Chapter 178: A Wonderful Life

  For Nanalie, her recent life felt like a dream.

  Especially after signing the contract with the Northern Chamber of Commerce, the heaps of gold coins made Nanalie quite anxious. She even doubted more than once if she was dreaming.

  As a poor alchemist, Nanalie's biggest dream was to conduct all kinds of alchemical research without restrictions. Instead of considering what was cheap or easily avaible for every experiment, she even thought about using wild herbs to repce some alchemical ingredients just because they were free...

  Of course, those attempts all exploded. Naturally, if wild grass could repce alchemical materials, being an alchemist wouldn't be so costly.

  But now, Nanalie didn't have to worry about these problems.

  Her alchemy workshop had already signed a contract with the Northern Chamber of Commerce, granting them exclusive rights to use the greenhouse and slime fertilizer technologies. Additionally, due to the value of these technologies, Nanalie was promoted two levels, becoming a level-three alchemist.

  Not only could she now acquire alchemical materials she wanted from the Alchemist Association, but she could also obtain some rare and precious alchemical ingredients from the Northern Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, Mr. Fress from the Northern Chamber promised these materials would be sold at cost price, which was a pleasant surprise for Nanalie. Now, Nanalie was living the wonderful life she had always dreamed of, conducting alchemical research and experiments every day without worrying about starving or ending up homeless...

  Of course, she didn't forget who brought all this to her.

  "Knock knock."

  "Come in."

  Hearing the knock, Nanalie first shook the potion bottle in her hand. After confirming the solution inside was stable, she spoke up. Upon hearing her response, the previously closed door opened, and Alex walked in.

  "How's it going, Miss Nanalie?"

  "Ah, Mr. Ezio!"

  Seeing Alex walk in, Nanalie smiled happily, but she soon sighed dejectedly.

  "Sorry, there hasn't been much progress..."

  "Hard to find suitable materials?"

  "Yes... Some raw materials are hard to find good substitutes for, and those that I do manage to prepare always have various issues."

  As she spoke, Nanalie gnced at some rectangur wooden containers nearby. These containers held a liquid resembling fresh water, with a perforated wooden board on top where some crops were pnted. But these vegetables didn't look healthy. They were either drooping, wilting, or already dried out.

  "This is going to take a long time."

  Nanalie said with a hint of helplessness, and Alex nodded. He had indeed oversimplified things. Initially, Alex thought that with slime fertilizer, preparing nutrient solutions for soilless cultivation wouldn't be difficult. But during actual experiments, Alex realized it wasn't so straightforward.

  Indeed, slime fertilizer was as good as gold manure, accelerating the maturation of crops and making them grow better, but it was ultimately just an auxiliary product. It's like a dietary supplement—it might keep you healthy, but it can't repce staple foods like rice, noodles, and bread. You still need to eat and drink water.

  Slime fertilizer could partially repce the soil but couldn't fully substitute it. Although Nymph had analyzed Earth's nutrient solutions from the Iron Blood world and provided a list, integrating all the elements on that list was quite challenging for Nanalie.

  Not to mention, agricultural research is time-consuming. You can't just take a sip to know if a nutrient solution works. You have to pnt crops, let them grow, mature, and bear fruit. Only after confirming everything is fine can you proceed to the next step.

  Fortunately, slime fertilizer greatly shortened the growth cycle of crops; otherwise, Nanalie would have to waste even more time.

  Now, Nanalie had developed a dozen nutrient solutions, but none seemed usable.

  "Is it more difficult to prepare nutrient solutions than expected?"

  Alex casually asked as he reached for the experimental records nearby and began flipping through them. Nanalie helplessly nodded.

  "Yes, I've tried many herb combinations for extraction, but the results are unsatisfactory. Some combinations work well, but the material costs are too high..."

  Since creating fertilizer from slimes and making greenhouses, Nanalie had abandoned her original "use only the best" approach and started focusing on the "cheapest option" instead. Her alchemical skills and knowledge were solid, but Alex realized this girl was prone to overthinking...

