Chapter 29

Li Huolin was now truly heartbroken. Due to the peculiar nature of his character, all the normal MMORPG experiences he had were useless, causing him to constantly make low-level mistakes. This time, he had downed over 300 medium healing potions, and that was a lot of money. He thought that if he waited until his attributes returned to normal before drinking them, he could probably level up by ten or more levels.

Earning money for his character was so difficult; he couldn't kill monsters to get money, couldn't do quests to earn money, and without money, he couldn't level up. It was truly a tough situation. Li Huolin felt for the first time that his character was just causing him trouble.

"Hmm, this player looks seriously injured." Suddenly, a voice interrupted Li Huolin, who was lost in endless regret.

Li Huolin looked up and saw an NPC, an old man who looked to be over seventy, with a face full of white beard and a slightly wrinkled hand holding him. The NPC's name was Ed Stark.

"What?" Li Huolin was taken aback. He was just wandering around the residential area of the main city, which was sparsely populated. Could this random wandering trigger a hidden quest? Were hidden quests so cheap?

"I see you are seriously injured. As a physician, I cannot stand by and watch someone who can be saved die in front of me." Old Ed said earnestly, "Come, follow me, I will heal you."

"Ah, another few hundred reputation points..." Li Huolin sighed. He could just take the quest and then abandon it, still getting a few hundred reputation points. Might as well go.

Ed's house was a slightly dilapidated European-style small building next door, with two floors. The ground floor was the living room, and the upper floor was probably where he slept. The room was a bit messy, mainly filled with various herbs and alchemy tools, with no other items, not even more than three chairs.

Ed asked Li Huolin to sit down, then went to the alchemy table and fiddled with it a bit. Li Huolin, who hadn't learned alchemy, had no idea what he was doing. Soon, Ed came back with a bowl of green potion. Li Huolin was very curious about this potion because it was in a bowl, not a bottle.

"Here, drink this. It should heal your injuries." Ed said with a smile.

Li Huolin took the bowl and looked at it.

Advanced Life Spring Potion (Quest): Restores 5% of health per second for 25 seconds. Being attacked will interrupt the healing effect. Note: This is a quest item. Please drink it as soon as possible. It will disappear in 10 minutes.

"Damn, it's a potion that heals by percentage. If I had this, I wouldn't need to drink so many bottles." Li Huolin originally came to get a few hundred reputation points but didn't expect to have such good luck.

"Drink it, child." Old Ed said with a smile, "It's not bitter."

"Old man, do you have more of this potion?" Li Huolin asked quickly.

"Huh?" Old Ed was taken aback, "We'll talk about the potion later. Drink this first, you are seriously injured."

Li Huolin was indeed seriously injured. He only had about 60 health points left, less than 3% of his total health.

"No, we need to talk about it now. Old man, this potion looks like it's filled with poison. One sip and I'll be dead." Li Huolin said seriously. At his current health, one sip would indeed send him to the respawn point.

"Impossible!" Old Ed was furious, "I've been making Life Spring Potions for over thirty years. There's no way I could make a bad one. Besides, none of the ingredients in the Life Spring Potion are poisonous. How could it be toxic? Young man, you're not an alchemist, so don't talk nonsense."

"Oh? You said it. Are you willing to take responsibility for your words?" Li Huolin said with a smile.

"Of course!" Old Ed, hearing someone doubt his potion, was so angry that his beard stood up, "You drink it, and if anything happens, I'll take responsibility."

"Oh, how will you take responsibility?" Li Huolin asked with a smile, "How about this, if I die after drinking it, you give me a few hundred bottles of this potion."

"A few hundred bottles?" Old Ed almost spat blood, "Do you know how many ingredients are needed for one bottle? Silverleaf, Light Grass, Blue Resin..."

"Okay, okay, don't talk about ingredients. I'm not an alchemist, I don't understand. You mean you can't do it?" Li Huolin interrupted.

"If you die after drinking it, I'll give you the formula." Old Ed said, waving his hand.

"Formula?" Li Huolin frowned. He couldn't practice secondary professions, so what use was a formula? "Is there any other option? I don't want the formula."

