"You should also take off now, Yessika." Liam thanked the dark elf for sniffing out the beast. Without her, there might have been a mass wipeout, wasting everyone's time and effort.
More importantly, Mei Mei would have lost her legendary item. They wouldn't even have been able to retrieve it unless they managed to defeat that thing. That would have been very tricky.
The dark elf looked very grateful, and she bowed to Liam several times before speeding away in another direction. She did not look like she had any mounts.
Liam watched her leave and then opened up his portal. He had work to do, and returning to the Xion realm was the best option.
He adjusted his charm pouch and then looked at the white fox, shamelessly cozying up to Shen Yue for food. "Luna, let's leave."
The duo stepped into the portal and speeded towards the guild residence, directly heading over to the top floor of the alchemy building.
This was where he could concoct his potions peacefully, and he needed to make a lot more batches before the auction at the mysterious Milkyway place began.
Liam sat down cross-legged and quickly began his work. Seeka was here, so she took care of all the arrangements, Liam only handling the main task.
Of course, he also took out the stone tablet this time. With the stone tablet, his efficiency was far better, so he did not want to waste his time and beat around the message.
Soon everything was arranged perfectly, and Liam began making the first batch.
This was his first batch for the day, but by now, he had practiced this same recipe at least fifty or sixty times. So all of his movements were calm, casual, and fluid.
Especially since he was sitting in the stone tablet garden now, everything was proceeding much more smoothly compared to the batch he had worked up in the nether realm.
A little over an hour later, the first batch was almost complete. Liam gritted his teeth and lit up the final flare for the cauldron and the finishing touch and...
[Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]
[Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]
Liam transferred the single bead of teal-colored liquid into a small vial and then let out a sigh. "Not bad. First try itself became successful."
He looked at Luna and grinned, and the fox grinned back. Seeing the two of them celebrating, Seeka also shyly smiled.
However, in the midst of this harmonious atmosphere, suddenly another notification popped up.
[Ding. 1 mana core has been consumed]
"Huh?" Liam stopped smiling and seeing him, and Luna as well stopped smiling.
"What? Mana core is consumed? How?" He quickly checked his inventory to see that the mana core he had taken from the wasp field boss was really missing.
This was bad news. He had saved this up for the auction. More importantly, he had no idea how it could have been consumed.
Liam paused for a moment and then stood up to walk to the next room. He then took out all the cracked demonic cores he had obtained from the temple ruins and stored them in that alchemy room.
"Now, let me see what is consuming my mana core."
He sat down again and began to make the next batch. However, after a few minutes, the garden around him abruptly disappeared.
Luna shrieked in shock, and Seeka also looked alarmed, but Liam only calmly sighed. He had already thought about this possibility while racking his brain for potential culprits.
That's right. How could it be possible for one to obtain infinitely free herbs and infinitely free resources? Everything had a cost and effect.
It was this stone tablet that had consumed his mana core!
Perhaps because of the energy already present within it, the stone tablet did not ask him for payment until today, but now it looked like it needed more mana cores to function.
"I guess it was really too good to be true." Liam smiled bitterly. In reality, he did not mind paying this price. It was just that he was too poor and did not have enough mana cores.
"Wait, I was also able to use this stone tablet in the PVP tower. Maybe I will be able to use it there again."
The rooms inside the kingdom's crafting associations and those inside the PVP tower had special formations. These formations were sort of like electricity wires, brimming fully with mana.
So perhaps the stone tablet could tap into these formations and be able to function?
The more Liam thought about this, the more likely it felt. This was why he could use the stone tablet freely in the tower. Now it all made sense.
Liam steadied his mind again and continued with the batch of potions, ignoring the garden's disappearance and the stone tablet. He was already halfway through and wanted to finish this batch successfully.
Another hour passed when finally he was done with the second batch.
[Ding. Greater Body Cleansing Elixir created]
[Ding. Your Alchemy skill proficiency has increased]
Liam sighed in relief and packed that bead of teal-colored liquid into another vial. He now had two vials of precious Cleansing Elixir.
However, for the auction he was headed to… he doubted if this was enough. He needed to make more of these, and for that…
He looked at the white fox next to him. "Let's go to the PVP tower."
Luna nodded, and soon they both reached Yleka city.
Standing in front of the enormous tower at the heart of the city, Liam hesitated slightly. After all, he knew that what he was going to do was probably in the grey area.
But in the end, he shrugged it off and walked in. "I am only going to be using a little bit of mana. I don't think he will care."
He used the elevator and went to the 100th floor, once again planning to use the alchemy room in the tower.
This was where the stone tablet seemed to function freely without sucking up his personal wealth. So he decided to make the cleansing elixir batches here.
Liam took out the shiny tablet and placed it in the center of the room. The next second, the empty alchemy room transformed into a serene, magical garden.
The atmosphere was pleasant, and the small fatigue he had accumulated from making two batches back to back was immediately taken care of.
"That's more like it." He sucked in a big breath of fresh air and dove straight into his work. He started making the next batch of the potion.
Meanwhile…
"This bastard!!! How dare he!" The old man at the top of the tower threw the wine glass in his hand, shattering the metal on the wall like it was glass.
"The audacity on this buffoon! He is not joining the contest I created and dares to continue stealing from me. Hmph!"
"Increase the reward!"
"But master…"
"SHUT UP! I said increase the reward. I'll see if he still ignores me!"
The disciple scrambled away to do his bidding, but… there was no change whatsoever.
Time ticked by, and Liam continued to patiently process one herb after herb, immersed in his own world. He did not even pay attention to the PVP contest notification.
A couple of hours later, he made the third successful batch and immediately began working on the next one without any break.
Meanwhile, the guy watching him from the top was about to lose it. Every second Liam spent inside the PVP tower with the stone tablet hanging out was costing him an arm and a leg.
"This is unforgivable. Completely unforgivable." The old man muttered and watched Liam like a hawk, his eyes redder and redder with anger.
***
Mass Release Part 1 Chapter 2~
Please thank Matthias_Schmidt for sponsoring this mass release!
