Wizard Alchemist

Chapter 792 Soul Dew (4-in-1)

As is well known, dragons reproduce by laying eggs.

True dragons do not produce milk.

Only some hybrid species such as dragon antelopes, half-dragons, and dragon vein sorcerers produce milk!
"Never mind, let's find some minced meat for her to eat."

Roy glanced at Chevalier a few times; he didn't seem like someone who could squeeze out a spot.

I had no choice but to abandon that idea.

After the order was given, Artedia and the others got busy.

Adult dragons will hunt for their offspring, usually tearing the meat into small pieces or bringing back the whole prey for the young dragons to eat.

The young dragons are born with claws and teeth and a physique of ferocious beasts, enough to tear their prey apart and chew their flesh.

Therefore, a normal diet of meat can also provide the body with what it needs.

Why are you thinking about dragon milk?

That's just nitpicking.

As a result, when the fragrant roasted steak, various fish soups, and meat broths were served, Lena only smelled them a few times before moving away.

I have absolutely no appetite.

"Meow? Being a picky eater won't do..."

Domi the black cat also came to join in the fun, and frowned upon seeing this.

Worried that Xiaolongwa wouldn't eat, she went over and smelled the food herself to check.

"It's very fresh, and it tastes good too."

After thinking for a moment, he grabbed the gem fish Litos, who was watching the commotion, and held it to little Lena's mouth.

"Or, let's eat this instead."

"No, you can't eat this fish!"

"ヾ(;;Д;;)!"

"I am in a panic," said the gemfish.

Fortunately, Lena only smelled it and shook her head, saying, "I don't eat fish."

"Then what do you want to eat?"

Roy asked curiously.

"I want to eat this!"

Suddenly, Lena bent down, grabbed a handful of gold coins, and started biting into them.

In the cave of the silver dragon Chevalier, there was also a large pile of gold coins, which were a gift from Roy.

Just like with Black Dragon Melas, there was plenty of gold and jewels, as compensation for bringing them all the way here from afar, leaving their homes behind.

But dragons' love for gold is simply in their nature; aside from serving as symbols of "wealth" in certain witchcraft rituals, these things are actually not very useful.

Moreover, ordinary gold has no nutritional value; only magical metals do.

"His eating habits are just like mine?"

Roy felt that this was a common trait among metal dragons.

After thinking for a moment, he took out a large piece of glittering gold.

"Here, Lena, have some, it's delicious."

Lena let out a howl and, as expected, happily pounced on it.

Radiant gold is a magical metal; it tastes much better than regular gold and is also more nutritious.

After taking care of Lena, Roy then checked on Popla, who was born earlier. It turned out that she had inherited the characteristics of the five-colored dragon. She had just eaten a whole roasted lamb and was now lying on the terrace of her nest, basking in the sun with her round little belly.

Domi, the black cat who followed, was overcome with maternal instincts and went to help rock the cradle.

But the gemfish Litos hesitated to move forward.

Because it had a vague sense of foreboding.

This Popula really knows how to eat himself!
Maybe it'll swallow it whole!
In the days that followed, the two baby dragons grew up healthily, bringing much joy and laughter to the family.

Roy was impatient with taking care of the children, so he left these chores to Artedia and Windsorbell, but Artedia was mainly in charge.

Domi also showed unusual enthusiasm, as if following her instincts, and took care of the baby dragon.

Roy did some research and learned that cats also have a natural instinct to care for children.

When companions go out hunting, they will take care of each other's cubs.

She had nothing else to do, so she spent her days leading Maya and the others to visit the dragon's lair, rocking the cradle, singing lullabies, and telling stories.

In the childhood memories of the two little dragons, they were both raised by "Aunt Black Cat" and a group of little people who were like characters from a fairy tale, who could perform all kinds of shows, which was incredibly magical.

During this period, they each exhibited abnormalities in their different bloodlines.

Although they were all clay dragons created by myself using the still imperfect Creation Method of Cretaceous, and were gestating in their respective mother bodies, they were actually mixed with the bloodlines of golden dragons and silver dragons, and golden dragons and black dragons respectively.

This made Roy think about the relationship between the characteristics of the soul and the flesh and blood.

