The career of an evil alchemist started when he picked up the Mad Sword Girl

This is still a situation where he knows the problem. Sometimes, the problem even exceeds his knowledge reserve.

In other words, although he already has the ability of an intermediate alchemist, it does not mean that he has the ability to 100% refine all intermediate formulas.

When encountering these situations that exceed his knowledge reserve, if he does not want to admit defeat directly, he must rely on his own knowledge and understanding of the situation to make emergency judgments on the spot.

At this time, Lu Lin finally fully understood why the task required him to complete a thousand times of medium-level alchemy.

He had underestimated alchemy before and thought he could become a high-level alchemist if he had money.

But look at him now. He only has a brain full of knowledge, but he is still far away from becoming a truly qualified intermediate alchemist.

Lu Lin, who was originally floating in the sky, was pulled down and slapped directly to the ground.

Fortunately, he is not a person who will become decadent because of this setback.

Dish, then practice.

He already had so many advantages over other alchemists that he had no right to complain.

Soon, Lu Lin was immersed in the study of alchemy.

The days flew by and a week passed.

This week Lu Lin has been obsessed with the formula of the intermediate magic stone.

Lu Lin failed all the first few times, and the success rate on the first day was as low as less than 20.00%.

The success rate improved slightly the next day, but it was not ideal either.

It wasn't until the fourth day that Lu Lin's refining success rate made a qualitative leap, reaching nearly 80.00% that day.

On the fifth day, perhaps due to some expansion, the success rate dropped in the morning, but then gradually stabilized. On the penultimate day, Lu Lin failed only once in the whole day, or because the problems he encountered really made him unable to do it. The clue is that it should be a rare and difficult situation.

And just when Lu Lin felt that he had achieved great success and was just about to show off his skills and start mass production of intermediate magic stones, Lan Jie found him and told him some unexpected news.

The first city they might encounter on the way that they initially investigated turned out to be not far ahead.

In other words, according to Lan Jie's initial guess about the travel time, after this supply, they may face the problem of being unable to find the next supply point for more than 20 days.

Chapter 73 Do you understand that a dead Taoist friend will not die but a poor Taoist?

this afternoon.

"Boss, I'm back..."

Lan Jie's shouts came from downstairs.

Lu Lin immediately stopped what he was doing, came to the stairs and looked down.

I saw several workers helping to transport boxes of supplies in. Lan Jie stood aside with a serious look on his face.

Seeing him like this, Lu Lin felt a knot in his heart and asked, "What's wrong? Is the material procurement not going well?"

"No, it went very smoothly. Boss, although your batch of magic stones is not large in quantity, they are relatively few mid-level magic stones on the market. Not to mention that you actually sold two gold coins. After taking into account the cost, you made a profit of eighty or ninety. Silver," Lan Jie said, "is more than enough to replenish material consumption and alchemy raw material inventory."

"Then your expression is..." Lu Lin asked doubtfully.

"There's something bad... ah, yes, just leave it there, thank you for your hard work!" After Lan Jie said goodbye to the workers who had finished moving things, he turned around and continued, "There is bad news."

"Supply problem?" Lu Lin asked.

"No, not really. In fact, the number of days I estimated before was wrong," Lan Jie said. "I estimated it based on the speed of the horse-drawn carriage running to the merchant. I saw that the earth dragon was walking slowly, and I think it should be about the same. Today and them After chatting with each other, I realized that because of the long strides of the Earth Dragon, its actual speed is much faster than that of a horse-drawn carriage, and we wouldn’t be able to use it that long at all!”

Lu Lin watched Lan Jie tell his great discovery seriously, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He always felt that his brother... Although he was quite clever most of the time, he didn't seem to be completely clever, and his mind would get stuck from time to time.

"Isn't that great?" Lu Lin asked doubtfully, "What's the problem if it's not a supply problem?"

"It's the dungeon," Lan Jie said.

"Dungeon?" Lu Lin was stunned.

Encountered a dungeon?

We just left home not far, right?

Although he may have read a lot of news about underground cities in Diling News, Lu Lin, who had been living near Diling Town before, had always subconsciously felt that underground cities were something far away from him.

But he didn't expect that he had just left the bottom of the valley and hit it so quickly.

"Well, I remember, there will be monsters near the dungeon, right?" Lu Lin touched his chin, "Are they blocking our way forward?"

“Yes, it’s not just us, everyone who wants to go to Oga City like us has to pass through the surrounding area of ​​that underground city,” Lan Jie said, “Moreover, that underground city has only appeared for a few months. The Holy Cult has not sent anyone yet, and the local system to fight against monsters has not been established yet..."

"It's been several months since they appeared and they haven't sent anyone here yet? Is the efficiency of the Holy Cult so poor? You're not deliberately waiting for things to get big before the divine soldiers gain reputation..." Lu Lin's mouth twitched, "Forget it. , it’s better that they didn’t come, so as not to bump into them, come on, can’t we take a detour?”

