The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

A long-awaited weekend.

On the second floor, Eunice was at his lab bench, stirring the emerald green liquid in a crucible with a glass rod.

Iseria was lying on the table, intending to take notes on an ancient book, when she suddenly found herself "drowsy".

Outside Alchemy Street, people come and go; the residents of Starmok have grown accustomed to the most popular apothecary on the street.

On the first floor, the hidden wall bricks silently slid open, revealing a bottomless rat tunnel.

Nehta, the ratman, has been working part-time here for some time now. He's not used to openly climbing the stairs to his living quarters in the basement.

On the contrary, this path was opened with the permission of Eunicev.

First, a grayish-brown front paw emerged, followed by a long, pointed rat face wearing a monocle. It shook off the dust and went up to the second floor.

"Hey~ Yunevo, I think... there's some news that might interest you," the gray ratman adjusted his glasses, his voice carrying a natural sharpness.

"Tell me about it," Yunevo put down the glass rod in his hand, and Iseria's ears perked up.

"In the old workshop street in the dock area, there's an old craftsman named Dalke," the gray ratman said, breaking off a biscuit from his small bag and taking a bite with a rustling sound. "That guy used to be involved in quite a few big projects."

"That also includes what you mentioned... school history and stuff like that."

Nehta, the gray ratman, swallowed the last bite of biscuit, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it all in one gulp. "What he did has absolutely nothing to do with magical mechanics! What transmission rods... gears, there's not a trace of magical power involved. It's pretty much the same as what you did."

Yunevo raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Iseria.

"He's making a living by borrowing odd jobs now, but he probably has some old blueprints and notes from back then. I've already given you a heads-up, if you want to see him... this afternoon would be best."

"It's rare to see you so interested, Nehta. You're not thinking of asking for a share of the profits, are you...?" Yunev joked.

"Do I look like that kind of rat? I'm much more ethical than Sykes!" The rat-man waved his hand and went downstairs to prepare for business.

Yunevo shrugged and led Iseria out the door.

The old workshop street is located in the northeast corner of Stamok, near the base of the city wall. Most of the buildings are low and old, resembling hardware stores in an urban village...

The air was filled with the stench of metal cutting and the indescribable smell of machine oil. Shop windows along the street displayed all kinds of magical mechanical parts, tools, or semi-finished products.

Dark's workshop was at the end of the street. The signboard was rusted and the words on it were no longer legible, but when you pushed the door open, a string of bells rang out in a pleasant sound.

The interior looked much more spacious, with various tools hanging on the walls. A middle-aged, robust man with a beard was holding a magnifying glass and repeatedly examining a complex mechanical device.

He wiped his hands with his oil-stained leather apron, rolled up his sleeves to reveal the scars on his muscles, and asked without looking up, "The two Nehta introduced?"

"Wait a moment, this gear set is missing one last piece..." The arcane craftsman's voice was steady and powerful.

Yonivo nodded, looked around, and saw a yellowed wax drawing hanging on the wall—a cross-section of the underground structure of Starmoke. Although the specific distribution was not marked, the outline of one of the sections matched the underground space of the school history museum with striking similarities.

A few minutes later, Dark finally straightened up and looked with satisfaction at the device in front of him, which consisted of hundreds of tiny parts, starting to operate on its own. Only then did he turn around and look at the two visitors in front of him.

"I suppose... you are the lecturer Ionevo that Nehta mentioned, right? And this young lady... is Iserlia."

"Sit down, sit down, don't tire yourself out," Dark pulled out two old leather chairs from the corner and plopped down on the toolbox. "I heard from Nehta... you're quite interested in 'old things'?"

Yoniv got straight to the point: "Indeed, I've heard that you were involved in the planning and construction of the underground space of the Tus University History Museum."

Arcane craftsman Dark paused, tapping his knee, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "That was all so many years ago... It's the anniversary of Tus, the school history museum is being expanded, and some other things are being reinforced as well."

"A sealing formation, right?"

The arcane craftsman gave Yunevo a deep look and sighed, "Young man, some things... are best left buried in the past."

"Obviously, the truth is not what you're saying," the latter said.

The arcane craftsman remained silent for a long time, then sighed and rummaged under the table to find a dusty iron box. Inside was a stack of more detailed and well-preserved blueprints.

The three-layered concentric circle nested seal is consistent with what Yunevo saw.

"Such a two-way seal... few people know about it. It seals the inside and the outside as well," Dark drew a circle with his finger and pointed at the center.

"Back then... that plan was more like a cover-up; the deeper stuff... the core personnel who knew the truth were almost all buried in that disaster."

"The riot of the 'Colossus of Justice'?" Yonivo asked.

"Exactly," Dark said with a wry smile, putting away the blueprints. "There were some redundancies in the sealed structure, but after it was removed... I asked the project leader, and he was transferred the next day. Not long after, even the research funding was cut by more than half, and in the end, he 'voluntarily resigned'."

He cleared his throat, his expression turning serious: "Young people... it's absolutely not worth it to pry open a perfectly sealed box."

"Haven't you thought about clearing your name? Since that incident, Tus has dismissed all the people in the church who are publicly known..."

"I didn't take the file with me," Dark waved his hand, indicating that the two should leave.

"Understood..." Yunefu smirked and pulled Iseria out of the artisan's workshop.

The girl looked down at her toes and asked softly, "What was that old man... talking about? The tremors we felt that day... weren't just from the gargoyles, right?"

"Of course not, he said it wasn't worth it to pry open a perfectly sealed box... but the box had already been opened a crack before we arrived," Yonivo said.

"So, after those faulty structures are fixed, will any functions be restored as a result? And that would lead to..."

Eunice nodded, and the two turned the corner and returned to the side door of the "Heisenberg" pharmacy.

On the table in the laboratory on the second floor, there was a note written in dog scratch from Nehta.

"The church begged and pleaded to send in three people: a caravan guard, whose special characteristics will be explained after the shop closes... while the main force is waiting outside. You're famous now—be careful."