Chapter 12

Ten days passed in a flash, and it was the day Mentor Clark mentioned for class.

Jie Ming got up early today, and after eating, he followed the guidance of the entrance manual and walked toward the alchemy workshop.

Plane Nuolun Academy's alchemy workshop was located in a relatively remote corner of the academy area; it didn't have the eye-catching appearance of a high tower, but appeared low and heavy, like a solid fortress rooted in the earth.

The outer wall was composed of a kind of dark rock covered with basic runes.

Walking into the workshop gate, the internal space was spacious, and the air was mixed with the smell of metal, ore, plants, and various strange chemical reactions, which smelled a bit peculiar but not pungent.

Seeing that it was still early before the class time in the notification, Jie Ming simply wandered around inside.

The internal structure of the workshop was complex, like a huge beehive, composed of countless rooms and corridors of different sizes.

There were warehouses piled with raw materials, high-temperature furnace areas, potion configuration areas filled with distillation equipment and test tubes, and a large number of basic and advanced experimental areas.

And the location of their first class was a spacious basic alchemy laboratory located on the east side of the workshop.

The entire laboratory was composed of silver-white metal walls, inside which were placed dozens of sturdy workbenches, each with an adjustable magic energy lighting device above it, as well as a set of fixed metal clamps and exhaust chimneys.

After Jie Ming walked into the basic alchemy laboratory, he was a bit surprised to find that there were quite a few people inside.

However, judging from the badges on these people's robes, the real alchemy apprentices were only Jie Ming, Amy, and another male apprentice who looked a bit arrogant.

The badges on the others showed that they were all apprentices of other schools, and Jie Ming even saw the genius apprentice who had level nine soul purity in the qualification test and was directly accepted as a disciple by the soul department mentor.

Other apprentices also seemed very surprised by the appearance of the other party, and at this time a group of people were surrounding that genius.

Jie Ming didn't intend to get involved, but found a relatively quiet position against the wall.

What made him a bit strange was that Amy was actually here too.

"You actually didn't go up with those people?" Jie Ming's tone was a bit surprised.

In the past few days, when he occasionally met Amy in the canteen, both sides would communicate, and he also confirmed that this girl was indeed a social expert.

No matter what kind of personality the other party had, she could find a suitable communication method, even making Jie Ming once suspect whether this girl had related supernatural power.

Amy greeted Jie Ming, and after hearing his question, she spread her hands casually: "On the contrary, in my opinion, now is not a good time to build a relationship; if I went up now, I could at most be a background board."

Jie Ming nodded noncommittally; anyway, the other party was the expert in this regard, and he really didn't have the qualifications to point fingers:

"Speaking of which, there are only three new students in our alchemy department this batch, so what are the rest of these people doing?"

"Of course they are also here to learn alchemy, but for them, this is just an elective course. As far as I know, besides this soul department genius, that level nine talent Augusta family eldest lady and level eight talent Horn family young master also seem to have found other Logistics Department schools to take elective courses."

"Actually can take elective courses..."

Jie Ming looked at that genius with level nine soul purity, recalling what Mentor Jack said to him at the beginning.

Looking at it this way, the Logistics Department was really the orthodox of Nuolun Workshop; even if these geniuses chose the combat department themselves, they would be arranged to study in the Logistics Department.

As for these top geniuses being specially taken care of, Jie Ming understood it very well; although Mentor Jack said that wizard talent was not important, having experienced meditation entry, he knew better that having good talent could be one step ahead at the starting stage.

And in cultivation, one step fast, every step fast; those who could truly counterattack were in the minority.

"Really envious, if only I could take elective courses in other schools." Jie Ming sighed with emotion.

Although alchemy was already very suitable for his needs, it would be even more suitable if he could add potion studies or rune studies.

"If you want to take elective courses, of course you can." Amy looked at Jie Ming: "Our alchemy department's courses are held once every five days, and the remaining time can be used at will, so as long as you complete the course tasks arranged by the teacher, you can go to other different schools to study by paying some credits."

"Oh? The entrance manual didn't say such a thing." Jie Ming's eyes lit up, "How much does it cost to take elective courses in other subjects?"

"Not much, I heard that the primary knowledge of every school in the Logistics Department only costs five credits, but teaching aids and the like need to be purchased additionally..."

The two didn't talk for long before they stopped, because at some point, Mentor Clark was already standing in front of the podium.

He was still that bald, stereotypical look with a monocle, wearing an alchemy robe that looked old but was washed shiny.

Seeing Clark's arrival, those who surrounded the level nine soul talent apprentices also stopped talking one after another, hurrying to find the nearest workbench to stand like quails.

"Welcome to Alchemy, one of the most stable and also most foundational subjects in Plane Nuolun Academy." Mentor Clark didn't care about the reaction of these apprentices below at all, his tone was flat, not fast or slow.

"Here, you will learn the core of alchemy—understanding, decomposition, and reconstruction."

"Understanding is the cognition of the essence of matter, analyzing its elemental composition and energy properties. Decomposition is dismantling matter to the basic units that constitute it. Reconstruction is using mental power to guide energy and matter according to your will, reshaping it into a new form or endowing it with new properties."

Mentor Clark's gaze swept over every apprentice present, his tone becoming serious: "Alchemy has extremely high requirements for mental power; your mental power is your strongest tool. The precision of mental power control determines the upper limit of your alchemy."

He walked to a small operation table next to the podium, on which was placed a piece of irregular golden metal that looked quite heavy.

"You should have all previewed basic alchemy before, so I won't waste time. Today, our first lesson is basic shaping." Mentor Clark said calmly, "This is one of the most basic practices in alchemy, controlling the shape of objects through mental power. We will practice with gold."

Hearing the word "gold," some apprentices showed surprised or excited expressions.

In the mortal world, gold was an extremely precious hard currency.

Mentor Clark seemed to see through their thoughts and explained coldly: "In the wizarding world, gold is not rare; having mastered several planes, we have countless ways to obtain this metal. Even after your alchemy level reaches a certain level, you can also transform other substances into gold."

"Compared to other metals, gold has stable properties and a single composition, making it simpler to analyze with alchemy. Although it is quite repulsive to mental power and more difficult to control, this repulsiveness also means that even if you fail, you won't trigger violent energy reactions, let alone produce toxic gases; at most, the material will be damaged or the shape distorted. It is the most suitable and safest practice material for beginners."