From the very beginning, he knew that the origin of the soul is the foundation of everything, including the material world, which is the same thing manifested at different energy levels.

What he used to "create" them was the dragon's essence, which came from the blood of a true dragon.

This itself may contain characteristics of both metal dragons and five-colored dragons.

However, as time went on, a new problem soon emerged.

"Lord Roy, Popula and Lena aren't eating properly!"

"What's wrong? Are you tired of the food you ate before?"

"I don't know either. If you ask them, they can't give you a clear answer either."

Atedia's report caught Roy's attention, and he took the time to inquire about it.

To everyone's surprise, after more than a month, the two young dragons had not gained much weight, and their physical and mental attributes had even slightly declined.

"How is this going?

Popula has lost weight recently!

"And Lena too."

Beneath the World Tree, two female dragons met, sharing a rare moment of perfect harmony.

Because their children are having problems, and possibly serious problems.

This is clearly malnutrition!

But that doesn't make sense.

Roy examined the two little dragons himself and said, puzzled.

“For the past few days, I have been taking good care of them and have never let them go hungry or thirsty.”

Although he has always been a hands-off parent, he has never neglected to care about the children's growth.

Artia and Windsorbell did their best, and Domi also fed them snacks from time to time. He was even worried that they would get fat!
"Perhaps their nutritional needs are different?"

Freya reminded her.

“That’s somewhat possible. Popula has had a body size of around 50 degrees since birth. Lena is a bit thinner, but she still has a body size of 40 degrees.”

Roy said while pondering.

"Such intensity..."

The food intake of a typical baby dragon might not be enough.

Actually, the amount of food given before this was already quite sufficient.

But since they've started showing signs of malnutrition, we have no choice but to continue feeding them.

However, the two baby dragons began to show resistance.

"I can't eat, I really can't eat!"

"Dad, we want to eat something delicious, not this!"

The two baby dragons looked pitiful.

"Then tell me, what is truly delicious?"

"We...we don't know either!"

Roy thought for a moment and then simply laid out various potions and spiritually rich items for them to choose from.

As a result, both Popula and Lena chose the evolution potion.

The milky white substance, rich in the essence of life, is like sweet rain, instantly nourishing the body.

Soon, their energy and spirit changed.

"Delicious!" "Delicious!"

Roy paused for a moment, then suddenly understood.

******
"I understand, Popula and Lena, their digestive systems haven't fully developed yet..."

Their physique and life essence are too strong, but their internal organs and digestive system are still in their infancy, just like other cubs, and have not kept up.

As for angelic-level 'emotional engines' or divine 'anchors of faith,' those cannot be acquired in a short time, and therefore cannot be obtained from external sources!

"You mean, they were all born extraordinary, but their digestive organs weren't matched with extraordinary abilities?"

"That's understandable."

After returning, Roy and Freya discussed this issue.

"Perhaps it will only be perfected when they reach adolescence or even adulthood..."

In fact, superhumans do not need to eat or drink.

Ordinary food is merely for satisfying one's appetite and doesn't offer much nutritional value.

Even a strong physique cannot be satisfied by those things.

Usually, one absorbs magical power directly from the universe through meditation, and also obtains various substances containing energy.

For example, magic stones, and various other materials.

Previously, Roy and the others had never considered this issue, seeing Popla and Lena enjoying ordinary food.

But in reality, the radiant gold and the flesh and blood can only meet part of the needs. Without sufficient energy replenishment and spiritual matter, they are still malnourished.

"It now seems that the original soup of life is the best product, and we should try to make some through alchemy."

In addition, magic stones and other magical materials should also provide some of the nutrients needed for growth.

Roy quickly came up with a solution.

Upon receiving the order, the human kingdom immediately presented tens of thousands of cattle and sheep as tribute.

Freya personally led the slaughter, used Roy's specially prepared blackening potion to "digest" it, and then used an albino potion to extract the nutrients inside, and used a yellowing technique to reconstruct the protein.

This is a method for large-scale preparation of the life-giving broth, replacing insect pupae.

Essentially, it is an aggregate of proteins and magical energy, containing the nutrients needed for life to grow.

