Actually, regarding the matter of alchemy, Phil had not mentioned it to Wei Bai at first.
It was just that back in the library, Wei Bai happened to catch a glimpse of the stack of books Phil was holding, and almost all of them were related to alchemy.
Consequently, he assumed she was an alchemist.
As it turned out, Phil really was an alchemist, and a highly respected Chief Alchemist at that.
Alchemists usually possessed unique accomplishments in refining magic potions and performing transmutations.
They were extremely obsessed with alchemy, possessing what could be described as a fanatical pursuit of the craft.
There were as many masters who had sacrificed their lives for the sake of alchemy as there were hairs on an ox.
In this world, the classification of alchemist ranks was not strictly enforced, but for the sake of statistics and management, the Holy See still used technical proficiency as the primary criteria to define the general levels of an alchemist.
They were: Apprentice, Initiate, Junior, Intermediate, Advanced, Chief, Honorary, and Grand Alchemist.
The levels for a mage were actually divided in a similar fashion, based on the spells and mana they mastered.
A Grand Alchemist could be said to be the pinnacle of contemporary alchemy, the life goal that every alchemist strove toward in their heart.
However, for some reason, in Wei Bai’s memory, the most recent Grand Alchemist and Grand Mage had lived at least five hundred years ago.
In other words, there was currently no one on the continental kingdom whose achievements in potions or magic had reached the absolute peak.
Nevertheless, that had nothing to do with Wei Bai.
The important thing was that a Chief Alchemist stood right in front of him.
Phil looked at Wei Bai, her heart stirring slightly as she teased, “Could it be that you want to learn alchemy from me?”
“Of course. If you really are a Grand Alchemist, then there’s certainly no harm in me becoming your disciple, right?”
Wei Bai answered without even thinking.
After all, having a powerful figure to rely on meant he could just summon her for help whenever he encountered trouble in the future.
Just as Wei Bai was fantasizing about his future rise to greatness, Phil’s emotionless voice cut in.
“I’m not taking any.”
“Huh??”
“I’m not taking a disciple.”
Phil dropped her previous playful tone, and for the first time, her words carried a hint of seriousness.
“Based on my preliminary observations, your aptitude is too poor. You aren’t suited to learn alchemy. Moreover, you know absolutely nothing about the craft; learning it would be a waste of time.”
“…”
Hearing this, a flush of red spread across Wei Bai’s face.
A wave of shame welled up from the bottom of his heart, making him wish he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Wasn’t she clearly saying he had no talent and looking down on him?
Even though he just wanted a powerful backer…
“Alright, time is short. I should get going.”
Just as Wei Bai was wondering how to speak, Phil’s voice drifted over abruptly.
“Going? Where to?”
“I’m not a local. I’m going back, obviously.”
Phil rolled her eyes, not particularly wanting to deal with Wei Bai.
Having just obtained such a precious material, she was now impatient to return and conduct alchemy experiments.
“Fine, I’m done here. If you have business, you can stay here.”
“Oh, okay.” Wei Bai agreed, though he only half-understood.
Seeing Wei Bai’s reaction, Phil didn’t say anything more.
She packed up her things, picked up her umbrella, turned, and walked out of the room.
She didn’t belong here anyway; she had only been passing through by chance.
Being able to obtain Elven Royal Blood was something that had exceeded her expectations.
Although Phil was curious about the human in front of her, she had more important matters waiting for her.
They only had a transactional relationship, anyway.
Phil wasn’t about to delay her official business just to get to know a stranger better.
After giving Wei Bai a deep look from the doorway, Phil turned and departed.
Wei Bai stood stunned for a long while before reacting.
By the time he ran to the door, Phil had already vanished.
Just now, he seemed to have seen a matching ring on Phil’s hand.
Could it be…
Forget it.
After such a small interlude, he still hadn’t experimented with his own magic spell yet.
To be honest, Wei Bai had almost completely forgotten the original purpose of his outing today.
It was only after Phil left that he remembered he still had a spell to learn.
He certainly couldn’t release it right now.
Those guards were currently searching very strictly.
If he cast another Tier 7 spell, the guards would probably flip the entire Carvin City upside down.
With that thought, Wei Bai abandoned the impulse to cast magic.
He knew that no matter how curious he was, he had to wait for a while.
Returning home, he washed up simply and cleaned up the traces left by the guards’ search during the day.
Wei Bai then stared blankly at the pendant in his hand.
Speaking of which, after he released two spells last time, he felt like the energy inside the pendant had decreased slightly.
