Chapter 73: Crafting Devil Fruits
[You used "Goethe's Alchemy Manual." Your Alchemy skill has reached Expert level.]
[Your secondary profession, Alchemy Apprentice, has met the advancement requirements. Please choose one of the following three specializations: Transmutation Master, Applied Alchemy Master, Potion Master.]
The Alchemist profession has three branching paths. Once chosen, switching paths would require forgetting all related skills and retraining from scratch—an extremely costly process.
The Transmutation Master excels at converting elements using Alchemy Stones. Advancing into a Transmutation Master allows for deeper research into elemental transformation and unlocking many exclusive recipes, all with greater efficiency. In the late game, players who unlocked the Silver-to-Mithril transmutation recipe made an absolute fortune.
The Applied Alchemy Master focuses more on the practical use of alchemical arrays. After advancing, they can craft all kinds of peculiar little trinkets using these arrays. This path bears some resemblance to Zhou Ning's Puppet Alchemy, but leans more toward daily leisure. However, the Church of the War God holds a rare blueprint for an Alchemical Armor that is exclusive to this specialization. A player successfully crafted it in the previous timeline—it was incredibly cool.
As for the Potion Master, the name says it all—they specialize in brewing all kinds of potions. Advancing into this specialization allows one to experiment with potion trial formulations to develop new and useful recipes, most of which are exclusive to Potion Masters. They also gain a higher success rate when crafting potions and have a chance to create superior versions.
To Zhou Ning, options 2 and 3 were initially both viable. But given that he already had Puppet Alchemy, option 3 was the only logical choice.
[Advancement successful. You've acquired a new secondary profession: Alchemist/Potion Master. Willpower +1 (Extraordinary Physique +0.35), Spirit +1 (Extraordinary Physique +0.35)]
[You've comprehended a new skill: Potion Trial Formulation.]
[You've learned new recipes: "Starlight Reagent," "Fortune Elixir," "Super Health Potion," and "Super Mana Potion."]
Not bad at all. Zhou Ning let out a quiet sigh. Reaching Expert level in Alchemy marked the true beginning of his journey. To advance further, he'd have to engage with the Alchemist Guild and various major factions, since becoming a Master Alchemist required official certification. The prerequisite? Learning twelve recipes ranked Expert or above.
Here was the problem: such high-level recipes were typically proprietary knowledge hoarded by powerful factions and rarely leaked to outsiders. Advancing to Master Alchemist would be a long and difficult road.
Zhou Ning turned his attention to Potion Trial Formulation and chose to use it.
This was the only way for Potion Masters to acquire recipes above Expert level—by consuming random herbs and experience points to deduce a formula. The formula's level was random, and the higher the level, the lower the success rate. It could only be used once per day.
That's why Zhou Ning had preemptively bought small amounts of various herbs and stocked them in the alchemy lab. Now they finally came in handy.
[You consumed 4,000 EXP, Fish Scale x1, Gillweed x1, Castor Oil x1. You have deduced a new formula: Underwater Breathing Potion.]
[Underwater Breathing Potion: Intermediate-level Alchemy Recipe. Requires Fish Scale, Gillweed, and Castor Oil. Grants the ability to breathe underwater for 15 minutes upon consumption.]
At the same time, the Potion Trial Formulation skill entered a 24-hour cooldown.
Pretty average. But Zhou Ning wasn't disappointed. Alchemy was a long-term craft—patience was essential.
Compared to the underwhelming Potion Trial Formulation result, the newly unlocked recipes from his advancement were actually quite decent. "Super Health Potion" and "Super Mana Potion" were staples for adventurers and had excellent market demand. The "Starlight Reagent" was not only a catalyst for crafting superpower potions, but also a key ingredient for producing Devil Fruits. As for the "Fortune Elixir," it was a quirky potion popular among players, rumored to bring a brief period of good luck upon consumption.
He had already finished the 150 bottles of "Intelligence Potion" that Professor Wesley requested. For now, Zhou Ning's focus would shift to crafting "Starlight Reagent" and "Fortune Elixir."
The coming days were tightly scheduled—classes resumed the day after tomorrow. Though he was already a senior, he still had two specialized courses per week and physical training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. The thought alone was exhausting.
Crafting "Starlight Reagent" required large quantities of Moonstone and Dragon Scale Grass, while "Fortune Elixir" needed Blackroot and Icecap Flowers—all relatively expensive herbs. The materials needed for crafting Devil Fruits weren't cheap either. A conservative estimate would cost no less than 800 Vecktas...
And then he looked down at his lunch.
All of it combined didn't even cost 1 Roshen!
Zhou Ning instantly lost his appetite.
No wonder Professor Wesley was so stingy—he was probably squeezed dry by expensive alchemical materials.
After a quick meal, Zhou Ning stood up and stretched. He opened the curtains—beyond the glass, the sun was partially hidden behind clouds. According to the weather forecast, strong winds were expected that afternoon.
Glancing back at Jinse, who was still helping tidy the alchemy table, he asked, "When are you leaving?"
"In about half an hour."
Jinse glanced at the countdown on her interface and felt a pang of reluctance. She wished she could stay longer to soak up more experience.
Even though she hadn't gone out adventuring, helping Wayne with alchemy earned her loads of experience. She frequently triggered various small quests, and over the past couple of days, she had learned two new skills. Her combat power had skyrocketed.
In short, she was already ahead of the vast majority of professional players—and as a bonus, she got to admire eye candy while working.
Zhou Ning was also a bit reluctant to lose such a helpful assistant. He nodded. "Then get going early and come back early. Before you leave, help me tidy up the room and lock the door."
Jinse: …
She was reluctant to part ways, sure, but why did this feel so... tool-like?
…
After giving Jinse a few final instructions, Zhou Ning left the alchemy lab and flagged down a public carriage bound for the Golden Oak Herbal Shop.
Inside the shop, Richard was nowhere to be seen. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man with graying hair—he looked familiar. Zhou Ning recalled that he was the NPC who would later become the Herbology teacher in the game "Apocalypse."
"Good afternoon, sir. I'm Wayne Sturwell. Is Richard here?" Zhou Ning asked politely.
"I'm Richard's father. Welcome. Richard… he ran into some trouble," the man said with a bitter smile.
"Last night on his way home, he suddenly went berserk and stabbed a passing vagrant. Fortunately, the man only sustained minor injuries. But Richard still has to stay at the precinct for a few days."
Zhou Ning's expression turned serious. He remembered what Kien had said earlier—of the 27 survivors from the sacrificial ritual, only 9 had come out unscathed. The rest either mutated or took their own lives.
Clearly, Richard wasn't one of the lucky few. He was likely teetering on the edge of mutation.
"Mr. Pessa, Richard's situation may be very serious." Zhou Ning relayed Kien's words to Old Pessa and added, "From what I know, there are two options left. One is to seek help from the church immediately. The other is to contact the Sunwatchers—they might have a solution. I have good relations with them, so if you need, I can help make the arrangements."
Old Pessa's face darkened, and he gave a subtle nod. "I understand. Thank you. I need to step out for a while. If you need anything, speak with the shopkeeper. I'll make sure he gives you a proper discount."
After Pessa left, Zhou Ning made a bulk purchase of herbs at the Golden Oak Herbal Shop, spending more than 800 Vecktas. His once-glorious wealth of 1,000 Vecktas was now reduced to just 185.
At 1:30 PM, the shop staff delivered the herbs to his lab. After a short rest, Zhou Ning began grinding the Moonstone and Dragon Scale Grass.
He had a thought—maybe the Sunwatchers would be interested in Zoan-type Devil Fruits?