Violet lightning flashed back into the compound not long after. Moze reappeared before Feixiao and reported crisply, "General Jing Yuan, Master Diviner Fu Xuan, and Master Artisan Gongshu have been invited and are on their way."
No sooner had he spoken than the sound of synchronized footsteps echoed through the hall. Two men and one woman entered in composed unison.
Jing Yuan spoke first, his tone calm yet curious. "General Feixiao, to summon all of us with such urgency—could it be that another golden-grade Curio has appeared?"
He was almost used to this by now.
Over the past few days, that little shop had sold one shocking Curio after another—[Imagine Breaker], capable of nullifying Path-based powers; [Zafkiel's Sixth Bullet – Vav], that bent time itself; [Samsara Elixir], which erased all ailments and multiplied strength tenfold; and even lower-tier items like the [Digi-Egg], whose potential was endless.
The surprises had been many, but the burden on his shoulders had grown noticeably lighter.
He was confident that even if another Emanator-level powerhouse beyond conventional measure appeared on the Xianzhou, he would not so much as flinch.
"General Feixiao," greeted Fu Xuan and Gongshu from either side, bowing respectfully.
Feixiao waved a hand dismissively. "Enough. This isn't an official meeting—no need for all that formality."
She offered an apologetic smile. "It was a sudden matter; I had to summon you immediately. I hope this didn't interfere with your Digital World project?"
"Not in the slightest." Jing Yuan chuckled. "Lady Herta of the Genius Society is quite independent—insisted on touring the Curio Trash Can Shop first and refused our escort. Said having a group of officials trailing her would make it feel like an inspection, not an outing. So, we're free for once."
"Good," Feixiao said with a nod of relief.
Then she turned toward her aide, voice ringing clearly through the hall. "Jiaoqiu—everyone's here. Begin your presentation."
Jiaoqiu placed a bouquet of strangely fragrant flowers into a vase freshly taken from the storeroom, setting it at the center of the table.
With his usual pleasant smile, he gestured. "Please, everyone—take your seats."
The guests complied, sitting around the table. From Feixiao's tone, they had already gathered that this particular Curio belonged to her aide-de-camp.
From his sleeve, Jiaoqiu produced three slender test tubes and set them in an empty chopstick holder.
"My preparations were a bit rushed—please forgive the informality," he said lightly, then picked up the first vial. "This one is a potent healing reagent. No matter how grievous the injury—so long as a breath remains—it immediately removes all pain and restores the user's Path power to full capacity. On the battlefield, such an item guarantees victory."
Fu Xuan propped her chin on one hand, recalling aloud, "I remember a blue-grade Curio called [Purple Spirit Pill] that could achieve the same effect."
"Correct," Jiaoqiu nodded. "This elixir and the [Purple Spirit Pill] share the same root—consider them siblings."
"I see. But… that's not exactly earth-shattering, is it?" Gongshu scratched the back of his head.
After all, that was merely a blue-grade Curio. Was it really worth such fanfare?
Even the Alchemy Commission could craft such instant-recovery pills—though the process was complex, the materials rare, and the output minimal.
Jiaoqiu smacked his forehead with a laugh. "Ah, I nearly forgot to mention—earlier today, I opened a trash can and received a purple-grade Memory Bubble. Its owner was none other than the Spirit Butterfly Alchemist—a master not only of power but of medicine. Inspired by her profound understanding of pharmacology, I created these three reagents."
Then he added with deliberate calm, "And, these can all be mass-produced. I could even establish a training course—teach every alchemist of the Alchemy Commission how to make them."
The words dropped like thunder.
Moments ago, everyone had been composed—now, their hearts surged like a storm-tossed sea.
Mass-producing blue-grade Curios?
The realization struck them all at once.
They exchanged stunned looks, none able to immediately respond.
An ordinary person might shrug—thinking, "Aren't those just worth a million Credits each? You can just buy them from the shop."
But they knew better. Curios were not some mass-market trinkets one could simply purchase.
Without Sylvester's little shop, most people in the galaxy would never even see one, let alone afford to buy it.
And now, someone claimed they could be produced at scale? Perhaps not as varied as the trash can shop's inventory—but the implications… the sheer profit… were impossible to ignore.
Fu Xuan immediately pressed, "Mr. Jiaoqiu, how costly are the ingredients for this elixir?"
All eyes turned to him.
They knew the Alchemy Commission could, in theory, refine such medicine already—the limitation had always been scale.
But if Jiaoqiu dared to say "mass-producible," then both the formula and its cost must have been dramatically reduced.
How cheap could it be?
Jing Yuan and Feixiao both thought the same thing: even if the production cost reached several hundred thousand Credits per dose, it would still be worthwhile. After all, Curios from the shop were one million Credits each—and Curios never went on bulk discount.
If anything, the rarer they were, the higher the price.
Jiaoqiu did some mental arithmetic, then frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm… Compared to an ordinary healing potion, it's still somewhat more expensive. The Xianzhou's budget would feel the strain if we were to issue one per soldier."
He crossed his fingers, eyes narrowing, and declared solemnly, "One hundred thousand Credits each."
"—Hhss!" Everyone drew in a sharp breath.
Gongshu couldn't help exclaiming, "That cheap?!"
Though an engineer, he wasn't ignorant of the alchemical arts.
A comparable healing pill from the Alchemy Commission cost tens of millions of Credits—and at interstellar auctions during wartime, such a pill could easily fetch hundreds of millions from outworld traders.
Yet this—an elixir with the same effects—cost only a hundred thousand Credits? One percent of the usual price?
That was practically a giveaway! About the price of a few dozen cups of Immortal's Delight or a few hundred skewers of Berrypheasant!
Jing Yuan was equally stunned. He knew the Xianzhou Luofu's finances better than anyone.
The standard equipment for an ordinary Cloud Knight costs far more than that.
And this—this was a battlefield miracle, capable of reversing the tide of war—priced like pocket change?!
If Jiaoqiu were to keep the formula to himself and open a private pharmaceutical company, the Alchemy Commission's alchemists might all end up unemployed!
Yet instead, he'd offered to teach them freely. That kind of selflessness was almost unheard of.
Meanwhile, both Feixiao and Fu Xuan found the same name surfacing in their minds—Sylvester, the shopkeeper of Exalting Sanctum's Curio Trash Can Shop.
To think, the man would sell such wondrous items so casually…
Was he truly not afraid of cutting off his own golden road?