Chapter 31: Lays' Injury

  In fact, Ji Ran had always felt guilty towards Beike in his heart.

  Baker's curse was one he took for himself. If it wasn't for Baker's selfless rescue, the one who would be unable to move an inch now should have been him... Perhaps the curse itself would have directly killed him when he was extremely weak at that time.

  But now, he can't help Beck in any way. Lift the curse? Sorry, cooking doesn't provide such high-end abilities. Refine magic artifacts? Although possible, it's completely outweighed by Beck's lifesaving favor to him...

  His abilities couldn't rise any further, and Beck was no longer suited to be an adventurer. Unless he was willing to continue hunting low-level magical beasts in the low-level magical beast zone, which meant that he would soon part ways with Ban and Aileen... He wouldn't allow himself to become a burden on others.

  If possible, Ji Ran wanted to find a new way for Bai Ke to make a living. Now it seems that selling wine is actually not a bad choice. But this can't be casually told to Bai Ke, wait and see first. Otherwise, if Bai Ke misunderstands it as pitying him, it won't be good.

  Also, Uncle Leys' injury should be treated as soon as possible. On the road, I've already heard Leys describe his injuries, and with cooking skills, it's completely possible to treat them, it's just that the materials are insufficient now, and it takes a lot of time...

  Ji Ran was lost in thought over here, while Old Mack and Lais were chatting enthusiastically on the other side. It seemed that they had become old friends, with a deep affection for each other that wasn't ordinary. It was clear to see that Lais's mood relaxed a lot when facing Old Mack.

  "Haha, Miss Aileen, what do you think of my collection of ice wine? Should be top-notch stuff, right?" Old Mack was clearly getting a bit tipsy. Not just the ice wine, but a large barrel of beer had also been drunk almost to the bottom.

  "It's not bad, but it can't be considered the best." Irene took a sip of her iced wine, still looking unenthusiastic.

  "That's for sure, I couldn't even get the top-grade Ice Dew wine. I heard that even the elves' internal consumption isn't enough! The price of a barrel exceeds over a thousand gold coins, and even if I could get it, I wouldn't dare to bring it out to drink..." Old Mak didn't get angry after hearing this evaluation.

  Ji Ran was shocked when he heard it from the side. A barrel of top-grade Ice Dew wine is worth thousands of gold coins? Damn, this price is too outrageous... But thinking carefully, this thing is a specialty of the Elf tribe and is almost never sold outside, so the high price is normal. It's valuable because it's rare...

  Those famous and expensive red wines from the old world, a bottle would cost tens of thousands of dollars, no big deal. If exchanged for a barrel... one thousand gold coins, it's not an unacceptable price either.

  It seems that brewing wine by myself is quite promising. I used to brew and drink wine in the game before, although it's different from this Ice Dew Wine in terms of flavor, but the quality is absolutely not inferior. If I can brew a top-grade one, won't I get rich?

  Winemaking is indeed a thing of great interest!

  He's getting excited over here, and on the other side Old Mack is talking to Lays again.

  "Hey Lai, are you planning on going home to visit or what?"

  As soon as he said this, the whole table fell silent. Everyone else looked at Uncle Lais, and no one spoke.

  Lais heard this and let out a bitter laugh, tossing back a cup of whiskey: "Go back? What can I do if I go back? Marry some woman from another family for the sake of continuing the family line, have kids, help with the family business, and then live a dull life from now on? That's not the life I want!"

  Old Mack sighed, "Alas, you were also a genius of the Aire Empire back then. Who would have thought... never mind, let's not bring it up. If possible, I'll keep an eye out for any news that can help treat your injuries. It's just..."

  Lais waved his hand: "I know, to heal my injuries, the price is too high. Hehe, no one is willing to pay such a high price for me now..."

  The atmosphere at the wine table suddenly cooled down. Everyone knew about Lais's injury, but the difficulty of treating it was also the same. Lais's injury was too troublesome, involving the source of Dou Qi, and it was difficult to solve. When Lais was first injured, he had also sought out strong masters from the Holy Light Church to treat his injuries, but those experts could only suppress his injuries at best.

  "All I can do is all I can do. Maybe someone else can completely heal his wounds, but I can't."

  The archbishop of the Golden-tiered Sacred Light Church only left behind a single sentence. As a result, Lays, whose powers had greatly diminished, angrily ran away from home and became an ordinary adventurer.

  Looking at Lais' dejected expression, Ji Ran refrained from speaking. Initially, he had told Lais that he might be able to cure his injuries, which was an impulsive statement. After truly understanding the extent of Lais' injuries, although he still felt there was a chance, his confidence was no longer as great as before. Already regretting his previous impulsiveness, Ji Ran did not want to further raise Lais' hopes, lest he end up disappointing him even more.

  But he has made up his mind and is about to start treating Lays immediately!

  The atmosphere at the wine table was dull, and Old Mack naturally didn't drink as happily. After glancing at everyone's expression, he burst out laughing again.

  "Come on, come on, don't think about those annoying things! As long as you're alive, there's hope! The dwarf's principle is that no matter what time it is, good wine can't be wasted! There's not much of this Icewine left, if you keep this up, I'll drink it all by myself!"

