"Hmm…?"
When Ryan groggily woke up, he opened his eyes to find himself back in his own cave dwelling.
"You're awake? You child, how many times has this master told you not to undergo the lightning tribulation, not to undergo the lightning tribulation? Yet you never listen, getting struck by lightning every time. You're not even a lightning-attribute, so what's the point of being struck every day? If you keep this up, this master will send you to Inazuma one day…"
As Ryan was in a daze, Cloud Retainer's head poked over from the side, looking down at Ryan lying on the bed and grumbling with dissatisfaction.
"Master, it's a bit scary when you look at me with your bird head like that…"
Looking at the condescending crane head, Ryan clutched the quilt on his body, covering half his head, leaving only his eyes and above exposed, and spoke weakly.
"Hm?"
"Ahem, well… Master, where's my elixir?"
Hearing Cloud Retainer's displeased voice, Ryan quickly changed the subject and sat up from the bed, searching for his elixir.
"There, over there."
Because Ryan sat up and Cloud Retainer had to retract her head, she took a step back before raising her wing to point at the table in the cave.
Ryan immediately looked over and indeed saw an elixir quietly floating on the table, its surface exuding a misty aura and colorful brilliance.
[Growth Pill (1-star · Rainbow): After consumption, rapidly increases height by three centimeters, and can continue to grow throughout the rest of one's life, accumulating a maximum increase of seven centimeters.]
Having already been appraised, the effects of this elixir appeared in Ryan's mind.
"Since he's awake, I'll take my leave first."
Just as Ryan learned the attributes of the Growth Pill after it had passed the lightning tribulation, a young man's voice suddenly came from the side.
Ryan turned his head to look and found a young man with dark green hair. He was standing near the exit of Ryan's cave dwelling, looking out at the mountains of Jueyun Karst, so Ryan hadn't noticed him the moment he woke up.
"Vanquisher of Evil!"
Ryan immediately recognized this young man, for although he did not live in Jueyun Karst, he was one of Liyue's Adepti, Vanquisher of Evil Xiao.
"If Vanquisher of Evil hadn't saved you, you might have been struck by lightning a few more times. Hurry up and thank him."
Cloud Retainer tapped Ryan's head with her wing, reminding him.
"No need. I have matters to attend to and must depart first."
Xiao came back to his senses, shook his head after hearing Cloud Retainer's words, and then prepared to leave.
Seeing this, Ryan immediately leaped from the bed, grabbed the floating elixir on the table, and agilely darted in front of Xiao.
"You came just in time, Vanquisher of Evil! This is the elixir I prepared for you!"
Ryan blocked Xiao, who was about to leave, and presented the elixir to him with both hands.
"An elixir prepared for me? But I don't seem to have any need for an elixir."
Xiao did not take the elixir, but instead stroked his chin, speaking with some confusion.
"But if you eat this elixir, you can slowly grow seven centimeters taller!"
Ryan explained the elixir's effects to Xiao.
In fact, he had been researching elixirs that could increase height for some time, but he hadn't expected to accidentally refine one today.
Xiao: "…"
Xiao fell silent, while Ryan twitched the fox ears on his head.
Even without counting the height of his fox ears, Ryan was still a bit taller than the young Adeptus in front of him.
Finally, Xiao accepted the elixir, thanked Ryan, and then vanished.
With Ryan's eyesight, he couldn't even tell how he disappeared.
"You child, you're quite good at charming people."
After Xiao left, Cloud Retainer couldn't help but touch Ryan's head and ears with her wing again.
After years of companionship, she had long grown accustomed to doing this.
Ryan had only gained sentience about 30 years ago, so she hadn't managed to break this habit, always subconsciously treating Ryan as a child… "Not at all, Master. Actually, I didn't even know what kind of elixir I would refine."
Ryan spread his hands with an innocent expression.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that, but… Ryan, do you have an elixir that makes feathers shinier?"
"Ahem, this master is so worried about you, child, that her feathers are almost falling out. I can't neglect their care."
Then Cloud Retainer couldn't help but ask tentatively, and after asking, she even explained herself… "An elixir for shiny feathers…?"
After Cloud Retainer left in disappointment, Ryan couldn't help but scratch his head, then walked back to the bed and picked up the notebook on the nightstand, flipping through it.
