Gu Xiaobei: "Expert, do you have a lot of enamel mugs over there?"
Lan Qingyou: "Yes."
Gu Xiaobei: "Could you sell me a few?"
Lan Qingyou: "Sure, just take them."
Enamel mugs?
Lan Qingyou turned her head to look at the pile of cleaned enamel mugs and stone slabs in the corner of the room.
She walked over, grabbed about twenty of them, and sent them over.
The nightmare of cleaning tools today had taught her a lesson: more isn't always better. Keeping a stock of a hundred was enough; she could just take them out whenever she needed to practice.
Gu Xiaobei: "Thank you, Expert! Thank you so much! Wait for me a moment."
In a stilt house built against a mountainside in a corner of the Abandoned Forest...
Gu Xiaobei looked at the enamel mugs she had just received from Lan Qingyou.
They still had water stains on them, likely from being recently washed.
At this stage, the only water available for washing was stream water.
For safety's sake, she stood up and went to the fire pit in the wooden house. She lifted the kettle hanging over the fire and poured some hot water into an enamel mug to rinse it again.
Then, she went to the stove in the wooden house and opened a waist-high steamer. Wrapping her hand in a towel, she took out a wooden bowl and brought it to the small screen.
With a sharp crack, the wooden bowl split into two halves.
"I guess wooden bowls really can't be used for steaming," Gu Xiaobei muttered.
She then brought an enamel mug over to the screen and traded the contents of the mug over.
Even though Lan Qingyou had told her to just take the mugs and hadn't mentioned payment, as an adult, Gu Xiaobei couldn't bring herself to just take things for free from a kind person.
Lan Qingyou waited less than a minute before she received an enamel mug.
Gu Xiaobei: "Expert, I made this. It's a bit hot, so eat slowly."
Looking at Gu Xiaobei's message and then at the mug of food, Lan Qingyou fell into thought.
One must always be cautious. She decided to use the small screen to appraise it first.
【Silverfish Potato Noodles (E-)】
【Effect: Restores 1 mana per second for 10 minutes.】
【Description: A soup base made from Silverfish, Ascetic Grass, and Yellow-tail Flower, paired with fish slices, potato noodles, Yellow-flower Grass, Jade Sprouts, salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, black pepper, and other seasonings. Though unrefined, it is fresh and delicious.】
This... this is...
Seeing the appraisal results on the small screen, Lan Qingyou's eyes widened.
Good heavens, doesn't this effect equal 600 mana?
Eating this was equivalent to sixty times the natural recovery rate?
Lan Qingyou: "What's the deal with this dish?"
Lan Qingyou asked out of curiosity.
Gu Xiaobei: "My family owns a restaurant. After seeing that you could make potions yourself, I wanted to give it a try."
Gu Xiaobei: "I originally wanted to make Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles, but I didn't have any rice noodles. I had to substitute them with the potato noodles I got from a chest, and this was the result."
...
Looking at Gu Xiaobei's explanation, Lan Qingyou didn't know what to say. Finally, she slowly typed out a sentence.
Lan Qingyou: "I'm officially calling you a genius."
Gu Xiaobei: "Hehe. Well, enjoy your meal, Expert. I've made several bowls. Once I sell them, I should have enough to upgrade to a level 2 shelter."
Lan Qingyou: "Did you want the enamel mugs just to hold food?"
Gu Xiaobei: "Yeah, the wooden bowls from the chests aren't durable enough."
Lan Qingyou thought for a moment: "I know a pretty good stonemason. Maybe you can ask him if he can make stone bowls."
Gu Xiaobei: "Really!"
Lan Qingyou: "Yeah, his name is Li Huai. You can search for him. Tell him I introduced you, and he should add you."
Gu Xiaobei: "Okay, okay! Thanks, Expert!"
With that, Gu Xiaobei went to contact Li Huai.
Meanwhile, Lan Qingyou stared at the mug of potato noodles and felt conflicted.
She wanted to slurp the noodles, but she didn't have chopsticks.
She looked at the pile of supply chests in the corner.
Left with no choice, she stood up and opened a self-heating hotpot, taking out the disposable chopsticks that came with it.
...
Rewinding time a bit.
As night was about to fall, a man wearing a well-tailored Aniuni suit and polished leather shoes returned to his shelter. In one hand, he carried two rabbits, and on his shoulder, he lugged two supply chests.
The man looked to be about thirty years old with slicked-back hair. He was dressed cleanly and looked very efficient.
Li Huai had a great day today.
In this morning's trade with Lan Qingyou, he had obtained nearly 50 mana potions. When he went out to hunt monsters, he didn't have to stop and start constantly like he had in previous days.
Using a dagger left behind by some idiot who tried to mug him, he processed the two rabbits and began roasting the meat.
Although chests could provide food and water, he saved what he could. He kept non-perishable food stored for emergencies.
Once the food was roasted, he sat at his desk, sprinkled some instant noodle seasoning on the roast rabbit, and watched the chat channel while he ate.
This had become a daily routine for him and almost all the transmigrators.
After all, humans were social animals.
No matter how much of a lone wolf one was, they still needed to know the outside situation to adjust their own plans.
As it happened, he saw the channel discussing the potions.
"+30, huh? A bit less, but still good. High volume."
With that, he bought 100 vials on the spot.
While three thousand basic resources stung a bit, it wasn't enough to make him broke.
Of course, the main reason was that he had tasted the sweetness of having abundant mana today.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A friend request.
Li Huai saw it was a stranger, but since they were introduced by Lan Qingyou, he added them. And then...
Gu Xiaobei: "Excuse me, are you a stonemason? I'd like to order some stone bowls."
Li Huai: "..."
Li Huai's head was full of question marks.
Stonemason? When did he become a stone—
Oh, right. He had made a bunch of stone slabs for Lan Qingyou today. That woman couldn't possibly think he was a stonemason just because of that, could she?!
He! Li Huai! The owner of the S-grade talent 'Storm King'!
Had become a stonemason?
Li Huai was a bit angry. This was a provocation. For this kind of person, he had to give a harsh—
Gu Xiaobei: "[Silverfish Potato Noodles (E-)]"
Li Huai: "What are your requirements?"
When he saw the item Gu Xiaobei sent, Li Huai let it go.
He just wanted to say, "This is great."
Gu Xiaobei: "I need ten-centimeter and twenty-centimeter stone bowls, a hundred of each. What's the price?"
Li Huai: "May I ask how you obtained this food?"
Gu Xiaobei: "I figured out how to make it myself."
Excellent. It seemed she was a technical talent, just like Lan Qingyou.
In that case...
Li Huai: "How much of this food can you make?"
Gu Xiaobei: "Materials are limited, so not much. But if there are plenty of materials, I could probably make thirty to fifty a day. I'm not sure."
Li Huai: "How about this? I can make the stone bowls for you—as many as you need. I'll even provide you with meat every day. In exchange, you give me 10 servings of this mana-restoring food daily."
Rate on N.U.