Theoretically speaking, this kind of thing is suitable for all living organisms.

"This is real dragon milk!"

Suddenly, Roy understood, and decided to name it Dragon Milk No. 1.

"Oh, dragon milk!"

"Delicious! Delicious!"

Popla and Lena quickly embraced the new drink.

They have achieved new growth by combining their favorite gold, beef and mutton.

During this period, the two little dragon babies also began to defecate for the first time.

Roy personally examined it and found that what Popula excreted was a natural fertilizer rich in minerals, which was extremely beneficial to plant growth.

Dragon manure compost can be used to cultivate many magical plants.

Lena, on the other hand, is more like herself, excreting a kind of iron slag waste.

This time, Roy didn't use it to feed the dragon dung beetles; instead, he gave it to the Osei Mud Monster.

This unexpected creation possesses properties similar to a slime.

It's time to feed them some metal to speed up their growth.

……

In the blink of an eye, another month or so has passed.

On the World Tree, two young dragons, each the size of a calf, were having a great time.

Suddenly, a shout rang out.

Popula playfully jumped down from the tree.

"what!"

Startled, Artedia quickly jumped down after her, trying to catch her.

But then Popula flapped his wings and leaped out, harnessing his magic to fly horizontally, nimbly maneuvering in the air.

"Wow!"

Lena saw this and looked on with envy.

But when they reached the tree and looked down, they shrank back in fear.

She wasn't as bold and mischievous as Popla, so she could only try things cautiously in safe places.

But after a short while, he mastered the technique on his own, and his body floated up as if defying gravity.

Perhaps due to the Silver Dragon's innate talent, this anti-gravity flight method seems to be even better than Popula's, and it is more agile.

And so, like an electromagnetic catapult, it shot out in a flash.

"Having strong talent is truly being strong!"

Upon learning this, Roy sighed with emotion and said sincerely.

In the eyes of bloodline wizards, the story of the ugly duckling turning into a swan is full of philosophical meaning.

But what it wants to express is not the result of hard work, but that one must have been a swan to become a swan.

The bloodline at birth determines everything.

He was not surprised by the extraordinary talent displayed by the two young dragons, and he was waiting to see what surprises the bloodline talents he could discover from them would bring him.

However, he soon heard that the two baby dragons had fallen ill.

"Lord Roy, they were fine before, but after flying around and coming back, they complained that they were tired and have been listless ever since!"

Artedia was also helpless in this regard.

Taking care of cubs is exhausting.

However, having learned from his previous experience, Roy quickly guessed the reason.

"Is this caused by excessive magic consumption?"

While ordinary food can also improve physical and mental health, it is still primarily a matter of physical well-being.

After using magic, you need to replenish it in other ways.

Dragons are born with the ability to fly; however, this can be further divided into two modes: ordinary flight and magical flight.

The flight that Popula and Lena used before was a magical ability from their extraordinary talents.

The young dragon was full of energy and didn't know how to control it, so it overexerted itself and collapsed from exhaustion.

"It's time to replenish our resources. The dragon milk recipe needs some improvement!"

This time, Roy was prepared and had thought of some things.

That is the level of the soul and spirit, which may also require corresponding nourishment.

This cannot be replenished by ordinary life energy; it requires the soul level.

It just so happens that he has been conducting related research recently, which is to capture the souls of gnolls in some areas after the earth spirit stakes are planted, and he has a lot of materials on hand.

Combining the "Soul Transformation" and "Soul Capture" techniques learned in the past, a brand new resource gradually emerges.

This is also recorded in ancient texts and is referred to as "nectar of the soul".

Essentially, it is a spiritual item made by extracting the essence of the soul after the "soul-capturing technique" has developed to a certain stage.

Its main component is the very essence of the soul, which has the function of replenishing the soul and spiritual energy, making it an excellent nourishing agent.

However, refining this substance is not easy, as it involves the connection between celestial energy and planetary spirituality, which is also a prerequisite for refining "Star Spirit Elixir".

It could even be said that if you want to continue to improve after level four, you might have to rely on it.

Ordinary magical materials and various treasures are hardly enough to sustain beings at higher levels.

But the soul, the soul of all living things.

