Witch Troupe and the Undead

“Yes, haven’t you heard of it? Bloodline power. Half-elves have a relatively common bloodline power.” The fairy didn’t seem to shy away from the topic. “It’s a technology developed by noble families, the result of the old mystic sorcerers’ research on bloodlines.”

"Mystic sorcerers, didn't they say they did it because of their research on bloodlines and blessings..." "Tch, those old guys from the academy must have said that, really." The fairy waved her hand. "But, it's true, the power of bloodlines was developed by the Mystic sorcerers themselves. It's just that they couldn't contain their curiosity and tried to research the power of blessings, and then they messed things up."

"Why? Because blessings cannot be imitated?"

"Yes, to be precise, the Mystic Source Sorcerers initially believed that bloodline, ritual, alchemy, and blessing were all the same thing. In particular, after they successfully conquered the power of bloodline and transformed the initially very rare divine blood nobles into the current bloodline nobles, they became convinced of this theory. As it turns out, while the others can indeed be said to have commonalities, the power of blessing is completely different. Their theory was wrong in this respect."

Roach thought about it and could roughly understand the situation. It was like after classical mechanics was extended to relativity, physicists firmly believed that only one cloud remained to be unraveled, and then they stumbled into the pit of quantum mechanics, only to find that their theory was completely flawed and could not explain many things in quantum mechanics.

However, compared to physicists on Earth who only suffer a spiritual breakdown but can still recover, develop new theories in this field, and further understand the subtleties of the world, the mystical sorcerers here are not so lucky. This means that there may really be a god or some entity behind the church, and they will definitely study what this entity is.

"Then they were killed by the church and the noble bloodline. Ah, just listen to this kind of thing, anyway, you humans don't believe our fairy history records."

"That's because your fairy history is no different from your novels." The girl with braided hair at the front desk raised her head, her eyes flashing with a cold light. "You even dare to make up stories about the ancestors of the empire."

"That's not made up~ He's really not what you think, and he didn't hide his past because..."

"Selling ditch? Ditch literature?" A strange memory popped into Luo Qi's mind, causing him to blurt it out subconsciously.

"..." The literary girl fell silent, her expression stiff, while the fairy patted Roach's shoulder forcefully. "You need to be a little wilder. Keep it up, maybe you can become an excellent fairy historian someday~"

"No need. I think I know now why you haven't been wiped out by the church and nobles despite your high profile." Roach waved his hand. He was still curious why this fairy dared to talk about such things, which should be behind-the-scenes conspiracies and secrets, in public. It turned out to be just unofficial history.

Moreover, judging from other people's reactions, they probably belong to the kind of fanatical historians who only have fiction and no historical fact. If you argue with them, you'll only confirm that their fiction is true. After all, it's not true, so why are you getting angry?

Thinking about the wicked nature of these fairies, Roach roughly understood why they weren't being held accountable. Why are you picking on the clown? Doesn't that make you look like a clown too?

"But what I'm saying is based on fact. The bloodline power of nobles is very mixed. There weren't so many heroic bloodlines before, and now there are even mixed ones." The fairy muttered softly.

Roach keenly caught this information. Although the fairy historian and the word "fictional historian" that came to mind were a good match, at least in this case, the logic was still sound.

Initially, there were only Divine Blood Nobles. Roach mentioned this in Livia's book on the Mystic Source. In fact, the so-called Divine Blood Nobles are the offspring of powerful aliens and humans. Very few of them are powerful, have no reproductive barriers with humans, or have no reproductive barriers with the help of supernatural powers, and are willing to give birth to hybrid offspring. This is why Divine Blood Nobles are extremely rare.

However, the current situation is that bloodline nobles are almost rampant. You can even find children of farm owners in the countryside who may awaken bloodline powers. Furthermore, there are also fairies, a species that is physically and reproductively isolated from humans, which makes it even more inexplicable.

Therefore, the reason why the bloodline nobles took action against the mystic sorcerers was probably to monopolize the system. The incomparably noble divine bloodline nobles at the beginning have become the bloodline nobles now. What will happen next?

Not only will their own bloodline spread, but the Mystic Warlocks are also constantly optimizing and improving the ritual. If it really becomes widespread to everyone, or most people, then their bloodline advantage will be completely gone.

"Speaking of which, what's your name?"

"Are you asking me my name?" the fairy asked Roach in surprise. "Are you sure you want to ask me my name?"

