Chapter 009

Chapter 009

The previous restorative agent had already been used on Egg No. 1, and it was only the third day now.

Restorative agents could be used once every seven days, so it was still too early for the next dose.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at the pale green vial containing a thumb-sized restorative agent. He wanted to open it and study it, but the previous dose had already been absorbed into the nutrient solution. He could detect a faint trace of its components from the eggshell. However, this was far from enough to determine the types and proportions of the herbs used.

Still, medicinal agents tend to lose their efficacy more easily than pills, so he decided to wait until he needed it in a few days before opening it for further study.

He picked up one of the vials, feeling its coolness. The color seemed slightly murkier than the last one?

At that moment, the system's voice sounded in his mind: "Congratulations, Host! You have completed the task of obtaining one restorative agent within seven days. Your reward has been deposited into your system inventory. Please check it. Next, I will assign you a long-term task: successfully hatch all the eggs within three months. Completion criteria are as follows: if any egg fails to hatch, the task will fail immediately. Failure will result in a deduction of 10,000 mission points."

Bai Xiaoyu interrupted the system, "Wait, what are these mission points you mentioned?"

The system had never mentioned anything about points before, leaving him utterly confused.

System: "Your previous points were negative one million, which caused the point system to be disabled. Naturally, there was no notification. You can check your personal profile; the darkened points bar under your avatar has reappeared."

Bai Xiaoyu followed the instructions and saw his current points balance of negative nine hundred ninety thousand. He fell silent.

"System, aren't you going to explain why my points are suddenly negative nine hundred ninety thousand?"

System: "Because you were killed previously, the system spent one million points to repair your body. Completing two side quests earned you five thousand points each. Please work hard to complete the tasks assigned by the system. Numerous points and rewards await you. When your points return to positive, the point store will be unlocked."

Bai Xiaoyu had already guessed that the disappearance of the fatal wound on the original host's chest was related to the system. Now it seemed confirmed. Spending one million points to save his life was worth it. Hearing about the point store piqued his interest. "Point store? Is it a place where items are exchanged using points as currency?"

System: "Exactly. The host can use points to exchange for items in the store. As long as you have enough points, the store is always open for you."

Bai Xiaoyu: "What kind of items are there? Can I take a look?"

System: "Currently, your points are insufficient, so the store interface cannot be opened. Please work hard on your tasks. Continuing with the task completion details: you currently have eighteen eggs incubating. Successfully hatching all of them will earn you fifty thousand points. Additional points will be awarded for each healthy and well-qualified offspring. A friendly reminder: the probability of hatching healthy eggs from your current eighteen eggs is zero, and they are likely to fail. Please be cautious."

Bai Xiaoyu had a rough idea of the condition of each egg after touching them individually.

He waved his hand to dismiss the system and opened the system inventory. Among the ten slots, two were dark, one contained a scroll, and now there was an additional small package.

He took it out, and the small package suddenly became heavy and large. He quickly put it down and opened it.

Inside was a transparent circular backpack with a seemingly transparent layer underneath.

What was this?

He found the usage guide attached to the backpack and was both amused and bewildered.

It turned out to be an egg carrier, with the transparent layers underneath designed to hold nutrient solution. People these days really cared about the mental health of their eggs, designing such specialized carriers.

Some special eggs needed to be carried around for a stroll; otherwise, they would become depressed?

Bai Xiaoyu: "???"

He had learned something new.

Bai Xiaoyu carefully stored the egg carrier, hoping that his eggs would all be well-behaved and mentally healthy, never needing such a device.

Never ever!

After putting it away, he went to check on the eggs again, touching each one from start to finish.

Since taking over the care of these eggs, it had been three days.

Almost all the eggs had visibly grown larger. Originally arranged by size, some smaller eggs had now surpassed those that were originally larger.

Bai Xiaoyu still found it amazing how these eggs developed like they were inside a mother's womb, rapidly growing during the final three months like a fetus.

He withdrew his mental energy from the eggs, realizing that the original host's week-long incubation had indeed damaged the eggs' foundation.

Finally, his gaze fell on the nutrient solution flooding the eggs beneath the energy shield.

Just as he was about to extract some, he realized he lacked the necessary tools. So, he searched the Star Network and found a store to customize the required equipment. The advanced technology of the interstellar era was impressive; the order was processed and shipped within half a day. Even shipping from a neighboring planet only took three hours.

When Bai Xiaoyu received the delivery, he was stunned. In the pre-apocalyptic era, customizing such equipment would have taken a cultivator specializing in alchemy three months to complete.

He looked at the half-person-tall alchemy furnace, which resembled the one he had used extensively before the apocalypse. Previously, he had to control the fire manually, but now, it used energy boxes as a power source, making it easy to operate. The temperature could be adjusted precisely, even to decimal places.

