Chapter 202 – Alchemy is a Popular Research Topic

Magic books are not the same as knight novels.

Knight novels are storybooks created by the n.o.ble aristocracy in order to make a living and are meant for a large number of readers in pursuit of fun, refreshment and mystery.

Magic books are very similar to dissertations, mainly research reports and laboratory notes of mages.

Most of the magic books are hardly readable, some even upside down and logically confusing. The print quality is relatively poor and with even many of the magic books circulating in handwritten copies – few are willing to buy it , so naturally there is no financial gain for publishers to print them.

Fifty-six magic books were sent by Elkson.

Twenty-one of them were ma.n.u.scripts.

"Is 'The Slither Truth : Diary of the Extraction of Eighteen Species of Red Pit Viper Venom from Red Python Island' even worth reading?" He looked at the ma.n.u.script in his hand, and felt a little loss. The book cost him two silver coins. “Forget it, I bought this manual about snake venom.”

After turning a few pages, he lost his patience and stuffed the book into the gem s.p.a.ce.

Liszt continued to open the next ma.n.u.script.

'Fredo's Fireball', a book about how to unleash fireb.a.l.l.s and improve the craft of fireb.a.l.l.s. The author Fredo Truth was a mage's apprentice whose only magic is the fireball. The book records his attempts to expand his fireball skills, in more than a hundred ways.

In the end, he improved the technique of the fireball – which he could now rub out on his back.

He called the improvement a landmark and thought it would certainly push the edge of magic.

Unfortunately, it was a second-hand book and there was another mage's comment written in it. The mage left a mockery of disdain: “When you are an advanced-level mage, you will understand that any part of the body can be used as a casting medium, the only difference is that using the palm is faster.”

“So this is a negative textbook?” Liszt was quite speechless, throwing it straight into the gem s.p.a.ce.

Looking at all the books, he observed that most of the handwritten copies of the magic books are of the most bizarre experiments, which are of little value and more suitable to be used as paper weight.

When he turned to the last ma.n.u.script, he suddenly raised his eyebrows.

The t.i.tle of the book is 'Kennedy's Alchemy Diary'.

“Another alchemy diary!” Liszt instantly remembered the s.h.i.+pwreck treasure he had acquired where the original box also had an alchemy diary. He remembered that it was called 'Rudolph's Alchemy Diary', and its cover had handwritten snake text on it. It seems that this book he was holding was also a handwritten magic book.

He began to read the diary.

The author was a newly advanced mage. He used many methods trying to turn stone into gold under the influence of magic. For this reason, he even melted down the only seven gold coins he had in order to observe the difference between gold coins and stones. In the end, he still did not work out a method of turning stones into gold.

So, this was also a negative textbook that recorded constant failure.

Closing the book, Liszt stood up and went to the Flame Mushroom Workshop to find Elkson. “Do mages like to study alchemy?”

Elkson put down his work and explained, “Baron Liszt, the triangle theory is a truth recognized by all mages. So we always hope to find the most direct evidence to prove the truth of this theory. The art of turning stone to gold is its best proof."

“Why?”

“Because the process of turning stones into gold can be decomposed into two sets of steps. The material stones are first transformed into spirit by magic, and the spirit is transformed into material gold again by magic. Truly, this is one of the ideals that us mages will pursue for life. “

“So that's the case.” Liszt felt a little contradictory. “But have you succeeded in your research?”

“I don't know, but many mages believe there were real alchemists in the olden days who could make stones into gold.”

“Why do you have to choose to turn stone into gold? If you wanted  to verify the Triangle Theory then you could refine the properties of other things, isn't that right?”

Elkson smiled. “Baron Liszt, you do not understand. Alchemy is just a general term. It is popular to turn stone into gold because we mages need a lot of money for our experiments. 

Elkson showed his hand slightly helplessly, “But it's not that no one has attempted to refine other items, it's just that they haven't succeeded… When I first got into magic, I chose to study alchemy, but finally gave up. “

Alchemy was quite rough to understand.

A little bit disappointed, Liszt went on to ask, “So a lot of mages wrote an alchemy diary?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you keep working. I won't bother you.” He was about to go out but turned around again. “The bone fragments I gave you, have you studied it yet?”

"I haven't had the time."

“Research as soon as possible. I'm curious about these bones.”

“Of course, as soon as I have the time.” He shook the crystal tube in his hand, signaling that he needed to make the Flame Mushroom Magic Potion first.

———–

Back at the castle, Liszt groaned.

Because of the decay of “Rudolph's Alchemy Diary”, the feeling of heart knots that he head before has disappeared. It turns out that mages liked to tinker with alchemy and write alchemy diaries.

If it really was refined, it would not be spread in the form of handwritten ma.n.u.scripts .

If a mage would succeed in alchemy, he will leap into the sacred presence of all mages and stand with the sun. Dragon Knights would even be at par with him in battle.

The heart knot dissipated.

After relaxing for a while, he thought that maybe alchemy was just good for imagining.

Numerous mages have studied alchemy in succession, but ultimately did not get any useful information. Seeing the difficulty of alchemy, Liszt knew his dream of overnight riches would continue to be a dream. For him, it also meant that his dreams were shattered.

After tangling his thoughts for a moment, he quickly adjusted his mindset. “Forget it, I'm not a mage practicing alchemy.” He threw “Kennedy's Alchemy Diary” into the gem s.p.a.ce.

He continued to read the next magic book.

The handwritten copy has been finished while the rest was printed.

There are three possible explanations why a magic book is printed. One is that the author is rich and prints at his own expense. Second is that the books are valuable and the mage is willing to buy them; and lastly, is that books are interesting, and the aristocracy is willing to buy them.

“Wild Sprite Worm Market Selling Price”, “The Blind Windblade Wolf King”, “How to Safely Live Through The Midoro Mangroves”, “Highland White Tower -Carrick Truth” …

These magic books were obviously of much better quality than the handwritten ones.

Liszt picked up the “Wild Sprite Worm Market Sale Price” with great interest. The mage who wrote the book lived in the capital of Iron and Steel Kingdom – Steel City. There was a large wild sprite trading market there. Mages would go to the market every day just to observe those wild sprites.

“Interesting, a flytrap sprite worm actually sold for 3,600 gold coins because of the flood of mosquito flies in Steel City and the flytrap was in short supply.”