The judgment of the Swiftwalker Takattu eventually became the conclusion of this alchemy competition. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info Scrap Iron Town's chief apothecary Satum actually lost to an alchemy apprentice who had just graduated, and it was hard to believe if he didn't hesitate to use two high-quality neutralizing materials.

However, the facts are irrefutable, and even Satum himself could not continue to quibble after testing the performance of two bottles of alloy solution. He could only pick up what little he had left, throw the key to the raw material warehouse kept by the chief pharmacist on the table, and then snorted contemptuously, and left the laboratory with a few cronies and apprentices.

Victor kept smiling as best he could, but the embarrassment made his facial muscles stiff. From the bottom of his heart, he didn't want Avery to win the competition, and he didn't want to elevate Avery to the top, because this amazingly talented young man obviously wouldn't belong to Scrap Iron forever.

But under Orari's razor-like gaze, the leader of the rebels could only smile wryly and spread his hands and order his men, "From this day forward, Mr. Merlin Avery will enjoy all the benefits of a chief apothecary, including any materials from the raw material warehouse that do not exceed the best quality. ”

Ola snorted a little dissatisfied, "Excellence, old man, you're too stingy. That liar just now was able to get such valuable materials as Mermaid's Tears, didn't little Avery deserve to be treated better?"

The leader of Victor let out a long breath and replied in a somewhat rigid tone, "Master Satum's authority does not exceed that of Mr. Avery, and those two high-quality materials are not the stock of Scrap Iron Town, but his own treasures. ”

Aura frowned, his tone thoughtful, "Old man, I remember you said that Satum had been in the service of the Resistance for many years. ”

"Yes, Lord Aura, so I want you to save him a little face. "After all, Scrap Iron ...... Master Satum is needed. ”

"It's not ordinary people who have access to high-quality materials...... Ola's brows didn't stretch in the slightest, and his tone became more and more solemn, "Little Avery, do you have a reserve of materials like Mermaid Tears at Blaufry Academy?"

Avery pondered for a moment as he cleaned up the messy alchemy apparatus on his desk, and replied thoughtfully, "As far as I know...... It seems to be a little, but it is very rare, only the tutor has the right to apply for exchange, and it is not necessarily able to exchange it; as for us apprentices, no matter how many credits we have, we are not eligible to apply for exchange. ”

"There is absolutely no more authoritative alchemy sanctuary around the city-state of Minnesota than Brawfley College, so how did Satum get those materials?" there was an obvious coldness in Ola's voice, "Old man, you should investigate carefully, I never believe in coincidences. ”

Victor's forehead was already covered with fine beads of sweat, and his trust in Master Satum was based on the latter's level of alchemy, but the foundation of trust had been shattered by the competition just now—if even an apprentice who had just graduated from Blaufley College could not be compared, Satum's level of alchemy was obviously not very good.

A pharmacist who is not very strong has obtained rare materials that even the senior tutors of Brawfry Academy do not necessarily have, and if it cannot be explained by coincidence, then the conclusion is too terrible.

"I'll look into it right away. Victor turned around, his voice hoarse from nervousness, "Taktatu, send me a team of the most elite scouts to keep an eye on Satum, including all of his cronies' apprentices, and cut him off from all possible communication with the outside world." ”

The sallow-faced Swiftwalker agreed, saluted, and quickly left. The lab fell back into unsettling silence, until the leader of Victor let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll make you laugh, Lord Aura, but rest assured that the rebels of Scrap Iron will not forgive betrayers, no matter how high their status. ”

"I hope so. Ola said in a calm tone, "Little Avery, get ready, there should be nothing for us here, and we will leave early tomorrow morning." ”

Merlin Avery was genuinely reluctant to stay in Scrap Metal, but he would rather stay here than go to the mysterious rebel headquarters, at least safely.

"Monsieur Ola," he said, as he chased after him, and said in as honest a tone as he could, "is it too hasty to leave tomorrow?" I feel that I should stay a little longer, to make up for the void after Master Satum's problems......

