Chapter 176: Soladin Catalyst
Joey glanced over and saw Oswald's face growing increasingly grim. His heart sank—this was turning into real trouble...
At this moment, Joey was already considering: if Oswald suddenly made a move, he'd better subdue him first and ask questions later. It would certainly bruise the Worldshaper's pride, but everyone here was hundreds of years old—there'd be time to explain things later.
Then Joey watched as Oswald, face dark, stared at Leon and took two steps forward. Just as Joey thought he was about to act, Oswald stopped, frowned, and asked, "You have a solution?"
"Huh?" At those words, Joey's hand—already extended to stop Oswald—froze in midair. When he looked at the two of them again, his eyes were filled with undisguised confusion.
When did Oswald become so... cultivated?
Still, Joey finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Oswald didn't blow up on the spot, there was still a chance to salvage things. With that in mind, Joey shot Leon a discreet look, hoping he'd seize the moment and quickly apologize to Oswald...
But as it turned out, Joey's little signal only made things worse—Leon simply shook his head.
"Heh, of course not..."
Joey nearly cursed aloud on the spot. Damn it, this brat is going to get me killed today—if you don't have a solution, why'd you say so much to Oswald? Do you just enjoy teasing Worldshapers for the thrill?
Leon, on the other hand, didn't seem nervous at all. He didn't even bother looking at Oswald's increasingly sour expression. He just smiled and continued, "But Lord Oswald, as a Worldshaper, surely you haven't forgotten the fourth formula of Chaos Theory?"
"The fourth formula?" Oswald blinked, then gave a dismissive look. "You mean the Soladin Formula? Impossible. The Soladin Catalyst might activate a lot of effects, but for a failed Ascension Elixir? There's no way the Soladin Catalyst could bring it back to life."
"But what if you add Sacred Sand?"
"Impossible!" Oswald didn't even need to think. He shook his head, rejecting Leon's idea outright. "Sacred Sand contains the purest sacred energy. There's no way it could fuse with the Soladin Catalyst!"
"Heh, Lord Oswald..." Leon's voice remained calm and steady, his expression unchanged by Oswald's denial. "Who told you that Sacred Sand had to fuse with the Soladin Catalyst? Couldn't it be the other way around?"
As soon as Leon said this, the whole cabin fell silent. Oswald stared at Leon with an utterly bizarre look for a full minute before suddenly leaping to his feet...
"Damn!"
Even Joey hadn't expected this side of Oswald, who'd lived for centuries just like him. Oswald suddenly lunged for the alchemy table, producing four or five magical ingredients out of thin air. Among them, a small vial of golden sand immediately radiated dazzling light and an almost tangible sacred aura, making everyone feel warm and comfortable.
This was Sacred Sand—the legendary magical material said to be formed from the first rays of dawn. Just this tiny vial, if sold on Northend's alchemy market, could fetch at least one Soulbound Relic.
As a Worldshaper, Oswald's technique in potion alchemy was textbook-perfect—precise and fluid. He worked like a finely-tuned machine, completing a special Soladin Catalyst in just three minutes.
The special quality of this Soladin Catalyst was that it used Sacred Sand as its carrier.
"Merlin..." Oswald held the unique Soladin Catalyst, hesitating to add it to the failed Ascension Elixir. After calling Leon by name, he realized it wasn't respectful enough and quickly corrected himself, "Uh, Archmage Leon Merlin, will this really work?"
"Why not try it yourself?"
...
Even Joey couldn't stand Leon's attitude. That was an Ascension Elixir—worth at least an Essence Relic. Was it really something you could just experiment with?
Unfortunately, no matter how many signals Joey sent Leon, Leon showed no intention of saying anything more...
With no other choice, Oswald shut his eyes and dropped the special Soladin Catalyst into the Ascension Elixir, which showed no magical reaction at all.
And then—the long wait began...
That's just how Soladin Catalysts work—they take an incredibly long time to activate the effects of an alchemical potion. And this one was even more unusual, using pure Sacred Sand as its carrier, so the activation time was at least doubled.
Of course, Oswald knew all about the Soladin Catalyst's properties, and he was mentally prepared for the wait. But as each second ticked by, even a Worldshaper like him couldn't help but get nervous. After all, this was a brand new experiment—if it succeeded, it would be a breakthrough in potion alchemy...
As time ticked by, beads of sweat began to form on Oswald's forehead. The Worldshaper had never felt time drag on like this—he almost wished he could make it go faster...
One minute, two minutes, three minutes...
One hour, two hours, three hours...
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Around dawn, a faint magical fluctuation finally radiated from the Ascension Elixir.
"It's working!" Oswald, who'd been pacing like a caged animal, leapt up the moment he sensed that faint magical fluctuation...
"Don't rush. Let the Soladin Catalyst stabilize first." At that moment, Leon, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly spoke up.
"Yes, yes..." Oswald, who'd just been about to rush over, stopped in his tracks. The impatience in his voice was gone, replaced by irrepressible joy. "I got too excited, too excited..."
"Heh..." That was the third time Leon had "heh"ed at Oswald since entering the cabin.
But this time, Oswald didn't find Leon's "heh" the least bit grating. His eyes stayed glued to the Ascension Elixir, as if afraid the beaker might sprout wings and fly away at any moment.
The magical fluctuation from the Ascension Elixir was growing stronger...
At first, it was barely detectable, but now it had stabilized at the level of an Essence Relic. By this point, Oswald wasn't glued to the Ascension Elixir anymore—he knew the special Soladin Catalyst was working, and the magical fluctuation would keep rising until it reached the standard for a true Ascension Elixir.
For Oswald, it was like going from hell to heaven.
Over the past few months, Oswald had poured nearly all his treasured ingredients into this single bottle of Ascension Elixir. At first, he'd been full of confidence, but in the end, it was just one more failure.
This was the third time Oswald had failed to brew an Ascension Elixir...
The moment the Ascension Elixir failed, Oswald even began to doubt whether his knowledge of potion alchemy was somehow flawed.
Otherwise, why would he fail three times in a row to brew an Ascension Elixir?
Until that faint magical fluctuation appeared just now...
Oswald knew—he had succeeded!
With the success of this Ascension Elixir, he was bound to make a huge breakthrough in potion alchemy.
And all of this was thanks to the young Archmage Leon Merlin—the one who'd reminded him to use the Soladin Catalyst, the one who'd suggested Sacred Sand as its base...
"Merlin... Archmage Leon Merlin, I honestly don't know how to thank you..." Oswald stood there, wringing his hands, his face a mix of nerves and excitement. He looked less like a Worldshaper at the pinnacle of potion alchemy and more like a brand-new apprentice.
"Heh, it was nothing." Leon smiled, and for once, he wasn't just being polite.
When it came to alchemy, Leon—now merely a Grandmaster—couldn't hold a candle to a Worldshaper like Oswald.
But compared to Oswald, Leon had thirty thousand years of experience...
In those thirty thousand years, countless genius alchemists had emerged—their accumulated experience and developed techniques would be unimaginable in this era.
Was it really so hard to use Sacred Sand as the base for a Soladin Catalyst?
Of course not...
Any competent Grandmaster could pull off such a simple alchemical operation. It's just that, with the Soladin Catalyst barely a century old, no one had thought to try it yet.
As time goes on and alchemists master the Soladin Catalyst, inevitably some genius will try something new—and when that happens, this technique will naturally come to light.
All Leon did was share the trick with Oswald ahead of time.
But to Oswald, Leon's "simple trick" was like opening a door to the summit of alchemy. If he followed Leon's line of thought, he could make even greater breakthroughs with the Soladin Catalyst—achievements that would shake all of Northend.