Ryan was born with three special abilities, one of which was the ability to refine any material into an elixir.
As long as the materials were special enough, the elixir's effects would also be special enough, but this also meant that even if he followed someone else's elixir recipe exactly, the refined elixir's effects would be completely different from theirs.
If Ryan followed someone else's recipe for a healing elixir, he might, after appraisal, find that he had refined a hallucinogenic elixir, largely because a certain pain-relieving herb in the healing elixir's ingredients was quite rare.
Therefore, in his alchemy career, he could only record the effects of the elixirs he refined using different combinations of materials, eventually forming this Grand Pill Compendium, which was only useful to him.
If another person were to follow his recipes, it would be absolutely impossible to refine normal elixirs.
After all, figuring out how to mix Fontaine macaroni with concrete #42, dip it in Inazuma nuclear wastewater, blend it with Natlan liquid Phlogiston, and then roll it into an elixir was a challenge.
"I do have a recipe for a hair growth elixir… uh, but I remember it grows human hair. No matter what animal eats it, it will grow human hair…"
After searching through the Grand Pill Compendium in his hand for a while, Ryan finally found a recipe that was somewhat close to the request, but looking at the effects he had recorded, he couldn't help but shrink his neck and shiver.
If he remembered correctly, the Slime that first tasted the elixir directly grew a full head of flowing black "beautiful hair."
However, because the hair was too dense and too long, that Slime couldn't crawl forward on the ground and would lose its balance and roll when trying to jump.
So, one night, this "head" with human hair, constantly rolling on the ground, scared a person climbing the mountain to seek Adepti into a coma.
It is said that after descending the mountain, this person kept muttering like a madman, "Adepti are all fake," "Humans don't need heads," and "Foxes can talk."
After that, the remaining hair growth elixirs were destroyed by Ryan, but the recipe was still recorded in the Compendium.
"It seems there's no recipe for feather care. I'll have to start from scratch…"
Ryan closed the Grand Pill Compendium and muttered.
The specific effects of the elixirs he refined were quite random.
To obtain an elixir with a specific effect, he had to constantly experiment with materials that might have related medicinal properties.
However, to avoid plucking his own tail bald, Ryan decided to look for other materials first.
Thinking of this, Ryan picked up a handful of herbs he had just gathered yesterday from his cave dwelling and went out.
Jueyun Karst was vast. After leaving his cave dwelling, Ryan immediately transformed into his true form, a fox with snow-white fur and a few golden markings, lightly treading on the mountain mists and moving swiftly.
"Shenhe––"
As he swiftly traveled through the mountains, Ryan sensed a familiar presence and immediately called out, leaping down from a high place and landing in front of a waterfall in the mountains.
In front of the waterfall, a serene figure was meditating and cultivating.
This was a woman wearing a black, one-piece bodysuit, with a white top and red ropes tied at the shoulders.
Her demeanor was elegant, like an Adeptus, and her long, snow-white hair was braided behind her, tied tightly with a red rope connected to an ice-blue Vision.
"Senior Brother, why have you come?"
Hearing Ryan's call, the woman named Shenhe opened her eyes and looked curiously at Ryan, who was approaching.
Her eyes, which should have been silver-gray, seemed to be covered by a purple-blue gradient filter.
"Hehe~ Shenhe, have you eaten yet? Want some Pure Heart?"
Ryan didn't answer, but instead presented a large handful of Pure Heart to Shenhe with both hands.
These Pure Heart were the herbs he had taken from his cave dwelling. They could be used for alchemy or eaten, although he thought they didn't taste good.
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
Seeing the Pure Heart Ryan offered, Shenhe thanked him and took them, then skillfully picked up two flowers and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing them without caring why Ryan had suddenly come to find her.
Ryan saw this and moved closer, sitting cross-legged beside Shenhe.
The white noise of the waterfall behind them was not irritating; instead, it gave a sense of peace to the mind.
"Shenhe, your hair quality is very good. Can I have two strands of your hair?"
Turning his head to look at Shenhe's soft, white long hair, which was no less lustrous than his own fox fur, Ryan couldn't help but ask.
"If Senior Brother needs it, then cut it."
Shenhe responded indifferently while chewing on the Pure Heart…