ca-book Chapter 79 Alchemy Genius
Chapter 79 Alchemy Genius
The order to leave echoed in the empty tree hollow, and it was clear from Hans's tone that there was no room for negotiation.
The goose froze on the spot...
If we step out of this door today, the hundreds of acres of land on the plains of Archer Village behind us will be completely lost, and all the alchemical gadgets that the abandoned city owes to Jim of the Backstreet will have to be operated offline by Xiaoyu.
With nowhere else to retreat, he slowly reached his right hand into the lining of his worn-out backpack, his fingertips touching a heavy package.
That was the trump card that Lynn personally handed over before he left.
More than ten hours before some players set off eastward for the first test, Lynn had already confirmed with Lucas, the old village chief who knew the whole island, at the official residence in Pearl Harbor.
Hans, the mentor of the Magic Forest, is a stubborn person who only values elemental resonance.
Lynn immediately concluded that Xiaoyu, with her exceptionally high mental synchronization rate, would pass the test without a doubt.
But as a goose with mediocre physical talent, its magical affinity was definitely not something Hans could appreciate.
In order to place a chemical engineering player in the Enchanted Forest as soon as possible, Lynn prepared a second plan.
The goose forcefully tore open the outer layer of moisture-proof oil paper, revealing a thick-walled glass jar tightly sealed with a lid. Inside the jar was a translucent, viscous liquid, and at the bottom were several irregular pieces of rough-cut, dark silver metal.
As a hardcore content creator who spends a lot of time outdoors, he recognized it at a glance. It was metallic sodium that was specially sealed in kerosene to isolate it from moisture in the air.
He completely understood GM's plan.
Don't worry if you have bad starting talent, because the NPCs will give you key items!
Instead of turning away at Hans's urging, the goose held the glass jar firmly in its hand under the old mage's suspicious gaze.
The embarrassment in his eyes turned into arrogance.
"Mentor Hans."
He spoke up to stop Hans, who was about to go back to look at the book, "The crystal is unresponsive, not because I am a piece of dead wood. I may not have the magical bloodline to drive the elements, but I have grasped the true essence of matter transformation."
The old monk stopped and turned to look at the goose with a cold smile.
In his cognitive system, which spanned more than half a century, talking about the transformation of matter without magic was simply absurd.
The goose paid no heed to the other party's contempt and raised its hand to point to the wide-mouthed stone bowl in the corner of the treehouse, which was used to wash herbs and filled with clear spring water.
"If I could make that bowl of pure water erupt into flames more violent than a fireball spell without using even a trace of magic, would you be willing to retract your previous assessment?"
Hans narrowed his eyes slightly, taking it as the last hurrah of a stranger trying to save face, and made a gesture of invitation without any hesitation, ready to see how this clumsy farce would end.
The goose strode to a spot two meters in front of the stone jar and stopped. He took out thick leather gloves from his bag, put them on, unscrewed the lid of the glass jar, and used his small peeling knife to pick out the silvery-white metal pieces. He then quickly wiped the kerosene off the surface with his clothes.
The movements were fluid and graceful, without the slightest hesitation.
Taking a deep breath, he exerted force with his wrist, throwing all the metal blocks into the clear spring in front of him. Then, he grabbed Xiaoyu and decisively turned around, retreating behind the thick, load-bearing wooden pillar.
Inside the treehouse, only Hans and his dog George remained, staring in bewilderment at the scene before them.
The moment the metal block fell into the water, a violent displacement reaction was suddenly initiated.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle!
The ear-piercing boiling sound shattered the tranquility of the treehouse. The silvery-white metal swam wildly on the surface of the water, melting directly into a shimmering silver liquid droplet with terrifying heat. A large amount of colorless flammable gas rolled and overflowed from the water.
Shortly after, a muffled explosion resounded inside the enclosed treehouse.
A dazzling bright yellow fireball, accompanied by a scorching heat wave, shot into the sky and directly onto the wooden ceiling above.
The water in the stone bowl was blasted into a boiling, splashing water. The powerful impact swept around, overturning several heavy magic books on the wooden table to the ground.
Xiaoyu was so frightened that she covered her head and squatted down, while George tucked his tail between his legs and crawled under the table.
As the acrid white smoke gradually dissipated, Hans stared intently at the stone bowl whose edges were blackened and even had fine cracks, feeling as if he had been struck by lightning.
Water fuels fire?
How could pure water give birth to such a violent flame?
What chilled him to the bone was that he didn't sense even the slightest fluctuation of magic during this devastating explosion experiment.
This completely overturned the traditional laws of elements that he had studied for most of his life, but it actually happened.
The old monk's breathing became heavy, and his whole body stiffened.
After a brief lapse, his mind began to race, trying to fill the cognitive gaps with existing logic.
It has no magic power, yet it can forcibly change the form and properties of matter.
"Is this... the ultimate truth of the lost classical alchemy?" Hans murmured to himself, his coldness and arrogance vanishing from his eyes as he looked at the man before him.
He suddenly realized what was going on and immediately put on an expression of having found a treasure.
Although the stranger before me is physically immune to magic, his mind is that of an alchemical genius, one in a century.
"I take back what I just said." Hans took a deep breath, straightened his slightly disheveled robe and his hat that had been blown askew, and his tone became solemn.
He walked up to the two men and formally announced the drastically different diversion plan.
Xiaoyu, who possesses flawless elemental affinity, will be taken in as a personal disciple to specialize in combat magic with astonishing destructive power.
The goose, who seemed to have no magic but could create miracles solely through its understanding of alchemy, was not only exceptionally accepted but also directly granted access to an advanced alchemy laboratory.
When he received the heavy brass key from his mentor, Big Goose suppressed the urge to smile and put on a nonchalant expression.
The alchemy factory, belonging to the fourth catastrophe, is about to be completed amidst this knowledge fraud.
He said goodbye to Xiaoyu, who was still going to listen to the lecture on element theory, and walked alone down the spiral wooden stairs to the basement.
Pushing open the heavy oak door, a rich aroma of herbs and minerals wafts out.
In the spacious underground space, three reaction vessels powered by high-purity magic crystals were neatly arranged, and the shelves on the walls were filled with various glowing ores and mutated plant roots that were special products of the Magic Forest.
The goose walked to the ingredient station and opened the "Magic Forest Supplies Catalog" that came with the key.
His primary task in borrowing the laboratory was to brew the life-purifying potion that Jim from the backstreets of the abandoned city had specifically requested, so that the agents could successfully deliver their mission and exchange it for the much-needed industrial gears.
Secondly, we'll also prepare a few pots of fertilizer base rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to encourage Archer Village to produce more grain.
His eyes quickly scanned the pages of the book as he prepared to find the relevant ingredient ratios.
However, when his gaze swept over a few obscure entries at the bottom of the page, his fingers, which were turning the pages, suddenly stopped.
The list prominently features "Associated Yellow Rock of Warrior Tribe Mine", "Grayish-white Frost at the Bottom of Ant Cave", and "Condensed Fat of Wild Boar".
In the minds of the indigenous people, these were nothing more than low-level junk with extremely poor elemental affinity, too worthless even for forging. But in the mind of Big Goose, a chemical engineer, they automatically translated into three other words that made one's blood boil:
Naturally free sulfur, natural nitrate ore, and high-purity combustion-supporting carbon base.
The chemical engineering student slowly raised his head, looking at the top-notch experimental equipment in front of him—equivalent to the envy of any rudimentary workshop in the real world—and his Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.
Simply completing the tasks honestly is clearly not enough to satisfy the players' appetites.
With these materials, who would still do legitimate business?