“Yes, oh, you just need to say your common name.” After instinctively confirming, Roach suddenly remembered something and added.

"Tch, I thought someone finally wanted to know my full name. But even if you say that, I'll have to think about it carefully." The fairy sat on Roach's shoulder, her little feet swinging back and forth under her skirt. "Well, you can just call me Titania."

"Titania? Falala?" For some reason, when Roach heard this name, an extremely catchy tune suddenly popped into his head.

"Hey, how did you know my last name is Farala?"

"......"

"This is boring. Ah, we're almost there." The fairy jumped off Roach's shoulder. "By the way, don't ask the fairy's full name next time."

"why?"

"Fool, because that means a marriage proposal!" the fairy chuckled and flew away. "Other fairies wouldn't be this friendly with me; they'd definitely tease you to death!"

“…” Luo Qi looked into the distance. Although he really didn’t know the customs of fairies, why would these little things have such ideas? Humans and fairies are obviously not the same size! A size 42 screw could not possibly be matched with a size 8 nut.

"She doesn't seem very angry. Could it be that my face is actually quite popular among fairies?!" Roach was somewhat surprised.

"I just heard... a proposal? What? You're actually interested in fairies!?" Morna pushed open the door, her expression quite interesting. Her gaze involuntarily drifted to a certain sensitive area, and she asked the same confused question Roach had in mind: "Can I get in?"

“Impossible, absolutely impossible, there’s no way we could get in!” Rhodes shook his head vigorously. “I just didn’t know that asking a fairy’s full name was equivalent to proposing marriage.”

"Well, to be precise, aside from proposing marriage, no one would ask a fairy's full name like that."

Because they are very long, apart from the surname and the first name which were given by their parents, the rest of their names were given by parents and elders, by themselves, by friends, by people or events in memory, or even by a whim.

"Are there any fairies with short names?"

"Yes," Morna said with a complicated expression. Those fairies were probably similar to people with social anxiety or autism.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention, this is the order that was just posted over there. I know you've probably never been to the Stoll Empire before and aren't familiar with the rules here. This is your quota. You can do it yourself or find some apprentices to do it. You just need to oversee it."

Roach looked at the note in his hand and roughly understood what the other party meant by "gatekeeping". It meant that he would let the apprentice do the work, and he would be responsible for signing and taking the blame. If anything went wrong, he would be fully responsible. The benefit was that if nothing went wrong, he could get the apprentice's labor for free.

"I'll just make it myself..." Roach realized that with the amount of raw materials, he could make one portion and get half of it back, not even counting the official loss. After all, alchemy is mostly done manually, and even with a lot of equipment and tools, it's impossible to achieve the same level of automation as chemical engineering on Earth.

Alchemists and apprentices have varying skill levels, and those alchemists with near-optimal success rates are unlikely to make these low-level consumables. This creates an awkward situation where the success rate remains stuck, neither rising nor falling, and even becomes a default loss ratio.

Taking into account the default loss ratio, Rhodes can make three finished products from one set of materials provided by the military. He can even sort out the by-products and make other alchemical products for arcane sorcerers.

Unlike spell paradigms that can only be used and activated by the user, these alchemical products can also be used by others, just like normal alchemical products. In a sense, the fact that only the user can use the spell paradigm of the arcane sorcerer is also an advantage, that is, there is no need to worry about this thing accidentally hitting you one day.

"Make it yourself? You must have a lot of free time~" Morna was stunned for a moment. There are actually people who can make things themselves?

"Of course, I have my own tricks, and I'm afraid my apprentices would blow themselves up if I did it."

“...That makes sense.” Morna examined his face and admitted that what he said made sense, after all, he looked like he had been blown up and then pieced back together.

The military's orders are for common alchemical products used to combat undead creatures, including potions, magical tools, alchemical bombs, and extracts. Extracts are the exclusive products of alchemists, who, in addition to manufacturing alchemical materials, also produce these extracts, which, to put it bluntly, are things like poison and kerosene.

There are no arcane equipment options because the materials required are very expensive, and the success rate of creating them is low. The simplest potion is the "Recovery Potion," which sounds similar to the Little Witch's "Healing Potion," but they are actually different. This potion only enhances the recovery of stamina and injuries; it cannot achieve an instant cure like Roach's.

