Chapter 202: Alchemy is a popular research topic

Magic books are different from knightly novels.

Knightly novels are stories created by impoverished nobles to earn a living, aimed at a wide readership, seeking to be entertaining, thrilling, and extraordinary.

Magic books are much like academic papers, primarily consisting of wizards' research reports and experimental notes.

Most magic books are poorly readable, with some even being incoherent and illogical. Moreover, their print quality is often subpar, and many magic books circulate as handwritten manuscripts—since few people are willing to buy them, there's no money to pay publishers for printing.

Of the fifty-six magic books that Elkson sent,

twenty-one were handwritten manuscripts.

"‘The Diary of Extracting Eighteen Kinds of Red Viper Venom on Red Viper Island—by Slit Truth.’ Does this book really have any reading value?" He flipped through the manuscript in his hand, feeling a bit cheated. "Two silver coins for this? Well, let's treat it as buying a manual on snake venom."

After flipping through a few pages, he lost patience and stuffed the book into the gemstone space.

He continued with the next manuscript.

‘Fredo’s Fireball Spell’—this book discusses how to cast and improve the fireball spell. The author, Fredo Truth, was merely an apprentice wizard who knew only the fireball spell. The book records his attempts to expand his fireball spell by trying over a hundred casting methods.

Ultimately, he improved the fireball spell—making it possible to conjure it by rubbing the back of his hand.

He called this improvement a groundbreaking advancement, believing it would usher in the age of magic.

Unfortunately, this was a secondhand book, and another wizard had left comments at the end. This wizard disdainfully wrote, "When you advance to become a wizard, you'll understand that any part of your body can serve as a medium for casting spells; the difference is merely that casting from the palm is faster."

"So this book is just a negative example?" Liszt was quite speechless and tossed it into the gemstone space.

Going through the manuscripts repeatedly, most contained peculiar experimental content with little value, suitable perhaps for propping up table legs.

When he reached the last manuscript, his eyebrows raised.

The title read—‘Kennedy’s Alchemy Diary.’

"Another alchemy diary!" Liszt instantly recalled the treasure from the sunken ship. "There was also an alchemy diary in the chest, seemingly titled ‘Rudolph’s Alchemy Diary,’ and it had a handwritten cover with snake script. It seems that was also a handwritten manuscript."

Composing himself, he began reading the diary.

The author was a newly advanced wizard who used various methods to channel magical power, attempting to turn a stone into gold under its influence. To this end, he even melted his seven gold coins to observe the differences between gold and stone, but ultimately failed to discover a method to transmute stone into gold.

Thus, this too was a negative example of repeated failures.

Closing the book, Liszt stood up and headed to the Flame Valley workshop to find Elkson: "Do all wizards love studying alchemy?"

Elkson put down his work and explained, "Sir Liszt, the triangular theory is the acknowledged truth among wizards, so we always strive to find direct evidence to prove its validity. Transmuting stone into gold is the best evidence."

"Why?"

"Because the process of transmuting stone into gold can be divided into two steps. First, transform the material stone into spirit using magical power, then transform the spirit back into material gold using magical power. Therefore, transmuting stone into gold strictly verifies the correctness of the triangular theory, which is one of our lifelong pursuits as wizards."

"If that's the case," Liszt felt somewhat conflicted, "has anyone ever successfully transmuted stone into gold?"

"I don't know, but many wizards believe that in ancient times, true alchemists could turn stones into gold."

"Why specifically choose transmuting stone into gold? If the goal is to verify the triangular theory, wouldn't transforming other items also work?"

Elkson smiled, "Sir Liszt, you might misunderstand. Alchemy is a general term, and transmuting stone into gold is just one popular aspect. Since wizards need a lot of money for experiments, they often study transmuting stone into gold to gain wealth."

He shrugged slightly, "But not everyone focuses solely on that; others have tried transforming other items, but none have succeeded... I myself studied alchemy when I first became a wizard but eventually gave up."

Understanding the gist of alchemy,

Liszt asked, somewhat disappointed, "So, many wizards write alchemy diaries?"

"Yes."

"Alright, continue your work. I won't disturb you further." As he prepared to leave, he turned around, "Have you studied the bone fragment I gave you?"

"Not yet."

"Please do so soon; I'm very curious about it."

"Of course, as soon as I have time." He waved the crystal tube in his hand, indicating that he needed to make the Flame Valley magic potion first.

...

Back at the castle, Liszt sighed.

The knot in his heart, caused by the decay of ‘Rudolph’s Alchemy Diary,’ dissolved. It turns out that wizards enjoy dabbling in alchemy and writing alchemy diaries.

If someone had truly succeeded, the diary wouldn't circulate as a manuscript.

That wizard would become a revered figure among all wizards, standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun. Even dragon knights would fight over him.

With the knot gone,

he felt relieved but realized that alchemy was likely just a beautiful fantasy.

Countless wizards had studied alchemy without obtaining useful information, demonstrating its difficulty. Instant wealth remained a dream.

For him, it meant the shattering of a dream.

After a moment of contemplation, he quickly adjusted his mindset: "Well, I’m not a wizard; why bother with alchemy?" He tossed ‘Kennedy’s Alchemy Diary’ into the gemstone space.

Continuing to flip through the next magic book,

he finished the manuscripts and moved on to the printed versions.

Printed magic books fall into three categories. One, the author is wealthy and pays for printing; two, the book has value and wizards are willing to buy it; or three, the book is interesting and nobles are willing to purchase it.

**The Market Price of Wild Sprite Bugs**, **The Blind Windblade Wolf King**, **How to Safely Traverse the Mitdolo Red Mangroves**, **Observations from the White Tower of the Highlands—Carrick’s Truth**…

These magic books were clearly of much higher quality than handwritten manuscripts.

Liszt picked up **The Market Price of Wild Sprite Bugs** and read it with great interest. The magician who wrote the book lived in Steel City, the capital of the Steel Ridge Kingdom. There was a large wild sprite market there, and the magician visited it every day to observe the wild sprites.

"Interesting. A Venus flytrap sprite bug is priced at three thousand six hundred gold coins because Steel City is infested with mosquitoes and flies, making the demand for these sprites insatiable."