Chapter 16: Efficiency Comes First

"Wilson, what brings you here?"

The plump mage sat down by the alchemy table, gesturing, and a cup of strong tea floated over from a nearby coffee table. Once finished, it floated back to its original position.

Xia Zhou's gaze followed the floating tea cup, quietly throwing out the detection spell.

"Unidentified object detected, unable to obtain more detailed information due to low spirit and perception."

Wilson took out the Evil Old Man's 3 silver coins and broken crutch, briefly introduced Audrey and Farns, then narrated the information provided by Xia Zhou and Wilson's own deductions.

The plump mage picked up the silver coins, sniffed them, and shook his head, "The smell is too mixed, no distinct odor remains."

He placed the crutch on the alchemy table and after some operation with a wrench and screwdriver, took out a retracting rod from inside the crutch, which had some small gears and elongated parts on it.

The plump mage picked up a magnifying glass to inspect the retractable rod and then shook his head after a few seconds.

"The identification and origin of the alchemy product have been erased. Were there any obvious features around that pit?"

Xia Zhou felt the questioning gaze of Audrey and Farns, and said:

"About twenty or thirty meters south of the pit, there is a shallow grave that contains the bodies of two boys."

"Oh~ With bodies, leaving will be a lot easier. The smell of decay is strong. Even if it's eaten by animals, some smell would remain."

The plump mage returned to his previous position and, again, turned his back on everyone and fiddled with something in his sleeve, mumbling some almost inaudible words like talking to himself.

About half an hour later.

The plump mage excitedly shouted, "Found it! Let me see, there are three big charcoals in the pit and a poor guy killed by a glass bottle. Is this the place, kid?"

"That's correct."

"Not bad, escaping from such a place."

The plump mage turned to Xia Zhou, winked, and then continued to fiddle with the things in his hand.

"All the tools in the alchemy room were shattered... Hmm ...there's no clue on these 3 child corpses ...this old man... clean as a whistle, no identity emblem."

The plump mage scratched the back of his head, seeming to feel it's a bit tricky.

He hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath, "The smell in the underground alchemy room is better than I thought. The smell of decay is not so heavy..."

He constantly inhaled air through his nostrils, as if at the scene of the pit, carefully distinguishing the sources of various smells.

"Hehe, I found it. It was hidden in the waste."

The plump mage laughed mischievously, sniffed his hands, "Hmm~ High-grade Flame Enhancer Solution, no wonder it can cause an explosion. This thing is hard to obtain, even the raw materials are not cheap."

"All right~Now I know how to find these mice hiding in the pit."

The plump mage grinned, turned to Wilson and the other two and said:

"I was planning on chatting with you more, but now I have things to do. Wilson, please see these two friends out."

...

In the small reception room on the second floor of the castle.

Audrey and Xia Zhou were resting here, waiting for Wilson to return.

The value of the information provided by Xia Zhou is temporarily incalculable.

The identity of the Evil Old Man can be determined by tracking the source of the high-grade Flame Enhancer Solution.

If the investigation results show that there are many criminals like the Evil Old Man who are kidnapping children from villages and have a close relationship with the bandits who burn villages...

Then Xia Zhou would have made a great contribution.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Wilson entered the room with a bucket of scrolls.

"I have issued a bounty order to search for rural alchemists who kidnap children. Anyone who provides information can be rewarded by the Piyec Castle's military according to the importance of the information."

He handed the scroll to Audrey, "This is for you and Xia Zhou, I brought it directly. So you don't need to go to the announcement board again."

"Thank you, Wilson." Audrey nodded, spilled out the scrolls from the bucket, and took a look.

"When there is new information, I will let the messenger soldier notify you."

Wilson took out a money bag from his pocket and handed it to Xia Zhou:

"Kid, leave your crutch and those 3 silver coins with us. This is your deserved reward."

There were silver coins worth 20 silver coin in the bag.

Just enough to buy a potion that instantly restores 20 health points!

One cannot hesitate, he should buy on the way back as a backup.

...

Twenty days after they arrived at Piyec Castle.

[Level] LV.5

[Experience] 31/200

The circus show for the soldiers is approaching its end.

For the past ten days, Xia Zhou has been committed to earning XP at every moment.

He performs fire-breathing rigorously during the stage opening, and at other times he reads, trains in fire-breathing, grips the elastic ball, all for the sake of leveling up to get free attribute points as soon as possible.

In the evening.

Xia Zhou sat in the guest room, staring blankly at the book in front of him.

Ever since he returned to the room after dinner, he has been keeping this posture.

Last night, Audrey came here and told Xia Zhou, Bo Pai, and Sneck a piece of news that was neither good nor bad:

Farns has left the circus without saying goodbye. In the last show, Xia Zhou will officially take the stage to perform fire-breathing.

Bo Pai and Sneck's reactions were mixed.

They were both happy for the drug addict's departure from the team and worried about the impact on the circus's income and reputation.

The task of revitalizing Audrey's Circus Troupe fell squarely on Xia Zhou's shoulders.

This means that he will have to put 1 to 2 more free attribute points into vitality, so the fire he spits can be qualified for the show.

The target of reaching 10 points in spirit attribute seems even more distant now.

After he learned of Farns' departure yesterday, Xia Zhou left the inn, wandered around the city for two days, trying to find a more efficient way to gain XP.

He went into the stables to groom horses, helped farmers to carry shoulder poles, assisted peddlers in lifting wheelbarrows, repaired clothes in tailoring shops, took live chickens to the butcher shop to slaughter them himself...

