This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 305 - 283: The Missed Opportunity to Become a God

Chapter 305: Chapter 283: The Missed Opportunity to Become a God

As a concept deity, power correlates with that concept.

Theoretically, if there were a deity of the concept of nothingness, they might be so powerful as to be alarming, potentially even able to arm-wrestle with Aeo.

For the universe will ultimately move towards nothingness, and even deities cannot escape annihilation.

Aeo is no exception. He will one day perish along with the world he created, but that day will be infinitely delayed, perhaps to the point of transcending the very concept of time.

Of course, some believe that Aeo is eternal and immune to the prospect of becoming nothingness.

Back to the main point, alchemy isn’t exactly a broad concept; it’s merely the collective name for many kinds of techniques.

To put it bluntly, if all the alchemists in the world disappeared, it wouldn’t cause much of an impact. The destruction of Alchemy City would merely cause some turbulence in other nations, nothing that would stop their operation.

Thus, even at its most glorious, the deity of Alchemy City was at best a mid-tier deity in power.

Therefore, when Alchemy City brought upon itself a massive trouble that led everyone to subconsciously reject alchemy, the deity naturally suffered a heavy blow, directly plummeting to the status of a weak deity.

After all the hard work Amberser had put in, he merely helped the God of Alchemy recover a bit of strength, just enough to take advantage of the weakened Rose Spider Queen.

And now, the God of Alchemy was telling him that alchemy was on the brink of a major breakthrough. Wouldn’t that mean the power of the God of Alchemy would also grow stronger?

This was good news. Amberser was counting on his teacher to have his back.

"Giving you the technical materials isn’t a problem, but I’m just a bit faster at flying. Is that really so important?" Amberser asked curiously.

Amberser only knew about deities from what was recorded in books, most of which was about who had conflicts with whom and who had affairs with whom. He had rarely seen books truly documenting what constituted divine power and deities.

"You might not realize this, but the speed you achieved earlier seems to have surpassed a critical value. This is very important, an achievement that mortals have never accomplished before," the God of Alchemy said very earnestly.

"Has no one ever tried to surpass the speed of sound?"

Amberser was surprised. With such a long history and various supernatural powers, has no one ever investigated flight?

But the God of Alchemy said, "With spatial transmission being so convenient, who would bother to seriously study a flight technique with so many limitations? Flight spells have long been sufficient for everyday life."

That did make some sense. It’s like once cars were invented, no one bothered to develop horse-drawn carriages anymore.

If cars had appeared before horse-drawn carriages, carriages might never have existed at all.

In the previous world, technology didn’t leapfrog like this, but in a supernatural world, indeed it could.

With spatial transmission, who wants to fly long distances?

"But since there’s spatial transmission, what does it matter if I can fly fast?" Amberser asked.

The God of Alchemy, somewhat excited, said, "No, the point isn’t that you surpassed the sound barrier, but that you managed, by some means, to achieve a feat that mortals had never before accomplished. And in these methods, alchemy plays a significant role, meaning you have expanded alchemy into new heights."

Amberser basically understood. He had proven that alchemy could reach a certain extreme, which was equivalent to broadening the scope of the concept of alchemy, and in turn, expanding the domain of the God of Alchemy.

The God of Alchemy reflected, "Alchemy has undergone two key changes. The first was when those bored mages wanted to study magical materials, giving birth to alchemy. But at that time, alchemy was just a small experiment for mages to kill time, not enough to support a divine position. The second was when alchemy evolved from a mere pastime of mages into a true academic discipline when those without the ability to cast spells also got involved in alchemy, using their discoveries to change the world. It wasn’t until then that the concept of alchemy became powerful enough to provide for a deity, and I became the God of Alchemy."

Amberser was not very interested in discussing this topic. This old man had forsaken him to become a deity on his own. Although their relationship had softened a lot, Amberser always had a thorn in his side.

This old man, no matter how he became a deity, why didn’t he come to give Amberser a hand afterward?

Even a little bit of help would have spared Amberser from such a miserable fate.

It may seem like a protagonist’s halo that a clumsy Alchemy Apprentice became Legendary, but only Amberser knew what his centuries of life had been like.

His life was not as smooth as those protagonists. More than once he was captured by enemies and tortured cruelly. His limbs had been chopped off many times; they were no longer his originals. He had witnessed the deaths of companions hundreds of times, often powerless to help, merely fleeing in panic, knowing a moment’s hesitation could cost his own life. Just the experience of bankruptcy alone Amberser had gone through no less than ten times in his lifetime.

Life was full of hardships, with truly happy memories being scant.

Perhaps that was why Amberser chose to become a Lich. Liches could block out a great deal of negative emotions, preventing him from being tormented by those painful memories every time he closed his eyes.

And if the God of Alchemy were willing to help, maybe those centuries of suffering could have been greatly reduced.

But the old man did nothing, which made Amberser angry just thinking about it.

Now, the old man brought up the topic of becoming a deity, and Amberser couldn’t help but want to seek a clear answer.

"How exactly did you become a deity?" Amberser asked.

"Want to know? Well, I’m afraid you’ll get angry," said the God of Alchemy.