"It's not possible," Lan Jie said, "The underground city affects a very wide area. If you want to avoid it, you have to go into the mountains. It's also unsafe. You must avoid it. The best way is to turn back and leave. There is another way to Urga City, but that will take several times longer.”

"Hmm..." Lu Lin frowned.

Now Li Mi is still wanted, and they don't know how long it will take before the incident between him and Lan Jie comes to light, and they can't guarantee that the Holy Church will not take action against them.

The threat of the Holy Cult was behind him, and Lu Lin didn't want to wait too long.

"So, if we have to pass through this area, how dangerous will it be?" Lu Lin asked, "Can we handle it?"

"It's difficult, there are too few of us," Lan Jie said, "Although I know Sister Liumi is very strong, and you, boss, have a lot of things in your hands."

"But the reason why these monsters are troublesome is not only because they can fight, but also because many of them have very high intelligence."

"In a situation like ours, once we encounter a group of smarter monsters, even if they can't defeat us, they will probably attack our earth dragons. After killing our earth dragons, they can rely on harassment and sneak attacks. Trapping us to death slowly in the wild."

"Hiss...this is more troublesome than I thought," Lu Lin felt a little confused.

There are indeed two levels of difficulty in dealing with the monsters that have brains and the monsters that don't.

"So there is no good solution?" Lu Lin asked, "Is this road just cut off? Doesn't the Holy Religion not care about it, and neither do the local lords?"

"No, there is a way," Lan Jie said, "We can wait nearby for a few days and wait to set off with the joint armed caravan."

"Joint armed caravan?" Lu Lin was a little confused, "Can you tell me more specifically?"

"You also said before that this road cannot be cut off like this. After all, there are actually quite a lot of goods traded on this road," Lan Jie explained, "But if a small caravan wants to pass through this area, , the risk is too great.”

"Although the caravans of the large chamber of commerce have the ability to rent military escorts from local lords, the cost is too high and uneconomical."

"So, some large chambers of commerce began to take the lead in organizing joint armed caravans. They would attract a large number of small caravans to join the team and then set off together."

"In this way, people in small caravans can also be protected by the guards of the large chamber of commerce, but in exchange, they need to temporarily add their own armed forces to the guards, or pay a sum of money for crowdfunding for escorts, so that the big merchants can The cost for the Chamber of Commerce to recruit armies has been greatly reduced.”

"I understand," Lu Lin nodded, "You mean we can go with them."

"That's right," Lan Jie nodded, "I have inquired about it. If we only have one house-carrying earth dragon, if we want to join, we only need to hand over twenty silver coins, but..."

"Just?" Lu Lin asked.

"However, this kind of large caravan also has shortcomings. It moves slowly and has a huge target. It will definitely be attacked during the period, and it will definitely not be just once," Lan Jie said. "Although the large chamber of commerce will form a sufficient escort force, But this is 'enough'... Let's put it this way. After all, they are businessmen and they have to worry about the budget. They may think that the strength they have established is enough, but in fact no one can say for sure. I have heard a lot in the past. Because the large chamber of commerce was saving its budget, the armed forces were insufficient when attacked, and the entire caravan suffered heavy casualties in the end."

"Hmm...Businessman," Lu Lin touched his chin.

Indeed, as Lan Jie said, businessmen have their own limitations in doing things. Since the purpose is to make money, it is impossible to really spend too much money.

"So, boss, what do you think it would be better for us to do?" Lan Jie asked, "Take a detour? Or go with them?"

"It's impossible to take a detour," Lu Lin shook his head and said, "Actually, we have no choice in this matter, right?"

Lan Jie sighed and smiled bitterly: "Indeed, our situation is no different from those of those small caravans. Their only choice is this, and it is obviously the same for us."

"Go and sign up with them tomorrow, and then bring me a few dozen silver coins and I'll go into the city," Lu Lin said, extending his hand to Lan Jie.

Upon hearing that Lu Lin asked for money, Lan Jie suddenly looked wary and asked, "Why do you want money?"

"Go buy some materials," Lu Lin said. "Didn't you just say that there may be a situation where I can't defeat the monsters, so I naturally have to be prepared."

"Ah? Boss, what are you going to prepare?" Lan Jie asked doubtfully, "Don't you have any other trump cards that can deal with large-scale monsters?"

"If I have that means, can't we just leave by ourselves?" Lu Lin rolled his eyes.

"That's true..." Lan Jie nodded, "It's not about preparing a trump card, is it?"

"Xiaojie, remember one thing," Lu Lin patted Lan Jie on the shoulder, "When escaping, we don't need to run faster than the danger, we just need to run faster than other caravans."

Chapter 74 Master, there is evil ahead!

A few days later, at noon.

After putting Li Mi, who had just had lunch, to sleep, Lu Lin went downstairs and walked to the balcony.