The magical artifact is the simplest magical artifact, the Guardian Crystal, which can create a temporary shield. It has the same effect as the shield rune in the Constant Paradigm of the Mystic Source Sorcerer. However, the Mystic Source Paradigm is the Mystic Source Paradigm, and the magical artifact is the magical artifact. Not only is the former only usable by the user.

Magical artifacts are simply items and equipment imbued with magical effects. Once the magical effects are exhausted or fade away over time, they will become ordinary equipment and items, unless you make them again.

Once a paradigm is created, its effect will not completely disappear. Although the power will slowly dissipate, it can be restored by simply filling it with new essence.

The biggest advantage of the Secret Source Paradigm over Magical Tools is this. Apart from that, although the effects of the magic in the Paradigm are fixed and cannot be freely adjusted, it cannot transform a fireball into a wall of fire or shape any flame like other mages.

However, compared to magical artifacts, the Mystic Paradigm is adjustable in terms of output. They cannot turn fireballs into rockets, but they can turn small fireballs into large fireballs—something magical artifacts cannot do.

This is only the low-level arcane mage. Later on, they can even use various low-level paradigms to imitate the effects of high-level magic, or combine them to create some composite magic effects. These are things that magic tool makers and alchemists cannot do.

Combining the Healing Scepter and the Magic Bullet Necklace can only create a magical artifact capable of launching magic missiles and healing spells, unlike the Mystic Mage who can create a healing magic bullet paradigm that can heal the target.

Of course, in the early stages, alchemists and arcane sorcerers are almost indistinguishable; at most, one might think that the alchemist has a lot of magical artifacts.

Although Roach cannot create [Recovery Potion] or [Guardian Crystal], he can create [Paradigm - Constant - Spirit Barrier]. It only requires simple processing of the crystal, since the essence of this paradigm is just an emblem made of crystal and brass powder. As for where this emblem is placed, it doesn't matter.

Soon Roach created a crystal block about 5 centimeters high, 3 centimeters wide, and 2 centimeters thick. On the deep blue crystal was a strange golden emblem. He tried to activate the paradigm, and a crystal-like curtain enveloped him.

Unlike magical artifacts like guardian crystals, this veil has no duration and no defense threshold. It can withstand damage as long as the maximum damage does not exceed the maximum value of the secret essence within the crystal.

The barrier protecting the crystal only lasts for 15 seconds and can only defend against ordinary crossbow bolt attacks; it is even more vulnerable to magical attacks.

"That's right, it's easy to use other people's materials to make your own things." Moreover, the one-off nature of the paradigm is purely for use and destruction, avoiding the exposure of one's own origins.

After making several such crystals as spares, Roach began working on the part that would earn him money by submitting work orders, namely refining blazing glue and making alchemical bombs, especially the latter. He dared to say that no one knew more about bombs than him—after all, other alchemists usually died after just one explosion.

[PS]

Roach's understanding of the abilities of the Arcane Mage will change over time and as his studies deepen, much like the difference between studying classical mechanics in middle school and quantum mechanics in university.

Furthermore, the lineage of the Mystic Arts has been severed, meaning these understandings are all conclusions drawn by Roach himself. As he travels to more places and comes into contact with more of the remaining knowledge of the Mystic Arts, these understandings will gradually change. (Reasonable retconning statement, nodding.jpg)

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Famous Spear - Taiko's Collapse

The basic alchemical bomb is a magical version of the gunpowder flask. The main ingredients are sulfur and charcoal, but saltpeter is not needed. Instead, three other auxiliary ingredients are used: a dried powder of a fiery red plant that looks like foxtail grass; a small amount of colorful crystal sand; and finally, sugar.

Crystal sand comes from scraps from the magic crystal workshops in the city. Magic crystal is an alchemical material used to make magical tools. It is not a mineral but artificially synthesized.

After the reaction, these colorful impurity crystals are used as auxiliary materials for making alchemical bombs, and the dried plant powder is used as the "fuze" material to trigger the bomb.

Roach first made a few according to the standard version of the recipe, then made a few more based on the theory of the Mystic Sorcerer, and finally carefully calculated the material composition. He tested the finished gunpowder powder on a small scale, recorded the data, and finally obtained an improved version.

Unfortunately, because it was created using the arcane magic paradigm of an arcane sorcerer, this alchemical bomb became an arcane bomb, usable and activated only by arcane sorcerers like him. As for the task of loading the bomb powder into containers, the alchemists didn't need to do that; Roach borrowed a few apprentices from Morna next door to handle the loading.