"Eighty percent of this place has been exposed, and it could be attacked by the city guards at any time. Aura turned his head, his tone as cold as broken ice, "Man, are you still planning to linger for a while?"

Avery froze for a moment, then shook his head repeatedly, "No, of course not, Mr. Ola, then why don't we leave immediately, there is nothing to prepare anyway." ”

"Because the night is deep, and everywhere is sinister. Ola muttered in an emotional tone, then shrugged his shoulders, "The city-state of Minnesota is safe within the confines of the city-state, but in the wilderness, even if it is a long-distance caravan, it never walks at night, because there are many dangerous creatures that will hunt in the night, even if they are escorted by molten gold warriors, it is not safe when night falls. ”

Avery was silent for a moment, then nodded, "I see, Mr. Ola, I want to go to the raw material warehouse and prepare some necessary supplies for tomorrow's journey." ”

"Don't take too much, or the stingy old Victor will cry to me. Ola joked, and then pointed in the direction where the raw material warehouse was located, "The warehouse is over there, so I won't accompany you." Once inside, show them the key to the chief apothecary. ”

Seeing Ola leave, Avery secretly breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the raw material warehouse. Because the results of the contest had reached the ears of the warehouse guard, he received a considerable degree of respect, and entered the door of the warehouse without even showing the key as a token.

In terms of scale, quantity, and variety, the gold material warehouse in Scrap Iron Town is far inferior to the warehouse of any laboratory at Broughfry College. However, Avery was not here in the first place, he only took a cursory look at it, and randomly took a few materials of acceptable value.

After leaving the raw material warehouse, he returned to the alchemy lab and asked the guards to ensure absolute silence for at least two hours.

Avery was earnestly executed. Everyone, including the leader of Victor, guessed that the young apothecary was going to make some preparations for tomorrow's journey: some emergency alchemy potions, or some kind of alchemical self-defense items.

These conjectures were plausible, but no one guessed that Avery had no intention of concocting any potions or making any alchemical items. He just tossed aside the molten gold materials he had brought, sat down at the table and began to meditate. It wasn't until it was quiet outside, and no sound could be heard, that he took out a silvery-white sheet of metal and stuck it to the center of his forehead.

The blue light characteristic of alchemy lit up, and then flickered and flickered in a certain rhythm, and Merlin Avery's young face looked a little strange in the flicker of light. Just after the flickering rhythm was repeated three times, the space around Avery suddenly turbulent, and it seemed as if nothing had changed, but in fact it seemed to be covered in a layer of mist, which made people subconsciously ignore the past.

Avery slowly opened his eyes in the darkness and retched for a long time before he could barely contain the discomfort caused by the spatial shift. "In the name of wisdom, open the light. His lips twitched, his voice was as soft as a whisper, and a cluster of pure white flames flashed, slowly burning in the void, illuminating the surrounding environment about a hundred meters in radius.

It's a ruin.

Or rather, the ruins of a lifeless building with an extraordinary level of alchemy. A faint arc of electricity flickered at the top of the crumbling slender tower, and rusty metal beetles lay silently on the ground, arm-thick cables snaking underfoot before disappearing into view.

Avery leaned against a broken wall, gasping slightly, scanning everything around him with an almost greedy gaze.

There was no doubt that the ruins belonged to a city with extremely advanced alchemical technology, and although his knowledge was extremely limited, and the area that could be illuminated by the light of wisdom was small, Avery believed that one day he would be able to hold it all in the palm of his hand.

Before he can do that, however, he must secure his own life.

As Ola Sr. said, Scrap Iron is no longer safe, and the city guards of the Minnesota city-state could attack it at any time. But going to the rebel headquarters is also not a good choice, and after decades of being able to compete with the city-states and even the Eternal Empire, the rebels undoubtedly have a large number of high-end alchemists, including powerful mentors.

