Chapter Thirty-Five Alchemy

  Beyond the swamp is a forest, and the terrain underfoot gradually rises all the way up. Along this slope upwards is the mountain where the dragon hides.

  Just as Ada was about to move forward, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, looked around, quickly walked around a large tree, and stared blankly at the ground.

  Xia Ya followed and walked past, looking in the direction Ada was looking, only to see a corpse lying on the ground!!

  The corpse's appearance was similar to Xia Ya's at this moment, with a charred body and an unrecognizable face.

  Look at this guy's appearance, it seems that he was also burned by fire when crossing the swamp, and after arriving here, his injuries were too severe and he died.

  Ada's expression seemed a bit strange, and Xia Ya saw it in her eyes, so she asked: "Do you know him?"

  "He was one of the magicians I met." Ada suddenly sighed, her eyes somewhat dim: "It was he who suggested burying me underground."

  "Xia Ya exclaimed: 'It's burnt like this and you can still recognize it?!'"

  Ada snorted, casting a somewhat disdainful glance at Xia Ya before pointing to the corpses: "Firstly, although their clothes were mostly burned away, it's still possible to make out the material from what remains. Only magicians wear this kind of leather cloak. Secondly, there's a charred wooden staff next to the corpse, and I can tell that it's made of walnut wood, which is specifically used for making magician wands. Thirdly, his right hand only has four fingers, a very distinctive feature."

  After a pause, Ada suddenly smiled, and in that instant, his smiling eyes seemed to carry a hint of femininity. In a calm and indifferent tone, he slowly said: "Fourthly, anyone who is not good to me, even if they turn into ashes, I will still recognize them."

  When he said the last sentence, that gaze made Xia Ya's heart feel a little hairy, he shivered and felt that Ada's gaze at him was somewhat eerie, so he quickly pretended to be fierce and glared back.

  Ada didn't glare at him, but just smiled and turned her head to the side, squatting down to reach into the corpse's clothes.

  Xia Ya's eyes lit up as soon as she saw Ada's movements!

  Right! Magicians are all wealthy people, maybe this dead guy has something good on him. Just thinking of that, Ada actually pulled out a sheepskin bag from the corpse's chest.

  The sheepskin bag was close-fitting, so although the guy was charred, after all, the clothes on his chest and abdomen were not completely burned through. The outer layer of the sheepskin bag was also damaged in some places, but when it was opened layer by layer, the things inside were intact.

  Ada had barely opened two layers when Xia Ya snatched it away, giving Ada a fierce glare and shouting: "Hey! Now you're my SoSo, all the discoveries belong to me!"

  Ada didn't argue with him either, she just smiled slightly and stood aside with her hands down.

  After flipping through the sheepskin, it turned out to be a yellowed booklet with dozens of pages, wrapped in leather. In addition, there was a thumb-sized transparent ball, which looked like either glass or crystal.

  Xia Ya opened the book, only to see that the yellowed pages were densely printed with fly-sized characters, some of which had illustrations and annotations next to them - Xia Ya was stunned, because he didn't recognize a single one of these characters.

  Ada, who was standing next to him, saw Shaya's embarrassed expression and glanced at the booklet in his hand with a scornful smile: "This is 'Majik language', which is a special language used by the Byzantine Empire's magicians. It can only be learned in church and is called the divine language. Generally speaking, the notes of magicians, as well as magic spells and many precious doctrines of the church, are recorded in this language. Ordinary people cannot learn this script."

  Xia Ya's face turned slightly red as she stared at Ada with a hint of suspicion: "Do you know her?"

  "Hmm." The old god Ada let out a noncommittal hum.

  "This guy really knows... Xia Ya thought with some annoyance in her heart, but at this moment she couldn't bring herself to ask the other person for advice, and stiffly said: "If you know it, then you know it. I'm just not learned, that's all. If I had learned, I would also know it. What's so strange about it.""

  Just then, the poor guy next to him finally calmed down from his previous panic and heard the conversation between the two. He hesitantly chimed in: "Uh... Majik language, I can probably read a little bit."

  "Ah?" Xia Ya's eyes lit up, and he smiled with joy, walking forward to pat the poor bug: "Haha, good good good, indeed worthy of being my Xia Ya's first spoils of war."

