vncnus Page 229
Page 229
"Oh, it's nothing!" Latis spotted the greatsword next to Frico at a glance. He laughed, patted Frico on the shoulder to signal her to move aside, then drew the greatsword and walked towards Serfal.
"Wait, wait a minute! Little Ra, we're best friends! Don't you want to sleep with Serfal?!"
Serfal was terrified and hurriedly flapped his wings to try to escape, but Latis stepped on his claws and pinned him to the ground.
"Holy crap! There are still people here!" Latis shouted, glancing at Frico, who looked thoughtful.
"Red Dragon, shut up! I'm just fixing your armor! I can't go into seclusion without finishing these things!"
“Σ(?Д?) Help! Kill a dragon!” Serfar didn’t understand what seclusion meant at all and struggled to get up.
"Alright! Don't worry, my sword strike will be quick..." Latis chuckled and unleashed a flurry of quick jabs at the red dragon's outstretched claws.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter!
"Ouch——"
……
……
Seeing Serfal staring blankly at his claws, polished to 2000 grit, Latis lowered his greatsword, nodded with pleasure, and looked at Frico, asking:
"Freiko, what about you? What do you have to do today?"
"Ah I?"
Frico sheathed her greatsword, thought for a moment, and said:
"Besides running the shop, I should be studying Lady Oriana's 'Handbook of Knowledge'."
"Huh?" Latis scratched his head and asked, "Is there anything worth studying up there?"
“Of course!” Frico reluctantly led Latis to her hut, picked up a flower, and opened the “Knowledge Handbook” on the table.
The "Knowledge Handbook" quickly flipped to the page with the flower pattern and intelligently highlighted the corresponding description with underlines:
【"Sunset Flower": A six-petaled, opposite flower mainly distributed in the central region of the Kingdom of Norard, blooming at dusk in late summer and early autumn.】
[Possible use 1: The nectar can be extracted to make the magical potion "Cooling Tea," which effectively alleviates the aftereffects of burns from fire-attribute spells.]
[Second Speculated Use: After being sliced or dried, it can be used to replace the "Sealing Wax Leaf" casting material for the "Second Ring Spell - Flame Blade".]
[Third Possible Use: ...]
……
"Wow, is all this information collected by Lady Orianna?" Latis couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
"It's practically like a legendary mage giving you personal guidance."
“Yes,” Frico nodded in agreement.
"Her Excellency Oriana, as the spiritual leader of the Lundian mages, has treated us very well."
“Indeed…” Latis recalled his experience of being kicked out of the Mage Guild by Orianna a day earlier, feeling both embarrassed and somewhat puzzled.
My gut feeling tells me there's some gossip involved... Damn, I really want to know...
"Ah!" Frico looked at the sky and was immediately startled. She quickly said, "Boss, it's time for the prop shop to open. I'll go check on the shop first. You can play here for a while!"
With that, magical wings sprouted from her back in an instant, and she flew away in a flash.
"...Okay, okay, do I look that free?"
Latis watched Frico's retreating figure, scratched his head in confusion, and turned his attention back to the "Knowledge Handbook" in his hand.
"A 'knowledge handbook'?..."
He thought about it and realized that this could be considered his first tool for analyzing the information and uses of materials.
In contrast, Ateliers's appraisal skill has the advantage of being able to see through information about things from afar, and not just limited to materials, but also gaining some perception of things like race and equipment. The disadvantage, however, is that the information she obtains is not comprehensive; sometimes she can see the origin of things, while other times she may only see a single characteristic, and this information may not necessarily be within her knowledge base.
As for the robin, she has a good memory. Although her knowledge of magical materials may not be as good as this manual, she can remember the value of various materials and even all things that can be called commodities. Perhaps this is what it means to specialize in one's own field.
As for Latis himself... he does have some analytical abilities, but he mainly relies on the simulation panel's records of the items in his inventory, and these records are often quite abstract...
He sighed, thought for a moment, took out the nail fragment he had just torn from Serfal's claws from his pocket, and glanced at it on the simulation panel.
[Serfal's Nail Shard: Hey, are you thinking of "keeping something secret" and sneaking away like a pervert in a jar with the red dragon's nail? No way, stop your dangerous killer queen ideas! This is Kono Serfal in front of you!]
"Alright, alright, I know this thing is useless now."
Latis silently closed the panel and glanced at the "Knowledge Handbook".
[“Dragon Bone Material”: Fragments of bone from a dragon, brimming with a vibrant life force that has not yet dissipated.]
[Speculated Use 1: It could be used to replace the casting material "Ore Powder" for the "Third Ring Spell - Protective Array".]
[Second Possible Use: ...]
……
[Speculated Use 11: It can be used to craft the alchemical tool "Bone Spike Bomb".]
"what?"
The sudden appearance of the word "alchemy" startled Latis from his drowsy state amidst the vast amount of text. He scratched his head and briefly selected the entry for "speculated use eleven".
The text on the page faded out, and then supplementary information for this entry appeared with emphasis marks.
[Additional Note: "Bone Spike Bomb" is a single-ingredient alchemy recipe; specific preparation steps are unknown.]
"Ok."
Latis closed the "Knowledge Handbook," guessing that Lady Oriana must have heard of this alchemical recipe in her past life, but since she had not specifically studied alchemy, she could only record this information in the handbook.
"Wait...that's right!"
