Chapter 15: The Shocking Soup
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Xiao decided to temporarily not use his battle merits, i.e., his savings.
Although the number of Paradise Merits in Reincarnation Paradise was limited, before the Black Earth Fortress was captured, the contractors couldn't possibly exchange all the Paradise Merits. Moreover, compared to Paradise Merits, the price of Soul Crystals wasn't high. Various adventure groups would also focus their attention on Soul Crystals. Since adventure groups had many contractors, their consumption of Soul Crystals was much greater than attribute points.
The Quartermaster didn't sell Large Soul Crystals. As for Medium or Small Soul Crystals, Su Xiao's demand for them wasn't high.
Soul Crystals could divert the attention of various adventure groups, which would slow down the rate at which Paradise Merits were exchanged.
Compared to the 191 Paradise Merits still in stock, the competition for the [Saint Oak Tree Branch], which had only 1 in stock, would be fiercer. Su Xiao was definitely not the only one eyeing this item.
Moreover, the benefits of the [Saint Oak Tree Branch] could be maximized. If Su Xiao raised his Stamina attribute to 79 points and his Mana Points to 2700 before using the [Saint Oak Tree Branch], the increase in Mana Points and Health Points would be extremely astonishing.
As for why he didn't raise his Mana Points to between 2900 and 3000 before using the [Saint Oak Tree Branch], it was because that was simply unrealistic. Even if Su Xiao could survive in the War World, he would soon face the Ascension World. The difficulty of the Ascension World was actually not lower than that of the War World. Sometimes, being too fixated on perfection only leads to destruction.
Once Su Xiao's Mana Points reached 2700, a 15% gain would be 405 Mana Points. What did that mean?
As for the increase in Health Points, since Health Points couldn't be clearly quantified into a total value, he couldn't know the exact increase for now. But one thing was certain: the increase would definitely be significant.
Faced with the benefit of 405 Mana Points, Su Xiao decided to save up. Besides, using battle merits to exchange for Paradise Merits was, to a large extent, Reincarnation Paradise's way of ensuring the gains of weaker contractors.
It was important to note that the Battle Merits Store wasn't the only way to obtain Paradise Merits. Killing enemy leaders could yield 1 to 3 Paradise Merits, and killing enemy contractors could yield 3 to 5 Paradise Merits. That was the real jackpot. Exchanging battle merits for Paradise Merits in the store was just a low-risk method.
Having figured this out, Su Xiao's determination to save his battle merits grew stronger. It would be great if he could exchange for Paradise Merits in the Battle Merits Store, but even if he couldn't, he could rely on his strength to obtain Paradise Merits. With strength, there was no need to worry about finding opportunities to gain benefits.
Su Xiao closed the exchange list. A pungent, burnt smell came over. He saw Quartermaster Nicholas Caesar holding a test tube containing a grayish-brown liquid. The liquid was very viscous, like snot.
"How could this be? It shouldn't be like this. I've never seen a reagent of this color before."
Nicholas Caesar raised his hand to throw the test tube aside, but Su Xiao suddenly spoke.
"If you don't want to burn this place down, you'd better handle that thing carefully."
Although Su Xiao didn't know the exact composition of the liquid in the test tube, with his accumulated knowledge from [Alchemy Bomb Manufacturing: Lv.20] + [Alchemy Pharmaceutics: Lv.20], he could tell that the composition of the liquid was very unstable. It wouldn't reach the point of exploding, but it would definitely deflagrate upon contact with air.
"What?"
Nicholas Caesar's sharp nose wrinkled, looking displeased.
"If there's nothing else, just leave."
Nicholas Caesar's tone was impatient. He had a mysterious confidence in his own Goblin Alchemy and didn't need a mere soldier who only knew how to kill to teach him.
"Oh."
Su Xiao walked towards the tent entrance. Would he leave so easily? Of course not. Nicholas Caesar seemed to have a special identity. If he could establish a connection with this guy, there would be many benefits.
"A crude method of making liquid bombs. Although phosphorus is flammable, it has chain reactions with many materials. The main characteristic of an unfinished liquid bomb is its grayish-brown color and semi-liquid state..."
Su Xiao walked out of the tent. Just as he took one step outside, a shout came from behind him.
"Wait!"
Nicholas Caesar looked at the test tube in his hand, then at Su Xiao.
"Green phosphorus is one of the key ingredients of liquid bombs. Low ignition point, high combustion temperature, easy to obtain..."
From Nicholas Caesar's fragmented words, Su Xiao could confirm that this was a lousy alchemist.
"Is that so? Then I won't disturb you."
Su Xiao continued walking out. Nicholas Caesar, who had been full of defiance, now looked a bit anxious. In the Iron Blood Legion, he was the only one who understood alchemy. He usually had no one to exchange ideas with. Now that someone who understood alchemy had finally appeared, would he let him leave easily?
In fact, Nicholas Caesar didn't think Su Xiao's alchemy skills were that advanced, but he urgently needed an insider to discuss his current research. After all, this boring research had made no progress for two years.
"Don't talk about disturbing or not. This is all within my duties."
Nicholas Caesar put down the test tube and pulled a wooden chair from a pile of junk nearby.
"Sit down. Have you had breakfast?"
This sudden warm attitude caught Su Xiao off guard. He had been preparing to 'fish,' but now it seemed completely unnecessary.
"Thanks, I've eaten."
Su Xiao sat on the wooden stool that only had three and a half legs. If it weren't for his good sense of balance, he wouldn't have been able to sit so calmly.
Nicholas Caesar took out half a bowl of 'wild vegetable soup' from under the test bench. It was his leftover from last night. To make matters worse, the bowl had a chipped edge.
"Don't be polite."
Faced with Nicholas Caesar's 'warm hospitality,' Su Xiao looked at the bowl of murky, unknown liquid and twitched the corner of his mouth.
"I'm not being polite. You should enjoy this 'good stuff' of 'unknown origin' yourself."
"Oh, you know your stuff!"
Nicholas Caesar picked up the half bowl of 'wild vegetable soup' and slurped it down noisily, enjoying it immensely. This made one wonder if the stuff wasn't as bad as it looked.
After a few slurps of the 'wild vegetable soup,' Nicholas Caesar licked his lips with lingering satisfaction and sighed, "The thick soup brewed with Gerham is as delicious as ever."
"Gerham?"
Su Xiao had never heard of an ingredient called 'Gerham.'
"Unwashed large intestine of wild cattle + pig bladder + troll's dick + Jilan flower root, all chopped up and dried in the sun. Collectively called Gerham. I invented it. This stuff has a special effect."
Nicholas Caesar gave a thumbs up and thrust his crotch back and forth. Su Xiao understood what he meant: that soup had an aphrodisiac effect.
The raw materials of this soup were unacceptable to Su Xiao. The combined assault of the excretory and urinary systems made his stomach feel a bit uncomfortable. It was worth noting that Su Xiao was someone who could enjoy a meal sitting on a pile of corpses.
Slurp～ slurp～, Nicholas Caesar finished the soup, which had bits of unidentified meat floating at the bottom. By now, Su Xiao's face was turning green. He had seen small lumps in the soup that looked suspiciously like cow dung.
"Want a bowl?"
When Nicholas Caesar said this, he clearly looked pained.
"Thanks for the offer, but no!"
Su Xiao refused at lightning speed. Forget drinking, just seeing that murky, suspicious soup made him want to vomit.
"Let's not talk about breakfast for now. You seem to know a bit about alchemy?"
Nicholas Caesar carefully put away the chipped bowl. This showed that he was an extremely stingy guy. Getting benefits from someone like this would require a lot of effort.