Fourteen days later!
Crisp clinks and clangs echoed through the laboratory.
Logo stood naked before the forging press, his lean, muscular upper body exposed. Holding a small hammer, he struck the black metal before him with great concentration.
By sensing the subtle vibrations that accompanied each blow, Logo had gained a basic understanding of the properties of the material known as Rona Alloy.
He stopped hammering, placed the Rona Alloy on the pile of materials to his right, and picked up a piece of pale yellow metal from the neatly arranged materials on his left.
Just as he was about to raise the hammer, his body suddenly shuddered. Intense pain surged through him like a tide, and beads of sweat the size of beans poured from his pores. In moments, a large patch of the floor was wet.
"Fuck, that hurts!"
Logo gripped the handle of the small hammer so tightly that he left a few faint finger marks on it.
After an unknown amount of time, the pain gradually receded.
An unprecedented sense of ease took its place.
It was not physical ease, but ease in his mind and soul.
It was like a window wiped clean of dust, bright and clear, revealing every enticing sight outside.
The flow of air, the barely perceptible dust in the laboratory, the breathing and rhythm of metal...
What he saw, what he heard, what he felt...
Everything was different!
It was as though his soul had undergone a transformation!
He opened the panel.
Knight, which had originally appeared in the class field, had changed to [Alchemist].
His spirit attribute had risen from 4 to 5.
His charm attribute had dropped by one, from 3 to 2.
His other attributes remained unchanged.
His class had changed, but under normal circumstances, his physical attributes would not decline, especially his constitution attribute.
Just like a piece of iron, whether it became a saber or a sword, it was still iron at its core and would not turn soft.
His charm attribute had dropped because the charm boost unique to the knight class had disappeared.
Of course, charm meant little to Logo and had little effect on him. It only meant he could no longer sign a knight contract with Crassus, but the affection and bond between them had never needed a contract to sustain them.
[Fire of Birth Lv2] had appeared in the knowledge and skills field. As the most essential ability in alchemy, Fire of Birth had a maximum level of 100.
[Alchemical Mechanics] had also risen from Lv1 to Lv2, matching the level of [Fire of Birth].
His combat power level had changed the most, going from 69-183 to 42-135.
It had declined sharply.
Logo was not surprised by this.
Fire of Birth was not well suited to combat. This energy was nicknamed the [Power of Creation] and was best at creating and controlling all kinds of alchemical items. It also possessed exceptionally high compatibility and penetrating properties, but its destructive power was only average.
Naturally, using Fire of Birth to power martial arts secret techniques or knight combat skills was less effective than using Dou Qi.
But if the secret technique was replaced with a mechanical weapon such as a sniper rifle, that was a different matter altogether.
The properties of Fire of Birth also varied greatly among alchemists with different fields of research.
The Fire of Birth of a mechanics alchemist was especially good at controlling all kinds of machinery, and its inherent properties also boosted mechanical performance to a certain extent.
The same rifle in the hands of a knight and a mechanics alchemist were two entirely different things.
With the enhancement of a mechanics alchemist's Fire of Birth, an ordinary rifle could produce the effects of an anti-materiel sniper rifle.
A sniper rifle, meanwhile, could produce the effects of an anti-tank gun.
And so on.
The Fire of Birth of a potion alchemist provided a noticeable boost to potion-making, making it easier to produce high-quality potions.
The properties of Fire of Birth generated by alchemical disciplines such as bloodlines and botany also differed.
Fire of Birth could also possess a second property, and a third.
However, this would make improving Fire of Birth vastly more difficult.
That was because the gap between each property could not be too great. Otherwise, the stronger properties would suppress or even devour the weaker ones.
But anyone who wanted to travel far on the path of alchemy and become an alchemy master, grandmaster, or even an alchemy sage had to overcome this.
This was also a difficulty that had to be overcome to open the Gate of Truth and become a truth alchemist.
Thus, the best choice was to pursue multiple branches of study side by side from the very beginning.