These powders are filled into ceramic pot-shaped or tubular objects, with a red crystal at the top. To use them, you press the crystal for three seconds, then throw the bomb, which will explode in 3 to 5 seconds. Unfortunately, these things are hand-filled and made, so the quality is what it is.

For Roach's improved version of the Secret Source Bomb and the Secondary Explosion Paradigm, he would need to ask the Little Witch for help.

"Hmm?" The blonde girl looked at the high-quality alloy rod and a large pile of metal in front of her, and then at the blueprints that Roach had taken out. "Like this?" She touched the metal ingots on the workbench. They gradually deformed and stretched into a regular cylindrical structure, then a disc-like structure, and finally a semi-circular medicine shield.

"Yes, can it be mass-produced?"

"Hmm~ It's a bit troublesome," the little witch said softly, "I don't really want to do it."

"Alright, make a few samples. I'll go ask Morna if there are any workshops in town that can do it," Roach said after thinking for a moment. It shouldn't be a big problem.

"What... is this for?" The witch looked at the thing that Roach had finally assembled. It was a metal cylinder with a folding wooden handle. It didn't look like a staff or a magical weapon.

"Grenade launcher," Roach said as he stood up a metal frame containing 8x8 squares, each filled with a small, arrow-shaped metal block.

That's a [Secondary Energy Arrow]. Roach doesn't yet have the ability to create a true Heavy Energy Arrow, an advanced product. Moreover, these advanced paradigms would reveal some characteristics of a Mystic Mage, because normal magical tools don't have this kind of "advanced model" that changes the effects of magic.

However, Roach can make a simplified version of the energy arrow that doesn't require tracking capabilities. It requires fewer materials and is simpler to make, so he can easily produce a large number of them.

The essence of the Mystic Paradigm is a spell model composed of extracted Mystic materials and essence, and its external shape and the medium it uses are irrelevant. In the past, there were even Mystic Mages who would put the Paradigm on their own bodies and pretend to be Mystic Mages.

The simplified model means it's easier to fit smaller carriers, such as the secondary energy arrow mediums Roach is facing, which are made from iron filings he bought from Morna for a copper coin.

On Roach's workbench were a dozen identical metal frames with square nests. He filled all the metal frames and overlapped them, then stuffed them into a long rectangular bracket. He then had the little witch transform the metal and wood to form handles and grips, and finally inserted a closed glass tube into a pre-set slot.

"What... is this?"

"I call it the Light Energy Storm Crossbow," Roach said seriously. It's called a crossbow because it fires energy arrows made of wind element magic; it's called light because its power is actually not great, only equivalent to the arrows of a light crossbow; and it's called an energy storm because of its firing principle, since he can't create a metal storm.

After Roach successfully created this item, Greatness began to glow, and a new item, [Craftsmanship], appeared behind the Skills panel.

[Mystic Idea King: Design and manufacture at least 20 new types of Mystic Warlock-specific weapon systems, 1/20]

[Military-Industrial Complex: Design and manufacture at least 20 new types of alchemical weapon systems; 1/20]

[The Death Merchant: Sells his newly designed alchemical weapon systems, causing mass destruction. 0/500000 (Humans or other intelligent species)]

[Crafts: Secondary Energy Storm Arrow; Secondary Energy Storm Crossbow; Alchemy Grenade Launcher; Alchemy Grenade]

Roach could expand each item in the Crafts section to display a stack of exquisite and detailed design drawings. Apart from that, it seemed to offer no other function, only allowing him to view the design drawings at any time.

"So troublesome..." After looking at Roach's design drawings and listening to his concept, the little witch's face puffed up. It sounded even more troublesome than arcane magic, mainly in terms of loading and mass production.

“Indeed, it would be best to find a specialized alchemy workshop to manufacture them in the future. These shouldn’t be too difficult to make, right?” Roach said, stroking his chin. The metal frame is just a simple piece of equipment. Apart from the requirement for some processing precision, it does not need to withstand chamber pressure compared to the thermal weapons on Earth. Theoretically, wood would also work.

The outer frame was made by myself using thick iron wire, which leaves a lot of room for improvement and simplification. The remaining secret essence injection tube is a bit more complicated, but this kind of thing is reusable.

