Lin Qinghen quickly returned to the task interface and, as expected, he received Task Two.

[The Alchemist System is at your service. Congratulations on completing the beginner stage Task One; Task Two has been automatically assigned to you].

「Task Two: Alchemist, a money-burning profession.」

「Requirements: Sell products to achieve a personal disposable wealth of 100,000 Spirit Coins (Current amount: 0 Spirit Coins).」

「Reward: 2 points of Natural Affinity, 1/4 of a Detox Pill.」

「Wishing you a smooth task.」

For Lin Qinghen, Task Two was still packed with information. He began to understand the underlying philosophy behind the setup of the alchemist’s beginner stage, which focused on several critical aspects that alchemists needed to pay attention to during their training.

The system seemed like a career planner, quantifying the goals and processes, nudging him forward step by step. The line about the mutation rate of Round Wheat represented the raw materials, which was, of course, vital; besides raw materials, money was definitely high on the priority list for alchemists.

The description of [a money-burning profession] was spot on. Any talent requires repeated practice to grow, and the expensive raw materials for alchemy are consumables for alchemists.

Spirit Coins are the currency here. Because of the rich natural resources, some basic survival resources in the Spirit World are quite cheap. However, items imbued with Spirit Qi are a different story, especially those used for alchemy.

Take the Round Wheat that Lin Qinghen cultivates as an example. A regular basket of Round Wheat can be sold for just 10 Spirit Coins, but the price of mutated Round Wheat is calculated by “liang,” approximately 15 Spirit Coins per liang. A typical mutated Red Round Wheat plant can yield anywhere from 2 to 3 jin, which means a single plant could be worth over 300 Spirit Coins—equivalent to the value of a whole acre of regular Round Wheat.

And that’s just the cost of raw materials. Adding the base for the elixirs, even a low-star alchemist incurs considerable costs for producing a batch of pills, with expenses doubling as one climbs higher in rank.

Materials for a Yellow Rank Three Star pill can be managed for a few hundred Spirit Coins, but once you reach the Mysterious Level, just buying some raw materials can set you back tens of thousands at minimum. Although the profits after refining the pills are substantial, there’s always a failure rate during the refining process.

The higher the cultivation, the greater the risk of failure, especially during bottlenecks in rank breakthroughs. Many alchemists face a failure rate of over 95% when attempting to refine pills at higher tiers, leading to a significant waste of materials—and of course, that’s a lot of money down the drain.

From this perspective, the system he bound to was indeed a bit of a bug. While he might not have as rich a variety of pills to produce as others—currently, he could only make the most basic Homeostasis Powder—there was no failure rate involved in his refining process. That was a sweet deal.

However, the line about currently having 0 Spirit Coins hit home hard. It stung and was somewhat humiliating.

Before yesterday, Lin Qinghen had never imagined he could become an alchemist; he truly had no money and was just a broke guy.

Theoretically, as the young master of the Lin family, he should have a monthly allowance, akin to pocket money from home.

In reality, however, since crossing over, he hadn’t seen a single cent. His allowance must have stopped after his talent was tested at age three; he didn’t know if it was pocketed by someone else. In any case, given Lin Qinghen’s circumstances, he couldn’t exactly track down where the money had gone.

The Lin family didn’t care for him; they often acted as if he didn’t exist.

The reason Lin Qinghen hadn’t thought much about making money before was mainly that he rarely went out and had never considered saving up for a getaway.

In the Spirit World, where strength is revered, the outside wasn’t peaceful. This weakling wouldn’t even be able to escape Tong Tian Mansion, the city they were in. He worried about getting stabbed for no reason, not to mention that even some spirit plants and beasts could be aggressive; he could easily lose his life.

So even though he was poorly treated in the Lin family, at least his life was somewhat secure compared to what awaited outside. He planned to keep a low profile, hiding and living quietly, without any immediate plans to leave.