It wasn’t much, though; it seemed like it hadn’t consumed the stored energy, but rather some of the overflowing energy.
But it didn’t matter.
The pendant had been sucking his blood all day, so the energy would be replenished soon.
What Wei Bai was thinking about now was whether he could wear the pendant for a longer period after it released its energy.
Holding onto this idea, Wei Bai decided to wait and see until the pendant’s energy overflowed again.
Anyway, if he couldn’t control it then, he still had the ring Phil gave him for emergencies—even though turning into an elf felt a bit strange to him subjectively.
This meant he didn’t have to go out at a set time and place to release energy.
He could use it all up at once and then wear it continuously until it was full again.
This way, the risk of exposure could be greatly reduced!
Thinking this, Wei Bai soon fell into a deep sleep.
The night grew late.
—
For the past few days, Wei Bai had been working at the coffee shop.
Although he had made a killing from that noble last time, he knew that sitting around and consuming his wealth would lead nowhere.
He still had to rely on himself to earn money.
However, today was a special day.
Why was it special? Because today was the registration day for the God of Cooking contest!
The All-Arni Territory God of Cooking contest, authorized and hosted by Count Arni, began its registration today!
Wei Bai was very excited.
He believed that while his cooking skills weren’t the absolute best, they were still respectable.
He had to at least give it a try this time.
The prize money was a hundred gold coins! Today, he had specially taken a day off with Mida to come here and register.
“What?!” Wei Bai’s face was currently very grim, and his tone carried a hint of hostility.
“It costs that much?!”
“Sorry, without a sufficient registration fee, we cannot allow idle people to enter the venue.”
A man dressed in a black chef’s robe looked at Wei Bai with total indifference.
“But you can’t charge this much!” Wei Bai protested.
He even felt that this competition was being used for some sort of illegal activity.
Registration for one person was three gold coins.
If you added an assistant, you had to pay another two gold coins.
Why didn’t they just go become highwaymen?!
“Apologies, we are acting according to the rules. If you do not wish to participate, please purchase a spectator ticket.”
The black-robed staff member’s voice lacked even a shred of emotion, and he didn’t react to what Wei Bai said.
He was a subordinate who took orders directly from Count Arni.
Why should he listen to the complaints of an irrelevant person? On the contrary, if his work was hindered because of this, he would inevitably be scolded.
Consequently, he stopped paying much attention to Wei Bai and turned his focus to the other contestants, though he glanced at Wei Bai from time to time.
At this moment, Mida, who was standing beside Wei Bai, felt a bit cowed by those stares.
She pulled on Wei Bai’s sleeve.
“Maybe we shouldn’t participate. Even if we do, we might not win…”
“Hmph! We’re participating! It’s just five gold coins, right?” Wei Bai glared at the man out of the corner of his eye, then pulled Mida along as he turned to leave.
“Let’s go. We’re going home to get the money.”
“Hey, Wei Bai, do you have that much money?”
“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
Leading Mida all the way back to his residence, Wei Bai pushed open the door and rushed straight into the bedroom to rummage through his things.
Watching Wei Bai toss things around in the bedroom, Mida was somewhat speechless.
Out of boredom or curiosity, Mida’s attention was drawn to a tightly locked door nearby.
That’s right, she remembered the last time she came to Wei Bai’s house, she had been very interested in this door.
She was curious about what might be behind it.
Soon, Wei Bai found five gold coins and put them in his pocket.
Upon coming out of the bedroom, he found Mida staring blankly at the locked door.
“What’s wrong? Curious?”
Seeing Mida’s expression, Wei Bai couldn’t help but tease her.
“Um… a little,” Mida replied subconsciously.
She immediately realized who she was talking to, and her cheeks turned a bit rosy.
“I… I’m just curious. Don’t… don’t misunderstand.”
“It’s fine. Actually, there’s nothing special in here.”
Wei Bai didn’t really care.
The reason this door was locked was due to certain reasons of his own.
To be precise, some of his past and memories were sealed inside.
“Ah, eh? Can I look?”
Seeing Wei Bai’s casual attitude, Mida’s curiosity was completely piqued, and she hurried over to him.
Wei Bai didn’t mind at all.
He fished out a key, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it gently.
The door swung wide open, but upon seeing what was inside, Mida froze for a second.
It was different from what she had imagined.
Shouldn’t it be packed full of messy, cluttered junk? Why did it feel somewhat… empty?
Mida looked around.
Inside the room, there was only a table, a chest, and some weapons hanging on the walls.
Other than that, there was nothing else.