Suddenly, a thought struck him: Yashutia had a magic furnace that could automatically generate products!
A surge of curiosity about alchemy welled up within him. Latis had been wanting to try alchemy ever since the simulation that ended with the Yashutia route, but unfortunately he didn't have a complete set of alchemical equipment, and although he had a lot of alchemical knowledge in his mind, he didn't have time to collect the various materials for specific recipes.
For a man who was a gamer in his past life, spending hours shopping like Yashutia and carrying 20 or 30 kilograms of materials for tens of thousands of steps would be too painful!
"However... it's just a single ingredient! Since we're already here, let's give it a try!"
"Ouch!"
Seeing the weak, pitiful, and helpless look in Serfal's eyes, Latis sharpened her other three claws as well, then ran towards the small alchemical cave of Yashutia with a bag of bone fragments in her hand.
……
Welcome to the Kurosawa Alchemy Workshop!
A chibi-style puppet bear, baring its teeth and brandishing its claws, sprang out from in front of the workshop, flicked its tongue in front of Latis, and performed a seaweed dance.
"..."
Latis frowned, watching the puppet black bear slowly crawl back into the door panel, feeling a sense of speechlessness slowly growing in his heart.
"No, I never thought Yashutia was so abstract before... no, she's always seemed pretty abstract."
He sighed, gave the slowly crawling puppet bear a shove on its rear, and walked into the deserted alchemy workshop.
The alchemy workshop built in the cave is not a normal wooden house. Except for the wall that serves as the facade, which is made of wood, the rest of the space retains the original flavor of the cave.
"What do you mean 'natural'? It's just laziness! This is just a wooden board blocking the doorway!"
Latis couldn't help but mutter a complaint. Looking at the alchemical wall lamps that slowly lit up on the cave wall as he moved, he shook his head and looked around in the light.
Aside from the shelves for materials and the refrigerated display case, the cave was filled with many alchemical products, such as boots covered in green fur, empty bottles dripping oil, and a fan that looked like a two-headed dragon...
Latis took a deep breath and subconsciously tightened his anus. He moved slowly amidst the smells of rust and solid wood, not wanting to accidentally touch any alchemical tools. That two-headed dragon looked very dangerous.
After all, according to Yashutia's values, these randomly placed items are probably all junk to her, and junk means that their function is probably unpredictable.
The "Knowledge Handbook" did identify the names of some of the finished products, but Lady Oriana didn't seem to know much about their specific uses, so she only wrote down some guesses.
Latis walked to the magic furnace, sat in the ergonomic chair that Yashutia had made herself, and picked up the wooden slippers that looked like her everyday shoes and put them aside.
"Hmm...it's a bit narrow."
It was normal that Latis couldn't fit into the chair, since it was made by Yashutia to her own size. He moved forward a little and stroked the magic furnace he had given to Yashutia.
The magic furnace already had some scratches and wear, but fortunately it was sturdy enough that the marks only remained on the surface. The only thing that puzzled Latis was the clear handprints on both sides of the magic furnace...
"You idiot, don't use the magic furnace to practice your Iron Sand Palm technique!"
Latis muttered a complaint, took a small clump of bone fragments from his bag, thought for a moment, and then put them in.
Since I don't know the exact proportions of the recipe, I'll just try it out first.
The magic furnace emitted a gurgling sound, and Latis subconsciously channeled magic into it. Soon, a white ball appeared at the bottom of the furnace.
[Bone Spur Bomb: A bomb that won't explode, because its creator didn't give it a soul, so it's only good for playing golf.]
"?"
The information displayed on the simulation panel puzzled Latis for a while. He glanced at his job list and saw that his alchemist level hadn't changed at all.
"...Does that mean the key lies in giving it a soul? What does that mean?"
He pondered for a moment and began to recall his previous simulated memories. Unfortunately, at that time he was just a bull and didn't have the opportunity to practice, so he could only guess based on his later knowledge.
"Alchemy is different from ordinary magical artifacts. The fundamental difference lies in the fact that the properties of magical artifacts are very stable. As long as a fixed production process is followed, even a student who has just started learning the relevant subject can manage to create a usable magical artifact."
"Alchemy relies heavily on the alchemist's understanding of the world... Alchemy and alchemists are mutually reinforcing; the more mature the alchemist, the deeper their understanding of the world, which in turn enhances the efficacy of alchemical products."
"And a perfect alchemical process can also benefit alchemists immensely, because alchemy itself is a reflection of the world?"
Latis stroked his chin, completely bewildered. These explanations were far too profound for a college graduate who was essentially a useless office worker, but he did glean some key points from them.
It turns out that for novice alchemists, the best approach is to systematically craft and process materials using a complete set of alchemical equipment. This is because the different forms of materials at each stage allow alchemists to perceive subtle changes in the world they observe, which is a key factor in leveling up an alchemist.
However, with such a furnace that could generate finished products with a single click, Latis had no desire to run quests or do daily tasks anymore. After thinking about it, he decided to give it a try first.
"Phew... This feels a bit like the old days when I used to gamble on upgrades in video games..."
Latis quickly banished the ominous feeling from his mind, took a clump of bone fragments from his bag, and put them into the magic furnace.
Chapter 237 Return to the Bone Spirit Realm
[Bone Spur Bomb: A bomb that looks like a glutinous rice ball; when it hits someone, it can whet their appetite.]
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