Chapter 58: The Prodigious Alchemist 6

The City Lord looked at Kent.

A faint trace of disdain appeared in his eyes.

But then, as if he suddenly remembered something, his expression slowly became heavy.

The sadness on his face replaced the previous coldness.

“Kent...”

“You think this bread tree has a price.”

“But in my eyes, it is priceless.”

“Do you know why?”

The City Lord looked at the rapidly growing tree and slowly continued.

“After our people entered the Underdark, our lifespan was reduced by nearly one-third.”

“At first, we believed it was because we could not adapt to the underground environment.”

“But after countless generations of research and exploration, we finally discovered the truth.”

“Our elven race cannot survive on a meat-based diet.”

“An elf who consumes meat will have their lifespan shortened by one-third.”

“Meanwhile, elves who grow up eating a vegetarian diet have far greater potential.”

“Whether it is the awakening of their talents or their future development, they are far superior to elves who consume meat.”

The City Lord sighed.

“Originally, our race already had extremely poor reproductive ability.”

“And now, even the mushrooms and ferns growing underground are not enough to support the entire elven population.”

“Of course, the other races have fewer problems.”

“They were meat-eaters even when they lived on the surface.”

“But elves are different.”

“We were raised on the fruits of the bread tree and other plants.”

“That was our natural diet.”

“Now, all we can do is ensure that young elves consume enough plant-based food before adulthood.”

“But for adults like us...”

“We are forced to maintain a diet consisting of seventy percent meat and thirty percent plants.”

“And even with that balance, many elves still die every year because of it.”

The City Lord looked at Kent seriously.

“So the bread tree you brought...”

“For our elven race, it is a priceless treasure.”

“It may even be the thing that saves our entire race.”

Kent fell silent.

After hearing the explanation, he suddenly felt a strange sadness.

This was not the sadness of one individual.

It was the sorrow of an entire race.

A civilization slowly losing the things that once defined it.

However, he still had one question.

“When your people came underground...”

“Didn’t you bring bread tree seeds with you?”

The City Lord gave a bitter smile.

“When we first entered the Underdark, we were immediately attacked by underground magical beasts.”

“At that time, our Water of Life reserves were extremely limited.”

“And most of it had to be used to support the young Tree of Life.”

He looked toward the enormous Ancient Tree of War nearby.

“The Tree of Life we have now was grown from a branch broken off from another Tree of Life.”

“But it required the Water of Life to continue growing.”

“By the time our race finally stabilized...”

“The bread tree seeds had already rotted away.”

“Besides...”

“At that time, our population was small.”

“And we had not yet discovered the dangers of consuming meat.”

The City Lord lowered his eyes.

“By the time we understood...”

“It was already too late.”

Kent thought for a moment.

Then he made his decision.

“Then give me a branch from the Tree of Life.”

“I want to make a magic staff.”

“And I also need some thorn seeds.”

“Preferably the kind that are hard, flexible, and covered with poisonous thorns.”

“These will be useful.”

“As for the bread tree...”

“Leave it to your people to manage.”

“To be honest...”

“I know almost nothing about taking care of plants.”

Kent had thought carefully about it.

He already had three drops of the Water of Life.

That was enough.

Asking for too much would be unreasonable.

Besides, a staff made from a branch of the Tree of Life would be an extraordinary magical tool.

And the thorn seeds would be useful for future wood-element magic research.

“That’s all?”

The City Lord looked at Kent strangely.

“You only want these things?”

“Humans are not supposed to be this modest.”

“Everyone says humans are extremely greedy.”

The City Lord had already prepared himself mentally.

He thought Kent would demand something almost impossible.

Perhaps enough treasures to empty the entire treasury.

But instead...

Kent only asked for a few simple things.

The City Lord found it difficult to understand.

In reality, the dark elves rarely used branches from the Tree of Life to create staffs.

The number of dark elf mages had been declining for generations.

So there were very few people who required such materials.

As a result, the Tree of Life had grown incredibly strong and abundant.

The dark elves had also discovered a perfect place for it to grow.

A location that only dark elves could safely reach.

As for the thorn seeds Kent requested...

They were hardly valuable at all.

Almost every volcanic region had similar plants growing nearby.

Obtaining them was extremely easy.

The City Lord looked at Kent.

For the first time, he felt that perhaps...

This human was completely different from the humans described in ancient records.

“Then... help me find some books about alchemy.”

Kent finally spoke.

To be honest, he felt a little embarrassed.

A branch from the Tree of Life was an absolutely priceless treasure.

And the bread tree seed itself...

In his hands, it was practically useless.

But after hearing the City Lord’s explanation, Kent suddenly remembered something important.

He was only a beginner alchemist.

There were still countless things he did not know.

“That’s all?”

The City Lord looked at him again.

“You don’t want anything else?”

“No.”

Kent shook his head.

“The bread tree seed is useless to me.”

“To exchange it for so many things already feels like I have gained far too much.”

“I should be satisfied.”

Kent was genuinely embarrassed.

In only this short period of time, the bread tree had already grown into a towering tree.

Poor Kent’s small courtyard had been taken over by two enormous beings.

One was the Ancient Tree of War, Keta.

The other was the newly grown bread tree.

Together, they occupied most of the available space.

