Mechanical Alchemist

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Just as the black market crowd was swept up in the frenzy over the treasures produced by these relics, the pair in trench coats in the corner of the store quietly observed everything.

They were members of the umbrella organization and had obviously come into contact with much more top-secret intelligence.

Seeing these ancient relics, the young man naturally guessed the origin of the items.

He asked, "Boss, are these the goods that the 'Red Hogan Scavenging Team' was robbed of? There are so many good treasures. It seems that the ruins they found are not simple either..."

"Mm."

The trench-coated woman nodded.

But she seemed to think of something else, her face showing deep thought. After pondering for a long while, she finally added, "That city of ruins must be the 'City of Dawn' hidden in eternal darkness as described in the ancient texts. There was a secret exploration by our organization into the tower; it seems the location of the ruins has been confirmed.

It's not surprising that it produced so many treasures, being the Alchemy City personally planned and constructed by Sir Isaac..."

"What? The City of Dawn?!"

The young man obviously did not have clearance for some top-secret matters.

But upon hearing this name, his face immediately lit up with excitement.

Because this was a place of legend that all alchemists longed for, the sacred land in the heart of a Magician, the "City of Dawn" where the "Alchemical Demigod" Sir Isaac once lived!

In his excitement, the young man suddenly thought of something and anxiously said, "This is bad! Boss, should we quickly inform the higher-ups to lock down the information citywide? Otherwise... if the news gets out, the Scavengers will certainly swarm to find those ruins!"

"No."

Hearing this, the trench-coated woman shook her head, her eyes deep.

After a pause, she slowly spoke a meaningful sentence, "The information about the auction has always been under the control of the higher-level. This piece of news... might just be deliberately leaked by some Big Shot up there."

"Ah?"

The young man clearly did not understand right away.

But after thinking it over, he grasped the meaning behind his boss's words, and asked again, "But... if it really is the legendary 'City of Dawn,' won't the treasures inside the ruins be taken away by the Scavengers?"

"Taken away? Where to?"

The trench-coated woman waved off the concern nonchalantly, as if she could see through the essence of the matter.

With a sardonic smile, she said, "Most of the Scavengers risk their lives to hunt for wealth. The treasures they find will mostly end up in the auction houses in the inner city ultimately. By then, the Big Shots will just spend some money to buy them back."

The young man was still a bit perplexed, "But those rare treasures, like Sir Isaac's amazing alchemical manuscripts, it would be a pity if they ended up in the hands of the Scavengers..."

Woman in the trench coat: "Rest assured... the higher the level of ancient relics, the less useful they are to those lower down. Otherwise, why do you think the high-level alchemy knowledge monopolized by the higher-ups exists? The truly high-level alchemical items are something those civilians in the outer city don't even know how to begin with. Take the silver and gold blueprints, for example.

How many of those practicing low-level breathing techniques in the outer city can resonate with them? They are useless in their hands and can only be auctioned off."

Listening to his boss's explanation, the young man seemed somewhat disheartened but weakly argued, "But... how much money would that cost?"

"How much money do you think was made at the auction tonight? A few hundred million, a billion? Heh... do you know how much profit a 10 percent increase in the price of drinking water for the residents of Old Lington brings in a day?"

The woman with the elegant eyebrows lightly raised them, casually remarking, "You think too simply of the tycoons..."

....

The subsequent auction items had nothing to do with Su Lun, as buying that blueprint had already drained all his savings.

While there were many treasures to covet, his heart was willing, but his means were lacking.

Now he was more troubled by what to do with the blueprint he had acquired.

Alchemy crafting doesn't just require blueprints; it also requires materials... Not to mention, the main material for this blueprint was "cursed spider legs," preferably those produced by elite monsters or higher.

A blueprint is like a mold; even if you have a top-tier mold, what materials you choose to use in it is your own decision.

If you use gold, you get golden equipment; if you use silver, you get silver equipment.

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The final product could end up worlds apart in effectiveness.

That's why there are a lot of the same prostheses on the market, yet their ultimate combat capabilities differ.

