Chapter 20 | Survival for All: The Tower Witch with E-Rank Talent

Awkward?

To be honest, a little.

But mostly, it was relief.

Since the ghost they were talking about was her, didn't that mean she only needed to watch the ground when going out at night to look for supply chests?

The thought made Lan Qingyou's blood boil.

If she could scrounge up eleven tonight, wouldn't she be able to find twenty or thirty in an hour without the threat of a ghost?

Time to sleep. Tomorrow, she'd clean the cauldron and get straight to it.

Oh, right, she also needed a bath. No wonder people mistook her for a ghost, covered in all that soot.

Wiping the black ash from her face, Lan Qingyou grabbed a bucket and soap and went to the stream to clean herself.

Feeling refreshed, she took in the clothes she'd hung outside, then returned to her room to read and study. When she was tired, she'd just go to sleep.

The next morning, Lan Qingyou woke up, changed into a T-shirt, and, as planned, took her cauldron and mortar to the stream. Using stones she'd picked up from the stream as cleaning tools, she began removing the rust.

Rust removal wasn't about technique; it was pure brute force.

After more than an hour of scrubbing, she finally got both items clean.

After putting the items back, Lan Qingyou took her changed hospital gown and dress to the stream for washing.

She only had four sets of clothes now. After washing them in the stream, even the T-shirt she was wearing would need to be washed.

There was no other way; her legs were submerged in the water while she washed.

After half a day of washing pots, pans, and clothes, Lan Qingyou sat at her magic desk, browsing the Regional Exchange while waiting for the items to air dry.

She impulsively bought anything good she saw. After a while, finding nothing else interesting, she turned her attention to her friends list.

Then, with nothing better to do, she started deleting friend requests.

Ever since she started selling mana potions, the friend requests had been non-stop.

Among the messages were threats, pleas, begging, lecturing, and even offers to buy all her potions — but hardly anyone just wanted to talk normally.

“Haha... isn’t there anyone reliable?”

Lan Qingyou yawned, her finger tapping continuously on the large screen.

Then she saw an interesting message.

It was from a slightly baby-faced girl who looked about eighteen or nineteen.

Gu Xiaobei: “Big shot, do you need herbs? I have over ten catties of various herbs, and also this [Disposable Filter Blueprint (E)].”

Oh!

A filter blueprint!

Seeing those words, Lan Qingyou's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately added the user as a friend.

Lan Qingyou: “What's the price for the blueprint?”

After she sent it, there was no reply for over ten minutes.

That was normal, though; not everyone worked from home like Lan Qingyou.

So Lan Qingyou started processing the herbs.

Processing herbs is much like preparing vegetables: you remove the rotten or insect-eaten parts, wash off the dirt from the roots and any insect eggs from the leaves and petals, and then you dry them.

One potion is 10 milliliters, and each herb requires ten grams of material.

That meant she needed to put four catties of material into one cauldron to break even.

The rest was water.

Making mana water wasn't complicated: fill a bucket with water, pour it into the cauldron in the correct proportion, then release her mana to thoroughly blend it with the water molecules. Lan Qingyou then had a cauldron of slightly blue mana water.

This batch used up 50 of Lan Qingyou's mana points, which was acceptable.

After making the mana water, Lan Qingyou returned to her magic desk to check.

She found that the other party had replied.

Gu Xiaobei: “For the blueprint, can I get 10 mana potions? And what about the herbs, do you want them?”

Lan Qingyou immediately sent a message: “I want the herbs too. How about this: here are ten mana potions for you to use for now, give me the blueprint, and I'll make up the difference tomorrow.”

Gu Xiaobei: “Difference? Ten is enough, ten is enough.”

Lan Qingyou: “Alchemy is about equivalent exchange. A mere ten crude potions aren't worthy of this blueprint.”

Gu Xiaobei: “Big shot has principles [thumbs up].”

Lan Qingyou then sent a trade request and received the blueprint.

【Disposable Filter Blueprint (E)】

【Materials: wood50, cotton5, charcoal5, sand10, pebbles50, cloth3】

【Effect: Can filter impurities from water or medicinal residues.】

【Description: With this, Mom won't have to worry about me drinking dirty water anymore. But beware, mana in the water cannot be removed, so drinking this water might upset your stomach.】

Well, it seemed the other party didn't use it because it was completely useless to them.

Because there was no way to remove the mana from the water.

The materials were easy to get; she had everything in her storage except cotton and pebbles.

Pebbles were simple; just grab a handful from the stream.

For cotton, she'd have to dismantle something.

Fortunately, she had bought several cotton products before. She simply grabbed the small bear she had bought as a decoration and pulled out five wads of cotton.

The filter looked like a large, split wooden barrel. The vertical section in the middle, below the upper half of the barrel, was the filter's main body, while the lower half was for collecting the filtered water.

It was somewhat similar to a household water filter dispenser, except this wooden barrel didn't have its own tap.

After preparing everything, Lan Qingyou went outside to check on the herbs drying on the terrace.

Their surface moisture had been thoroughly dried by the sun, making it the perfect time to use them for potions.

Although Lan Qingyou didn't have weighing tools at the moment, roughly estimating, having a bit more than less wouldn't hurt.

Without further ado, she opened the window and poured all the Ascetic Grass and Yellow-tail Flowers from the bamboo winnowing basket into the cauldron. With a snap of Lan Qingyou's fingers, a brilliant flame burst forth from the center of the alchemy base.

Cool, right?

In reality, it was just her mana activating the alchemy circle, which also carried her mana.

Of course, Lan Qingyou didn't set it up this way to show off; it was mainly because her legs made it difficult to control the heat manually.

So she could only control it by snapping her fingers.

After all, heat control is crucial during alchemy. For example, reducing to low heat immediately after the water boils, then to medium heat once the herbs' aroma appears, simmering for an hour, and finally back to low heat to prevent it from boiling dry.

Next came the long eight-hour simmering process.

However, having gone through it once before, Lan Qingyou was thoroughly prepared this time.

Food, water, books, and a perfectly set alarm clock.

Eight hours was nothing to her, especially when immersed in a sea of knowledge.

Especially since she was floating without weight, she didn't have to worry about occupational diseases like varicose veins.

Lan Qingyou's diligence wasn't just about wanting to live well in this foreign world; a crucial factor was healing her legs.

If the federal hospital's high technology couldn't do it, then she would try the alchemy of Karim Continent.

She would create potions herself to be reborn.

Of course, she knew this was a long and arduous plan, which was why she craved knowledge more than anyone.

In this, she was fundamentally different from others.

Even if Albert's Alchemy Handbook hadn't initially introduced her to the craft, she would likely have found this path.

Because, as things stood, this was the only path she could take.

Honestly, she felt that if her legs weren't immobile, she would probably be like everyone else, tossing these books aside and not bothering to look at them.