Chapter 50: Paste

Eren’s disembodied soul floated through the Apothecary section of the Immortal Library of Ræzoň.

He pushed the glass case on the upper cabinet, springing it open. The bottles on the shelves were dusty. Opaque from mold and crust from the various microorganisms growing around the library.

The Skyward Herb scroll was found on the upper second row, five bottles from the right, its color the same bright yellow as the star-shaped leaf itself. He took out the bottle and uncorked it, revealing a weathered scroll inside.

Hidden within the Ræzoňic symbols written in the parchment were all the known details about the Skyward herb. Staring at it allowed Eren to immediately download that information straight into his mind.

Everything was revealed to him. Its growth rate, its historical evolution path, its temperamental attitude... it’s as if he became a farmer who’d spent their entire life studying and growing the Skyward Herb.

Amongst the knowledge he learned were its possible uses. It ranged from being used for occult mystic rituals to cooking delicious vegan dishes. But its most prominent use was for cultivation.

Processing the Skyward Herb into a near liquid consistency, added with some other ingredients, created the famous Physique Accelerant Paste.

Just like its name suggested, this paste boosted a cultivator’s physique with great effects. It enhanced the connection between the muscles, the mind, and the soul.

Dapping this material onto the skin would give the cultivator the equivalence of training for six months!

Of course, one must not misunderstand. It didn’t grow the muscles nor did it make the muscles stronger. It only increased the maturity of a cultivator’s physique.

This was perfect for Eren. His muscles grew fast thanks to the [Masochist’s Dream]. But only time and training would allow those muscles to mature.

The Physique Accelerant basically achieved the same result as that.

Meaning, if he used this paste, he’d be able open more of his meridians immediately!

Excitement burned at his heart. The good thing about this paste was that the other ingredients were of a common rarity. Very convenient to gather.

If the Skyward Herb could be found here in the tunnels, then Eren was almost a hundred percent sure that the other materials needed for the paste was also here.

Processing them would be his only hurdle. He didn’t have the necessary equipment to extract the essence of these materials efficiently.

If he were to use only his hands and crude tools, then he’d need to squeeze a lot of Skyward Herb leaves just to get a single drop of its essence. He’d need way more than what they used to cook the soup in those cauldrons.

Sierra hinted that examinees found these Skyward Herbs and other materials hidden amongst the myriad of tunnels here underground.

He couldn’t gather them all by himself. It would take too much time. He needed to get them through other means.

Inevitably, his eyes wandered near the cliffside kitchen area where two groups of people faced each other. One side had the chefs, the other a collection of examinees with bundles of Skyward Herbs strapped on their back.

The exchange was quick and efficient. The examinees dropped the bundle next to the chefs. And in exchange, the chefs compensated them with a handful of sunspores.

This was a market taking shape right in front of his eyes.

Examinees who were exhausted and injured would buy Skyward soup to recover their health. Those who could cook the Skyward soup sold their food in exchange for sunspores, allowing them to better prepare for challenging the tunnels. So on and so forth.

This cycle created an economy with sunspores at its front and center.

Meaning: one would be completely powerless without sunspores. They were needed for illumination, and for purchasing recovery food like the Skyward soup.

Eren would have to get a lot of sunspores if he were to purchase the needed Skyward Herbs for his concoction.

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"You guys were so unlucky! Not even a single sunspore? How did you manage?!"

Sierra was flabbergasted upon learning the scarcity of sunspores Eren and Celeste faced in their tunnel. Most of them examinees didn’t have that problem. They replenished their sunspores along the way.

"Don’t worry. We’re going on a mission soon to find some sunspores. You guys should join us," Sierra offered. "We have a friend who scouted an undiscovered tunnel with a lot of sunspores!"

"We’ll join," Celeste said enthusiastically, answering for Eren.

She challenged that sour look on his face. "What? You’ll need sunspores too."

He didn’t refute her. He didn’t reveal that he didn’t need to get more sunspores. He could have simply reimbued them with Ræzoň.

"Once we get enough sunspores, we can finally challenge the Burrows!" Sierra said excitedly.

"Burrows?"

"Do you guys see that area? Beyond the campfire there are hundreds upon hundreds of Burrows," Sierra replied. "That’s where the Concrete Blocks are located. At least, some of them. Others will just contain sunspores, Skyward Herbs, spring water, etc."

"Has anyone ever found a Concrete Block?" Eren asked.

"As of now: none," Sierra said despondently. "But many people have seen the Concrete Blocks. They were just... too hard to hard to get to safely. The obstacles and traps were way too dangerous to traverse, needing a lot of time and preparation. Which is why a lot of people are trying to get as much sunspores as possible."

Then, Sierra looked askance towards a group of examinees sitting on a log on the opposite side of the campfire. They didn’t look too good. Most of them were still bleeding.

"They tried to force their way through one of the Burrows. I didn’t know what happened, but not everyone among them came back.

I think everyone was a little rattled after that. So now, they’re just focused on getting sunspores."

"I wish I knew how to cook Skyward soup," said Bernadette. "I’d have hundreds of sunspores by now!"

Eren looked down at his pockets and took out a broken sunspore. It was completely devoid of light. Pallid and colorless.

People treated it as trash. But as the famous adage said: one man’s trash was another man’s treasure.