The Chairman of Pharmaceutical Company is a Poison King - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24: The Elixir’s Effects Are Too Good

It’s now the year 2323.

However, Earth’s civilization wasn’t much different from 300 years ago.

Far from advancing, many aspects had actually regressed.

Too many people had died from mana invasion.

Of course, computers still existed, books remained, and materials from the once-flourishing modern civilization were still around.

But what good did that do?

There were no people left who could handle the technology.

The population cliff was fatal.

Survival was more urgent than civilizational development.

Rather than creating something new, they focused on restoring what came before.

It was about 100 years ago that they barely hit rock bottom and started climbing back up.

Now they were almost recovering their former prosperity.

During those 100 years, there were fields that developed brilliantly.

Namely, methods to actively utilize mana.

Mana crystal engineering, monster hunting items, and bio-pharmaceuticals.

These three fields.

Though divided separately, they were actually bound together by the single keyword of ‘survival.’

Elixir manufacturing was also a field that developed based on crystal science to hunt monsters, humanity’s common enemy.

Monsters only live in places where they live.

They commonly use the expression “dense areas,” but attacking those places with explosive weapons would be disastrous.

A wave would immediately break out.

During waves, monsters are on a completely different level from ordinary monsters.

They become even more ferocious and cruel.

Why not annihilate them with nuclear weapons?

Old China serves as a lesson.

The Chinese government tried to annihilate monsters by detonating nuclear weapons in dense areas, but some monsters survived even the nuclear explosion.

The emergence of terrifying Beyond Elite monsters that either adapted to nuclear weapons or overcame their existing limitations after being exposed to radiation.

China was ruined.

Some survivors escaped eastward and lived by entrusting themselves to the Three Han Empire.

That’s why there are many Chinese-descended imperial citizens everywhere even now.

There’s even a Chinatown in the Gurye slums.

Anyway, awakeners are essential for safely hunting monsters.

Elixirs began to be made for the purpose of raising suitable candidates and helping awakeners level up.

The Three Han Empire’s military also operates a ‘Military Academy’ and uses elixirs to cultivate awakeners.

Students dream of awakening in training rooms with mana crystals densely embedded in the walls, ceiling, and floor, taking elixirs containing about 0.001% of elite monster crystals every week.

The tuition is very expensive.

His half-brothers Kim Tae-pyeong and Kim Tae-cheon are also attending the military academy.

But no matter how advanced elixir technology becomes, how could it compare to the Gangho Murim?

The elixir manufacturing techniques of each martial arts sect have been passed down as secret traditions for thousands of years while developing.

The Sichuan Tang Family is the same.

There are hundreds of ways to make elixirs.

Though they don’t match the Daehwan Dan or Jaso Dan, the Sichuan Tang Family’s elixirs were famous for their outstanding cost-effectiveness.

Of course, since Tae-ju had learned Honweonmusangdokryeongong, spirit pills or poison pills weren’t very useful to him.

‘I can just make them and sell them.’

Now let’s process the ingredients.

First, Tae-ju cut open the belly of the fallen Giant Panda Bear.

The bear’s gallbladder, as large as its body, came into view.

Originally bear gallbladders aren’t that large, but this one was very big.

About the size of a person’s head.

If carelessly removed, the bile would leak out and the medicinal efficacy would drop extremely.

The leaked bile would quickly deteriorate.

Also, moving the corpse somewhere else to work on it carefully was forbidden, since gallbladder decay begins as soon as the Giant Panda Bear dies.

There are several martial arts techniques needed to properly process this gallbladder.

Qi Barrier, Heat Yang Technique, Cold Yin Technique.

Qi Barrier isn’t something grand like protective qi.

It releases qi through the palm to isolate the target from air.

As soon as Tae-ju cut open the Giant Panda Bear’s belly, he wrapped the gallbladder in a qi barrier.

Next, he executed the Heat Yang Technique.

A martial art that converts internal qi into heat power.

To evaporate the gallbladder’s moisture and leave only the essence.

If too hot, the basic properties of the medicinal material would be destroyed.

If too weak, moisture evaporation wouldn’t occur properly and decay would happen.

So it takes quite a lot of time.

Gently, for a long time, slightly opening and closing the qi barrier to expel moisture.

When the drying seemed to be going well enough.

Cold Yin Technique.

Rapid cooling.

Tssssss…

The Giant Panda Bear’s gallbladder instantly turned cold.

Actually, the ingredient processing stage is the most difficult.

On the other hand, making the elixir is easy.

Because you can borrow the power of technology.

‘It’s done.’

Tae-ju hurriedly returned home with the frozen solid gallbladder.

