Finishing his meal, Feicui Long stands up and leaves, he has already paid anyway and he needs to make money if he wants to earn a living as an alchemist. Fortunately, he has 7 years of experience in plant gathering in this area.
Despite having lived so many years in his first life and having knowledge of the law of the absolute heaven… the most powerful law of all and used by the powerful entity of the absolute heaven, the wife of the absolute sovereign dictates that 50% of plants, fungi, among other species of all omniverses, multiverses, and universes, that is, it is something that will inevitably be present everywhere.
While the remaining 50% is divided into two, 25% can be shared with some omniverses, multiverses, and universes, and the last 25% are completely unique and different for each omniverse, multiverse, and universe. That small 25% that is not shared can amount to billions or trillions of species.
He himself knows many of the species that are shared in all places, but if it were one of those unique species he cannot say that he knows them all. That is why those 7 years of experience are very useful to him and it is also one of the reasons why he chooses to devote himself to alchemy even though his pure inscription mastery is more advanced.
Soon Feicui Long arrives at the gate of the city-fortress and heads toward a place that he had engraved in his memory in one of the forests near the city. When he finally arrives, it is a small clearing, with some fruit trees and several medicinal herbs. Although there are energy beasts here, all of them are docile and herbivorous, so as long as he does not attack them he will not be in danger.
He looks over the entire clearing and says happily: "I am glad I found this safe place a few years ago, thanks to this I have a constant source of blood grass and 50 to 100 year ginseng, first let us collect what I can carry in my bags."
Feicui Long cheerfully gathers herbs in the clearing, until a thought crosses his mind and he says to himself, "Now that I think about it, what I have are normal bags, not storage bags, I will have to store most of them in my collar and then pretend that I am taking them out of my bags…"
He continues speaking without interrupting his work, almost automatically: "…Well, in any case I can store my collar inside myself and take it out in that case, so I suppose it does not matter much."
When he finishes his monologue, he had already collected about 10 kilograms of blood grass and about 5 kilograms of 50 year ginseng, in addition to a few 100 year ones.
Straightening his back, he directs his gaze to the sky, "Judging by how high the star is, I suppose it must be around noon, I should take advantage of the fruit trees to eat a few fruits as lunch and head to another area."
Feicui Long quickly gathers several fruits and stores several in his collar, eats 2 or 3 of them and begins to walk along a small stream that crossed the entire clearing.
…
Feicui Long has arrived at his next destination, it is an open field with a large lake in the center, known by many for being a safe place. Although there are many beasts around the lake, the energy beasts in this area are all herbivorous, calm, and live in herds.
Furthermore, as soon as they see a predator they all gather together and crush it to pieces, which makes it a very good area simply to rest. But Feicui Long came here because there are medicinal herbs and medicinal fungi here. In particular, he came for the water flower, a common flower in all freshwater bodies where there is abundant energy, and the lingzhi that grow on the trees around the lake.
So, getting to work, he starts working diligently. In about an hour he has collected 1 kilogram of water flower and 1 kilogram of lingzhi. He had to limit himself, because he cannot risk taking out his collar in a place where there are so many people, ranging from adventurers to hunters and mercenaries. He simply gathers his bags and leaves the area, heading to the last stop.
It took him 45 minutes, but it was a less known area than the previous one and there are almost always abundant medicinal herbs. As soon as he arrives at the area, he opens his canteen and drinks its contents in a few gulps, then moves his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings.
"There it is, the bone recovery fruit and underneath should be the spiritual herb." Feicui Long walks to the place where he saw the plants and gathers the fruits, the bone recovery fruit which is whitish in color and shaped similarly to an orange, but inside it was more similar to an apple.
As for the spiritual herb, it was a type of bright blue-green grass. He spent the following hours gathering until it was close to sunset. He collected about 5 kilograms of the fruit and about 10 kilograms of the spiritual herb.
Finishing his workday, he leaves the forest with quick steps since it is very dangerous to stay inside at night, unless it is a safe area like the one by the lake. It was better not to take risks with the cultivation he possesses. Shortly after, he can see the city gates and other people entering. He blends into the crowd and advances with it.
