"Of course, the medicinal herbs planted in this tranquil minor world nominally belong to our Jumang Daoist Academy. But, if we want to refine a batch of rank-3 or above elixirs, we first need to submit an alchemy application to the Drug Bureau, along with a list of required herbs."
"Once the Drug Bureau approves and stamps our application, we can then pick the medicinal herbs according to the list provided in their reply."
"Normally, we report a slightly higher number of herbs than needed in our application. If you have connections, they'll simply approve without checking. However, the applications from herb shops and non-academy alchemists would undergo a more meticulous review, and they make sure to eliminate any potential 'padding' in the listed herbs."
"So, as long as our alchemy process succeeds, we can always refine a few surplus herbs per furnace batch. Over time, these surpluses accumulate, and some elixirs that are not on the record can enter circulation."
