Battle Frenzy

Leo was organizing this month’s workshop schedule. He was the person in charge here and was highly trusted by Murphy. Leo came from Earth and entered the Holy Land 20 years ago. Once belonging to the elite group, he had many dreams which were soon crushed by reality. He was very clear of the paths which he could take without an aristocratic family to back him up. There was no point for him to keep struggling, so he made a decision to focus on cultivating to be an alchemist, although it was a subsidiary job. He relied on his high emotional intelligence and hard work to get to his position today.

Frankly speaking, he wasn’t the best alchemist among Murphy’s disciples, but he had something others didn’t. He knew Murphy’s temper the best. To put it simply, once you satisfied the boss, everything would go well. He was the one who suggested making low-rank soul tools for Holy Disciples, with Murphy being the designer while they supervised the manufacturing process. This way, they could earn big bucks and Murphy could focus on high-level alchemy research at the same time without having to worry about not having enough resources.

‘Don’t offend who you shouldn’t, but don’t miss out on anything you could take advantage of either.’ This was Leo’s motto. Of course, it was very important to do your job properly and satisfy the boss too; that was the essence of his job.

Leo was in a good mood today. When he saw newcomers struggle with life every year, the more he felt that the choice he made then was extremely wise. Even if the people who met him now were talented and powerful, they would still have to be polite and courteous toward him. Indeed, all roads lead to Rome.

His work performance was pretty good last month too, and his teacher praised him, making Leo very excited. He was humming when he suddenly heard a voice next to him.

“Senior Brother, Senior Brother, may I know if I can rent an alchemy lab here?” Wang Zhong observed for quite a while before concluding that this idle person with an attitude should be the one in charge of things there. Even if he wasn’t, it would be good to curry favor with him since he was pinning his last hope on this.

Honestly, Leo wouldn’t bother himself with this sort of newcomer normally. He could tell what the other party was thinking with just a glance, but he was in a really good mood today. He was rather nostalgic, thinking of when he just arrived in the Holy Land. He was also bewildered by all the things there then. Unlike the other fellas who had connections, he even thought of selling himself for 100 Holy Coins.

“The alchemy workshop isn’t open to newcomers. You need to be a qualified alchemist,” Leo said and waved Wang Zhong away.

Wang Zhong was a sharp guy and could guess that the other party was someone who had a say in this matter based on his attitude. Since he didn’t completely ignore him, this meant that there was still hope.

“Senior Brother, I just want to make a few pieces of Glazed Crystal Glass and nothing else. I’ve visited many other workshops, and only Senior Brother is willing to talk to me,” Wang Zhong said.

Leo sized up Wang Zhong, who seemed to be a simple young man. A few pieces of Glazed Crystal Glass weren’t a big problem, and there was an old alchemy lab tucked somewhere inside the workshop that was vacant. Although the equipment set wasn’t complete, it would be enough for Wang Zhong.

“A hundred Holy Coins an hour. The maximum you can stay is five hours. If you can’t accept it then there’s nothing I can do,” Leo said. He would treat this as a good deed, but he had to earn his money too. “You can’t exceed five hours, and you definitely can’t make anything else other than Glazed Crystal Glass. Otherwise, even if you didn’t damage the equipment, a fine of five thousand Holy Coins would be collected!”

Although this was still extortion, it was much cheaper than the other offers he got. Wang Zhong agreed readily. Some important alchemy lab rental sessions required one to sign a contract, but cases like Wang Zhong could be exempted. Leo didn’t even ask for Wang Zhong’s name. It was evident that he didn’t plan on registering this deal under the workshop’s name. The small sum of money he earned from this would be considered as his privilege.

Wang Zhong wasn’t picky about it. Even if the lab was small, it still contained all the essentials, and everything he needed was there. This would be sufficient to make a few pieces of Glazed Crystal Glass.

After Wang Zhong repeatedly promised that he would not construct other things, or else there would be a fine of 5,000 Holy Coins, he finally got this Senior Brother to leave the lab. Simba couldn’t wait to come out of Wang Zhong’s Soul Sea.

“Five hundred Holy Coins just for such a small room, and you can only use it for 5 hours?” Simba’s face was scrunched in pain. “Wang Zhong, let’s open an alchemy workshop too. This is such a profitable business!”

Wang Zhong was also grieving over the big hole in his wallet. As a newcomer, he really encountered problems everywhere he went. “Stop blabbering on. There’s only 5 hours. Get to work!”

To spend 500 Holy Coins on such a small alchemy lab, Wang Zhong had very high expectations for Simba. He couldn’t help it since Simba had boasted so much; he claimed that there was nothing he couldn’t do in alchemy and that all the alchemists in the Holy City could only wish to catch up to his standard.

