Surveying the surroundings, no Bloodshadow Warriors were coming back around. They had returned to their regular patrol routes.

Nie Yan headed toward the tents up ahead. There were three meter wide paths between the tents. From time to time, a couple of Bloodshadow Warriors would pass by. It would be difficult to stay hidden here. He’d be very easy to notice if he relied on his regular stealth. He activated Pygmy Transformation and shrunk down to a third of his original size. Everything around him suddenly appeared much larger, as though he had been transported into a world of giants.

Nie Yan stuck close to the corners of the tents and carefully advanced forward.

Nie Yan crossed paths with many Bloodshadow Warriors, but none of them discovered him. After shuttling between the tents for who knows how long, he arrived at a fork in the path. Two groups of roughly 80 Bloodshadow Warriors each were walking over in his direction. With so many of them passing through, one of them was bound to discover him.

Nie Yan felt his anxiety rising. He had nowhere to hide. Glancing at a nearby tent, he saw the swaying silhouette of a person inside.

Nie Yan ducked into the tent, hiding behind the door flaps. Bloodshadow Warriors normally didn’t enter inside these tents, so he could lay low here for the time being.

Nie Yan glanced around the tent. It was quite spacious, covering an area of ten by ten meters. At the center were many cabinets stocked with all sorts of wonderful oddities—crystal bottles of various sizes filled with different coloured liquids, which were cloudy and hard to make out under the dim lighting. These cabinets were roughly as tall as two people, dividing the tent into several areas. Further in the back stood a table. It was cluttered with beakers, tubes, and other glassware. Most eye-catching was the alchemy stand, which held a flask with a bubbling blue liquid that appeared to be boiling over with white smoke.

This was clearly the workshop of an Alchemist.

At this moment, Nie Yan heard hurried footsteps coming in his direction. He quickly ducked behind a cabinet. Looking toward the source of the sound, he saw someone that was only half as tall as a normal person. He had a scraggly beard, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He wore ragged red robes dotted with holes and scorch marks from botched experiments. This short old man was probably the Bloodshadow Legion’s Alchemist. As he walked past Nie Yan, he was muttering something in Lochi, a minor and uncommon language foreign to Nie Yan.

The old Alchemist walked over to the table. It appeared he was about to concoct something.

Nie Yan inspected the old Alchemist with Transcendent Insight.

Alchemist Affleck (Protected): Level 90

Bloodshadow Legion Member: Special NPC

Health: 500/500

This was a special NPC. The system automatically took measures to protect NPC Alchemists at Master rank or higher. Any player that attacked them would suffer extremely severe penalties.

Nie Yan recalled attacking a protected NPC was a violation of the Atlanta continent’s Scholar Spirit Treaty, and the offender would be barred from using any magic items, potions, and other consumables. The treaty sought to protect any NPC who reached Master rank or higher in their respective profession.

This NPC was a member of the Bloodshadow Legion. Nie Yan didn’t dare to show himself easily. It would be troublesome if Alchemist Affleck became aware of his presence.

Nie Yan scanned his eyes around this messy Alchemist workshop, searching for anything of value.

Decent loot often appeared in these kinds of settings.

Most of the potions in the workshop weren’t labeled, making things difficult for Nie Yan who didn’t know the first thing about alchemy. His movements were very light as he searched around, not daring to make the slightest sound.

At this moment, a Bloodshadow Warrior in gold armour entered the workshop.

“Master Affleck, are the potions I requested ready?” the Bloodshadow Warrior asked. He was speaking in Ancient Common. His words were disjointed and hard to understand.

“Third cabinet, second shelf from the bottom,” Alchemist Affleck replied.

Their Ancient Common was far from fluent, barely passable for basic communication.

The Bloodshadow Warrior started walking over to the area where Nie Yan was hiding, which happened to be where Alchemist Affleck pointed him toward.

Nie Yan watched the Bloodshadow Warrior getting closer and closer. He estimated this fellow was at least an Elite. There was no way he was a match at his current level.

