Alone and Infinite

Li Xia nodded slightly; Hei Tan had come up with a very good idea this time.

It says that in Monster Hunter legends there is an ancient dragon that is extremely fast, like a crimson comet, and is called the Sky Comet!

The high-speed slashing attack is also incredibly fast, drawing inspiration from the Sky Comet.

"That's interesting," Li Xia encouraged, showing interest.

"Good, Blackie, continue!"

Encouraged by Li Xia, Heitan became even happier, his little ears twitching incessantly.

"Meow meow meow!"

(So ​​I think naming it after the Sky Comet's ultimate move is definitely the right choice!)

"Meow!"

(Adorable stars fly and collide!)

Awoo suddenly burst into wild laughter, and Li Xia's lips twitched.

Cute stars flying and colliding?!

Li Xia simply stripped them of the right to express their opinions on the two pairs of skill names.

After thinking for a while, I named it directly.

The high-speed slash has been renamed 'Flash'.

The mid-speed slash has been named 'Collapse'.

The slow slash has been named 'Annihilation'.

He nodded in satisfaction. Simplicity is the most important thing!

I checked the fusion progress of Night Silence.

There are only a few hours left until it's finished.

Li Xia then realized that she had actually slept for more than ten hours.

"By the way, Your Highness, Blackie and I bought some things while we were strolling around, mainly for Blackie's use."

Aowu took out some equipment from his personal space.

Li Xia took a look and found that there were several musical instruments, all of blue quality. These musical instruments were considered auxiliary equipment.

Therefore, the price is not high; a single item can be purchased for one or two thousand points.

"There's another skill—I reckon it's from an apostle who came into the Monster Hunter world with us."

Awoo said happily:

"However, this skill is racially restricted, so no one is interested in it. It's like getting a bargain."

Li Xia became curious and opened the panel on the black charcoal.

Sure enough, a new skill appeared below:

Hunting Music

[Type: Area-of-effect buff skill/Support skill]

[Level: 1 (Area-of-effect buff skills have no proficiency)]

[Usage Limited: Palico Exclusive]

[Effect 1: Spreads mental energy through music, adding different buffs depending on the melody]

1. Exhilarating Type: Plays rousing music to get the buff user excited and increase their strength (current strength value * 1% + 1 point).

2. Urgent Type: Plays fast-paced music, increasing the heart rate and dexterity of the beneficiary (current dexterity * 1% + 1 point).

3. Solemn: Plays solemn music to calm the recipient's emotions and increase their spirit (current spirit value * 1% + 1 point).

4. Soothing Type: Playing soothing music relaxes the recipient's body, granting a 10% boost to self-healing ability (additive).

Note: Playing a new type of music will override the original gain.

[Effect 2: Showtime!]

Four music effects will be active simultaneously for 5 minutes. Members who receive the buff will not be able to enjoy the buff again for 24 hours.

Area-of-effect buff skills have no cost.

[Description: With my background music playing, no one can defeat me, unless your art style surpasses mine!]

"A pretty good skill, very useful."

Li Xia affirmed Aowu and Heitan's good judgment.

This skill is similar to a buff aura, except that it only takes effect when you play a musical instrument.

Although the bonus isn't much, it's worth noting that this skill is only level 1, so there's room for further development.

Combined with the unique effects of the Qilin set:

[Thunderous Electro]: Increases the effectiveness of sound wave-based skills by 15%.

The ability to create amazing skill combos truly shows that Monster Hunter is indeed the world of Palicoes.

The products they produce are of a very high standard.

After buying these items, Black Charcoal and Awoo had less than 2000 points left.

Aowu originally wanted to transfer these points back, but Li Xia waved his hand, indicating that these would be given to the two little ones as pocket money.

For the remaining few hours, Li Xia simply tried the art of reconciliation.

[Recovery Medicine]

Proficiency: (0/100)

Materials: Herbs, soft mushrooms, glass jars

Crafting cost: 1 point of True Qi

Try asking the temple if you can buy the materials directly.

The hall responded immediately.

[Price of Herbal Extract: 55 points per serving]

[Soft Mushroom Price: 45 points per serving]

[Glass bottle price: 1 point/99 bottles]

This price is a bit high.

