CH 76

Chapter 76: Strength Enhancement Potion

"We'll be waiting. Come if you dare," Xu Kaiyang raised his middle finger at the opponents but didn't chase after them.

The intense battle ended just like that, without causing irreparable losses. Xiao Qingyang finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the others felt the same sense of relief.

"You arrived just in time; otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to hold on," Li Ying said with lingering fear.

Even though the three of them were powerful ability users, they couldn't possibly win against the six opponents in combat. It was fortunate that their teammates arrived in time. Truly, fortune favors the bold.

"Good job, bro!" Xu Kaiyang happily patted Lin Weiran's shoulder and said with a smile, completely devoid of any sense of a close call, carefree as ever.

"Alright, let's go quickly. It's not safe here," Lin Weiran said helplessly.

They had encountered two teams in just one day. They were lucky this time, but they couldn't count on luck for the next encounter. They needed to gather more resources and make their team stronger to face the dangers ahead.

Fortunately, they were all together now, so they didn't have to worry about being eliminated individually.

Team 619 had been deployed to the forest early, so their position was relatively far from the endpoint. But they weren't in a hurry to head towards the endpoint; after all, they still had a month's time. 

After discussing among themselves, they decided to walk along the direction of the river, making it easier to find food and clean it up. They would also camp by the river at night and decide on the next route based on the assigned task tomorrow.

"Qingyang, Xiaotian, you have no idea how we managed to get through the day without you. We didn't eat anything the whole day. If it weren't for having a few more people, how could they have defeated us?" Xu Kaiyang rushed up to sell his misery as soon as he saw Xiao Qingyang and Gu Xiaotian.

Among the team, only these two knew how to cook. As a result, they had been separated from the team for a day and a half without eating anything. They were starving to the point where their front chest was touching their back, but fortunately, they were ability users and could withstand hunger.

"You haven't eaten anything the whole day?" Xiao Qingyang was surprised. He couldn't understand how, in such a resource-rich forest, as long as they weren't picky eaters, they could easily find something to eat. How could they go hungry for a whole day?

"Yeah, we didn't know what was edible. Xiaotian used to prepare our meals, and we didn't recognize the raw ingredients. We didn't dare to pick fruits randomly and eat them," Xu Kaiyang couldn't help but shed tears when he mentioned this.

Xiao Qingyang: …

"Alright then, for the next few days, you should learn more about edible fruits and wild vegetables so that you don't end up separated again and hungry," Xiao Qingyang looked at Xu Kaiyang and his friends with great sympathy.

Starting from noon, whenever it was time to search for food, Xiao Qingyang and Gu Xiaotian would take Xu Kaiyang and his friends along and teach them how to find and identify edible fruits and wild vegetables.

After having several meals of wild vegetables and fruits, Lin Weiran and the others decided to hunt a few small animals to improve everyone's diet.

So when Xiao Qingyang and the others returned, they saw several fresh wild chickens and rabbits lying on the ground, still twitching. They were instantly delighted and exclaimed, "Did you catch these?"

With the addition of wild chickens and rabbits, the level of luxury in their lunch immediately increased by several notches.

Although Gu Xiaotian's repertoire of dishes was limited at the moment, with Xiao Qingyang as a mobile recipe book, they managed to prepare a table full of delicious and sumptuous dishes.

Of course, this time Xiao Qingyang also joined in the cooking because it was simply inhumane to let Gu Xiaotian alone cook for ten people.

"My cooking skills are not as good as Xiaotian's. Please bear with it," Xiao Qingyang said somewhat embarrassed.

He loved eating delicious food and knew many recipes, but his culinary skills were lacking. Although the dishes he prepared were palatable, they could only be considered passable.

However, this was all relative to Xiao Qingyang. For others who had been accustomed to drinking nutritional supplements since childhood and could only afford a natural meal occasionally, the food he cooked was already incredibly delicious.

"I'm so happy. I can finally eat the dishes cooked by Xiaotian and Qingyang again. I'm so hungry that I could finish this whole table of food," Xu Kaiyang looked at all the dishes with gleaming eyes.

"I wish this journey of training would never end," Li Ying also exclaimed, as it meant he could eat such delicious meals every day.

Although Gao Lingqi and the others had already been amazed by Gu Xiaotian's cooking the day before, they were once again stunned when they tasted the dishes with both meat and vegetables. The deliciousness was so overwhelming that they wished they could bite off their own tongues.

As a result, the already lively mealtime became even livelier, especially among the ability users and students specializing in mecha. They no longer cared about their image and started grabbing the dishes without reservation.

