Chapter 84: The Fourth Life Occupation

"Tianxing Grass ×5... Blood Spirit Flower ×1... Golden Fragrance ×2, hmm..." Watching the flickering colors and progress bar of the alchemy furnace, when the time came, Li Nianlong followed the records in the Alchemy Handbook and threw the last four-colored flower into the furnace.

The alchemy furnace shimmered with colorful mist and emitted a rumbling sound. Li Nianlong was extremely nervous: it must succeed, it must succeed, it must succeed!

One minute later, the alchemy furnace made a light ding sound, and what flew out was... um, a pot of residue.

"Alchemy failed. Host, don't be discouraged, try again!"

Li Nianlong OTZed on the spot. Materials worth over two hundred thousand, and half an hour of time, all gone just like that! Is there still any justice? Is there still any law? Li Nianlong wished he could bang his head against the wall and end it all.

Wiping away the tears of sadness, he gathered himself: "Let's try again!"

"Tianxing Grass ×5... Blood Spirit Flower ×1... Golden Fragrance ×2..."

Half an hour later...

The alchemy furnace shimmered with colorful mist and emitted a pleasant sound like wind chimes. A pill flashing with colorful light flew out of the furnace and landed in Li Nianlong's palm.

"Alchemy successful. Host obtains Attribute Pill 1, which will generate 1 remaining point upon consumption."

Ecstatic, Li Nianlong held the Attribute Pill in his hand, gently caressing it as if touching a lover's skin: Attribute Pill, you're so beautiful, I can't resist...

Opening his mouth wide, he tossed the Attribute Pill in, feeling a warm stream flow down his throat, instantly warming his body.

"Host consumes Attribute Pill 1, generating 1 remaining point."

Satisfied, truly satisfied. Despite wasting an hour of time, despite a failed batch of pills, despite spending half a million, Li Nianlong was still content. Trading time and money for attribute points, and with no risk at all, what could be more secure than this?

The most satisfying part? The time ratio between the Alchemy Room and reality was 10:1, providing Li Nianlong with a huge advantage in rapidly increasing his attributes.

"Let's get to work!" With the experience of success, Li Nianlong was full of energy. No need for further words, just one word—alchemy!

For the next several hours...

"Damn! Failed again, damn it!"

"Hahaha, success!"

"Oh my god!"

"It's really not easy!"

The system's 50% success rate was an iron law. The process of alchemy was a cycle of failure, success, failure, and success. Li Nianlong was almost numb to the unchanging rule, mechanically filling the alchemy furnace with herbs. When the time was up, either he discarded a pot of residue or harvested an Attribute Pill. Unconsciously, dawn broke.

"Alchemy successful. Host obtains Attribute Pill 1, which will generate 1 remaining point upon consumption."

Tossing the Attribute Pill into his mouth, Li Nianlong checked his remaining points—exactly 100, not more, not less, just 100.

Was it worth it to spend fifty million soft sister coins for 100 attribute points?

Li Nianlong thought it was very worth it, and it had to be worth it!

Without hesitation, he allocated all 100 attribute points to his True Qi. His True Qi immediately soared to 561 points, far surpassing the other three major attributes.

Now Li Nianlong finally understood what the dragonfly meant by finding a solution to his True Qi value after level 30. It was through continuous alchemy in the Alchemy Room, continuously consuming pills, and thus increasing his True Qi value. He also finally understood why the dragonfly said that maybe after level 30, one could potentially be invincible. With enough pills, becoming invincible was too simple.

But it burned a lot of money. Spending fifty million in one night, was there anyone more extravagant than him?

Opening his eyes, it was already half past seven in the morning. Li Nianlong had spent a hundred hours in the Alchemy Room last night, which translated to ten hours in reality.

"Overslept." Getting up, washing up, and getting dressed, when he walked downstairs, Nalan Ruyue had already prepared breakfast and was sitting alone at the table, lost in thought, with her chin resting on her hands.

Seeing Nalan Ruyue like this, Li Nianlong felt a bit sorry, and walked over with a hint of apology: "Morning, sorry for oversleeping."

Nalan Ruyue looked at Li Nianlong, smiled slightly, and gestured with her hands: Morning, it's okay.