  "Preposterous! We've finally won this ice wine with great difficulty, how can you drink it all by yourself!" Beck was the first to shout out loud, then immediately downed the half cup of wine in front of him, and then went to grab the wine barrel, pouring himself another cup...

  The atmosphere of this meal finally became lively again, and it wasn't until late at night that it was considered over. The group settled down in a small courtyard behind the tavern, and Beck was so drunk that he fell asleep as soon as he was helped into the house.

  Aileen took Lydia to sleep, but Lais didn't hurry to sleep, instead sat beside a stone table in the center of the courtyard, seemingly thinking about something.

  Ji Ran hadn't slept either. He hadn't drunk much wine, and the ice wine wasn't the kind that would get you drunk easily, so he was still sober now. Seeing Lais sitting in the courtyard, he also walked over.

  "Uncle Leis, what are you thinking about? Your injury... or your family?"

  "...... How come you're still awake? Me... ...both." Uncle Lais was surprised at first, then raised his head and looked at the starry sky.

  "...How did you get hurt back then, can you tell me?" Ji Ran's curiosity was burning fiercely - well, it seemed some people also called it the gossip fire - with an expectant look at Lays.

  Lai Shu's uncle smiled wryly: "...... You should have heard us say before, more than a decade ago, there was once a big war against the True God Cult."

  "Did you get hurt at that time?"

  Lais nodded: "That's right. Not only that, but I also lost the person I loved most in that battle... At that time, Old Mak was one of my teammates, and only the two of us survived. Otherwise, do you think Old Mak would have given you his token so easily? Among dwarves, Old Mak is a number one person. If his token falls into the wrong hands, it may cause no small loss to the dwarves."

  Ji Ran's face turned slightly red, it turned out that he was borrowing Uncle Leis' light... However, this is also not surprising, what virtue or ability does he have, to make the stubborn dwarf trust him with just one dish?

  "That year I was injured, disheartened and became a wandering adventurer. Old Mack also got tired of the life of fighting and killing, so he ran to this Pineview Town and opened an inn. All these years, although I've been wandering around, every year I would come to Blue Pine Forest and stay for a while."

  He nodded solemnly, full of base emotions...

  "So he knew about my past and had always wanted to encourage me to make a comeback. But making a comeback isn't that easy, is it? It's already not bad that I can maintain my current strength without declining further, wanting to take it a step further is simply impossible with this injury." Lays uncle looked dejected.

  Ji Ran could empathize with his emotions. Once a genius of the Ere Empire, he had now fallen to this state. Although still in the White Silver rank, such strength was no longer worthy of being called strong.

  "My injury, which I've told you about before, is a rift in the source of my Qi. No matter how much Qi I cultivate, it will always leak out from this gap. It's only because a strong Golden Rank cultivator helped me treat it that I'm not even weaker than an ordinary person now. In this situation, what do you expect me to do to regain my spirits?"

  Lai Shu's face was filled with a bitter smile. Although Ji Ran said he could help him heal his wounds, he didn't have much hope. The strong ones of the Golden Stage couldn't even heal their own injuries, how could Ji Ran possibly succeed? Even if his culinary alchemy had some extraordinary aspects, his age was still too young after all. And his strength was only at level two, how could he accomplish what the strong ones of the Golden Stage couldn't do?

  "Hey, Uncle Leis. I've never seen an injury like yours before. But the elder who taught me cooking back in my hometown once taught me a recipe that can cure chronic wounds caused by cultivation or injuries, especially internal ones. I don't know if it'll work on your wound, but trying won't hurt, right?"

  Ji Ran didn't pack a vote, but he also had considerable confidence in this dish.

  A cooking recipe from the "Journey to the West" brings a popular dish in the game, called "Gathering Yuan Supplementing Qi Soup".

  In that immortal game, players will enter a "walk fire into magic" state for various reasons. In this state, all player attributes will decrease, and skill casting may fail. Whether it's doing tasks or leveling up to gain experience points will be reduced, and life and mana values will also automatically decrease from time to time.

  The emergence of this state may be due to failure in Tribulation, repeated severe injuries, or being hit by a special skill during BOSS battles... In short, once this state is triggered, it will greatly affect combat effectiveness and leveling speed. It can be said that during the duration of this state, players are basically useless.

  To get rid of this state, there are many methods. For example, asking a senior fellow for help or taking heavenly treasures and earthly precious things. However, the simplest method is this "Gathering Yuan Supplementing Qi Decoction".

  Each serving of Yuan Supplementing Qi Decoction can temporarily relieve the player from the Walking Fire Entering Madness state. Taking multiple servings in a row can remove the Walking Fire Entering Madness state. Compared to doing tasks for the sect's seniors and searching for heavenly materials and treasures, this Yuan Supplementing Qi Decoction is quite a bargain.

  Ji Ran wants to help Uncle Leis with this dish.

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  Ji Miao, Zi Yue Da Shu, Ling Ming Tian Ya, Book Friend 140604145826470, Ordinary Student Party, Basement Prisoner (great name!).