is your first task. I want you to make grain pills according to the recipe I give you. The ingredients are mostly stored in either the granary or the warehouse. Use them as you see fit."
Wu Buyi received a modern A4 paper, which he had never seen before. He was impressed by the smooth surface and the sharp edge.
"Erm, senior?" Gao Yan noticed that Wu Buyi was distracted.
"Oh, ahem!"
Wu Buyi stopped checking the paper and read the recipes.
"The recipe is… iron pine nut, one starch, one metal element catalyst, and fire element Qi. Huh?"
Wu Buyi frowned as the recipe used too many top-grade materials. In addition, Leo wrote a paragraph underneath the recipe to teach them about his insight.
The alchemist elder continued reading.
"Umm, according to the annotation, the grain pills will mutate according to the additional elemental Qi we use. If we use essence instead of Qi, the pill quality will improve. For example, if we can use all five basic element essence, the grain pills will come out with all five elements."
"…Wow!" Gao Yan and the alchemists were astonished.
Wu Buyi paused for a moment and sneaked a glance at Leo's face. He then asked, "Umm, if it's not too much, can we observe how you make these pills?"
"Can't y'all figure it by yourself? What are you? A donut?"
Wu Buyi was embarrassed. As shameless as he was, Wu Buyi pressed on.
"I'm so sorry, my lord. We need a reference of how you do it."
Leo rolled his eyes as he didn't want to waste his precious system workshop's time on something cheap and outdated. Still, he entertained these alchemists nonetheless.
Walking back to the workshops, the group followed Leo. Upon arrival, Leo noticed that the second workshop had just finished making another batch of yang flame pills. Leo stopped the mannequin and inserted the ingredients for grain pills instead.
After tossing iron pine leaves, a piece of potato, and a pine nut in there, Leo closed the lid and spat on the fireplace as usual. Then, he activated the system workshop in front of the crowd.
DING
The fire was automatically lit. The workshop mannequin also put his hands on the cauldron and adjusted the flame balance for Leo.
Leo turned around to look at the crowd.
"Done."
"Eh?" Gao Yan and others were taken aback. They thought that Leo would teach them.
"If you want to learn, watch the doll over here. He will show you how it's done. Oh, also, you." Leo ordered the mannequin, "Keep making the grain pills and let them observe you, okay? Keep making until you're out of materials."
The mannequin nodded. He then focused on the cauldron.
After entrusting his task to the mannequin, Leo left the alchemist group. He also gave Wu Buyi homework.
"I hope to see you master this recipe. If you can't make pinnacle-grade grain pills like that doll, I'll confiscate the phone."
"!!!"
Wu Buyi's face was ashen. As the phone had been fulfilling his dream and broadening his horizon, Wu Buyi couldn't afford to lose it.
Because of desperation, Wu Buyi's concentration was heightened. He saluted Leo and turned around to observe the mannequin with burning eyes.
Seeing that the trick worked, Leo pointed at Gao Yan, too.
"You, too. If you can't make a pinnacle-grade grain pill within this year, I'll confiscate that lightsaber! You're an alchemist, not a Jedi. Why the hell are you wielding that showy sword around?! Didn't Thora tell you not to use it?!"
"!!!"
It was Gao Yan's turn to be surprised. He closed his mouth and glanced at his sentient dao spirit.
Thora had been crossing her arms and pouting at Gao Yan. She also scolded him.
'He's right. You shouldn't use that sword or reveal its existence to others! Why did you keep using it in public? Do you want to tempt your friends to kill you in your sleep?'
Gao Yan sweated profusely, "B-But the lumber is too strong! Even Master Wu can't cut it with his sword. Without the artifact, we can't even build the workshop!"
'No excuses! This happened because you people are too weak! If you have time to build that useless thing, you should have trained some more!'
"…"
Gao Yan wanted to cry as building the workshop was Leo's idea, yet he got scolded. Meanwhile, Leo secretly glanced at Gao Yan and looked away, pretending that it was none of his business. He moved on to check the gunsmith in the general store.
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CRACK
CRACK
On the second floor of Leo's store, two automaton mannequins sat at their workbenches, working on their new rifle and ammunition.
The gunsmith had robotic arms like the tailor of the clothing store. However, he didn't need Leo's skin to create gun parts as he got the materials from elsewhere.
Lining inside other partitioned rooms were sacred wood blocks and a large chunk of gemstone, which Leo had extracted from the ground.
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Superconductor Obsidian of Holy Lich
This 10,000-year-old mineral is the crystallization of a dead Archlich's dantian core. As the former master of this dantian crystal was as strong as a celestial king, this mineral inherited his physical strength. If it's used to make weapons, it will surely be extremely durable.