He did all the jobs he could find in the city, except patrolling the streets with a weapon or asking Wilson to join the army.

As expected, only the XP gained from the fire-breathing performance was the most, and the most efficient.

Xia Zhou picked up a pen, wrote many numbers on the paper that only he understood, listed the unknowns and formulas for calculation.

Half an hour later, he set the paper on fire and watched it turn into ashes in the washbasin in the bathroom.

The result of the calculation was...

Xia Zhou felt like a fool... He should have calmed down and figured things out earlier.

The hacker's character template seemed to prioritize attributes, but it was the player's level that was the core.

The hacker clearly stated before that the higher the level, the more free attribute points one would gain upon leveling up.

In other words, the higher the efficiency of experience gain, the faster the acquisition speed of free attribute points.

Rather than obsessing over which attribute to add the free attribute points to, it would be better to do everything possible to increase the level-up speed.

If a single level up offered 2 or even more free attribute points, the attribute points wasted in the early stage to improve efficiency would be immediately recouped!

Xia Zhou focused his attention on the plus sign next to the [Vitality] attribute.

..

[Vitality] 5+1→6

[Health] 22+3→25

[Blood Return Speed]

[Basic Blood Recovery Rate]

1.11+0.18→1.29 points/hour

..

He mixed a bottle of the Fire-breathing Potion, using the intermediate Fire-breathing Potion as the base material.

"Audrey's Intermediate Mixed Fire-breathing Potion, blood is deducted at a rate of 7 points per hour when held in the mouth."

The relationship between the blood deduction rate indicated on the panel and the one during the performance was roughly 5:1.

A Blood Return Speed of 1.38 points/hour perfectly covered the Blood Reduction Speed during the performance.

Exhaling small flames (0.5 meters) was very easy, and could be sustained for several seconds.

If a few drops of the Flame Enhancer Solution were added to boost the power of the flame, maintaining a medium flame (1 meter) for around 10 seconds would also be possible.

Xia Zhou picked up the potion bottle and torch and went to the backyard of the inn for a try.

With a higher Blood Return Speed, the self-healing effect of the [Immortal Body] became more noticeable.

Exhaling flames briefly did not cause throat discomfort.

The success rate of producing a medium flame reached 100%.

Ah... why didn't I realize this earlier?

Xia Zhou smacked his forehead, his face filled with regret.

If he had raised the vitality points earlier, the appeal of the Fire-breathing Performance could have been greatly enhanced. The experience he could have gained over the past dozen or so days would definitely have exceeded 31 points!

Why did he agonize over how to allocate points?

The efficiency of gaining experience was of utmost importance.

"Hacker, add it for me!" Xia Zhou shouted in his heart, adding the remaining 2 free attribute points all to vitality.

..

[Vitality] 6+2→8

[Health] 25+1+2→28

[Blood Return Speed]

[Basic Blood Recovery Rate]

1.29+0.33→1.62 points/hour

..

A Blood Return Speed of 2.09 points/hour corresponded to a Panel Blood Deduction of 10 points/hour formulated by the Fire-breathing Potion.

Xia Zhou added 3 drops of the Flame Enhancer Solution to the intermediate mixed Fire-breathing Potion.

The flame spit out in an instant reached a length of around 1.6 meters, and with a little effort, it became a strong flame (at least 2 meters). He could easily maintain a strong flame for 5 seconds.

..

[Real-time Blood Recovery Speed]

1.62-16→-14.38 points/hour

[Average Health Recovery Speed]

1.62-1.33→0.29 points/hour

..

Xia Zhou returned to his room, prepared 2 bottles of minor potions for pre-show warm-ups, 2 bottles of intermediate potions for the start of the show, 1 bottle of additive-loaded intermediate potion for the mood-building stage, and 1 of additive-loaded potent potion for the high/climax stage of the performance.

He put the Fire-breathing Potion in his bag and brought it with him, holding a torch in his hand, going to the pointed tent, and changed into the Fire Breathing Performance special harness pants left by Farns.

"Huh~"

"Huh!!"

"Huh~~"

All by himself, Xia Zhou rehearsed on the performance stage, smiling brilliantly at the empty auditorium as if it were filled with an audience cheering for him.

With the 6 bottles of mixed Fire-breathing Potion, he continued to exhale flames non-stop for a full 10 minutes before he used all of them up.

..

[Health]

24/28 (Mildly Poisoned)

[Average Health Recovery Speed]

-2.2 points/hour

..

This was the limit intensity for Xia Zhou's Fire-breathing Performance.

If he exhaled forcefully, the pain in his mouth would affect the smoothness of the water-spitting. If he wasn't careful, he might fail to breathe fire, or even ingest the potion accidentally, entering a state of poisoning...

After stopping exhaling fire, the [Average Health Recovery Speed] on Xia Zhou's character template was rebalancing. The stabbing sensation in his mouth was slowly disappearing.

The Fire-breathing Performance backed by high vitality, besides the slight poisoning causing blood loss, had no other side effects.

In contrast, Farns would need a painkiller to suppress the discomfort in his mouth during continuous Fire-breathing Performances at high intensity.

Which was superior and which was inferior, it was clear at a glance.

Vitality and Fire-breathing, they were really a perfect match.

Xia Zhou spread his arms wide, immersing himself in the air tinged with the scent of burned potions.

The white smoke caused by the flames twisted and danced around him, almost as if they were praising his excellent performance.