the Land of Craftsmen

"The civilization of the Silver Elves was extremely advanced, yet their lives were incomparably depraved, as they unceasingly extracted the energy of the natural world and processed it into various kinds of crystals, the origin of today's magical power crystallization technology."

"And the crowning achievement of this technology is an all-purpose, all-purpose crystallization known as the 'Sage's Stone'."

Saying this, Martial revealed a playful expression and asked William, "Learned and knowledgeable Mr. William, could you please tell me what the basic principles of alchemy are?"

"Conservation, Directionality, and Fugacity." William said without thinking before remembering that this was a term between players, and in NPC terms it should be called equivalence.

Matilde apparently hadn't thought of that answer either, and she savored the disparate summary for a little while, then laughed, "Is that a summary of alchemy from somewhere else? Very interesting."

Without waiting for William to explain, she added, "But no matter how it's interpreted, the nature of alchemy dictates that there will exist in the world an 'Origin Substance', which is the general equivalent of alchemy, and can accomplish any alchemy without compromise."

William nodded, recognizing this statement, even in the late game, the Sage's Stone was an extremely important strategic resource, hardly circulating in the market.

Mathilde revealed a somewhat frenzied expression, her tone rising slightly, "And that is precisely the Sage's Stone, the protagonist of our story today."

William nodded, signaling her to continue.

Only to hear Mathilde slowly narrate:

In the early days of the Iron Era, at the frontier of the human civilization realm, there was a newly emerging nation named Pipanirion, meaning the Land of Craftsmen. The people of Pipanirion were passionate about all kinds of technological advances and claimed to seek the realm of the gods through wisdom.

When Denetheus, the god of reason and madness, heard of this, he sent down an oracle granting the nation of the Craftsmen three tests and three supreme treasures as rewards to those who passed them.

When asked about the first test, Denetheus said this: The best craftsmen among you shall hear me say that there is nothing more marvelous in the world than the flower of spring, and that if any man can make the flower of spring blossom eternally, I will grant him the gospel of immortality and agelessness.

Countless skillful craftsmen made eternal spring flowers according to their own understanding, but they were all dismissed by Denetheus, except for one young man, who made a magical treasure that could make spring last forever.

Denetheus kept his word and told the secret of the soul: if only the soul of the young man could be as eternal as the spring, he would be immortal and live forever on earth.

After finishing this vignette, Martial looked at William and jokingly said, "It is said that this teenager later became an extremely powerful alchemist and was truly eternally immortal."

William nodded and added, "This king in the story is Brandy Vernal, perhaps the name is unfamiliar to you, but he also has some louder names, such as 'Demigod Lich', 'Origin of the Undead' and so on."

Martial looked at William in surprise, that was a demigod who had lived for a hundred centuries, was it possible to talk about his name like that? Was the story William told true?

William winked and laughed, "I made it up on the spot, I used to write some catchy gossip to expand my travel expenses."

Mathilde smiled daintily, not knowing whether to believe or disbelieve William's words, she just continued with the story about the Sage's Stone:

Asked about the second test, Denetheus said this: the best of you wise men shall hear me say that there is no riddle in the world more difficult to discover than the mystery of oneself, and if anyone can realize the mystery of oneself, I will give him the recipe for the Sage's Stone.

Many wise men were maddened by this, but one old man, approaching the throne of God, explained: "There is nothing in the world that exists alone, nor is there anything that is permanent and unchanging; everything must fulfill conditions in order to exist, and everything exists to serve certain conditions. This is the mystery I have realized."

Denetheus kept his word and informed the old man how to refine the Sage's Stone. The old man was none other than Raglan Ulea, the king at the time.

But after obtaining the recipe for the Sage's Stone, the old king ordered that the connection between the country and the gods be severed and forbade anyone to explore the third riddle of the gods. At the same time, he began to refine the Sage's Stone in an effort to make people forget about the unresolved third riddle.

But the old king's power was limited, and man's greed was infinite, and although the Sage's Stone made the country immensely rich, after the old king's death, the new heir resumed the pact with Denetheus to answer the third riddle.

At this point, Martial suddenly closed her mouth and stopped talking, and William asked curiously, "What about the story after that?"

Matil said in a somber manner, "What the third riddle was is anyone's guess, for one day all the nationals of the Land of the Craftsmen disappeared, and there is no written record that mentions the specifics of the third riddle."

"William, what do you think happened to them?"

William thought for a moment, and with a single finger pointing at De kana next to him, he said, "Perhaps they have all become puppets who cannot speak, cannot act on their own, and have gained crazy immortality and eternal rationality."

Mathilde froze, then said in annoyance, "Mr. Green, how can you tease me like this, you've obviously already heard this story, and even know more about it than I do."

William laughed out loud and made the goat he was riding go faster, dodging Mathilde's condemnation, and everyone else laughed along with him when they heard Mathilde, who had always been a bit condescending, get defeated.

Seeing the atmosphere liven up, William also went along with the topic of some anecdotes and gossip about faraway places, making all four of the 'Mountain Breeze' squad listen with some yearning.

"When I'm too old to be a mercenary, I want to become a traveler like Mr. Green."

"Good, when that time comes, I'll be waiting for your letters in the church to learn about your stories."

In the twinkling of an eye, dusk was approaching.

William and his group found a cave on the side of the river valley as a campsite for the day, and the mage Mitchell took out a piece of sulfur and cast a spell, releasing some smoke that drove away all kinds of poisonous snakes and spiders, centipedes and other bugs that were originally lurking in the cave.

There weren't any dangerous monsters in the river valley, but the mercenaries were still dedicated enough to assign the night watch, with Bartley watching for the first half of the night and Mathilde for the second half.

William, as a player, didn't really need much sleep, but he was well aware that the route he had charted was much more dangerous than it appeared, so it was important to keep his energy up.

After a final inventory of his belongings and the spells recorded in the Holy Scriptures, he made his bed in the depths of the cavern and drifted off to sleep.