Li Lang could feel his companion’s gazes that urged him for an explanation regarding his poison. He didn’t want to delve too deep into it, so he brought up another urgent matter at hand. He stuck his head out the window, glancing downward and scanning the area below for a few moments before turning to address his peers.

“Hey, shouldn’t we go retrieve the body of that bird? It could contain a beast core!”

The three other people present were all knowledgeable in their own way. Wei Ping made it a habit to gather information and often picked his friends’ brains. He learned about the value of beast cores the same day Li Lang had. Long Yi was an apprentice artificer himself, and Sima Xue was a Foundation Establishment cultivator from a deep background. Retaliation set in and they unanimously came to a decision. Their Skyrunner began to descend.

The view of the grassy plain below grew larger. There was nothing nearby except the mountains in the distance. It made it particularly easy to spot the body of the large bird lying in the field.

Sima Xue landed the Skyrunner right next to it, and the group began to examine the body.

“It’s dead, isn’t it?” Long Yi asked, not speaking to anyone in particular.

“It is,” the lone Foundation Establishment cultivator in the group confidently answered.

She dauntlessly moved closer. When she was right before the corpse, she waved her hand at the body and the bird was cleanly bisected. Then she simply stood there for a few moments before turning back to the group.

“It’s a dud. No cores at all.”

“I guess we can’t be that lucky,” Li Lang muttered.

“We c-can still salvage the body f-for meat, feathers, and other resources,” Wei Ping encouraged.

“Okay, I can carry it for you, then.”

Before anyone could react, Sima Xue waved her hand again, causing the remains to disappear. It drew Li Lang’s attention to the ring on her finger.

How marvelous and useful. I definitely have to buy one during this trip. As a center of trade, the prices in Polarity City should be reasonable.

Li Lang slightly regretted not making the time to purchase a space ring back in Emberglow. He had gone off track with his studies and had forgotten about it. It was only when they traveled that it highlighted its convenience by an order of magnitude.

With the matter promptly settled, the group quickly ascended once more, heading north toward their destination. Not even a minute had passed since they took to the skies when they found Sima Xue poking her head back into the interior of the carriage.

“So, as Long Yi was asking, what’s that poison you used back there?” she mischievously grinned.

It reignited the curiosity of Li Lang’s companions, causing him to sigh.

“It’s just something I was recently able to recreate based on the technique I received from the pocket realm. I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

“Oh, keeping secrets, are we? How crude.”

Wei Ping and Long Yi seemed to enjoy the teasing, so they jumped at the opportunity to join in.

“B-boss is always like that. He won’t t-tell us anything until it’s settled.”

“You know what they say about a man who keeps secrets.”

Li Lang held his gaze at Long Yi for a few moments before looking away.

“What? You’re not going to ask?” Long Yi cried out, looking like he had been wronged.

“I’d rather not.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

With those words, Li Lang glanced out the window and kept to himself. It caused the lone girl in the group to chuckle at the scene.

“Haha, you guys got him pouting like a little kid.”

With that, Li Lang no longer paid any attention to their conversation. He silently entered Ruby’s artifact space and began recording his observations. This was the first time he used his poison against that species of Qi beasts. He needed to record everything and monitor his new creation.

Once he was done, he stared blankly at the lab refrigerator, that was holding a sample of his new poison.

How can I possibly explain the process of synthesizing the poison? It’ll just bring up a bunch of other questions that I’d rather not get into.

Li Lang thought back to the time he spent in the pocket realm. He had spent years experimenting and developing various poisons and finally decided on one he was satisfied with.

Synthesizing poison wasn’t as straightforward as it was for him in the past, even without taking equipment into account. With the added variable of Qi added to the mix, he needed to perform thorough tests after each minor change was made.

Poisons that only caused diarrhea in the past could mutate into something that only caused rashes. Only a few among what he could produce with the materials on hand remained relatively the same.

However, there was one thing that remained relatively constant. The onset time.

Most poisons usually did not take effect instantly. Poisons that took five minutes to two hours to take effect were classified as short-term poisons. Only a few had an onset time measured in seconds. That was why you often heard of antidotes and other ways to deal with poisons.

When you combined that fact with the miraculous ability of Qi to cleanse away all foreign elements from the body, it made the selection particularly hard for Li Lang. In order for his poison to be effective in combat, he would have to discover one of these immediate poisons.

He had spent quite a long time reviewing the Vengeful Leaf Compendium to no avail. All the formulas within its text were meant for a supporting role in combat. That meant its potency was nowhere near enough. Paralysis was the name of the game. It highlighted how poison users in this world still relied on brute force at the end of the day. Rarely did anyone rely on poison in isolation. It was used to gain an advantage during intense melees.

With no interest in forcing himself to become a close combat expert, Li Lang continued his research for a long time. It was no surprise that he looked at what was familiar to him first. Instead of synthesizing something completely new from the exotic materials he now had access to, he recreated everything that he could within his means.

On one particular day, while they were still in the pocket realm, Li Lang placed a bottle of every poison he could reasonably make without advanced devices in front of him.

“Hmm, almost all of these are a pain to synthesize without any tools. At least I don’t have to worry about the safety factor when I make it. I can just cleanse it away with Qi at any time.”

“Master, shouldn’t you create the poisons according to the method you learned instead?” Ruby asked. “Testing these mundane ones wouldn’t be helpful to your cause.”

“I want to use these as a benchmark, so I can observe how Qi affected it.”

“Observe? You would have to make it in reality to test it, master. Nothing living can be replicated within my space.”

“That’s not exactly true. I’m standing right here, aren’t I?”

“Master, that’s…ridiculous!”

“What? If you can simulate how the materials interact with each other, you can simulate my bodily functions too, right?”

“...Normally, the sense of pain, or even just the ability to be harmed, is disabled. It’s that way for good reason. Even if what happens here won’t physically harm you, intense pain could still scar your mind! I’d advise against doing something so reckless, master!”

“Hmm, it should be fine. I received training in how to deal with pain before. I won’t go crazy over it.”

“Master…”

Ruby was speechless upon hearing her master’s words. It wondered where in the world could Li Lang possibly receive such training, but more importantly, why. When it had first met its master, he had still been a child. She couldn’t even fathom the conditions that would lead a child to receive such training.

Without Li Lang revealing it himself, there was no way the artifact spirit would realize he meant from his previous life. As a scientist who worked for the Federation of Humanity, Li Lang naturally had received training befitting his position.

Torture resistance training was mandatory after he had received a high enough clearance level. These courses included dealing with various drugs, truth serums, and a plethora of other methods to extract intel from him.

This caused Li Lang to have the confidence to test his own creations on himself.

If Ruby can just reset everything in an instant, there should be no danger at all. I can even take this opportunity to test out how to defend against poisons myself.

Like that, Li Lang spent months testing various poisons and compared them to the mundane version. While he did this, he continued working toward the various trials, training in both martial and crafting pursuits.

During one combat trial that led him outside, he set foot in a new area to hunt down some Qi beasts. As usual, he collected every new specimen within sight. It was one of these materials that caused a new breakthrough within his research.

This branch contains traces of amygdalin, prunasin, and sambunigrin!