Chapter 67: New Channel
Inside a room on the third floor of Apartment 4, within the building complex diagonally behind the Grand Cathedral.
It hadn't rained this morning, a rare occurrence. Since entering the Sand World, Su Xiao had never felt this world was dry or hot; instead, it seemed perpetually in a rainy season. Within the Sun Church's gathering grounds, it was tolerable due to the abundant solar energy, but elsewhere, bedding and clothes were always a bit damp.
Su Xiao checked his current 2,175,000 Reputation Points. Since he had decided to make a big haul, this amount was still insufficient.
The method of earning reputation through Sun Potions had been cut off; he couldn't obtain the main ingredient [Sunlight Particles] for the potions. All that remained was the "Cost Price Procurement" + "Return" method.
This method could yield a maximum of 225,000 Reputation Points daily, which seemed like a huge amount, but Su Xiao didn't know when he would be teleported out of the Sand World.
He needed a stable and fast way to earn reputation. Using potion crafting to gain reputation was the first option he ruled out.
He had officially issued a commission: for a total of seven potion formulas, anyone who brought the corresponding materials and reached an agreement with him would receive one free potion crafted by him. In return, that person had to do him a favor.
The materials for each of the seven potion formulas existed within this world, but they weren't easy to find. That was exactly what Su Xiao wanted.
He had no interest in working for free. Given the number of Sun Church followers and their style of conduct, gathering over 500 people was practically a fantasy—unless a conflict broke out between the Sun Church and the Blazing Sun Lord.
Without being able to gather over 500 fighters, the [War Lord] title couldn't be activated. So, he would focus on quality.
Several dozen elite combat-capable Sun followers could turn the tide at a critical moment. These followers were all beast hunters; compared to group battles, they excelled in solo combat or small-team coordination.
That was why Su Xiao made the materials for those seven potions harder to obtain, thereby filtering out the more skilled followers.
Bubu Wang had temporarily replaced Kaisa. This matter had been reported to the Grand Cathedral. As long as the accounts were in order, Kaisa finding someone to "cover his shift" for a few days was within reason.
Having Bubu Wang temporarily stationed at the Supply Depot was also part of Su Xiao's plan. Bubu Wang became a logistics administrator, essentially the church's quartermaster. This brought many conveniences for Su Xiao. First, Bubu Wang could use his authority to help promote Su Xiao's potion commission.
On the wooden counter of the Supply Depot stood a small sign, under which was a booklet detailing the commission method, the materials needed for the seven enhancement potions, and their effects.
People came to the Supply Depot in a steady stream. In just one morning, over a dozen followers expressed their desire to reach an agreement with Su Xiao, saying they would immediately prepare the required materials.
With a stable source of manpower, the next challenge was how to continuously and stably earn reputation. Su Xiao thought of something. When he met Bishop Cooper this morning, he had obtained an official alchemist identity. Coupled with his high reputation, he unlocked a high-level alchemist privilege: Healer.
The effect of the Healer privilege was simple: whenever Su Xiao treated or healed other church members, he would gain reputation points. The exact amount depended on the patient's condition.
This was a viable way to earn reputation. During the day, he could use this method, and at night, he could craft potions, gradually recruiting combat power.
Sitting by the window, Su Xiao tapped his head bucket with his index finger. For him now, there was no need to wear this thing anymore.
He unequipped the [Sun Head Bucket], [Cruel Leather Coat], and other gear, then put on the alchemist's robe. The sun emblem on the back of the robe seemed to burn slowly, its red hue giving the wearer a sense of danger rather than frailty.
Su Xiao removed the Black King Bracer and flexed his crystal left arm. The severed left arm was safely stored, maintaining its vitality from the moment it was cut off. Once he returned to Reincarnation Paradise, he could restore it.
Over the past few days, Su Xiao had grown somewhat accustomed to controlling the crystal arm. In his spare time, he had modified it to a certain extent, embedding micron-thick threads of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy into the arm to mimic a nervous system, improving its control.
Even so, it wasn't as good as the original. For now, it would have to do.
Su Xiao took out the [Sun Holy Medicine (Perfect)] from his storage space, uncorked it, and drank it all in one gulp.
A burning sensation went down his throat, like drinking strong liquor, causing a scorching feeling in his esophagus. After a few seconds, the sensation faded. His heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, and other organs were enveloped in a warm feeling. A solar-attribute energy nourished all his internal organs.
This nourishment wasn't instantaneous but would last about half a month, gradually warming and enhancing, providing a more stable permanent boost.
Now acting as an alchemist, Su Xiao left the apartment and headed toward the Grand Cathedral. Previously, he had treated the church followers' injuries and illnesses. After compiling data from several dozen cases, he found that the followers of the Sun Church had an extremely low rate of contracting diseases. The solar energy within them granted them astonishing resistance to illness.
Although there were no diseases, these followers—beast hunters—constantly fought various mental beasts, making injuries commonplace. Thanks to the existence of Sun Miracles, when injured, they would have teammates who mastered Sun Miracles treat them.
This seemed fine, but healing abilities were mostly for emergency first aid, allowing the recipient to continue fighting. Deep recovery from injuries was often unsatisfactory.
Over time, the followers all had old injuries, hidden ailments, residual corrosive energy in their bodies, or, like Airo, abnormal physical changes due to special reasons.
Why was one of the Sun Church's standard equipment sets a head bucket? After years of fighting beasts, the followers were no longer purely human. The dragon slayer becomes the dragon; fighting mental beasts inevitably turned one into a beast over time.
People were coming and going through the main entrance of the Grand Cathedral. Because Su Xiao was wearing alchemist attire, followers wearing head buckets occasionally glanced at him as he passed.
Going up to the third floor, Su Xiao arrived at the medical room door. There were four medical rooms in total, all with their doors closed. The Sun Church had no physicians—or rather, they couldn't find doctors capable of treating hidden injuries or ailments. So, they had alchemists with free time fill in.
The Sun Church had a loose system. Joining came with no constraints, but everything had a price. This collective free-range model provided only basic living guarantees and shared transcendent knowledge, with no other benefits.
Su Xiao pushed open the treatment room door. It resembled a scaled-down clinic. One side of the room had a bookshelf covering the entire wall. A crude surgical bed stood nearby, with an IV stand beside it. The IV bottle on the stand had a mottled surface, containing a dark yellow medicinal liquid. Inside the liquid, blood had backed up from the IV tube, forming a clump.
IV therapy was one of the church's most common treatments, often used for treating bodies invaded by foreign energy. Simply put, it was fighting poison with poison.
This made the IV treatment method crude and bloody. The first time Bubu Wang saw the IV needle here, his legs went weak. Inserting that needle into a blood vessel was a technical skill.
On the other side of the room was a wooden table with chairs on both sides. The alchemist sat in the chair against the inner corner of the wall, while the patient sat opposite, separated by the table.
This design was meant to give the alchemist some buffer time. In the past, during treatment, a follower suddenly underwent mental beast transformation, biting off half the head of the alchemist sitting across from them.
To give alchemists more escape opportunities, and considering that followers might still use weapons after mental beast transformation, a treatment notice was posted at the door, with the following content: