Chapter 45: If You Don’t Dare to Drink, I Will

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: If You Don’t Dare to Drink, I Will

The sky was heavy and overcast, rain pouring down in torrents.

In the corridor of the stone house, a slender male, over 1.9 meters tall, leaned lazily against the stone wall. A thin layer of mist clung to his long silver hair. His amber eyes looked playfully at the little female standing opposite him.

Ophelia hadn’t expected him to refuse her request, and she was slightly stunned.

"Klein Clan Leader, I am truly in need of Crystal Stones. Feel free to state any conditions you have; everything is negotiable."

She would agree to his demands no matter how unreasonable they might be. Right now, her top priority was to level up and buy the crucial herbal medicine seed packs.

"Fine, I can give you the Green Crystal Stones, but for three Green Crystal Stones, I want 3,500 sacks of grain. Any kind will do." This was equivalent to 3,500 pounds.

Seeing Ophelia’s serious expression, Klein stopped teasing her and directly stated his conditions.

In the Beast World, Crystal Stones were calculated in base ten: ten Yellow Crystal Stones equaled one Green Crystal Stone. One Yellow Crystal Stone could be exchanged for 100 pounds of grain, and one Green Crystal Stone could be exchanged for 1,000 pounds.

"Alright, I agree!"

Grain was the one thing she lacked the least right now. As long as she had time, she could grow as much as he wanted.

Ophelia agreed, and Klein readily took out three Yellow Crystal Stones from the animal-skin pouch at his waist.

"You can just take your time and give me the grain after the rainy season ends. There’s no rush."

"Okay, thank you."

Ophelia accepted the three Yellow Crystal Stones and returned to her own stone house. She pulled the animal-skin curtain shut and leaned against the wall, pretending to sleep, but in reality, she had entered her spatial domain once again.

Tyler’s gaze remained fixed on Ophelia. He knew the Princess harbored a secret. But since the Princess didn’t want him to know, he would pretend he didn’t. All he needed to do was carefully keep her secret safe.

Ophelia exchanged the three Yellow Crystal Stones for 1,000,000 points, upgrading her farm space to Level 7.

[Farm Space: Level 7. Area: 400 square meters.]

[Farm Space upgraded: Unlocked herbal medicine seed packs. Bonus reward: Compendium of Materia Medica.]

[Points spent exceed 1,000,000. Special reward: Fertilizer packs.]

[Compendium of Materia Medica: A comprehensive collection of prescriptions for treating various ailments, as well as folk remedies for intractable diseases.]

[Fertilizer pack: Use in conjunction with an acceleration pack to speed up crop harvests. The longer the crop’s growing period, the more pronounced the effect; can bring crops to instant maturity.]

[Low-level fertilizer acceleration pack: 100 points, shortens growing time by 24 hours. Applicable area: 10 square meters.]

[Mid-level fertilizer acceleration pack: 300 points, shortens growing time by 72 hours. Applicable area: 10 square meters.]

[High-level fertilizer acceleration pack: 500 points, shortens growing time by 200 hours. Applicable area: 10 square meters.]

Ophelia looked at the book in her hands in pleasant surprise. Talk about exactly what the doctor ordered!

She began flipping through the Compendium of Materia Medica and found methods recorded for treating colds, which were subdivided into many specific types, ranging from dizziness to coughing and nasal congestion. Based on her clansmen’s symptoms, she found the most suitable prescription and began purchasing the herbs.

[Honeysuckle: 30 points. Level 1. Maturation time: 168 hours (7 days). Occupies 10 square meters. Yield: 20 pounds of honeysuckle.]

[Forsythia: 30 points. Level 1. Maturation time: 168 hours (7 days). Occupies 10 square meters. Yield: 20 pounds of forsythia.]

Wincing at the loss, she uprooted all the coconut trees she had just planted. Then, across the 400 square meters of land, she planted over a dozen types of Chinese herbal medicines from the prescription. However, the maturation time was seven days, and her clansmen couldn’t wait that long.

Ophelia checked her balance of over 200,000 points and decisively spent 20,000 points to buy forty high-level fertilizer acceleration packs.

[Remaining points: 186,250]

She used all forty fertilizer packs, and the 400 square meters of herbal medicine instantly matured.

Her consciousness returned to reality. She took all the herbal medicines out of her spatial domain and placed them into the fifty clay vats in the corner of her stone house. Then, avoiding the crowd, she slipped into the kitchen. Disregarding whether the herbs needed to be processed or sliced, she threw them all directly into the stone pot.

An hour later, once a faint herbal scent wafted from the stone pot, Ophelia watched as the clear water boiled down into a dark, murky medicinal decoction.

Using a wooden spoon, she scooped up a tiny amount, brought it to her lips, and took a gentle sip. The pitch-black liquid entered her mouth and coated her tongue. A wave of bitterness instantly spread through her entire body.

It was so bitter that her delicate face scrunched tightly together. The taste was right, though—it was exactly the same flavor as the traditional Chinese medicine her family used to force down her throat when she was little in her past life.

At the single males’ dormitory, Ophelia appeared carrying two bowls of herbal medicine.

"Ophelia, what is this?"

Grayson hadn’t left; instead, he had been trying to find a way to bring down the males’ fevers. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of a bitter scent that smelled very much like the herbs in his memory.

"This is an herbal medicine decoction. It’s said to reduce fevers."

"Really?" Grayson’s eyes lit up immediately. His family had been clan doctors for generations. He vaguely remembered his grandfather using certain "green grasses" to treat their clansmen when he was young. Unfortunately, his grandfather had passed away too early, and he hadn’t managed to learn the skill of using herbs to cure illnesses.

"It should be effective," Ophelia replied, not wanting to make any absolute guarantees.

Several other healthy males looked up at her, wondering if that dark, murky stuff could really be drunk and if it was poisonous.

"Can... can this really be drunk?"

"Is this going to poison us to death?"

"It smells terrible. I’m not drinking it; I’m afraid it’ll kill me." Even the few sick and feverish males didn’t dare to drink it.

Grayson also hesitated a little. He found it hard to believe that Ophelia could just casually whip up a fever-reducing "grass soup."

"I believe in Ophelia," Tyler said, walking in from outside. He strolled unhurriedly to her side to offer his support.

With contagious fevers breaking out in the tribe, a few elders couldn’t sit still any longer and had come to check on the situation. They happened to overhear this conversation.

"Ophelia is the Princess of the Golden Dragon Clan; she has no reason to harm everyone," Tyler continued. "Before, she said the ginger soup she made could prevent fevers, and she didn’t lie about that. It really did reduce the number of people falling ill."

But Tyler was Ophelia’s mate, so naturally, he listened to her in everything. Although he stood up to express his trust in her, Grayson and the various elders remained opposed.

"No, the risk is still too great. It’s one thing for the males, but the little females are delicate. What if this treatment harms them? We can’t afford to take that gamble."

"Maybe the ginger soup working before was just a coincidence."

"Exactly. Even if she is the Princess, we don’t dare put our lives in the hands of a single female."

"Then I will test it right now." Ali squeezed through the crowd, her small body stepping in front of Ophelia to shield her.

Because Ali had already been sick once at the very beginning, her immune system wasn’t very strong. Now that the males were sick, she had accidentally caught the infection as well and was currently running a fever. However, because she had consistently been drinking the ginger soup, her illness wasn’t as severe as the first time; she was merely suffering from a persistent low-grade fever.

When she had come out to find some ginger soup to drink, she had suddenly heard the commotion. Realizing that the members of the Golden Dragon Clan didn’t believe in Ophelia, she was the first to step forward.