Chapter 28 – Florida Man Invests 1,000 Years in Simulation Game
Leo widely grinned. He had no idea what Han Hao was talking about.
'What supply? What sect? I just want to sell my things and earn more lifespans. Did Wu Buyi spread a silly rumor?'
He had enough of the misunderstandings and miscommunication, Leo directly asked Han Hao, "What supply?"
"Oh?" Han Hao was surprised. He thought that Leo had a deal with Wu Buyi, "Didn't you agree that you would supply us pills so that we wouldn't have to rely on the mystic realms?"
"Oh, that?" Leo remembered the deal. He stroked his smooth silky beard, "You mean, I will make more pills like the ones on that table, and you will send your disciples to purchase my pills, using their lifespan. Is that what you mean?"
Han Hao raised his brow. Once again, Wu Buyi didn't clarify this agreement, so he didn't know about the detail. It seemed that Wu Buyi only agreed that he would send his disciples here to buy rare pills from Leo.
"Well, it's the same. We hope that you will prioritize the Life Sword Sect's disciples over other customers."
Leo never hated customers. He readily accepted, "No problem. I'll save the pills for your disciples."
"Thank you for your cooperation. Also, I will take this."
Han Hao grabbed a bottle of rejuvenate tea. Leo quickly took 200 years of Han Hao's lifespan right away.
"One more thing," Han Hao coughed as he never forgot about his primary objective here. "Would you like to join us on this season's mystic realm expedition?"
Leo sighed and shook his head. He had his reason not to participate in the event, "I don't know if I should go. I don't think I have much to gain there."
"Are you sure? Nobody has captured any mystic realm yet. Someone of your status should be able to do it. Legends said that the person who managed to dominate a mystic realm would become a mystic realm overlord, and he would monopolize all the herbs, treasures, and artifacts in there."
Han Hao was not convinced that Leo was not interested. He baited the white-haired old man with glory and profits. However, he could not read Leo's mind.
Meanwhile, Leo inwardly grumbled.
'It's not like I don't want to go. I want to go out and play, too. I want to go on a field trip and socialize with REAL PEOPLE for once! But how am I going to enjoy a trip if I don't understand a goddamn word that comes out of your mouth, mister!? I don't speak Chinese, dammit! If I go there, I'll BINGQILIN all day, and my image will be ruined!'
Because of the dilemma, Leo insisted that he could not go. Otherwise, he would embarrass himself.
"I'm sorry. I don't think it's a good idea to give someone else's ticket to me. If someone works hard to earn his spot, you should give it to him, not an outsider."
Han Hao and the deacons' eyes glittered as they gazed at Leo in admiration. Everybody cupped their fists, "Such consideration and honor are rare these days. We're ashamed that we're blinded by greed. We shall give the seat to the disciple that earns it."
Leo was secretly relieved. For now, he avoided a troublesome scenario. He felt like he was an introvert, whose brothers never stopped inviting him to a nightclub.
Han Hao and others bid farewell. They left through the front door and flew back to their sect.
After everybody was sent off, Leo returned to his store. He closed the door and locked it.
"Finally, peace at last."
Sometimes, Leo was confused about his true desire. Half of him yearned for civilization and people, but the other half sought solitude. He wondered why.
Exhausted from the long night's work and the meeting, Leo collapsed on his bed and was fast asleep.
.
1 PM, Leo woke up, refreshed. He sat up and yawned. Then, he walked outside the storeroom, which he had chosen as his temporary bedroom.
Upon walking to the store, Leo flinched as the massive shadow blocked the sunlight from the front windows. In front of the showcase glass windows, Cat sat there, staring into the store with its new menacing eyes. It used its thorns to scratch the windows.
"MEOW!"
It was hungry.
"I know, I know! I also need to take a dump. Just give me a second."
"Meow <3"
After grabbing a towel, Leo paused to think. He felt like their relationship sounded weird. However, he shrugged and moved on to the outhouse, doing his business.
After dropping some chemical bombs in the outhouse near the sword sage boulder, Cat happily scooped the waste in the septic tank to its mouth in glee. It also ate the yin cabbages that Leo had thrown out.
Leo got used to Cat's nasty appetite. He returned to the alchemy workshop and glanced at the piles of lumbers nearby.
"I should start working on these soon. But for now, IT'S UPGRADE TIME!"
