Enchanted Weapon Oil

Ian's mana flowed steadily into the array, guided by his spirituality like a gentle stream. As the patterns on the silver plate slowly lit up, a simple Alchemy Array took shape.

Ian didn't feel strained. Everything fell into place.

Inscribing the Alchemy Array took Ian an hour. After familiarizing himself with and understanding the properties of all the materials, he finally got started close to noon.

Before beginning, Ian had worried constantly that he would fail. But once he actually started, he found that everything came as naturally as eating and drinking. He encountered no difficulties.

He began adding the materials according to the knowledge stored in his memories, starting with the first step: purifying them.

The essence of alchemy was equivalent exchange.

Understanding, purification, decomposition, transformation, construction, solidification, and transmutation—these were the seven stages of an Alchemist's process.

Alchemists rearranged or selected certain stages according to the circumstances to complete the alchemical process.

Soon, as the materials were consumed and the array solidified, a mass of yellow grease, half solid and half liquid, floated at the center of the array.

As Ian drew in his spirituality, his delicate control of mana pushed aside the chaotic magical energy in the transmutation array. Then he withdrew completely from the Alchemy Array to keep his own nature from affecting the enchantment process.

After that, he relied solely on Spirituality Activation, using the pure magical energy produced by the Alchemy Array to enchant the grease.

When the transmutation was complete, the silver plate's light faded, and it fell to the ground, breaking into several pieces.

The bright yellow Enchanted Weapon Oil was supported by spirituality. Its magical glow was thin yet steady, and it was entirely free of impurities. There was no doubt it was the highest quality.

Ian's face lit up with delight. He hurriedly sealed the Enchanted Weapon Oil in the silver jar he had prepared beforehand.

Only a little over two hours had passed. The entire alchemical process had gone smoothly, from beginning to end.

Even at his best, Ian's predecessor hadn't been capable of working with such delicate precision and stability.

With such a simple Alchemy Array and mediocre materials, he had produced the highest-quality weapon oil in just two hours.

If the other Alchemists found out, they'd probably be stunned.

Ian did a quick calculation. He still had some of every material left except the Coordination Crystal.

The weapon oil he'd made this time weighed about three pounds, and had cost around twenty gold coins.

Ian had seen other recipes for Enchanted Weapon Oil for sale on the third floor of the Bounty Hunter Guild. They went for around thirty to sixty gold coins per pound, but their quality was clearly inferior to his.

When he worked it out, even he was shocked.

Three hours, tenfold profit. That sounded downright illegal!

Ian wished he could keep making it nonstop. At that rate, he could buy a second-class battleship in a year—assuming anyone was willing to sell one.

But his spirituality and mana were both more than half depleted. He definitely couldn't keep going today.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

Just as Ian's thoughts were running wild, someone knocked on his door.

From what Ian sensed, there were two people outside. The inn's nervous attendant stood at the door, knocking, while a few meters away stood an Extraordinary with a sailor's cap, one hand on the hilt of his sword and a wary look on his face.

Ian wasn't particularly surprised. The Extraordinary might be with the Breath of the Ocean. He had appeared outside shortly after Ian began his alchemy, but hadn't rashly interrupted him.

The Alchemy Array had made quite a commotion. Ian would have found it strange if no one had come to investigate.

In his previous life, Ian had been timid and constrained, never free—just an ordinary nobody, exploited like a leek.

Reborn into a new life with a cheat at his side, he wouldn't act recklessly, but he didn't want to live walking on eggshells, either.

In this world, the supernatural was rooted in spirituality. Power came from emotion and intuition, not reason and logic.

Suppressing one's nature would only make the path to the Extraordinary more difficult.

"May I help you?"

Ian opened the door, but his eyes went to the Extraordinary a short distance away.

"Sir..."

"You can go," the sword-bearing Extraordinary interrupted the hesitant attendant, then walked toward Ian.

"Hello, I'm Damir of the Whaling Group. First of all, welcome to the Breath of the Ocean."

Damir wore silver-gray leather hunting armor. He was half a head shorter than Ian, with a slender build and gaunt cheeks that gave him a somewhat stern appearance.

The sword at his waist had an unusual design. It had no guard or counterweight, and was straight and smooth, neither long nor short. It gave off a peculiar magical aura.

"However, regulations prohibit any uncontrolled rituals in public areas. The ritual you performed just now lacked the necessary safeguards. If it had gone out of control, it could have caused great losses."

"Fortunately, nothing went wrong this time. I hope this doesn't happen again. What do you think?"

Afraid Ian might misunderstand, Damir hurried to finish speaking, forcing a stiff smile.

The spiritual fluctuations from earlier had been sustained and concentrated, with a sense of unbreakable solidity. He knew he was nowhere near that level. Ian had to be an experienced Extraordinary Sequence professional, and not someone to provoke.

Ian knew about that rule, of course. It had been proposed by the Extraordinary Professions Union and written into the laws of every country.

But it was mainly meant to guard against evil rituals, like spirit summoning and shadow conjuration.

Alchemy Arrays weren't included. Though they fell under the category of rituals, they had undergone a thousand years of refinement and already incorporated safeguards against accidents. They didn't explode at the drop of a hat like they had a thousand years ago.

It seemed Damir had never seen an Alchemist at work.

"I think you've misunderstood. That was the fluctuation of an Alchemy Array, not some unknown ritual!"

Ian stepped aside, letting Damir see the scattered fragments of the silver Alchemy Array plate in the room, along with the silver jar containing the Enchanted Weapon Oil.

"This... Uh..."

Damir was dumbfounded. An Alchemist had skipped the Alchemist Fellowship and chosen to produce a magical item in an inn, without any safeguards?!

At the end of the sixth-floor corridor, Lia, who had been watching the situation, realized things weren't going as expected. She hurried over.

The sixth floor was the Whaling Group's private space, mainly used for daily meetings and gatherings. It was fitted with a concealment array, so Ian hadn't sensed what was happening up there earlier.

"Damir, you were too rash. You rushed over without even figuring out what was going on."

"Sir, I'm terribly sorry. I apologize on his behalf."

The Whaling Group was currently enjoying a honeymoon period of cooperation with the Alchemists' Association. It would be unwise to offend an Alchemist on a whim.

The sudden appearance of Lia made Ian's eyes brighten. The scar on her face detracted somewhat from her beauty, but her presence and figure were striking.

Ian wasn't lecherous, nor was he bolder simply because he had become Extraordinary. The main reason was that he'd been here for a week and had only met men.

Some old customs still persisted in this era. For example, women were forbidden from serving aboard seagoing ships—unless they were Extraordinary, of course.

There weren't many women on Paradise Island, either. Even when he occasionally encountered one, she was usually bundled up from head to toe and hurrying along.

So it was no wonder that seeing a beautiful woman had caught his eye.