Chapter 196 - Chapter 196: 104. Iron Thorn Shield_5

Chapter 196: 104. Iron Thorn Shield_5

Translator: 549690339

“Since I’m preparing to leave the Empire, I need to make some preparations, right… Speaking of which, Mark, what was that transparent container in Fars’ hand just now? Did I see it wrong? How could it hold 3,000 liters of mountain spring water?”

Upon hearing Noland Lee’s question, Mark immediately became excited.

He raised his arm and waved it, shouting with anticipation.

“This is the power of alchemy!”

Teammates in front and behind cast their calm gazes at him, as if they were already used to the deputy captain getting carried away whenever “alchemy” was mentioned…

Mark held on to the handlebars of the motorcycle, staring at the ground in front of him, and rattled off a laundry list of alchemy common knowledge to Noland Lee. His words were filled with passion for alchemy.

Noland Lee initially thought that the common knowledge he mentioned would be similar to the knowledge in the memory of a scavenger.

However, as the content unfolded, Noland Lee’s eyes began to fill with anticipation and approval.

Alchemists, this extraordinary group, are truly rooted in alchemy theory and experimentation.

Their understanding of “spirit” is vastly different from that of the Undead Cult.

The Undead Cult is comprised of lost souls with everlasting, rotting bodies.

They seek liberation from tortured memories, using it to enhance their “spirit” attribute, and then pair it with war and the Spirit Pivot to collect soul fragments in large quantities, increasing their soul strength.

Alchemists are not like this.

They believe:

To improve intangible things—like spirit and soul—one must first transform them into tangible forms and then enhance them indirectly by remodeling those forms.

The “tangible form” mentioned here is the “alchemy stone” that every alchemist possesses.

The main material of the alchemy stone is the alchemist’s own spirit and soul.

Through a special Spirit Soul Transposition Ceremony, they convert the intangible spirit and soul into an alchemy stone that can be held in their hands.

Using gaming language:

Alchemy Stone is the physical manifestation of the attributes of “spirit” and “soul strength”.

Enhance the quality of the alchemy stone with better alchemy materials.

Add special effects to the alchemy stone with alchemy runes.

Apply more powerful alchemy formulas to transform regular alchemy stones into unique alchemy stones.

All of the above operations can enhance the attributes of “spirit” and “soul strength” and grant alchemists corresponding extraordinary abilities.

This is where the secret of an alchemist’s mastery of extraordinary power lies.

For instance, Fars, who was responsible for extracting and filling mountain spring water, only possessed the extraordinary ability to transport large quantities of mountain spring water at once after adding the “Water Drawing Rune” and “Water Storage Rune” to his alchemy stone.

This seemingly harmless extraordinary ability is actually offensive.

With the addition of “Acid Resistance Rune” and “Injection Rune,” Fars can pre-store acidic liquids and spray acid water with corrosive effects on enemies during battles.

The higher the grade of the rune, the better the corrosive effect of the acid water, the further the distance of spraying acid water, and the more significant Fars’ attack effect.

This enhancement of strength comes from more efficient combinations of alchemy runes.

It can be said that there are no trash alchemy runes, only alchemist who is trash at combining alchemy runes.

As long as they’re smart and willing to study, any alchemy rune can shine in a particular field.

And the key to all this lies in having one’s own alchemy stone.

Mark talked eloquently about this topic:

“In the entire Golden Federation, only the Alchemy Cathedral masters the

Spirit Soul Transposition Ceremony.

“Every year, the Alchemy Cathedral allocates a certain number of ceremony quotas to each city, allowing those who meet the conditions within the city to become alchemists.’

“For example, our Union City receives more than 300 quotas every year. More than 70% of the quotas are controlled by the Alchemy Academy in the upper city area, usually given to alchemy apprentices who pass the entrance exams. The remaining 30% belong to various extraordinary forces.

“If you save up to one million Union Coins and pass the Independent Alchemist Exam of the Alchemy Academy, then you can purchase a ceremony quota from the Iron Thorn Shield. Our Iron Thorn Shield’s financial backer is the Golden Commerce Guild, which receives at least 20 quotas every year.”

“A lot of people fight tooth and nail for a chance to see if they have what it takes to become an alchemist overnight. But every year, only one or two people can pass the exam and get a quota from the Golden Commerce Guild.”

Noland Lee repeated the numbers:

“One million… Did you just say that purchasing a ceremony quota requires one million Union Coins? Doesn’t that mean it would take a long time for someone working in a security corporation to save up this amount of money?” “No, no, no, Ray Lee.” Mark shook his head repeatedly:

“Our main income is not the base salary, but the task remuneration. Just like this task. If we can safely deliver Fars and the 3,000 liters of mountain spring water to the alchemy workshop, each of us can earn between 8,000 to 10,000 Union Coins. If we encounter bandits along the way, the spoils of war from defeating them can also be exchanged for a considerable amount of money. Conservatively estimated, this task alone is worth half a month’s salary.” “Oh, that’s pretty good…” Noland Lee nodded.

“However, many people can make a million Union Coins, but most can’t hold onto the money or don’t even consider becoming an alchemist.” Mark shook his head with a wry smile..