Chapter 62: Florida Man Denies Cash Counterfeiting Allegations, Claims He Only Manufactures High-Explosive Grenades

While flying back, Garudeer deeply sighed as he looked back at Felix's house and Terra City. He lamented, "What a pity. That's a rare fire mage in our empire."

One of Garudeer's followers, Mouthy, an elderly man with a thick white mustache, stroked his facial hair and snorted. "He's just ignorant. Forget about him, sir."

"No, we'll return and try again once we've subjugated the Lamias. Fire mages are treasures of our empire. They are the only ones who can compete against those Crimson Desert nomads!"

"But we have many water mages. Shouldn't we focus on developing them instead? Water mages have advantages over fire mages!" the mustached archmage suggested.

"You're right, but those water mages are either cowards or selfish. How many of them agreed to fight at the border last year? Zero! They're all full of excuses! Even this day and ages, all water mages from noble houses are the one fleeing first when trouble arises! Even that marquis refuses to join the expedition!"

"..."

"I'd rather cultivate hidden gems than pamper spoiled brats and arrogant pricks. I think I'll ask the dean about the academy expansion after this skirmish. Maybe we can establish a similar academy for commoners and real talents, not some useless noble children!"

The three archmages nodded in agreement. They wished for nothing more than the future of their country.

.

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**Felix's House**

Since Jane didn't want to have sex during the daytime, Felix returned to the smoking room. Sitting in his usual corner, Felix glanced at the map and noticed that the four giant yellow dots had turned green. He didn't know how it happened.

'What the hell is going on over there? Well, it's none of my business. Time to grind,' he thought, shifting his attention to his newly acquired talent and checking his status menu.

…

Name: Felix Ariel

Age: 17/15,147

Bloodline: Void Phoenix

Element Affinity: Fire, Metal, Poison, Void

Authorized Level: Super Democracy Pass (F)

Level: 20

Energy: 999,999/1,000,000 Searᴄh the Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Mana: 1,000,000

Innate Talents: Flame Lungs, Fast Learner, Fire Immunity, Poison Immunity, Ashen Resurrection

…

Something seemed off about his status. His age had dropped by a year, but his maximum lifespan had increased by 10,000 years. Felix turned his attention to the message log and discovered a specific message:

- - -

<Your dantian and blood vessels have expanded. You can store more mana in your body!>

- - -

"Alright!" Felix exclaimed, rubbing his hands and opening the inventory menu. He checked the oil storage inventory and licked his lips. The convertible oil was full to the brim, and Felix had 10 inventory slots, each containing 999 barrels of green liquid—Mixed Impurity. He still didn't know what to do with them yet.

Felix stroked his chin while he admired his assets, recalling the day Jessica first introduced him to these items and the oil extraction feature. He still remembered a certain level of "Seriousness."

"What was it? 10,000 years of lifespan serious? Jessica, what was the feature that you mentioned back then?" Felix asked his assistant AI.

Jessica's portrait screen appeared along with the system shop window. She navigated the shop menu for him and showed an item in the 'System Building Add-Ons' category.

On the shopping screen, a large PNG image of an oil refinery plant caught Felix's attention. Coincidentally, it cost 10,000 years of lifespan to purchase it.

.

Mana Petroleum Oil Refinery - Level 1

This system facility is a complementary add-on for mana oil derricks. It automatically filters mana petroleum from natural resources and collects useful energy, materials, and chemical waste for future use.

This facility can be upgraded. Each upgrade costs 10,000 years of lifespan. At higher levels, you may extract rare resources from crude oil.

Note: This item automatically constructs itself after purchase.

Effects:

- Automatically refines any crude mana oil into Crude Azure Petroleum

- Automatically store mana miasma gas. (Require Level 2)

- Automatically refine Crude Azure Petroleum into Azure Gasoline (Require Level 3)

- Automatically refine Crude Azure Petroleum into Azure Fuel (Require Level 4)

- Automatically refine Crude Azure Petroleum into Refined Azure Petroleum (Require Level 5)

.

Everything looked useful, especially the mana crystals, which Felix needed the most for his arsenal. However, he chose not to purchase them yet, wanting to window-shop some other expensive goodies first.

"Jessica, help me look for alchemy recipes that have ingredients or materials I can procure," he asked his assistant AI.

