Ever since Gurney transmigrated half a year ago and learned about his Passive Farming System, he started to make plans as he informed Old Cohen that his mind had become much sharper recently. His speed of cultivating the Bone Essence Potion Mantra was also improving at a faster rate.
Thus, he wanted to cultivate even more supernatural books.
After Gurney displayed that his Bone Essence Potion Mantra had advanced rapidly, Old Cohen started to find books for Gurney.
In the last half a year, Old Cohen found two spellbooks that were rated ordinary, one incomplete supernatural-rated spellbook, as well as an ordinary-rated Knight Breathing Style one.
Using his Passive Farming System, he passively raised the ordinary spells, the incomplete supernatural spell, and the ordinary Knight Breathing Style.
This was why Gurney had powerful spells far beyond an Apprentice Spellcaster and a physique far stronger than an Apprentice Knight.
Gurney knew deeply about the huge difference between ordinary books and supernatural ones.
He did not possess any supernatural token, so he was not a true Transcendent.
However, he had the Passive Farming System, which allowed him to rapidly cultivate these spellbooks.
Thus, Gurney wanted to get some supernatural spells and supernatural Knight Breathing Styles to raise his own strength. After all, despite the peaceful facade of this world, it had no lack of dangerous undercurrents. Even Sugar Ruins City with good public security had danger lurking in it.
In fact, if any supernatural disaster occurred, without a certain level of strength, anyone involved would die for sure.
Even if Father Cohen had the avenues to get near these supernatural books, in order to purchase them, he would need a vast amount of gold pounds.
Thus, Gurney used his system to first cultivate and raise his supernatural book, Bone Essence Potion Mantra, to increase his ability to concoct and create potions.
Using his extremely high Pharmacist ability, he concocted those rare and expensive potions to sell for gold pounds.
After half a year, because of Gurney's rare low-tier, mid-tier, and high-tier potions, the sales in the store owned by Old Cohen, "Jim's Pharmacy", had risen by several times the original amount.
Today, Gurney was finally experiencing the gains and benefits of his increased wealth.
A complete supernatural book of the Knight Breathing Style!
Saying so, Old Cohen walked to the edge of a bookrack at the corner and took a black sealed box — a black thorn wooden box.
At the opening of the black thorn wooden box, there were runes sealing it. As something that contained a supernatural book, the box itself was also a supernatural item.
In the supernatural world, a supernatural item that was not considered high-tier would lose its supernatural attributes as time passed. Thus, it was necessary to store them in completely sealed containers.
This black thorn wooden box was made of black thorn wood, which was very suitable for storing supernatural items.
"This low-tier Knight Breathing Style emphasizes absorbing natural origin force and using it to refine the body. You will understand the exact situation after you establish the connection and accept it completely," explained Old Cohen in a low tone while handing the box to Gurney.
"A low-tier Knight Breathing Style can absorb natural energy to refine the body directly?" Gurney was slightly stunned.
He was a mage that was prepared to walk on the road of tankiness. Thus, Gurney had done a lot of research on body refinement.
He was clear of the general cultivation methods that different tiers of Knight Breathing Styles had.
Normally speaking, low-tier supernatural Knight Breathing Styles could increase the strength of the body through high-intensive training. Making the body stronger through training was something logical and feasible.
Mid-tier supernatural Knight Breathing Styles would start to use energy to refine the body. And this Knight Breathing Style that Gurney obtained, while low-tier, had the method of a mid-tier book!
So it was either extremely difficult to cultivate, or it had some sort of flaw that was unknown to others.
"By the time I accept and use this book, I will know why this book with mid-tier traits is only classified as low-tier." Gurney was feeling joy after obtaining a supernatural Knight Breathing Style.
Old Cohen spoke, "I still need a hundred and fifty essence healing potions. I've already made those apprentices complete the elementary processing of the materials for you."
"No problem, I will place the potions into the storage after I am done concocting them." Gurney nodded.
"Okay!" After this acknowledgment, Old Cohen turned around and left.
Concocting potions required intense concentration, as well as lasting stamina and endurance.
Old Cohen was too old now, so after giving the task to Gurney, he went back to rest.
When Old Cohen reached the other stairway of the Potion-Alchemy Secret Room, Gurney suddenly recalled something as he asked, "Has the thief who stole that batch of potions been caught yet?"
A week ago, a batch of potions that had been stored for a long time in the Potion-Alchemy Secret Room's storage went missing.
If not for Gurney's outstanding memory, nobody would have noticed the batch of potions going missing.
"We found him," replied Old Cohen as he continued to walk up the stairs without turning back. "It's that kid Sibol. He is a good kid… but… what a shame!" There was a slight sigh in his tone.
Old Cohen then disappeared into the shadows of the stairs, before the sound of shutting doors could be heard.
"Indeed, what a pity." Gurney also shook his head slightly.
In Jim's Pharmacy, other than Gurney who mostly concocted potions, there were also three Apprentice Pharmacists who helped him with the chores.
