Thinking of something, Lan Qingyou immediately took the hurricane lamp off the wall.
She then tossed it toward the small screen for appraisal.
【Magic Hurricane Lamp (E)】
【Remaining Duration: 2,466 minutes】
【Effect: Lights the way for you in the dark.】
【Description: No way, right? No way. No one would actually carry this outside at night, right?】
2,746 minutes—in other words, there were less than two days left.
Lan Qingyou was certain she wasn't the only one in this situation; the magic hurricane lamps in other shelters were likely the same.
It was just that everyone was so used to them that no one had even noticed.
So, once the seven-day protection period ended, the magic hurricane lamps would become unusable. What would they use for light then?
The answer: a bonfire.
Since there was no need to go out at night, one could simply light a fire inside the house for illumination.
But that required resources.
Someone had calculated before that those who couldn't use magic would have to give their all for seven days just to gather the materials needed for upgrades, and that didn't even include magic creature cores.
So, once the magic hurricane lamps failed, how much wood would be burned every night?
10 units? Or 20?
When Lan Qingyou had brewed potions that night, she had burned through over a hundred units of wood in eight hours.
She hadn't counted exactly how much over a hundred it was, but it definitely cost her five or six uses of the Collection Technique.
Of course, there was also the most important point: burning wood produced smoke. Without a stove or a chimney, one would have to open windows and doors.
Even if you only burned it for an hour or two after returning at night, it would be miserable.
Especially with the doors and windows wide open.
The only other options were to not burn anything at all or to make something like a homemade torch.
Lan Qingyou fell silent. She wasn't feeling sorry for others; she was wondering if there was a business opportunity here.
After all, the materials required to craft a hurricane lamp included glowing mushrooms, which could also be used in alchemy.
The use of glowing mushrooms was also recorded in Basic Potions; they were used to make light potions.
However, the specific use of a light potion wasn't explained.
Looking at the hurricane lamp now, could the liquid flowing inside be a light potion?
Should I take one apart and see?
Lan Qingyou looked at the two hurricane lamps on the table.
Since their durations overlapped anyway, taking apart the one with less time left was perfectly fine. At most, she’d just have to carry a lamp up and down the stairs at night.
“Let's do it!”
Since there was nothing to lose, Lan Qingyou decisively opted to dismantle one to test the waters.
She picked up the Magic Hurricane Lamp and examined it from every angle before finally finding a thumb-sized opening at the top.
After prying it open with a toothpick, Lan Qingyou tried tilting it. A stream of glowing liquid slowly flowed onto the small screen on the desk.
【Light Potion (E-)】
【Description: A potion about to lose its luminous effect; it no longer has much recycling value.】
Excellent. It seemed her guess was correct.
Lan Qingyou smiled slightly. Another consumable.
Although she wasn't sure if it would be a bestseller yet, it didn't matter. Now that she knew the working principle of the Magic Hurricane Lamp, she could probably make a small profit once the 'power went out.'
Though it probably wouldn't make as much as something like a mana potion.
She would worry about that when the time came.
Yawning again, Lan Qingyou took the newer hurricane lamp and went up to the second floor.
It had become her habit to read for a while every night before going to sleep.
The next morning, Lan Qingyou went downstairs, grabbed a piece of bread and a carton of milk, and was eating when she received a message from Li Huai.
Li Huai: “I can do it.”
Seeing those two short words along with a trade request on the small screen, Lan Qingyou shook her head.
You really are easygoing. Is this the 'chill' of a combat powerhouse?
Complaining internally, Lan Qingyou took out the stone slabs and sent over the payment of 40 potions.
Li Huai: “Received.”
Lan Qingyou: “You're online.”
Li Huai: “Yeah.”
Lan Qingyou: “Then, I want to order some stone rods. I need 20 rods that are 1 meter long and 3 centimeters in diameter, and 100 rods that are 30 centimeters long and 1 centimeter in diameter.”
Li Huai: “5 mana potions is fine.”
Lan Qingyou: “No problem.”
Ten minutes later, Lan Qingyou received the stone rods.
These stone rods were to be used as stirrers.
The tree branch she had picked up earlier was always a bit lacking for brewing. Since they were both plants, leaving it in the brew for too long risked boiling the branch's components into the potion, affecting its quality.
Because of that, Lan Qingyou had to take it out after stirring for a bit, which was too much trouble.
Now that she had stone rods, it was different. There was no need for such hassle.
Eager to try out her new equipment, Lan Qingyou immediately set to work refining potions.
Fetching water, cleaning, sorting herbs, and drying—it was a seamless process.
Because she had more alchemy bases and containers today, Lan Qingyou wanted to brew more at once.
Consequently, the herbs she needed to prepare were much more numerous than yesterday. It took her over an hour just to finish the preparations.
While preparing the herbs, she also laid out a hundred stone slabs in the first-floor hall and placed 1.25-liter enamel mugs on top of them.
These enamel mugs were also for brewing, but not for mana potions.
They were for the secret weapons she was preparing for herself.
After mixing the mana water, Lan Qingyou ladled it into various containers one by one.
Then, she began the brewing process.
During this brewing session, Lan Qingyou would occasionally put down her stirrer to process more herbs.
Since she had decided yesterday to stop wandering around and focus on her handicraft to earn some hard-earned money, she naturally wanted to standardize and streamline her brewing business.
Sorting through herbs while brewing like this was a way of figuring out the best workflow.
After all, standing in front of a cauldron for eight hours doing nothing was a huge waste of time.
Waste was shameful.
Lan Qingyou not only sorted the herbs but also took them outside to dry.
In one hour, she could process nearly ten pounds of herbs.
By noon, Lan Qingyou took a moment to check the magic desk and found that many people had gathered herbs in the morning to exchange with her.
Lan Qingyou wasn't picky and accepted them all.
Upon taking them out, she found that they had mostly been washed once. Although they weren't perfectly clean, it saved her a lot of time.
In reality, with the appraisal function of the small screen acting as a supervisor, as long as she specified that the quality of the items for exchange could not fall below a certain level, there wouldn't be any cases of people trying to pass off inferior goods.
No wonder the world will had said to make good use of the magic desk.
Supervising, photographing, appraising, and transporting—it was indeed very convenient.
In addition, Lan Qingyou received a blueprint for a 500ml measuring cup.
The price wasn't much—just a few dozen units of sand.
It looked similar to a wine dispenser but with added scales, making it easier for Lan Qingyou to observe her measurements while working with potions.
At 4 PM, the first batch of potions for the day was finished.
After the sediment had settled, Lan Qingyou first used the small screen to appraise the potion brewed in the stainless steel stockpot.
Rate on N.U.
