Chapter Sixty: The Potion of Basic Knowledge

[Catapult Construction Blueprint]: You can build a large siege weapon, the catapult, which deals double damage to buildings! Required materials for construction: 5000 units of wood, 500 iron ingots, 500 copper ingots, 10,000 units of stone, 5000 units of plant fiber.
[Perfect Beast Hide Bracers]: Defense 11, Intelligence +3, Warmth +1.
[Lesser Mana Restoration Potion]: Restores 100 mana over 10 seconds upon consumption.
[Intermediate Mana Restoration Potion]: Restores 200 mana over 10 seconds upon consumption.
[Exquisite Gem Necklace]: Magic attack power +9%, Intelligence +7.
[Lesser Knowledge Potion]: Grants you a small amount of knowledge.

It went without saying that, except for the catapult construction blueprint and the lesser knowledge potion, all the other spoils were exclusive to Tina's profession. Jia Zhengjin kept the two former items for himself and decisively handed over the rest to Tina.

Tina put on the perfect beast hide bracers and the exquisite gem necklace, happily clutching the two mana restoration potions. Mana potions were precious indeed, and receiving such gifts from Jia Zhengjin nearly melted her heart!

Even the lowest grade mana potion could fetch a price of one gold coin. For country folk like Tina and her companions, a single coin saved and used wisely could cover half a year's living expenses! The intermediate mana potion was even more valuable—Tina had never seen any for sale at the little shops in town.

Jia Zhengjin hesitated for a moment with the [Lesser Knowledge Potion] in hand before finally uncorking the bottle and downing it in one gulp.

The description only mentioned gaining a small amount of knowledge, but the specific type was unknown. Still, trusting in the system's quality, he was sure it would be beneficial!

After drinking the lesser knowledge potion, Jia Zhengjin suddenly felt a cacophony in his mind. The scene before his eyes shifted, and he found himself alone in a completely unfamiliar and silent room, his surroundings hazy and ever-shifting, like flickering hallucinations.

“Tina? Wolf?” he called out, but there was no response.

Suddenly, a strangely dressed human from another world appeared before him, followed by a second, a third... More and more of these otherworldly people surrounded Jia Zhengjin, gesticulating wildly as they uttered streams of incomprehensible sounds. Strangely, these sounds materialized and flew toward Jia Zhengjin, entering his mind one after another.

No one knew how much time passed before Jia Zhengjin suddenly opened his eyes, feeling as though he had mastered some odd languages. He opened his mouth and asked, in one of these strange tongues, “How long was I asleep?”

Tina’s mouth dropped open in shock, jaw slack. “Keen? You—you just spoke our language?”

Though Tina’s words were not in Chinese, Jia Zhengjin understood her perfectly. He stared at her in amazement. “Is this your language here? I feel like I was with many people in a strange place, learning for almost a whole day! Every sentence they spoke was deeply imprinted in my mind, and then I could speak it myself!”

“A day? Keen, you only blinked for an instant!” Tina exclaimed, then realization dawned. “Oh my! I get it! The potion you drank must have been some kind of legacy potion that only a master alchemist could create.”

“Wait! What you just said is a bit complicated—I only understood part of it,” Jia Zhengjin admitted. After a moment, he pieced it together. “A lesser knowledge potion, a small amount of knowledge... I get it! Because I drank that potion, a little knowledge of this world was poured into my mind! Such an incredible potion exists? Then if I could get more and keep drinking, would I eventually gain all possible knowledge?”

“So does that mean you can converse with me directly now?” Tina asked excitedly, running over and grabbing his hand.

“Seems like I can handle everyday conversation just fine!” Jia Zhengjin replied. “I can understand simple exchanges and answer them, but anything more complicated might be beyond me for now.”

“That’s already amazing!” Tina said joyfully. “So could I drink that kind of potion too, and learn your language just as quickly?”

“I don’t know! But if I get another one, I’ll let you try it.”

“You’re so nice, Keen!” Tina rose on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek, grinning with delight.

“Hey! Enough with the flirting—you two, my triceratops seems to be done for!” Wolf interrupted their exchange.

Jia Zhengjin hurried over with Tina, and sure enough, Wolf’s triceratops was lying weakly on the ground, barely breathing. He asked anxiously, “What happened? Wasn’t it just a bite wound?”

“The monster’s mouth must have been filthy—too many bacteria. The triceratops’s wound got infected, and the infection spread quickly. Combined with heavy blood loss, it just couldn’t hold out,” Wolf replied sadly, gazing at his mount.

“I see…” Jia Zhengjin sighed. “No matter! We can always catch another triceratops, don’t worry about it!”

“That’s all we can do,” Wolf said with a regretful shake of his head. “What do we do with the monster’s and the triceratops’s corpses?”

“I’ll harvest the fresh meat, then gather some dry wood and burn their remains together,” Jia Zhengjin said. “I don’t want two terrifying giant undead creatures spawning near our base during Blood Moon Night!”

“I’ll take the team and have the kobolds gather wood right away!”

“No need!” Jia Zhengjin waved him off. “Just take them to the nearest water source for a bath—wash off all that disgusting slime. Leave the firewood gathering to those fool kobolds.”

He meant the cowardly kobolds who had fled during the battle and now sneaked back.

Wolf shrugged, then called out to the kobolds who’d just crawled out of Flomico’s belly.

“You hear that, you cowards? Go fetch firewood now—or you’ll go hungry tonight!” Jia Zhengjin barked at the deserters.

“Awooo—” Eager to avoid missing dinner, the kobolds leapt to work.

Jia Zhengjin shook his head in exasperation, then drew his knife and set about harvesting meat, hides, and innards from the dead triceratops and Flomico. He broke down their skeletons into fragments and piled them into a small mound.

When the kobolds returned with heaps of firewood, he arranged it around the bones and set it ablaze with a torch.

The flames roared, reducing the remains of the two giant creatures to ashes. All the while, Jia Zhengjin kept watch, careful that the fire wouldn’t spread and become a forest inferno.