Chapter 618: Experimental

Theoretically, the plan was simple. It was just on the experimental side of alchemy, which was why Liam left it for last.

First, Liam and Rachel pillaged the mine so that Uriah would have the materials for the absurd commission. With his strength and her knowledge, the two dealt with the task in no time.

Admittedly, the amount of mineral fell short of all Liam had requested, but Rachel had marked more mines. Even the other forbidden zone had such spots, so he could complete the requirement along the way or once he got back to hunting.

Relocating came next. It wasn’t wise to stay in a place that had featured battles. Liam’s vile perfume only worked for himself, after all. The Invincible Oasis Tribe could find him through tracks, and he needed a safe location to handle the next step.

The Dark Heaven Tribe would be ideal, but Liam didn’t want to waste too much time traveling. Over four months had already passed since the events in the Red Sandstorm Tribe, and the Heavenly Blossom risked being ineffective on Caspar if he kept living without an arm.

After settling in a more inconspicuous area, Liam dealt with the amassed poisonous ingredients, finally giving free rein to his ideas.

Dealing with the poison first was no random choice. The decision even had multiple reasons.

First, rank 3 materials didn’t expire easily, but Liam had also hunted level two magical beasts, and he couldn’t risk anything going bad. It was just too valuable.

Second, space had become a problem. Liam hadn’t run into the issue in a while, but even three space-rings had limits when he stored minerals and entire corpses of huge creatures.

Finishing that alchemical phase would allow Liam to remove some corpses from his rings. He would only keep the most valuable ones, which were basically limited to level three magical beasts.

Lastly, focusing on poisons would improve Liam’s alchemical skills as a whole, ensuring he would be as good as he could be once he started the most crucial task.

That was when the spiny mice came in. Liam worked on harnessing their monstrous recovery skills, albeit not to create healing pills or a replacement for the Heavenly Blossom’s main ingredient. He had that one. He just had to improve it.

When the experiments were over, Liam took a rare break. He let Rachel massage the exhaustion away and slept, approaching the final step only when he was fully clean and rested.

The final step didn’t seem to have much going on. The almost-grey cauldron only had two ingredients at its side. One was a rank 3 concentrate from the spiny mice, while the other was a rank 2 Heavenly Blossom.

The main issue was the unavailability of a Brown Heart, the Heavenly Blossom’s core ingredient. Yet, Liam had one at hand, or rather, he had its effects in the yellow pill beside the cauldron.

Refining such effects from the pill was possible, but everything else would be wasted. Liam would basically throw away a complete alchemical product just to get his hands on one of its ingredients.

The sacrifice was necessary in this case, and Liam was confident in his ability to succeed. The practice wasn’t exactly orthodox, but he had completed his mastery over rank 2 concoctions.

Mere unorthodox practices were powerless against the utmost perfection Liam wielded.

However, Liam had a rank 2 Heavenly Blossom, meaning the Brown Heart’s effects he would retrieve would also be rank 2, and he needed them to be rank 3 to concoct the product that would work on Caspar.

The spiny mice’s concentrate could solve that, at least in theory. At its core, those magical beasts’ monstrous recovery stemmed from pristine energy, vitality purely aimed at growth.

The previous experiments had also shown promise. Liam had successfully improved ingredients with those concentrates, even elevating rank 1 ones into their better version. He just had to do it with the more challenging rank 3 concoction now.

Liam even had to succeed on the first try since he had no spares. He could find more level three spiny mice, but that didn’t apply to the Heavenly Blossom, and he was sure to waste it if he failed.

Of course, such thoughts didn’t faze Liam at all. They were unbecoming of an alchemist and couldn’t exist once the concoction began.

Heating the cauldron came first. Next, Liam threw the rank 2 Heavenly Blossom inside. The pill was nigh-unfindable in the Great Quiet Desert, to the point where even branching experts didn’t know it existed, but Liam used it without an ounce of hesitation.

That phase involved nothing more than reverse engineering the Heavenly Blossom’s recipe. It wasn’t easy, but Liam completed it without making the slightest mistake.

Liam slapped the cauldron’s side at that point, but didn’t remove the alchemical flame. He forced the item to expel all the impurities and waste, only leaving the substance that had what he needed inside, before pouring the mice’s concentrate.

That was the truly crucial step, the experimental phase that could ruin all of Liam’s prospects of fixing the Aetacia region’s political situation.

However, Liam’s expression remained fearless but empty. He was a mere ingredient, another part of the concoction. His emotions didn’t matter. External problems had no influence on his mindset or actions. Only alchemy existed.

And alchemy rewarded that profound immersion.

After Liam slapped the cauldron’s side again, he found a yellow paste resting at its bottom. He tasted it, nodding to himself. He had basically concocted a Brown Heart concentrate, a rank 3 version that could work for a rank 3 Heavenly Blossom.

"Rachel, tell your parents to get the other ingredients ready," Liam announced as he scooped the product. "We’ll retrieve the last one in the other forbidden zone and go back to the Tribe."

As always, Rachel was on a bed in the corner of the hall, but she snapped into motion at Liam’s order, only to stop in her tracks when he removed his pants.

Rachel was about to say something when Liam lowered his underwear, too. At that point, she killed any desire to ask questions to prolong the spectacle as much as possible.

"Stop staring," Liam scolded, summoning a flask with a milky-white liquid. "Get your needles already."