Chapter 137

Declaration and Potion

Returning to the thatched hut.

Olivia sat at the edge of the straw mat, her fingertips rubbing the coarse linen sheet.

"You seemed hesitant to tell him the formula just now?" Olivia lowered her voice and asked, "Is that formula very important?"

Lucy was receiving various potionology materials taken from the Abyss of Nightmares from her eerie servant.

Hearing this, she looked outside the curtain.

Annie’s mother, that pitiful woman, was asleep, her breathing much steadier than the night before.

"I was indeed hesitant about whether to give him the correct proportions," Lucy said as she sorted the bottles and jars. "That gunpowder formula is enough to change the foundational structure of the Wizard Continent."

Olivia tilted her head, clearly not convinced by Lucy’s words.

Although she had seen fragments of Lucy’s memories, there seemed to be nothing related to gunpowder among them.

Lucy said, "What do you think allows nobles to recklessly exploit commoners?"

"Because of their overwhelming military force," Olivia answered without hesitation.

That’s right. Even though wizards were the supreme rulers of this plane, there was still a class beneath them — knights.

Although knights were far inferior to wizards, to ordinary people, a high-ranking knight was little different from a superhuman.

A high-ranking knight in full armor could suppress a citywide rebellion and take the enemy commander’s head amidst thousands of troops as easily as reaching into a pocket.

Absolute military power — that was the real reason nobles dared to act so wantonly.

"What if I told you that formula could allow an ordinary person, after a short period of training, to pose a lethal threat to a knight?"

"Impossible!"

Olivia instinctively refuted.

As a princess, she was all too aware of the gap between knights and ordinary people.

That was not something a mere handy weapon could bridge.

Even with powerful explosives, given a knight’s reaction speed, they were fully capable of dodging the blast before it went off or even picking it up and throwing it back.

But when she met Lucy’s serious gaze, she involuntarily fell silent.

Perhaps this world couldn’t achieve it, but Lucy’s previous world had made metal boxes fly through the sky.

That was an entirely different path of development.

"But you still told him in the end."

"I didn’t smell the scent of decay on him," Lucy pointed to her nose. "Besides, the wheel of fate is already rolling forward — I merely gave it a gentle push."

Even if she hadn’t revealed the proportions of black powder today, it wouldn’t be long before Karash discovered the issue himself.

"When the first miner points a musket at the tax collector, the gears of revolution will begin to turn."

A strange light ignited in Olivia’s eyes.

She showed no fear at all at the idea of overthrowing the nobility, even though she was one of them.

"Lucy, you haven’t answered the question I asked you last time."

"In your previous world, how were these things resolved?"

The glow in the room flickered.

Lucy saw something burning in Olivia’s eyes.

She paused her work and toyed with a bottle of vivid green life potion.

"Oppression exists in every world — without exception."

"But in the world I came from, there was once a bearded scholar." Lucy’s fingertips gathered magical energy and traced a silhouette in the air. "He proposed the theory of 'surplus value' — for example, if a miner creates ten gold coins’ worth of value each day, yet the noble only pays one as wages… no, actually, the noble only gives them half a piece of black bread."

"That is the essence of exploitation."

The princess’s pupils contracted violently, as if she had just witnessed alchemy turning stone into gold.

Some kind of understanding was restructuring itself in her mind and strangely, it was persuasive.

"You mean to say..." Olivia’s voice trembled, "if the miners controlled the mines themselves, they wouldn’t have to lose ninety percent of the fruits of their labor? But how would society function properly?"

Lucy gave a bitter smile.

She wasn’t some divine revolutionary sent from the heavens — what she’d just said was merely a superficial theory she had learned back in university. If she were pressed to explain the operational principles of society in detail, she’d surely expose her lack of depth.

All she could do was cough lightly and say:

"Of course, reform isn’t that simple. It also requires a supporting political system..."

Her words were cut off by a coughing sound from the neighboring room, and Annie came running in like a gust of wind after hearing it.

"In short, it’s a long revolutionary process. It’s not something that can be solved with a few words or by killing a handful of nobles."

Olivia sat in a daze for a long moment. Then suddenly, she snapped back to her senses, looking at Lucy with eyes full of awe and shock.

Her eyes sparkled strangely as she suddenly grabbed Lucy’s wrist. Her voice quivered slightly from excitement.

"You really know a lot."

Lucy raised a finger and scratched her chin.

"I’m just quoting others..."

She reached out and pinched Olivia’s smooth, soft cheek. "That’s enough for you to digest for now. Go outside for a bit — I need to research a potion to deal with the Dream-Eating Black Worm."

Olivia nodded obediently.

Once the footsteps faded, Lucy’s expression turned serious.

Although life potions couldn’t completely eliminate the Dream-Eating Black Worm, they had indeed shown a dissolving effect back in the mine hospital — which meant that boosting vitality was effective.

She held a potion made with Reverse Life Marrow Liquid in her hand.

"System, help me simulate a potion capable of killing the Dream-Eating Black Worm."

Although this was Lucy’s first time using the system for targeted simulation, she was quite confident.

Because she had previously tried adding Reverse Life Marrow Liquid to life potions, and the system had successfully derived a new potion from it.

After a brief wait—

Buzz—

[You discovered that vitality potions seem to be effective against the 'Dream-Eating Black Worm.' You begin attempting to optimize it.]

[After consuming 20 Academic Points, the potion’s effect on the Dream-Eating Black Worm is enhanced.]

[After consuming 40 Academic Points, the effect is enhanced again.]

[After consuming 60 points, you realize the life potion has reached its limit — the Dream-Eating Black Worm still cannot be killed.]

[You infer this is due to the power of laws, so you begin studying the Lord of Desires' laws.]

[After consuming 80 Academic Points, you realize you lack a certain primer that can resist the power of law.]

[After consuming 100 Academic Points…]

[Missing core primer: “Soul of the Heretic” (a soul voluntarily offered after the collapse of faith by a bishop-level devout follower)]

[Please name the potion.]

"Name it Dreamcleansing Potion."

[Potion: Dreamcleansing Potion (Incomplete) (Purifies the Law Power of the Lord of Desires)]

[Academic Points: 1118 → 1018]