Li Xia thought for a moment and said:

"Awoo, you and Black Charcoal go over to the stall and see what the price of these two materials is."

A moment later, Awoo replied in the team channel:

"Your Highness, 50 points for each serving of medicinal herbs and 40 points for each serving of flexible mushrooms."

Only five points off?

Something was wrong. Li Xia vaguely sensed that there seemed to be one or more invisible hands manipulating market prices in the darkness.

He simply exchanged for one set of materials first, and then had Aowu buy two more.

After comparing them, there is no difference in terms of materials alone.

Using what I knew in my head, I somewhat clumsily tore the flexible mushroom into pieces according to its texture.

Place it in a glass bottle, then remove the leaves from the herb, leaving only the stem. Fold it in half twice and stuff it into the glass bottle.

Use the tip of a glass stirring rod to gently squeeze the stems of the herb.

A stream of clear, cool liquid was immediately squeezed out, and the soft mushroom fragments swelled up in a peculiar way upon contact with the liquid.

Then Li Xia used a stirring rod to stir the contents of the glass bottle clockwise, while simultaneously injecting his true qi into it.

As if injected with some kind of catalyst, the contents dissolved rapidly, eventually revealing a light green medicine with a grassy fragrance.

You have successfully crafted 1 Recovery Potion.

So that's it? It doesn't seem that difficult.

Li Xia held the glass bottle, which was slightly smaller than a milk bottle, in her hand and checked the information.

[Recovery Medicine (Regular)]

[Rank: Green (Tier 2)]

[Producer: Apostle No. **** (customizable)]

[Type: Recovery Item/Consumable]

[Effect: Slowly restores approximately 10% of health over five minutes (maximum 15% of health; cannot heal injuries)]

[Evaluation: Ordinary healing potion, ordinary technique, ordinary effect, ordinary harmonization technique (customizable)]

This potion is indeed quite ordinary.

It slowly heals within five minutes, also known as a 'post-coital drug,' taken after the battle.

The price of "post-coital medicine" is not as high as combat medicine, and it only restores 10%, so it is really low.

I estimate that the price would be between 100 and 110 points in the market.

The cost of this medicine is—100 points plus 1 point of True Qi!

Li Xia narrowed his eyes. If you calculate it this way, it seems that the hall doesn't leave any profit margin at all.

Even if you buy from the market, you only make less than 10 points of profit, which is roughly equivalent to the profit earned by consuming 1 point of true qi.

But this is on the premise that all drugs are successful and there are no failures!

If even one out of ten bottles fails, you will lose money.

interesting!

In other words, the temple has completely blocked the way to improve proficiency in alchemy by directly purchasing materials and making a profit.

That makes sense. Why would the hall leave such a loophole for you to exploit?

If such a loophole really existed, the apostle wouldn't be a fool!

Li Xia could understand why the hall did this; he even suspected that it was quoting itself a market price, which could change at any time.

But what about the prices on the market?

The prices of these two medicinal herbs are inflated.

Just as they were wondering, the sound of "howling" rang out again in the team channel:

"Your Highness, I just inquired and found that several major merchant guilds are buying this medicine. The purchase price is 5 points lower than the selling price, and they are buying without limit!"

Chamber of Commerce?

Li Xia breathed a sigh of relief and almost immediately understood the key point.

Unless you establish your own plantation, simply buying and selling materials is basically unprofitable.

However, the guild's pharmacists have enough materials to squander.

For ordinary pharmacists, setting up a plantation in their personal space involves significant upfront costs and a long cultivation period.

Unless the room is large enough and there is enough material for planting, you can't make a small profit.

Excluding this path, the only way to upgrade your alchemy skills is by buying materials.

The Chamber of Commerce profits from these five points of price difference!

As a result, it is very difficult for a wild alchemist to grow in skill.

They cannot compare to the pharmacists trained by the Chamber of Commerce, and can also extend to other secondary professions.

Those top-tier and second-tier chambers of commerce tacitly exploited the price difference to reap the benefits from wave after wave of apostles.

It blocked the path for unofficial deputy positions, or rather, left only a very narrow opening.

Li Xia shook his head. Compared with others, his advantage lay in the extremely fast recovery speed of his true qi.

They were even several times more numerous than other apostles, able to continuously buy materials and sell finished products.