Chapter 210 – Alchemy Theory

Chapter 210 – Alchemy Theory

Early Thursday morning, Mo Lan, Vasida, and Sylph arrived outside Lilith’s dormitory. “Lilith! Time for class! There’s an elective this morning!”

Lilith rubbed her eyes and poked her head out from the attic window, looking at her scheming juniors with utter exasperation.

“Shoo, shoo, shoo! Don’t disturb my sleep. Alchemy Theory is on Thursday mornings of odd weeks—I already took it last year!”

With that, she slammed the window shut and flopped back into bed.

They’d gotten back so late last night—how on earth had these girls managed to wake up early and come knocking?

“What a shame! She’s already taken it…” Mo Lan said with regret.

“No worries. Tomorrow’s Angelic, Demonic, and Draconic classes—she definitely hasn’t taken those!” Vasida said.

“Right! We’ll come back tomorrow!” Sylph said. “Sorceresses should always stick together.”

In the Alchemy Theory classroom, the spacious room ultimately had only three occupants: Mo Lan, Sylph, and Vasida.

Alchemy Theory was the cornerstone for in-depth study of Alchemy Magic, but it wasn’t required for introductory-level alchemy.

The introductory alchemy course was a compulsory class that all young witches had to study and master—learning to make low-level magical items with teacher guidance and alchemy blueprints.

Alchemy Theory, on the other hand, was an elective that only young witches with outstanding talent in Alchemy Magic needed to systematically study, in preparation for deeper learning.

In their year, only these three young Sorceresses had sufficient Alchemy Magic talent for advanced study.

The instructor was, as always, Lady Amisha in her blue robes.

“Since it’s just you three, let’s make ourselves comfortable!”

Amisha produced a set of curved sofas and a tea table, even pouring each of them a cup of tea. “Have a seat!”

Mo Lan had never imagined that one day she’d be nestled in a soft sofa with her friends, cradling a warm cup of tea, listening to the Headmistress—equally nestled in a sofa across from them—give a lecture.

Lady Amisha was clearly quite at ease in this setting and began speaking without preamble:

“Alchemy originated with humans.

Human wizards saw that every race had their own racial gifts—angels had their wings, demons had their tails, Dragons had their physical bodies, Elves had their affinity with nature, dwarves had their forging ability, beastfolk had their beast transformation… Only humans had frail bodies, relying solely on their psychic power to command elemental force. To improve their combat capabilities, wizards began researching ‘magical weapons’ to arm themselves, and alchemy was born from this.

At first it was only weapons, but later it extended into every aspect of life.

Alchemy can turn ordinary items into magical items, and make magical items even more magical—it is a magic that transforms the mundane into the miraculous.

Human alchemy is a fusion of intellect and magic, with intellect as the foundation and magic as the supplement.”

At this point, Amisha couldn’t help but interject with an aside:

“In the future, when you visit human kingdoms, you must remember this: human wizards are all sly foxes, and human alchemy masters are the slyest foxes among sly foxes. Any wizard or alchemy master who appears simple and foolish is, without exception, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Never let your guard down—it’s absolutely impossible to master human magic and alchemy without a sharp mind.”

“???” Mo Lan gazed at Lady Amisha with eyes full of curiosity.

Amisha was sitting face-to-face with them, and the shift in Mo Lan’s expression was far too obvious. One glance and Amisha could tell the girl’s mind was racing. She couldn’t help but ask a question she would deeply regret afterward: “What are you thinking?”

This was right up Mo Lan’s alley. “I was thinking—Headmistress, when you were talking about that just now, your emotions were particularly intense. Could it be from personal experience?”

Vasida and Sylph also turned their gossip-hungry gazes toward Lady Amisha.

Amisha: “…”

She did not wish to speak of that unbearable past.

If not for the duties of being Headmistress keeping her tied down, even now when she thought about it, she’d still want to march to a certain wizard’s tower, dig the man out, and make him pay her back!

No—she should pack up his entire wizard tower along with its treasury and spatial equipment and cart it all away. Only that could relieve the hatred in her heart.

Faced with the young Sorceresses’ gossip-hungry gazes, Amisha took a tactical sip of tea and opted for selective amnesia.

“Our witch Alchemy Magic, while it does draw from wizard alchemy, is actually quite different from it…”

Mo Lan, Vasida, and Sylph: “Tsk~”

“What’s with the ‘tsk’? Pay attention!” Amisha rapped the table.

The young Sorceresses immediately suppressed their laughter and put on expressions of earnest attention.

“…As I was saying, our witch Alchemy Magic differs from wizard alchemy.

Our alchemy relies entirely on magic, plus a bit of skill that comes with practice. It has little to do with intellect, but a great deal to do with necessity.

Witches have their own set of alchemy runes, which can be combined into different rune combinations to produce all manner of wondrous effects.

Someone well-versed in both witch alchemy and wizard alchemy once said that wizard alchemy runes are glimpses of the truth of material transmutation, pried from the world’s treasury through sheer intellect.

Whereas our witch alchemy runes are an exclusive set of keys for material transmutation, bestowed upon us by the world’s favor.

A witch holding these keys can easily open the door.

While this may seem to flatter wizards somewhat, the insight regarding witch alchemy runes does have a certain truth to it.

After all, to this day, no one knows where witch alchemy runes truly come from.

Just like how weeds grown by witches can fly when made into brooms—and only when made into brooms—witch alchemy runes likewise have discoverers, but no creators.

After seeing human wizards apply all sorts of patterns and designs to items, granting those items wondrous effects and turning them into magical items, witch predecessors followed suit and began using magical power to draw various patterns onto objects.

Then they suddenly discovered that certain patterns, when drawn with magical power, actually could imbue objects with magical effects.

These runes, compiled together, became what we now know as witch alchemy runes.

Don’t think this makes it simple.

In the Academy Library, there is an entire hall dedicated to storing nearly ten thousand volumes of 《Failed Rune Catalogs》—all patterns that predecessors attempted to draw and study using magical power, which produced no effect whatsoever regardless of what material from Valen they were drawn on.

Meanwhile, the first volume alone of 《Complete Collection of Runes》 contains every known individual rune in existence.

The process of discovering these runes was no easy feat either.

Of course, individual runes are merely the most fundamental of fundamentals. They can also be combined with each other to form rune combinations.

These rune combinations, when inscribed on a single object, can turn that item into a magical item. If inscribed across multiple objects, and those objects are arranged according to specific patterns, they can form magic circles…”