Bloodline Alchemy (Please Follow)

"Ha ha, as expected, the Miracle Furnace could handle something that didn't involve synthesis and only required impurity removal."

Richard slapped his thigh, excitement surging through him.

For a long time, Richard had used the Miracle Furnace to refine all kinds of information, but he had never used its ability to refine substances. Now that he had accepted this task of extracting Red Mercury, he could finally see what the Miracle Furnace could do with material refinement.

"No."

But Richard did not rashly begin refining it. He still remembered that Red Mercury was highly explosive.

"Red Mercury is explosive by nature. After refinement, it must be kept away from light, impacts, and shaking. I need to buy a colored glass bottle."

No sooner said than done, Richard immediately went to the Commercial District and bought a brown glass bottle.

After returning to his room, Richard held the fist-sized Sunstone in his hand and chose to refine it.

The next instant, Richard sensed his mana flowing toward somewhere beyond his perception.

The refinement consumed two-thirds of Richard's mana. By calculation, one point of mental power was equivalent to ten points of mana.

As his mana vanished, the Sunstone in Richard's hand instantly appeared inside the furnace. The Sunstone visibly shrank at a rapid rate, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a mass of crimson liquid with the texture of flowing gold, appearing in Richard's hand.

The Red Mercury was wrapped in mana and floated motionlessly in the air. Richard opened the brown glass bottle he had just bought and carefully guided the Red Mercury into it with his mana.

Once all of it had entered the glass bottle, Richard found a large balance and weighed it.

This one kilogram of Sunstone had actually yielded fifty grams of Red Mercury.

"Was I cheated?" Richard was somewhat angered, but on second thought, he had extracted it through the Miracle Furnace with almost no loss. Ordinary apprentices refining Red Mercury certainly could not make use of everything as thoroughly as he had.

So it made sense that one kilogram of Sunstone would yield fifty grams of Red Mercury.

"No matter what, this task is done. Even if I don't become Gerald's disciple, one hundred Magic Stones is still a huge sum."

After refining the Red Mercury, Richard's life returned to its usual calm.

Central Black Tower, Library, dormitory—three points, one line. Occasionally eating with Ellie or strolling through the Commercial District, that was the entirety of Richard's life.

As for the task, Richard did not turn it in.

Based on Richard's experiments with the remaining Sunstone, refining Red Mercury would take an ordinary apprentice at least a month, and that was assuming everything went smoothly without mistakes. If they failed, the time could double, or even take longer.

The tree that rose above the forest would be the first to be felled by the wind.

What was more, Richard was not merely outstanding—he had a cheat helping him.

Under these circumstances, Richard had no choice but to hide his strength and set the time to turn in the task at three months after accepting it.

Aside from the task, Richard had spent this time searching for materials for Bloodline Alchemy rather than exchanging for spell models to inscribe spell marks.

Wizard Apprentices had three essential elements: linking the Sea of Souls, constructing Mana Circulation, and inscribing spell marks. Inscribing spell marks allowed wizards to cast spells quickly, but as a Low-level apprentice, Richard had very few spells available for exchange.

Bloodline Alchemy, however, was different.

The formula Richard had refined from those notes was called Black Warrior. Its first three stages could all be carried out during the apprentice stage, and the bloodlines it required were not rare. For the simplest first stage, all he needed was the bloodline of a low-level Magic Beast called the Black Iron Beast.

His battle with Saban had shown him just how powerful a knight could become with the aid of spells. Bloodline Alchemy happened to be able to enhance his physique.

Richard knew that their current peaceful lives existed only because they had just entered the Academy and were unfamiliar with everything.

Once enough time passed, conflicts would inevitably erupt among this group of people with blood on their hands.

Three months later, Apprentice Self-Test Room.

[Mental power: 16.2, physique: 10, mana: 162, rating: beginner apprentice.]

Looking at the data displayed in the Crystal Ball, Richard nodded in satisfaction.

After three months of diligent meditation, his mental power had finally broken through sixteen points.

"An increase of one point in three months. At this rate, I'll meet the Low-level apprentice standard in a year. And this speed is based on not changing my meditation method. If I can switch to an Intermediate Meditation Method, it can be even faster!"

He had also noticed his physique. According to the Academy's records, a Knight Aspirant's physique ranged from ten to fifteen. Reaching fifteen counted as an Official Knight, while exceeding twenty counted as a Senior Knight.

Yet Richard had raised his physique to the level of a Knight Aspirant without doing any training whatsoever.

It was simply inconceivable.

If Ellie next door had not experienced the same thing, he would have suspected that he possessed some Legendary Bloodline.

After leaving the testing room, Richard went to Stall Street in the Commercial District.

This street was filled with stalls set up by apprentices who could not afford to rent shops.

Richard had no special reason for coming here. Things were simply cheap here, making it an ideal place to hunt for overlooked bargains.

Looking left and right, Richard actually spotted something he needed.

"Friend, how much for this claw?" Richard crouched before a stall and looked at a claw with several Black Scales still attached.

After searching for so many days, Richard had finally found someone selling Black Iron Beast materials.

The stall owner gave Richard a glance. A brand-new wizard robe and a youthful face—clearly a newly enrolled apprentice. This was someone he could fleece properly.

"Five hundred Academy Coins," the stall owner named his price.

"Hm? This thing is in such poor condition, yet you dare ask for the price of five Magic Stones?" Richard pointed at the claw and raised his voice in astonishment.

"This thing is worth two hundred Academy Coins at most. Not a coin more."

"Two hundred?" Hearing Richard's offer, the owner nearly sprang up from the ground. He was here to fleece a fool, not to be the fool himself. "Why don't you just rob me? Do you know how hard it is to kill a Black Iron Beast? Four Magic Stones at the least!"

"Four Magic Stones? Why don't you go rob someone?" Richard argued his case, pointing at the defects on the claw as he loudly rattled them off. "Every claw on this Black Iron Beast is broken, and half the metal scales on its hide have fallen off. Two hundred and fifty at most, not a coin more."

"Three hundred and fifty! That's my lowest price."

"Three hundred! Any higher and I'll look somewhere else!"

With that, Richard made as if to leave. Seeing how determined Richard was, the owner gritted his teeth and agreed to the price.

He had displayed this claw for three days already. If he did not sell it soon, it would rot, and then it would be stuck in his hands.

Seeing the stall owner's teeth-gritting expression, Richard chuckled happily, tossed down three Magic Stones, picked up the item, and strode away.

Holding the Black Iron Beast claw, Richard hummed a little tune as he returned to the dormitory.

Though this Black Iron Beast claw was in poor condition, that only mattered if it was being used as an alchemy material.

Richard had not bought it to make an item.

"With this Black Iron Beast claw, I can complete the first part of the Bloodline Alchemy from the notes."