Hard at first, easy later.
If one waited until the final stages to make up for shortcomings, it would be too late. By then, the single property of Fire of Birth would have grown far too powerful, making it impossible to retain any other properties.
For example, if a Lv80 mechanics alchemist studied potion-making...
The property generated by potion-making would be suppressed and devoured by the mechanics property as soon as it appeared. The two could not coexist at all.
Yet the vast majority of alchemists in the Astral Realm still chose the second path.
The reason was simple.
Only after becoming strong would they be qualified to consider what came afterward.
Those who chose the first path were either fools with no backing, feeling their way forward on their own...
Or they were extremely arrogant.
Or they were truly gifted and had sufficiently powerful forces backing them!
Logo was neither arrogant nor a fool. He had the Eye of Insight, Truth Analysis, and the higher-dimensional information space left behind by the Aslant Civilization. He was qualified and capable of taking the first path.
To pursue multiple disciplines side by side from the early stages while eliminating the conflict and chaos between different properties, one had to master an ability.
[All Things Under Heaven]!
Fire of Birth was an alchemist's most essential and important ability.
It was more than just a form of energy.
Fire of Birth had nine growth stages.
These corresponded to the nine ranks of alchemists.
At each stage, Fire of Birth would produce an [associated ability].
Some associated abilities were very weak and offered alchemists almost no help.
But others were so powerful that even gods feared them.
The associated abilities that emerged were highly random.
Differences in alchemists' personalities, knowledge, experiences, and other factors, as well as the properties they had mastered, resulted in a bewildering variety of associated abilities. The abilities produced by each alchemist's Fire of Birth varied greatly.
But what alchemists did best was find patterns.
There was no absolute chaos in the Astral Realm.
Everything had its own underlying logic and patterns. Some were difficult to discover, but their objective regularity was independent of human will.
Through the efforts of countless alchemists over long ages, alchemists had gained a great deal of experience in obtaining the associated abilities they desired.
The order in which they studied alchemical knowledge, their schedules, the depth and breadth of their studies...
They used nearly fixed [formulas] to obtain the corresponding [associated abilities].
The higher-dimensional information space of the Aslant Civilization contained numerous [formulas].
For example, Logo had once noticed an associated ability called [Calming Heart]. It could calm the heart and mind, dispel restlessness, and stabilize spiritual power, allowing an alchemist to devote himself wholeheartedly to the study of alchemy.
By studying according to the formula, there was a 38% chance of mastering the ability as a junior alchemist, a 45% chance at the intermediate alchemist stage, a 21% chance at the senior alchemist stage, and a 1.3% chance at the top alchemist stage...
Without a formula, the odds were only one in hundreds of millions.
It was somewhat like taking an exam: by reasonably arranging and planning one's courses, one could get into the school and major of one's choice!!
Once an associated ability of Fire of Birth emerged, it could not be discarded unless one paid an enormous price to reset one's points. But 99.99999% of alchemists lacked the resources to do so.
Thus, the choice of associated abilities was extremely important.
Every proven formula was immensely valuable. Some exceptionally precious formulas could even spark wars between the advanced civilizations of the Astral Realm.
Of course, there were all sorts of people in the world, and not every alchemist valued formulas.
Some alchemists, either following their whims or adopting a gambler's mindset, chose to study without following any formula and let their associated abilities emerge at random.
This method of obtaining associated abilities was called [formula gambling].
With good luck, one could obtain an unprecedentedly powerful associated ability.
With bad luck, one would fail miserably.
Most gamblers did not come to a good end.
But the pursuit of thrills was in the nature of many intelligent beings. At every moment in the Astral Realm, countless alchemists joined the ranks of formula gamblers, one after another, never tiring of it.
Logo glanced at his own luck attribute and promptly abandoned the idea of gambling on a formula.
Gambling addicts never die a good death.
Only if he obtained an ability such as [Luck Deprivation], which could greatly increase his luck attribute, would he consider it.