Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 584 - 582: Refinement

"Hmm... Overall," Li Ang muttered while rubbing his chin, "the final outcome should be a happy ending, right? The cycle’s been broken, everyone is still alive, and I’ve managed to retire with honors. But that world’s technology tree was seriously biased; they were capable of creating Mechanical dolls indistinguishable from real humans, yet just beginning to research Alkylating Agents..."

"What are you mumbling about?" Miss Chai emerged from the floor and hovered above Li Ang, looking down at him. "Is the mission complete? Why don’t I feel anything?"

Li Ang replied casually, "As usual, solo role-playing."

"Eh? What storyline?"

Li Ang thought for a moment and summarized, "A story about a man who locked himself in a basement, wore a rubber suit, and self-imprisoned, torturing himself for 15,000 hours until he finally found redemption."

"...Fine."

Miss Chai hesitantly nodded, her gaze carrying a peculiar expression. "Hand over the Qinge Armor to me; I’m off to play games."

She took the armor Li Ang tossed her, slipped into it, and hopped back to the living room. She jumped on the couch, put on her headphones, and dramatically raised her arm, index finger pointing skyward. Then, she brought her arm down forcefully, pressing the pause button on the game controller. Accompanied by the enthusiastic music of "Game Start!" she began another round of fervent gaming.

Li Ang shook his head, walked into the Alchemy Workshop, jumped into a Breeding Box, and began to take stock of his gains from the scenario.

The mission had lasted less than two hours, but the reward points and Experience Points were still added correctly.

"1,000 Experience Points, 1,500 Game Coins, no reward multipliers."

Li Ang calculated, "Much higher than I expected. Is this what the world is like after Lv15? At this rate, just a couple more normal missions should get me to Lv20."

He muttered, taking out the Alchemist’s Travel Diary.

Reward points and such were secondary; the key was this book.

After completing the mission, the description of the book changed.

[Alchemist’s Travel Diary]

[Attribute: Special consumable, disappears after one use]

[Type: Book]

[Quality: Common]

[Special Effect: After use, translates and transfers the content recorded in the book into the user’s brain.]

[Cost: None]

[Cooldown: None]

[Usage Condition: Intelligence Attribute must be 12 points or higher, Sanity Value must be 500 points or higher]

[Remark: Morgan Anderson, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Amestris, once traveled as a researcher to different continents to conduct field research. This book contains the experience and insights into Alchemy that he gathered during his travels.]

[Remark: Morgan, oh Morgan! How could you degenerate like this! Have you forgotten the research plans you set earlier? Stop immersing yourself in the decadent parties of Ross Duchy’s high society!]

[Remark: Hehe, the Ross Duchy noble young ladies’ hands are so fragrant and soft~]

Li Ang squinted and commented, "...I didn’t expect an earnest-looking fellow like you to have been such a playboy in your younger days." He then proceeded to use the diary.

Before entering the mission, he had added both extra attribute points from leveling up to his Intelligence Attribute. His Sanity Value had already exceeded 500, meeting the usage requirements.

The hefty book in his hand instantly vanished. A torrent of information flooded into Li Ang’s brain, turning his vision white and involuntarily making his head lean back.

"Ugh... Is this what memory transfer feels like..."

Li Ang rubbed his temples and murmured softly, "Compared to those Systems in web novels that coddle their protagonists with meticulous care, this slaughterhouse game is as brutally heartless as the cruel stepmother in a tragic drama..."

It was a good thing his physical condition was far superior to that of an average person. Otherwise, a player with a weaker constitution subjected to such a memory shock might have ended up dizzy, with a nosebleed gushing forth on the spot.

Alchemy is a very mysterious and complex field. It involves chemistry, physics, mathematics, philosophy, astrology, and many other disciplines, making it difficult to define precisely. In Morgan Anderson’s plane of existence, different regions had developed their own distinct forms of Alchemy.

Amestris’s foundation of Alchemy was the circle, which they regarded as a cycle of power. Alchemists could draw Circular alchemy arrays on the ground, using their own Energy circulating within them to communicate and resonate with the earth. This allowed them to extract materials from the soil and transform them into the desired objects. The soil—containing substances like oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium, potassium, phosphorus, and sulfur, among others—is a very suitable platform for Alchemy.

"The essence of Alchemy lies in understanding, analyzing, decomposing, and recombining substances," Li Ang murmured. "The different geometric shapes within a Circular alchemy array represent the formulas that make up the target object. Only by inscribing the correct formula can you create the object you want."

"A high-level Alchemist, by virtue of their profound understanding of materials, can even achieve array-less Alchemy. However, the more complex the target object, the more intricate its formula, and the more ’Energy’ it consumes. It’s one thing to craft a simple bicycle from soil, but to create a tank—even an early model tank—the difficulty would increase almost exponentially..."

He rubbed his chin and said with narrowed eyes, "The Energy mentioned in Alchemy should be similar to the Spiritual Energy of the players, right? Why not give it a try?"

Li Ang got up from the ground, returned to his room to fetch a piece of chalk, and then went back inside the Breeding Box. Following the records in the Alchemist’s Travel Diary, he began to draw the simplest alchemy array documented therein on the soil.

"The patterns on the alchemy array, or rather, the alchemical formulas, are actually an aid adopted by Alchemists due to insufficient Computing Power in their brains," Li Ang said as he drew. "They allow natural energy to flow along the formula naturally, without the need for meticulous, tiring guidance."

"In other words, if you have ample Spiritual Energy, precise control, and a deep understanding of the alchemy formulas, you can conceive the alchemy array in your mind relying on brain Computing Power, achieving array-less Alchemy..."

Thanks to his extremely high attribute values and body control abilities, the alchemy array Li Ang drew by hand was as precise and beautiful as if he had used a compass and a ruler. After completing the last stroke, he placed his hands behind the alchemy array, closed his eyes, held his breath, and concentrated. Just as described in the diary, he slowly sank his Spiritual Energy deep into the soil...

CRACKLE—

Subtle sparks of electricity flickered around the chalk-drawn alchemy array, illuminating Li Ang’s face.

When Li Ang opened his eyes once again, in the middle of the alchemy array appeared...

a heart-shaped stone, smooth and almost gem-like?

Li Ang picked up the stone with a puzzled look, hurriedly searched his brain, and found the memory related to this alchemy array.

"This heart was something I picked up by chance—a natural stone heart. It has endured countless sandstorms and the erosion of flowing water to take this shape. May our love be as steadfast as this stone heart and withstand all trials."

Li Ang read the private letter Morgan Anderson had written to a certain noble lady of Ross Duchy. He then glanced once more at the memory from the book: the heart-shaped stone alchemy array, used repeatedly and improved on several occasions. He couldn’t help but sigh. Scumbags are the same the world over.