More and more dark elves arrived after hearing the news.

The first group of elves explained everything to the newcomers.

And when they saw the bread tree...

Many of them burst into tears.

The legendary fruit that had once been part of their ancient civilization...

The sweet and delicious food recorded in countless stories...

It had appeared before their eyes once again.

Even Keta looked at the fully grown tree with a strange expression.

The leaves of the bread tree were oval-shaped.

Like fig trees, the bread tree did not display obvious flowers.

Instead, small clusters of fruit hanging from its branches proved that it had truly matured.

There was an ancient legend among elves.

It was said that a single drop of the Water of Life could allow a seed to reach one hundred years of growth within a single day.

In the past, Kent had never believed such a story.

But now...

In only a few hours, the bread tree had grown into a massive tree.

Perhaps the legends were not exaggerated after all.

Kent looked at the small fountain that had been destroyed during the tree’s growth.

Suddenly, an idea appeared in his mind.

He turned to the City Lord.

“Your Excellency, do you happen to have any silver coins?”

“I think I need to create a water-element magic array here.”

“Otherwise, the bread tree may not receive enough water.”

The City Lord was not surprised at all.

“How many do you need?”

Kent thought quickly.

“The more mithril, the better.”

“If there is less, I will simply make a smaller array.”

The City Lord immediately nodded.

“I’ll have someone bring them.”

He turned and gave several instructions to his guards.

Then he returned to watching the bread tree.

He even reached out and gently touched its trunk.

Not long afterward, a guard arrived carrying a small box.

When the box was opened, Kent’s eyes widened slightly.

Inside were silver coins.

But they were not ordinary silver coins.

They were all forged from mithril.

Each coin was decorated with delicate relief carvings.

From the craftsmanship alone, Kent could tell they were works of art created by the elves.

At the same time, Kent heard a sudden commotion around him.

A moment later...

The walls on both sides of his courtyard were torn down by a group of dwarves.

Kent glanced at them.

Then ignored it.

There was no time to worry about such things.

He had work to do.

Kent immediately began designing the magic array.

At first, he planned to create a large-scale formation.

But after thinking carefully, he abandoned that idea.

A smaller magic array would be more efficient.

The principle behind a water-gathering magic array was actually simple.

The most important part was the ratio of materials.

First, obsidian needed to be polished until the surface was completely smooth.

Then the required magical patterns would be engraved onto it.

After that, mithril would be melted down.

A specific amount of water-element magical crystal powder would be added.

Finally, the mixture would be poured into the engraved formation.

That was the basic structure of a water-gathering magic array.

Its function was simple but extremely useful.

It continuously absorbed water-element magical energy from the surrounding environment.

Then it converted that energy into pure water.

The final step was arranging dozens of these engraved obsidian plates together.

They could be placed beneath the bottom of a pool.

Or they could be integrated into an artificial mountain.

The placement itself was not the difficult part.

The true challenge was melting the mithril.

When refining mithril, a certain amount of fire-element magical crystal powder had to be added.

However, the quantity had to be controlled with absolute precision.

If too much remained after the mithril melted...

The leftover fire-element energy would conflict with the water-element crystal powder added during the final formation process.

And the entire magic array would fail.

For a true alchemist, precision was everything.

Kent had no choice but to return to the laboratory.

This kind of work required a proper environment.

The courtyard was no longer suitable.

Inside the alchemy laboratory, everyone quickly found their own tasks.

Hark was responsible for melting the mithril.

When it came to handling metal, dwarves were naturally experts.

Using the crucibles that dwarves normally used for forging, Hark was more than capable of completing the job.

Kobi, on the other hand, was responsible for polishing the obsidian.

His task was simple but required patience.

The obsidian pieces had to be ground until their surfaces were completely smooth.

As for Kent...

He focused entirely on engraving the magic arrays.

Creating this kind of magic array was not particularly complicated.

The most important thing was the engraving process.

For the materials needed to carve the formation, Kent used a special acidic liquid produced by magical beasts.

Fortunately, the laboratory still contained a considerable supply of it.

Kent carefully applied the acid onto the surface of the obsidian.

The liquid slowly corroded the stone.

A precise groove gradually appeared.

Once the pattern was complete, the melted mithril mixture would be poured into the grooves.

The water-element magical crystal powder would then be added.

After the entire process was completed, the water-gathering magic array would be finished.

Of course, this was only the simplest type of magic array.

If mithril was not available, the process would become much more complicated.

The creator would need to use water-element magical crystal powder.

Water-element magical cores.

The powdered bones of water-element magical beasts.

And many other materials.

The ultimate purpose was to increase the affinity between the formation and water-element magical energy.

However...

Mithril itself was already one of the finest magical metals in existence.

It naturally possessed an extremely strong connection with magic.

Therefore, with mithril as the foundation, only a small amount of water-element crystal powder was needed to complete the formation.

This was one of the greatest advantages of using precious magical metals.

They simplified what would otherwise be an extremely complicated process.

Kent looked at the gradually forming magic arrays.

For ordinary people, this might have been a difficult and mysterious craft.

But to him...

It was simply another application of knowledge and precision.

The true power of an alchemist was not merely creating objects.

It was understanding the relationship between materials, magic, and structure.