However, Wang Zhong didn’t expect to feel cheated once he started on the production process.

“I thought you would be the one making it?” Wang Zhong stared with wide eyes. He was already prepared to be Simba’s assistant and was looking at him enthusiastically. Who knew that Simba was just staring back at him, with no intention of moving.

“Me? What can I make? I can’t even hold a hammer.” Simba said boldly with confidence. He ordered Wang Zhong around, full of energy and in high spirits. “You’ll be the one doing it! The almighty Simba will just give a few pointers.”

“What the…” Wang Zhong almost fainted. How could he forget that Simba was the All-Mouthy King… “I feel like killing you now!”

Beside him, Simba shrugged innocently. Even if he knew how to make it, it didn’t necessarily mean that he was going to do it personally. Besides, masters have always been the ones giving out the orders.

My 500 Holy Coins!

Although he had sensed that Simba’s words weren’t very reliable, Wang Zhong was pressed for time. Also, he thought that making a Glazed Crystal Glass wouldn’t be too hard since Simba bragged so much; even if it wasn’t completely true, making a Glazed Crystal Glass shouldn’t be much of a problem right?

However, this bitch didn’t intend to help personally at all? He was leaving him, who had no foundation whatsoever, to deal with it? If Wang Zhong knew this would happen, he would have just queued and waited for the final product at the alchemy store. That would be better than wasting 500 Holy Coins here.

“Don’t pull a long face. This will affect the almighty Simba’s mood, which in turn might affect our work.” Simba was not pleased with Wang Zhong’s expression.

Are you even working at all?! Wang Zhong wanted to rage, and it took a great deal of effort for him to suppress his temper.

“Well, we’re here already whether you like it or not, so why not be happier? Besides, you’ll be getting pointers from the Great Simba. Doesn’t this bring back memories? Come, Little Wang Zhong. Let us return to your innocent childhood times!” Simba was pumped up. Ever since Wang Zhong was enlightened, Simba seemed to become more and more useless as he couldn’t give many pointers on Wang Zhong’s cultivation journey. Simba really missed the times when Wang Zhong was ignorant and weak and had to depend on him for everything. He finally managed to relive his times of glory from the past. “Let the almighty Simba be the light in your life! Together as one, we will triumph in every battle and win every fight…”

Wang Zhong didn’t even have the energy to rebuke Simba. He pulled himself together. Since things came to this, he could only trust Simba. “Stop your nonsense! How do we start?”

“Tsk tsk, look at that disgusted and distrustful look on your face. Seems like I have to show you what I’m capable of! Hmph, the almighty Simba shall teach you something awesome today!” Simba’s little face was full of pride. “The core basics of alchemy — Soul Track Infusion!”

Wang Zhong couldn’t help but facepalm. Hearing just the name alone made him want to throw a hammer at Simba. He was a newbie at alchemy with no foundation at all. Could Simba quit showing off?

“Stop facepalming. Ahh, time is not on our side. Just follow what I say. Let us start this wonderful journey now!”

To put it simply, Soul Track Infusion was the act of infusing Soul Power to modify an object, enabling an ordinary object to have a ‘soul.’ The difficult part was how well you could control your Soul Power, and how you infused it. Different objects had different textures and resistance; you had to construct a complete Soul Power circuit inside the object with the appropriate amount of Soul Power.

In a nutshell, Simba said it like this would be very easy, but Wang Zhong was very troubled. Wang Zhong was very confident of his control of Soul Power. Infusing Soul Power into objects sounded similar to the Tempering Method, but dealing with an organism at a microscopic level was something on a totally different level. In Simba’s words, this was the lowest level of alchemy.

Upon placing the crystal ore into the furnace and heating it a little, you would obtain the crystal glass easily after you controlled the temperature and melted off the impurities. However, this was just the first step of crystal rebirth. After that, you had to infuse your Soul Power using a small thunder maul.

After Simba urged him, Wang Zhong started his journey of ‘exploding crystals.’ With every crystal that exploded, Wang Zhong’s heart was bleeding too, and he still had to put up with Simba’s mocking. Nonetheless, this did awaken Wang Zhong’s fighting spirit. Frankly speaking, he was second to none in the control of Soul Power. He could feel the texture of the crystal glass after a few attempts, and the resistance could be dealt with by adjusting the waveband frequency of his Soul Power. There must be one frequency that worked, and he could stabilize at that frequency once he found it.

The next step was to construct the Soul Power circuit. The purpose of creating the Glazed Crystal Glass was for the Micro Mirror, so he used the double helix infusion method. Controlling the two-way power streams wasn’t hard, but once the Soul Power was inside the crystal glass, it was easy to produce waveband resonance under the same waveband frequency, which meant that… the Glazed Crystal Glass became extremely fragile.