It is still what gods, demons, great wizards, and legendary mages need.

So Roy also started refining it.

******
Inside the alchemy room of the mage's mansion.

Roy cast several hazy, grayish lights onto the array platform and began his experiment. These lights vaguely resembled the outlines of gnolls, their distorted faces appearing and disappearing in the halo, emitting silent howls.

It was during these days that the spoils captured through the Earth Spirit Stakes were the souls of warriors from the Gnoll Empire.

Ripples of a deep blue light spread across the platform, coalescing into a hazy sea of ​​souls about a foot above.

The gray shadow struggled and floated in the sea of ​​souls, like a microcosm of a place without light in reality.

At the center of the platform, a dark silver soul crystal was slowly rotating, absorbing the surrounding soul energy like a vortex. As the dark silver light flowed, it emitted a chilling aura that made people's hearts tremble.

Roy focused his mental and physical energy into the array and activated the alchemy array.

In an instant, the ghostly blue soul fire suddenly rose up, enveloping the struggling gnoll soul shadows.

A piercing scream echoed in the secret chamber, the resentment was gradually stripped away, turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating, while the gray shadow gradually became transparent.

Ultimately, it transforms into a pure flow of spirituality.

The Dark Silver Soul Crystal slowly melted within this power, merging with the pure soul energy and gleaming with a pearly luster.

Finally, the deep blue light suddenly receded.

A crystal-clear dewdrop, radiating a soft, moon-white glow, floats in mid-air, with a faint, flowing light visible inside.

Roy carefully examined it using the Eye of Hermes.

"Soul Dew (Level 4)..."

Spiritual items refined from soul energy are rich in soul essence, capable of nourishing the spirit and healing soul wounds...

Purity: 99.9999%..."

"Level Four Soul Dew..."

Done! "

A look of satisfaction flashed in Roy's eyes.

"It's 99.9999% pure!"

Freya assisted from the side, and after learning the test results, she sealed the package and exclaimed in genuine amazement.

This thing is not difficult to make in essence, because its foundation is the famous "Soul-Capturing Technique".

Starting with methods like "Nicmansha's Life-Sustaining Techniques," which involve drawing life force, and once you truly understand them, you can master the accompanying advanced secret techniques and complete the course.

Many high-ranking wizards possess this ability.

It is refined using the most basic "Soul-Capturing Technique". The similar substance is not called Soul Dew, but rather a raw material such as "Soul".

If you refine a naturally occurring wandering soul, 99% of it will become the original finished product.

However, using this level of substance directly for extraction is extremely dangerous.

Because of the 1% impurity, it also means that after absorbing a hundred souls, it will accumulate the soul strength of one gnoll, thus polluting one's own soul.

If we consider its intensity as 1 degree.

The weakened mental power is not simply marked as 1 degree; it is like adding 1 degree to a soul energy of thousands of degrees, bringing about an erosive effect similar to the origin of the dragon.

At that time, it is possible that the instincts of jackals will emerge, causing effects similar to personality splitting.

However, if the purity of this type of soul substance is increased to 99.99%...

That means it could absorb more than 10000 souls to cause the same level of pollution.

And so on, with each increase of an order of magnitude, the difficulty of refining increases even further.

However, the soul of a strong person possesses the function of self-purification and self-cleaning. If it does not accumulate enough weight, it will not undergo transformation. It is like a great river or lake, with ever-flowing water.

10 copies, 100 million copies...

None of them are a cause for concern.

This is actually equivalent to the spiritual energy at the level of faith, and in terms of quantity, it is even greater.

Because the collection of faith requires a slow and gradual process, a natural accumulation.

The process of refining the nectar of the soul involves direct absorption.

"Pupra and Lena are still so young, it's easy for them to have problems if they consume this kind of thing directly. It needs to be carefully refined and its purity further increased..."

However, it doesn't bother me; I can absorb it by combining it with other spiritual substances.

I'll give it a try first!

Roy not only has high soul strength, but also exceptionally high quality.

A portion of it was extracted immediately.

As its own energy was injected, a white, smoke-like soul emanated from it, its energy spreading out and manifesting a fiery shape in the air.

A moment later, it slowly merged into the body.