"You! You really make me angry." Old Ed was truly furious. His Life Spring Potion was an exclusive formula, not available anywhere else. If he shouted out, this formula could probably exchange for a city. After all, it was wartime, and his Life Spring Potion was crucial for treating wounded soldiers. But this little player didn't want it, which was truly infuriating.

"Anyway, my Life Spring Potion is not poisonous. Drink it, and your injuries will heal. After that, you can leave. I won't bother with you anymore." Old Ed said, waving his hand in anger.

"That's what you said. I'm drinking it, I really am." Li Huolin said, lifting the bowl.

"Drink it, don't worry, it won't kill you." Old Ed waved his hand.

So, Li Huolin poured the potion into his mouth. Indeed, a status icon appeared in his negative status bar. Before he could even look, his vision turned gray, and he collapsed, dead.

"What? This is impossible!" Old Ed exclaimed, quickly recalling his potion-making process. He hadn't made any mistakes. He had been making Life Spring Potions for over thirty years, and he had made at least tens of thousands of bottles. How could there be a problem?

Just as he was thinking, the player's voice came from the door.

"Everyone, come and see. There's a quack here who said his potion could heal my injuries, but one bowl and I was dead. He cost me so much experience. This is no different from murder. Everyone, come and judge."

"Damn." Old Ed couldn't help but curse, running to the door. It was indeed the player Li Huolin, "You... You're talking nonsense. Who is a quack?"

"Isn't it true? You saw it yourself. I drank your potion and died. What else can you say? I told you it was poison, but you didn't believe me." Li Huolin said with a righteous face.

"This... This..." Old Ed didn't know what to say. His potion was indeed fine, but Li Huolin had died after drinking it, which was a fact, "Come inside, let me see what went wrong."

Without a word, Old Ed pulled Li Huolin into his house and immediately ran to his alchemy table to start researching. Soon, he made another potion.

"Try this, it's definitely fine." Old Ed said, holding the potion bottle. This time, it wasn't a bowl but a crystal bottle.

Li Huolin looked at it:

Super Life Spring Potion (Quest): Restores 10% of health per second for 12 seconds. Being attacked will interrupt the healing effect. Note: This is a quest item. Please drink it as soon as possible. It will disappear in 10 minutes.

The potion was much clearer than the previous one, with a slight purple light passing through the middle, making it look very beautiful in the crystal bottle.

"This... This potion..." Li Huolin looked surprised.

"Yes, this is the highly sought-after Super Life Spring Potion." Old Ed said proudly, "I developed this potion after reaching Master Alchemist. It can quickly heal all injuries, no matter how severe. In just 10 seconds, you'll be fully healed."

"I mean, this potion looks even more toxic than the last one." Li Huolin interrupted Old Ed's self-praise.

"Toxic? Impossible. This potion contains the sap of the World Tree, the strongest life component in the entire continent. It's absolutely not toxic." Old Ed said immediately, "Drink it quickly."

"Why should I drink it? You already poisoned me once. Now, I'm fully healed after respawning. Why do I need to drink this healing potion?" Li Huolin said, looking at Old Ed, "Are you saying that healing my injuries means poisoning me to death and then healing me?"

"Nonsense." Old Ed's beard stood up again, "I just want to prove that my potion is not toxic. You must have eaten something else that caused your death, not my potion!"

"Hey, you still won't admit it. Look, I just respawned, and I'm fully healed. You see that, right?" Li Huolin asked.

"Yes!" Old Ed nodded.

"Then watch this. I'll drink this toxic potion." Li Huolin raised the potion bottle.

"No poison! You brat!" Old Ed couldn't help but say.

"I'm drinking it. You'll have to collect my body."

"Drink it! I don't believe it." Old Ed said angrily.

"Alright." Li Huolin tilted his head and drank the Super Life Spring Potion.

"How does it feel?" Ed asked with a smile.

"Reversed meridians, all organs failing. I feel my end is near." Li Huolin said calmly.

"Nonsense!" Old Ed shouted.

"Ah, I can see my parents, who died years ago, waving at me." Li Huolin said with a sigh.

"Rubbish, there's no such thing!"

Before Old Ed could finish, Li Huolin suddenly tilted his head and died.

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