Chapter 127: The Future Great Alchemists (Third Chapter, Nine Thousand Characters)

The next morning, Li En's studies went smoothly.

After all, with Kuku as a teacher of this caliber giving one-on-one lessons, learning the simplest spell in the First Ring—the Magic Missile—it would be absurd if he didn't progress.

"First, you must correct the misconception that Magic Missiles always hit."

Magic Missiles appear guaranteed to hit not because of any causal law, but simply because they are ultra-small spherical projectiles traveling at high speed with adjustable trajectories—ordinary people simply cannot dodge them.

The core of learning lies always in the missile's "trajectory."

The "bullet model" designed for high-speed flight has been refined to the point where no further improvement is possible.

Thus, even Grand Mages find it hard to increase the power of Magic Missiles.

Forcing in more mana is simple, but once the missile swells beyond a certain point, it loses its spell (bullet) model.

Brute force yields no miracles—push the power higher, and the spell becomes useless.

"If it turns into a Magic Missile the size of a tennis ball, it won't be fast, and its power won't be much either."

Thus, mages only advance by increasing the number of Magic Missiles—firing more simultaneously—but the power per missile remains unchanged.

More often, Magic Missiles are chosen for their range and speed, to interrupt or disrupt an opponent's casting.

Of course, exceptions exist—Evocation specialists love modifying missiles, turning them into elemental spells.

They then use their Evocation expertise and bonuses to indirectly boost their power.

"High Ring mages have a similar spell—Arcane Missile Storm—but that uses a different bullet model, where both power and quantity increase."

After a morning of study, Li En felt his progress was encouraging—he was close to mastering Magic Missiles.

But further improvement still seemed to lie more in Dragon Tongue spells.

From Li En's own experience, the greatest battlefield advantage of Dragon Tongue magic was its casting speed and swiftness.

"With Dragon Tongue magic, you don't worry about casting failure, and you can cast even while wearing armor. After all, dragons are essentially heavy units."

The more he studied, the more Li En became certain that modern magic and Dragon Tongue magic not only didn't conflict, but complemented each other—especially for low-level casters, where learning both could mutually reinforce and accelerate progress.

Kuku didn't feel this way—he had already been a Super Grand Mage when he began learning Dragon Tongue.

Once he confirmed Li En was on his own path, the busy Kuku went off to attend to his own affairs.

Saliman had promised to return to the city within two days, but it seemed she'd need the full two.

The base was large; clearing it out would take some time.

Kuku's first priority was to fully understand the local Machine race technology and apply it to repairing Ophelia—he believed that if such an ancient Machine, having returned to the mortal world, collapsed due to lack of maintenance, it would be a terrible waste.

The remains of the Machines were also repurposed, transformed into various components for Ophelia's future use.

Without these components, Ophelia's survival and advancement would be major problems.

Miss this chance, and finding Machine parts might truly require traveling to another world.

"You'd better learn Alchemy yourself—learn to repair and modify your own body. I know you weren't allowed to do this before, but now there's no Creation Clan to maintain you." From Ophelia's constant records, it was clear she had taken her teacher's advice to heart.

Another spellcaster who seized the opportunity to learn from Kuku was none other than Saliman—no one had expected it.

She had never lacked renowned masters—her mentor was a famous Grand Mage—but her primary focus remained her innate talent as a Psion.

Yet mages who mastered both Sorcery and Magic like Kuku were exceedingly rare; Kuku could even guide her in cultivating her psychic power while teaching her to enhance her spells with psychic abilities.

"Little Snake Girl, your compatibility with me is quite high—but why did you choose to advance into 'Medusa'?"

Not every Snake Woman has a head of snakes; most don't look this extreme. But Saliman followed an ancient evolutionary path that, despite its massive material cost, was indeed powerful.

It was a standard noble path—expensive, rare, and utterly lacking in cost-effectiveness—but its endpoint and upper limit were worth aspiring to.

Unfortunately, Saliman didn't seem to have developed it well.

The snake heads with their slight self-awareness and independence were treated as mere decorations; her extremely hard stone-like snake skin had barely been used at all.

After some thought, Kuku gave her guidance on her evolutionary path—her rapid acquisition of "mythic traits" proved her potential and evolutionary compatibility; there was no need to switch paths.

But her development was too shallow, and without a matching combat style, her excellent hardware became nothing but decoration—like having top-tier hardware with no software.

"You could train in melee combat—it would be very strong." Kuku's suggestion left Saliman speechless.

