The next day, Mingwei wanted to see more things. His past lives were filled with craftsmen, makers of items, and runemasters. Now that he’s seen a taste of the cultivators, he wanted to see the items and resources of this world. So, he made a visit to his towns’ market street.

What he saw, blew his mind, and truly, humbled him.

Every world is different, and he was a fool to accept his past world’s norm as fact. This world was rich with materials, and here, even in his small city, peddlers sold raw materials that would normally be sold in auction houses back in his old world.

“Young master, rare to see you on this street. Something you want to get for your brother?” A merchant asked. He traded in a kind of tortoise shell, used to support cultivation.

“Young master, are you thinking of cultivating too? Here, buy some of our Greenduck Liver. It’s good and helps with Qi gathering!”

He was speechless, but thankfully, he took the body of a young 10-year old boy who didn’t know any better. Greenduck Liver was something 3 or 4-star cultivators used back in the old world for that extra boost during the 4-star barrier. Here, it’s something sold to anyone to kickstart their cultivation!

Maybe that’s why the cultivators’ Qi behaved differently! They consumed more materials, so the quality of their Qi is different.

“Oh, has it been... uh... processed?” Mingwei asked the seller, the seller’s eyes quickly brightened up to see that he took the bait. The seller quickly took it out from a rather simple box and displayed it.

And what he saw appalled him. The seller handled it so... casually. There was no care or concern that parts of the Greenduck Liver was wasted!

But wait. He has so many!

Mingwei felt like fainting. He felt like a poor man who’s been poor his entire life, and now he’s come to a world that treats it’s wealth so casually and just throws it around!

He just couldn’t take it. “Does the smell disturb you, young master? I can use something to cover it up!”

Mingwei immediately objected. Putting such a thing on a material would just spoil it even more!

The seller frowned. “So...”

“How much is it?” Mingwei wondered. He checked his pocket, he had 146 silver coins. A decent sum of money for a young lesser noble. Back in his world, he quickly calculated that Greenduck Liver would sell for perhaps 2,000 silver coins each. But this was a wealthy world, and so... the prices should be lower. Perhaps 100 silver?

“20 silver.”

Mingwei felt his entire past lives react in horror, sorrow and dismay. Still, a part of him mustered enough energy to ask. “Oh... how do you... erm... use it?”

“You boil it in a pot, drink the soup and eat the meat.” The seller smiled.

He felt like fainting, again. That’ll only extract at most, 50% of the effects of the Greenduck Liver! A proper Qi-cauldron, and extraction into a powder would maximise the effects! Why waste such a good material? Luckily, he’s a young child, so he quickly tried to fake it. “Oh... not in a cauldron?”

“Nah. Using a Qi-cauldron on cheap meat? It’s an absolute waste of cauldron fire-powder.” Cauldron fire-powder? Mingwei wondered what in the world is that? Cauldrons back in his old world were powered by Qi. That’s why they are called Qi-cauldrons, no? The stronger the Qi, the stronger the fire.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, you’ve never seen fire-powder?” The seller looked really puzzled.

“I’m not a cultivator...” Yet.

“Makes sense, makes sense.” The seller nodded. “You want the liver or not?”

“Uh... yes.” He paid 20 silver. The liver was packed in a simple wooden box. The seller told him to walk to one of the powder and formulation shops where he can find different grades of fire powders.

Again, Mingwei was impressed that there’s an item that did not exist in his world. Fire powder.

“Want a small demonstration?” The shopkeeper, a cultivator at 3 star, smiled. A small cauldron appeared, clearly a simple Qi-cauldron, made from a strange material that Mingwei didn’t recognise.

“Yeah... and what is it made of?”

The powder shopkeeper smiled, and he took one of the lowest grade Fire powder and sprinkled it around the cauldron. Instantly, it just burst into a yellow flame. Mingwei’s eyes immediately brightened in wonder.

“Such strong flames.” Mingwei felt the yellow flame’s intense heat.

“These are just the weakest and cheapest of the fire powder. Costs about 300 silver for one packet, good for 20 uses.” The shopkeeper said, and he poured some unknown materials in. “Well, I’m going to be making some Redfrog Healing powder now.”

Mingwei never heard of it, but from the scent, there’s clearly a strong herbal effect. Why use such a strong fire?

The shopkeeper stirred the cauldron with an ivory-colored spoon, and yellow flame burned and burned. The cauldron’s content turned a bright red color, the shopkeeper left it there for a good 5 minutes and then, he stirred again.

“Emm.. alright it’s done.” And the yellow flame faded away as he withdrew his Qi. He took another kind of powder and sprinkled it in, and instantly, the hot liquid hardened and cooled.

“What’s that!” Mingwei asked.

“Oh, this is the Clearspring Cooling Powder. We use it to quickly cool down the cauldron’s contents.” Again, such words just went against everything Mingwei knew about concocting pills and powders! But he was wise enough to know that his ways may be wrong.

The shopkeeper used some kind of tweezers, and poured the hardened content out. One dried, hardened reddish rock dropped out.

“Great. Good yield today.” The shopkeeper smiled. Mingwei wanted to smack himself, but he resisted. His past life would consider this yield a failure, for how much went into it. The shopkeeper took the red rock and put it into something resembling a pestle and mortar. He moved quickly, and with a bit of Qi, he quickly pounded the rock into a powder.

Mingwei just observed, and he understood what he did then. He also noticed the waste and burnt materials within the cauldron. “Can I look at the powder?”

The shopkeeper laughed. “Hmmm, can you pay?”

“Uh... 10 silver?”

“Deal.” The shopkeeper, with a small metal spoon, scooped one teaspoon of the powder, placed it on a small thin sheet of paper and passed it to Mingwei. “That’s 10 silver’s worth.” Tiny.

Mingwei observed it intently, smelling it, observing the color and all. The fire powder clearly improved the extraction effectiveness, whatever the material was, he could tell it locked in quite a bit of the material’s benefits.

It’s clearly a shortcut, standing in place of true skill of wielding the flames and controlling the cauldron’s contents. Something this world can afford, because of the presence of such convenient items such as fire powder and clearspring cooling powder. One of his past lives would’ve rated this a 4 out of 10, a 4 because the output was decent and quick, but the 6 lost marks because of all the waste.

“Do you like alchemy, young master?” The shopkeeper asked as he noticed Mingwei’s inspection of the powder.

“Oh... yes. I think it’s more interesting and varied than cultivation.”

“Ah. You’re a rare one then. Everyone else just wants to be the strongest cultivator in the entire world.”

“Well... it goes hand-in-hand, doesn’t it?” Mingwei said, and he placed a bit of the powder on his tongue. From the scent and smell, he was sure it wasn’t poisonous. It tasted rather bland, and he felt the effects of the Redfrog healing powder. Decent, nothing great. Something a 4 star cultivator should know how to make.

“Sadly, I don’t make enough to be able to afford an apprentice. You’d have to join the Sects, though life as a Sect alchemist is honestly not a high ranked position.”

Mingwei nodded. He understood that this world clearly respected martial prowess far more than alchemy. A casual stroll on market street was educational, this world was wealthy, so it’s cultivators focused more on cultivating than all these related parts. It was unlike his own, where cultivation resources were scarce.