Dimensional Slime Rancher-Chapter 20: I believe in your weird magic!

Dense waves of warm, glowing air were drifting out from the primary crucible of the thermal compression array, completely enveloping the pristine, crystal-clear liquid within.

The Luminous Spirit-Lotus Elixir, which was a flawless, translucent silver in color, contained absolutely no trace of impurities and was richly, violently aromatic.

Under the harsh Workshop lights, the liquid was shimmering and made it seem as if the elixir was embedded with millions of sparkling, microscopic stars.

The color, smell, and elemental density were the primary criteria to judge whether a synthesis met a certain God-tier standard.

Even though the elixir was heavily criticized by the venomous System, it was still a life-saving miracle that was impossibly hard to come by in the mortal realm, based on those three criteria.

The shimmering liquid was especially captivating, and Ren was already incredibly eager to test its potency.

He took out a small, sterilized crystal dropper and carefully extracted a single, glowing drop of the richly fragrant elixir.

The crisp scent that the silver liquid exuded was lingering around the tip of Ren’s nose, causing him to subconsciously lick his lips and feel a sudden, intense burst of vitality.

For a high-tier core-repairing elixir such as this, there was a particular testing method as well. From the start, you must not immediately swallow it.

You should first let a single drop fall onto your skin and let the pure life force completely permeate your external meridians.

Once the external pathways have been completely soothed by the warm energy, you could then proceed to internal absorption.

That way, you would be able to easily map the flow of the energy and experience the absolute purity of the starlight essence without overwhelming your core.

As he let the single glowing drop fall onto the back of his hand, the rich, cosmic fragrance was like a healing bomb that exploded within his senses and completely dominated his Foundation Establishment pathways.

The raw vitality of the Radiant Moth, the purifying aroma of the Starlight Lotus, and the stabilizing hum of his own true energy had all burst forth at the exact same time.

Ren felt as if he was floating within a nebula made of pure healing light.

As the cosmic energy swayed along with his breathing, a thick, warm aroma would drift through his very soul.

A beautiful, glowing silver moth was gracefully flapping its wings above the nebula, contentedly repairing any microscopic damage it found.

"Holy shit!"

Ren praised after absorbing just a single drop, his lazy eyes widening in genuine shock. His gaze then focused entirely on the remaining vial of elixir that he had been stressing over for hours.

His skin became incredibly smooth and practically vibrated with excess life force after the drop was fully absorbed.

As Ren flexed his hand, he felt a massive, undeniable surge of physical strength.

His skin also seemed to have become slightly, beautifully translucent, emitting a faint silver glow.

Even though the elixir was incredibly potent, there was no violent backlash or burning sensation when he absorbed it.

Compared to ordinary, pill-based medicine, it was infinitely more gentle and could be easily assimilated without much painful meditation.

Ren was holding onto the crystal vial with deep reverence, continuously admiring it.

Soon, the glow on his hand faded, but his internal pathways felt as if they had been scrubbed clean with starlight.

The heavy, suffocating exhaustion from the manual synthesis was completely wiped away, replaced by an explosive, jittery energy.

Even though Ren was incredibly tempted to just chug the entire vial himself to boost his own cultivation, he absolutely could not do it.

The elixir by itself was synthesized from Tier-5 dimensional materials and was filled with a terrifyingly dense amount of pure life force.

Adding that to the stabilizing true energy, it was a highly volatile, highly specific medical tool designed for a shattered Core Formation cultivator.

Ren was only an early-stage Foundation Establishment rookie; he was only able to safely absorb a single drop even with the System’s passive bodily protection.

If he greedily chugged the whole thing, his meridians might literally burst open from the sheer over-nutrition, even with the System’s suppression.

Even so, after Ren stopped absorbing the ambient energy, he still felt as if his entire body was buzzing like a live wire, and his eyes were practically spewing silver light.

Ren heavily breathed out as he stood up from his stool.

A single drop of blood was actually streaming out from his nose.

It was way too nutritious... to the absolute point where his healthy body was forcefully rejecting the excess vitality via a nosebleed.

Ren was expressionless. He originally intended to dump the leftover, slightly bruised Lotus stem into Unit 01’s recycling bin.

However, after thinking for a second, he grabbed the glowing stem and walked out to the porch while pinching his nose.

"Here, Pudding. Time for a late-night snack," Ren said in a muffled, nasal voice.

Then he tossed the glowing Starlight Lotus stem directly in front of the sleeping slime.

Pudding, who was lying flat on the wooden floor with its core dimmed, suddenly vibrated. Its translucent pseudo-eyes opened, shining as brightly as twin supernovas.

Boing! Pudding joyfully bounced as it thought, "Human, you’re finally tactful enough to know that you should feed me the good dimensional veggies instead of just spicy meat!"

Then, Pudding immediately engulfed and started to dissolve the glowing Lotus stem, its blue body turning a happy, sparkling silver.

Ren returned to the Workshop and wiped off his nosebleed with a towel. He felt as if his entire body was filled with completely inexhaustible, jittery energy and did not feel sleepy at all, despite it being 3 AM.