But logically speaking, Medusas have thick skin, petrification, and snake-head attacks—failing to use them in close combat is a waste.

Faced with her mentor's sincere advice, she could only murmur an agreement and resolve to try it later.

Kuku sighed and shook his head—he knew she was just humoring him.

This wasn't about whether she believed Kuku—it was about her status and condition, which left her without the resolve to pursue power at any cost.

For someone who lacked nothing, there was truly no need to force it.

Kuku's real focus was on the Machine Ophelia and the Mushroom Person Gugu.

The former seemed to have perfectly fused with her Lich Phylactery; her talent as a spellcaster was unquestionable—the excess soul energy offered countless possible paths.

And Gugu, simply by proactively combining his Mushroom Alchemy with his own Alchemy, showed remarkable flexibility and decisiveness—Kuku eagerly anticipated his future.

Both were destined to walk the path of Alchemists.

One would likely become a Mechanical Alchemist; the other would surely become a Potion Alchemist.

Watching these two diligent and sincere juniors, Kuku felt a quiet satisfaction.

Compared to "his own foolish self" and "the unawakened snake girl," these two were truly diligent, hardworking, and gifted disciples.

Even while teaching, Kuku never stopped scavenging—he perfectly demonstrated the ability to multitask.

Yet most of his time was still devoted to instruction.

This wasn't neglecting his duty—after all, Saliman, Ophelia, and Gugu were all candidates for this mission.

With the labor of Gugu's mushroom companions, clearing the base progressed smoothly.

Some Creation Clan relics that had barely survived the passage of time were recovered; partially intact books were painstakingly restored.

With the help of Purple Rose, all recordable knowledge was entered into Kuku's notebook.

This increasingly heavy "legacy notebook pile" had already filled Li En's space bag.

Now, some of the new records and notes were stored in Saliman's bag.

When true competition began, time passed quickly.

That entire day, the group remained underground, studying and excavating relics.

"No rush—we agreed on two days. Tomorrow is the same. One day won't make a difference." Saliman was happy to take it easy; though she had no intention of pursuing the grueling path of melee power, she could still learn much from Kuku.

"Let them wait a while longer."

As the party holding the advantage in negotiations, Li En's side had no reason to rush.

Delaying the negotiation opponents could yield greater benefits later.

The embassy members were all satisfied—everyone had gained something today.

Even Larry had earned the honor of slaying undead.

As for whether the Dark Elves were anxious—what did that have to do with us?

"Let's depart tomorrow morning."

Finally, at dusk, Li En's group held a barbecue.

Even though they'd built a separate enclosure, the smoke still stung—but underground, places to grill meat were rare indeed.

After all, there was no need to worry that the smell of grilled meat would attract demons and monsters from the underworld.

Night fell, marking the third night in the Hall of Spirits.

This time, it was unusually peaceful.

It was clear that, after yesterday's trials, the candidates' attitudes had become more serious.

Kuku didn't push further dream trials—there wasn't enough time to achieve much, only to instill a slight sense of awareness.

The lessons returned to Day One, and Kuku's cloned instruction brought relief to all candidates.

Dream trials brought great gains, but the repeated "deaths" were truly unbearable.

Facing the resumed lessons, even Li En and the embassy members felt worn down.

After all, they'd had classes all day and now dream lessons at night—it was too much.

The two Dark Elves still seemed anxious, but since they hadn't voiced it, they weren't desperate.

The remaining difficulties from Day One were further overcome; everyone gained greatly that night.

Such excessive peace made Li En feel slightly uncomfortable.

Early the next morning, the embassy completed its consolidation (the Mushroom People had already packed their luggage) and began returning to Mordosilka.

On the journey back, Saliman practiced simulating an audience with the city lord and rehearsed negotiation points with Li En.

But soon, she realized her preparations were likely wasted.

Before even reaching the city, merely seeing the walls, the group froze.

"Boom!"

A colossal stag, as large as a mountain, kicked apart the towering city wall with one hoof.

Its body was pure white, its cloud-like hooves crushing the ground, its white fur fluttering in the wind.

At a glance, it was a beautiful, majestic beast as if returned from myth.

But if you looked upward, its "face" destroyed all beauty.

Above its neck, a grotesquely swollen, exposed brain loomed terrifyingly.

Tendrils extending from within the brain swayed with the wind alongside the white fur—but they looked more like monsters from a nightmare.

"Uh… we only left two days ago. If we didn't get the wrong city, did we somehow miss a whole month?!"

(End of Chapter)