Chapter 677 - Gold and Glitter (V) (Patreon)

The system was... annoying. I mean, I've always known that, but every so often I am reminded of just how annoying it can be. Like now, for example. Perusing and playing around with recipe crafting window revealed a few things: one, there are actually two distinct ways of patching together an alchemy recipe. The first one was through effects; I simply select whatever effect I want the pill to have, and get a cost associated with it.

The second way is through the ingredients; namely, by adding ingredients to the pill recipe, I fine-tune the pill's effects. The reason the system was annoying? It was because the first option was a trap... and yet the only option I could realistically use. When I added the effect, the system didn't list exactly which ingredients the recipe would require--I'd have to create it before being told that--whereas when I was using the ingredients, I wouldn't be told what effects any of those ingredients had.

The punch in the gut was the fact that adding effects cost about three times as much as adding ingredients. I tested this with some herbs that I was familiar with, and creating a recipe through effects cost 380 points whereas it only cost about 120 when using the herbs. It was like the system was telling me to actually study alchemy, but how the hell could I?!

While it was annoying, there was a small loophole I could exploit with the system. When it came to alchemy recipes, what ingredients to use was just the first step. The rest of the recipe would be full of instructions, sort of like a cookbook. As such, per Lao Shun, most alchemists weren't actually all that guarded about letting the world know exactly which ingredients are necessary for their pills, as there doesn't exist a soul under the heavens who can reverse engineer a recipe just from the ingredients.

... well, there wasn't a soul under the heavens.

Especially now that we were on the island of the world's best alchemist, won't I be able to kind of steal hundreds of recipes if I'm lucky? It still didn't lessen my annoyance with the system, however, least of all when I realized that even the 1,000 points cap that I've got was just barely enough to add four distinct effects that I was looking for.

Rather than chasing something insane like 'Poison Immunity', I referred back to my fading knowledge of how a human body works. There are only so many ways that poisons and toxins interact with a human body on a molecular level. Enzyme inhibition, receptor binding, oxidative stress, protein denaturation, and so on. It's naturally impossible to address all of these in one pill as they cover an insane range of poisons and toxins, but addressing the most common ones isn't.

The first effect that I chose was 'Toxic Suppression'. Rather than empowering the body or neutralizing the poison itself, the effect would simply make it more difficult for poisons and toxins to latch onto enzymes, the body's receptors, ion channels, and other molecular targets. It wouldn't stop them, but slow them down enough so that the other effects kick in.

The second effect was 'Toxic Neutralization'. Kind of mimics how chemical binding agents and specific antidotes work. The reason why it comes second is that it's an extremely weak form of neutralization, and it needs more time, which Toxin Suppression is supposed to buy. The third effect is a bit of a stopgap, Vital Preservation; it sort of runs independently of the other three, but is triggered by the first two. It attempts to preserve cellular integrity, limit harmful oxidative reactions, and sustain essential body functions. It's sort of like an insurance policy of sorts, doubling in effect to also buy some extra time alongside Toxic Suppression.

The last effect was Accelerated Clearance. It attempts to rapidly flush out--through Qi radiation of sorts, mainly--all bodies determined to be 'alien'. It is triggered last as, due to the point limit, it in and of itself cannot recognize a 'host' versus 'invasive' molecule, or even specifically 'harmful' versus acceptable; not all toxins are inherently 'invasive' as human body contains them naturally. So, if there's an infection, for instance, and it's activated, it wouldn't just flush out harmful bacteria, but also red and white blood cells, proteins, coagulating agents...

As such, the first three effects sort of safeguard against it, isolating and becoming like a 'guidance system' for it. In the end, the whole thing added up to 995 points by some miracle, though I also knew that it was simply far too 'rainbow-coded' to be truly effective. While it might work in tempering all kinds of poisons and toxins, as it's not specific to any, there's a good chance that it might not be able to actually purge poisons of high grade at all.

Alas, for that, I'll just have to look through the specific antidote recipes, find out their ingredients, and create specific ones for each potent poisons.

For now, the recipe that I once again forgot to name would suffice.

[--congratulations, Host, on creating the 'Myriad Toxins Suppression Pill' Alchemy Recipe][...][Myriad Toxins Suppression Pill][Type: Alchemy Recipe][Rank: peak-Myth tier][Host Comprehension: None (Fails to meet minimum requirements)][...][Pill Effect: attempts to neutralize all poisons and toxins once ingested. The pill breaks down in the martial art's stomach, immediately entering their bloodstream seeking invading elements. It attempts to create isolating bubbles around toxic elements to prevent further damage to the body before aggressively destroying them and flushing them out of the system. For most optimal effect, the martial artist must guide anti-contagion elements of the pill on their own. Due to the recipe's nature, its ability to combat toxins is directly proportional to the quality and level of ingredients. There are precisely 7 levels of ingredients. Using the highest-grade ingredients will concoct a pill capable of flushing even the toxins of Divine-grade][...][Pill Ingredients, Level 1: Shadow Grass x10, Stalk of the Moon x3...][...][Creation Points Value: 995/1,000][...][Minimum Alchemist Level: Novice Tri-Aspects Rank Alchemist][...][Creation Bonus: 1x set of ingredients for Level 7 Anti-Contagion Supreme Pill][...][Good luck, Host!]

Alright.

That's actually... not bad. Well, to me, at least. I'm kind of apprehensive of showing the recipe to Lao Shun as he might finally see through the fact that I'm a bozo when it comes to alchemy, but it'd also be a good lesson for the future to know what to expect.

After checking out the recipe a few more times, I called for the old man who came up a few minutes later, seeming a bit displeased.

"Were you napping or concocting?"

"When do I ever nap? What am I, a child?"

"There's one universal truth," I said. "The youngest and the oldest love napping."

"... what do you want?"

"This," I procured the small booklet and handed it over. "Since we're facing the world's greatest alchemist, I figured having some safeguard against his most potent weapon might be in order, but I'm not sure if it's good enough. Do you have anything better?"

Lao Shun took the recipe, opened it, sifted through the pages in a minute, closed it, looked back up at me, rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhaled so deeply you'd think he had a hundred years worth of breaths stored in his lungs, and finally spoke.

"Your intention truly is to just make my heart stop beating and kill me that way, isn't it?"