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Book 6: Chapter 57:2: An Alchemist’s Abilities, Part 2

“Oh, I see my newbie gear now, but it’s different from yours. Mine are alchemical materials and equipment,” Chen Heng said while opening his player profile.

Name: Chen Heng

Class: Alchemist

Level: 1 (0/100)

Alchemy Level: 1

Learnable Recipes:

Micro Mana Recovery Potion (Small Blue Potion) (Can restore a small amount of mana and Will Energy) (Unlockable with 100,000 eris or 10 points)

Micro Health Recovery Potion (Small Red Potion) (Can restore a small amount of stamina and health) (Unlockable with 100,000 eris or 10 points)

Skills:

Alchemy (Equivalent Exchange): Not upgradable (Can transform items into other items of equal value following the law of equivalent exchange. However, it’s impossible to change items into something whose specific composition is not understood. This process consumes a certain amount of resources and can utilize valuable items, stamina, mana, Spiritual Energy, Will Energy, vitality, and even souls. A Philosopher’s Stone is the best material and can even create something from nothing.)

[TL Note: This Alchemy skill seems to be inspired by Full Metal Alchemist. Here is more information about this anime/manga: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist.]

Chen Heng examined his player profile and then crouched down, using his electromagnetic ability to summon a small pile of iron sand from the soil. He then attempted to use his alchemical skill to transform it.

First, Chen Heng thought about turning the iron sand in his hand into a key. After a slight drain on his Will Energy, the iron sand indeed transformed into an iron key, as he had intended.

Then, he tried to convert this key into an iron bowl. After expending a bit of Will Energy, he succeeded. However, when he attempted to turn this iron bowl into a porcelain bowl, he succeeded but noticed that it consumed at least five times more Will Energy than transforming it into an iron bowl. Of course, this increased cost didn’t bother him much.

He continued experimenting, attempting to turn this porcelain bowl into a spear. This time, he failed.

Chen Heng studied the introduction to this skill and discovered the problem. The value of a porcelain bowl was not equal to that of a spear, resulting in the failure. Should I use more material?

With a swift motion of his hand, Chen Heng summoned countless tiny grains of iron sand. The iron sand within a radius of several dozen meters floated up from the ground as if responding to his call and converged above his palm.

This time, the volume of the iron sand was significantly larger than before. Chen Heng activated his skill and successfully transformed the iron sand in his hand into a long spear.

For his next experiment, he attempted to transmute this long spear into a hand grenade. However, once again, he met with failure.

Chen Heng believed that his lack of understanding of the internal structure and composition of a hand grenade was the reason behind this failure.

The onlookers standing at a distance observed Chen Heng conducting these experiments. He transformed a heap of iron sand into a key, then into a bowl, and even into a porcelain bowl. Surprisingly, he eventually succeeded in creating a long spear. It was evident to the group that Chen Heng was experimenting with a new skill, so they watched quietly, not disturbing him.

“You’ve waited long enough. I’ve become familiar with the alchemist’s skill,” Chen Heng said as he brushed nonexistent dust off his hands and stood up.

“Is this what alchemists do? It looks so magical. I also want to be an alchemist, Elder Brother.”

“Forget it. To be an alchemist, you need to understand the composition of the items you’re trying to create. It requires patience to be successful. You don’t have the patience for it, and you’d need a lot of Will Energy as a foundation.”

“Tsk! Whatever. Alchemy doesn’t seem that great anyway. The Herrscher of Reason’s core is much better,” Sirin remarked, taking the opportunity to taunt Chen Heng after his rebuff. She then turned away, no longer paying him any attention.

“…” Chen Heng had no response to this. In a way, the Herrscher of Reason did indeed have greater combat prowess. The Herrscher of Reason could create weapons or items from nothing if he understood their composition. Furthermore, he could store these items for quick materialization in the future.

In contrast, alchemy followed the principle of equivalent exchange, meaning you had to give something of equal value to get what you wanted. The Herrscher of Reason did indeed create out of nothing.

No wonder that after the world merger, the world consciousness decided to nerf all those Herrscher Cores. Each of those Herrscher Cores was a bug in its own right, but some Herrschers just didn’t use them.

Nevertheless, even with these considerations, Chen Heng felt his Alchemy skill was well worth it.

Maybe as he delved deeper into alchemy, his perspective would change. At this point, though, he could only be considered an alchemy novice.

“Alright, alright, I’ve familiarized myself with the skill. So, where should we go to level up now?” Chen Heng was eager to level up because it meant unlocking more potion recipes.

Besides, he was running low on eris because the potion recipes required eris to purchase. Sure, he could use points, but why use points when eris could solve the problem? Points were too valuable to waste.

It wasn’t just about the recipes. Having a recipe was one thing; Chen Heng needed materials for concoction. These materials required eris or points to obtain. Obviously, being an alchemist was a costly endeavor.

“How about we continue to fight the Giant Toads?” Saitama suggested.

“Why? Giant Toads don’t seem like they’d be worth much.” Chen Heng didn’t quite grasp Saitama’s proposal.

“Because you can bring in-game items back to the real world. Plus, your master said Giant Toad meat was incredibly delicious, so I thought I’d gather some Giant Toad meat and bring it back to Genos. It’ll solve our food problems for a long time.” Saitama scratched his bald head, somewhat embarrassed.

[TL Note: Genos is the deuteragonist of One-Punch Man. He is a cyborg and Saitama’s disciple. Here is more information on him: https://onepunchman.fandom.com/wiki/Genos.]

“That makes sense. Let’s go hunt some Giant Toads,” Chen Heng agreed. A glutton like him couldn’t resist such a proposal.

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