With nowhere left to run, Nie Yan looked up ahead and noticed some space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling of the tent. He shot out a web line from his left hand and with a leap swung himself on top.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel somewhat anxious having been forced into such a tight spot. The Bloodshadow Warrior appeared to sense something and started looking around. A trace of confusion surfaced on his face when he didn’t discover anything. However, he threw it to the back of his mind and headed to the third cabinet. After rummaging around the second shelf from the bottom, he found what he was looking for.

He bid Alchemist Affleck farewell and left the workshop.

Nie Yan was just about to jump down when he discovered some sheepskin scrolls resting on the top of the cabinet opposite to him. He didn’t know what they were, but they appeared ancient. Due to this place not being cleaned often, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on top of them.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled. The system usually hid treasure in difficult-to-find places. These several scrolls were certainly suspicious!

Nie Yan leaped over the three meter gap between the cabinets and safely reached the other side. He didn’t make the slightest sound on his landing.

He bent down and picked up the scrolls. He discovered they were alchemy recipes for the Everwinter Potion and Junior Vitality Potion.

Everwinter Potions were a type of potion that boosted Ice Magic by 30% for 30 seconds. It was classified as a high level potion and required an Advanced Alchemist to concoct.

However, the Everwinter Potion wasn’t widely known simply due to its Ice Magic amplification effect. This type of potion was also an exceptionally good tool for tackling the barrier of the Master Alchemist rank. The amount of skill proficiency an Advanced Alchemist could obtain from making an Everwinter Potion was somewhat more than ordinary high level potions. Not to mention the materials required were fairly easy to find. A Level 60 team could gather enough materials for several dozen potions on a single trip to the Bitter Winter Mountains. This was why Advanced Alchemists favoured the Everwinter Potion Recipe.

However, due to the rarity of Everwinter Potion Recipes, very few Advanced Alchemists could afford them.

Seeing this Everwinter Potion Recipe, Nie Yan’s immediate thought was that the Starry Night Potion Shop would soon have its first Master Alchemist!

This Everwinter Potion Recipe could allow an Advanced Alchemist to reach the Master rank within half a month!

As for the Junior Vitality Potion, it was a bit different from ordinary Health and Mana Potions. Junior Vitality Potions instantly restored health and mana. This was extremely beneficial for casters who ran low on both during battles. It took too much time to drink Health and Mana Potions individually. Drinking a single Junior Vitality Potion would restore 35% health and mana, allowing the caster to instantly regain some of their combat strength.

At later stages of the game, players would have upwards of 10,000 health and mana. Using a normal potion would only restore several hundred to one or two thousand mana or health. At that point it would be more cost effective to use Vitality Potions because the amount they healed was percentage based.

Junior Vitality Potions were classified as a Master-rank potion. Master Alchemists were generally very scarce and extremely costly.

Nie Yan recalled running the same Level 100 dungeon more than 20 times just to obtain a single Master Alchemy Recipe. The amount of gold earned from selling it allowed the entire party to raise the quality of their equipment by a step.

Junior Vitality Potions required a Master Alchemist to concoct. Intermediate and Advanced Vitality Potions probably required Grandmaster and Sage Alchemists respectively. Nie Yan did the calculations in his head. The production cost of a single Junior Vitality Potion was around 20 gold, and it could sell on the marketplace for roughly 50 gold.

Generally, Vitality Potions and ordinary Health and Mana Potions were lifesavers only to be used during crucial moments.

Nie Yan stored the two alchemy recipes in his bag, then checked on the Starry Night Potion Shop. Ever since Asskickers United had unified Calore, the number of Advanced Alchemists in the Starry Night Potion Shop had skyrocketed, having already reached more than 37. With future prospects so bright, even more Advanced Alchemists were flocking to join, rapidly expanding the Starry Night Potion Shop’s manpower. What was regretful was that they still didn’t have a single Master Alchemist. Nie Yan confirmed his decision. After returning, he would definitely cultivate a Master Alchemist. This was crucial for the Starry Night Potion Shop’s growth!