CHAPTER 259: CHAPTER 69: ALCHEMY

Arriving at the marketplace, it was as bustling as always, filled with a crowd of people; the sounds of vendors shouting, and haggling were endless.

Without a doubt, the marketplace was the spot within Reincarnation Paradise where the most Contractors gathered, with over seventy percent of the workers concentrated here.

Workers and Contractors formed the ecological balance of Reincarnation Paradise, both indispensable. Through deliberate matchmaking by Paradise, there were rarely major conflicts between Workers and Contractors.

In fact, Hunters are somewhat similar to Workers. Workers are Contractors who failed the main quest of the first Derivative World but survived by luck, thus Reincarnation Paradise extends the time for Workers to enter the Derivative World.

Workers enter the Derivative World only once every two months, which in fact is an opportunity. If they perform excellently in that world and earn a rating above Level B, they can restore their status as a Contractor.

If Workers are the service personnel of Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao is the ’cleanup personnel’ within Reincarnation Paradise, responsible for clearing out the unruly Contractors.

Su Xiao came to the stall he frequently used and found someone was already there, so he opted to use a nearby stall.

Paying 10 Paradise coins to get three hours’ use of the stall, Su Xiao took out the two pieces of equipment he planned to sell.

[Evil Spirits Roar (Green)]

Category: Ring.

Equipment Effect: Roar (Active), after activating this effect, pain is ignored for 20 seconds. During this time, each attack received will increase attack speed by 5%. (Maximum increase in attack speed is 50%, this bonus expires after the Roar effect ends.)

Rating: 21

...

Roar is a pretty good skill. If not for having [Mithril Holy Ring], he wouldn’t sell this green-quality ring.

He pondered for a while and marked [Evil Spirits Roar (Green)] at 10,000 Paradise coins.

He’s not being greedy, jewelry-type equipment is considered rare items, and the ’Roar’ skill is indeed worth that price.

The second piece of equipment for sale was [Prince of the Ice Region’s Token].

[Prince of the Ice Region’s Token (Blue)]

Category: Accessory

Equipment requirements: Charm attribute above 15 points.

Equipment Effect: Prince’s Decree (Active), summon three to five Extreme North Soldiers, who have no personal awareness and can execute complex commands.

Rating: 46

...

Seeing this token, Su Xiao felt a bit helpless. This piece of equipment was quite good for summoning cannon fodder to scout ahead. If he could use it, he wouldn’t sell it.

In Su Xiao’s view, having 15 points in Charm attributes is harder to achieve than 50 points in Power attributes, and he doesn’t plan to use attribute points to increase Charm.

Considering the scarcity of summoners within Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao set the ’Prince of the Ice Region’s Token’ price at 30,000 Paradise coins; it’s also a piece of jewelry.

Labeling the stall with the name [Premium Stall], Su Xiao sat bored behind the stall, while Bubute Ni lay at his feet.

Earlier, when taking out equipment from the storage space, Su Xiao noticed the items inside were quite disorganized, with everyday supplies mixed in with various small tools, making it troublesome to find things. He began sorting the items in the storage space, categorizing them.

He first sorted equipment like the Broken Elf into one category, everyday supplies into another, and tools and mechanisms into another.

After organizing for about ten minutes, Su Xiao nodded in satisfaction, as the items in the storage space were neatly arranged.

Just then, he suddenly noticed a gray cloth bag in the corner of the storage space, and the more he looked at the gray cloth bag, the more familiar it seemed.

"Is this... Sherlock’s bag?"

Su Xiao took out the gray cloth bag, having not paid attention to what was inside in the rush to complete his return mission in the Derivative World earlier.

After returning to Reincarnation Paradise, he thought it had already been taken by Paradise.

The gray cloth bag was soft and rumpled in his hand, and the precious alchemy materials inside had been retained by Reincarnation Paradise; these items couldn’t be brought out of the Derivative World.

[Bag (miscellaneous, ungraded)]

Su Xiao was stunned, this gray cloth bag had actually passed Paradise’s notarization, but it wasn’t of much use.

Opening the gray cloth bag, Su Xiao’s heart skipped a beat as he vaguely saw a purple glow inside. After fumbling around for a while in the bag, a softly textured item appeared in his hand.

He took out the unknown item from the bag and examined it closely; it was a scroll, the texture smooth enough to suggest leather.

Su Xiao checked the scroll’s attributes.

[Alchemy (Complete)]

Origin: Slash-Red Pupil

Quality: Fifth-tier Scroll (Knowledge Class Skills Scroll is divided into tiers one through nine)

Category: Skills scroll

Usage Effect: Using it allows mastery of Alchemy (Complete)

Usage requirements: Power 10 points, Stamina 10 points, Intelligence 25 points.

Description: Knowledge is power.

Price: 39,000 Paradise coins.

...

Su Xiao was amazed as he checked the scroll. He had never seen such a type of skill. After consulting Reincarnation Paradise, he learned that upon using this scroll, Alchemy would not be categorized in the Combat Skills list but rather in a sub-profession list, calculated separately.

With nothing better to do, Su Xiao began to study the scroll in his hand.

[Would you like to use ’Alchemy (Complete)’? Using this skill will not affect the Shadow of Annihilation Law profession.]

This was great news, so Su Xiao chose to use it.

The scroll in his hand shattered, a roar echoed in Su Xiao’s ears, his vision went dark, and upon regaining consciousness, he found himself in a starry space, able to see planets moving in the distance.

[The origin of Alchemy was humanity’s desire for gold, aiming to refine other items into gold. However, during their research, alchemists realized their sole desire for gold was too narrow-minded.]

[Over thousands of years of development, Alchemy has become humanity’s exploration of nature and the modification and enhancement of existing items or creatures.]

[Warning: When you study Alchemy, you involve in biological modification science, which may cause some storyline characters to develop hostility towards you.]

[Hint: After mastering Alchemy, certain scientific research camps within Derivative Worlds will prioritize recruiting you, and if Alchemy reaches a high level, you risk being kidnapped by large factions within Derivative Worlds.]

Su Xiao didn’t pay much attention to Paradise’s prompts as he was absorbed in acquiring the foundational knowledge of Alchemy, an immense pool of basic knowledge.

Knowledge such as biology, forging, and mechanism manufacturing was all covered by Alchemy.

Su Xiao wasn’t particularly interested in biology, but he was quite excited about mechanism manufacturing.

After a long while, Su Xiao regained his senses. He was still sitting at the stall in the marketplace, the starry scenes were merely illusions, but he genuinely learned Alchemy.

It wasn’t complete mastery; Su Xiao only learned a tiny portion of Alchemy, mostly basic knowledge, akin to junior high biology or high school physics, just that this knowledge was rarely seen and wouldn’t be taught in the real world.

For example, in the real world, dangerous species wouldn’t be dissected into slices for study.

Su Xiao wasn’t particularly interested in biological modification, but he was quite intrigued by other abilities within Alchemy and had acquired a fascinating skill.