The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Before the fireworks even started, a long queue had already formed in front of the Heisenberg Pharmacy Root branch, with lines winding back and forth several times.

Ratmen, frogmen, alchemists, and even some small, insignificant races have all appeared here.

Old Liu didn't even have time to wipe the fog off his monocle; he could only squint and frantically scribble on the list with a charcoal pencil.

Today it was its turn to switch places with its two brothers, Nehta and the latter, who was idly arranging several small metal pieces on the table and then banging them on like musical instruments.

The short, chubby rat-man glared at his "good-for-nothing" brother, then continued writing the form, muttering to himself, "Ugh... this is really going to turn me into a dried-up rat!"

"The frogmen still have three doses of the potion they've ordered, and we ratmen have seven, not to mention the alchemists..." Old Six jumped up and down twice, his beard trembling.

"Hey, I said, Sixth Brother..." Nehta slowly put down the "drumstick" in his hand and raised his head under the dim, low-quality magic source lamp.

"The lame 'Emperor' has arrived," it said, raising its chin toward a dark pipe.

A series of soft, clattering sounds of footsteps disappeared in an instant, followed by the appearance of the wire crown that shimmered with a faint light.

It was the ratman "Lin" who had met Iseria for the first time a few days ago. He was leaning on a cane called "Scepter" and trying to portray himself as majestic as a king despite his limp.

"Lin?" Old Six was somewhat surprised and asked, "What brings you here?"

The former did not answer, but simply stuffed a rare hematite ore, covered in cracks, into Lao Liu's arms, and then disappeared in a flash.

"Hematite...hematite?" The short, stout ratman laboriously moved to the counter, held the hematite above his head, and barely managed to place it on the counter. "How did Lin know we needed hematite right now?"

"Sixth Brother, this is more than just a piece of hematite," Nehta said, putting away the piece of iron on the table and scratching at the cracks on the hematite with his front paw.

"Hey! Nehta, you know how big my head is!" The short, fat ratman spun around in place, his drooping tail kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Lin has brought us intelligence," Nehta's voice trailed off.

In the mind of this ratman ranger, the lame ratman who dreamed of being an emperor all day long was indeed a good intelligence gatherer.

But after that first cleaning, the mouse lay listlessly on its cramped "throne" every day, muttering something to itself.

"The great Lin has already made enough money... The great Lin is going to be an emperor who can balance family and career!"

Then, whenever anyone asked it for help... it neither agreed nor refused, but simply held onto that glass bead that it never parted with, crying for a while and laughing for a while.

The glass bead was currently placed in a translucent container inside the pharmacy, serving as a valuable item for "temporary debt settlement," or perhaps as some other symbol.

"Lin's glass ball... how did it end up here?" Nehta muttered to himself.

"Iseria said that the glass ball was a temporary exchange for the antidote, and that others would come back to take it back once they had raised enough ransom," Yunevo's voice came from afar.

"Oh, Brother Yunefu, what brings you here! Didn't you say we were supposed to meet today with..." Old Liu turned his head again, his eyes wide and his beard standing on end.

All the beings in the group turned their heads in unison, their gazes falling on the young black-robed alchemist they had seen many times before, with a mixture of reverence and inexplicable anticipation.

"How's the preparation going, Sixth Brother?" Yunevo's voice was as calm as ever. "If everything is ready... we might be able to start the experiment today."

Old Liu blinked, slapped his forehead, and skipped into the shop, dragging back half a bag of oyster shells that were still leaking black liquid.

It was a tiny, insignificant "leftovers" mixed in with the waste dumped in Hart City, but the frogmen still had to put in a lot of effort to scoop them up from the bottom of the "Great Swamp".

Nehta also dragged out the next two bags of items, a pile of metal fragments...

There was also concentrated acid that I don't know which lab it came from.

"Yonev, what are you planning to do?" Nehta asked, puzzled.

"Paint the 'home'," Yonivo said, taking one of each item and placing them on the ground to check their condition and usability.

"Once this paint is applied, it needs to be applied and touched up regularly... This will allow 'Root' to last for a few more years," the black-robed alchemist said softly, "but this is also the worst-case scenario."

He stopped what he was doing and glanced at the intricate network of pipes at the top.

Several rats quietly left the group and stood in front of Yunefu, rubbing their hands together, but then looked at Lao Liu with embarrassment, as if they wanted to say something but hesitated.

The sixth dog looked up, its not-so-bright mind working rapidly. It instinctively nudged the shoulder of the black-robed alchemist beside it. "They...they want to ask, can this thing really stop our 'home' from leaking?"

Upon hearing this, Yunevo raised his head to look at the rat-men, and then saw the little rat-man still in his arms, being held in swaddling clothes.

Its skin was covered with a layer of fine down, but it looked extremely wet, like plaster on a wall about to collapse from being soaked.

"Yes," Yonivo's voice was heavy.

The ratmen exchanged glances, stared blankly at their empty paws for a moment, then clenched their paws and bowed to Yunevo with human etiquette.

"What if this thing actually works..." Nehta stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Without the 'if,' it will definitely work," the black-robed alchemist interrupted, then unexpectedly found the cracked hematite.

"We have to open this thing up and take a look," Nehta said, taking the hematite from Yonevo's hand, and using a small knife to pry it open.

With a "whoosh," a piece of paper, still shimmering with gold, fell out mixed with fine red powder.

"Golden light?" Nehta's eyes widened, a few nut crumbs falling from its gaping mouth. "Could it be connected to that white-robed man?"

Yoniv's brows furrowed instantly, and he opened the note with some suspicion.

There were only a few lines written inside—"Seven days later, Uriel ordered me to lead the rat-catching team in through the western pipe."

The signature was from an old acquaintance of Eunice, a "conservative" figure in the church...

Seth.

The black-robed alchemist rubbed his temples, realizing that revealing a "secret" that shouldn't have been shown at this moment was rather reckless.

He looked at the somewhat restless creatures underground and reassured them, "Guys, don't be too afraid!"

"We will always put the rights and interests of every living being underground first!"