Chapter 959

Arriving before the small wooden door deep inside the tree house, Su Xiao pushed it open. The door was indeed very small, but the space behind it was vast. It was a well-equipped alchemy laboratory of about a hundred square meters, filled with various types of alchemical apparatus and a large quantity of materials.

From certain liquid alchemical materials inside the laboratory, it was evident that this room had not been used for a long time.

Walking into the alchemy laboratory, Su Xiao felt a bit regretful. If he could have obtained more alchemical knowledge from the Tree Sage, his Alchemy skill would certainly have undergone a earth-shaking transformation. However, his relationship with the Tree Sage was merely average; the fact that the other party was willing to teach him Alchemical Creature Manufacturing was actually a transaction. Learning more alchemical knowledge was simply impossible—at least, the Tree Sage would not teach it.

As for trying to improve his relationship with the Tree Sage, that would be a waste of time. Su Xiao was quite "confident" in his own Charm attribute.

Su Xiao's expectations were not high; he only needed to raise Alchemical Creature Manufacturing to Lv. 20. The Alchemy skill reached its maximum level at Lv. 20.

Although time was short, Su Xiao was not in a hurry to manufacture alchemical ravens. He began to flip through the ancient book in his hand, scanning it ten lines at a glance.

This ancient book was titled "Origins of Alchemical Creatures." The first third introduced the origins of alchemical creatures. Su Xiao was not curious about how alchemical creatures came to be; he only wanted to know how to manufacture them, so he skipped the first third directly.

Flipping to the section on the manufacturing of alchemical creatures, Su Xiao began to study with a calm mind. The alchemy recorded in the book had some differences from the alchemy he had mastered, but fortunately, the principles of both were the same.

The more he flipped through this ancient book—which was heavy enough to serve as a weapon to smash enemies—the more Su Xiao felt the wonder of alchemy. Combining a pile of "inanimate" materials together was the essence of Alchemical Creature Manufacturing. Most alchemical creatures lacked intelligence; the Wolf Butler was an exception among exceptions.

As long as an alchemist was not brain-damaged, they would not allow an alchemical creature to have independent thought. That was not a breakthrough; it was looking for trouble.

Allowing alchemical creatures to possess their own will was a problem that had been overcome many years ago. In the years that followed, countless alchemists proved one point: once an alchemical creature gained self-awareness, it would yearn for freedom. And the creator, the alchemist, was the greatest obstacle to the alchemical creature gaining that freedom. Therefore, many alchemists died at the hands of the alchemical creatures they had manufactured with their own hands.

It was not that one could not give alchemical creatures intelligence, but there had to be a limit. For example, combat-type alchemical creatures only needed to know how to fight. Extra intelligence would not bring gratitude toward the creator, but rather repeated bloody lessons.

If Su Xiao were to manufacture alchemical creatures, he would never let them possess independent consciousness. During combat, the alchemical creatures would be controlled by Bubu Wang, not relying on the creatures' own combat techniques; the alchemical creatures only needed to possess strength, speed, and so on.

"So that's how it is. Carving magic arrays into the core of an alchemical creature is unwise. If one does that, the core becomes the alchemical creature's weakness."

Su Xiao quickly flipped through the ancient book in his hand. He had never systematically studied alchemy, and now that he had obtained this ancient book, he was like a dried-up sponge, beginning to rapidly absorb knowledge about alchemy.

A few hours later, Su Xiao closed the ancient book. The knowledge in this book could not be mastered in a single day. Therefore, he spent about half an hour making a copy of it. Since the Tree Sage had brought out this ancient book, he certainly would not mind Su Xiao making a copy.

Su Xiao stood up and walked toward the workbench. He prepared to start manufacturing alchemical ravens. If he were an ordinary alchemist, it would be impossible to rapidly improve his Alchemy skill, but he was not an ordinary alchemist. His Alchemy skill was a knowledge-based skill that could be rapidly leveled up by manufacturing alchemical products.

