After Punk grandly slammed down seventy gold coins, a dilapidated, gloomy little house of roughly two hundred square meters officially became his. A house that probably no one would have wanted even for free had actually sold for seventy gold coins. Its former owner would probably wake up laughing from dreams!
Punk disdainfully glanced at the middle-aged man clutching the coins, afraid Punk might change his mind as he hurried away. He shook his head at these ignorant commoners, then "examined" his "new home." He had never expected that the dream of owning a house, once unattainable on Earth, would come true so easily now.
"But I don't feel any sense of belonging or security at all. Is it because I've been homeless ever since I transmigrated, so I've gotten used to it?"
Punk could not help but mock himself.
Only after calmly casting several detection spells on the house and confirming that there was no problem did Punk step onto the old, creaking stairs before the door.
When he entered the little house, the first thing to greet him was a layer of dust nearly a centimeter thick piled across the floor, along with spiders all over the corners. Smoke and dust flew everywhere as the door opened, turning the entire living room into a filthy haze.
"I paid so much money, and you couldn't even throw in a little cleaning service. No wonder you couldn't sell this house."
As Punk complained that the seller's terrible service attitude could not compare with even his counterparts on Earth, he began using a Wind Breath Spell with its power reduced as much as possible to clear away the dust and cobwebs.
As a powerful miniature hurricane swept through every corner of the ruined house, its decaying wooden structure let out piercing groans beneath the gale, making one worry that the ramshackle house might crumble and collapse at any moment.
Punk sent all the dust swept up by the strong wind straight out through the door, raising a small sandstorm outside for a time. Even the leaves of a small tree by the entrance were coated in gray-black dust.
Looking at the much cleaner ruined house, Punk felt fairly satisfied. With no furniture inside, the space seemed exceptionally open and bright, perfect for placing all manner of alchemical bottles and jars. He did not intend to buy any furniture either. As a mage who used a Meditation Method instead of sleep, he did not need a bed. As a "chef" who could not even fry an egg, he did not need a kitchen. He only had to buy food on the street.
After setting up several simple defensive magic spells, Punk entered a room deeper inside the side of the house that faced away from the sun. Once he shut the door, the entire room became dark. Apart from several holes in the roof gnawed out by insects, there was barely any other source of light.
In the small room, which now had quite the atmosphere of a haunted house, Punk cast a Journeyman Level Evocation Spell—Dancing Light Spell. A bright little ball of light, comparable to an incandescent lamp, appeared in Punk's hand before floating up to the ceiling. The soft light it emitted illuminated every detail of the room. As a Journeyman Level Utility Spell, it could remain bright for two full days, making it a lighting "fixture" far superior to electric lamps and the like.
Next, Punk used a spell to create a very large table. These simple utility spells could already be adjusted and altered to a certain extent by Punk, now that he was a Journeyman Mage. For example, after Punk used the system's analysis to modify the spell's structural model, which had originally only been able to create round tables, it could now create an oversized rectangular workbench like the one before him. Though he had only made minor changes to a secondary structure of the spell, it still represented Punk's deeper understanding of magic.
Once the workbench was ready, Punk carefully took several alchemy tools engraved with dim magical patterns from his pocket. This set was not the kind of easily damaged "cheap junk"—the kind that cost ten gold coins and was practically disposable. Now that he had money, Punk had not even glanced at those again. These tools were "limited-edition custom-made products" worth two hundred gold coins, or so the old mage claimed, though Punk had no idea whether that was reliable. Not only were they made from relatively high-quality materials, but they had also been enhanced to varying degrees with magical inscriptions to improve their quality.
Punk picked up a pale-red transparent beaker engraved with pale-yellow flame-shaped inscriptions. The markings, like splashing sparks, radiated a warm temperature along the cup's walls. This beaker was made from Crimson Ember Crystal. Not only was it sturdy, it also slowed energy dissipation, while the inscriptions upon it could effectively retain heat. It was absolutely the "perfect assistant" every novice alchemist dreamed of. Though this set of tools immediately drained the gold coins Punk had just obtained, it was unquestionably worth the price!
Punk neatly arranged the alchemy tools on the workbench, then took out the thin Night Vision Potion Recipe Explained and began studying it. The bag containing his alchemical materials rested by his feet, allowing him to take them out at any time for comparison.
Time passed little by little. As Punk studied more deeply, he gained an extremely detailed understanding of the Night Vision Potion. This potion achieved its effects through biological mimicry. Once refined, it became a translucent liquid in a semi-energized state. Then, through alchemical transformation, fixed magical programming was added to the potion and a fixed transformation pattern was established. After entering the human body, the potion would rapidly gather in the eyes through the bloodstream in an energy state. The magical "program" that had already fused with the potion would then activate, ultimately forming an energy film behind the retina that was exceptionally sensitive to light. In bright conditions, the potion's semi-materialized component took effect, allowing light to form a normal image on the retina. Once the light became dim and the retina could no longer form an image, the potion's semi-energized component took effect, allowing faint light to form an image upon the highly photosensitive energy film.
The principle was wondrous, yet simple. But the process of putting it into practice... would probably be complicated and difficult...
Punk closed the book, whose contents had already been recorded word for word by the system, and fell into thought as he rubbed its somewhat wrinkled, rough cover.
There were two key points in making this potion: first, refining a pile of strange ingredients into the potion's main body, which possessed special photosensitive properties.
The second was setting the potion to automatically identify the visual organs within the human body and form an energy film in the correct location.
The first point was especially complicated and difficult. The second could still be learned step by step by following the examples of one's predecessors, and with enough practice, one would eventually master it. Only the aspects of separating the energy of materials, fusing multiple structures, and altering a potion's properties were extremely difficult. Even materials of the same type could not possibly be completely identical in their characteristics. Thus, alchemy required not only precise control, but also constant adjustments according to changes in the materials. Countless mages had been left dizzy and overwhelmed by these numerous, chaotic, and complicated operations.
Punk put down the recipe book and rubbed his temples with his index finger. Even with the system's analysis and his soul perception, he found this Alchemy Potion quite a headache. No wonder there were so few alchemists. No wonder even that little puppet had looked at him with a trace of amusement when he bought the Alchemy Potion recipe. This damned thing really was not ordinarily difficult!
The last two chapters have been laying the groundwork. The upcoming plot will be exciting, so feel free to join the group: 548859662
Before you continue