Chapter 27: Remuneration?
Inside the inner area of the Life Workshop, this was a honeycomb room storing various biological specimens. Among them, Su Xiao even saw some creatures recorded in the Soul Library but long extinct.
For example, the "Black Tiger Bee," an extinct supernatural creature. Initially, they were fierce rulers of flower seas, notorious even in mid-to-high-tier worlds. Being stung by them wouldn't be fatal, but the venom would cause unbearable agony.
Until a certain Law Destroyer thought these "Black Tiger Bees" looked quite majestic and brought a nest back to raise. Ahem~, she didn't keep them at her own place but placed them in the neighboring courtyard after returning.
The next morning, the old Law Destroyer, just stepping out, saw a swarm of furious "Black Tiger Bees" attacking. As he prepared to casually deal with them, he noticed a few "Black Tiger Bees" landing on the branches of the Black Maple Tree he had picked yesterday, collecting sap from the broken ends.
This piqued the old Law Destroyer's interest. He let the little creatures be and, a few days later, brought back an extra jar of Black Maple Tree sap. Black Maple Trees don't bear fruit, but some branches secrete sap, indicating these branches couldn't be cut—they were important for further growth.
The result was that the "Black Tiger Bees" brewed a very unique "Maple Honey." This substance had extremely strong moisturizing and restorative properties for the skin. Calling it a natural skin savior wouldn't be an exaggeration.
The ancestral Law Destroyers weren't without business acumen; they just couldn't be bothered. With too many things on their plates, they simply sold this as a highly rare raw material to the Alchemy Faction.
After obtaining this, the Alchemy Faction quickly developed a skin care product. For Alchemy Grandmasters, it was beneath notice, but for high-tier alchemists, it was pure profit.
No matter where in the Star Realm, 99.9% of female races had little resistance to beauty, especially when it came to enhancing their own appearance.
When the Alchemy Faction launched this product, it didn't just sell out—it went crazy. The product's skin care ability was so exaggerated that applying it before bed would leave your skin looking slightly better by morning. After a few days of use, any acquaintance you met would remark, "Madam, you look younger and more beautiful every day."
Later, even high-tier alchemists were puzzled. Wasn't this just moisturizing and repairing skin? Across the Star Realm, rejuvenating secret medicines were rare indeed, seen once in a century, and they likely came with corresponding side effects.
As for moisturizing and repairing products, the Alchemy Faction's sub-brands had launched many. These products generally had one trait: they worked brilliantly while in use, but once stopped, the effects quickly faded.
The reason was that the body was a whole, and skin condition was determined by the body's overall state. The passage of time inevitably left marks of "Primordial Life Force" on the skin. Skin maintained by such "Primordial Life Force" would naturally show signs of aging.
As for strengthening "Primordial Life Force," don't joke about that. Such secret medicines were only available to 0.000000001% of the Star Realm's high-ranking rulers. While there were many ways for the physically strong to enhance their "Primordial Life Force," for ordinary people, the price multiplied by ten thousand or more.
Through research, alchemists found that this substance wasn't simply about moisturizing and repair. It nourished the "Primordial Life Force" from the outside in. Improved skin condition was just one of many feedbacks. The changes in various bodily functions drove noble ladies even more ecstatic.
Keep in mind, even those outrageously priced "Primordial Life Force" enhancers usable by ordinary people only extended lifespan, without alleviating the erosion of "Primordial Life Force" by time.
In the end, this luxury product, named "Maple Honey Milk Cream," was hyped to astronomical prices, yet still, a single bottle was hard to come by.
Su Xiao took out the "Black Tiger Bee Queen" specimen. He could sense the queen inside was still alive, but once the sealing life-support material was opened, it would quickly die.
Why did the "Black Tiger Bees" go extinct? Because they were extremely picky about their environment. They leaned toward elemental life. When the balance was Abyss 5.1 / Element 4.9, they began to struggle with reproduction. Once it hit Abyss 5.3 / Element 4.7, they faced extinction.
Thinking about it, the effects of "Maple Honey Milk Cream" were absurd but reasonable. The Black Maple Tree came from the Abyss, and the "Black Tiger Bees" were partial elemental creatures. The bees using Black Maple Tree sap to make honey was a natural fusion of Abyss and Elemental forces, inevitably yielding outstanding results.
To be fair, even the most top-tier alchemy masters couldn't achieve this. Such was the wonder of natural forces.
But for Su Xiao, this wasn't a problem. With his Lv.103 imprint authority, he could pay a certain amount of Space-Time Power to certify the obtained "Black Tiger Bees" and bring them back to Reincarnation Paradise for breeding. The environment there was absolutely stable, as evidenced by the initial growth of the "Black Maple Tree."
