This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 709 - 604: Truth is a Bird That Can Never Be Caged_2

Chapter 709: Chapter 604: Truth is a Bird That Can Never Be Caged_2

Mind bridged across to Bartle in the Abyss Plane, the Evil Silver Gradient responded in a deep tone, "Ask, and I’ll receive the answer from the Magic Mirror, then pass all knowledge onto every member of our race."

The Divine Realm of the God of Alchemy possessed the original Magic Mirror, which naturally held all permissions of the mirror, including many forbidden knowledges that only the God of Alchemy knew.

Bartle’s understanding of magic was still very superficial, making it easy to obtain answers from the Magic Mirror.

Then, this fundamental knowledge would flow out from the soul of the Evil Silver Gradient and be shared with all Mercury Avatars.

Depending on each Mercury Avatar’s aptitude, their rates of learning and understanding differed, but, compared with the learning methods of other races, this was undoubtedly akin to cheating.

In just half a day, the entire race of Mercury Avatars had advanced their magic capabilities by a significant step.

For naturally intelligent individuals like Bartle, in just a short time, they mastered over five kinds of magic, although all were mere trivial tricks. Yet, this pace was much faster than human mages copying from scrolls, and there were no side effects.

Amberser had just returned and was discussing with Parurier how to excavate the entire Blood River Battlefield, when he sensed the changes in the Evil Silver Gradient.

"How did this lazy creature suddenly fall in love with learning?"

However, Amberser merely remarked once; learning wasn’t a bad thing, and perhaps in a few years, the Evil Silver Gradient could even assist the God of Alchemy.

The God of Alchemy was even more excited. He hadn’t expected a lazy fool to seriously study one day, thus he activated a time acceleration effect for the Evil Silver Gradient and occasionally bestowed a few spells of wisdom upon him.

Yet the master and apprentice didn’t take it too seriously, as they were both extremely busy with other matters.

Amberser was busy studying the Blood River Battlefield and constantly on guard for any tricks from Hircine, while the God of Alchemy directly took over the Magic Mirror’s operations concerning the Alchemist Association.

"Magic Mirror, Magic Mirror, tell me this" —this incantation was now known by everyone, as one apprentice after another transformed into Official Alchemists, and one Basic Alchemist after another was promoted to Intermediate through exams.

However, this also overwhelmed the Alchemist Association.

There were too many talents, but not enough positions.

Intermediate Alchemists were meant to get a sizable monthly subsidy, discounts on magical materials, and perks like dedicated alchemy laboratories. But with the recent influx of successful examinees, the Alchemist Association suddenly couldn’t honor these promised benefits.

Although Gustavo Flint worked hard to suppress the voices of discontent and immediately suspended the alchemist certification exams, he knew this was just a temporary measure.

Each alchemist wouldn’t be satisfied with the status quo; they would crazily acquire knowledge to climb to higher positions. The capacity of the Alchemist Association wasn’t enough to satisfy so many alchemists, and sooner or later, the association would collapse.

But Gustavo Flint couldn’t find any solution.

The reality was that resources were limited, unlike knowledge which could be duplicated; the Dwarf Kingdom was only so large, and the Alchemist Association controlled only so many factories. Even removing some nominal, undeserving individuals wouldn’t free up enough positions for everyone.

Rubbing his temples, Gustavo Flint found this situation exceedingly difficult to handle.

Gustavo Flint couldn’t help but curse, "Don’t they care that their souls will be taken by demons? These madmen!"

Trading knowledge with the Magic Mirror wasn’t without a cost. According to that Devil, if you wanted knowledge of alchemy, it had to be exchanged with knowledge of an equivalent level, and whether the trade would be accepted still depended on that Devil’s mood.

And once unable to offer the corresponding knowledge, one’s soul would be taken by the Devil, yet numerous alchemists still eagerly engaged in such risky transactions.

Perhaps for them, spending a lifetime as an apprentice was no different from going to Hell.

It was merely details about the temperature of the flame, the direction of stirring, or even just a few seconds of difference in mixing time—such straightforward knowledge that could be understood in a single sentence. Yet, these were guarded by haughty alchemists.

Being exploited like slaves by their mentors every day, just sneaking a glance at alchemy notes could cost them their eyes—who would want such a life forever?

Who didn’t dream of being an alchemist, who didn’t want to rise above others through learning.

Many apprentices and Basic Alchemists, under such circumstances, chose to take a gamble.

Although many failed, paying a heavy price, there were still quite a few who succeeded and became Official Alchemists.

Basic knowledge of alchemy wasn’t difficult to grasp; what generally kept people from becoming Official Alchemists were two things: channels of learning and the high cost of trial and error.

Those secrets of alchemy, accumulated through spending countless Gold Coins by the older generations, they would rather take to their graves than teach freely to their apprentices.

But if these so-called secrets were made public, many alchemists would realize they had already been discovered by others.

Knowledge monopolization was the method used by the Alchemist Association to control these alchemists, but now this line of control was torn by that Devil, leading to a rapid elevation in the base skill level.

Gustavo Flint had considered whether to raise the standard grading for alchemists, turning previous Intermediate Alchemists into Basic, and Basic into apprentices; essentially, just raising the difficulty of the exams, which was not a problem for him at all.