"Spider leg," this kind of cursed material, has a huge price fluctuation from ordinary quality to gold materials—not to mention some special cursed characteristics like toxin, element, resistance, toughness... the better, the more expensive.

In Su Lun's memory, ordinary spider legs seemed to be on sale in the market, costing only tens of thousands.

But with such a superior gold blueprint, he naturally wouldn't consider low-tier iron prostheses.

He thought that at the very least he should aim for a silver-quality primary material, right?

In that case, Su Lun estimated, the primary material alone would cost at least two to three hundred thousand.

Moreover, the better the primary material, the higher the quality of auxiliary materials required. Add in the enchantment and manual labor costs for alchemy, and all in all, Su Lun thought to craft a silver-quality "Eight-Armed Spider God Spear" would probably cost around five hundred thousand.

"Ah... money is still a big problem."

Previously worried about finding a good blueprint suitable for himself, Su Lun felt he had surplus money.

Now that he had found a blueprint far beyond expectations, he was way over budget.

However, there's a reason for the steep price. For Su Lun, the "Eight-Armed Spider God Spear Blueprint"—which seemed to be exclusive to puppeteers—was precisely to his liking.

Once successfully crafted, his combat power would increase manifold at the very least.

Not to mention, his ability to survive would be greatly enhanced. If he had that prosthesis, even if faced with the same kind of attack as the one at the tenement building, Su Lun was confident that even without Kai, he could manage it alone.

This is the significance of alchemical prostheses to professionals!

....

The auction had concluded, but the majority of the customers hadn't immediately left; instead, they were strolling around the market.

The black market was bustling today, not just with auctions, but also various stores had put out many treasured items, waiting for customers to come.

The organizers also specially set up some temporary stands to allow those scattered vendors to sell their goods, which weren't valuable enough to be auctioned but were still precious.

Booths were everywhere, with a dazzling array of shops and plenty of good stuff.

Su Lun was also wandering among the crowd.

Having left only a few thousand "lyso" for living expenses on him, he clearly wasn't there to spend.

He wanted to use his transmigrator's perspective to look for opportunities.

Forget about the basic path to riches for transmigrators, like homemade soaps, perfumes, or alcohol—that was child's play for magicians, with entry-level apprentices mastering dozens of such side techniques.

Su Lun also thought about the "prohibitive businesses" written in the criminal laws of his former life.

Become a Deadly Poison Master?

No, "potion studies" are one of the magicians' most vital skills, and in the black market, one could find at least eighty different kinds of hallucinogenic potions, if not a hundred.

Operate a pleasure quarter?

That belonged to the domain of gang leaders and financial tycoons; an unknown like Su Lun didn't have the qualifications to get involved in such large businesses. Besides, the entertainment industry was about long-term gain, not about getting rich quickly.

What about gambling?

Su Lun had spent days in gambling houses, watching countless people ruin themselves.

If you go gambling with the hope of winning, you're bound to lose.

Other ventures like monopolizing resources were even more out of the question. In this world, social strata were fixed, the inner city's magnates had monopolized all resources, and those from the outer city could forget about trying to compete.

So the quickest way Su Lun could think of to make money was to use his "All-knowing Eye" to snatch up a huge bargain on the black market.

That's why he was strolling around, sizing up the various shops and street stalls along the way.

And sure enough, after a while, he really did spot an opportunity to score a bargain.

....

It was a shabby stall with a few crude test tubes laid out on a black cloth that seemed to contain potions.

A "fatty" cloaked in a black cape that covered his face was probably the stall owner.

At the moment, he seemed to be arguing about something with someone.

The argument caught Su Lun's attention.

"You're trying to sell these potions for thirty thousand without even a production batch number or lead seal from the Potion Guild?"

"Haha, and you say your lousy potions have effects similar to 'top-tier recovery potions'?"

"And this... you claim this two hundred thousand potion can enhance the human body's containment value and allow for overloaded integration of alchemy prosthetics? Hahaha... The 'Potion Guild' has never heard of such a miracle potion; why don't you say it can bring back the dead while you're at it? Are you taking us for fools?"

"..."

Faced with the customer's questions, the stall owner was visibly flustered, trying to explain something but seemingly unable to clear up any of the questions.