The fourteen-year-old boy named Sibol was an intelligent kid; he had some talent and was one of these apprentices.
Old Cohen was not an ordinary person. He had a deep background and held his principles firmly; his methods were quite ruthless as well.
After confirming that Sibol was the culprit, by now, he should have already been dealt with.
His corpse might have been thrown into the sewers, or he might be imprisoned in a certain person's laboratory for a supernatural experiment. He could even have had his blood extracted and heart removed. The heart transplant surgery, due to the development of supernatural studies, had become increasingly successful.
Those aristocratic transcendent knights who wanted stronger bodies and needed more hearts to supply them blood would definitely spend the gold pounds to get themselves a young and strong heart.
Gurney looked at his watch.
The time was 5:35 p.m.
"The gathering usually starts at 8:30 p.m. With three hours left, I can finish one hundred and fifty essence healing potions in one and a half hours, and I will still have ample time to learn that Knight Breathing Style."
While thinking about this, Gurney had already started making the essence healing potions.
…
Slightly over an hour later.
All of the materials and ingredients were turned into finished products.
In front of Gurney, there were 162 essence healing potions.
Different Pharmacists would have different ways of handling the materials, which would cause differences when extracting the potion contents.
Gurney, in terms of utilizing the materials, was undoubtedly an expert among experts in this world.
When using 150 potions-worth of materials, in the hands of normal Pharmacists, the quantity produced would vary from 145 to 155 potions. But in Gurney's hands, the quantity would vary from 160 to 165, and the potions made would have the best quality among potions of similar types.
He placed the 155 potions into the potion storage.
As for the extra seven potions, they went into Gurney's pocket.
After solving the matter of the potion, Gurney went back into his cultivation room.
…
In the dark and silent secret room.
Gurney sat cross-legged.
"Breathe in… Breathe out…"
A few minutes later, Gurney, who had calmed and focused his mind, opened his eyes.
"System!"
As Gurney willed, a blue screen appeared in front of his vision.
The square screen that glowed blue looked very realistic. The text was very clear, and he could even manipulate the system's interface directly with his mind.
Even though he could look at this system interface in his mind, Gurney still preferred to materialize it in front of him.
Looking at this Passive Farming System, there were two functions.
[Passive Farming] and [Special Encounter].
[Passive Farming] worked as follows. One had to first obtain or learn books. Next, they could place the cultivation book in a "passive-farming slot" to start gaining the experience points necessary to raise the book's level.
As long as he placed the book in the farming slot, the system would be able to cultivate non-stop for 24 hours a day; it could automatically break through and level up on its own.
There was no need for Gurney to interfere.
Furthermore, from the knowledge and comprehension obtained through passively farming the books to the proficiency and control of various spells he owned, as well as the elevation of his physical body from cultivating breathing styles — all would be perfectly applied to Gurney.
Everything that he obtained from passive farming would be the same as Gurney undergoing countless sessions of cultivation and training.
And… there were no side effects in doing so.
The cultivation of this incomplete supernatural spellbook would normally cause pain in the soul and could even make one see some illusions created by certain mysterious forces.
The training of certain Knight Breathing Styles would also expend a lot of stamina and energy, placing a burden on the body.
However, when the system underwent passive farming, Gurney would not suffer any of these side effects or negative drawbacks.
Other than this powerful [Passive Farming] function, [Special Encounter] was also very impressive.
In the supernatural world, there were bound to be rare and valuable supernatural items, especially when there were pioneering adventurers or adventurous groups exploring the wilderness plains.
In the current era, steampunk ships had started an era of sea voyages.
To a large extent, they were also searching for treasures and resources.
The function of this [Special Encounter] was to display those unknown opportunities and special encounters to Gurney within a certain limited range.
In one of Gurney's trips when exploring the wilderness mountains, he happened to trigger this [Special Encounter] function.
Because of that, he obtained the first fortuitous encounter of his life.
Gurney found a supernatural fruit, a "dragon-source fruit" that was three hundred years old.
Because of this dragon-source fruit, Gurney's body could now adapt to the ordinary Knight Breathing Style's cultivation after growing stronger rapidly in a short period of time.
Right now, at least in physique, Gurney could rival those average supernatural Shield Knights who emphasized training their physical body.
Along with the first [Passive Farming] function, the second one, [Special Encounter], had appeared later.
This made Gurney realize that it was likely his Passive Farming System had more than just two functions. It was likely that this system had more functions waiting for him to unlock.
After browsing the system's content, Gurney held up the black thorn wooden box.
"Even though the ordinary Knight Breathing Style has a good effect, compared to a genuine supernatural Knight Breathing Style, its upper limit is just too low. The upper limit of an ordinary one likely cannot even match the lower limit of a true supernatural Knight Breathing Style."
Thinking so, Gurney's gaze flickered with interest as he looked at this black thorn wooden box.