"3541→3554!"

"How about it?"

Freya asked with a hint of curiosity.

My soul energy...

That means my mental strength increased by 13 degrees!

But even just that one blow would take the souls of at least hundreds or thousands of gnolls!

If they wanted more, perhaps they'd need the lives of millions, even tens of millions of gnolls!

"In that case, the souls would be mixed, making the refining process even more difficult..."

Could we use the strongest among the gnolls?

"The souls of the strong can be tempered individually, which does give them an advantage in terms of refining efficiency."

However, their willpower has also increased accordingly, and they retain more of their innate, primal instincts.

Roy explained.

This is a profound secret within the field of "soul studies," and it also involves some aspects of faith.

……

Soon after, Roy summoned Popla and Lena and fed each of them a drop of "soul nectar".

"Ah, it's delicious!"

“So delicious!”

As if it were the first time they had ever tasted food cooked with MSG, the two little ones' eyes lit up and they started shouting.

"You can't eat too much now, come back next month."

Roy silently estimated the digestion speed and the increase in mental energy, and then gave Freya another instruction.

"Why not mix it into the original soup of life and make it into a special pastry?"

Or, try to get some Torrad Fruit Sprites or something like that.

Freya nodded and wrote down all the requirements.

However, the needs of baby dragons are meticulous and complicated, while his own needs are not so complicated.

For the next few days, they continued to refine the same soul nectar and "eat" the souls of the captured gnolls!

The things I refined myself were indeed of high purity, retaining only the freshness of spiritual energy, without any of the stench and stench of the jackals.

He then consulted ancient texts and learned that other skilled wizards also knew how to refine these things.

However, most of the refined products have limited quality; a purity of 99.99% is almost the upper limit.

"However, for me, this is merely the minimum requirement for beginners."

Combining elements of [darkening], [material purification], [natural magic], and [alchemical deity]...

I can definitely achieve over 99.999999%!

This is not a simple hundredfold increase, because the influence of soul energy is not a linear relationship, but rather orders of magnitude or even exponential.

Of course, the difficulty also increases exponentially...

Roy labeled it as 4N purity, while the target level is 6N purity.

According to some research, only by achieving a purity of 6N can one approach "infinite improvement".

In other words, it involves continuous absorption and consumption without any side effects.

Only by reaching this stage can one meet the standards for refining Star Spirit Potions and help oneself complete the final upgrade.

******
Day after day, another six months passed.

On the World Tree, two young dragons leaped high into the air, as if they were riding an invisible slide down.

A moment later, it flew like an arrow and landed on a large tree more than ten miles away.

"Giggle!"

"Fly, fly!"

Amidst laughter and chatter, they chased each other, unintentionally releasing their dragon might, which startled the many fairies and wild beasts below, causing them to shrink back in fear.

A moment later, the two little guys went off to wreak havoc on the other side of the barrier against the kobold tribe.

There are no ferocious beasts in the Mtraken region. Some weak monster tribes have set up their lairs here and lived peacefully for hundreds of years.

Little did they know that they would suffer a devastating blow on this very day.

Popula, in particular, seemed to possess some of the brutality of a black dragon, which he displayed fully when facing these inhuman monsters.

"Why did you go out to play again!"

Even though Roy knew, he didn't care; he just thought they were being mischievous.

"Don't worry, Atedia is watching over them in secret, along with the magical equipment and weapons you gave them before..."

The girl's skull offered comfort.

"Don't let them eat anything random outside!"

Roy shook his head helplessly.

If its animalistic instincts were triggered and it ate some random dog-headed creature or something, that would be bad.

As for other security issues...

He really wasn't worried.

Not to mention the secret protection from Atedia and others, the two young dragons themselves are considered strong in this world in terms of physique and spiritual energy.

Moreover, he left summoning marks on them, so they could summon each other at any time.

……

Such days quickly passed for another six months.

Roy suddenly heard Atedia report: "Lord Roy, Miss Popula has cast a fireball!"

"Ok?"

Although Fireball isn't a particularly powerful spell, it's still considered a classic model among first-level Evocation spells.

Since she was only a little over a year old, he never thought of teaching her anything like magic.

