Chapter 350: Act 115 – Alchemy Treasury (Part 2)
Three miles may not mean much on the plain, but it could cost a life in the Black Forest. Setting out in the evening could sometimes mean returning at midnight, and as for dinner, one could only hope that companions would leave something behind.
Of course, the hope was usually in vain.
The three judges appeared somewhat distracted; even Julian could see that these young people were barely putting on any performance, let alone Xi and Kuran. In Kuran’s eyes, the young ones seemed almost like children fighting without tactics, disorderly and uncoordinated. In a word:
They were still far from it.
Brendel also shook his head, but he knew that there was no hurry. At least these young folks had improved considerably compared to their initial state. In the beginning, they didn’t even dare to engage the stone leopards and had to rely on mercenaries behind them to shout directions. Later, they could barely hold against an attack, and now they could at least manage to hold out for over ten minutes—
The progress was indeed rapid; the Black Forest was truly a place for honing skills.
He watched for a while before turning his gaze to the other side of the forest. The Druids’ camp was in that direction; those bark-skinned fellows were still as uncooperative as ever, having joined him on the second day after he entered the forest, a group of seven, including the Grand Druid.
However, despite their strange personalities, Brendel appreciated the Druids. At the very least, they were reliable. This time, the Druids brought over a hundred young members, including ten agreed Elders to assist in the defense of Cold Fir Territory—and they promised to help Duke Toniger with agricultural work for the coming year.
Brendel didn’t know exactly how many Druids resided in the forest, but considering the Grand Druid’s commitment to providing over three hundred people for permanent residence in Cold Fir Territory, there must be quite a number.
These individuals were a tremendous asset for him; Druids excelled in city defense construction. They planted thorn walls at the base of the city walls, reinforced them with vines, and had mastery over spells like explosive fruits and quicksand.
It could be said that a hundred Druids had more impact in a defensive battle than an entire army.
However, Brendel could tell that the Druids still held some wariness towards him. At least this time, all the Druids that came were nature manipulators, likely from the Thorn Ring in the outer circle, and not a single member of the Beast Spirit Ring, who worshipped the spirits of nature.
Thinking of this made him smile slightly. Most people perhaps wouldn’t notice the difference, but he was well aware that among the twelve outer circles of Druids, the Flame Ring, Storm Ring, and Beast Spirit Ring were the three most aggressive organizations, while the Thorn Ring excelled in defensive spells.
Thus, the intentions of the Druids became crystal clear.
However, Brendel wasn’t in a hurry; there was plenty of time ahead. He closed his travel journal, stored his feather quill, and then pulled out a pale yellow leaf from his pouch.
This was Evening Primrose.
These low-level materials were readily available in the Black Forest, just right for Brendel to practice alchemy. As previously mentioned, in the Amber Sword, commoners could enhance their alchemy to a maximum of level 5, while nobles could reach level 7. In fact, since receiving a reply from the regent princess, Brendel’s status had already transitioned from commoner to noble, and even a lord.
Lords could enhance alchemy to level 8.
Unfortunately, this identity came a bit late, as he had already attained Elementalist status beforehand. As a mysterious profession, an Elementalist could elevate their alchemy to level 10, far surpassing the status of an ordinary noble.
Brendel held the Evening Primrose leaf in his palm—the shape of this leaf was remarkably perfect, and its color was much more lustrous than those of the same type growing in other regions. Although the Black Forest was dangerous, the notion of it being a treasury for alchemists was indeed true.
Then the young man slightly moved his thoughts, and a crimson magic circle appeared in his palm. After days of hundreds of practice sessions and lavishly wasting countless materials, Brendel’s mastery of blood alchemy had become quite proficient—though this could still only be used for simple material extraction or the synthesis of small items, at least he no longer had to draw the alchemical circle on the ground each time or make an incision on his hand to bleed.
Not to mention the convenience, the time saved was incalculable.
However, very few would dare to use a forbidden art so blatantly; apart from those hidden in the darkness, he was probably the only one.
As the blood-red magic circle became apparent, the Evening Primrose began to vaporize in his palm, leaving behind a drop of crystalline water. But that wasn’t a water droplet; it was a crystal-like substance.
Magical Essence.
Dissolving ten units of this substance in water would create a bottle of Minor Mana Potion. This thing appeared simple, but it required at least level 5 alchemy support. In the Amber Sword, this was approximately the highest alchemical product a commoner could create in their lifetime.