Then she got up, uncovered the dishes on the table, revealing the steaming egg fried rice and fried chicken chunks, which emitted a tempting aroma. Li Nianlong's appetite was immediately whetted.

"No need to work, big brother can sleep in, it's okay."

Seeing Nalan Ruyue's gesture, Li Nianlong smiled slightly: "Yeah! No need to work, feeling a bit lax, sorry for making you wait."

Nalan Ruyue shook her head, scooped out some hot and sour soup from the thermos, sat face to face, and smiled, gesturing with her hands: It's a nice day today, shall we go fishing by the lake after breakfast?

Fishing was a great way to relax and unwind. When the Moon sisters were around, Nalan Ruyue had accompanied them to the lake a few times. After the Moon sisters left, the two fishing rods had been idle. Since Li Nianlong didn't have to work, and Nalan Ruyue wasn't the type to wander around aimlessly, fishing by the lake in the community was a good choice.

"Sure." Li Nianlong nodded. It had been a few months since he last went fishing. The last time was with Uncle Guan and Li Ying. It was in the spring, when the weather was warm and Li Ying's body had completely collapsed. In order to leave behind beautiful memories in her final days, Li Ying went out almost every day to enjoy the scenery. That time by the lake... Li Ying suddenly fainted, and never walked out of her room again. Two months later, she passed away.

The lakeside held unforgettable memories for Li Nianlong. After several months, when Nalan Ruyue suggested going fishing by the lake, memories resurfaced.

Mom, are you okay over there?

After breakfast, Nalan Ruyue cleaned up the dishes, changed into casual clothes, packed a basket of snacks and drinks, grabbed the fishing gear, and happily drove with Li Nianlong to the lakeside.

Just entering early autumn, although a recent autumn rain had lowered the temperature in Tianfu, the sunny days had raised it again. The temperature was a comfortable twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees Celsius.

There were many fishing enthusiasts near the community, and almost every retired old man would come to the lakeside to show off their skills from time to time. Before nine o'clock, there were already seven or eight old men sitting by the lake fishing. They were accompanied by family members of all ages

, perhaps their family or caregivers.

Li Nianlong was extremely familiar with the environment here, knowing where it was easier to catch big fish. The car drove along the lake to the east for more than three hundred meters before stopping. Li Nianlong and Nalan Ruyue got out of the car with their things.

The lakeside was covered with green grass. Nalan Ruyue specifically brought a blanket from home and spread it out about two feet square, placing the basket on top. She laid out the snacks and drinks. There was a row of willow trees by the lake, so there was no need for a parasol.

On the other side, Li Nianlong sat down on a folding chair, placed the fishing rod aside, picked up the sea rod, pinched the bait onto the fishing line, wrapped it around the hook bit by bit, then pinched it again to ensure the bait wouldn't easily fall off. With a beautiful cast, the hook flew dozens of meters into the lake with a splash.

After securing the sea rod on the stand, Li Nianlong turned to look at Nalan Ruyue and smiled: "Don't bother with those things anymore." (He handed her the fishing rod) "Come, give it a try."

Nalan Ruyue nodded with a smile, took the fishing rod, sat on the folding chair next to Li Nianlong, and with his help, baited the hook. No need to cast, just gently let the hook sink into the water. The float floated straight on the surface of the water, waiting patiently.

Sitting quietly together, with the autumn wind rising, ripples shimmering on the lake, birds chirping lightly, and a small boat passing by on the lake, it was truly a picturesque autumn scene.

Less than a minute later, the sea rod suddenly sank. Li Nianlong grabbed the rod and pulled hard, quickly reeling in the line. The fishing line swayed left and right, indicating that the hooked fish was struggling to break free from the hook's hold.

After a while, a large carp weighing more than two pounds broke through the water, its body struggling desperately in mid-air, but the hook was firmly embedded in its flesh, rendering its struggles futile.

With a carp in hand, Nalan Ruyue clapped her hands with joy, and Li Nianlong smiled slightly, tightly grasping the carp, removing the hook from its mouth, and tossing the carp into the fishing net, which was immersed in the water and anchored to the shore, preventing the carp from escaping.

Just as he finished all this, he heard the voice of the dragonfly in his mind: "Triggered life occupation—Fisherman. The host is currently a novice fisherman, with Strength +1, Speed +5, Intelligence +5."