Comprehensive network wizard, magic emperor.

Chapter 280 The Eldest Daughter of the Dragons, Refining the Philosopher's Stone

At the end of the third month of spring, just before the arrival of summer, the Mystic Cauldron had already traversed the four islands of White Rock, Black Tail, Iron Oak, and Eastern Frontier, passing through the empire's most populous areas. Next, the expedition's ships sailed toward more than ten small islands scattered like pearls.

These small islands have few residents, no cities, and are merely underdeveloped villages and towns. Due to their generally isolated transportation, they are not greatly affected by the epidemic.

The Church of Miracles took over all the parishes of the original Five Gods Orthodoxy. Even in remote villages with only a few households, there was often a small church. The priests and clergy there were probably just local farmers working part-time, never having left their hometowns, and completely unaware of the turmoil taking place in the empire.

They may never have heard of any miracles, spending their days fishing and farming, comforting villagers, acting as guarantors, tending a few goats, and raising some chickens and ducks.

But the expedition brought them news from the distant empire, new doctrines and scriptures, and a magic eye pendant.

Priests in parishes large and small voluntarily dedicate themselves as vessels for the eyes of God. For this, they must follow precepts, restrain their words, actions, and minds, and become ascetics in practice.

Every night, the penitents would hang the Eye of God pendant in front of the shrine or paintings in the church, or even on the bell tower and roof.

Sometimes people would see a figure appear beside the Divine Eye pendant. He would quietly bathe in candlelight or moonlight, his cold and deep skeletal face overlooking the world: villages, streets, buildings, chickens and dogs roaming at night, thieves, factory workers, and sleepless, tormented people.

His presence can be seen in every city, town, and village that miracles have visited.

Rumors of divine intervention at night are widespread throughout the archipelago. These claims and rumors have been verified many times. When night falls, people spontaneously pray to the church, asking that the miracles that come with the night will gaze upon them and bring them and their families some good fortune.

The Lighthouse Mage sat before a wall covered with crystal balls, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon through the images displayed on the crystals. His perception extended to the various human settlements of the Sail Islands, and he created hundreds or even thousands of illusory avatars to observe the mortal world.

With so many images, the human brain simply cannot process the information; a vast array of sounds and colors pile up in the mind.

Lin Bo wasn't paying attention to the scenes his illusory body was seeing; he was only trying to communicate with the Destiny Dragons.

From Stone Tower to Hongdu, and then to the borders of the Empire, aside from the colonies in the New World, the native settlements were basically under his observation. He learned the true names of hundreds of dragons.

They spoke, whispered, murmured, and narrated to the monk and his illusory body. Hundreds of beautiful female voices blended and merged, their voices no longer conflicting, but resonating like a chorus, becoming an orderly and integrated sound.

"Dear King of Dragons, my fellow beings, can you hear me?"

The Lighthouse Mage responded in a low voice in dragon language: "(Magic) Who are you now?"

“I am the eldest daughter of the dragons. I was born once, born from the suicide of a human, but buried by the reverse current of history, and I fell into a deep sleep. Now, your retinue has reconnected my remains, and I am about to be born again, but I need a true name, my love, give me a true name.”

Lin Bo understood whose voice he was hearing. It belonged to the Dragon of Kening, the Dragon of the Islands. During the bourgeois revolution, the Kening people, who had briefly established a provisional government and were moving towards modern history, were about to shape the ideology of a nation-state, but were interrupted by the restoration of the imperial system.

It died that year, but was resurrected as the cauldron of medicine that cured the plague traveled across the islands, because the people were ready to embrace a new ideology and unite under the banner of faith.

The mage whispered, “(in magical language) Eldest daughter of the dragons, I cannot yet give you your true name. I cannot see the name you should have in this silence.”

"It's alright, I will wait. I am willing to wait for you, even if your body turns to dust, I believe you will eventually return."

