Chapter 104: Chemistry!!?

After becoming a Craftsman rank E, Kei’s status window also changed.

[Kim Kei]

[Constitution: F]

[Strength: F]

[Speed: F]

[Dexterity: D-]

[Energy: 500/1000 (F+)]

[Mana: 200/ Unmeasurable]

[Profession: Craftsman rank E / Legendary mage rank SSS (Sealed)]

Kei looked at the status window before his eyes and fell silent for a long while.

His basic abilities had only been raised a little. Constitution, strength, and speed still had nothing noteworthy, since a mage was not the type to use muscles in battle, and obviously a Craftsman was the same.

In return, his dexterity stat had risen very high, along with his hunter energy. From the initial 100 energy points, it had now reached the maximum limit of 1000.

"Perhaps this is a characteristic of the Craftsman profession."

Kei clicked his tongue.

The higher the dexterity stat, the better the item crafting ability. As for hunter energy, it was probably the power source needed to use this profession’s special skills or to process materials.

But his mana was different.

[Mana: 200/ Unmeasurable]

Every time he used magic, that number of two hundred decreased a little. Although the limit behind it could not be measured, Kei’s current mana was still far too little compared to before, and Kei had no way to recover it other than spending time absorbing mana from manastones or converting mana from hunter energy at a ratio of 1:10.

Thinking of that, the corner of Kei’s eye twitched slightly.

"If this keeps up, my mana will be completely drained again before long."

He had no choice but to pull out another manastone to absorb mana, but unfortunately it was very slow. Yet if he had no mana reserves, Kei would not feel safe.

Fortunately, after the changes in Dong-San city, these manastones were everywhere because they dropped together with energy stones from every monster’s body, and since the people of this world still did not know about magic and mana, the price of these manastones was cheap.

Kei bought manastones from the hunters who came to the shop at a price slightly higher than outside, considering it a small benefit for the shop’s customers.

The pale blue stone immediately emitted points of light, flowed into Kei’s palm, and entered his body. He sat cross-legged on the bed, diligently absorbing mana from the stone, until he felt the dried-up flow of mana in his body had been replenished by a portion.

After that, Kei opened the Craftsman profession’s own skill window.

[Profession: Craftsman rank E]

[Skills:]

[Analysis (D): Can clearly understand the principles of items rank D and below.]

[Crafting (E, passive): Improves the dexterity of the crafter, increases the success rate of crafting.]

[Hands of ???: Improves ????, requires additional conditions to unlock.]

Kei looked at the last skill line in silence.

A skill covered by question marks. Even its effect could not be determined, and as for the unlock conditions, there was even less knowing where to find them.

"Hands of ???..."

Kei repeated the name, then let out a helpless sigh.

This system really was more and more like a joke.

If it did not want to say, it should have just covered everything up, yet it deliberately revealed part of the skill name, making people even more curious.

Kei moved his fingers.

His finger joints were much more flexible than before. Just a simple movement made him clearly feel the difference. Thanks to the high dexterity stat and the [Crafting] skill, his hands had become as precise and sensitive as a tool honed through thousands of uses.

"Then let’s begin."

Kei took an old book from the shelf.

It was an instructional document on crafting a wound-healing potion, the most basic potion currently available. Its main ingredient was Blood Leaf, the herb he had just successfully cultivated.

Kei turned page by page.

The potion crafting method did not look too complicated at first glance. First, the essence had to be extracted from the Blood Leaf root, then that essence had to be mixed with processed rank E energy stone powder and converted into liquid form.

Next was adjusting the temperature, stirring speed, consistency and mixing ratio.

The more he read, the more serious Kei’s expression became.

This formula involves some modern chemistry knowledge. It’s not simply crushing herbs and mixing them with water. The essence of Blood Leaf needs to be extracted without damaging the active healing components, and then an appropriate solution must be used to stabilize it.

Kei stared at the instructions for a long time.

"Solvent... reaction... boiling point... concentration..."

These terms, familiar to potion makers, seemed like a completely foreign language to him.

Kei slowly opened his palm.

A Blood Leaf appeared in his palm. The dark red leaves trembled slightly, emitting the distinctive earthy scent of Dungeon herbs.

He placed it on the table, then took out a stone mortar and a small knife.

Kei’s eyes flickered with confidence.

"It’s just extracting the essence."

He used the knife to cut the stem, crushed each leaf, and put them into the mortar. His fingers moved so deftly that they were almost impossible to see clearly, every movement precise and neat.

In just a moment, the Blood Leaf had turned into a dark red mixture.

Kei looked at the mixture before him, then looked at the book again.

The next step is to add the extraction solution.

The problem is... that extraction solution must be made from three chemicals that Kei doesn’t know where to get, nor does he know how to prepare.

He turned to the next page.

The more he read, the paler his face became.

The next page introduced additional requirements for pH, ion concentration, stabilization temperature, and reaction time. Some steps even required specialized measuring instruments that the shop simply didn’t have.

Kei’s hand, which was turning the page, stopped midway.

"..."

A long silence followed.

Kei looked at the Blood Leaf on the table, then at the crude tools beside him.

Then he lowered his head.

The confidence on his face disappeared completely.

Finally, Kei realized the most serious problem.

He has magic power, he has a growing space, he has unlimited herbs, and he even has crafting skills.

But he doesn’t have chemistry knowledge.

"Impossible..."

Kei held his head.

An SSS-rank mage who could once destroy an entire battlefield with a single spell was now defeated by a potion-making guidebook.

He slumped onto the table, his forehead tapping lightly against the pages.

"Could it be... I have to learn chemistry from scratch? But chemistry... What even is chemistry!"

In the quiet room, only Kei’s despairing sighs echoed.