  The poor worm hesitated for a moment, looking somewhat embarrassed: "I can only read a little bit, I haven't studied any magical classics, just some religious scriptures from the church, and that's all I've learned before."

  Xia Ya directly stuffed the booklet into Kai's hand and said magnanimously: "Never mind, take a look at what's written inside first."

  The poor worm looked down at the font on the cover page, hesitated for a moment: "Hmm, it seems to be written here 《Magic Material Dictionary...... Dictionary......" When he said this, the poor worm's face turned slightly red, apparently still having some difficulty.

  "'The Magical Materials Compendium - Alchemy Specialized Materials Collection Volume 3.'" Ada said, hugging her arms.

  "What is alchemy?" Xia Ya's face lit up with excitement, her eyes shining brightly: "Is it a kind of magic for refining gold?"

  It's obvious that this turtle has a rather poor understanding of magic...

  The poor insect hadn't spoken yet, when Ada beside him couldn't help but sneer: "Gold? Haha! If a gold-making magician heard you say that, they'd kill you in anger."

  Ada paused, let out a sigh, and looked at Xia Ya with a hint of pity: "Alchemy is a type of magic, and the 'gold' referred to here means all magical metal materials. Generally speaking, ordinary metals have a repulsive effect on magical elements, so only metals that have undergone special refining can be imbued with magic. Alchemy, in a broad sense, refers to the refinement of various useful magical tools, such as adding magic to metals through special means, which is usually understood as weapons or other equipment with magical effects."

  In a broader sense, the concept of alchemy has been expanded to include all methods of manufacturing magical tools, such as creating a magic cloak, a magic ring, or even a magic scroll. These crafts are also referred to as "alchemy". Two hundred years ago, even "magic medicine" was included in the category of alchemy. Legend has it that if alchemy reaches its peak and becomes a great master of alchemy, one can create extremely powerful magical equipment at the level of divine artifacts. Unfortunately, it is said that such a powerful alchemist has not appeared on the continent for a very long time.

  Alchemy is the most difficult to learn among all magical systems. To practice alchemy, one must possess a broad foundation of basic magical theory and be extremely proficient in all other schools of magic. Only after acquiring this broad foundation can one create various magical materials and tools of different schools. In general, a qualified alchemist must be an expert in several schools of magic, at the very least being extremely familiar with the uses and properties of magical materials. Therefore, this branch of magic is extremely difficult to learn, and it's said that there are fewer and fewer alchemists on the continent nowadays.

  Most importantly, Alchemists generally spend all their energy on researching magical materials of various schools and do not possess strong combat skills themselves. Moreover, if they cannot reach a high level, they are unable to manufacture powerful magical equipment. Just learning the theories of each school of magic requires almost a lifetime of effort for an ordinary magician, let alone mastering them. Unless one is exceptionally gifted, it is absolutely impossible to cultivate to a high level.

  The most important thing is that even if you can endure loneliness and are willing to work hard to study alchemy, unless you have reached a high level of practice, the value of your alchemy will not be reflected at all - an alchemist who cannot create powerful magical weapons and tools can only be considered a knowledgeable and talented magical theorist.

  Now on the mainland, alchemists are becoming fewer and fewer because this magic is too impractical, taking up a lot of time but yielding little results. I heard that now only in the headquarters of the Church of Magic in the royal city, there are some tutors who are alchemists, but they do not possess strong combat power and can only stay in the church to engage in teaching and training magic apprentices.

  Currently, only a small number of alchemists on the mainland can imbue ordinary weapons with magic, creating low-level magical properties for weapons or equipment, and manufacturing scrolls with limited power. However, these have little practical value for real magicians. Moreover, those magical weapons and equipment are often exorbitantly expensive, making them unaffordable for ordinary warriors unless they are wealthy.

  Xia Ya looked at Ada talking incessantly and couldn't help but be stunned, subconsciously asking: "Then, alchemy magic, isn't it very unpromising? Is anyone willing to learn this line of work?"

  Ada stared at Xia Ya with a "foolish" gaze: "There must be a future, if an alchemy law master can practice to the real great master level, he can create powerful magic weapons, and the power is terrifying. But... this is just a reflection of flowers in water, just like..."

  It's just like a unicorn**, everyone knows it exists, but few people can really see it...

  The sentence made the poor worm next to it blush a little.