Its voice collapsed, like a sandcastle on a beach, reverting to the whispers of dragons, who did their utmost to lock in the vast ocean of possibilities for Lin Bo and select the historical outcome most favorable to him.

[Important Notice from the Network: An abnormal disturbance in the probability flow of fate has been detected. When you are in a specific area of ​​this plane, you will receive a permanent luck buff (↑↑↑)]

The disciples of the Lighthouse had been busy for a month and a half refining the High Philosopher's Stone, constantly processing alchemical materials and carrying out preliminary preparations. The Archmage clearly had no more time or energy to spare; he sat idly under the Fresnel Lens all day, often crossing the sea at dusk and returning at dawn. He still ate with his disciples and answered their questions, but his words had become much less frequent, as certain unresolved matters were causing his thoughts to wander.

The disciples sensed the subtle urgency in the Grand Master's silence, but they were not flustered; instead, they were busy, tired, and expectant.

Sometimes, the atmosphere around the lighthouse is disturbed by magical phenomena, accompanied by unnatural rainfall, and the sky near the ground seems to weep.

The disciples all noticed that they had exceptionally good luck when doing certain things. The alchemical crucibles and reactors never boiled over, and whenever an accident occurred that caused a leak of toxic substances, they would happen to be away from the scene.

The astrologer plays with divination using cards, a kind of folk art, and anything involving a high-ranking sorcerer's prophecy is always positive. His companions even praise his card-playing skills as being unparalleled, but even if he grabs a handful of cards and throws them into the air, nine times out of ten, the cards that land face up are those symbolizing victory.

More than one apprentice noticed that their progress in comprehending magical runes had increased, and practicing spells was easier than usual. They were always able to complete the assignments given by the archmage quickly and then throw themselves into the alchemical tasks assigned to them.

People called these miracles a sign of good fortune, and the one who benefited the most was naturally the Lighthouse Master himself.

When Lin Bo was conducting virtual modeling and deduction of gene incantations at the Dongya Grottoes, his progress was greatly accelerated, and even his speed in comprehending the true names of cells was improved.

The creatures he created evolved from small fish into magical anemones, then to tree frogs, crickets, grasshoppers, then larks, weasels, pygmy marmosets, and finally back to the ancestral human genetic spells.

Later, Lin Bo continued to add his own personal touches to this basic incantation, integrating the mutation information brought about by the skill, as well as the special genes of the magic anemone.

This part of the work was simpler than he had expected; adding to genes was much easier than subtracting from them.

Summer has arrived before we even realized it.

The preliminary preparations for refining the advanced philosopher's stone have been basically completed.

There were a total of twelve apprentices in charge of preparing for the alchemy. In addition to the astrologer, witch, and jeweler, there were nine new disciples who learned quickly and had a solid foundation in medicine and alchemy.

Lin Bo's first alchemy furnace was destroyed the moment he first refined the Blood of the World. For so long, he has not had time to build a second reaction vessel.

It wasn't until his disciples suddenly reported to him that they had completed the task assigned by the Grand Master that Lin Bo remembered that he needed a new alchemy furnace.

That night, he completed the genetic incantation for the Ascension Body in the machine room of the East Cliff Grottoes. After simulation calculations, the feasibility was about 93%.

Then Lin Bo selected materials from his backpack, bought the blueprints for an advanced alchemy furnace online, and spent five hours building the furnace structure.

A week before the first full moon of summer, as the sun set and the crescent moon hung in the sky, the Grand Master led his twelve disciples into the underground of the lighthouse.

They gathered before the towering alchemical furnace, the greyish-purple alchemical metal shimmering like stars in the night sky.

The remaining disciples guarded the cape and, together with the townspeople, refused any visitors.

For the next week, no one saw the Miracle Walker appear in the churches throughout the Sail Islands.

During the preparation phase, Lin Bo sought help from the Heavenly Dragons, but when actually implementing the plan, he did not crave the favor of fate. He simply followed the steps, and success was inevitable.

(End of this chapter)