Chapter 1154
Chapter 1154 - 1140 Small Business
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8 min read
"This world is more valuable than expected,"
Lu Ping’an’s team had completed their first round of exploration.
Their vacation spent wandering around this city, familiarizing themselves with the local environment, also served as an investigation into the local society, development, demand, and market conditions.
Upon their return, the first task was to write "Travel Records," and everyone was forced to come up with three "development suggestions."
Although some suggestions were as trivial as "The local fish taste terrible, meow!", "But grilled and seasoned with sweet fruit, it’s passable, meow", and "We can go fishing together tomorrow, meow," most took the assignment seriously considering their salaries and bonuses.
This time, Lu Ping’an had brought his secretary, Catherine, and with her a clerical workgroup to handle all kinds of tedious tasks.
Once these "suggestions" and "travelogues" were filtered and reached Lu Ping’an’s hands, he skimmed through them and indeed found many useful suggestions and plans.
"I plan to set up a pharmaceutical factory to produce mental growth magic potions like ’Dragon of Eternal Sleep.’ I need a stable supply of raw materials..."
Previously, it was uncertain whether gold-mining would be profitable, but those selling tools to gold diggers were definitely making a profit... However, in this process, the biggest earnings undoubtedly went to businessmen who acquired mines at low costs, processed the raw material into finished goods, and sold them.
During the first round of exploration, most travelers mentioned one thing in their journals... they couldn’t afford the local special magic potions!
It was absurd that the originally extremely precious material "Spirit holy water" was actually sold quite cheaply, but turning it into a potion that enhanced spiritual power was nearly impossible locally!
"The main ingredient is cheap, but the auxiliary materials are simply unattainable, especially various demon plant materials, which are exorbitantly priced!"
At first glance, this might surprise some, but on further thought, it is perfectly logical.
The basic growth condition for the majority of magic plants is soil that corresponds to the level of contamination in the environment; here, even ordinary land is so scarce that cabbages are pricier than gold, so how could auxiliary materials required for magic potions be available.
Even if there were a few, they would surely be consumed locally... after all, most "otherworldly specialty materials" share one characteristic, which is that their efficacy is far superior in their own world compared to the foreign domain.
"Holy water" leaves its native land and arrives on Earth, still serving as a principal ingredient for magic potions, so imagine how effective it would be in its own world...
[Congratulations, Host, the ’Dragon Sleep’ effect is perfect, spiritual power has increased significantly, you have now reached Upper Silver in spiritual power, acquired the trait ’Spirit Sting,’ and your life perception abilities have been greatly enhanced...]
Lu Ping’an himself felt a transformation akin to being reborn... that’s right, he had tried a vial himself first.
He wasn’t lacking magic potion ingredients; with the cheap and effective spirit holy water available here and a high-level magic alchemist following him, why not make potions and consume them himself.
Seeing the significant improvement on the system panel, Lu Ping’an was exceptionally satisfied, and just this step alone might have made the trip worthwhile.
"It’s not fair, meow! Meow wants it too!"
And Lu Ping’an’s "favorite" cat immediately protested, to which Lu Ping’an did not indulge, popping a magic potion directly into its mouth... Since the cost of magic potions was so cheap, feeding them to the cat wasn’t a problem.
Seeing the clear demand, he casually made an investigation report, confirming that at least 70% of his members had checked the local magic potion situation, with not a single one actually buying... Too expensive, just too expensive.
Since there were no auxiliary materials locally, and directly consuming raw materials equated to a death wish, the only option was to ship the designated auxiliary materials via starcraft... This was probably why only a few magic potions appeared on the market, due to the high demand and high costs.
In this process, Lu Ping’an also noticed that although his employees took on the task of gathering intelligence, it was clear they were all initially motivated by their own "profits."
For him, this wasn’t a bad thing at all. Ambition is good, especially in a battlefield where the "weaker" would likely be naturally eliminated.
"Perhaps, we could get into the business of magic potions...."
After some discussion, Lu Ping’an chose to trust the suggestion and even rewarded the proposer with a bottle of Dragon Sleep potion.
This type of "X Sleep" potion, depending on the quality of the ingredients, would send the user into a comfortable dream state, and if they could complete a full cycle of "Eternal Sleep," they would gain a stable increase in spiritual power.
Dragon Sleep was obviously the highest grade of these potions.... In reality, the complementary materials Lu Ping’an could provide hardly matched this grade, but with the highest purity Spirit Holy Water from this place along with the impressive skills of the new alchemist in the courtyard, the third-grade "Tiger Sleep" potion’s effects were forcefully elevated to match those of the first-grade Dragon Sleep, with even a hint of surpassing it.
"Auxiliary materials are just tools to bring out the ’Holy Water’s’ effect, and the grade of Holy Water here is too high. Of course, our auxiliary materials are not bad either, they are quality goods blessed by the land here...."
As for Lu Ping’an’s own results, not only did he receive a rare substantial enhancement in spiritual power as a guaranteed effect, but he also awakened real combat skills for his spiritual power, and on top of that, got many invisible enhancements related to life perception. It was truly nourishing.
"Any professional, as long as they meet the requirements, could actually benefit from a bottle...."
But the reality he investigated was completely different.
Holy Water was cheap, but auxiliary materials were not available for purchase at all, and most professionals chose to bring Holy Water back to Earth and acquire auxiliary materials there to make magic potions.
Though the effects were noticeably worse, they were still usable.
Why not bring just enough auxiliary materials for personal use? There was a problem here. The effects of Holy Water would significantly diminish in the Exotic Realm, and similarly, the effects of Earth’s native demon plant materials would also be much reduced when brought over.
The end result might be a wasted effort....
"But the magic potions cultivated in our courtyard have one hundred percent efficacy when used here...."
After testing, Lu Ping’an’s "Gardener’s Holy Land" could indeed mass-produce the required magic potions at extremely low cost.... Even though the growth of high-order magic plants took time, the fertility of the courtyard soil was astonishingly high, keeping the cost consistently low.
With this, as long as there was a stable supply of Holy Water, it was possible to mass-produce high-grade "Dragon Sleep potions," which was a terrifying prospect.... Even though such magic potions often had better effects on first use and their effectiveness would dramatically decline subsequently, there was still a huge market demand in the entire world.
"It’s ineffective after three uses...."
Lu Ping’an bravely (and extravagantly) experimented on himself and reaped many benefits.
If he really could mass-produce these high-grade magic potions, bringing them back would undoubtedly allow him to preserve their special effects to the maximum extent possible.
And even if he sold them locally, he could exchange them for even more local resource gains.
Lu Ping’an himself hadn’t expected to strike it rich in the local market so quickly.
"...What do you think about this proposal? The natural purity of Holy Water declines once it’s produced. I need a stable and fresh large supply. As for the settlement, how about high-quality Dragon Sleep potions...."
So, Lu Ping’an naturally took that step.
You could sell Holy Water and make a bit of money, but if I directly acquire it and give you Dragon Sleep potions in return, we could both get rich together.
Robbing someone blind? This is called mutual benefit.
Hmm, Lu Ping’an wins twice, no doubt. Scoring free raw materials is one, and selling his low-cost magic potions at sky-high prices is the second.
— End of Chapter 1154 —