Apocalypse Forecast

Hand of Confinement!

Currently, Huai Shi was continuously transforming his Source Substance into iron. As the flames surged obediently, the material of countless grains of Iron Sand began to change rapidly, eventually turning into a pitch-black color, like crystal. After absorbing a great amount of Apocalypse, it took on the properties of Shadow Iron.

Amidst the flames' forging, a misshapen Dagger slowly emerged.

In the end, as Huai Shi's Source Substance was completely expended, the flames dissipated, and the Dagger fell into his hands.

Huai Shi examined this creation, unable to hold back his excitement.

Now, he no longer needed a prolonged gestation period or to deliberately strip away his emotions to craft weapons. This Dagger, however, seemed exceptionally poor compared to the Axe of Wrath, Sacrificial Knife, or The Sorrow of Index. And because of his lack of experience, its internal structure wasn't tightly bonded. After striking it twice with a hammer, it shattered into fragments on the ground.

After exhausting all his Source Substance, he had produced only such a small thing.

However, the upside was that steel created in this manner seemed capable of existing permanently. It had thoroughly transitioned from Source Substance into matter and wouldn't return to Huai Shi's body when he withdrew his Power, unlike the axe and knife.

Just a Dagger, and it took so long...

It didn't seem very useful, no matter how one looked at it.

"Not necessarily, Huai Shi."

Raven's gaze became subtle. Looking at him, Huai Shi felt a disquieting premonition.

In a tone that brooked no refusal, she said, "From tomorrow on, you need to set aside three periods every day to learn Alchemy. Start from the most basic synthesis formulas. Learn to distinguish between six hundred kinds of metals and forty thousand alloy formulas, their materials, and properties. Then, memorize tens of thousands of derivative transformations and various laws."

"What for?" Huai Shi was astonished. "All it can make is a sword? That's hardly of any major use, right? Are you planning on going wholesale?"

Raven laughed. "There are countless things in this world more effective than a blade, Huai Shi. Why obsess over selling swords?"

Her gaze swept over the title page of the Book of Fate.

On Huai Shi's entry in the Book of Fate, as the formulas merged, a new skill quietly appeared.

Unlike other Skills that were gray, or the pitch-black of Death Perception, this Skill's script was golden yellow, and below it was an ambiguous epigraph:

[Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire, like a launderer's soap.]

This was perhaps the essence of this inscription, wasn't it?

The miracle of Transformation that Count St. Germain had chased his whole life, yearning for so passionately.

——[Alchemy Fire LV1]!

"We might as well start today," Raven said cheerfully. "Don't worry, this is just the basics and very quick and easy to learn."

As Huai Shi attempted to sneak away, a rope suddenly flew out from nowhere, swiftly tying him into a bundle. Raven landed on his nose, looked down, and said in a meaningful tone, "I promise, this will be a very enjoyable time."

Half a month later, on the flank of Qingshiu Mountain near the Stone Marrow Pavilion.

"'Yes, officer, it's him!' one of the villagers exclaimed, pointing at Huai Shi's face, his voice filled with righteous indignation. 'Every midnight, there's a rumbling noise here. Maybe it's some criminal colluding with Tomb Robbers planning to blow up the mountain and rob graves!'"

"I didn't! I'm not!" Huai Shi, standing before his small shack, argued with difficulty. "I'm studying."

"Studying? In a place like this?" another villager scoffed. "You look so scholarly, yet lies roll off your tongue so easily!"

"'I'm telling you, sir,' Huai Shi said, positioning himself in front of the small shack as he earnestly pleaded his case, 'it's really not me. Do I look like someone who can haul explosives? I'm innocent!'"

The angered villagers surrounded him. "Then what exactly are you learning every day on this mountainside? You've nearly caused a landslide!"

"It's quiet here, convenient for practicing my cello and studying!"

For the umpteenth time, Huai Shi took out his cello. To prove he was telling the truth, he played two pieces on the spot. The moving, melodious strains seemed to calm the villagers on the other side of the mountain somewhat.

However, the police officer, who had arrived following the complaint, still politely requested to search his shack. Huai Shi pulled open the tattered door of the shack, revealing a table, a chair, and a pile of thick foreign language materials inside.

It really did seem like he was just a poor kid who sought a quiet place on the mountainside every day to study hard, although setting up a shack in the mountains to study didn't sound very reliable.

"It's for seeking inspiration—I've been composing these few days. Moreover, I go down the mountain at six o'clock every evening; no one is here then."

Huai Shi bluffed confidently, "As for those rumbling explosions, I haven't heard them. Perhaps it's someone else?"

As his words ended, another thunderous roar came from the other side of the ridge, and a plume of smoke rose. The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Huai Shi spread his hands. "You see? I told you it wasn't me!"

