110 – Alchemy Vanishes in a Puff of Smoke
There were lighter and heavier chests.
Although the locks were quite st.u.r.dy, but they couldn"t keep Liszt away. By applying qi to his sword, he effortlessly cut open a chest"s copper lock. Now the chest could be opened.
No one else was in the hall. Everyone was sent away by the butler Carter and Carter himself also went out. As the chests might contain precious goods, Carter, as the butler, should not concern himself with them.
Liszt was very satisfied with Carter"s actions.
Although he was convinced that Carter was loyal to him, but the same was not true for the other servants. If they were to see something they shouldn"t have and then were to tell someone about what they saw, that would be troublesome.
The principle ‘he that shows his purse longs to be rid of it" should not be underestimated.
“Unlike the other chests, this chest is very light. What does it hold? Or is it perhaps empty?” Liszt extended his hand and slowly opened the lid.
Suddenly, there was dazzling, nearly blinding radiance. The chest was filled with highly reflective white metal ore, which reflected the light rays coming through the window in every direction.
Liszt rubbed his eyes. After adapting to the messy rays of light, he carefully scrutinized the white metal ore inside the chest. He took a piece of ore and weighed it in his hand. Although it hardly weighed anything, but it definitely felt like a metal to the touch. It was cool and very hard.
“This is…”
He had never seen such a light metal. According to what he knew, metals were generally quite heavy.
Of course, he also had knowledge of a very light type of metal, lithium, which was half as heavy as water. But even lithium was heavier than the metal ore in his hand. He felt like he was holding foam instead of a piece of metal.
When squeezed hard, the metal ore showed no reaction.
When hacked with a sword, it could not be cut. Only a light impression was left behind.
“It"s definitely not foam, nor is it plastic.” As he looked at the metal ore in his hand, he recalled what he had read in knight novels. His eyebrows jumped up lightly and a smile crept on his face, “I probably already guessed it. What metal is as light as a feather and as hard as iron… It"s a magic metal – mithril!”
In this world, metals like gold, silver, copper, iron, and aluminum were also present.
But there were also a few special types of metals, which had an affinity with magic power. These metals were very good magic conductive materials and were essential for forging magic equipment.
Currently, there were three types of known magic metals – mithril, adamantine, and orichalc.u.m.
Mithril was as light as a feather, adamantine was invincible, and orichalc.u.m was indestructible.
These three types of magical metal originated from dragons. Reportedly, the Unsetting Radiance Empire had a mithril dragon. In knight novels, ‘silver knights" often followed the protagonist into battle. These knight, as a rule, were adorned in very bright mithril armors and were very swift.
“Mithril is very valuable, it is even more precious than gold. This chest of mithril ore is at least worth one dragon coin!” Liszt licked his lips.
It was worthy of being called a treasure!
He quickly put all the mithril ore inside the s.p.a.ce gem, only leaving an empty chest behind. Just the chest worth of mithril ore was already a great harvest. However, he didn"t plan on selling it. It would be kept until the day came that he needed it to forge equipment.
He touched the Redblood Sword at his waist, thinking that it should contain a small amount of mithril as its magic conductivity was far beyond that of ordinary fine steel weapons.
Even without the dragon gem embedded in it, a weapon using a mixture of mithril was at least a magic weapon.
“Next, lets take a look at the contents of the second chest… I wonder if there is any adamantine or orichalc.u.m.” Liszt raised his sword, cut open the rusty copper lock, and opened the lid.
Suddenly, a stench a.s.saulted his nose, nearly causing him to vomit.
Inside, he found an impressive pile of neatly stacked books. After being kept sealed for an unknown amount of time, the stench released by the thick bast paper could be called as a human repellent.
While holding his breath, Liszt looked at the topmost book. The handwritten t.i.tle using Serpentines read – [Rudolph"s Alchemy Diary].
“Alchemy diary?” A glint flickered in his eyes.
Alchemist was considered as a legendary occupation and was probably equivalent to chemist or Chinese alchemist. According to legend, Alchemists could refine common stones into gold by means of miraculous alchemic methods. Those grasping the mysteries of Alchemy could possess riches rivaling those of states.
Alchemists were quite often depicted in knight novels.
But in reality, there were many people holding the t.i.tle of Alchemist who never displayed genuine Alchemy and just cheated their way to food and drinks.
Liszt, who studied physics, didn"t believe in Alchemy.
Of course, in this world with magic power, heavens know whether alchemy existed. Now, for example, he was looking at a diary with an impressive t.i.tle which contained the word ‘Alchemy".
“Is this really a recording of Alchemy, will it enable me to grasp the rhythm of Alchemy? Am I going to reach the pinnacle of life so soon?” Liszt felt his heartbeat accelerate.
The Alchemist was not inferior to first-rate existences like Dragon Knight, Dragon Domain Lord, Archwizard, Dragon Slayer. Such people were beyond wealthy and could do as they pleased.
However, just as he touched the [Rudolph"s Alchemy Diary], the book disintegrated into fine powder. Liszt"s fingers went straight through the fine powder.
“I…”
“Son of a wh.o.r.e.” Thought Liszt, lost for words.
In the blink of an eye, the books inside the chest turned into fine powder. Liszt still tried to gently rummage inside, but anything he touched gave way. It was no longer possible to make up any text, nor was there any semblance of books left.
Wind blew through the window, stirred the powder, and lifted it into the air along with the stench.
Liszt came back to his sense after a long time. He clasped his chest, nearly going to spit out blood: “My Alchemy!” The thick bast paper books had decayed after being stored for a long time.
The diary that recorded Alchemy vanished in a puff of smoke.
He felt as if there was a blade being twisted in his heart.
Although he thought that Alchemy was not too likely to be real, but he still suffered a heavy blow when the slight possibility of it being real slipped past his fingers.
Thus, what should have been a chest filled with the treasure of knowledge turned into a pile of waste.
After heaving a sigh, Liszt restrained his emotions: “Forget it. If it isn"t meant to be, then so be it. Who knows if Alchemy was really recorded in the diary. This is a windfall, so loosing some isn"t enough to shake me. The chest worth of mithril ore is already enough.”
After comforting himself, he then carefully raised his sword and opened the third chest.
This one was also filled with books.
What faced him were the covers of five books.
Liszt learned his lesson. Instead of touching them, he carefully memorized the cover of each book..
[Steel Ridge Kingdom"s Magic Bests Guide], [Close Contact with a Multi-Horned Rhinoceros], [Goldshire Tower"s Anecdotes], [Red Monkey Forest"s Colorful Mushrooms], [Fawkes Manor"s Stormy Night].
The Serpentines atop the covers were not written by hand, but were printed instead. These books were clearly published to be sold on the market.
“Goldshire Tower? Red Monkey Forest? Fawkes Manor?”
Although he had never heard of these three places, but he could conclude that they were located in the Steel Ridge Kingdom. Only Steel Ridge Kingdom and its ancillary states used Serpentines. Including Rudolph, who wrote the Alchemy diary, they should have been people from the Steel Ridge Kingdom.
He carefully reached out to touch the book, hoping to turn the page.
But it still failed. As soon as the book was touched, it immediately turned into fine powder.
“What a pity, the two chests worth of knowledge vanished.” Liszt shook his head and then focused on the last two chests. “Do these two chests also hold books?”