Chapter 6

In the silence, everyone except Ji Ran stared at him with wide eyes, as if he were some kind of monster.

"Using the energy inside the meat of magical beasts to enhance oneself... Oh my God, this is... too amazing! I've never heard of such a thing! Those alchemists only use the magic crystals of magical beasts and some special materials to make potions, and they are all incredibly expensive. You can actually use this unwanted meat of magical beasts!" Beck's expression was exaggerated, his mouth wide open, and his hands spread wide.

"From what I feel... the effect of this stewed meat is no worse than ordinary alchemical potions. How long does the effect of this stewed meat last? What are the specific effects?" Uncle Lai was much more composed, immediately thinking about the effects of the stewed meat.

"Hmm... about twelve hours? The effect is to speed up the recovery of physical strength and also slightly increase the physical strength limit. If you exercise during this period, it can provide some additional improvement to your physical strength." Ji Ran thought for a moment and described part of the effect of the stewed meat. He didn't mention that long-term use could slightly improve one's constitution, as the effects mentioned earlier were easier to verify, while the last one would be more difficult to confirm.

Even so, it was enough to surprise several people.

"Although this effect is not particularly strong and is slightly inferior to a single low-level alchemical potion, it has the effects of several alchemical potions! A pot of this meat can match the combined effects of three or four different low-level alchemical potions! It's incredible, this is simply... a revolution! A revolution in alchemy!"

No one doubted Ji Ran's words, as everyone had indeed experienced the effects. The feeling of abundant physical strength was not fake, and there was no other explanation besides the stewed meat. Moreover, Ji Ran had no reason to lie to them, right?

"This is truly amazing, you can achieve the effects of alchemy through cooking... Oh my God, I now desire even more to switch places with you. How wonderful it would be if I came from your village!" Beck exclaimed. There was no way around it; the stewed meat had brought him too much surprise.

"Ji Ran, I must say, your culinary skills are a miracle... Not to mention anything else, just with this, you can become a powerful alchemist. But I still have to remind you, before you have the strength to protect yourself, it's best not to let too many people know about this. You know, almost everyone has a great desire to enhance their own strength... Some of them might do something extreme."

After the surprise, Uncle Lai suddenly looked at Ji Ran with a serious expression and said these words.

Ji Ran naturally understood this. His experience of working from a young age gave him a certain level of understanding of society. This time, he had no choice but to directly bring out the stewed meat... He needed to have some means to be taken seriously by these people, right?

Moreover, this was also a gamble. He bet that these people wouldn't have any other thoughts because of his cooking skills... From the looks of it, the result was quite good.

"Uncle Lai, don't worry. I won't show this skill to just anyone. But you are different. I can tell that you are all good people. Besides, I will be leaving here with you, so consider this as a small reward from me." Ji Ran smiled.

Uncle Lai looked at him for a while and then suddenly laughed, "You are a very interesting kid... Alright, you are now our adventure team's chef! I hope you can make other dishes with the meat of magical beasts in the future. You know, we need more than just physical strength!"

That matter was settled—on the surface, at least. But everyone knew that this new cooking technique using the meat of magical beasts would definitely give Ji Ran a place in this world.

Alchemists in this world are a very powerful profession because they can create all kinds of magical items. Some are skilled at making potions, some at making magical jewelry, and some at enchanting weapons and armor... They are people who can turn the mundane into the extraordinary, and almost no one would refuse to be friends with an alchemist.

However, their reputation is matched by their rarity. Becoming an alchemist requires talent, but unfortunately, there are very few people with this talent. Of course, this is also related to the strict and secretive inheritance of alchemists—just having talent is not enough; you also need to find a teacher willing to teach you. Then, you need a lot of money, a lot of money! Otherwise, you can't afford the huge expenses required for alchemical experiments...

Of course, alchemy has many schools, and after years of development, it has now largely stabilized. Ji Ran's cooking skills, strictly speaking, can also be considered a form of alchemy, and it is a form of alchemy that has never appeared before!

The impact of this skill on the alchemical world is unpredictable.

After eating, the group naturally rested inside the cave and chatted.

Before dark, Lai and the others collected some dry branches and dry grass outside, preparing a few beds for the others. Although very simple, adventurers are used to roughing it, and these conditions were already quite good.

Although everyone had been traveling all day, due to the stewed meat, they were still very energetic and couldn't fall asleep immediately. Lai then began to tell stories of his past adventures, and everyone listened with great interest—except for Beck. That guy always tried to find loopholes in Lai's stories, which made Lai glare at him several times.

As for Ji Ran, while listening to the stories, he searched through the remaining bones of the Red-Tailed Fire Wolf for useful items.

Yes, he wanted to make a magical item. Using these scraps to make something was a bit of a waste of the name "magical item." In the game, items made from these materials were basically used to increase skill proficiency... They were items to be sold to the store, far inferior to magical items made from rare materials.

But even so, if he could make one now, it would be a significant help to his strength. After all, his level was too low. At level 18, it was difficult to survive in a zone with level 30 monsters, even with his above-level sword skills.

The fur of the Red-Tailed Fire Wolf was definitely useful, but it was already Lai's team's loot, and he couldn't ask for it. So, the remaining bones were a good choice.

For example, he found two usable teeth of the Red-Tailed Fire Wolf—these two teeth contained a bit of rare magical energy and some of the Red-Tailed Fire Wolf's soul. Lai and the others didn't seem to care much about this, perhaps only he could see its uniqueness?

While thinking, Ji Ran took out the two teeth and then added some small stones containing a bit of energy that he had collected over the past two days, along with some hair from a magical beast he had hunted, and slowly combined them.

His actions did not attract the attention of the others—until he finally used the true fire within his body to refine these materials.

Yes, he had true fire within his body. This was a special ability of the sect he joined in the Xianxia game "Xian Xian Xiao Yao"—refining items.

In that game, he was a lucky one, joining a hidden sect. There were only two people in this sect—him and his master, or rather, one player and one NPC. His master was incredibly famous, none other than the well-known Duobao Daoist!

Of course, this game had an original background, so this Duobao Daoist was not the one from the "Investiture of the Gods." However, Duobao Daoist's self-created Duobao Sect was also quite powerful. His catchphrase was that every tool used by cultivators is a magical item!

So, in "Xian Xian Xiao Yao," Ji Ran became a freak with a body full of magical items. Those who faced him were often overwhelmed by the overwhelming attacks of magical items—he even had an additional power boost when using magical items!

But there was a price, which was that he couldn't learn other sword techniques or spells. In other words, all his skills relied on magical items. But such an oddity was also somewhat famous in the game—his strength was one aspect, and the other was that he always had all kinds of strange magical items for sale, and he could even customize them to some extent!

Thus, the effort he put into refining items was self-evident. So, using a few simple materials to make a simple magical item was a piece of cake for him.

The true fire within his body was refined by the Duobao Sect's cultivation method. Now, with his low level, the true fire couldn't refine too high-level materials, but something like wolf teeth was no problem.

As soon as he started refining, he mobilized the elemental energy—i.e., magical energy—which naturally caught the attention of the others. Especially the young girl mage Lydia, who looked at Ji Ran as if he were a monster.

"Big Brother Ji Ran, are you... using alchemy?" Lydia stared at Ji Ran, looking at the faint firelight in his hand and the wolf teeth and stones inside it.

Ji Ran looked up and smiled, "I don't know if this is alchemy... It's just a small trick taught by the elders in my village."