Under these living conditions, he managed his daily needs himself, and he didn’t need to spend any money while researching in his own field. Many materials could be provided by Yu Yinyin.

Thus, Lin Qinghen truly had not a single coin. He led a simple life, without any real needs to spend money.

For the other young masters of the Lin family, 100,000 Spirit Coins wouldn’t be a big deal—they could scrape together that amount easily. For Lin Qinghen, however, it was an astronomical sum that he couldn’t even touch.

Putting aside the pressure of the task to make him rich, the rewards of this task also held significant information.

Apart from the Natural Affinity he had seen before, Lin Qinghen felt that this attribute wasn’t just about enhancing pills. What drew his attention most was naturally the [1/4 of a Detox Pill].

Detox Pill? Who is it for?

Me?

And only a quarter at that, not the whole thing—what a crafty system.

Lin Qinghen complained internally, but he felt a bit more serious. He took off the soft leather mask he was wearing and touched his face.

Although he had gotten used to the ugly “birthmark” on his face, he always felt it was more than just a birthmark.

Lin Qinghen’s journey of cultivation had always been challenging. However, he had reviewed the materials, and even the most talentless people didn’t end up as weak as he was.

If Lin Qinghen spent a little longer on internal cultivation in a single day or exposed himself to extreme temperatures or overexerted himself, his bones would begin to ache, with the strongest sensation concentrated on his face. The birthmarks that covered his face would hurt the most, feeling like fire burning or needles stabbing.

So no matter how hard Lin Qinghen tried, his cultivation speed was just this slow.

Yu Yinyin had told him that if he reached the Mysterious Level, some obscure pills could help remove the scars and birthmarks on his face. However, Lin Qinghen’s Spirit Power was too low, and his physique was poor. He wouldn’t be able to handle the effects of those spirit medicines; some techniques would be even harder to endure. If he pushed it too far, he might just explode instead of healing his face.

Because of this, Yu Yinyin couldn’t use too many spirit techniques on him to determine what exactly the “birthmark” on his face was.

From the observations so far, it appeared that this birthmark was likely due to his mother’s instability during pregnancy, with chaotic energies and mixed Spirit Qi. His birthmark was actually a kind of “scar” or “deficiency” that came with his inherently poor talent.

The birthmark was an external issue, while the extremely poor talent was the internal cause, which explained why he would experience pain during excessive cultivation.

Given his current cultivation speed, Lin Qinghen knew it would be hard to ever gain enough strength to undergo any spirit technique testing.

In his memories, he recalled that before the age of three, the original owner of his body had a decent living standard and had undergone some gentle healing spirit techniques, which, of course, had no effect.

Even now that he had bound this system, his own talent hadn’t improved.

He had resigned himself to this reality; after all, one can’t expect to be perfect everywhere. Having one way to survive was already quite good.

However, if the Detox Pill from the system was meant for him, that would mean his birthmark and poor physique might indeed be as he had guessed—a result of poison.

That would imply it was a condition that could be cured.

Having missed out on over a decade of cultivation and lacking Essence, Lin Qinghen knew that even if he were cured, he probably wouldn’t become a powerful Spirit Master. But if he could truly detoxify, at least he’d have a normal body.

He couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.

As long as he worked hard enough, all this bad luck could be changed.

Life would gradually improve.

While Lin Qinghen was lost in thought, the half hour for making pills passed by quickly.

The little grass pattern on his wrist felt a bit warm, as if it were reminding him.

Lin Qinghen opened the interface and indeed saw the little elixir furnace in the top right corner flashing with golden light, indicating it was ready for collection.

He poked at it, and a plump wooden bottle appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

Lin Qinghen opened the bottle stopper, and the Homeostasis Powder inside was still warm, exuding a faint medicinal fragrance.

This basic elixir had a wide range of applications; it could be taken orally or ground into powder for external use. He counted—there were a total of 21 pills—and took one out to examine closely.

