Raymond who was waiting for his final moment and was getting a little impatient,
heard a voice calling to him “What are you doing?”
“Huh” Raymond was closing his eyes and waiting for his death, so he thought
that the voice was a hallucination, but he thought again ‘The voice seemed real
and annoying, what was that voice?’
So Raymond opened his closed eyes.
What he saw was ‘the bastard’ who should have perished in the explosion,
standing there and holding the scary test tube. ‘What is happening? Shouldn’t
the red coral solution explode under the high temperature? Why is it still in the
test tube? ’
Raymond felt brain fried. The red coral solution was exposed to high
temperature but it didn’t explode. Raymond couldn’t simply just accept that. That
went against all of his knowledge in alchemy. The alchemy professor at
Auckland Academy always stressed that the red coral mustn’t be dissolved, and
if you dissolved it, you mustn’t expose it to high temperature.
‘Was the professor wrong?’ It was easier for Raymond to believe that everything
he was seeing, was just a hallucination.
‘But what if….’
As if to prove him wrong, he heard the real and annoying voice again and this
time it seemed impatient “How come enchanting the glass bottles is taking so
long?” Then he walked over carrying the test tube.
“Don’t….Don’t come over here” Raymond was frightened and he subconsciously
took a step back. But after he thought it about it, he calmed down. After all if it
was going to explode, it would have exploded already. “I will bring them after I
finish .”
Raymond instantly regretted what he just said.
It wasn’t enough that he was forced to work hard, now he have to bring the
finished product by himself. That was a blow to his self esteem.
The problem was that he couldn’t take back what he just said, so he could only
bear with it and bring the enchanted bottles to the bastard.
As he brought the enchanted bottles,Raymond wanted to say something
arrogant, to demonstrate his pride, but he got scared when he saw the red
liquid in the test tube in Lin Yun’s hand and looked at him with dread.
Lin Yun didn’t have time to care about him. He arranged the enchanted bottles
on the Lab work table and poured an even amount of the red coral in each
bottle. As he saw that, Raymond stood there with his eyes wide open.
After he finished, Lin Yun finally put down the dangerous test tube and then
began categorizing the magic materials.Then he started grinding some dried
thousand knots cloves* into powder, then he used a filtering flask to obtain the
extract of seven leaf clovers, then he spread a small amount of moonlight sand
on a white paper and began chanting few simple spells that caused the
moonlight sand to shine with a soft light.
(TN: *the original text is 千结花 literal meaning is thousand-knot/seed/fruit-flower
but “百结花literally mean hundred-knot/seed/fruit-flower” can sometimes refer to
clove or lilac.)
As the light gradually became more bright, Lin Yun’s working speed increased.
He poured the seven leaf clover extract into the glass bottles and the vivid red
coral solution became less bright. Then after he added the clove powder, the
pungent smell disappeared.
After he added the moonlight sand, the liquid in the seven glass bottles became
pink in color with misty appearance.
“Good lord”
After what he saw, Raymond who was still contemplating over his lack of self
respect, had a stupid look on his face with his mouth slightly open, then he
looked at Lin Yun as if he was a monster.
‘Is is is… is this the multi-colored potion’
Raymond remembered clearly that after his advancement to the mage level, as
a reward, Auckland academy allowed him to study in the alchemy laboratory for
a week. There he saw a completely different world. That was said to be the
center of knowledge in the kingdom. There were 2 titled magicians and 7 grand
alchemists. It was also rumored that the head of the laboratory was a master
alchemist*. Their existence made Auckland laboratory to be a holy land for
many mages and alchemists.
(TN: * the Chinese text is just 巨匠 which means simply master or in a more
literal sense: huge/giant-craftsman so i assumed it is for alchemists)
When Raymond went there, he felt that he was going for a pilgrimage.
During that week, Raymond felt that he was walking on clouds. Being in the
center of knowledge in the kingdom, meeting the legendary characters that
people only hear about them, and occasionally hearing their discussions and
watching their researches, for Raymond that was once in a lifetime chance.
Very few people was lucky to get the same chance as Raymond. After all
whether it was a titled magician or a grand alchemist, they are people who
stand at the top of their respective fields. They no longer care about the
mundane affairs of the world. Just by watching them, Raymond would have a
more clear vision of his path.
Raymond still remembers that on his third day, he got the chance to witness
grand alchemist Gustav refining multi-colored potion. It was a potion used to
purify the mana vortex. For those who were stuck at the peak of mage level and
want to compress the vortex to step into the master mage realm*, that was an
invaluable potion.
(TN: *different Chinese characters from the previous master)
It was a miraculous experience. Raymond still remembers the refining process
clearly without missing a thing even a long time had passed.
As the time pass, Raymond understanding of what he saw increases. And that
is probably the reason for his arrogance.
The seven bottles on the table, whether it were the smell or the mana
fluctuations, were the exact same as the multi-colored potion from Raymond’s
memories.
‘What does this mean? The apprentice who was stuck in level 9 for years, not
only became a mage who mastered 2 magic skills, but also became a high level
pharmaceutical alchemist?’
‘Are you kidding me?’
Raymond is also a mage and knows that talent isn’t everything. After all, even
geniuses need a lot of time to accumulate knowledge and hone their skills and
there is no exception.
Among the many branches of alchemy, pharmaceutical alchemy is the most time
and resources consuming. Every pharmaceutical alchemist has grown up from
countless failures. And the youngest pharmaceutical alchemist in Andalusia
kingdom is at least 30 years old.
Without enough time accumulating knowledge and experience, it was impossible
to become pharmaceutical alchemist.
‘Just now, I almost attacked a future grand alchemist’
As Raymond thought of what he did, cold sweat trickled down from his forehead.
‘What should I do? Should i take the initiative and apologize in a humble
attitude? ’
‘Even if that seemed demeaning, my pride has already taken a hit, there is
no problem to take another hit. ’
‘That's right, just do it’
While Raymond was racking his brain for a way to show a humble and sincere
attitude, Lin Yun was done with his work.
He cleaned up the table and stored the tools, even the ones he picked up from
the trash can. That was a habit, Lin Yun picked from his days in the final era
when resources were scarce. For him, even a rice grain sized mana crystal was
a huge wealth that couldn’t go to waste.