The Strongest Talent Tree

As she walked into the pharmacy, Yu Xiaoxiao’s eyes filled with reminiscence. A captivating smile graced her face as she gazed at the familiar surroundings.

Feng Hao looked up, suspicious. "Alright, spit it out. What brings you all the way out here?"

"Can’t I come just to visit?" Yu Xiaoxiao gave a faint smile and sat gracefully on the sofa, remarking, "This place of yours isn’t half bad, actually. It’s quiet. Relaxing."

Feng Hao was speechless. "You might be relaxed," he said irritably, "but I’m a nervous wreck."

"Heh heh." Yu Xiaoxiao covered her mouth and chuckled. "Am I that terrifying?"

"Terrifying? That doesn’t even begin to cover it." Feng Hao said with a straight face. "I still have a very vivid memory of how horrifying that Sword Qi was."

"Look at you, all scared." Yu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at him. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks as she seemed to recall her own predicament back then. "I’m mainly here for the Snow Frost Ointment this time."

Feng Hao was stunned. "You came all this way just for that?" he asked in disbelief.

"Mhm." Yu Xiaoxiao nodded with a smile. "Your Snow Frost Ointment works wonders. The sisters in my sect all love it. I plan on taking a lot more back with me this time. You won’t refuse, will you?"

Feng Hao curled his lip, speechless. ’Honestly, I’ll never understand women’s passion for beauty products,’ he thought. "No problem. How many do you need?"

"Let’s start with ten thousand jars," Yu Xiaoxiao said with a placid smile.

"..." Feng Hao was floored. His eyes went wide. "Ten thousand jars? Are you planning to eat the stuff?"

Yu Xiaoxiao’s eyes glinted. "I’m actually planning to make a small profit. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get a fair price."

"Good heavens, this isn’t just a personal shopping trip. You’re trying to start your own business!" Feng Hao said, exasperated.

"What? Not interested in such a huge business opportunity?" Yu Xiaoxiao asked with a smile.

"I don’t get it," Feng Hao said. "You’re a powerful Mage and a disciple of Thousand Blades Valley. Do you really need to make money on the side?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. When you’re short on cash, you can’t be too picky. Besides, I like the Snow Frost Ointment myself, so it’s a business I can be happy with," Yu Xiaoxiao said, a hint of melancholy in her voice.

Feng Hao was taken aback for a moment, then curled his lip and nodded. "Fine, ten thousand jars it is. I’ll just have to work some overtime. But you have to source the ingredients. I’ll only handle the production, and I’ll charge you a fifty-thousand-coin processing fee per jar."

"That expensive?" Yu Xiaoxiao asked, surprised.

"Can’t be helped. I’m a little short on cash myself lately," Feng Hao said with a wicked grin. "If it were anyone else, I’d charge at least a hundred thousand."

Yu Xiaoxiao mulled it over for a moment, then her face broke into a smile. "Alright, it’s a deal. Give me the list of ingredients tomorrow, and I’ll go gather them."

"A pleasure doing business with you," Feng Hao said, nodding in satisfaction.

"Mhm, a pleasure doing business with you." Yu Xiaoxiao beamed, then stood up and headed for a room upstairs as if she owned the place.

Feng Hao’s face darkened with exasperation. "Hey! What do you think you’re doing?" he yelled, dumbfounded.

"I’ll be staying here for the duration of our partnership. If you need me for anything, remember to knock first." Yu Xiaoxiao let out a charming laugh and walked right into the western room.

A moment later, she backed out with a puzzled expression, her brow furrowed. "Did someone stay in here?"

"Duh, it’s my house. I can let whoever I want stay here," Feng Hao retorted.

"It’s a pigsty. They must not have been a very tidy person," Yu Xiaoxiao huffed, then began cleaning and tidying up with great fanfare.

Feng Hao couldn’t be bothered to deal with her. He locked up the shop and returned to his own room to begin cultivating...

Early the next morning, Yu Xiaoxiao woke him up. After getting the list of ingredients from him, she drove off to gather them.

Business at the pharmacy continued as usual. He set up his mechanical workbench behind the counter, allowing him to research his devices while minding the shop. The time passed rather quickly.

