After eating his fill, Kai headed back to his room and slowly drifted into dreams.
[Ancient Calendar: 14 April 0001]
Waking up the next day, Kai was still feeling the side effects of the Lesser Vitality Pills. After spending half an hour in the toilet, he freshened up, skipped breakfast, and headed to work.
Along the way, he thought about stopping by the Kato Bakery; however, remembering the time he had spent sitting on the toilet seat, he gave up on the idea.
Upon arriving at the Honey Pill Shop, Kai took his brewing list from Miya and headed toward his Alchemy room.
[Brewing List]
Name: Kai
Date: Year 0, Month 4, Day 14
Task: 8 Strength Potions]
Scanning the brewing list once, Kai began working on the Strength Potions.
After making a pot of Strength Potion, he would rest for a while to recover his Ki, then continue.
After endlessly stirring for four hours, Kai was finally done with the Strength Potions.
"I still have time. Should I refine a furnace of pills for Honey points?"
After thinking it over for a while, Kai decided to refine a furnace of Basic Vitality Pills for the Honey points. After all, the Vitality and Lesser Vitality Pills he bought weren't enough to increase his Ki to the point where he could undergo the Third Heavenly Trial.
After two more hours of hard work, Kai refined a furnace of Basic Vitality Pills containing 18 pills.
"I think this is enough for today."
After refining the batch of Basic Vitality Pills, Kai decided to head back to the inn. Cleaning everything up, he made a list of all the herbs and ingredients he had used and left the Alchemy room.
Leaving the Alchemy room, he headed toward the library to borrow some books.
After getting the book he wanted, he left the library and arrived at the front desk. Kai handed over the list, along with all the pills and potions, as well as his employee card.
"Here, now you have 31 Honey points."
Miya checked everything and put away the pills and potions. After updating the data on the human's employee card, she handed it back to him.
After leaving the Honey Pill Shop, Kai headed straight toward the hunters' market. He couldn't help it—he was feeling very hungry. His stomach kept growling the whole way.
"Selling Bronze chests, 5 gold coins each!"
"E-grade skill book [Fire Ball] and E-grade skill book [Fire Control], selling for 15 gold coins each!"
"Blacksmith services available! Custom swords, weapons, repairs—all in one place!"
Following the familiar road, Kai arrived at a stall where a middle-aged man was selling buns. Buying a few buns, Kai ate them to silence his restless stomach.
Getting something in his stomach, Kai decided to head back. Along the way, he came across a man selling something he had never seen before.
"Ki Crystals! Selling Ki Crystals! Fifteen copper coins apiece!"
Walking up to the man's stall, Kai began inspecting the goods.
[Ki Crystal]
Effect: Contains pure Ki
Description: A crystal formed in places with a high density of Ki.]
"What's their use?" Kai asked, checking the description of the Ki Crystal.
"They contain pure Ki, which makes it easier to absorb. Just put them in your hand like this, and [Devour] will easily absorb the Ki inside," the vendor explained.
The man demonstrated by placing a Ki Crystal in the palm of his hand. A strong suction force came from within his body and rapidly drew the Ki from the crystal.
In a few seconds, a small portion of the crystal turned to dust as he absorbed all the Ki from that part.
"Ah, how much Ki does a Ki Crystal have?" Kai asked, surprised at the sight.
"Generally, a Ki Crystal contains around 0.2 to 0.3 units of Ki," the vendor replied.
Hearing the vendor's words, Kai was a little disappointed. If a Ki Crystal contained just a bit more Ki—like a whole unit—he would've emptied his pockets to buy as many as he could.
However, before that, an important question was bubbling in Kai's head.
"How much time does it take to absorb a whole Ki Crystal?"
"You can easily absorb all the Ki inside a Ki Crystal in under a minute," the vendor patiently explained. After all, Ki Crystals weren't selling like the hotcakes he thought they would.
"Under a minute..." Hearing this, Kai fell into deep thought.
A Ki Crystal was only 15 copper coins. That meant one unit of Ki would cost around 75 copper coins. So, 7.5 silver coins should be enough to buy ten units of Ki.
However, it could take him an hour to absorb and digest those ten units. That was a lot of time compared to using Lesser Vitality Pills, and 50 copper coins wasn't that much money either.
"Do they have any side effects? Like Lesser Vitality Pills?" Remembering the time he spent on the toilet, Kai asked.
"Lesser Vitality Pill? No, they don't have any side effects like that," the vendor replied. Although he didn't know what a Lesser Vitality Pill was, he still assured Kai that Ki Crystals didn't have any side effects.
"Okay, then give me 20 Ki Crystals."
Paying for the Ki Crystals, Kai headed straight back to the inn.
After returning to his room, Kai rested for a while, then took out the Ki Crystals he had bought and began absorbing the Ki inside them one by one.
In less than twenty minutes, all the Ki Crystals had turned to dust, and Kai was surprised to find that his Ki reserve had increased by almost 5 units.
[Ki: 200.8]
"These Ki Crystals aren't half bad."
After absorbing the Ki from the crystals, Kai noticed a few things. First, the Ki inside the crystals was easily digested by his Source Ki. Second, although he used his innate [Devour] ability to absorb the Ki, it wasn't necessary. As long as he guided his Source Ki to the palm of his hand, it could automatically absorb the Ki from the crystals.
The third—and last—thing he noticed was that simply holding the Ki Crystals seemed to accelerate his Ki recovery.
"Maybe I should use these Ki Crystals instead of pills."
Kai thought to himself. The side effects of using pills were just too much. However, including his daily expenses, he only had around 3 gold coins remaining.
That could buy about 200 Ki Crystals—but then he wouldn't have anything left for hiring an assistant.
"Let's worry about it later. First, I'll finish the pills I already have."