Chapter 41: System Shop

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[Congratulations, you have successfully created three Basic Recovery Pills.]

[You have gained 5 QI]

[You have gained 5 QI]

[You have gained 5 QI]

"..."

"..."

For a moment, silence reigned in the room.

The white mouse, who had been mustering courage to face the human head-on, had no idea what was happening.

The human, who had been ready to do unspeakable things to it, was now standing still, staring blankly ahead as if watching something.

The mouse didn't understand why this was happening but felt like it had just dodged a bullet.

On the other hand, Ethan was far from relieved.

The appearance of the system screen in front of him had triggered a mix of conflicting emotions.

Joy, anger, sadness, and resignation.

Ethan was experiencing all these emotions at once, which was why he stood frozen in front of the system screen.

Then, as if a pressure cooker had finally started hissing loudly, releasing all the accumulated pressure, he lost strength in his legs and almost collapsed to the ground with a blank stare.

"Ten..." he murmured quietly.

"Ten copper coins wasted," he said again, this time with a slightly louder tone.

Raising his head a bit to address the cage, he said:

"You, little bastard, rest assured I will get every single copper coin I spent on you back."

He spoke, casting a murderous glare at the white mouse.

The mouse, which had just sighed in relief, thinking it was safe, couldn't help but look at Ethan with an expression that seemed to say,

"Bro, what the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Bai Yu, who had been rudely awakened from Ethan's inner turmoil, saw the scene and couldn't help but question Ethan's sanity.

"What kind of person have I ended up with?"

And so, while the mouse and Bai Yu reflected on their life choices, Ethan, who was in mourning, finally recovered.

Ethan noticed that the system messages didn't end there.

Looking a bit further down, he saw something that piqued his curiosity.

[You have gained a System Point]

[You have gained a System Point]

[You have gained a System Point]

[Congratulations, you have unlocked a new item in the shop]

Seeing these system notifications, Ethan couldn't help but be surprised.

Ever since he had received the system, Ethan had been wondering what these system points were. S~eaʀᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

At first, he thought they were like attribute points for boosting his stats, but he soon had to reconsider this assumption.

Aside from the fact that it didn't make sense to call system points attribute points, there was the issue of the shop.

Ethan didn't know why the shop had been empty, but he wondered how he could obtain the system items.

Clearly, some sort of currency was needed for it, and the only thing that seemed close to it were the system points.

Of course, he could only make guesses, as he didn't have either the system points or the shop items to confirm any of them.

Not having anyone to ask about the various functionalities of the system, he set this issue aside, telling himself he would learn with time.

And indeed, that was how it went.

Now seeing that not only had he gained system points but also unlocked an item in the shop, he was eager to learn more about it.

He clicked on the shop option, and a screen opened in front of him.

This time, however, the screen didn't show the same message as last time but instead displayed a list, with only one section filled.

At the top of the shop screen, there was a small box labeled: [Sp: 3]

"So they really are used to buy things in the shop," he thought, confirming his assumption.

He then directed his attention to the only item present in the shop.

[Recipe for Basic Recovery Pill] (low grade)

Reading it, Ethan couldn't help but frown.

"But I already have the recipe, so why is it listed here?" he wondered.

It didn't make sense for the system to sell something Ethan already had, so he was confused.

In fact, after receiving his two-star apprentice badge, the receptionist had also given him the recipe for the Basic Recovery Pill.

Normally, the recipe was only given after someone had completed the three-star level and demonstrated readiness to start preparing to become an alchemist apprentice.

This was done to allow those who didn't have the resources to procure a recipe for the pills to still have a chance to take the exam.

After all, the requirement to pass was to create at least three level-one low-grade pills, and without the recipe for a pill, one would have no way to practice.

Thus, the Pavilion, like any other organization of its kind, decided to provide a recipe for recovery pills.

This pill was quite common, and its recipe wasn't hard to find in the market.

The Pavilion knew it wouldn't lose anything by providing this recipe, so they did it willingly.

And it made sense, considering that someone without any talent in alchemy wouldn't have much chance of successfully creating it, and even if someone did, they would need a license to sell the pills, and without the license, selling them would only be illegal.

But selling a low-grade pill illegally had more cons than pros, so no one bothered to do so.

Ethan had been an exception to the rule, only because he had demonstrated a deep basic knowledge of alchemy, so the expert alchemist who had overseen the exam requested that the recipe be given to Ethan in advance.

He had a feeling it wouldn't take long for Ethan to take the exam to become an alchemist apprentice.

Although he was still uncertain why the recipe appeared here, he decided to see what it was about.

He was certain that the system wouldn't try to sell him recipes he already knew.

Clicking on the recipe, the shop screen changed, now showing the information about the recipe.

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[----------------------------------

[Basic Recovery Pill Recipe]

Level: 1

Grade: Low

Description: A pill capable of restoring fatigue after intense physical exertion and accelerating the healing of minor superficial wounds.

The purity of this pill cannot exceed 45%.

[Upgrade] (10 Sp)

-----------------------------------]

.

At first glance, everything seemed normal, but as Ethan finished reading the information on the screen, he couldn't help but be a little surprised.

'Upgrade?'

Seeing that there was an option to improve the recipe, Ethan quickly drew some conclusions.

"So the system isn't selling me the recipe, but rather giving me the chance to improve it," Ethan thought, somewhat excited.

This was indeed good news.

Like all pills, the Basic Recovery Pill had several versions.

The recipe he had received was the basic low-grade recipe, which only allowed him to create pills with a not very high purity.

Just as the system stated, the purity of the pill created from the recipe he currently had couldn't go much beyond 25%, classifying it at the lowest possible grade.

But obviously, more experienced alchemists had improved the recipe, allowing for better results.

Of course, these improved recipes were harder to come by compared to the low-grade recipe.

So seeing that he had the opportunity to upgrade the recipe to the next grade was very good news for him.

Just thinking about how much money he could make selling medium-grade level-1 pills, or even better, high-grade ones, excited him.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

Here's today's chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or errors to report, you know where to do it.

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