"This is troublesome," the little witch said, pointing to the grenade casings, realizing that her magical pet and guardian didn't seem to understand.

"Oh, we only need to make a few of these. The rest is the work of alchemists. We can just sell them to the local alchemical society and make some money."

When Roach saw the recipe for the alchemical bomb, he realized why gunpowder weapons or thermal weapons could not be widely used by the lower and middle classes in this world. It was because alchemists were needed to create the necessary materials and finished products, and using them was troublesome and difficult to train ordinary people to learn.

In other words, they are not only expensive for ordinary people, but also not easy to use. Therefore, the main firearms or magical weapons are concentrated on large weapons for city defense and on ships, as well as those used by alchemists.

As for mages, to be honest, their spells don't require mana or spell slots. Your weapon's firepower and sustained firepower aren't even as strong as their arcane spells. And they can't carry firearms that are stronger than arcane spells with them, whether it's the weapon itself or the ammunition.

"Hmm~ So ugly..." The little witch thought for a while, her little face scrunched up. The "weapons" that Luo Qi made were all so ugly. One was a dark, cylindrical object with a handle, and the other was a bunch of metal frames fixed inside a thick wire frame.

"It really is ugly..." Roach thought so too, but he really hadn't studied weapon industrial art, and his knowledge didn't include the actual design of firearms. If you asked him to design a musket or Gatling gun, he probably wouldn't even know what shape the parts would be.

The inspiration for this weapon comes more from a famous weapon in my mind that is said to have killed a great figure: [The Famous Spear - Taiko Bōtetsuya].

"But for now, we'll just make do. As for looking good, that's not something I can do," Roach said, shrugging his shoulders to indicate that he couldn't do it.

"Here you go..." The little witch pulled out a book from somewhere that was much thinner than her usual piles of thick volumes.

Roach read "The Road to Legends" aloud, word by word. It was written in Lusterian and didn't seem like a magic book. Upon opening it, he found it was an atlas recording the legends and appearances of various legendary weapons. Each one was exquisite and extremely luxurious. Many of the melee weapons and armor sections were the kind that Roach instinctively felt were not suitable for use on the battlefield.

He flipped directly to the end, and sure enough, it was for children, recommended for readers under 14 years old. It was intended for telling stories to boys from noble families, to spark their interest in extraordinary combat skills, to broaden their horizons, and to serve as a basic introduction to history, giving them a general understanding of the great achievements of their family or imperial ancestors.

"Hmm~ Hmm~" Under her light golden bangs, her emerald eyes sparkled as she looked at Roach very seriously, as if she was looking forward to him creating more new things in the style shown in the book. Livia even took out a blank notebook and patted it as encouragement.

“…” Luo Qi felt like he was being treated like a child. This interaction felt like a mother encouraging her child to practice his craft skills, and she even prepared a blank picture book notebook to record his craft works.

Seemingly noticing Roach's gaze, the little witch pulled out another picture book filled with cute illustrations. The illustrations were... cute, but considering the frequently appearing elements like skulls, insects, and hearts, it looked like something from a cult's ritual.

The title page reads "Gifted to Livia by Neel Riley." The cover is blank, but Roach can roughly guess what it is. It's probably a memento of the various potions, magical tools, and spells that her mentor learned to make when he was raising her.

Now, Livia has also brought out a new picture book, encouraging Roach to do more arcane crafts, as if it were a cycle.

"You must be lonely, right?" Luo Qi ruffled the little girl's light golden hair. Her expression and eyes became much more lively than the almost lifeless indifference she had shown at the beginning, and she also became more talkative.

"Ugh~" Livia slapped Roach's hand away, her cheeks puffed up again, and kicked him in the shin, looking very angry.

However, the little guy was easy to coax. "Once I hand over these alchemical bombs and fiery glue, I can go eat dessert."

"Dessert!" The blonde girl's anger vanished instantly, replaced by anticipation and longing in her eyes. The Arcane Tower, first floor of the Alchemy Institute.

"Did you...make all of this yourself?" The receptionist was the same girl with the braided hair. It seemed she had quite a few part-time jobs, so she probably really did come from a poor family.

"It's just a byproduct. I mainly make things for my own use." The Alchemy Grenade, although it uses the Secondary Burst Paradigm as its primer, is not considered an exclusive weapon for Arcane Warlocks. Perhaps it's because the primer and warhead are interchangeable.