In the end, all fifteen dishes and two soups were completely devoured, not a single bit was left. Even Xu Kaiyang and his friends felt a bit unsatisfied. If there were more dishes in front of them, they could probably eat even more.

"This is so delicious. I don't even want to move," Xu Kaiyang rubbed his belly and lay motionless on the ground.

The others were also not in a good state and seemed to have forgotten that they were still in training.

Fortunately, Captain Lin Weiran was still clear-headed. He kicked the person lying on the ground and said, "It's time to go. If we don't leave now, with your current state, encountering other teams will just be like handing them our heads."

"If you get eliminated like this, you won't be able to taste the delicious food cooked by Qingyang and Xiaotian anymore," Shen Yu, who understood the key point, said with a smile.

As expected, as soon as these words were spoken, the previously lazy and unwilling people immediately got up from the ground with high spirits, leaving Lin Weiran and the others speechless.

Indeed, everyone had a hidden foodie side, and the power and potential of foodies were enormous, Xiao Qingyang thought to himself.

The group continued walking upstream along the river without encountering any further danger.

"Just walking like this won't do. Since no tasks have been assigned yet and we haven't encountered anyone else, why don't we find a suitable place to rest and continue forward tomorrow when the tasks are given? This way, we'll have a goal, and everyone can have a longer rest time, which will improve our condition tomorrow," Liu Jiaming suggested.

His proposal was immediately agreed upon by all the team members. After walking for about half an hour, they found a defensible and suitable place for camping, so they decided not to proceed further.

"Let's rest here then," Lin Weiran said to everyone.

It was still three to four hours before nightfall, and everyone was not in a hurry to set up camp. After all, no one knew what would happen later. If they encountered danger, they could immediately hit the road without having to pack up the tents or abandon them.

"We'll patrol the surroundings," Xu Kaiyang said to everyone.

"Good, be careful, and come back immediately if you encounter any danger," Lin Weiran reminded.

Xu Kaiyang and the others went on patrol, while the rest of the team stayed behind and rested.

Along the way, Xiao Qingyang had collected quite a few spirit plants, and now he had some time to refine more potions for future use.

So while some went on patrol and others refined potions, the remaining people guarded around Xiao Qingyang, helping him stay alert.

From the initial astonishment when they first saw Xiao Qingyang refining potions in public to now, everyone had grown accustomed to it. Whenever they saw him taking out the equipment for refining potions, they instinctively gathered around him to keep watch and prevent any danger or disturbance while he worked.

Xiao Qingyang currently only knew how to refine healing potions and strength enhancing potions. However, before coming to the Imperial Capital, he had already started attempting to refine a third type of potion—an ability enhancement potion.

As the name suggests, an ability enhancement potion was a potion that could increase one's abilities. It was specifically designed for people with abilities.

When individuals with abilities go out, they usually carry some ability enhancement potions with them. After all, if their abilities were exhausted and they cannot replenish them, the probability of death would be very high in dangerous situations.

With enhancement potions, they can instantly replenish their abilities. Even if it's not a substantial amount, it can buy them valuable time to escape and save their lives.

Therefore, enhancement potions are in high demand on the market.

However, the highest-grade enhancement potions available on the market are typically advanced-level. As for the saint-level potions, they are almost mythical and can only be refined by a few precious master alchemists in the empire. Their potions rarely circulate in the market.

To obtain potions crafted by master alchemists, besides having money, one also needs the right connections.

Of course, refining saint-level potions was still far too early for Xiao Qingyang. It was already commendable that he could refine seamless enhancement potions.

Xiao Qingyang had already conducted numerous experiments with the ability enhancement potions and was nearing completion. A few more experiments and he should be successful.

Since he had time today, he decided to quickly refine the ability enhancement potion so that if they encountered danger later, the individuals with abilities could replenish their powers promptly and enhance their combat effectiveness.

Xiao Qingyang was helpless when it came to enhancing the mechas of the mecha warriors, so he had to consider strengthening the overall strength of the team through other means.

Skillfully, Xiao Qingyang processed various spirit plants one by one and placed them in the equipment to prepare the mixture. These steps took only a few minutes.

Everyone was already accustomed to Xiao Qingyang's speed in refining potions, and they were now preparing to witness the birth of the potion.

Unexpectedly, with a loud bang, the potion that was about to be completed was destroyed. Not only that, but the people present were also affected by the explosion due to their proximity. They all looked disheveled and embarrassed.

Lin Weiran and the others didn't even notice their own condition. They all wore a bewildered expression as they looked at Xiao Qingyang.