Of course, if one could stand out from the crowd and become an alchemist, that was another concept altogether. A minimum-level alchemist apprentice could also enhance their alchemy to the same level as a lord at level 8 and could elevate it to level 15 once they became a formal alchemist.
After level 15, the pinnacle of Mastery didn’t rely on the ordinary skills experience input channels any longer.
After Brendel refined this Mana Essence, he extracted luck essence from several four-leaf clovers. Unfortunately, using high-level techniques at a low alchemy level came with a hefty price—after failing six times in a row, he barely managed to succeed once with the help of luck.
But even that single success didn’t yield a complete product, instead resulting in something referred to as “Imperfect Luck Essence.”
Brendel stored the mist in a bottle, but suddenly felt a shiver down his back. He turned around to see Flour looking at him with a displeased expression—refining luck essence required ten four-leaf clovers, and although these were common in the Black Forest, finding them among large patches of clover could be quite laborious. Clearly, Brendel’s prodigal behavior was too much even for this wild elf girl to tolerate.
“Lord,” the older sister among the wild elves calmly advised him, “we have a saying among our kind: it’s best to learn to walk before you can run—”
Brendel thought humans had a similar saying; he simply couldn’t afford to wait so long to improve his skill levels—earlier, he could have invested skill experience directly to boost alchemy to level 10, but now he looked at the empty skill experience column and could only sigh.
He had no choice but to resort to this clumsy method.
Of course, it seemed that the young man had obtained elite templates continuously over the past few months, entering the golden domain, and simultaneously becoming a level 20 Elementalist; it seemed only natural that he ought to have a considerable amount of spare skill experience. However, the reality was not that simple—sometimes plans could be overtaken by events.
After leaving Schafflund Silver Mine, Brendel had freed the spirit of the Lady Knight Otales from the supposedly genuine Queen Wind’s ring, after which he received an opportunity—
An opportunity to continue investing levels even after reaching Mastery in Erluin Military Sword Techniques at level 15.
Such a stroke of luck was something Brendel could not refuse, as the benefits of advancing a skill level after reaching the peak of Mastery were astounding.
Skills in Amber Sword were set up this way: in the first five levels, assuming each level increase provided benefits of about 1, once a character reached level 5 or higher and entered the Expert class, each level increase would yield approximately 2-3.
After level 10, it became known as Mastery, and each level increase within Mastery would provide at least 5 benefits. However, reaching Mastery level 5 required skill experience that was ten times that of each level in the first ten levels, and Mastery also had profession requirements; non-professional skills could never reach Mastery.
As for the Mastery pinnacle beyond level 15, no one had ever detailed the calculation formula for level increases since benefits vary by profession and skill, but it could at least be inferred that the benefits ranged from 15 to 20.
This meant that after reaching the pinnacle of Mastery, the benefits of advancing a skill level were nearly three times that of Mastery skill benefits.
This disparity was astounding.
Unfortunately, once a skill reached Mastery, the experience input channel would turn gray, meaning that from then on, that skill could only be improved through practice and sudden insights.
As for the chances of such insights, much depended on luck—or one’s understanding of the skill; a level 16 skill was referred to as the Creation Realm, signifying that it contained a character’s unique comprehension and innovative insights into that skill.
In general, if a character could bring a skill to level 16, that skill was surely their core skill.
If a character could push a skill to the realm of level 17 Mastery, they would indeed be a master in that domain, earning recognition in history, whether NPC or player.
As for the legendary levels of 18 and 19, Brendel had only heard of them but never seen them.
Although players often joked about how with the upgrades of Amber Sword, player levels would rise, perhaps there would one day be skills exceeding level 20 or 30, termed the Divine Realm, Brendel knew that was merely a beautiful wish.
Brendel had not even considered the issue of a level 16 skill; his Erluin Military Swordsmanship was stuck at level 13, and each level increment thereafter required nearly five hundred skill experience, a staggering expense. Before contemplating further pathways for learning, he couldn’t afford to be so extravagant.
However, since the appearance of the spirit knight Otales, things seemed to have taken a turn. After the lady knight imparted some personal swordsmanship insights to him, Brendel received a system prompt:
“Erluin Military Swordsmanship has unlocked an additional level.”
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