…
Once inside the city, he walks toward the market. The city-fortress of Vienna is a city with very high activity both at night and during the day, since it is a city that although it was once the capital of the empire, is now mainly used to contain all the different biomes that exist around it and prevent them from threatening the Habsburg Empire.
For this purpose, it relies largely on the mercenaries union, the hunters union, and the adventurers union. One way to remain attractive to them, in addition to the benefits it provides, is to cover their needs. Since they are very active professions that have to be constantly coming and going from the city, therefore its market remains open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The reason he came here is mainly to sell almost everything he collected. To do alchemy, in addition to needing to reach the state of inscription master, you obviously need some other things.
Several things that money can mainly obtain, although the objective is more to obtain money in order to be able to subsist. After all, he does not like the idea of sleeping on the ground outdoors in an alley every day.
While thinking about this, he has finished evaluating all the shelves and shops that buy herbs. In the end, he chooses one that has a middle-aged lady attending it, and it is because of everything he has been able to observe and hear while walking through the market. The lady is the most polite and the kindest of all. In addition, he can notice that she possesses a great deal of knowledge in her area of work, which will make the process faster.
Soon he enters the small shop that has several shelves with plants in preservation boxes and one or two in pots. He heads to the counter and, following his plan, speaks to the lady: "Good evening, ma'am, I would like to sell you some plants that I bring."
The lady responds to him with a kind smile: "Of course young man, can you show me what it is that you want to sell?"
Feicui Long soon uses the plan he has devised. While gathering herbs, he pretends as if his bags were spatial storage bags and begins to extract everything from the collar. First, he takes out 9 kilograms of blood grass, 4 kilograms of 50 year ginseng, 500 grams of lingzhi and 500 g of water flower, 9 kilograms of spiritual herb and 4 kilograms of bone recovery fruit.
The lady, smiling and a bit surprised, says: "Oh what a pleasant surprise, there is quite a lot here, all of quite good quality."
While examining everything, the middle-aged lady counts everything with an energy artifact. One can see the numbers floating in the air with bright colors. In the end, she stops at 2500 copper coins: "That would be 25 silver coins, but since it is your first time selling here, I will give you an extra of 5 coins, in case you ever want to sell more herbs, I will buy them all from you."
Feicui Long nods politely and says: "That is fine, the pleasure would be mine to sell them to you, ma'am."
He picks up the money that the lady hands him and asks her a question: "By any chance, my lady, would you know where I can buy cheap equipment such as tents, tools, and the like?"
The lady, a bit surprised by the young man's courtesy, responds: "Oh of course, leaving this shop turn right and walk for about 3 to 5 minutes and you will see the shop you are looking for. Here, take this card of mine and tell him that I sent you, he will surely give you a discount on your purchase."
Feicui Long delicately takes the card from the lady's hand, bows slightly, and leaves through the door.
He walks with slow steps along the path the lady indicated and soon sees a sign that says "Tools and Equipment." He pushes the wooden door without exerting much force and soon he can see a well-organized shop, with tool sets, tents, blankets, weapons, and more. He continues walking toward the counter. At the counter, a middle-aged man with slightly white hair looks at him with a serious face.
Feicui Long, noticing the seriousness on the man's face, speaks calmly: "Good evening, I have come on behalf of Nancy's Herb Shop, I have come specifically to buy some things."
After finishing speaking, he hands the card to the middle-aged man, whose expression relaxes a bit. Shortly after, the man speaks.
The man says: "I see, what kind of things do you need?"
Feicui Long responds: "Would it be fine if I look around first and then bring everything I am going to buy?"
The man says jokingly at the end: "Sure, no problem, as long as you do not leave the shop with it."
Then Feicui Long takes a tent, a blanket, 5 spatial storage bags, a spatial canteen, 3 knives of different sizes, 4 tool sets, one for repair, one for excavation, another that serves for exploration, and lastly one that is used mostly by alchemists or doctors, which included silver needles.
He also takes a common longsword made of mortal materials, specifically steel. When he finally finishes, he goes back to the counter and places everything on top.