Now he could either store the harvested gallbladder in the freezer for long-term preservation, or make it right away.

Tae-ju chose the latter.

He immediately called Baek Chang-hun.

“Chang-hun!”

“Yes! Hyung-nim.”

“Go buy a pressure cooker. And remove the plastic parts, weld shut the holes where steam escapes.”

“Understood. I’ll buy it right away.”

“Oh, and I need a large oven too. Big enough for the pressure cooker to fit inside.”

Let’s process ingredients until Baek Chang-hun brings the pressure cooker and large oven.

The gallbladder is ready.

Another ingredient is mana three-leaf herb.

The most commonly used mana medicinal herb.

It grows abundantly in Jirisan especially.

Mana didn’t mutate all plants in strange directions.

There were also plants that accepted mana particularly well.

Mana three-leaf herb is one of them.

This must be added raw.

And mutant ephedra.

This is also a medicinal herb full of mana.

Ordinary mana crystals are prepared too.

Plus mana barley, and honey to serve as a coagulant.

High-quality honey would be even better.

While preparing ingredients like this, Baek Chang-hun arrived with the pressure cooker and oven loaded on a truck.

The steam holes were welded shut as requested.

“Hyung-nim, are you making another antidote?”

“It’s not an antidote.”

“Huh? Then what is it?”

“It’s like a snack you eat when your mouth feels bored.”

“Oh! Is it delicious?”

“Of course it’s delicious.”

Especially for an awakener like you, it would be effective for mana aptitude users too.

Tae-ju took small portions of the prepared ingredients and put them into the pot.

He couldn’t put everything in.

If he failed, all these precious ingredients would be wasted.

Four pieces of frozen bear gallbladder. Four pieces of crystals, and other ingredients precisely divided into four equal parts, putting one piece of each into the pot and sealing it.

And one martial art needed in the manufacturing process.

The Penetration Technique, a universal martial art that anyone in the martial world learns.

Tae-ju placed his hand on the pressure cooker.

And operated the Penetration Technique.

Crack, crackle! Crack!

The medicinal herbs crumbling inside the sealed pot.

Frozen bear gallbladder pieces, mana crystals, mana three-leaf herb, mutant ephedra, mana barley.

Everything was crushed inside.

This was how to minimize mana loss.

And he immediately put it in the oven.

The most difficult process when making elixirs in the Gangho Murim was temperature control.

You had to maintain the same temperature continuously, but how easy was that?

That’s why places like Mudang or Shaolin use the Three-Fold True Fire instead of firewood.

But since there was an oven here, that process was a piece of cake.

‘First, set it to 300 degrees.’

10 minutes in the oven.

After 10 minutes, take out the pressure cooker again and use the Penetration Technique to turn the hardened ingredients into powder.

Then set the oven temperature to 290 degrees and run it for another 10 minutes.

After baking, naturally he had to crush it again with the Penetration Technique.

Gradually lower the temperature, bake and crush, then lower again, bake, crush…

Repeat this 9 times.

All these processes were carried out inside the sealed pressure cooker.

So it was a rather tedious task.

Baek Chang-hun, who was watching from the side, eventually yawned and was nodding off.

‘Is it done now?’

Tae-ju took the pressure cooker out of the oven and slowly let it cool.

Finally, with a nervous heart, he opened it.

“Hmm.”

Black powder was piled up inside.

‘Did it burn too much? Tsk, it’s a failure.’

It should have a glossy dark brown color.

Then start over from the beginning!

The temperature seemed too high, so reduce the temperature and time.

There were still chances left.

But it failed again.

‘Ah! What a waste.’

This time, with real care.

When he opened the pressure cooker lid for the third time.

‘It’s ambiguous.’

Inside the pot was powder with a dark brown luster.

The color was slightly murky.

‘Well, this much should be…’

Let’s consider it a success.

Tae-ju drizzled in a little honey.

And while kneading it into appropriate sizes, he shaped it into round pill forms.

The size was about the size of a thumbnail.

When tightly compressed, only two pills came out.

‘Now, I need to test the effects…’

No matter how good an elixir was, if he ate it himself, it would just become waste.

The source of Tae-ju’s power was poison immunity. It would be more beneficial to chew and swallow pufferfish roe… wait!

‘Huh, why didn’t I think of pufferfish poison?’

He had forgotten.

There were many poisonous creatures in the sea too.

He definitely had to make time to visit the sea.

Anyway, who should he have test this?

Tae-ju shook Baek Chang-hun, who was nodding off beside him, to wake him up.

“Chang-hun, Chang-hun?”

