The memories confirmed it. While Lin Yun was the Third Young Master of a powerful clan, his father, Lin Canghai, was a firm believer in hardship building character. His allowance was meager, designed to force him to rely on his own efforts in the academy.
The original Lin Yun, lacking talent and motivation, had simply accepted his pauper status.
So, he was the third young master of a prominent clan, living in a privileged lakeside courtyard... but he couldn't afford a decent birthday gift for his own grandfather. The irony was not lost on him.
"Should we ask Second Miss about this?" Yu Tao'er asked cautiously. She didn't want her young master to lose face when the time came.
Asking his sister? Lin Yun didn't think it was a good idea.
Suddenly, he thought of something.
"Don't worry about the gift, Tao'er. I'll handle this." Lin Yun said and continued to eat his meal.
His thoughts immediately flew to the two treasures the system had given him: the recipes for the Basic Body Tempering Pill and the Basic Qi Gathering Pill.
The Lin Clan's primary business was alchemy. They owned numerous pill shops across the city and supplied many smaller sects and academies. Pill recipes were their lifeblood, their most guarded secrets. Even a slight improvement in efficiency or potency could mean massive profits and a significant edge over competitor clans.
The system's recipes were different from the standard ones taught at the academy. They felt optimized. Cleaner. More efficient. In the game, developer-provided recipes were always the most cost-effective and reliable. He had to believe the same principle applied here.
If these recipes truly are superior, he thought, a spark of excitement igniting within him, I could refine pills of a higher grade. I could sell them. Not only would it solve my money problems, but it might even impress my frugal father enough to increase my allowance.
Finishing his meal, he thanked Tao'er and retreated to his bedroom. It was a simple room with a bed, a desk, and a small bookshelf. The only luxury was the window that offered a sliver of a view of the moonlit lake.
He sat cross-legged on the bed, the soft mattress yielding beneath him. Closing his eyes, he willed the system interface to appear.
The familiar golden screen materialized in his mind's eye, its clean lines and digital fonts a comforting piece of home in this strange world.
[User: Lin Yun]
[Level: 1]
[Age: 16]
[Cultivation Base: 2nd Level of the Qi Condensation Realm]
He focused on the cultivation base. Memories informed him that the Qi Condensation Realm was the foundational stage, focused on drawing spiritual energy into the body and condensing it within the dantian.
The second level was... pathetically low for a disciple of the Profound Sky Academy, especially for a scion of the Lin Clan. The original owner had truly been negligent.
His gaze then fell on the experience bar beneath his level. [EXP: 0/1000]
A thousand experience points to reach Level 2. He delved into his decade of gaming knowledge, recalling the precise mechanics of Alchemy to Immortality.
Refining a pill successfully granted EXP. But the amount wasn't fixed. It depended on the grade of the pill produced.
Low-grade pill: +2 EXP
Middle-grade pill: +5 EXP
High-grade pill: +10 EXP
Perfect-grade pill: +25 EXP
He then mentally calculated the potential of the herb bundles in his inventory. Each bundle, according to game logic, contained enough raw material for approximately one hundred batches of the most basic pill.
So, if he used both bundles—one for Body Tempering Pills, one for Qi Gathering Pills—and assuming he could only produce the lowest grade pills every time...
100 batches x 2 EXP = 200 EXP per pill type.
Total from pills: 400 EXP.
Plus the 100 EXP from completing the two missions...
That's only 500 EXP.
He would still be 500 experience points short of leveling up. And that was assuming a one hundred percent success rate with low-grade products.
A grim reality settled in. The grind was going to be even more arduous than he'd initially thought. He couldn't just spam low-quality pills; he needed to aim for higher grades to maximize his EXP gain and make the most of his limited starting resources.
First things first, he thought. I need a cauldron.
He navigated away from his status screen and into the [Shop] tab.
The interface shifted, presenting a clean, grid-based menu. It was instantly familiar—the beginner's shop from the game's early stages. It offered only the most basic necessities.
His eyes scanned the available items:
[Beginner's Iron Cauldron] - 10 Low-Grade Spirit Stones
Description: A simple, sturdy cauldron for aspiring alchemists. Poor heat conductivity. Low success rate modifier.
[Low-grade Spirit Herb Set (Random)] - 5 Low-Grade Spirit Stones
Description: A random assortment of common low-grade herbs.
[Basic Fire Crystal (x5)] - 2 Low-Grade Spirit Stones
Description: Provides a stable, low-temperature flame for concoction. Each crystal lasts for one session.
[Qi Gathering Pill Recipe (Standard)] - 50 Low-Grade Spirit Stones
Description: The most common recipe for a Qi Gathering Pill.
Lin Yun's lips curled into a slight smile. The system was even selling the standard recipe, the inferior one everyone else used. His own system-given recipe was priceless by comparison.
He had 100 Spirit Stones. The cauldron was an essential investment. He couldn't very well go back to the academy's public alchemy rooms after just blowing one up. That would draw far too much attention.
He focused on the [Beginner's Iron Cauldron] and selected Purchase.
A soft chime sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Purchase successful. 10 Low-Grade Spirit Stones deducted.]
[Remaining Balance: 90 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.]
In his inventory grid, the icon for the spirit stones now showed [x90], and a new icon appeared next to it: a simple, slightly rusty-looking iron cauldron.
He then looked at the [Basic Fire Crystal] pack. He would need a heat source. The academy rooms had built-in flame formations, but for private practice, most disciples used fire crystals or their own spiritual fire if they were advanced enough. He was not.
He purchased one pack of five crystals for 2 stones.
[Remaining Balance: 88 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.]
He was already down to 88 stones. Alchemy was an expensive profession. This truly was a pay-to-win game, but here, the currency was real, and his funds were vanishingly small.
He needed to make every single stone count. Every herb, every crystal, had to be utilized to its maximum potential…