11 Learning About Alchemy

After sating his stomach, Jonathan decided to practice a little bit of alchemy. Just a little bit until dawn arrive.

He was going to hold it off until much later because alchemy was quite dangerous without any proper guidance, especially when practiced in a confined space of the bunker.

This was another reason to why Jonathan wanted to relocate to another safe haven. It wasn't the main reason, for if he wanted to, he could still practice alchemy within the bunker.

He just needed to be extra careful not to suffocate himself on the fumes. Or accidentally blow himself up. Most alchemist became a bloody smeared all over the room because of that.

While the Alchemist did not stay to teach him practical alchemy step by step, the Alchemist did impart to him all the basic knowledge of alchemy, including the dangers associated with it. Now, it was up to Jonathan to do the rest and then find the Alchemist for the next lesson.

As to who the Alchemist truly was, Jonathan did not know. He did know one thing, however. The black dragon was right. The Alchemist was a human but at the same time, he was not. It was difficult to truly classify what the Alchemist had become due to all the transmutation effects.

Alchemy was, in the most basic term, a practical application of transmutation. An Alchemist God would be someone who could transmute the fabric of space and time and reality themselves.

That was quite incomprehensible, but then that was why that person was called a God.

Nevertheless, knowing that humans could wield such powers gave Jonathan hope and a clear goal. He would not waste this golden opportunity.

Jonathan fixed his scarf before grabbing one of the cans off the shelf nearby and examining it closely.

Under his scrutiny, Jonathan could see its effects and statuses as an alchemy ingredient, and the longer he examined it, the more detailed the information was revealed to him, including the accuracy of the information.

This was one of the main reasons to why even an extremely experienced alchemist would spend a lot of time examining alchemy ingredients. They might be able to see something they had missed the first time around, and all alchemy ingredients were unique in similar term that every human was different to one another, including twins.

Furthermore, anything, including living things, could be used as alchemy ingredient. However, the best kind of alchemy ingredients were the things that could be consumed.

Foods was a good alchemy ingredient whether it was spoiled or not.

Spoiled foods had specific effects and statuses that could be utilized in the hands of an alchemist. That was why Jonathan was experimenting. To see for himself.

He was curious about the toxicity status of the can within his hands. It fluctuated between 23% to 29% constantly, reminding him that he was just a novice alchemist.

His eyes could not truly determine its exact toxicity level, but he would be able to one day.

Jonathan placed the can onto the table after a few minutes before picking up another can of foods on the same shelf. It was also the same brand since he wanted to compare. Once more, he examined the can of food closely for a few minutes before placing it next to the first can of food.

Jonathan repeated this a dozen more times, lining up all the similar can of foods in ascending toxicity level. The highest had the toxicity of roughly 90%, and from the expiration date stamped at the bottom of the can, he was sure it was rotten inside.

Jonathan confirmed that when he opened the can and had a look inside. It was indeed rotten, and the stench made him nauseated a little. To think that many people had eaten something similar all in order to survive another day.

He recalled there was a time he would have eaten dirt and grass to stop the ravenous hunger. The end result was not pretty, but at least he had survived.

Jonathan proceeded to confirm the content of the can with the lowest toxicity level. That was actually unnecessary since he had already eaten some with similar toxicity level. As a matter of fact, Jonathan had eaten many foodstuffs with similar toxicity level. Yet, in spite of that, he had never had an episode of food poisoning.

This meant that even if the items had a toxicity level, it could still be safely consumed. That or he had a really strong stomach.

Whether Jonathan had a strong stomach or not, he was not willing to find out by eating garbage. Never again if he could help it.

Once Jonathan had finished preparing the alchemy ingredients on the table, he located some pots and pans. While he could summon the alchemy lab, he decided not to since he was not doing real alchemy, but rather, he was cooking.

An experienced alchemist was usually an experienced cook as well since their eyes could discern even the slight changes in flavors or aromas. Of course, alchemist wasn't true chef since there was a limited range of meals they could make.

There was also another reason to why Jonathan did not resort to using an alchemy lab. It was because the number of pages within the spell book. Every time that he used the alchemy lab, one of the pages would be lost.

Since that was the case, Jonathan rather use the alchemy lab on producing something useful. Potions and pills for example. Those items were more valuable than the horrifying slugs that he was about to produce.

Mixing rotten foods with anything would result in rotten foods, but it gave Jonathan insight on exactly how the toxicity changes due to the resulting dilutions or constitutions. For obvious reason, he would not consume any of the mixture even if its toxicity dropped to safe level.

Jonathan continued to experiment and learn until most of the foods were gone. He did feel some guilts for wasting foods. Foods that he himself had spent a lot of time and effort to scavenge. But then again, it was for a good use.

Furthermore, Jonathan was sure that he would probably never return here again. There was no reason to, as he had no friends or families or anyone of importance. The only thing Jonathan had was himself, and that suited him just fine.

Dawn eventually arrived like it always did, and Jonathan was ready to leave another chapter of his life behind.

The bunker had served him well, but like everything he had encountered before, he would have to say farewell to it eventually. Becoming an alchemist apprentice simply accelerated things. Well, the death of the white dragon did.

Jonathan wasn't sure whether the dragon was dead or not. If it had been killed, its monster core would be left behind.

Monster core was actually a generic term for the magical core of beast. For dragons, it should be called dragon core instead, but then again, most people did not bother to differentiate. Dragons were actual monsters.

A monster core was notorious difficult to destroy, and if one really wanted to, they must hold it within their hand. This allowed monster to flee and be reborn should they were killed in battle.

That said, Jonathan did not recall the Alchemist went out of his way to capture the monster core from the white dragon. Therefore, the white dragon would be reborn one day, but it would have to cultivate from the start again.

Jonathan wondered why he cared so much about the white dragon and its wellbeing. While the dragon had never harm him, it was still a dragon. The most hated enemy of mankind.

It was also this very same reason that the Alchemist had kill it. Well, not truly kill it. Merely destroyed its physical body. To truly kill a dragon, its core must be destroyed.

That meant the black dragon was still alive, for Jonathan had its monster core in his storage space. He would keep it with him until such time he could make use of it. Or destroy it. Extremely prized alchemy ingredient or not, it was still his mother's murderer.

Jonathan left the bunker and begun heading south.

He did not want to head north, where most of the people had left with hope for a better future. Having so many people banding together would invite troubles, and that troubles were not always in the form of a dragon.

Speaking of dragon, his scars begun to burn, surprising him. Not because it had alerted him to a dragon nearby. It was because he thought he had time.

Knowing dangers abound, Jonathan begun to dash through the woods, weaving quickly between trees while searching for somewhere to hide, but the once tranquil white forest had been reduced to ashen earth and smoldering trees.

The black dragon had devastated the landscape, but it did unfreeze the lake and rivers as well.

Jonathan was heading there. He would use the lake to hide, but when the lake was in sight, the earth shook heavily, and dust obscured his path.

A titanic monster rose above the dust cloud and stared down at Jonathan, and before he could swallow his fear, the draconic creature spewed fires and destructions at him.