Gerald's Test (Please Read On)

Anna's words left Richard somewhat at a loss.

I came to submit a mission. How did this turn into you trying to recruit me?

"Join the Alchemy School. You have a remarkable talent for alchemy. Even my mentor would find it difficult to produce Red Mercury at this level of purity. You are absolutely an alchemical talent."

Anna spoke with such righteous conviction that Richard almost believed her.

"But, Senior Sister, I'm still an entry-level apprentice. Master Gerald's minimum requirement for apprentices is low-level apprentice."

"Entry-level apprentice?" Anna frowned at Richard, and a powerful surge of mental force swept over him in an instant.

"Impossible. You've already met the standard for a low-level apprentice."

"Huh?"

Richard could not help but freeze at Anna's words. Not long ago, his mental force had only reached sixteen. He was still four points short of the mental force required for a low-level apprentice. How could he have become one overnight?

Seeing Richard's bewildered face, Anna shook her head. "I suppose you did something that stimulated the growth of your mental force?"

"Did something?" Richard pondered for a while. The only unusual thing he had done recently was Bloodline Alchemy.

Could Bloodline Alchemy also increase mental force?

Just as Richard was thinking, Jacques beside him suddenly spoke.

"Probably the feedback effect. Richard, have you recently performed Bloodline Alchemy?"

Hearing Jacques's words, Anna also noticed the discordance in Richard. Though Richard, whose physique had advanced by leaps and bounds, had adapted to his body, in such a short time, there would inevitably still be small details that remained out of sync.

"That's right."

"Then it's no surprise." Jacques looked enlightened.

"Senior Brother Jacques, this feedback effect you mentioned?"

"Looks like you haven't attended the Soul School's lectures yet." Jacques smiled, a glint of wisdom flashing across his gleaming bald head.

"According to the Soul School's research, our souls and bodies are not actually completely separate. There is a hidden connection between the two.

"And this connection can balance the gap between the body and the spirit.

"When a creature's physique surges, its mental force also increases accordingly, allowing its soul to wield its body. The reverse is also true. When mental force surges, a creature's physique increases as well, allowing the body to contain a stronger soul."

Although Jacques usually looked like a greasy middle-aged man, the moment he began explaining theory, his entire bearing changed. That formerly rather comical shining bald head had somehow become a symbol of maturity and reliability.

"Simply put, if either mental force or the body becomes too powerful, it drives the growth of the other. After you performed Bloodline Alchemy, your body reached the level of a low-level apprentice. The gap between your spirit and body became too great, so your mental force rose as well."

Richard finally understood after hearing this.

"So that's how it is. Then if a knight's body is powerful enough, couldn't it also raise mental force?"

"In theory, yes." Jacques nodded. "But the upper limit of the human body is too low. Even if one reaches the limit and becomes a so-called Senior Knight, it is only twenty-nine points of physique.

"Compared with a wizard's meditation, this method of increasing strength is far too inefficient.

"Junior Brother, how long did your Bloodline Alchemy take? One or two hours, and you achieved results that some knights need decades to attain.

"Besides, mental force must connect to the Sea of Souls before it can be completely unleashed. If a knight has not reached Senior Knight, then the mental force brought by the feedback effect can only be considered potential."

Richard thought it over. The facts were indeed as Jacques had said.

"Junior Brother, don't think about relying on physique to drive up your mental force, either. The feedback effect requires an enormous disparity between mental force and the body. For example, your mental force is now at the low-level apprentice stage while your physique has reached the intermediate apprentice standard. Only then does the feedback effect appear. If you become a wizard, then this effect would become a disparity between a First-Ring Wizard and a Second-Ring Wizard."

As he spoke, Jacques suddenly walked over to Richard and patted him on the shoulder.

"Our mentor is acquainted with quite a few Alchemist Wizards. As long as you become our mentor's formal disciple, it won't be impossible for you to cleanse your current bloodline in the future and replace it with a more complete bloodline formula."

Clearly, Jacques had taken Richard for an apprentice who had recklessly performed Bloodline Alchemy.

Richard forced a smile at those words, swearing inwardly that whenever he used the Miracle Furnace to refine substances in the future, he would make sure to mix impurities into them.

"All right, Jacques, go stand aside. Whether Richard joins the Alchemy School or not still depends on what he wants."

Anna pulled Jacques aside, leaving Richard alone to think in silence.

Choosing a mentor was a serious matter. The Academy had extremely strict rules regarding changing mentors. If an apprentice rashly changed mentors, it could very well result in not a single mentor in the Academy being willing to accept him.

A few minutes later, Richard took a deep breath and looked at Anna with firm eyes.

"Whew, I've decided."

"I want to join the Alchemy School and become Master Gerald's student."

"Good. I'll take you to see Mentor right now."

Anna clapped her hands and immediately pulled Richard toward the upper levels of the Black Tower.

On the ninety-ninth floor of the Central Black Tower, Gerald the Alchemist Wizard was carrying out his Chimera experiment at a feverish pace.

As the wizard with the highest attainments in alchemy at the Black Tower Wizard Academy, he possessed the laboratory with the best protective measures in the entire Central Black Tower.

Inside this laboratory, unless the Central Black Tower collapsed, he would not suffer the slightest disturbance while conducting experiments.

"Roar! Roar!"

Watching the Chimera's body gradually collapse before him, Gerald, who had failed continuously for a month, rubbed his brow and casually summoned a ball of flame, burning the Chimera's remains to ashes.

"Just where is the problem? What exactly is missing from the notes my teacher gave me?"

Gerald walked over to his desk and stared at his experimental notes with a headache brewing.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Anna entered the laboratory with Richard.

The instant he entered, Richard felt a powerful sense of restraint, as though something were suppressing his magic power.

He looked around. The entire laboratory was built from black bricks carved with Runes. Though several Magic Lamps hung from the ceiling, the room was still very dim.

At the center of the laboratory stood a stone platform carved from black stone, dividing the room into left and right sections. On the right side stood rows of iron racks filled with glass containers of various shapes holding yellow liquid, and soaking in those liquids were organs and glands of all sorts of strange forms.

On the other side, the laboratory's left side, the walls were covered in anatomical charts. Between those charts stood an enormous bookshelf packed with books, notes, and even manuscript paper, creating a thoroughly cluttered sight.

A desk stood before the bookshelf, and an old man with white hair was standing there, deep in thought.

"Mentor, I found an alchemical genius."

Anna brought Richard to the old man's side and placed the bottle of Red Mercury on the experiment table.

Gerald the wizard, the Alchemist Wizard who accepted apprentices far and wide, looked no different from any ordinary old man—grizzled hair, a bushy beard, and a face full of wrinkles.

But that was only the surface.

Richard noticed that Gerald's eyes seemed unusual. Deep within his pupils was something that looked like... tiny compound eyes!

Gerald opened the bottle and drew out a drop of Red Mercury with a thread of magic power.

"Hm? This purity... is rather impressive."

He casually activated the Red Mercury. After confirming its power, he fixed Richard with those eyes.

In that instant, Richard felt as though his entire being had been seen through. That gaze seemed to pierce through his clothes, skin, membrane, muscles, and bones, all the way to his soul.

"Bloodline Alchemy, and only just became a low-level apprentice. To refine Red Mercury of this purity with such strength does indeed merit the title of genius."

Gerald withdrew his gaze and offered a few calm remarks.

"Anna, you brought him here because you want him to become your Junior Brother. I trust your judgment, but the proper procedure still has to be followed."

With that, Gerald pulled open the desk drawer and, without even looking, took out a Crystal Ball.

"Make this thing, and you'll qualify."