'Small Poison Pill! How can I kill them?'
Su Qing had originally planned to poison them with food, but he was afraid the Small Poison Pill was too potent and would be discovered.
He needed to come up with a safe plan to leave Flood Village quickly after killing them.
'Do I have to make bows?'
Su Qing thought of his Synthesizer, which could create items like the First Layer Grass Cake.
He also remembered seeing plenty of sturdy vines when he went up the mountain before.
'Use some vines and thin branches to make nine simple bows, and then synthesize them?'
Although it was a big project, Su Qing felt it was a reliable plan.
'I need a solid plan for the Synthesizer, too.'
'I can't go up the mountain today. No, I have to try and see what happens when Synthesis reaches Level 1 tonight.'
After a moment of thought, Su Qing picked up a hoe from the small courtyard.
He was going out to clear some weeds.
He could synthesize more grass cakes, so why not?
He also grabbed a hatchet to take with him. If those three guys came looking for trouble, at least he wouldn't be completely defenseless.
And so, he left the village that afternoon and went to the riverbank, where he began clearing weeds nonstop.
Then he synthesized, and synthesized, and synthesized again.
[Synthesis successful: First Layer Grass Cake (Possesses a powerful satiating effect. An ordinary person who eats one cake will not feel hungry for a day.)]
[Synthesis Lv0 (10/100)]
...
[Synthesis successful: First Layer Grass Cake (Possesses a powerful satiating effect. An ordinary person who eats one cake will not feel hungry for a day.)]
[Synthesis Lv0 (23/100)]
...
[Synthesis Lv0 (58/100)]
[Synthesis Lv0 (69/100)]
...
...
[Synthesis Lv0 (88/100)]
"I can't go on. I'm dead tired."
Su Qing took the half-piece of a Great Replenishing Pill from his pocket and licked it.
A warm current flowed from his mouth to his stomach, then began to spread throughout his entire body.
Drenched in sweat, Su Qing saw the sun was about to set and quickly gathered his things to leave.
If you didn't return to the village after sunset, it was easy to run into something ominous.
Although he hadn't encountered any Demon Fiends since his rebirth, Su Qing didn't want to gamble on the odds of meeting one now.
As for the First Layer Grass Cakes, Su Qing wrapped them in his tattered shirt and hurried back to his home.
Fortunately, he didn't run into Zhang Mazi and his two cronies.
Back in his small courtyard, Su Qing used a Fire Stick to light the firewood.
The sight of the orange flames and the comforting warmth allowed him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
'Twelve more Synthesis experience points to go.'
Su Qing looked at the First Layer Grass Cakes wrapped in his shirt.
He remembered that it seemed he could gain Synthesis experience even from a failed synthesis.
Without a second thought, he took his twenty-four First Layer Grass Cakes and put them into the Synthesizer two by two.
[Synthesis failed]
[Synthesis Lv0 (89/100)]
...
[Synthesis failed]
[Synthesis Lv0 (90/100)]
...
...
[Synthesis Lv0 (99/100)]
...
[Synthesis failed]
[Synthesis Lv1 (0/200)]
[Level up. Gained Selectable Synthesis Talent +1, Synthesis Success Rate +1%]
——
——
[Synthesizer]
Host: Su Qing.
Synthesis Lv1 (0/200) [Synthesis Success Rate +1%] [Selectable Talent +1]
Items: Half a Great Replenishing Pill, Small Poison Pill x1, First Layer Grass Cake x65 (All synthesized items' effects can only be controlled by the Host.)
...
Su Qing considered the meaning of the text in the parentheses. It seemed to mean that he could control the items he synthesized.
In other words, Su Qing could control whether an item's effect was active or not.
For example, if someone else ate a First Layer Grass Cake, Su Qing could control that cake and disable its effect, preventing the person who ate it from feeling full.
This was definitely an excellent function.
Without hesitation, Su Qing focused his mind and opened the Selectable Synthesis Talent menu.
Countless options instantly appeared before him.
[Evolution: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will have its effect amplified tenfold.]
[Divinization: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will gain a special fivefold Divinization effect based on the original item.]
[Mutated: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will have a random state and be granted a random Mutated effect.]
[Demonization: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will gain a special fivefold Demonization effect based on the original item.]
...
[Standardization: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will possess a Rule-based Ability (Rule Ability is random, Rule strength is random).]
[Dimensionalization: +1% trigger chance. The synthesized item will possess a fantasy ability from another dimensional world.]
...
There was a dense wall of Synthesis Talents.
Right now, Su Qing could only select talents like Evolution and Divinization. The Standardization Synthesis Talent was grayed out. When he focused his mind on it, a message appeared.
[Standardization: Each 1% of synthesis probability costs 5 Selectable Talents.]
Five Selectable Talents.
With that many, he could choose a lower-tier talent and add a 5% probability instead.
Su Qing felt dizzy just looking at them all.
He didn't know which effect to choose.
'Evolution is great. It directly amplifies the synthesized item's effect tenfold. Like with the grass cakes, being full for one day would become being full for ten days.'
'But there's only a one percent chance.'
Su Qing felt a sense of unease. He knew it was impossible for him to max out every Synthesis Talent.
Even if the experience requirement increased by only 100 for each level,
maxing out a single talent would require reaching at least Hundred Level.
It was just too daunting.
Su Qing did a quick calculation. He would need to synthesize around five hundred thousand times to reach Hundred Level.
'The Mutated effect looks pretty good. A random state? What kind of effect would it have? I love random stuff.'
Su Qing knew that the effects granted by the Synthesizer's Talents were always positive; there would be no negative synthesis effects.
They only ever enhanced, never weakened. Logically speaking, even if he randomly got a curse effect, it would still count as a positive enhancement.
Still, the "random state" part made him really want to try it.
Seeing so many Synthesis Talents, Su Qing realized he had two paths he could take.
One was to focus all his points into a single talent; the other was to put one point into every talent.
Focusing his points would definitely be powerful in the late game, but his options would be limited early on. He wasn't sure if that was a viable strategy.
Putting one point into everything meant that every Synthesis Talent would have a one percent trigger chance.
If the probabilities didn't conflict, then with every synthesis, as long as he had enough talents, he should be able to trigger a random one, right?
As long as his luck wasn't terrible.
But what exactly did "+1% Synthesis Success Rate" mean?
Does that mean after reaching Hundred Level, he would have a one hundred percent synthesis success rate?
Would something like synthesizing two First Layer Grass Cakes always be successful?
If that were the case, he could probably do all sorts of crazy things even without the Synthesis Talents.
"I'll add a point to [Mutated]."
Instantly, the [Mutated] talent lit up.
It was only at one percent. Later, he could use Talent Points to increase the synthesis probability.
After adding the point, not much changed.
Su Qing wasn't about to run out and synthesize weeds in the middle of the night.
More importantly, synthesizing weeds would only grant a tiny bit of experience, and a 1% synthesis probability and Mutated probability were both too low.
He didn't want to waste the satiating grass cakes he had already synthesized.
...
The next day, Su Qing woke up early.
He quickly washed up, then left with a hoe and a hatchet.
He was going to wander around the nearby mountains.
He would stick to the foot of the mountains and synthesize some First Layer Grass Cakes along the way.
「At the foot of an unnamed mountain.」
Su Qing was delighted to see grass over a meter tall all around him, as well as plenty of vines hanging from the trees.
The hoe swung down.
THWACK~
A small clump of green grass was uprooted.
Su Qing gathered it all in his hands, and after filling all nine slots...
[Synthesis successful: First Layer Grass Cake (...)]