  "You don't need to worry about the cost for now."

  Looking at the girl in front of him, Alex was a bit helpless. When they didn't have money before, Nanalie never considered the cost. Now that they had more money than they could spend, she started worrying about costs.

  "The price of the nutrient solution will definitely be higher than slime fertilizer, so don't think about lowering costs yet. For now, use all the raw materials you have to create a nutrient solution that meets our needs. Then, we can think about reducing costs. Initially, we don't pn to sell our nutrient solution to farmers anyway; most farmers probably can't afford it."

  "Not sell to farmers?"

  Nanalie was taken aback upon hearing this.

  "Then who are we selling it to?"

  "The Holy Kingdom would be a great partner."

  Alex sounded confident. After all, he was a Tempr Knight and had a good understanding of the Holy Kingdom's principles and practices. Even if the nutrient solution was produced, the initial cost wouldn't drop significantly. But if the Holy Kingdom were to procure it, money wouldn't be an issue for them.

  And if it was used to maintain order and combat chaos, that would be even better.

  For instance, the mercenaries who followed Alex to the Dark City suffered heavy losses, but the temple's rewards and compensation were plentiful upon their return. According to Stone, the rewards given to that mercenary group were enough to equip half a fully armed elite cavalry regiment.

  The temple had deep pockets and would not skimp on spending in these areas.

  With more money, Alex also hired people to refurbish and renovate the entire alchemy workshop. Now, the alchemy workshop didn't look as dipidated as before; it looked much nicer.

  Basically, up to now, Nanalie's alchemy workshop had transitioned from functioning as a "store" to a professional research institute. She no longer needed to take on commissions to make money; she only needed to focus on spending money on alchemical research. As for the greenhouses and other things, Alex kept them. Nanalie's research was in agriculture, and when rge-scale experiments were needed, these things would come in handy. The crops grown there no longer needed to be sold after flowering and fruiting. Previously, they were sold to raise the product's profile. Now that the Northern Chamber of Commerce had taken over, the remaining products were given to greenhouse farmers and staff from the Alchemist Association as welfare.

  Whether they took them home to eat or sold them was no longer Alex's concern.

  Importantly, after the Northern Chamber of Commerce acquired the "patent" rights for the greenhouses and slime fertilizer, the previous troubles circling around vanished. With the Northern Chamber holding exclusive rights, other forces wanting this technology had to negotiate with them. As a researcher, Nanalie was naturally excluded from these dealings.

  Of course, the Northern Chamber reciprocated by sending a team to guard the alchemy workshop. This showed that Fress had good foresight and knew how to protect his "research assets." Others might be displeased, but Nanalie, being a homebody, didn't mind.

  However, Alex's visit to Nanalie this time wasn't just to discuss the nutrient solution.

  "In a few days, I'll be away for a while. If anything comes up, you all will have to handle it."

  "Huh?"

  Nanalie was surprised by Alex's words.

  "Mr. Ezio, are you leaving?"

  "I have some personal matters to attend to."

  Handling these issues for Alex was neither too long nor too short. It had almost been a month. While he had spent the month leisurely, it wasn't for nothing. The gacha summon was also for a month, and the next month's gacha pool would be different.

  Alex didn't know what the next month's gacha pool would be since this wasn't a game. So, he pnned to visit the dimensional world before the month ended—ideally, a magic world to get a magic-type soul stone. That would be the best outcome for Alex.

  "But, but…"

  Hearing that Alex was leaving, Nanalie was visibly reluctant. She lived alone and felt quite lonely, but the arrival of Alex and Nymph brought back the long-lost feeling of family. Although Alex's intentions were mysterious, Nanalie didn't think he was a bad person. He had helped her with so many things… This made Nanalie unknowingly reliant on Alex. Now, hearing that he was leaving temporarily…

  "Don't worry."

  Seeing Nanalie's anxious expression, Alex smiled gently.

  "I'm just going on a trip; it won't take too long."

  (End of chapter)

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