The tavern Chen Zhou chose was a very ordinary-looking roadside restaurant.

Regular customers gather in groups, the dim light and faint incense make people feel relaxed, and the faint music echoes in their ears.

It's a pity that the atmosphere of the young alchemist who was preaching on the stage was incompatible with this time.

But just when the other party, who failed to harvest the investment, was about to leave, Chen Zhou, who was somewhat interested in the so-called "elemental alchemy", stopped the other party for the first time.

What made him curious was that the focus of magic technology was on the elemental changes in the material world, and how the alchemy side had become more concerned with pure matter.

Doesn't that sound like the current of thought produced by a magical world like Asta, but rather more towards the chemistry of the Blue Star?

"There are many schools of alchemists, and each one is vastly different, from physical distortion to bomb-throwing to artificial life."

Just preached on the stage, the young alchemist named Rufus is a variant alchemist named "Energy Researcher", who specializes in elemental harmony and elemental alchemy, which is far from the mainstream thinking on Asta's side.

Therefore, after hearing the invitation of the water giant descendant transformed by Chen Zhou, Rufus, who thought that his views were recognized, gladly accepted the invitation and came to the bar of the tavern with the other party.

"Boss."

The sound of music loomed as if it was coming from a device in the owner's ear behind the bar, so that the distracted owner did not notice the customers in front of him.

"Boss?"

Chen Zhou stretched out his hand and shook it in front of the other party to no avail, and reluctantly sat on the chair that looked older than himself.

However, all he could hear was a tragic voice, and before he could sit down completely, the wooden chair had already shattered for unknown reasons.

“……”

Now the boss, who was obsessed with the music in the headphones, finally noticed the two guests in front of him.

"I'm sorry for the customer, the chairs in the small shop are old, and they are not far from the shelf, so it's good that they didn't hurt you."

As a sign of apology, the boss gave each of the two guests a glass of ale for free, and then sent someone to clean it and replace it with a new chair.

"Why is it broken?" Looking at the wreckage of the wooden chair, the boss was puzzled, he hadn't bought this thing for a long time?

Chen Zhou thought that in fact, it was mainly due to his own weight - illusion could solve the visual aspect, but it could not change his essence.

But somehow explained how a man who looked like he was only fifty kilograms could burst into two hundred, and he decided to keep his mouth shut.

After turning the new chair 90° so that the tail was not blocked, he introduced himself to the alchemist Rufus.

"I'm Cen from the Astral Plane, and I'm very interested in the elemental alchemy you just mentioned." However, before talking about alchemy, Chen Zhou looked at the mechanical device next to the tavernkeeper's ear, "Does the Norton Kingdom also have the technology to put the device in your ear to listen to music?" ”

Rufus, who had just introduced himself once in the preaching, re-identified himself as an alchemist and energy researcher from the Alchemy Society, who was good at harmonizing the elements in the direction of the qi element.

In response to the question of this adventurer from the outer realm, he explained seriously: "It is the product of the communication with the Alchemy Society when the Star People appeared before, and the transmission of sound through specific symbols can be regarded as a new application of the "Tie Blessing" series of spells. ”

This version of listening to music in your ears is called the "tethered soundpiece" and is the product of a combination of arcane and alchemy.

Chen Zhou was amazed, and if he gave the people of the stars a little more time, he was afraid that he would even be able to get a magic ship that could really fly into the sky instead of relying on a steam magic machine to travel through the sea.

It's a pity that due to personal reasons, they won't be able to come to Asta for a short time......

"Thank you for the answer, I first came to the Norton Kingdom, and I don't know much about the things and situations here, but I'm more interested in alchemy."

After that, Chen Zhou continued to ask: "What is the situation of the elemental alchemy you are talking about, can it create matter out of thin air? ”

Hearing this, Rufus nodded, of course he could.

Memories of elemental alchemy can be traced back to the days of the Holy Laurent Empire in ancient times, when their alchemists developed the technology to create a special magical material for the water elemental plane, the Ice.

This shows that elemental alchemy can not only create pure elemental matter, but even more complex and powerful matter.

Unfortunately, the only problem is the asymmetry between the pay and the benefit.

In his own case, Rufus could almost transform a vial of air or similar gas out of thin air through elemental alchemy, but at least it would cost the same amount of magic as a magic from Tier 2 to Tier 3.

"What's the difference between that and making air out of magic?"

Lily in the backpack subconsciously complained.

"Who? Who's talking? ”

Chen Zhou covered the backpack that had been lifted from the corner: "It's nothing, it's just a flying magic kitten." ”

"Hey, the Carnival Dragon isn't some magical cat......

However, due to the closure of the backpack, Rufus was unable to hear Lily's protests.

That was probably the other party's magic pet, and he didn't pay attention to the complaint: "Ahem, there is really not much difference on the surface, but the principles between the two methods are very different." ”

"So what makes the difference between them by this very different principle?" Chen Zhou asked.

“……”

"There is no difference."

Rufus was a little embarrassed, which was the main reason why the alchemists of the Alchemy Society did not approve his funding application.

"But...... But that doesn't mean there will be no difference between the two in the future! Magic is characterized by how much effort you get, and alchemy is able to achieve higher benefits through a continuous chain reaction. ”

And this path to the extreme is the legendary alchemist's lifelong pursuit - the Philosopher's Stone.

At least one thing that Rufus and all the alchemists in the Norton Kingdom can know is that the Philosopher's Stone is destined to never be completed by matter and chemical reactions alone.

However, in order to make alchemy more convenient, the Kingdom of Norton chose to abandon the miracles that alchemists could achieve and make more general changes.

"And the end of elemental alchemy is the Philosopher's Stone, which is a miracle that contains all the elements and all the elements, and can create anything from scratch with a single Philosopher's Stone, even if it is the real money recognized by the Wealth Church."

The thing that Rufus pursues is the Stone of the Philosopher, which contains everything.

To do this, he must gather all the people or things that are proficient in the 4 elements!

"Can a stone still make gold?"

Lily in her backpack poked her head out excitedly, she was going to build an entire golden nest and paint it with amber honey!

Philosopher's Stone: Alchemists learn how to make . Once a month, he can spend 1 day crafting a Philosopher's Stone.

【Inferior Artifact Quick Reference】Philosopher's Stone

Aura: Intense change; Caster Level: 20;

Location: None; Weight: 3 lbs.

This rare magical item is unsightly, looking like a piece broken from a black stone. If the stone is broken (destroying DC20), it can open a magic tunnel. Any character with a Craft (Alchemy) skill trained at level 10 or higher can convert any base metal (iron or lead) into silver or gold through this alchemy portal. A Philosopher's Stone can convert up to 5,000 pounds of iron to silver (worth 25,000 GP), or up to 1,000 pounds of lead to gold (worth 50,000 GP), but this magic channel lasts for up to 24 hours, so all transformations must take place within 24 hours. The Philosopher's Stone has other effects, and if mixed with any healing potion it can be used to create it has the same effect as 'Full Resurrection'.

(End of chapter)