<That's a difficult task since this world lacks many resources. But I have two recommendations,> Jessica replied.

*DING*

Jessica closed the shopping menu and opened two new ones, displaying a red book and a blue book. The red book's title, "Health Potion Recipes for 69IQ Noob," was slightly insulting. On the other hand, the blue book was "The Making of Spirit Stones."

"What's a spirit stone?" Felix asked, curious about this new term.

<Spirit Stones are obsolete energy storage units that were once popular 150,000 years ago. Each spirit stone can store mana, ranging from one unit to 100 units of mana, depending on its size. Because of their unreliable measurements and instability, Spirit Stones were treated as a currency until Essence Stones replaced them.>

Weird knowledge increased, Felix thought.

He shrugged and asked for its utility, "What can I do with spirit stones other than storing mana?"

<Your ancestor used to upgrade them into essence stones and turn them into advanced batteries for firearms at one point. One of his disciples kept them as emergency smoke bombs and explosive grenades, but he never got to use them.>

Once again, Jessica taught Felix a story that seemed irrelevant to him. However, it gave him inspiration.

"Smoke bombs and explosive grenades, you say?"

Felix rubbed his hands, eager to dip into alchemy. "Can I have a few sample recipes before I buy the book?"

<The spirit stone book's price is 5,000 years of lifespan. The health potion recipe book is only 1,000 years of lifespan.>

Everything cost an arm and a leg. Felix blamed inflation. But in the end, Felix purchased both books, as he had nothing to read in his free time.

*DING*

After paying for the recipe books, both items didn't enter his inventory. Instead, recipes automatically updated in Felix's alchemy menu, adding lists of required items for each product. Felix didn't mind the digital version and started skimming through the recipes.

The most basic healing potion, which he always got from daily supply quests, seemed easy to make. It needed only three materials: Spirit Grass, Fresh Water, and… Fire Essence?

Felix scratched his head. "Jessica, what's Spirit Grass?"

<A blue grass that emits blue light at night. You can only find it in areas with thick mana, such as the forest you visited on the first day.>

"Ah!"

Felix repeatedly nodded and took a mental note. He started having fun. However, the next ingredient sounded troublesome to find.

"Okay, next. What's Fire Essence?"

<That one is simple. You only need to spit… no, that wouldn't work in your case. You need to drop your blood on a Spirit Stone.>

"Ah, I see. That's easy, I guess."

Felix took notes and skipped the healing potion section. He looked at the Spirit Stone manufacturing methods and ingredients next. Fortunately, the Spirit Stones required even fewer materials. However, it required something absurd: 10,000 energy and Fire Essence.

Seeing the recipe, Felix rolled his eyes. "If Fire Essence is made from a Spirit Stone, why the hell do I need a freaking Spirit Stone to create another Spirit Stone? This doesn't make any sense!"

<The finished alchemy product doesn't necessarily come out as one Spirit Stone. The higher the material quality, the higher the chance that you may get multiple Spirit Stones each batch.>

"…"

Alchemy is weird, Felix inwardly mumbled.

At a glance, it seemed impossible to craft a Spirit Stone. However, Felix got creative. He searched the online shopping menu for a Spirit Stone for sale. There was one. It cost only one year of lifespan and was categorized as a collectible antique instead of an energy storage unit like Essence Stones. Felix purchased it right away.

The Spirit Stone was deposited to Felix's inventory instantly, showing up as a small pebble with a faint blue light. He then asked Jessica for more guidance, and she taught him how to fill the alchemy inventory with his system energy.

After adding 10,000 points of energy, dropping his blood on the glowing pebble, and putting the ingredient into the alchemy inventory, Felix pressed the 'Process' button.

*DING*

The menu played an animation as usual. Flames ignited and burned the glowing pebble. Then, it exploded, shattering the stone into five pieces. However, the broken stones soon absorbed the flame and increased in mass, growing tenfold.

The cauldron in the animation spat out five blue rocks, which entered his inventory automatically.

*DING*

<The system has refined five Spirit Stones.>

"…"

A Spirit Stone multiplied into five.

What kind of sorcery is this?

Felix wryly smiled, addicted to the taste of alchemy.

"Hey, isn't this fun?"