After several days of hard work, his portable playback device was starting to take shape. Unfortunately, it was still too bulky and needed to be further miniaturized and refined.

’Not bad, not bad. This ’Warm Silver’ has a high density and strong magical conductivity. It’s perfect for making micro-circuit boards.’

Feng Hao looked at the freshly etched Magic Energy Circuit Board on his workbench with a satisfied expression. The next step was to assemble the individual components and then build a more refined casing for it.

For the casing, Feng Hao chose Refined Iron. For one, it was relatively cheap. For another, it was tough and would protect the internal components well.

Cutting, pressing, polishing...

The silver-black Refined Iron casing was soon complete. He sealed the assembled internal components inside, and just like that, the Mage World’s first portable playback device was born.

’Now for the real question: what music should I load onto it?’ Feng Hao frowned.

As far as he knew, the Mage World didn’t place much importance on music. It was rare to come across anything catchy. Most compositions were created to accompany dance magic, with lyrical, gentle melodies completely lacking any sort of passion.

’Whatever, I’ll start with some DJ tracks and see how it goes.’ With that thought, Feng Hao didn’t hesitate. He extended his Divine Sense into the player and began inputting the dynamic, catchy tunes he remembered from Earth.

This was the power of Magic Energy Black Technology. By using Divine Sense to etch the data, he could perfectly recreate melodies from his memory.

Once the etching was complete, Feng Hao activated the Consciousness Switch in eager anticipation.

The next moment, a dynamic and insanely catchy rhythm reverberated throughout the pharmacy. The volume and sound quality were so high they were simply astounding.

"OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ, OONTZ OONTZ OONTZ..."

The instant he heard the music, Feng Hao felt his blood pump and his fighting spirit ignite. "Haha, this is the feeling I was looking for!"

Just as Feng Hao was bobbing his head to the beat, Yu Xiaoxiao returned from her supply run. Seeing him acting like a lunatic, she froze in place. "What are you doing? Having a seizure?"

"Haha, you’re back just in time! Listen closely. Doesn’t it get your blood pumping? Make you feel the passion?" Feng Hao asked excitedly.

"What an awful song." Yu Xiaoxiao looked disgusted, clearly unable to appreciate the dynamic style of DJ music.

Feng Hao scoffed. "That’s because you have no taste. Yo, yo, check it out—!"

"Lunatic!"

Yu Xiaoxiao shot him a contemptuous look. Her gaze fell on the player in his hand. "What is that device? It seems... interesting," she asked, curious.

"So you do have some taste after all. This is a portable music player that I personally developed. You can call it an ’MP3’," Feng Hao said smugly.

"M... P... 3? What a strange name. Does it have some special meaning?" Yu Xiaoxiao frowned.

"Uh, no special meaning," Feng Hao said, taken aback. ’Right,’ he thought, ’the Mage World doesn’t have the English alphabet. She wouldn’t understand even if I explained it.’

Yu Xiaoxiao stepped forward curiously. After her beautiful eyes had sized it up, she asked, "Can it play other songs?"

"Of course. You just have to etch a new one in with your Divine Sense. One Crystal of Magic Energy gets you over an hour of playtime," Feng Hao explained.

"Let me try." Without another word, Yu Xiaoxiao snatched the player from him. While turning off the DJ track, she began etching with her Divine Sense.

A few minutes later, a melodious, sorrowful tune filled the pharmacy. Hearing it made Feng Hao’s butt clench, and all his excitement vanished.

"Oh? It really works." As if she’d discovered a new continent, Yu Xiaoxiao began to play with the device. "How much are you selling this... MP3? I want to take some back to Dust Wind."

"Name your price," Feng Hao said with a delighted nod. He had made this thing to earn money, and from Yu Xiaoxiao’s reaction, it seemed the ’MP3’ had a lot of market potential.

"Alright then. Make a thousand of them for me first. I’ll take them back to Dust Wind and test the market," Yu Xiaoxiao said, lost in the melody.

Feng Hao’s vision went black, and he nearly fainted on the spot. "A thousand units? You might as well just kill me!"