Chapter 15 – Uncle R. Enraged as Florida Man Cooks Fried Rice Using Raw Pine Nuts and Leaves
DING
<Your lifespan has increased by one year.>
With just one cup of coffee, Leo's lifespan increased by a year.
Ten minutes later, Leo finished his first coffee after coming to this world. After today's experience, Leo could give a piece of advice to everybody.
"Never drink coffee at night, ever."
Leo was wide awake. His eyes were bloodshot, and he had the urge to continue working all night. Fortunately, he was sober enough to restrain his workaholic nature.
Although having mutated corianders were awesome, Leo couldn't convert all of them at once due to storage limitations. The supermarket fridges could lower the food's temperature, but they could not suppress the mutated coriander's burning hot traits.
Leo still held the coriander stalk that he had used to make a cup of coffee. It still produced hot air and white smoke. He could also sense its high temperature from his skin. Judging from the feeling, Leo estimated that the herb was about 60-70 degrees Celsius.
'How the hell do I store this thing? If I put it in a fridge, the fridge will be broken. But if I leave it alone, it might catch fire. But if I directly eat this, I will waste the free coffee generator... Ah, damn. I'm stupid. I can just drop this thing in a pot of water or something.'
Leo held the coriander stalk in his mouth while he operated the system shop. He purchased a set of glass pots and a table. Then, he arranged the table next to the south window and put the pots on it. After filling the pot with drinking water, he dropped the herb into the container.
The water bubbled as if it was instantly boiled. The water blackened and emitted a rich coffee aroma.
Leo brightly smiled and covered the pot with a glass lid. He then admired the 4-liter pot, which was filled with coriander coffee.
"Coffee machine, done! Next, time to upgrade the store and put that workshop on."
Leo put his palm on the wall.
DING
<Will you upgrade the Humble General Store to Level 2?>
<Upgrading requires 1,000 years of lifespan.>
"Yes."
It was time for some upgrading as the store had no source of light or electricity. Leo couldn't stand working in the dark house alone at night.
As soon as Leo confirmed the upgrade, the ceiling became taller. The poorly placed windows transformed into displaying windows, and fluorescence light bulbs appeared. They automatically turned on, illuminating the interior in the dark night.
EEEEEEEEEEE
The buzzing hum of fluorescence lights was so loud that it annoyed Leo. However, the store was brighter than before.
DING
<Humble General Store has been upgraded to Level 2.>
<New Construction Options!>
Leo flinched for a moment as he felt like he had heard that quote from somewhere else long ago, but he couldn't remember. He ignored the voice and inspected the changes in his store.
Aside from the display windows, the wooden floor and the walls seemed sturdier. No wind leaked into the building anymore. However, as no ventilation existed, the air in the store was stale.
Without circulating wind and air conditioner, Leo was dissatisfied. He opened the front door, back door, and a side window to let the airflow. Then, he walked out of the house.
The moonless sky provided no source of extra light. Everything outside was pitch black. Fortunately, the purple fluorescence light illuminated a small area around the building.
ZAG-ZAG-ZAG
The chomper plant on the rooftop seemed to be active at night. It crawled down from the roof and disappeared into the forest.
The weather outside got colder at a rapid rate. Leo pursed his lips as he found the chilling weather nice and refreshing. He had been living in the dry freezing world for 50,000 years, so a humid and chilly night was like a warm breeze to him.
As Leo couldn't sleep, he strolled to the backyard to resume his work.
For the entire night, Leo manually cleared the field for his workshop.
.
When one indulged in an activity, that person's concentration would be heightened. However, that person usually forgot about time. Leo was the same. He got absorbed in the field that he didn't notice the sunrise. By the time he finished arranging logs, it was already 8 AM.
The backyard was cleared. Leo opened the shop domain menu and purchased the alchemy workshop.
.
Basic Alchemist Workshop
Requirement – Humble General Store Level 2
Price – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
Space – 10 x 10
.
The requirement was fulfilled. The icon of this building brightened, and Leo had enough lifespan to purchase it.
"Let's see what you can do."
Leo did not think much. He purchased it right away to explore the alchemy secrets. After he pressed the confirm button, the same top-down view and grits appeared in his menu, allowing Leo to choose the location of the shop.
He moved the 10x10 blocks to the back of the general store. He aligned it for a moment before he pushed the alchemy workshop further back by five blocks, giving spaces between the store and the workshop for a road or a pathway. Then, he pressed enter.
RUMBLE
A new one-story wooden building appeared. At a glance, it looked like another cabin. However, a quarter of the building was an open-air patio with a huge black cauldron at the center.
Leo inspected the new building and looked inside the black cauldron. There was nothing in there but the smooth surface of the black pot. While checking the new goodies, Leo accidentally touched the pot with his bare hands.