Moreover, the moment he entered this room, Su Xiao was clear about one thing: he could manufacture alchemical items here to his heart's content.

In the center of the room was an oval-shaped rock. The top of this rock was blue and emitted a hazy blue light; this blue light resembled a halo ability.

Just as he entered the room, Su Xiao received a notification.

【Notification: The Hunter is within the radiation range of a Mana Source. Mana recovers by 5 points per second. This effect disappears upon entering combat or moving 20 meters away from the Mana Source.】

Being in this room, there was no need to worry about Mana consumption. As a renowned alchemist, how could the Tree Sage not solve the problem of insufficient Mana? One had to know that Mana was a very stable energy and the first choice for catalyzing materials.

Manufacturing one alchemical raven required the following materials: Pseudo-Biological Skeleton (3 units), Monster Crystal Core (1 unit), Biological Magic-Conducting Tissue (2 units), and Soul Fragments (4 units).

In addition to these materials, Su Xiao needed to consume 150 points of Mana to catalyze them.

The Pseudo-Biological Skeleton, Monster Crystal Core, and Biological Magic-Conducting Tissue were easy to solve; substitutes for these three materials could be seen everywhere in the room, and some were even higher-tier materials. As for the Soul Fragments (4 units), this item was somewhat difficult to obtain; Soul Fragments were the debris left after shattering a Soul Crystal (Small).

Su Xiao began to search the room. It was unlikely that the Tree Sage would make such a low-level mistake. Soon, he discovered a fire-red wooden block on the material shelf. After a preliminary study, he found that this item could substitute for Soul Fragments. This fire-red wooden block gave Su Xiao a familiar feeling, and he soon realized that it might have been produced from the bodies of the tree people he had seen earlier.

Piling a large amount of the required materials on the workbench, Su Xiao began to bury himself in manufacturing alchemical ravens, not stopping for a single moment.

In the tree house living room, a translucent stone slab floated in front of the Tree Sage. On the slab was an image of Su Xiao manufacturing alchemical ravens.

The Tree Sage's previous attitude seemed casual, but he would not leave a Law-Breaker unattended in his tree house.

"A strange way of mastering it."

The Tree Sage had originally thought Su Xiao would study that ancient book for a few days. Moreover, Su Xiao had only studied for about an hour, copied it openly, and then started manufacturing alchemical ravens.

"How is his progress?"

Lilim leaned in with some curiosity.

"Not bad."

Although the Tree Sage said this, he had actually categorized Su Xiao as someone eager for quick success.

"Lilim, do you want to master some alchemy?"

"No, alchemy is too troublesome. I get a headache just looking at that pile of materials. Catalysis, fission... spare me, please."

Lilim's attitude was very casual, not as reserved as before. It was not that she was disrespectful to the Tree Sage, but that she was very familiar with him. When she was very young, she had lived in this tree house for a long time. In her heart, the Tree Sage was a kind and friendly elder.

In fact, one could tell from the alchemical items all over Lilim that the Tree Sage doted on her. Even some Demon God-level demons might not possess such high-tier alchemical items.

"Mastering more knowledge is a good thing."

There was a hint of helplessness in the Tree Sage's turbid old eyes. Lilim was his most favored successor, but unfortunately, she had no interest in alchemy. When she was young, she had cried countless times because she was forced to learn it. Having no descendants and no successor, the Tree Sage smiled gently after thinking of those past scenes.

"I know, I know."

Lilim began to wander around the tree house, picking up an alchemical item to fiddle with from time to time.

At this moment, Su Xiao, who the Tree Sage considered eager for quick success, was improving his Alchemical Creature Manufacturing at a speed the Tree Sage could never have imagined.

Su Xiao had two goals this time: first, to raise Alchemical Creature Manufacturing to Lv. 20, and second, to attempt to break through Lv. 20.