After finally persuading the villagers and the police to leave, having assured them that he would soon dismantle the shed and be gone, Huai Shi sat down on his chair and heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, he glared furiously at Raven as she leisurely flew over from the site of the explosion. "Look at the mess you've caused!"

"You can't blame me!"

Raven spread her wings, looking innocent. "I'm not the one who caused an explosion in the middle of the night. I even helped you create a fake scene and false evidence. How could you be so ungrateful!"

"How was I supposed to know Alchemy is so prone to exploding!"

Huai Shi, feeling wronged and indignant, took off his gloves to reveal fingers covered in scars and Band-Aids.

If it weren't for Raven's Potion, his hands might have been blown off by now.

As for why he was here, that was a sad story.

Initially, Huai Shi practiced in the basement. On the first day, he blew up the laboratory he had spent eight million to set up. Then, it exploded again the next day.

After Uncle Fang subtly suggested for the third time that his old bones couldn't handle the turmoil, Huai Shi had no choice but to build a makeshift shack on the mountainside to conduct his crude experiments.

As for the police who came to investigate today, he wasn't worried; it wasn't the first time, anyway.

The mountain wasn't in a geomantically auspicious location; there were no ancient tombs, and certainly no mining veins. Even if the police investigated several times, they wouldn't discover anything. He just had to be more careful with his experiments in the future.

In reality, the problem didn't lie with Huai Shi's skills.

Although Huai Shi's skills weren't flawless, he hadn't reached the point of blowing up everything he touched. The key issue was that, aside from the initial trials and practice, Raven did not allow him to use any alchemical equipment.

This included scales, high-end electronic balances, clean rooms, and so on. All alchemical reactions had to be performed by hand.

As for the raw materials, that was even simpler. After familiarizing himself with the properties of the materials, he had to create them using the Hand of Confinement. This applied whether it was gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, any other element on the periodic table, or even strange substances not found there at all. Everything had to be handcrafted.

That was the problem.

The slightest deviation in most delicate alchemical reactions, or even a minor error in manufacturing the metals, would result in a violent explosion.

If it weren't for the Alchemy Fire, which allowed him to control the direction of the blast waves, he might have already blown off his hands and be lying in bed, a perfect candidate for a vegetative state.

The result was that, even now, he still struggled with producing the Apprentice-level "Static Metal Storage Liquid," with very few successful attempts.

Instead, he had accidentally discovered several types of metallic materials prone to explosion.

"'Who relies solely on handcrafting anyway!' Huai Shi complained. 'You're really putting me through the wringer!'"

"All beginnings are hard. You have to get used to it."

Raven was very calm about it. "The basics of Alchemy include botany, the study of essences, applied alchemy, and a whole host of other subjects. For an ordinary person, just the basics would take over five years. What I'm having you study is already the most stripped-down version imaginable, discarding all formulas that require other materials and focusing solely on Metallography. This is already the easiest difficulty level. So, it's not too much to ask a little extra from you, right?"

Raven was indeed correct. Now, in Huai Shi's skill list in the Book of Fate, a new Skill had appeared.

[Alchemy - Metallography] LV1.

It was the true novice level: understanding the principles but fumbling the execution.

"What's the use of just studying Metallography?" Huai Shi sighed. "Am I supposed to apply to a university and study metallurgy?"

"Taking the Scholar's route? That's not out of the question, but you lack the Creator's Talent. It's best not to spend too much time on such things. That's a stage for Talent; ordinary people may spend decades only to end up grasping at nothing."

Raven seemed to have subtly misinterpreted him but didn't agree with his line of thought. "I want you to study Metallography for only two reasons. One of them is this."

As she spoke, her wings slowly spread, revealing a slender, tube-like Potion.

Contained within a transparent, glass-like vessel was a silver fluid. The metal maintained a liquid state, shimmering slightly like Mercury.

Silver Blood Potion.

It was also one of the emergency 'health potions' many Sublimators chose in the heat of battle.

If there was no time to drink it, it could even be poured directly onto a wound. The metals within would perfectly integrate into flesh and blood, mending the injury.

It was hard to say whether it was more like glue or artificial flesh. Though lethal and indigestible to ordinary people, for Sublimators, it was an effective medicine for healing Stigmas.

Nearly every Sublimator carried a large supply of this Potion when exploring the Abyss.

"Ever since the Silver Blood Potion was discovered, countless formulas have been derived, like the more advanced Golden Soul and Amber Essence. However, the most special thing about the Silver Blood Potion is that its formula is composed entirely of metallic materials.

That's right, all within the scope of your handcrafting," Raven said indifferently. "This means, as long as you work hard and apply yourself, one day you might even be able to craft Potions on the fly during a battle..."

She paused, then said meaningfully, "By the way, even the basic version of the Silver Blood Potion costs three hundred thousand per dose."

In that instant, a gleam lit up Huai Shi's eyes.

He saw a brilliantly golden Future!