Douluo Continent: Gretchen at the start, empowered by the Star God.

Chapter 17 Purchasing Ore

"Brother Lang Lei, where are we going next?" Gretchen looked at Lang Lei with a little worry.

"To Soto City." After checking out of the inn, Langley immediately bought a very detailed map. "Don't worry, little Gretchen. You got lost in the forest before because the scenery all looked pretty much the same. With this map, you definitely won't get lost again!"

"Brother Lang Lei, how about we fly instead..." Gretchen whispered.

"It seems little Gretchen doesn't quite trust her brother anymore..." Lang Lei pretended to be very disappointed.

No!

Ten minutes later—

After asking passersby, Lang Lei confirmed that he was actually farther away from Soto City, and finally resigned himself to his fate.

"Gresh, let's fly instead..." Langley said somewhat discouragedly, "Let's go in a straight line..."

"Okay, Brother Lang Lei." Gretsch replied sweetly, summoning the World-Creating Creature, which carried the two of them into the sky.

On the back of the creature, Gretchen held Langley tightly, while Langley looked quite content, seemingly enjoying the feeling of flying in the sky.

"It's a pity I can't fly by myself. I must learn to fly by myself in the future!" Lang Lei made up his mind in secret.

Sure enough, after switching to the air route, the two quickly arrived in Soto.

"It's much more lively than the small places we've been to before." Lang Lei held Gretsch's little hand as they walked down the streets of Soto City. The handsome young man and the cute little girl were a real eye-catcher, and they attracted almost 100% attention along the way.

Since he wouldn't be staying here for long, Lang Lei didn't buy a house but instead chose to stay in a hotel.

It wasn't difficult. Soon, Lang Lei found a suitable hotel and bought the right to stay for two months, which also included three meals a day.

I don't know if it was because he paid the room fee upfront, or because Gretchen was so adorably clueless, or both, but the hotel gave him a significant discount.

Upon entering the room, Lang Lei and Gretchen were quite satisfied with the spacious layout, the two comfortable-looking beds, and the complete living facilities.

Greta asked Langley for a drawing board and brushes, preparing to paint for a while.

Lang Lei, on the other hand, looked relaxed and comfortable as he lay down on the bed.

"Brother Lang Lei, the paint is gone..." Before long, Lang Lei, who was lying on the bed resting with his eyes half-closed, felt Gretchen tugging at his clothes and immediately sat up.

"Is that all?" Lang Lei nodded, preparing to go out and buy some. Seeing this, Greta quickly followed.

"Little Gretchen can play in her room by herself for a while. I'll buy the paints for her in a bit." Lang Lei smiled and patted Gretchen's head when he saw her follow him.

"Let's go together." Gretchen took Lang Lei's hand.

"Since little Gretchen wants to, let's go together." Lang Lei nodded and gently took Gretchen's soft little hand in his.

I browsed around a bit, and there were quite a few vendors selling paints, but the quality of those paints...

Gretchen was somewhat disappointed. The quality was poor, and the variety of colors was limited, perhaps due to the underdeveloped art scene in the Douluo Continent.

Color variety is not a big problem; Gretchen, as a world-renowned legendary painter before the fall of civilization, could easily mix it herself by tinkering.

But there's really nothing we can do about the quality.

Gretchen cannot use her abilities to paint, because any paintings created with the paints she conjures will turn into creations of the world.

Gretchen is still young and doesn't like to restrict those World-Painting Creatures. If there are only a few, it's fine; Lang Lei can intervene and control some of them. But if there are too many, Douluo Continent will probably become a paradise for World-Painting Creatures.

It was the kind of creature whose combat power was at least comparable to a 100,000-year-old soul beast, yet after killing it, nothing was left but a pool of paint devoid of its power...

"How about we leave it like this?" Gretsch said softly, looking at Langley, who was still asking passersby if there were any other places in Soto City that sold paint.

She didn't want to bother her brother Lang Lei anymore.

"Little Gretchen, um... can I make some paint for you?" Lang Lei suddenly thought of the traditional paints from his hometown, not the industrially synthesized kind, but pure natural paints made from various colored minerals.

In his previous life, Lang Lei had watched a program about the national treasure, the "Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" painting. This national treasure was painted with valuable mineral pigments, and its colors were so vibrant that even after a thousand years, they showed no signs of fading. Its quality was absolutely unparalleled.

During the program, a modern craftsman was invited to teach him how to make mineral pigments. He may have forgotten it before, but after several physical enhancements, he remembered it after a little thought.

"Did Brother Lang Lei make this?" Gretchen's eyes lit up. "Of course! Thank you, Brother Lang Lei!"

"Alright, let's head out and buy the ore now!" Lang Lei nodded. "Let me think... cinnabar, hematite, malachite, turquoise, lapis lazuli, mica... I wonder if these ores are available on the Douluo Continent. They probably are, right?"

Actually, even if it's not available, equivalent substitutions are not out of the question, since making pigments requires a certain colored chemical substance from the mineral.

For example: mercuric sulfide in cinnabar, iron oxide in hematite, basic copper carbonate in malachite, copper aluminum carbonate minerals in turquoise, silicates in muscovite...

With a little effort, finding equivalent substitute ores is not difficult.

As for the other steps, with superhuman abilities, everything becomes much less troublesome, such as grinding the ore...

Without further ado, Lang Lei took Gretsch directly to the blacksmith shop and asked to buy some ore.

This surprised the blacksmith, as it was the first time he had ever seen someone come to the blacksmith's shop to buy ore.

However, with superpowers, none of these are problems.

Lang Lei quickly found hematite and muscovite, and also found equivalent substitute minerals for cinnabar and turquoise. However, there was no progress in making yellow pigment, ochre.

After all, not just any colored rock can be used to make pigments; we also need to consider the texture, how well it applies to paper, and whether it will damage the canvas, among other things.

Lang Lei didn't quite understand the specifics, so he wanted to use the minerals provided in the program to make pigments.

Now we've found red, blue, green, and white, but we're missing one important color: yellow.

It's not impossible to use realgar or orpiment, but these things don't smell good and are poisonous, so Lang Lei doesn't want to use them to make pigments for Gretchen unless absolutely necessary.

If all else fails, we'll have to use Gold Soul Coins, since gold can also be used to make paint...

However, Gold Soul Coins are not pure gold in the strict sense; they need to be purified first if you want to make pigments.

In the end, Lang Lei compromised and chose to use Gold Soul Coins to make the pigment, which was incredibly hard...

I don't know what's mixed in with it.

After leading Gretchen to a general store to buy gelatin and natural rubber mats, Lang Lei and the somewhat expectant Gretchen returned to the hotel together.

(End of this chapter)