The system explained that the quality of the pills produced was influenced by the raw materials used.

Lin Qinghen had used his mutated Round Wheat, which was a strain he had improved. The Spirit Qi it contained was significantly higher than average, which should theoretically mean the Homeostasis Powder produced by the system would be of better quality than what was available in the market.

Going purely by his own senses, Lin Qinghen felt this particular pill indeed seemed to have a higher concentration of Spirit Qi than the Yellow Rank Three Star Homeostasis Powder prepared in the plantation.

However, he wasn’t an expert in assessing the concentration and rank of spirit plants and pills, and he had no instruments nearby. He needed to test the quality.

With his weak body, Lin Qinghen wasn’t foolish enough to cut himself to test the pill—he had caught a chicken in the garden.

The result was delightful; the unfortunate chicken was still lively, looking even more spirited than before.

If this pill’s quality checked out, it was a clear path to wealth.

Although 100,000 Spirit Coins seemed like a big number, Lin Qinghen thought about it: he could plant Round Wheat himself, and he had his improved agricultural machinery nearby. He could manage the cultivation of the raw materials alone.

He couldn’t keep asking Yu Yinyin for low-level elixir bases; after all, this wasn’t an elixir shop. However, these items were commonly found in the market, and once he sold the elixirs and made some money, he could easily afford this cost.

Compared to other alchemists, he had already cut down on many risks and expenses. If he worked a bit harder, making this money shouldn’t be difficult.

Thus, Lin Qinghen had a busy day ahead.

He strictly laid out a plan for himself, organized his previous research results, and started large-scale breeding with the new Round Wheat variety, not finishing until nightfall.

Taking advantage of the late hour, Lin Qinghen ran over to Yu Yinyin’s place, greeted his Master, and went to the warehouse to gather the remaining ten or so elixir bases he needed.

Yu Yinyin still wore that indifferent expression, lounging on her daybed while puffing on her long pipe. No matter what Lin Qinghen said to her, she just lifted her eyes a bit and let him be.

Using up his existing materials to produce the Homeostasis Powder would take nine and a half hours, meaning he could collect it the next morning.

After wrapping up all this, he finally returned to his little courtyard.

It seemed that Lin Shushu’s return had indeed affected Lin Fei significantly. He hadn’t come around to find trouble with Lin Qinghen for the past couple of days, and his courtyard remained intact, unlike before when it had been vandalized out of frustration for not finding him.

Good things seemed to be piling up lately!

Now back at his courtyard, Lin Qinghen didn’t just want to sleep. He found a ladder and climbed up to the wall, tossing a small stone into the neighboring courtyard.

The neighboring yard was where the laborers lived; to be precise, this remote area was where the servants resided, and Lin Qinghen had been sent here from the main household.

Before long, someone came out to check the noise.

“Young Master Qinghen!” It was Shi Qi who came out, waving excitedly when he saw him. “I heard you fell; are you better now?”

“Much better!” Lin Qinghen cupped his hands around his mouth to respond. “Shi Qi, I want to go out tomorrow to buy some things in the city; will you come with me?”

The Lin family wasn’t strict about security, so the people inside could come and go freely. Despite his poor circumstances, Lin Qinghen still had a Lin family waist token, which served as a kind of identification. He just had to show it to the guards when coming and going.

However, this place was too large, and Lin Qinghen had no transportation, so he needed someone to help him.

Shi Qi was young and did the kind of dirty work nobody else wanted in the plantation. One of his main tasks was driving the garbage truck that left the plantation every three days.

A truck was still a vehicle, so it would be enough for him to give Lin Qinghen a ride.

He planned to wait for the first batch of Homeostasis Powder to come out tomorrow, then he could take it along to check the market conditions.

He realized he hadn’t been out of the Lin family for several years.

“Sure,” Shi Qi agreed enthusiastically, his personality straightforward, not asking too many questions. “I’ll call you when we leave tomorrow!”