The alchemy lab was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even time itself seemed frozen, and the only sound in the air was the soft bubbling as air escaped from the test tubes.
Raymond just waited like that, waiting for the final moment to arrive. But this time, Raymond waited for a long, long time—so long that he was growing impatient—when suddenly, a voice broke the silence.
"What are you doing?"
"Huh?" Raymond, who had already resigned himself to death with his eyes closed, thought the voice was just a hallucination at first. But then he realized—no hallucination could sound this real or this annoying.
So, Raymond opened his eyes again.
And then Raymond saw that the bastard who should have been blown to bits by the magical explosion was standing there, perfectly fine. He was still holding that nerve-racking test tube—but this time, Raymond couldn’t care less about the test tube. His mind was occupied by one question: why, why, why? Why was the Red Coral Solution, which had clearly gone out of control under hundreds of degrees of heat, still sitting calmly in the test tube?
Raymond’s mind was a chaotic mess, like a pot of porridge boiling over. The Red Coral Solution should have reacted violently to high temperatures—this was something Raymond simply couldn’t accept. It was an insult to his alchemical knowledge! The professors at Auckland Magic Academy had emphasized time and again: Scarlet Coral must never be dissolved, and the resulting solution must never be exposed to high heat.
Either he’d seen it wrong, or the professors were wrong. Between the two, Raymond would rather believe that everything he’d witnessed was just a hallucination.
But...
As if to prove this wasn’t a hallucination, that real—and annoyingly familiar—voice sounded again, this time with a hint of impatience: "How could it take you so long to enchant a few glass bottles?"
Saying that, he walked over, still holding the test tube full of Red Coral Solution.
"D-Don't come any closer!" Raymond jumped, instinctively wanting to stop him. But then he realized—if it was going to explode, it would have happened already. So he awkwardly changed his tune: "I'll bring it to you myself..."
The moment he said it, Raymond regretted it...
Pathetic. Not only was he forced to do grunt work, now he had to deliver it with a smile—his dignity was in shambles.
But once the words were out, there was no taking them back. So Raymond swallowed his pride, finished enchanting the last few glass bottles, and then—with as much dignity as he could muster—handed them over to that bastard.
To prove he still had some self-respect, Raymond slammed the bottles down on the alchemy table. He was about to let out a cold snort, but when he looked up and saw that ominous red test tube, his bravado vanished. All he could do was glare at Leon, equal parts angry and afraid.
Leon didn’t care what Raymond was thinking. He took the enchanted bottles, lined them up on the alchemy table, and evenly poured the Red Coral Solution into each one. The whole process made Raymond’s eyelids twitch.
Once he finished, Leon finally set down the dangerous test tube and began sorting a pile of cheap magical ingredients. He ground some dried Bindweed Blossom into powder, extracted the juice from Sevenleaf Clover with a filter cup, and spread a handful of Moonlight Sand onto a sheet of white paper. After a few simple incantations, the Moonlight Sand began to glow with a gentle light...
As the glow grew brighter, Leon’s movements became faster. He injected the Sevenleaf Clover juice into the bottles, and the diluted Red Coral Solution started to lose its vivid color. When the Bindweed Blossom powder was added, the pungent smell gradually faded too.
When the glow of the Moonlight Sand faded, seven glass bottles filled with pale red liquid emerged from the mist...
"Oh my god..."
Raymond, who had just been berating himself for his lack of dignity, looked up—and his jaw dropped. His face went blank, and he stood there, stunned, staring at Leon with a mix of terror and disbelief, as if he were looking at some kind of monster.
Th-this... could it be the Prismatic Elixir?
Raymond remembered it clearly. A few months ago, when he had just advanced to mage, the academy had rewarded him with a week of study in the Auckland Laboratory. There, he had glimpsed a completely different world—the kingdom’s academic center, home to two titled Archmages and seven master alchemists. Rumor had it, the laboratory was overseen by a true Grandmaster... Their presence made the Auckland Laboratory a sacred place for every mage and alchemist.
When Raymond walked in, he really did feel like a pilgrim.
That week felt like a dream to Raymond. Immersed in the kingdom’s academic center, he saw legendary figures every day. If he was lucky, he could overhear their discussions or watch their research. For Raymond, it was a lifetime’s worth of treasure.
Few people ever got such a chance. Whether it was a titled Archmage or a master alchemist, these were people at the very peak of their fields—almost beyond the reach of ordinary folk. A single offhand remark from them could open Raymond’s eyes, or save him years of wasted effort.
Raymond could still remember that afternoon, the third day of that week, when he had the privilege of observing Master Alchemist Gustav brew a potion—a Prismatic Elixir, meant to purify impurities from the Mana Vortex. For mages on the verge of breaking through to Archmage, the value of such an elixir was incalculable.
This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^, please click next page to continue reading!
It was an alchemical miracle. For Raymond, who had witnessed it with his own eyes, every detail was worth treasuring. He felt that even decades from now, he would remember it all without missing a single moment.
Decades were still a long way off, so Raymond remembered every detail of that time even more vividly.
Maybe it was because he remembered so clearly that Raymond was acting so out of character...
The seven glass bottles on the alchemy table now—whether it was the scent they gave off, or the magical aura they emitted—were exactly the same as that Prismatic Elixir from back then!
What did this mean? It meant that the ninth-level apprentice he’d thought was stuck for years wasn’t just a mage who’d mastered at least two arcane abilities—he was also, very likely, a highly skilled potion alchemist!
This joke had gone way too far...
As a mage, Raymond knew that both magic and alchemy demanded immense amounts of time. Talent didn’t mean much in these fields; no matter how gifted you were, you had to spend years accumulating knowledge and honing your craft. No one could skip that process.
Of all the branches of alchemy, potion-making was the most time-consuming. Endless formulas, countless experiments—every potion alchemist grew through failure. To this day, the youngest potion alchemist in the Kingdom of Andalusia was at least thirty years old.
That was already the absolute limit. Without years of accumulated experience and knowledge, it was impossible to enter the halls of potion alchemy.
But this Merlin heir was only twenty years old—unbelievably young. If he really was a potion alchemist, then at this age, he was almost destined to become a master alchemist one day!
Just now, he’d nearly attacked a future master alchemist...
Just thinking about it made cold sweat bead on Raymond’s forehead.
This was no joke...
Maybe he should just take the initiative, admit his mistake, and apologize—try to earn forgiveness with sincerity?
It might be undignified, but dignity was the least of his worries right now. He’d already lost most of it anyway—what’s a little more?
Yeah, that’s the plan.
So Raymond started racking his brains again. If his dignity was going to get trampled anyway, he might as well figure out the best way to let it happen...
But before he could decide, Leon had already finished his work.
The alchemy table was spotless, and every tool was neatly sorted—even the cauldron Leon had salvaged from the trash heap. It was a habit he’d picked up in the apocalypse: in a world where even a grain-sized Mana Crystal was a treasure, Leon couldn’t tolerate any waste.
…………………………
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to everyone—may your families be reunited. There’s another chapter tonight, so I won’t be begging for votes during the holiday.