“…Mmm, yes, yes? Ah! I dozed off for a moment.”

“Want to try eating this?”

“What, what is it? Rabbit droppings?”

“…”

How much effort had he put in, and he called it droppings.

“It’s good for your body. Let’s call it a type of elixir.”

“This is an elixir? Come on, making elixirs is incredibly difficult.”

“So you won’t eat it?”

“…Uh, no! I’ll, I’ll eat it.”

Baek Chang-hun had momentarily forgotten what kind of person Tae-ju was.

Mosquito poison antidote, and even spore poison antidote.

What was strange about making elixirs?

This must be an elixir too.

Though he didn’t know how effective it would be.

‘How much does the cheapest elixir cost.’

The price varied greatly depending on the elite mana crystal content, but premium elixirs with over 50% would cost about 10 billion.

Eating premium elixirs helps with raising grades.

There were also high-end premium elixirs.

Because they contained 100% elite mana crystals, whole.

Such medicines were priced at whatever they asked.

Eating them immediately raised your grade.

Of course, it varied from person to person.

“Here, try it.”

“Right now?”

Baek Chang-hun received the dark brown rabbit dropping-like pill from Tae-ju.

And swallowed it with his mouth.

“How is it?”

“I’m not sure? Hmm, wait a moment. Somehow my stomach is starting to feel hot… Hiek!”

Suddenly!

Woooooong!

Baek Chang-hun’s body trembled as if vibrating.

“Uaaaah, urgh urgh!”

“Chang-hun!”

But Baek Chang-hun couldn’t answer.

Mana gathered into his body.

As soon as it gathered, it began to condense powerfully.

The hot energy of mana rushing through his entire body.

And after a moment.

A System Message reached Baek Chang-hun’s ears.

[Congratulations. Your rank has increased.]

[You can now acquire skills at Beginner rank.]

[Searching for skills that match your characteristics.]

[You have acquired the skill: Flash Strike.]

[You have acquired the skill: Iron Skin.]

“Ah!”

Baek Chang-hun sat there blankly with a dazed expression.

Kim Tae-ju asked with concern.

“Are you okay? What kind of reaction did you get?”

“H-hyung-nim.”

“What?”

“I, I r-ranked up.”

“…What?”

A rank increase?

I thought it was half a failure… but the effect was this good?

Could it be that the effect was particularly good only for Chang-hun?

“Uhuhuh, sob sob sob.”

Baek Chang-hun suddenly started crying.

“What should I do?”

“Why?”

“I shamelessly ate such an expensive medicine.”

“Calm down. The ingredient cost wasn’t much either.”

“…How much should I pay you? Should I write a slave contract?”

To think he was such an innocent guy.

How did he even awaken?

This won’t do.

“Hey! Stop whining and go bring one more friend.”

“A f-friend?”

“There’s a mana-compatible person among the former inmates, right? Someone kind and tight-lipped.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to feed him this too?”

“That’s right.”

After hesitating for a moment, Baek Chang-hun went outside and brought back a neat-looking young man.

“He’s two years younger than me. He’s smart and kind.”

“First time seeing him?”

“Hello! Hyung-nim, I’m Jang Soon-cheol. I just arrived here yesterday after receiving a call from Seo-yeon noona.”

“Right, Soon-cheol. You try eating this too.”

“Is it rabbit droppings?”

“…”

“It doesn’t matter. If hyung-nim gives it to me, I’ll eat it.”

Jang Soon-cheol put the pill Kim Tae-ju handed him straight into his mouth.

After some time passed and the mana condensation that Baek Chang-hun had experienced was over.

Whooooooom!

Jang Soon-cheol shot up to his feet.

Swirling energy, mana filling every corner of his body, a cry bursting out naturally.

“Ooooooh!”

At the same time, a System Message rang in his head.

[Congratulations. You have awakened.]

[You have acquired a characteristic. You can check it in your status window.]

“Uh uh…”

Suddenly! Swoosh!

Like magic, black tattoos were carved onto Jang Soon-cheol’s face.

Kim Tae-ju was startled.

“Don’t tell me you’re?”

“Yes, th-they say I awakened?”

“…”

Jang Soon-cheol, who had gone from mana-compatible to awakened, clenched his fist and stood at attention, bowing to Kim Tae-ju.

“Hyung-nim! I will serve you with complete loyalty.”

“No, loyalty is going too far…”

“Please give me any orders. I will definitely repay hyung-nim’s kindness.”

“…”

That aside.

The effect is too good.

Even Kim Tae-ju hadn’t expected such results.

No matter how good things are supposed to be good, this was going too far.

‘I can’t sell this.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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