Chapter 9: The City of Divine Punishment

Amberser once had three distinctly different lives.

In his last life, he was a science student who merely got a diploma, filled with confusion about life and buried his dreams in cheap forms of entertainment. When death came, Amberser realized that the flickers in his life's final visions were all trivialities.

Then, heaven gave him another chance, to be thrust into this chaotic but thrilling other world. As a reckless youth, he thought himself to be a born protagonist, with legendary achievements and deification within a mere decade being a piece of cake. Starting as an adventurer, Amberser was set on doing great things, until he discovered that even reaching legendary status, he was still nothing more than subpar.

It is said that one grows up when they realize they are not the center of the universe.

The same was true for Amberser. When he found himself aged and merely a subpar legendary figure, unable even to afford a Youth Potion to extend his lifespan, he understood that he was just a slightly more fortunate being among the teeming masses. A traveler between worlds was nothing special after all.

So what if he was a Legendary Mage? He was still penniless. So, he might as well stop being human.

Transforming into a Lich wasn't so bad after all.

Benefiting from a stopped heartbeat and a nearly halted brain function, Amberser looked at his former self in the mirror and was only slightly startled. He changed his dark, aura-filled robe for ordinary clothes and was then ready to leave the ancient castle to make his purchases.

Passing by another laboratory, Isabel was inside mixing potions.

Petrification Lizard Oil, a Magic Potion that could reverse the effects of petrification; using this potion as the main ingredient, along with some cheap additives, made for a decent Stone Softener. Just add water to dilute it, and it's perfect for tilling wastelands.

However, making Petrification Lizard Oil was quite challenging for an Alchemy Apprentice.

Worried that Isabel might waste too much potion, Amberser lingered and took a few more glances. He couldn't help but comment, "You have good fundamentals, but the flame temperature is wrong. The position of the flask is too low; a low reaction temperature will lead to incomplete reactions, resulting in poor quality potion and wasted materials. The outer flame of the fire has the highest temperature. Didn't your teacher teach you such basic things?"

Isabel was startled and turned to see a strange young man standing at the entrance of the laboratory, her expression one of surprise.

"You..." Isabel wanted to ask if Amberser was a recruited freeman, but quickly realized and excitedly said, "You understand alchemy too? What is the outer flame? I only ever used fixed equipment in my teacher's lab; I've never seen this kind that can be adjusted freely…"

Amberser chuckled dismissively, "The old secretive tricks, afraid of teaching the apprentice too well."

Many Alchemists regard their techniques as more precious than life itself, unwilling to teach even many of the fundamentals, and custom-made equipment is the simplest and most effective way to keep secrets.

Fixed height, fixed flame temperature, fixed input ratios… Since it's custom-made, apprentices can only perform foolproof operations, leading to high success rates when mixing specific potions. Yet, the less they fail, the less they learn.

Just like in Amberser's previous life, like an assembly line worker, performing simple, repetitive tasks, one hardly learns any real skills, and without these custom devices, many apprentices couldn't even mix the most basic potions.

That Isabel could produce a Tranquility Potion in a different lab already made her a very competent Alchemy Apprentice.

"Alchemy isn't just about following recipes. The environmental temperature, humidity, and even air circulation are key. Each step in your notes is actually a principle of reaction. If you don't understand these, you'll only ever be an apprentice for your whole life."

Amberser entered the laboratory, adjusted the height of the flask properly, tweaked some ingredients, and then effortlessly produced a bottle of Petrification Lizard Oil of such high quality that it could be deemed perfect.

Isabel's eyes widened in admiration as she watched Amberser operate with ease. The black-haired youth in front of her seemed a few years younger than herself, yet his understanding of alchemy far exceeded her own, even explaining things more simply and understandably than her own teacher.

Isabel wanted to ask more questions, at least get the young man's name, but as soon as she put down the bottle of Petrification Lizard Oil and turned around, he had already disappeared.

Isabel froze for a moment, and suddenly felt her scalp tingle.

Could it be that this ancient castle infested with liches... was haunted?

Her mind raced with a story of a genius young alchemist who, having perished within the castle, appeared whenever someone conducted alchemical experiments due to his lingering resentment. The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. Isabel felt a cold sweat down her back; the castle truly emitted terror at every turn.

Isabel could only hope that what the lich lord had said was true, that once the land was developed, they could move out of the castle to build houses elsewhere.

Sporting a young man's face, Amberser stepped out of the ancient castle, then cast a Flight Spell on himself and flew towards the sky.

After about half an hour, roughly flying over fifty or sixty kilometers, Amberser finally saw the abstractly designed city—Alchemy City Alkaimia.

Perched on a vast plain, the city's tall stone walls were inlaid with a great deal of magical metal, depicting thousands upon thousands of alchemical runes. Rumor had it that the city itself was a huge alchemy creation capable of transforming into a Constructed Mechanical Giant with just some clicking sounds.

That definitely sounded like a tall tale; if the entire city turned into a giant, it wouldn't need enemies to attack, as most of the residents would be killed off by the transformation itself.

However, these runes surely contained powerful forces; after all, before the economic crisis, Alkaimia boasted the wealthiest city on the continent.

The reason the city was considered abstract was not because of the runes on the walls but rather the seven alchemical towers lined up in a row within the city. From above, they seemed to be made of various gems, shining with unbearable brilliance under the sun.

The seven alchemical towers were uneven in height and color, and even their architectural styles were starkly different, but they shared the same twisted and ugly essence. Even without much artistic insight, Amberser found these towers incredibly hideous, no, abstractly ugly, to an extreme.

It wasn't just Amberser who thought so; Alchemy City had been the consecutive champion of the Ugly City Contest in the Nine Great Kingdoms for many years, to the point that even the Alchemist Council itself couldn't stand it.

But they couldn't change it because it was a "gift" from the Deity.

The Alchemist Council once attempted to create a deity, blaspheming the Deities, and the God of Alchemy exacted his punishment. Not only had they lost all potential for new breakthroughs in alchemy, but they were also given these seven towers.

Anyone with any knowledge of alchemy could tell at a glance what the shapes of these seven towers represented.

The one that looked like green poop represented the remnants from an overheated Healing Potion concoction; the red one resembling an inflamed gland was solidified flocculation from an imbalanced Bear's Strength Potion mix... and so on. The seven towers represented seven types of alchemical products and were classic examples of experimental failures.

The Deity had firmly nailed the city of Alkaimia to the pillar of historical shame with these seven towers symbolizing failure.

Nonetheless, shame had nothing to do with Amberser; he entered the city gate in the guise of a human, using the most ordinary method. However, it wasn't long after entering that Amberser felt that Alchemy City had undergone significant changes.