Chapter 320: God-level Secret Training Method
Just after clicking "Update," Zhou Ning smacked his forehead in regret. It was his own fault—his hand had moved too fast, practically leaving an afterimage. He had just noticed a red dot on the mission tab, probably signaling the completion of a milestone, but before he could check it, he had already hit the update button. Now, he'd have to wait until the update finished to see it.
Once the update started, the screen instantly switched. This time, it showed a panda wearing a Superman-style cape, with a pineapple-shaped emblem on its chest, lazily flying across the sky. Beneath it was a progress bar.
Update Progress: 1%… 2%…
Sure enough, the update was much slower than before. It took a whole hour and a half for the bar to crawl forward by just 1%—absolutely ridiculous.
Since the game was still updating, Zhou Ning got out of bed, opened his wardrobe, and put on a white shirt. From today on, his daily routine—besides spending half an hour reading as family tradition required—would include 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run.
In the words of Rock Lee: "This… is youth!"
With Zhou Ning's current physical stats, finishing such a workout was a piece of cake. It took him less than an hour to go out and return—he didn't even break a sweat. But surprisingly, his attributes had really gone up! Sure enough, anything produced by the Simulator had a touch of the supernatural.
A notification appeared on his panel:
[You have completed a round of Secret Training (God-level). Your physical attributes have slightly improved: Agility +2, Strength +1, Stamina +1.]
Now, his stats stood at Strength 43, Agility 240, and Stamina 111. The attributes he had lost earlier due to the Black Poison Spring's curse suddenly didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.
Zhou Ning was overjoyed. At this rate, if he maintained this pace for a month, his Agility would reach 300 points—enough to rival an Advanced-Class professional. Give him a year, and he could even challenge a Demigod.
Oh right—there was also that!
After a quick, stylish trip to the washroom, Zhou Ning thought for a moment and then pulled out three bottles of Dragon Blood Elixir he had "borrowed" from Mr. Turing, setting them on his desk.
These things had been insanely expensive in his previous life. When consumed, they could permanently boost random attributes, with no side effects—priceless treasures for any player.
Both Dragon Blood and Heartwood were rare materials that couldn't be bought with money. By the time they appeared in the midgame of his past life, a single bottle could go for over 8,000 Vecktas at auction—outrageous.
Back then, Sunken Star Beneath the Water had purchased ten bottles in one go. After that, people stopped calling him "National Husband" and started calling him "National Sucker."
Each sip was basically liquid gold!
Without hesitation, Zhou Ning double-checked and then downed the first bottle.
A cool, refreshing sensation flowed through his body like a mountain spring. He burped contentedly as a new message popped up on his panel:
[You used Dragon Blood Elixir (Premium). Permanent attribute increases: Strength +4, Agility +2, Stamina +8, Spirit +8.]
Only elixirs with a quality score above 120 counted as "Premium," also known as a "Critical Success." Mr. Turing really was a genius.
Zhou Ning didn't stop there—he immediately chugged the remaining two bottles. All three were Premium quality, granting him a total of: +11 Strength, +9 Agility, +16 Stamina, +9 Will, and +12 Spirit. His stats had completely transformed.
Normally, permanent-boosting elixirs had usage limits. Emerald Elixirs could be taken up to five times, while Dragon Blood Elixirs only worked three times—after that, they stopped having any effect.
If only I had another three or four bottles, Zhou Ning thought wistfully.
In his past life, Sunken Star Beneath the Water had been the first player to use Dragon Blood Elixirs. After discovering that the fourth bottle no longer worked, the rich fool went ahead and drank all ten anyway—and by the seventh bottle, he unexpectedly unlocked a rare Dragon Bloodline specialization.
Sound familiar? Zhou Ning had already missed this specialization twice before. That was how valuable Dragon Blood Elixirs were. If not for wealthy lunatics like Sunken Star Beneath the Water, no one would have ever uncovered this secret.
No worries, Zhou Ning thought. There'll be other chances to drink them again.
After finishing the elixirs, Zhou Ning felt more energized than ever. He didn't feel like sleeping at all—in fact, he felt like running another few laps. Checking his pocket watch, he saw it was just past 2 a.m. So, he went to his workshop to brew more potions and craft bullets, as well as prepare some supplies he might need later.
With the help of his mechanical arms, he began sorting alchemical ingredients and calmly started the brewing process.
Grinding, mixing, boiling, bottling…
Now that he had reached Master Alchemist rank, not only had his subclass level cap increased to 10/20, but his potion success rate had also improved dramatically.
Before long, he had produced several Expert- and even Master-tier potions—Petrification Potion, Ultra-Red, Ultra-Blue, Treasure-Seeking Potion, Flying Potion, Mongoose Elixir, Solar Potion, and more—most of them intended for use against other players.
The Mongoose Elixir, which had previously only a 30% success rate, now succeeded 70% of the time—21 successful brews from 30 sets of materials. At a cost of 45 Vecktas per batch, Zhou Ning casually priced them at 120 Vecktas each in his shop. Considering most of his customers were Wandering Gunslingers, this Agility-boosting potion (which randomly reduced other stats) would probably sell like crazy.
The hardest one to make was the Solar Potion, a new recipe he had just learned. Its success rate was below 20%—only 2 successes out of 11 attempts—and each one cost over 80 Vecktas to make. Truly, the price of looking cool was steep.
After finishing his potion batches, Zhou Ning spent a little more time making a supply of bullets soaked in Flame Oil. By the time he was done, it was already past 4 a.m., and only then did he finally go to bed.
Knock, knock, knock, knock!
The next morning, Zhou Ning was jolted awake by loud knocking—he had barely slept three hours!
The first thing he did was check the Simulator's update progress. After a whole night, it had only reached 9%. At this rate, the update wouldn't finish for another three or four days.
Who's knocking so early? Could it be Sherlock? But no, he was supposed to meet Kien West at Zhou Ning's alchemy shop at noon.
Puzzled, Zhou Ning opened the door—and found Richie Burke standing there. The man was wearing a black merchant's coat and holding a strange metal cane that looked awkwardly out of place.
What surprised Zhou Ning most was that the cane itself was an unknown artifact—he couldn't tell what it did.
"Good morning, Mr. Burke. What brings you here?"
Though Richie Burke still seemed instinctively nervous around Zhou Ning, he managed a polite smile.
"I've already handled one-third of that batch of magic silk. The rest will be sold in the Kingdom of Ruins and the Kingdom of Sepharic. To speed things up, I greased a few palms among the Bryston officials. Altogether, it brought in 70,000 Vecktas. Here are the records—per our agreement, I kept 14,000 for myself, and the remaining 56,000 Vecktas are all on this card. You can withdraw it from any Bryston National Bank."
He handed Zhou Ning an intricately engraved card. "Also, the craftsman you wanted me to find—the one capable of making extraordinary items—I've located him. If you're free this morning, we can go see him right away."
"Fifty-six thousand Vecktas!" Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat. That's 5,600 in crossing coins! If he saved a bit more, even buying "Emperor Zhou Ning" wouldn't be out of the question.
For the first time, the formerly broke Zhou Ning experienced the rush of sudden wealth—he almost didn't know what to do with himself. Containing his excitement, he smiled and said, "Come in first. I need to wash up—then I've got a favor to ask you."