Mixed Blessing System

Meanwhile, Lothur and Elke had just arrived at the first alchemy store they had arranged to stop by.

In this place that looked like an earthly pharmacy, with many vials arranged on shelves, there was an intense smell of medicinal herbs in the air. That was so strong that one could distinguish this space from any other in this world just by the smell, as this could only be an alchemy store.

Lothur watched that place with interest, noticing that even during the night, there was a good movement of people buying pills or potions.

"This store is owned by a foreign alchemist who has lived in Peters City for a few decades, Lothur," Elke explained to him a little about this place. "They say he has no deep connection to any local powers, that he is a strange individual, focused only on his art."

"But his alchemy skill is quite refined, and that's why his store sells potions and pills as if it were water, and he is very respected in the province."

"Do you think I can learn something from him?" He asked, trying to understand why Elke brought him to this place before other establishments.

"No." She smiled. "He could even teach you if he wasn't an antisocial focused on alchemy. So, you'd better go directly to the local Alchemy Guild and buy your study materials there."

The Alchemy Guild was another mainland institution not focused on establishing war powers, as was the case with the Formations Masters Association. The purpose of this guild was only to teach and develop alchemy, providing the opportunity for new geniuses to ascend.

Obviously, this was not gratuitous generosity, but such was life.

In any case, Lothur could access some primary resources in the guild to learn the basics of alchemy. Since Elke knew how talented he was at learning professions on his own, letting him learn this way, with all the freedom, would be best. So she referred him to this institution.

Lothur understood this point from her, still learning the common sense of this world, which took a lot of work for him to learn, given how little time he had in this place. But, on the other hand, he was always busy with his plans of getting richer and not dying, so now and then, he ignored these common things.

"Hmm, okay."

The two walked around that place, with the silver-haired young man looking at the labels on the products on hand, noting that the vast majority of the items there were classified as Iron-grade.

There were also Bronze-grade potions and pills, but none of Silver-grade was in sight, as one would expect since there were no 3-star professionals in this province.

With that, the two soon began to look for pills that might affect Lothur, focusing on those Bronze-grade ones, especially those with the potential to affect mental attributes.

Lothur had already ingested two Bronze-grade pills, and his body was already at a level similar to that of 2nd stage cultivators. What did this mean? Well, Iron-grade pills or potions would have little effect on him.

There was no resistance to Iron-grade pills after someone absorbed a Bronze-grade one. But if the two had the same purpose, then the body in question would be significantly affected by the Bronze-grade, and the Iron-grade that followed would have little effect.

The same thing was true for the level of the body. If the body were mighty, resources of equivalent power would be needed to make a significant difference.

Could an Iron-grade pill help a Spiritual Warrior? Yes, but not to the extent necessary for them to solve their problem.

So Lothur and Elke did not waste their time looking at those Iron-grade items, quickly moving on to the Bronze-grade ones.

[Body Recovery Pills] [Rank: Bronze]

[Purity: 65%] [4 units]

[Effect: recovers damage to the different tissues of a given body]

...

[Blood Eyes Potion] [Rank: Bronze]

[Purity: 72%] [1 unit]

[Effect: induces a temporary frenzy in which the characteristics of the one using it are raised 100%.]

[Side effect: temporary blindness after 24 hours of absorption (lasting from one day to a week).]

'Geez! That's grave.' Lothur wondered as he noticed the characteristics of one of the pills sold there.

[Body Transformation Pill] [Rank: Bronze]

[Purity: 42%] [1 unit]

[Effect: can permanently raise one of the user's physical attributes between 10% and 20%.]

'Oh?' He saw that and opened his eyes wider, as something like that was extremely useful to improve one's strength.

10% to 20% might not seem like much, but that was something that could be bought without constant efforts in cultivation and training!

Therefore, it was something extreme that would make the masses drool in desire for such a resource!

But the price for this was not low!

Gulp!

"85,000 silver coins!" Lothur muttered as he paid attention to the price of such a pill.

With that amount, a mortal man could live his entire life and still ensure the survival of his wife and child!

So considering that most people in this world were mortals, Lothur could not help but be surprised at the price of the resource that was right in his hands.

'And it's here like this, waiting for someone to buy it...' He pondered as the thought of stealing that item passed far from his mind...

Lothur was a talented formation master, so he could sense what was in the surroundings of this store and every vial with pills or potions.

This place was so protected that even someone like Mabel could not get away safely with trying to steal something!

So this young man had already understood why there was not any confusion in that place and why news of robberies was not frequent in this city.

'Cultivators are extreme indeed...' He smiled. 'They leave behind a lot of traps, and whoever dares to do what they shouldn't have to pay the cost with their own life!'

As he pondered this, Elke found something and showed it to him. "Lothur, look at this pill. It is supposed to do a spiritual 'washing' on the soul of the one who drinks it."

"Washing?" Lothur turned to her, still holding the previous bottle in one of his hands, very interested in this other possibility.

He then gestured to Elke, and she handed such a container to him.

[Spiritual Bath Pill] [Rank: Bronze]

[Purity: 60%] [1 unit]

[Effect: decreases the impurities of the user's soul, raising one or more of his mental attributes between 10% and 20%.]

[Note: the host will undergo a 24-hour hibernation upon ingesting such a pill.]

'Hibernation?' Lothur's eyes narrowed as he noticed a resource that could do that for the first time.

'Usually, resources with such drastic side effects are accompanied by extreme results.' He pondered what he had already learned in his poison art, thinking it might be the same for alchemy.

But considering how important it was for him to elevate his talents, Lothur did not hesitate to take this and the other pill he had found.

'200 thousand silver coins...' He sighed as he added up the values of the two pills. 'Good thing those fools were willing to 'gift' me early, or I'd be poor now.'

...