“My manor is gone?” Hearing Zachary's voice, Leon looked toward the manor in the center of Jellyfish Town.
There was no longer a manor there, only a stretch of ruined walls and debris.
Outside, there were numerous corpses of magical beasts. These corpses were well-preserved and could be processed into various high-quality materials.
Among the ruins stood several Gramophone Golems. Shrouded in the mana mist, they stared out at the crowd with their blue indicator lights.
“Young Master Leon!” The Falcon warriors stationed there bowed to Leon and immediately reported:
“Earlier, a mysterious mana surge occurred, causing the mana mist inside the ruins to leak out. This leaked mist then attracted magical beasts from the outside that had gone mad due to the mana surge.”
“These beasts charged Mayor Zachary's manor and clashed with the alchemical golems from the ruins, and then... it ended up like this.”
Leon looked at the completely collapsed Zachary Manor, which had been caught in the crossfire, and then at Zachary, who looked on the verge of tears. He comforted him:
“It's fine. Out with the old, in with the new. Look at it this way—if it weren't for the ruins and the mana surge, you wouldn't have known your manor was so structurally weak! Now that it has collapsed, it's actually a good thing!”
After comforting Zachary with his special brand of optimism, Leon looked at the remaining Falcon warriors and asked:
“Where is the alchemist we captured from the Alchemists' Association earlier?”
After verifying things in Stormveil City, Leon had confirmed that the information Scott provided was basically true.
Since the information was accurate, Leon was willing to temporarily trust that Scott was willing to cooperate.
Scott undoubtedly held back more information about Evelyn's ruins, using it as a life-saving bargaining chip.
However, Leon didn't mind. As long as the authenticity of the information was verified and Scott was willing to cooperate, there was no harm in keeping him around.
“Over here.”
One of the Falcon warriors spoke, bringing forward Scott, whose transcendent power had been sealed using special methods.
“Young Master Leon!” Scott bowed deeply and said,
“I saw the alchemical golems inside the ruins!”
“If you are worried about those alchemical golems, Young Master, I can use my alchemical knowledge to handle them for you!”
Hearing this, Leon was intrigued. He asked, “You can deal with them?”
Seeing Leon's interest, Scott instantly realized this was his chance to redeem himself and cling to Leon's thigh. He hastily said:
“I was forcibly abducted into the association by that dwarf chairman. The reason he kept me was because of my exceptional talent in alchemy, which allowed me to understand some of the alchemical blueprints left behind by Evelyn...”
“As long as I am provided with sufficient materials, I am confident I can cut off their mana supply and put them into a dormant state without causing any damage to these special alchemical golems.”
Leon pondered for two seconds before asking, “What materials do you need?”
“I need twenty pieces of Beirut Crystal and five ingots of Redrock Steel...” Having listed his requirements, Scott habitually added,
“These materials are already the absolute bare minimum. If you cannot afford the funds right now, valued customer, we offer installment plans—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Scott shut his mouth in embarrassment under the strange looks from the surrounding crowd.
Damn it, occupational habit!
Before being abducted by the Alchemists' Association's chairman, he was an employee at an ordinary alchemy workshop. He had to answer customer inquiries according to an employee handbook, which required him to be considerate of the customer's wallet size after every response...
But... the person standing before him was Leon Douglas!
Wallet size? This man had absolutely no need to worry about such trivialities!
After Scott finished listing the types and quantities of alchemical materials, Leon immediately sent people to Eldenborg and Stormveil City to procure them.
Half a day later, two Falcon warriors returned to Jellyfish Town, driving an ox-horse laden with a mountain of alchemical materials.
“Top-quality Beirut Crystals, and Redrock Steel with virtually no impurities... Being rich is so damn good!”
Scott recalled his days at the alchemy workshop. The materials provided by customers back then were of atrocious quality, riddled with undisclosed impurities. Yet, if there was even the slightest flaw in his finished alchemical creations, the customers would nitpick and try to beat down the price.
But now... every single item was of the highest grade.
Furthermore, there were even two extra sets of spare materials on the ox-horse carriage!
This was simply, obscenely wealthy!
“I must cling tightly to Young Master Leon's thigh!”
Holding a piece of Meltwater Ore that practically intoxicated him, Scott made up his mind.
If an alchemist wanted to improve their skills, they needed money in addition to talent! A mountain of money!
As long as he could cling to Leon's thigh, he would never have to relive those miserable days of splitting a single portion of alchemical materials into two!
With the materials in hand, Scott quickly began his alchemy.
Beside him, three Falcon warriors closely monitored his every move. At the slightest sign of trouble, they would immediately disrupt the process and apprehend him.
Leon also stood by, wanting to see what this so-called 'alchemy' was all about.
He watched as Scott carved an alchemical model onto a piece of Spruce Ore, then filled the grooves with magic crystal sand made from crushed magic crystals, and finally placed a powering magic crystal at the center of the alchemical circle...
Overall, it was highly similar to how mages constructed magic models to cast spells.
The only difference was that alchemy engraved the model physically, allowing one to take their time.
In contrast, constructing a magic model required a mage to visualize it in their mind and do so rapidly; otherwise, the mana would disperse, resulting in a failed spell.
“No wonder most alchemists are also mages...”
Leon nodded slightly. From the perspective of shared principles, it was indeed far easier for a mage to study alchemy.
“Young Master Leon.” While Leon was observing Scott's alchemy, Doncic approached him.
Holding a recording statue, he said with an exceptionally solemn expression:
“The cause of the mana surge has been found.”
“Also, we just received word that a massive incident has occurred in the Dusk Sea!”
...
The recording statue was activated, projecting an image of an island in the Dusk Sea.
On the island, a colossal building collapsed with a thunderous crash, amidst the chaos of battle cries and explosive firelight.
As the recording parameters adjusted, the image gradually became clear:
Along the coastline, countless skeletons with deep blue soul fire burning in their eye sockets crawled out of the sea, brandishing rusted longswords as they charged the island's defenders.
These skeletons were completely impervious to pain, trading blows with the defending soldiers in an almost self-destructive manner.
Unless their skulls were shattered and their soul fire extinguished, any damage they sustained would heal in a short time, allowing them to continue fighting.
Even if some skeletons were destroyed, an endless tide of their kind surged from behind, keeping the offensive relentless.
Behind the skeleton army followed a large number of undead creatures with fully intact flesh.
Surging with transcendent energy, they acted like generals commanding an army, leading the skeleton horde to easily crush the defenders as if walking through an empty field!
Rate on N.U.
