After Solon left, Leon didn’t return to his room. Instead, he splashed cold water on his face, grabbed the two scrolls Solon had given him, and headed back to the alchemy lab where he’d spent the entire night working.
Solon’s visit wasn’t surprising. Even a novice like Raymond knew the value of the Chromatic Elixir, let alone the Sage’s Spire with its three Magi. What really puzzled Leon were the two scrolls Solon had brought...
Each scroll contained several rare alchemical formulas—worth thousands of gold coins on the open market. As a congratulatory gift, this was more than generous.
But for Leon, the formulas themselves weren’t the main thing. The real focus was the scrolls themselves.
When Leon first accepted the scrolls, he barely gave them a second thought. After two decades surviving the apocalypse, his mind was packed with more alchemical formulas than he could ever use. Why bother with a few more?
But after a quick glance, Leon suddenly noticed something odd—the writing on the scrolls was unusually vivid...
A closer look revealed that both scrolls were written with Dragonblood Ink.
“Absolutely disgraceful!” Leon muttered, genuinely pained.
Such extravagance. Such waste...
The best use for Dragonblood Ink was constructing alchemical arrays. Dragon’s blood itself held staggering magical power—easy to control, too. With just a handful of runes, that power could be harnessed to its fullest. If an array was drawn with Dragonblood Ink, the mana source requirements dropped by several tiers. The ink’s magic alone could sustain most of the array’s operation, leaving the mana source as little more than a backup.
But now, that Dragonblood Ink was being used just to write alchemical formulas.
Did anyone really need precious Dragonblood just to jot down alchemical formulas?
“Who the hell would waste something like this...” Leon grumbled, dragging the two scrolls into the lab—completely unaware that somewhere far away in Cloudspire Tower, an elderly mage sneezed.
Then Leon got to work...
Normally stingy to the point of miserly, Leon was unexpectedly generous this time. He brought out a variety of magical ingredients, mixing them into small vials of reagents. From afternoon until midnight—over ten hours—he worked nonstop, never taking a break.
Because to Leon, this Dragonblood Ink was truly important...
As mentioned before, Matthew Merlin’s body was far below average in magical talent. If not for Leon’s arrival, Matthew would never have become a mage on his own.
Such physical defects were nearly impossible to fix in this era. Only someone like Leon, from the apocalypse, could come up with solutions. But none of them were easy—either special meditation techniques or custom alchemical potions.
Meditation took far too long, so Leon didn’t hesitate to choose alchemical potions.
This particular potion was called Mana Baptism. Back in the golden age of Northend’s magical civilization, every newborn received a Mana Baptism. It gave them their first accumulation of magical power and greatly improved their constitution. In that era, everyone started as a prodigy—no one was held back by talent. The only things that determined their future were effort and opportunity.
Later, as Northend’s magical energy dwindled, fewer and fewer newborns received Mana Baptism. When the last great mages were buried, not a single bottle of Mana Baptism remained in all of Northend.
By then, no mage could slay a dragon anymore.
Dragon blood was the key ingredient in Mana Baptism. Without it, the potion was just another alchemical concoction—no magical accumulation, no physical transformation.
Even now, in an era rich with resources, Leon still agonized over dragon blood. It was so rare that even most Magi would never see a single drop in their lifetime.
Dragons were beings far above titled Magi—immense physical power, magical abilities inherited through bloodlines, and a place at the very top of Northend’s food chain. Throughout history, the number of dragon slayers could be counted in the low hundreds; each one was a true legend, a living myth.
When Leon asked Raymond to look into it, he didn’t really expect results. It was just a shot in the dark.
Leon was already prepared for a long struggle.
If all else failed, he’d build up the Goldspark Trading Company first. With enough wealth, he could offer a huge bounty—ten thousand gold coins, a million if necessary. Even if it meant bankrupting himself, he had to get that drop of dragon blood.
Back then, Leon never imagined that before long, someone would show up at his door with a drop of dragon blood...
Of course, it’s still a little early to call it dragon blood...
At most, it was just a few alchemical formulas written with Dragonblood Ink...
But for Leon, that was more than enough.
These formulas were written with Dragonblood Ink, which meant they contained real dragon blood. Leon’s plan was simple: break down the formulas back into ink, then extract the genuine dragon blood from it.
(This chapter isn’t over yet ^.^ Please click next page to continue reading!)
It sounded simple enough, but in practice, the process was incredibly complex...
First, there were thirty-seven different formulas for Dragonblood Ink. Even though Leon knew them all by heart, there was no way to tell which recipe had been used for these scrolls in a short time.
The only way was to test each one, one by one...
It was a colossal task. Dragonblood Ink was meant for constructing alchemical arrays, channeling the power of dragon blood to boost their strength or even replace a mana source. In a sense, every drop of Dragonblood Ink was a miniature alchemical formula—no wonder the recipes were notoriously complex.
In those ten-plus hours, Leon brewed nearly a hundred different reagents. Using them, he started testing each formula. By the next afternoon—twenty-four hours later—he’d only managed to rule out two of the thirty-seven recipes.
By that afternoon, Leon was already starting to wear out.
Breaking down the formula for Dragonblood Ink wasn’t just about the reagents—it relied even more on the alchemist’s own skill. The reagents were just a supporting tool.
Every analysis consumed huge amounts of energy and mana. Normally, a team of several—sometimes a dozen—alchemists would work together. For Leon to tackle Dragonblood Ink alone? That would terrify most people if word got out.
After ruling out two formulas, Leon didn’t dare go on. If he kept pushing, he’d collapse before ever extracting that drop of dragon blood.
He splashed cold water on his face again, told Perry the butler not to let anyone into the lab without his permission, and finally returned to his room to resume his sleep—interrupted for more than twenty hours.
In the days that followed, Leon spent almost every waking moment in the lab. He’d analyzed more than twenty formulas so far. At this rate, he’d finish all thirty-seven within half a month.
Meanwhile, business at the Gilded Rose was picking up. It was the prime spot in Seaview City, with the Goldspark Trading Company’s name on the door. Even an idiot could make money here—let alone Leon.
The alchemical potions Leon had made sold out a week ago. The enchanted armor and weapons were snapped up at high prices just two days earlier. Now, most of what filled the Gilded Rose’s shelves were alchemical goods Perry had sourced from outside—cheap, but practical.
It was clear that alchemy was a gold mine. Other than Leon’s initial hands-on work, the Gilded Rose was mostly buying low and selling high. Without much effort, they’d already made nearly ten thousand gold coins.
Perry was already making plans—once business stabilized next month, he’d hire two more alchemists at top rates. With steady supplies from mercenary groups, the Gilded Rose could easily reclaim its golden days.
Half a month flew by. After jotting down the correct formula, Leon didn’t leave the lab right away. He worked two more days before finally stumbling out, exhausted.
…………………
Look at that—twenty chapters already. How about tossing me twenty recommendation votes to celebrate?