The man says: "Hmm, I see you are carrying quite a lot of things. Normally, if you were another person I would give you everything for 35 silver coins, but since Nancy recommended you, I will leave it at 20 silver coins. What do you say?"
Feicui Long responds: "That seems fine to me. I would also like to ask you something else, how much do you sell that spatial backpack that is hanging behind you for?"
The man looks and says: "That one? It is worth 50 silver coins, but I could leave it to you for 40."
When he finishes speaking, Feicui Long puts the money on the counter and takes everything. Most of it he places in one of the storage bags that he ties to the front of his waist. The four bags he divided in half and placed on his right and left sides: "Alright, I will pay for this for now. When I have the necessary money, I will come back to buy it."
…
Leaving the shop, Feicui Long went to the bar where he had breakfast and ordered dinner. He sits calmly to eat it while drinking a cheap beer. When he sees the waitress, he signals her to come over and asks: "Do you have any rooms available today?"
The waitress looks at him and responds: "I am sorry sir, today they are all occupied."
Feicui Long says softly: "I see, thank you very much anyway."
He pays 15 copper coins. Although the beer and the food cost 7 copper coins, the rest is a tip for the waitress who treated him kindly today and yesterday while he was drinking. After doing so, he simply stands up and leaves.
He leave the bar toward the alley where he slept last night and, resigned, says to himself: "I could not find any rooms in all the inns I asked at on my way to this bar, I suppose I will have to set up the tent right here."
While organizing the place, he speaks to himself again as if comforting himself: "At least this place does not smell bad and it is not dangerous either, but just in case, I will use a few of my energy stones to establish a formation."
After finishing speaking, he begins to write on the dirt ground with a branch. When he finishes, he spreads energy stones that he has crushed into powder, and in the center of the formation he places a stone and says: "Activate."
After that, the formation begins to glow with a faint light as if it were a circuit, feeding from the surroundings and carrying the energy toward the stone at the center.
When the formation is ready, he begins to set up the tent and places his blanket on the ground. After that, he simply begins to read a few books that he had previously found in his collar. The books are mostly about botany and beasts that are found in the different biomes near the city.
While reading them, he realizes how strange this city is. In its surroundings there is a desert, three different forests, two mountain ranges, an area that leads to the sea, a swamp, a jungle, and a snowy zone.
In them there are different dangers and different kinds of energy beasts, monsters, undead, plants, fungi, and leader-type elementals. Now he understands why a fortress-city like this is necessary. It is obvious that if it were left without surveillance and without control, it could easily break the defensive line of the empire.
Little by little, time passes and sleep gains more and more ground. Although it may not seem like it, it has been a very exhausting day, both physically and mentally for Feicui Long, and this was allowing sleep to overcome him. In the end, he falls asleep while reading one of the books.
…
Meanwhile, a group of adventurers in another place is fighting near some mountains known as the Sky Lion Mountains.
A handsome young man is using a sword that looks like a claymore or a bastard sword with a lion's face on its hilt. He swings it toward a group of black iron ants, cutting some in half and sending others flying.
A woman with a kind face who has a body with large attributes shouts: "Charles, quickly, come here!"
The young man named Charles says: "Calm down Andrea, it is just an advance group. We have to deal with them quickly instead of retreating."
Shortly after he finishes speaking, a fireball explodes, burning a group of about 3 to 5 ants. The one who launched the fireball is a short mage with a brown hat: "Charles is right Andrea, the best way to deal with these ants is to kill them quickly before they can call for help from their anthill."
Following that, a tall elf dressed in a tight leather outfit fires a barrage of energy shots with an energy rifle, killing another small group of ants. The elf says in a low voice: "I think that instead of arguing about what we should do, both Charles, Arianne, Andrea, and Freja, we should work together to quickly eliminate the ants."
A warrior priestess with wolf ears and a wolf tail, equipped with a shield and a mace, who is fighting with some ants, suddenly crushes one and says: "Caroline, why are you mentioning me if I have not said anything?" She says it while clearly frowning in confusion.
The elf named Caroline says to her a bit embarrassed: "Sorry Freja, it is the habit that you argue with Andrea and Arianne."
The team continues fighting until they finish off the entire advance group.