Leo opened his lifespan status to see how much he could spend.
<Your current lifespan: 2,043 Years, 11 months, 10 days, 23 hours.>
Because of the daily meat diet and the recent sales, Leo got a whooping two thousand years of lifespan to use. He snickered as he was proud of himself.
"Time for your upgrade, you damn pot! I'm tired of making inferior pills. I want something better!'
Leo opened the workshop's system menu.
.
Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 1
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
[Research New Ingredient]
[Pill Making]
.
Without hesitation, Leo pressed the upgrade button and paid 1,000 years of lifespan.
DING
<Upgrading Alchemy Workshop...>
<Please choose one of the traits you wish to upgrade.>
"Huh?"
Leo had expected that the workshop would be automatically upgraded. However, it prompted him with options.
[Add New Cauldron] (1/5)
[Add Automaton Alchemist] (0/5)
[Upgrade Cauldrons - Improve Product's Quality] (0/5)
[Upgrade Fireplaces - Increase Product's Quantity] (0/5)
Seeing the choices, Leo's expression turned ugly as he hated overly complicated systems and games. The first thing that came to his mind was the min-max strategy spreadsheets of simulation games in the ancient past.
'So, there's a total of 19 potential upgrades, but this won't be that simple. Is there a level cap for the workshop? What if it's capped at level 10 and I can only upgrade 9 more times? Will I have to choose 9 out of 19 upgrades? If I upgrade everything, will I ruin the potential of this system building? Then, can I build another workshop? What's the highest quality that pills can have? Also, how much does the fireplace yield after the upgrade?'
Leo had a hundred questions, but the system remained silent. He could only learn by experimenting.
'To be honest, I want another cauldron to increase productivity, but my guts say that quality is king. I'll pick the quality first and see how it goes.'
Playing it safe, Leo picked the third option. Nothing could go wrong with a quality upgrade.
DING
<Alchemy Workshop has been upgraded to Level 2.>
RUMBLE
The alchemy workshop's building changed. The old rotten wood walls were replaced with new planks, and the tiles on the ceiling gained red color. It didn't look like an abandoned house anymore.
The message didn't end there. The system message gave him an important hint.
<Please note – The max level of Alchemy Workshop is 10. Please choose your upgrade options wisely.>
'Bingo!'
Leo clicked his tongue. His guess was on point, and he was glad that he picked the quality choice first.
With this information, he had an upgrade plan in his mind.
'Max quality first. For efficiency build, I can put four extra points into quantity upgrade. But if I want to make it a factory for trivial pills, I can put one point to a new cauldron, two for automatons, and one for quantity. Then, I probably won't have to watch over that thing 24/7. Yeah, I should aim for the "Factory Build". Oh, right. Can I build more workshops? If I can, I can be creative with this. For example, I have crap tons of materials for grain pills. I can just spam low-quality pills and sell them for dirt cheap, so the quantity build might somewhat synergize with the automatons and multiple pots. Oh, there's the max efficient build for difficult pills, too. I can ignore everything else and put four extra points to quantity. For example...'
Before Leo realized it, he had fun strategizing for future upgrades. He fell into deep thought while he operated the shop domain system, wondering if he could purchase another workshop.
DING
The icon of the workshop was there. It was locked. However, there was a clue to the unlock condition.
<Required Humble General Store Level 3.>
"..."
At that moment, Leo realized - This might be a grind.
As Leo had 1,000 years of lifespan in stock, he rechecked the upgrade option to see how much he needed for the next level.
.
Basic Alchemy Workshop Level 2
Production Quality Level - (1/5)
[Upgrade] – 1,000 Years of Lifespan
[Research New Ingredient]
[Pill Making]
.
The price was still the same. Leo noticed a template. He was overjoyed.
'1,000 per level? This will be easy!'
Leo smirked and pressed the upgrade button again.
BZZ
The system gave a weird buzz. Then, it gave him a piece of bad news.
<Required Humble General Store Level 3.>
The refrigerator upgrades, the workshop upgrades, and the new workshop building all required store level 3. It started to get on Leo's nerves.
"Oh, god. It's the freaking mobile simulation game system! Am I building a war town or something? Who the hell came up with those unrealistic games?"
Leo facepalmed. It would take a long time before Leo could get his dreamt pill factory.