Many things about the dragon race don't need to be taught; they are all engraved in their bloodline through the wisdom of the true dragon.

Unexpectedly, he mastered it so quickly without any instruction.

Roy emerged from the alchemy room, leaving his projected avatar to continue working.

A moment later, the girl's head emitted light from its eyes, projecting a screen of light composed of phantoms in front of him.

In the video, Popula is laughing loudly and then spits out a mouthful.

The blazing fireball, like a falling star, crashed into the kobold camp with a standard diameter of at least one foot.

Amidst the intense flames, the kobolds suffered heavy casualties.

The rest were terrified and scattered in all directions.

"It is indeed a fireball spell."

While Roy felt relieved, he also had a slight headache.

"In that case, the consumption of soul nectar will likely be even greater!"

Fortunately, the war is still ongoing.

Meanwhile, in the Gnoll Empire, engineering teams were continuously driving in earth spirit stakes to capture souls.

The materials flowed in continuously, like an inexhaustible faith.

Roy soon discovered that at this stage, the souls he could collect had already surpassed those of ordinary false gods.

Because ordinary false gods, whether they rule a small village of a few hundred people or a large city or a city-state of more than ten cities, have a total population of only a little over a million.

They have limited resources. Sacrificing a few people each year, or waging war and capturing a few or a dozen prisoners, is considered a good harvest.

However, he began to cover an area with the "National Land Transformation Array," demanding hundreds and thousands of resources.

In a very short time, even the Seven Goddess Faith, which had previously shown some success, was overshadowed.

He quickly tried again.

"Soul Dew (Level 5)..."

Spiritual items refined from soul energy are rich in soul essence, capable of nourishing the spirit and healing soul wounds...

Purity: 99.99999%..."

"5N level..."

Success! "

Roy's spirits lifted.

……

Four years passed quickly, and it was early May.

Freya reported some good news.

"Lord Roy, a total of 10240 earth spirit stakes have been driven in..."

The "Territory Transmutation Array," covering the entire Gnoll Empire, is essentially complete!

"very good!"

Roy has been busy with the final push to raise the purity of the Soul Dew to 6N level in recent years, so he hasn't paid much attention to this matter.

But upon hearing this, he still showed a satisfied expression.

"Some of the gnoll souls who died in that land may still escape our net, but most will be captured and brought under our control..."

It's time to order the frontline troops to intensify their attacks and utterly destroy this empire!

At this point, Freya mentioned something else: "There's a strange phenomenon. In recent years, it seems that the gnolls have learned something."

Some elite troops were deployed to harass and sabotage our engineering teams, and they even nearly seized the Earth Spirit Stakes.

Fortunately, the self-destruct program was activated at the critical moment, preventing them from succeeding...

"This is indeed a point of suspicion."

Roy paused.

He had received similar reports before.

"The fighting on the front lines is intense, and the gnoll leaders are wise enough not to make such a pointless move without a reason..."

Our earth spirit pile manufacturing and construction team work separately. Even those who drive these piles in don't know what they are specifically for.

Unless, it's the will of the world playing tricks again!

Upon hearing this, Freya couldn't help but show a hint of worry.

"They are far weaker than us, but destruction is always easier than construction..."

Will this cause any trouble?

As she spoke, as if to confirm her words, the girl's head floated over.

"Master, something terrible has happened! At the central node of the Urodi Mountains, 100 Earth Spirit Stakes have been destroyed!"
There were also sporadic losses at various nodes in different locations!
The progress of setting up the National Transformation Array has regressed to 98%!

"Ok?"

Roy's expression turned serious.

"Damn gnolls, they actually pulled this trick on me!"

He used the magical abilities granted by the [True Dragon Wisdom] to perform a "prophecy".

As a result, fate was uncertain, and nothing was foreseen.

He wasn't particularly skilled at this spell, so he had to give up for the time being.

"I'll go to the scene and investigate myself..."

Anyone who causes damage will inevitably leave behind clues!

We must find those guys!

Oh, and besides that, the final assault on Lodis City can also begin.

Applying pressure to the Gnoll Empire might force them to reveal their abilities to detect and destroy these Earth Spirit Stakes!

(End of this chapter)