Amberser let out a cold laugh and then said, "I’m a Lich. Aside from losing money, there’s hardly anything that can make me angry anymore."

"Alright then, since you want to know, I’ll start with the most painful truth for you. Do you know how I became a deity? It was because of you. The second turning point in the history of alchemy, which enabled those with weak magical abilities to change the world through alchemy, was brought about by you."

Amberser looked utterly puzzled.

"I am that remarkable, and I don’t know about it?"

Amberser was not being modest. He was very clear about his own level of proficiency in alchemy. He had never created any new theories; most of his work was based on improving what came before. In other words, he wasn’t a genius who went from zero to one but rather one who progressed from one to ten.

Perhaps he was stronger than many ordinary people, but Amberser was acutely aware that he was far behind the real geniuses.

The only area he felt confident in was his research on souls; in that aspect, he was indeed second to none, except deities.

The God of Alchemy asked, "Haven’t you improved alchemy instruments like the constant pressure dropper, separator, pipette, and things of that sort?"

Amberser nodded. After all, having come from a laboratory in his previous life, he found many of the alchemy instruments in this world awkward to use, so he made his own improvements. These kinds of things are easy to replicate once you’ve used them, as the technology involved isn’t too complicated—it’s mostly a matter of precision.

"What does that have to do with you becoming a deity? Even before I improved those things, instruments with the same functions had long existed," Amberser said.

"No, it’s completely different. Previously, alchemy was just a hobby for those mages, and every inventor made tools according to their own habits, so none of them matched each other and were extremely cumbersome to use.

"But, your improvements unified all the commonly used instruments within the same system. It was precisely because your set of tools became widespread that alchemy had its first set of standard instruments, and on this foundation, the formerly chaotic alchemy started to be systematized. The process of recording alchemy formulas became much simpler too. Previously, the various instruments’ shapes were all different and lacked specific naming, making the formulas incomprehensible without illustrations.

"With this set of highly efficient and standardized instruments, alchemy began to develop, and as various formulas emerged, the concept of alchemy kept expanding until it could support my ascension to deityhood."

Amberser felt something was amiss upon hearing this and quickly interrupted, "Wait, that’s not right. Those instruments were my invention; how come you became a deity? By rights, it should be me!"

The God of Alchemy spread his hands helplessly and said, "Whose fault is that? You used my name to name that set of instruments, even claiming that they were taught to you by me."

"I did that to avoid trouble, pretending to have a very impressive master!" Amberser exclaimed angrily.

For a young man with no background, it was difficult to get by in society. Amberser had to fabricate a powerful Mage and Alchemist as his master.

The instruments were indeed effective, so when he sold the rights for his first big earnings, he feared others would rob him and thus portrayed his master as a powerful Legendary Mage. People did not know whether to believe Amberser or not, but the instruments seemed too sophisticated for a young man to come up with on his own.

That was how Amberser made his first fortune.

Who could have guessed the price would be the chance to become a deity?

The God of Alchemy said innocently, "At that time, I was completely dead, and my soul had fallen to Hell, becoming currency for the devils. Then, this immense power revived me, and I became the God of Alchemy."

Amberser said excitedly, "Then why didn’t you come back to find me? At least give me some benefits! My first big earning was robbed within a few days, didn’t you know?"

"I really didn’t know," the God of Alchemy sighed. "Becoming a deity isn’t so simple. Although the concept of alchemy made me a deity, I was in Hell at that time, and it wasn’t easy to leave. It took me many years to leave Hell, then I had to face Aeo’s test. I don’t even know how long it took before I was recognized by Him and officially became a deity. Then, I did think about coming back to find you, but I couldn’t locate you."

Amberser said loudly, "How could you not find me? You are a deity!"

The God of Alchemy yelled even louder, "Deities are not omniscient and omnipotent, and my divine jurisdiction in alchemy doesn’t include the ability to find people. By the time I returned to the place where I used to live, you had already run away. You weren’t a believer of any deity; who can you blame? If only I knew you worshipped a certain deity, I could have asked Them for help to find you. Who could have known that you’d go through dozens of aliases in your lifetime?! If it weren’t for your involvement in the troubles of Alchemy City, I would never have found you. I thought you had died and gone to Hell long ago!"

The God of Alchemy’s words came straight from the heart. He even created a Divine Artifact mirror in his pursuit to find Amberser, but by the time he did, Amberser had already turned into a Lich.

Amberser was at a loss for words. Changing aliases was only because the same name used too often would lead enemies to his door; he couldn’t be blamed for that!

"No, this can’t be the end of it. It’s you who owe me!"

Despite it all being a misunderstanding, Amberser still couldn’t swallow his pride.

The God of Alchemy disdainfully said, "Okay, okay, I owe you. Take these, all four divine jurisdictions are yours. Just merge them into yourself right now to become a deity, and then both master and student can die together. Let’s be clear, I can’t withstand the assault of those four Goddesses, and you’re definitely no match either. Shael alone could squash you like a bug!"

Amberser clutched the four small boxes tightly and said resolutely, "I don’t care, you have to help me resolve this. I want to become a deity; I want to reclaim what should originally belong to me!"