As for the raw material for this luxury product called "Maple Honey Milk Cream," Su Xiao didn't lack it, and he could produce it steadily and in large quantities. The preparation method was even less of an issue. The recipe for "Maple Honey Milk Cream" was recorded in Koin Moore's later years' notes. "Maple Honey Milk Cream" was too iconic.
Moreover, the recipe wasn't hard to crack. Knowing its effects, Su Xiao could reverse-engineer it. Alchemy Lv.99 wasn't just for show.
What was even more brilliant was that if "Maple Honey Milk Cream" were produced, there would be no need for advertising. During the Second Era, the Alchemy Civilization had already hyped it to the limit. At worst, teaming up with the Goblin Merchant Guild to reheat old news would make it an instant hit with no worries about sales.
Su Xiao was indeed too poor right now. "Heavenly Edge Shadow Slash" was a resource devourer, along with his equipment: Seal Demon, Dragon-Slaying Flash, and Endless Ring—each hungrier than the last. The exclusive supreme passive "Source of Power" also swallowed resources in vast amounts. He needed to max out various supreme passives and digest them with the exclusive supreme passive to enhance himself.
Su Xiao attempted to certify the "Black Tiger Bee Queen" in his hand, and a prompt appeared.
[To certify this creature, you need to pay 592 ounces of Space-Time Power.]
This certification price wasn't high, at least for Su Xiao's current financial situation. He chose to certify it.
[Certification complete.]
[Black Tiger Bee]
Origin: Seventh to Ninth Rank worlds (multiple origins).
Category: Queen.
Status: Extremely poor (will die and wither within seconds after leaving the Time Amber).
Description: Except for a few preserved individuals, Black Tiger Bees have gone extinct in the normal environment of the Star Realm.
...
Just completing the certification wouldn't save the queen, but at least it revealed her status.
The first issue was that the queen was sealed in Time Amber, in a "time-frozen" state. If the Time Amber were carelessly removed, the Second Era queen would collide with the current time of the Third Era. Under the reaction of time flow, she would die, wither, and turn to ashes in a short time.
Su Xiao could solve this. In the alchemy lab of his exclusive room, he could create a small time force field. The smaller the setup, the lower the cost. The queen was about the size of an index finger.
Beyond that, Su Xiao needed an entomologist to provide a stable recovery environment for the queen, letting her stabilize first. Only then could the initial beehive be built and the colony reproduced.
An entomologist...
Su Xiao thought of someone. The Tuanzhang had mentioned that the current No. 1 of the Traveling Group was an entomologist. However, he didn't know how old this person was now. If over 10, they should have memories of entomology.
Speaking of which, the Platinum Apostle betrayed the Tuanzhang. The No. 1 position of the Phantom Traveling Group had been vacant. It wasn't that the Tuanzhang was sentimental, but he didn't pay much attention to the group. The name "Phantom Traveling Group" was reportedly changed by the puppet master, No. 2 of the Phantom Traveling Group.
Previously, this was the Tuanzhang's personal adventure group. Later, with excessive authority and no room for improvement in the group's aspects, it expanded into a multi-person adventure group. The group was originally named "General Store." Why so strange? Because when setting up stalls at the Trade Square or Great Gathering Place, the default stall name was fixed to the team or group name. This name was convenient because there was no need to rename when setting up stalls.
Putting away the [Black Tiger Bee], Su Xiao continued exploring forward. This trip to the "Life Workshop" was a massive jackpot. Earlier, in the core area, one of the "Venomous Kai Scales" had awakened. After breaking through a glass pillar with a roar, the rest also woke up.
After Su Xiao cut off the head of the first Venomous Kai Scale, he couldn't stop. Killing these mini-boss-level units yielded not only chest rewards but also 1.2% to 1.3% World Source per unit.
If it were before, Su Xiao really couldn't handle so many Venomous Kai Scales. But now, "Extreme Blade: World" instantly killed three on the spot. A single straight kick killed one, followed by "Extreme Blade: Blood Sea."
A Ring Break slash pushed back a large group, with claws and green blood flying everywhere. When "Extreme Blade: Blood Sea" completed its initial accumulation, the remaining Venomous Kai Scales became increasingly brittle under the impact of billions of blade waves. Finally, a single "Extreme Blade: Super Ring Break" felled a large number.
As for the venom of the Venomous Kai Scales, it might be a problem for others. But for Su Xiao, a guy who could poison extraterritorial anomalies, to put it bluntly, he could give the breeders of Venomous Kai Scales some pointers on deadly toxins.