Bai Xiaoyu was delighted with the alchemy furnace, considering it a treasure. However, it came at a high cost. After buying the energy boxes and restorative agents, he had 29,882.5 credits left. He repaid Yu Xi 6,000 credits, and the furnace along with some miscellaneous items cost 20,000 credits, leaving him with 3,988.5 credits.

Spending money wisely, he didn't feel any regret.

After fiddling with it for a while, Bai Xiaoyu began studying the extracted nutrient solution.

This was much easier than studying pills. Soon, he identified most of the recognizable herbal components. He then studied the scroll provided by the system, which contained information on basic herbs but lacked the formulas and methods for their preparation.

The types of herbs used in basic nutrient solutions were public knowledge, but ordinary people couldn't produce them due to equipment and technical limitations. Each piece of equipment needed for processing herbs required extremely high precision. With over a hundred different herbs, one would need over a hundred pieces of equipment working simultaneously, controlled by a system to blend the liquids.

If basic nutrient solutions were this complicated, imagine the complexity of advanced ones with over three hundred herbs.

Thus, only major organizations could afford such operations. During the production process, a master alchemist and several other alchemists would collaborate, programming each piece of equipment for the system to execute.

Understanding the interstellar alchemy process, Bai Xiaoyu was once again amazed by the technological advancement. These days, alchemists also needed to learn programming.

However, he preferred manual methods. As an alchemist, Bai Xiaoyu believed that using machines robbed the process of its soul. Indeed, some advanced medicinal agents still required manual production, as not everything could be mechanized. But for over a hundred herbs, the alchemist must have S-level mental strength. And even then, the results might not surpass those produced by machines in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

They only produced certain potions that couldn't be made mechanically, and of course, the prices were high. However, the royal family and major clans still used manually produced nutrient solutions for their own children.

After conducting his research, Bai Xiaoyu wanted to start making potions but found he had no herbs.

He went online again and discovered that many pharmacies sold herbs at high prices. It seemed their primary customers were potion companies, with each type of herb starting at five hundred units.

Even if each unit was not expensive—only three to five credits—the cumulative cost was significant.

He tried negotiating with the store's AI robot to get one or two herbs of each type, but the robot refused mercilessly.

Bai Xiaoyu looked at his balance and sighed.

Outside Yang's chain herbal store, a colorful little tiger drooped its ears and sighed in front of the custom transparent display cabinet. The small, fluffy creature looked incredibly endearing.

Yang Wang noticed the little tiger as it stumbled into the store. She initially thought she had developed an aversion to tiger-type beasts due to the Casanova on Imperial Star. But unexpectedly, just looking at the little tiger made her fingers itch, even wanting to transform into a cheetah to help groom the sighing fluff ball.

As the store owner, she had set tourists to be invisible to her, so the little tiger couldn't see her.

Just as the little one was about to leave, Yang Wang spoke up: "Little one, you're looking for herbs for nutrient solutions, right? If you need them for learning, I suggest visiting the official potion website. They have specialized tutorials where all potions resemble real ones by 99%. You don't need to buy them; identifying them is enough without wasting credits."

Bai Xiaoyu saw a life-sized cheetah appear beside him and quickly realized he needed to use a soft, childlike voice: "Thanks for the advice, but I really need these herbs."

The cheetah was surprised: "Are you planning to make potions?"

Yang Wang had done something similar when she was young, ruining many herbs in the process. She understood the rebelliousness of younglings, especially beast-type ones, who wouldn't give up until they tried.

With her mental strength only at A-level, she hadn't reached the standard for potion-making. Could this little one have S-level mental strength?

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, and Yang Wang didn't ask further.

Soon, Bai Xiaoyu saw the cheetah circling him, with what seemed like green light flickering in its eyes. When he looked puzzled, the cheetah said, "How about this: let me squeeze your paw, and I'll sell you three units of each herb. Deal?"

By selling his paw's charm, Bai Xiaoyu spent three thousand credits on three sets of nutrient solution herbs and some other necessary herbs.

Yang's pharmacy was a chain, and orders were shipped from nearby stores. This particular edge star happened to have one, and despite the odd quantity, the order was dispatched promptly.

Within half an hour of placing the order, Bai Xiaoyu received the delivery from a robot.

Then he began making potions.

Naturally, he first combined the herbs he and his assistant had collected from the forest with those he had just bought, enough to make a potion with the Cleansing Root.

When Yu Xi returned, his nose twitched, leading him straight to Bai Xiaoyu's room, where he squatted outside, scratching his head.

Suddenly, two fluffy animal ears sprouted atop his head.

At the same time, a black egg in the forest of the breeding facility gently shook, seemingly trying to identify something.

Soon, the black egg determined a direction and started hopping towards it.