Merlin Avery didn't know how long his secret would remain in front of those mentors, and he didn't know how cruel and shameless the mentors could make in order to get hold of the ruins of this mysterious alchemical city.

Even the mentors at Broughfry couldn't gain Avery's trust, as the failed temptation had demonstrated.

A strange whistling sound came from afar, as if a strong air current was raging through the ruins, and it was rapidly approaching. Avery frowned, and a cold, piercing sensation raced down his spine, bringing with it a very indescribable weirdness.

"It's dangerous? no, it's not quite the same, but why this weird premonition?" Avery felt the hairs on his arms and neck tremble, as if countless tiny nettles had grown under his skin. He cautiously extinguished the light of wisdom and hid behind a low wall, taking out a mythril flake and a vial of cloudy solution with a dark red patina from his potion bag.

Sensing the wind getting closer, Avery took a deep breath and calmed down, unscrewing the bottle of the solution, pouring all the liquid into his mouth, and then using the alchemy catalytic potion while sticking the Mithril flakes to his eyebrows.

Alchemy is rarely used in contests between alchemists, as this ability is too easy to expose itself. Even an alchemist who doesn't know much about alchemy can easily judge the approximate location and strength level of the alchemist user with very obvious fluctuations in light and mental power.

Avery was of course aware of this weakness in alchemy, so he chose to make up for it with another obscure alchemization skill. The Red Copper Solution is a very simple entry-level alchemy potion that is as difficult as a first-year apprentice's homework, and the corresponding alchemy ability has almost no threshold, and is often used as a means for molten warriors to exercise their mental power.

Secondary Copper Barrier - A useless skill that can neither conceal nor provide protection. Its only function is to mask the mental power fluctuations generated by the molten gold warriors when they use their abilities, but generally speaking, the molten gold warriors are face-to-face battles, and the effect of covering the mental power fluctuations is almost meaningless.

For Avery, though, the effect of the secondary copper barrier makes a lot of sense. Under the cover of the low wall, he first catalyzed the red copper solution to activate the secondary red copper barrier, and then poked his head out of the wall slightly, covering his forehead with his right hand to prevent the light of alchemy from leaking out.

In the spiritual force detection wave formed by the alchemy, the surrounding broken walls and remnants are very clearly presented, especially those places where there is still a little current, which is shining with eye-catching light. Avery closed his eyes tightly, controlling his mental power, trying to keep the area formed by alchemy as stable as possible, as if he were part of the ruins.

Even with the cover of the secondary copper barrier, Avery might not be able to go completely undetected, but the ruins of the city were littered with the remains of alchemical creations, and the various energy fluctuations emitted were enough to become another layer of cover.

As Avery had speculated, the moment the four bright meteor-like figures burst into the alchemy area, they stopped as if sensing something, and the howling wind stopped.

"Observe us, anyone?" a hoarse and peculiar voice sounded, accompanied by a hissing sound that looked a bit like a rattlesnake spitting out a letter -- or a leaking high-pressure gas cylinder, "Do you want to find out, and we'll take him?"

"Let me try. The other figure said, raising his arms, emitting an invisible ripple that spread in all directions without gaps. The ripple swept over Avery as he hid it, causing a stir in his secondary copper barrier, but fortunately it didn't cause any more trouble.

"There's no living form in here, Hangrei, you're suspicious. The man seemed to be very confident in his skills, and as soon as the ripples disappeared, he announced in an unquestioning tone.

In the image of Alchemy's Feedback, the man known as Hankle is surrounded by an ominous dark red light, and although the intensity is not higher than that of the other three, the sense of danger brought to Avery is the most distinct.

"I feel watched, and I still am. Hange replied in a hissing leaky voice. "What a weirdness, there must be something here. ”

"Then you might as well stay and look for it slowly. The third man spoke slowly, his tone softening, but the meaning of his words was quite tough, "I don't want to be here for too long, it's less than two hours before the Secret Ritual Assembly starts. ”

"Silly, are you and me?" said Han Gelei, "and then come back, here, hurry, let's continue." ”