DING
A new system window floated above the cauldron. It displayed a menu, and a few buttons were highlighted.
.
Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 1
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
[Research New Ingredient]
[Pill Making]
.
Leo was amused. He ignored the upgrade button for now as he couldn't afford it. Thus, he pressed the [Research New Ingredient] button to see what it could do.
<Please put an ingredient into the cauldron to research.>
"..."
The system didn't tell him what kind of ingredient it needed. Still, Leo had enough clue to start. He walked to the fallen pine tree and picked up mutated leaves and a raw pine nut. Then, he put the nut in first.
He received a feedback message right away.
<Will you research this unidentified nut?>
"Yes, please."
As soon as Leo confirmed the research, the pine nut in the cauldron vanished. Then, a progress bar appeared, hovering over the cauldron. Under it was a timer, counting down the completion time. It only took 10 seconds to complete the research on the first item.
<Research completed!>
<You have discovered Iron Pine Nut!>
<A new pill recipe has been added to the encyclopedia.>
After the message, another system window appeared, displaying the brief detail of the item.
.
[Iron Pine Nut]
These nuts can only be found in a densely Iron Pine Forest in one of the mystic realms. It is commonly used as the main ingredient for Iron Grain Pills.
[Pill Recipe – Iron Grain Pill]
One - Iron Pine Nut
One – Any Starch
Fire Qi
*Optional* - Any Iron Element Catalyst
.
Upon noticing the pill recipe in the detail window, Leo started enjoying this. However, there was one troublesome issue.
"What the hell is [Iron Element Catalyst]?"
Leo scratched his head in confusion as he had no one to consult. Then, he looked at the pine leaves in his hand. Without thinking much, he tossed it into the cauldron and pressed the [Research New Ingredient] button.
Again, it only took 10 seconds to complete the automatic research. The result was shown.
.
[Iron Pine Leaf]
Iron Pine Leaves are one of the rare iron-based catalysts, which can be found in an area with the thick iron element Qi. Mixing 100 leaves with any iron-based pill ingredient increases the completion success rate and the pill quality.
[Traits]
Increases the Iron Grain Pill's pill-making success rate by 50%. Increases the quality by one major tier.
.
"What a coincidence. Hehehe."
Leo rubbed his hands. He learned a lot by just reading the information from the system window. He closed it and wore his trusty rubber gloves. Then, he entered the store through the back door.
A minute later, Leo came out with a basket of raw potatoes. He put it next to the cauldron and went to the black pine trees to collect black pine leaves. When Leo returned, he carried an armful of nuts and several branches of pine trees, full of black leaves.
The ingredients were ready. Leo operated the cauldron menu and pressed the other button that he hadn't tried yet.
[Pill Making]
DING
<Please choose a recipe.>
The window prompted him to choose a pill recipe from the list. However, it only showed one item as Leo only found one recipe so far.
Leo didn't care. After all, he only had the ingredients to make one type of pill anyway. He chose the recipe, and the cauldron menu displayed the images of the required ingredients.
Not even looking at the images, Leo tossed a black pine nut, pine leaves, and a raw potato into the cauldron. The images of iron pine nuts, random starch, and leaves turned grey. However, the fire icon was still bright.
DING
<Please inject Fire Qi into the cauldron.>
"Fire Qi? Wut da hail is Fire Qi? I only know fried rice!"
The system hit him in the blind spot. Leo was confused and helpless as he had no idea what Fire Qi was. As he had no idea, he tried something silly.
Leo went back to the storefront, where the BBQ set was. He lighted a piece of coal on fire and carried it with tongs. After coming back with a lump of burning coal, he threw it into the pot.
DING
<Detecting irrelevant material. The material will be removed from the cauldron.>
The burning coal was ejected from the pot. It was sent flying and landed on top of Leo's head. Fortunately, the fire couldn't burn his hair or his skin.
Leo was annoyed. He took off his gloves and grabbed the burning coal with his hands. He spat at it and doused the fire instantly without burning his palms. Then, Leo complained.
"What the hell is Fire Qi? Argh..."
In frustration, Leo tossed the lump of coal to the fireplace under the cauldron.
DING
Suddenly, the cauldron lit up. The fire icon dimmed, and the system prompted him, requesting his permission.
<Ingredient substitution detected.>
<Will you use Fire Essence, Water Essence, Earth Essence, Wood Essence, and Metal Essence instead of Fire Qi?>
<Note: If you use higher-graded ingredients as substitutions, the success chance will increase, and the quality will improve.>
<Note: If you use additional Qi or Essence of other elements, you might get different pills than the pills from the recipe.>
"Essence? Wut?"
Leo frowned and looked at the half-burnt coal, which had been spat on. It emitted a foul burning iron scent, which was the same as the black grasses.
"My spit is Essence? Wut da hail?"