And so, he lifted up that heavy, torturous iron Rune-Chisel, then took out a few thousand basic Spirit Cores and started frantically splicing them.

He literally could not stop his hands at all...

The next day, Ren was still full of explosive, jittery energy even after chipping away at cores for the entire night.

He practically kicked open the heavy metal door of the shop and was officially open for business.

Fatty Jin and his heavily armed buddies punctually arrived to buy their daily kibble.

"Boss Ren, why do I feel a terrifying, hyperactive aura coming from you today?" Jin Bao puzzledly stared at Ren, who was tapping his foot at a hundred beats per minute.

Ren expressionlessly glanced at Fatty Jin. His tongue slightly licked his lips, his eyes slightly bloodshot, and he said, "Really? Are you buying or just breathing my air?"

"Good heavens..." Fatty Jin subconsciously shuddered as he bewilderedly looked at the usually lazy shopkeeper.

He thought, "Did Boss Ren just threaten me while vibrating? Why is he vibrating?!"

After Ren rapidly, almost violently served all of the items that Fatty Jin ordered, he returned to the Breeding Zone to organize the tanks.

After furiously chipping iron for the entire night on a massive energy high, how could there not be an intense, manic aura leaking from him...

The little girl, Xiaoyi, happily skipped down the alleyway to the store. It was her final day as the official ’debt-paying’ staff, and once the day was over, her grandfather had said she was entirely free to go back to her noble life.

"However... Why do I feel a slight, weird reluctance to leave?" Xiaoyi thought while tilting her head, looking at the glowing ’Dimensional Ranch’ sign.

"Xiaoyi, grab the duster. The display cases are dusty."

Ren’s perfectly flat yell caused Xiaoyi to immediately give up on thinking about complex emotional problems.

"I am coming, Smelly Boss!" Xiaoyi eagerly ran into the familiar lobby and grabbed her tool, starting to violently scrub the glass.

As each of the familiar, wealthy customers entered and left, the day’s chaotic opening hours were about to end as well.

The Third Prince, Xia Ming, came that afternoon as well. He was gentle and refined as usual and was seemingly not affected by the brutal assassination attempt from a few days ago in the slightest.

After not coming for two days due to the Sect’s exhibition, he discovered that there were many new, highly expensive items.

He excitedly ordered a Searing Mana Cube for his Royal Guards and a fresh Basic Hydro Slime, leaving highly satisfied after a long chat about the political climate.

Advisor Xu hurriedly came as well. He had developed a massive soft spot for the purifying chill of the slimes and only ordered that, fleeing back to the palace before General Ouyang could spot him again.

Gu Tian was still deeply arrogant as he came and went.

He only tossed a bag of gems on the counter, collected his reserved Searing Mana Cube, and once again demanded a reservation for whatever Ren made the next day, completely ignoring the shop’s tense atmosphere.

"I am so incredibly tired." Xiaoyi was slightly exhausted as she sat heavily on a stool while panting.

As the store became significantly more popular, the amount of snobby nobles increased exponentially. Over the course of a long day, it was quite physically draining to yell at them.

However, Xiaoyi was deeply satisfied with this genuine sense of working fulfillment.

"Smelly Boss, my Grandpa said I’m about to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage next month! When that time comes, there are a lot of cool beasts I am going to buy from you, especially that weird Void-Ray thing!" Xiaoyi said to Ren as her large eyes blinked excitedly.

"Oh, alright. Bring a lot of money. I’ll be waiting for you," Ren was also sitting down, leaning back in his recliner as he expressionlessly replied.

The jittery energy from the elixir drop had finally worn off, leaving him pleasantly sleepy.

Xiaoyi was particularly talkative that afternoon, and she was babbling to Ren non-stop about her combat training.

On the other hand, Ren remained lazy and indifferent, while occasionally nodding and replying with a flat "oh".

"Smelly Boss... can you really save Sister Luo tomorrow? My brothers say her core is completely shattered. I’ve always believed in you, but... they sounded really scared."

Xiaoyi became suddenly moody and quiet.

"There’s absolutely no need to worry. You should trust my merchandise." Ren was stunned for a moment by her genuine concern. Then he reached over, gently stroked Xiaoyi’s hair, and slightly squeezed out a faint, reassuring smile on his face.

"Smelly Boss, your reassuring smile is really, really ugly!" Xiaoyi disdainfully rolled her eyes at Ren, slapping his hand away.

Ren’s expression immediately stiffened and perfectly returned to his lazy, deadpan appearance once more.

"The Smelly Boss is still way better-looking when you’re just being serious and boring." Xiaoyi chortled loudly as she grabbed her coat and skipped toward the entrance of the store.

"Smelly Boss, I’ll come visit again tomorrow as a real customer! You absolutely must save Sister Luo, I believe in your weird magic!"

As Ren looked at Xiaoyi’s happily disappearing figure in the alleyway, a rare touch of genuine gentleness flashed across his lazy eyes. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He rubbed his neck, stretched his stiff back, then turned around and walked back toward the Workshop.

"How could I possibly fail when my synthesis skills are this flawless?" Ren indifferently muttered to himself, admiring the glowing vial on his desk.