Potions were how she'd built her fortune, and Potioneering happened to be a sub-discipline of Alchemy. It would give her the biggest immediate boost. So — this was the one.
As for everything else... everything else could wait.
Staring at the book titled "Basic Potioneering," Lan Qingyou took a deep breath, her finger trembling as it inched toward the screen.
Finally, she gritted her teeth and pressed down.
"Phew—"
Watching a leather-bound book materialize on the small screen, Lan Qingyou exhaled a long-held breath.
'Done. No more choosing.'
She floated over, picked up the book, and flipped through a few pages before closing it.
Good choice. This was practical, genuinely helpful for her alchemy. She'd study it properly later.
She drifted over to the desk, wanting to check the Level 3 upgrade requirements.
But first, she noticed text on the Level 2 Tree Hollow Shelter label: "(Please name)."
[Note: Once named, the name cannot be changed. Please choose carefully.]
'Choose carefully? Does this even need thinking?'
Without a moment's hesitation, Lan Qingyou typed two characters: "High Tower."
Yes — even though it only had two floors, it was called "High Tower."
That alone told you how deeply Lan Qingyou yearned for height.
Or rather, how deep a psychological scar those three days had left on her.
After naming it, Lan Qingyou checked the Level 3 upgrade requirements.
[Tree Hollow Shelter (Level 3) Upgrade Requirements: Wood x25,000, Stone x1,000, Vine x5,000, E-rank Monster Crystal Core x100]
'Good grief. A tenfold increase.'
At this rate, would Level 4 need 250,000 Wood?
The Tree Hollow expanded by hollowing out the tree's interior. The tree was losing that much wood and not dropping any materials? And the requirements kept going up?
Where was all that material even going?
'Whatever. Let's check out the Alchemy Workshop first.'
Shelving her complaints, Lan Qingyou floated toward the workshop.
It was sectioned off with wooden boards — a small room, roughly ten square meters.
Inside: a sturdy-looking wooden table with a few wooden platforms on top — presumably for placing items. On one side, a round window identical to the others in the Shelter. Below the window, an iron pedestal.
Nothing else.
[Apprentice-Level Alchemy Array Base (E)]
[Effect: You may etch your own personal Alchemy Array onto this base using magic, then place your crucible on top.]
[Description: Apprentices are a curious bunch. They always manage to push their alchemy arrays to heights that don't belong to their skill level. So an iron base is more than sufficient — after all, nobody sheds a tear when one of these gets blown up.]
...
'Ah, so that's why it required iron — for the Alchemy Array Base.'
Going by the description, newbie apprentices weren't exactly beloved.
Then again, etching a personal alchemy array wasn't exactly simple.
Something a fledgling alchemist who'd just started learning Symbology and Drawing knew all too well.
After inspecting the workshop, Lan Qingyou quickly glided over to check the adjacent bathroom.
All-in-one bath and toilet.
Squat toilet, vanity, shower head — and even a mirror.
A squat toilet?
'Is this a personal attack?'
'Do I look like someone who can squat?'
'Forget it — still better than nothing.'
Lan Qingyou sighed, turned around, and floated upstairs.
The formerly windowless room now featured a large semicircular glass floor-to-ceiling sliding door.
Sand had been used, hence glass. That tracked.
Beyond the door was an even larger semicircular terrace.
Lan Qingyou gently pushed the door open and drifted out, discovering that one-third of the terrace was taken up by a V-shaped vine sunshade.
Now she had a place to dry herbs and a spot for leisurely reading — though she had to wonder how sturdy it was.
Lan Qingyou floated up to inspect and found that the vines had climbed directly onto the tree trunk.
So she didn't have to worry about the sunshade withering and ruining itself.
Then she circled the exterior, and off to one side below, she spotted the workshop window. Beside it was a boxy wooden container.
That had to be the bathroom's water tank.
Lan Qingyou floated over and flipped the lid — yep, that's what it was. But empty. She'd have to fill it herself.
A bit further along, she could see the light spilling from the Shelter entrance window.
Now that she had an outdoor exit to work with, Lan Qingyou went straight through the terrace door and shuttled all her bedding up to the second floor, piling it by the terrace wall.
Then she brought up the books and the Magic Carriage Lantern.
She'd originally planned to brew another batch tonight, but for one thing she didn't have enough test tubes, and yesterday's batch wasn't even sold out yet. For another, she'd just gotten her hands on all these new books — not cracking them open and absorbing some knowledge would be criminal.
And of course, the most important thing: now that she had a bathroom, how could she not take a proper bath?
It was still cold water, but Lan Qingyou enjoyed every second of it.
Afterward, she lay in bed, quietly absorbing the knowledge from her books.
Deaf to everything happening outside.
Those who'd camped by their desks, hoping Lan Qingyou would share details, stared at the screens. Half an hour passed. Not a peep.
"Alright, break it up. She's a busy woman. You really think she's going to reply to any of you?"
"Of course not. She sucks our blood and struts around like she's royalty. I despise people like her."
"I'm never buying from her again. Not giving her another cent of revenue."
"Clowns. Do you really think whining like this will gradually shift public opinion against Lan Qingyou?"
"'Never buying again' — right. If you can actually resist buying Mana Potions, I'll call you impressive."
"Heh. What are these people made of? Do they think we're sheltered college freshmen?"
"Hey now, Eluel — what's wrong with college students? I'm one too, and it doesn't make me stupid."
"Wouldn't be surprised if someone's feeding them treats to get them barking."
"Let the bullets fly for a bit. In my years of undercover work, I can tell you the mastermind is probably using public pressure to force Lan Qingyou into doing something for them."
"Ivan, you were an undercover agent?!"
"What, you think I'd lie about that?"
"Well, well. Didn't think you'd hold it in all the way to Karim before coming clean. I'll avenge our fallen brothers."
Anyone who spends time online knows: when a new topic suddenly hijacks a thread, the old one is dead in the water.
As the conversation about Ivan's undercover work picked up steam, the wind shifted completely.
Nobody cared about what Lan Qingyou's upgraded Shelter looked like anymore.
Why waste time on that when they should be worrying about how long until their own upgrade?
Once the so-called Novice Protection Period ended, who knew what would happen? Only by leveling up their Shelters would they have any hope of surviving.
Someone had once calculated that seven days was just barely enough time for someone to scrape together the materials for a Level 2 upgrade.
That's right.
Even without mana — relying purely on an axe — seven days was roughly the limit for gathering several thousand basic units.
But it would mean working at the absolute extreme: rising at dawn, resting at dusk — every single day, without a single day's slack.
And of course, that was just the materials.
Monster Crystal Cores were a whole other problem.