Lan Jie was sitting on the balcony at the moment, holding a swordsman novel bought from the city in his hand, and put away the long pole that guided the earth dragon. At this moment, the earth dragon was eating grass slowly.

Seeing Lu Lin coming over, Lan Jie raised the novel in his hand as a greeting.

"How is the situation?" Lu Lin said, leaning on the railing of the balcony and looking ahead.

At this moment, they were in the grassland outside the city gate, and a huge caravan was gathering at the city gate in front.

This caravan is said to have hundreds of people, including more than a dozen large house-carrying ground dragons and dozens of ordinary house-carrying ground dragons. In addition, there are a large number of freight carriages and some other freight vehicles.

In addition to the caravan, there is also a guard team of hundreds of people, which is a mixture of caravan guards and the lord's army. Half of the people in this team are equipped with various mounts, and there are even a few horsemen. A knight with a small flying dragon.

"The situation..." Lan Jie put the bookmark into the page and closed the novel, "To be honest, it's not very good."

"Isn't the guard strength not enough?" Lu Lin asked.

"It might have been enough before, but I heard some rumors," Lan Jie said. "At the beginning, the dungeon here was rated D, and the monsters nearby were not very strong. The team they formed before only had to bring seven or eighty people. The escort team is almost enough."

"Then what?" Lu Lin asked.

"It's like this. When dungeons first appear, they are almost always rated at the lowest D-level," Lan Jie said, "but this does not mean that these dungeons are really all D-level dungeons. , but because it appeared for a short time, it has not had a big impact on the surrounding area, and the rating is based on the harm it brings to the surrounding environment. Even if it is a very dangerous underground city, the initial impact will not be Too big."

"In other words, as time goes by, if it is a low-level dungeon, that's it. If it is a more dangerous dungeon, the rating will gradually increase?" Lu Lin asked.

"Yes, about three months ago, the dungeon ahead was upgraded to D+ level," Lan Jie said. "The reason is that most of the caravan guards who crossed the area died, and new monster reports were brought."

"Three months..." Lu Lin frowned slightly.

"Yes, since then, through the caravans in this area, the escort force has been formed according to our current standards, but..." Lan Jie frowned, "The last caravan set out 20 days ago. Recently, I received some gossip that the caravan escort seemed to have suffered a lot of casualties."

"But the source of the information was not found. I went to inquire yesterday and heard a small caravan arguing with the caravan that organized this operation."

"The small caravan wants the big chamber of commerce to increase the number of guards, but the big chamber of commerce doesn't want to increase the cost."

"However, after all, with this kind of news, the Great Chamber of Commerce itself is uneasy, and the Great Chamber of Commerce plans to give in later."

"They requested that they collect an additional fee from all the small caravans participating in the team, and then add part of it themselves to expand the escort force."

"But who would have thought that these small caravans would start making trouble again at this time. Some people are willing to pay for more guards, some think it is unnecessary and don't want to pay, and some people don't want to pay but want to add more guards."

"In the end, it seems that this matter has come to an end..."

Listening to Lan Jie's narration, the corner of Lu Lin's mouth twitched.

He always felt like there were countless déjà vus from past lives running through his mind, but he couldn't remember what they were.

"Forget it, never mind, we can just take care of ourselves when the time comes," Lu Lin sighed.

"By the way, boss, have you finished everything you said you were going to prepare?" Lan Jie asked.

"Well, it's all done," Lu Lin nodded, "I tried the most troublesome thing yesterday when you went to the city, and the effect was pretty good."

"Then I feel more relieved," Lan Jie breathed a sigh of relief, and then as if he noticed something, he suddenly sat up straight, stretched his neck and looked forward.

"What's wrong?" Lu Lin asked.

"The flag of the Chamber of Commerce is up," Lan Jie said, "it looks like the team is about to set off."

----

----

"According to the Chamber of Commerce's forward speed, it will take about half a month from here to the destination," Lan Jie said. "Our supplies should be just enough. Even if they are not enough, we can buy some from the Chamber of Commerce's team in a few days. Their reserves have always been It’s extremely plentiful, and although it’s certainly a little more expensive than in the city, considering how much of their transportation capacity it takes up, the premium is not unacceptable.”

At this moment, they had already set off, and the earth dragons of Lu Lin and others were walking in the middle and rear of the chamber of commerce.

"How many days will it take to enter the dangerous area?" Lu Lin asked.

"In five or six days," Lan Jie said, "but it's best to prepare in advance. Our target is too big, and we may still encounter attacks even at the edge of the dangerous area."

"Okay, I understand," Lu Lin said, patted Lan Jie on the shoulder, left the balcony, and then went directly to the attic.

In addition to the alchemy raw materials stored in the attic, there is also a shelf made of wood under the skylight.

There is a platform on the middle and upper part of the shelf that you can stand on. There are item racks on both sides of the platform. At this time, a crossbow and some crossbow arrows are hung on the shelf.