The thunder mauls were used to ‘break the coating.’ Every object had a layer of defense against the outside world which came in different sizes. A thunder maul was used especially to break through this layer, which served as a foundation for further construction. Wang Zhong was gradually immersed in the wonders of alchemy.

There was no doubt that Wang Zhong gained much from this alchemy lab session. This was his first breakthrough from theory to practical sessions, and this was definitely the foundation of the Tempering Method too. It was just that he failed badly in terms of the purpose of this trip, as he didn’t manage to produce any Glazed Crystal Glass final products. At the start, you could say that he was unfamiliar with the process, but toward the end, Wang Zhong’s techniques and control of fire were very pure; however, he just couldn’t succeed. Every time he thought he almost succeeded, the Glazed Crystal Glass exploded.

Ding Ding Ding!

“Time’s up. Pack up and come out quickly!”

Their alchemy lab rental timing was up, and someone knocked on their door. Wang Zhong could only stop and feel a little depressed.

Five hundred Holy Coins… gone just like that…

Previously, he thought he was rather rich with 5,000 Holy Coins. However, after treating his friends to a meal, buying some equipment and materials for the Micro Mirror, spending a lot at the library while finding supplementary textbooks, and today’s spending, he had spent almost 2,000 Holy Coins already. Despite this, the Micro Mirror was nowhere close to being done, so he couldn’t start cultivating.

Should he start being a little more frugal?

“Sigh, you’re too dumb,” Simba was resentful towards Wang Zhong for failing to meet his expectations. He was very unsatisfied with Wang Zhong’s performance. Teacher Simba was very angry, but the consequences weren’t much. Simba merely mocked him and tried to escape responsibility for this matter. “Even the pointers that the almighty Simba gave weren’t of help. Your hands-on ability is extremely terrible!”

“Shut up!” It would have been fine if Simba didn’t mention that. Wang Zhong became very annoyed when Simba mentioned hands-on ability. The one with horrible hands-on ability was Simba, not him! Wang Zhong wasted 500 Holy Coins because of him.

It seemed like he should just join the queue at the alchemy store. Alternatively, he could buy a set of thunder mauls and perfect this so-called Soul Track Infusion at home, since it was a matter of practice.

Another huge sum of money… Touching his wallet, Wang Zhong had an urge to rob a bank.

Looking at Wang Zhong’s depressed face, Leo thought it was rather funny. Another country bumpkin who thought that anyone was capable of practicing alchemy! Five hundred Holy Coins! What a silly but rich person! Luckily, no equipment was damaged in the lab. He didn’t need to check to know since the exclusive equipment in the workshop was equipped with automatic sensors. If there was any damage done, the alarm at the main desk would have rung long ago.

Leo liked trustworthy guys like Wang Zhong. He patted Wang Zhong’s shoulder and smiled, treating Wang Zhong like an idiot. “Welcome back next time.”

“Come back my ass!”

Of course, that was just Simba’s voice in the Soul Sea. Because of the ‘hands-on ability’ Simba mentioned just now, Wang Zhong decided to reduce the amount of time he let Simba out, which made the almighty Simba depressed.

After sending away the silly fortune god and feeling the 500 Holy Coins in his pocket, Leo felt rather satisfied. Today was a good day indeed. The timing was just right as his teacher would drop by later, and he didn’t want to ruin his image because of this small deal.

……

This world was a materialistic one, and time wouldn’t stop just because disasters occurred. The Earth rotated as usual while the Sun emitted light and heat. Ma Dong’s name was still at the top of the bounty list, and the only change was that the bounty increased.

About grudges and resentment, even a small thing could cause a riot, let alone the blood feud of a clan massacre. To the aristocratic families, it was all or nothing. If they took action, they would definitely eliminate the root of the problem completely, and they would not rest or compromise otherwise. Although there were cases of letting the culprit go, in reality, if you examined the case closely, you would find that it was because the culprit was beyond reach, or there was something special about the culprit, such as connections, prestige, and so on. There were endless reasons.

This was not a matter of cruelty. After all, Ma Dong had gone through an aristocratic elite education and knew the inside stories of aristocratic families.

Once this type of person bore a grudge, there would be scary consequences. In history, there were countless bloody incidents where many families didn’t eliminate their enemies completely because of a moment of compassion or arrogance. The enemy eventually exacted revenge on them and ruined them!

Hence, there were more hitmen after Ma Dong than military police from the Federation.

The Scream Bar, Martial Emperor City.

The dimly lit setting amplified loneliness, encouraging people to spend more money in pursuit of thrills. Alcohol and women opened the gates to desire. A human’s need to interact and vent was fulfilled there. Very few people were able to stay quiet here, as having too many secrets would suffocate them.