The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 202: Alchemy is a Hot Research Topic (Fifth Update, Alliance Hierarch Extra 4/22)

Magic books are different from knight novels.

Knight novels are stories created by destitute nobles in order to earn a living, aimed at a wide audience, and strive to be interesting, refreshing, and bizarre.

Magic books closely resemble research papers, primarily consisting of magicians’ research reports and experimental notes.

The majority of magic books are quite unreadable, some even disorganized and logically chaotic. Moreover, the printing quality is relatively poor, and many magic books are even circulated as handwritten manuscripts — as not many people are willing to buy them, naturally, there’s no money to pay the publisher for printing.

The fifty-six magic books sent by Elkerson.

Twenty-one of them are manuscripts.

“‘Rudolf’s Alchemy Diary of Eighteen Venoms from Red Viper Island Snakes — Slite Truth,’ does this kind of book really have any reading value?” He flipped through the manuscript in his hand and felt a bit cheated — such a book actually cost two silver coins, “Well, let’s consider it a manual on snake venom.”

After flipping through a few pages, he lost patience and stuffed the book into the Gemstone Space.

He continued to open the next manuscript.

“Fredo’s Fireball Technique,” a book about how to release the Fireball Technique and improve the process of casting it. The author, Fredo Truth, was only a Magic Apprentice, and the only spell he knew was the Fireball Technique. The book recorded over one hundred attempts he made in various casting directions to expand his Fireball Technique.

In the end, he succeeded in improving the Fireball Technique — allowing it to be conjured by rubbing the back of the hand.

He called this improvement a groundbreaking progress, believing that he would inevitably usher in the era of magic.

Unfortunately, this was a secondhand book, with another magician’s review at the end. This magician disdainfully left a comment, “When you advance to be a magician, you will understand that any part of the body can serve as a medium for casting spells, the only difference is that casting with the palm is faster.”

“So, is this book just a negative example?” Liszt was quite speechless and chucked it directly into the Gemstone Space.

Flipping back and forth, most handwritten magic books contained rather eccentric experimental material with little value, better suited for propping up a table leg.

When he flipped to the last manuscript, his eyebrows instantly raised.

The book was titled — “Kennedy’s Alchemy Diary.”

“Another alchemy diary!” Liszt immediately thought of the Sunken Ship Treasure he had obtained, “In that box back then, there was also an alchemy diary, which seemed to be called ‘Rudolf’s Alchemy Diary’, and it also had a handwritten Serpent Script cover. It seems that was also a handwritten magic book.”

Composing himself, he began to read through the diary.

The author was a newly advanced magician who tried many methods to guide Magic Power, attempting to turn a rock into gold under the influence of Magic Power. For this, he even melted down his own seven Gold Coins to observe the differences between the gold and the stone, but he still failed to discover the method of transmutation.

Thus, this too was a book of continuous failures, a negative example.

Closing the book, Liszt stood up and went to the Flame Mushroom Processing Workshop to find Elkerson: “Do all magicians like to study alchemy?”

Elkerson put down his work and explained, “Baron Liszt, the Triangle Theory is a recognized truth among magicians, so we always hope to find the most direct evidence to prove the validity of this theory. Transmutation is the best evidence.”

“Why?”

“Because the process of transmutation can be divided into two phases. First, the physical rock is transformed into spirit by the aid of Magic Power, and then, the spirit is converted back into the physical form of gold through Magic Power. Hence, transmutation would strictly verify the correctness of the Triangle Theory, which is one of the lifelong ideals we magicians pursue.”

“In that case,” Liszt felt a bit conflicted, “has the research on transmutation ever been successful?”

“I do not know, but many magicians believe that in ancient times, there were real alchemists who could transmute rocks into gold.”

“Why must one choose to turn stones into gold? If the goal is to verify the triangular theory, couldn’t the same be done by refining other things?”

Elkerson smiled, “Baron Liszt, your understanding might be slightly off. Alchemy is just a generic term. Turning stones into gold is just the popular amongst them. As magicians conducting experiments need a lot of money, we all like to research turning stones into gold in hopes of amassing sufficient wealth.”

With a somewhat helpless shrug, he continued, “But that doesn’t mean no one has tried to refine other items; it’s just that there has never been a success story… When I had just advanced to the rank of magician, I also chose to research alchemy, but in the end, I gave up.”

I roughly understood what alchemy was all about.

Feeling somewhat disappointed, Liszt went on to ask, “So, do many magicians write an alchemy diary?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then, continue with your work, I won’t disturb you further.” He was just about to leave when he turned back around, “The bone fragments I gave you, have you looked into them?”

“I haven’t had the chance to study them yet.”

“Study them as soon as possible, I’m very curious about these fragments.”

“Of course, as soon as I have some free time.” He shook the crystal tube in his hand, indicating that he needed to make the Flame Mushroom Magic Potion first.

…

Upon returning to the castle, Liszt felt a pang of melancholy.

The frustration that had sprouted from the decay of “Rudolf’s Alchemy Diary” dissipated. It turned out that magicians all liked to fuss with alchemy and write alchemy diaries.

If it had truly been perfected, it wouldn’t be disseminated in the form of handwritten copies.

That magician would instantly become an untouchable, hallowed figure in the hearts of all magicians, on par with the sun. Even Dragon Knights would likely come to blows over him.

The knot in my heart unraveled.

There was certainly a feeling of relief throughout my body, but this also suggested that alchemy was probably nothing but a fairytale dream.

The endless stream of magicians tirelessly researching alchemy without getting any useful information showed the difficulty of the art—overnight riches remained a dream.

For me, it also meant the shattering of a dream.

After a moment of internal conflict, I quickly adjusted my mindset, “Forget it, I’m not a magician, why obsess over learning alchemy?” He casually tossed “Kennedy’s Alchemy Diary” into the Gemstone Space.

He continued flipping through the next magic book.

The manuscripts were all read, only printed books remained.

There are three possibilities for a magic book to be printed. One is that the author is wealthy and pays for the printing himself; another is that the book is valuable, and magicians are willing to buy it; and the third is that the book is interesting, and nobles are willing to buy it.

“Wild Elf Bug Market Selling Prices,” “The Blind Wind Blade Wolf King,” “How to Safely Pass Through Midoro Mangrove Forest,” “Observations from the Highland White Tower — Carrick Truth”…

Clearly, these magic books were of much higher quality than the manuscripts.

Liszt held “Wild Elf Bug Market Selling Prices” with great interest. The author was a magician living in the capital of Steel Ridge Kingdom, the City of Steel, which had a large wild elf trading market. Every day, magicians would go to the market to observe those wild elves.

“Interesting, a single Venus Flytrap Spirit Worm is actually priced at three thousand six hundred gold coins, because the City of Steel is overrun with mosquitoes and flies, with Venus Flytraps in high demand.”

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