Cannot be used in alchemy.
Can be used to make weapons or converted into metals
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This superconductor mineral was the primary material for the gun barrels and other parts. The matchlock rifles that Leo had given to Han Hao and others were also made from this material.
Unfortunately, the superconductor obsidian was not strong enough to withstand Leo's Qi and his empowered essence stones. Leo still needed better material for his personal firearms. In addition, the gunsmith workshop was still low-level. The workshop mannequins couldn't make a better version of rifles or guns yet.
Leo visited the temporary storage rooms of the gunsmith and replenished the stock. Then, he went to check the other mannequin and his work.
The second mannequin didn't tinker or temper with the gun parts. Instead, he worked on the unique gunpowder of Leo's store.
Leo glanced at the crates of exploding chilies. Looking at the out-of-place ingredient, he wryly smiled.
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Exploding Reaper Chilies
Can be found in a temperate climate area or a mystic realm with the fire element Qi. These chilies can explode if they are directly touched by a cultivator. However, it won't react if you touch it with non-organic objects.
Not suitable for food or alchemy due to its chemical reactions.
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A knife extended from the second mannequin's arm as he brought a thick chili to the workshop table and sliced it in half. Upon cutting it open, white seeds of the chili came out.
The mannequin didn't stop there. He separated the seeds and put them in another container. After moving the seeds away, he began to chop the chili into smaller pieces.
DOK-DOK-DOK
As if someone was chopping a vegetable, the chopping sound echoed in the mall. However, in reality, the mannequin's speed surpassed that of what a human's eye could see. Within seconds, a large piece of chili turned into red powder.
After getting the red powder, the mannequin poured them into a large mortar. He then reached out for a ladle and scooped rainbow water from a bucket in the gunsmith.
Leo wryly smiled as he remembered the water. It was tap water from the general store, but it was mixed with his saliva. This contaminated water was one of the ingredients to make the gunpowder!
After mixing the water into the chili powder, the mannequin started grinding them. The red pieces of chili slowly turned black and hardened as they absorbed the mutated water.
A few seconds later, the chili powder turned into black powder.
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Reaper Gunpowder
Made from Florida Man's bodily fluid and Exploding Reaper Chili. A pinch of this gunpowder is as deadly as 100 grams of TNT. Keep it away from fire.
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This was the source of Leo's gunsmith's gunpowder. As long as Leo kept growing chilies, he would have endless sources of gunpowder for his toys.
For now, the bottleneck of gun production was the rifle's crafting speed. The mannequin could only make five matchlock rifles per day, which was not enough to arm everybody in Leo's domain.
'This will take ages to make a musketeer squadron.'
Leo sighed and brought empty buckets to a public bathroom. He refilled the water and spat into them. Then, he carried the buckets to the gunsmith for the mannequins to work with.
After replenishing the water, Leo dumped a few more crates of chilies in the store room and left the workers alone. He walked down the stairs.
Arriving on the first floor, Leo admired the new look of his general store. It looked like a large indoor wet market as showcase tables and a dozen door refrigerators were full of his merchandise.
Vegetables, fruits, potatoes, pills, and mutated plants filled the first floor. Instead of storing them in the warehouses or granaries, Leo put them here so the store wouldn't look too empty.
The shopping mall was 20% ready for the grand opening. Leo just needed to fill the building with other minor shops and content on the second floor.
Thinking of other merchandise, Leo turned his attention to the clothing store for a moment. He narrowed his eyes.
'Clothes are good, but cultivators are mostly men. They aren't fond of fashion.'
Leo closed his eyes and tried to recall what men in the modern world bought whenever they had enough money. He thought of big toys, such as sports cars, yachts, and big bikes.
Flashy vehicles came to Leo's mind. He opened his eyes and gazed at his online store system. He compared the prices of various modern vehicles.
"They might be useless to others, but they are flex factors. Yeah, I should start with you."
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Pagani Huayra– 1,400 years of lifespan
McLaren Elva – 1,700 years of lifespan
Bentley Bacalar – 1,900 years of lifespan
Aston Martin Vulcan – 2,300 years of lifespan
Bugatti Mistral Roadster – 5,000 years of lifespan
Mercedes-Maybach Exelero – 8,000 years of lifespan
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When Leo was a human, these vehicles were out of his reach. But after the apocalypse, these toys were so insignificant that they were too cheap.
Leo bitterly laughed. There was no road for these cars to run on, so they were useless to him. However, they could be used as decoration to attract eccentric customers.
"Let's park one or two on the second floor. There's nothing to see here, so I might as well use it as a lounge area for the riches."