Su Lun approached and examined the stall owner.

Beneath the black cape, the bloated body seemed like a disguise. The irregular obesity made it look more like a mutant monster than a human being.

The stall owner's subtle movements betrayed a slight nervousness, not appearing to be a regular merchant who frequently mixed in the black market.

After observing the person, Su Lun then turned his attention to the few potions on his stall, and his eyelids twitched a little.

No wonder the customers were speaking harshly—the presentation of these potions was just too poor!

They were simply the most common cheap test tubes, filled with red and green liquids of unknown origin.

As everyone knows, potions produced by reputable manufacturers always come in containers with trademark inscriptions.

After all, potions are often used for saving lives, and almost all potions sold on the market have special lead seals and anti-counterfeiting marks.

So, potions without lead seals and anti-counterfeiting are simply not bought by anyone.

Although there are indeed some inferior counterfeit potions on the market, those counterfeiters put a lot of effort into packaging, and no one would dare make something as fake as this!

The potions on this street stall give the impression that someone just took an empty mineral water bottle, filled it with some yellow-brown liquid, and claimed it was a Kangshifu Ice Tea, demanding three bucks for it?

Besides, even if it's not fake.

How do you prove this is a real potion?

Appraisers are esteemed professions in high society, seen only in the inner city.

Take a swig to taste it?

With only four small workshop potions available, who would dare to drink?

Or what if you accidentally drop and shatter it, and then they demand tens of thousands in compensation...

No matter how you look at it, these potions are definitely problematic.

Su Lun initially thought this was some "scam" routine, but seeing the stall owner floundering for an explanation piqued his curiosity, so he focused intensely on the potions and scanned them with his All-knowing Eye.

But upon a single glance, his gaze froze.

Information displayed on the small red potion:

[Special Healing Potion]

Description: A high-purity special healing potion for rapid blood clotting and quick wound healing; almost no impurities, completely free of side effects.

"So it really is a special healing potion?"

Su Lun was genuinely surprised.

Although he was a novice in potions, the All-knowing Eye didn't lie.

This small workshop's unbranded product was actually a special life-saving potion that sold for a hundred thousand, eighty thousand each?

So, selling for thirty thousand was actually a bargain?

Seeing this, Su Lun felt that perhaps the stall owner was telling the truth after all.

At that moment, his gaze fell upon the green potion priced at two hundred thousand.

Even though Su Lun had expected something extraordinary, he couldn't help but twitch at the sight.

[Mutation Tolerance Enhancement Potion]

Description: Increases human curse trait tolerance by 10-18%; only for use by first-order professionals; has approximately 3% chance of causing consumers to grow flesh mushrooms on their bodies, but compared to the effects of the potion, this is a negligible side effect.

"He truly wasn't exaggerating... But to sell such a miraculous potion for only two hundred thousand?!"

Just from these simple two sentences of introduction, Su Lun felt as if he had stumbled upon a huge business opportunity.

What does an average 15% increase in body tolerance mean?

It means that professionals could dramatically boost their combat capabilities!

Professionals previously only able to endure black iron prosthetics could, after using this potion, forcibly merge with silver-grade prosthetics. Those compatible with silver could even transplant gold prosthetics.

For professionals, this was an invaluable treasure!

Key being, with such a miraculous effect, such a potion has never been sold anywhere in Old Lington. If the stall owner concocted it himself, the value of the potion aside, just the patent for the potion formula alone could make him an instant millionaire.

Who exactly was this stall owner?

Why didn't he go to the inner city?

Was he a fugitive or something?

Su Lun felt this was a great chance to "score a big bargain."

But he also had his doubts, and on a whim, he used his All-knowing Eye to look at the stall owner.

And then,

Huh... what's this situation?!

Su Lun could use the All-knowing Eye to view his own attributes, but when looking at others, he only got a simple description like [Human] above their heads.

However, for the first time, something different appeared above this stall owner's head.

It read [Half-mutated Human].

(To prevent spoilers: It's not the wanted woman.)

PS. Brothers, don't put the book aside lately; pop in for updates and please click, I'm depending on you all~