While In America, We Travel Through A Fairy Tale World Together!
Chapter 16 - Alchemy

Chapter 16: Alchemy

“Grandma Wolf…”

Rhodes approached the dying werewolf.

Unlike in fairytales, the werewolf did not eat the grandmother, it was the grandmother who became the werewolf. An ordinary old woman had transformed into a terrifying beast overnight. This meant that the werewolves lurking in the forest were once ordinary humans, too.

The mastermind behind it all was clearly this “Granny Wolf.” Fragmented memories pieced themselves together in Rhodes’s mind, forming a complete story.

Granny Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood arrived at the village three years ago. Somehow, they began turning regular people into werewolves, spreading fear and chaos. Granny created the werewolves, while Little Red served as bait, luring unsuspecting travelers into the forest as prey.

As for the village chief, he seemed to be the ringleader, like a shepherd herding sheep. He kept the villagers calm and obedient while benefiting from the arrangement. In return, he was allowed to move freely in and out of the village and profit by trading supplies and money from the villagers.

The priest, however, was a variable, an accident. He discovered the village chief’s secret by chance and was given some means to fight the werewolves in exchange for his silence,. Then, using his religious status and the villagers’ trust, he manipulated them under the guise of divine will to quench his twisted fantasies.

All that said, Granny Wolf had deceived the village chief, too. While it was true that silver could harm werewolves, the idea that they feared fire was a lie. The werewolves hadn’t attacked the village because someone was restraining them, not out of fear.

Granny Wolf had been using the village chief from the start. When he and the villagers outlived their usefulness, they would simply become the werewolves’ next meal.

“Can’t let it go to waste,” Rhodes muttered.

Even ordinary werewolves had boosted his power significantly. This werewolf was bound to be far more valuable. Even her corpse alone held incredible worth. Rhodes extended a hand and placed it on Granny Wolf’s head.

Equivaria.

As her flesh and bones disintegrated, an explosive surge of power flooded Rhodes’s body. His blood roared, his heart thundered. His already-transformed body began mutating further.

“Haaagh!”

Sweat dripped down his forehead as his bones and muscles twisted and reshaped themselves. The transformation lasted for three whole minutes. When the pain finally subsided, even his vision had changed.

Rhodes looked down at his hands, now fully transformed into lupine forelimbs. His current form was even more monstrous than before. Just his height alone reached nearly four to five meters. The once-spacious wooden cabin now looked like a dwarf’s cottage.

Whoosh!

With a casual swipe of his hand, a fierce wind burst forth, tearing the roof off with sheer force. This level of power was far beyond anything he’d wielded before. In this form, all aspects, including strength, defense, regeneration, and power, were amplified significantly. But the tradeoff was clear: agility and evasion bore the price. With a body that massive, he was essentially a walking target.

Suppressing the beast within, Rhodes slowly returned to human form.

“Not a bad harvest,” he said with a satisfied smile.

By offering the Granny Wolf, not only had he unlocked his giant wolf transformation, but his regular physical form had also been strengthened. Even without transforming, he was now as strong as his previous werewolf state. And more importantly, he had gained a new skill — alchemy.

By combining alchemy with magic, he could extract the essence of ingredients and fuse them into powerful potions. Different potions yielded different effects. Werewolves, as it turned out, were artificial creations. They were the result of consuming a dark concoction called Lycanthrope Potion. Rhodes closed his eyes, and the formula for the Lycanthrope Potion surfaced in his mind.

Lycanthrope Potion – a potion that grants a chance to transform into a werewolf upon consumption under a full moon.

Ingredients: Dew of Moonlight, Wolfsbane Root, Shadowberry, Silver Wolf Blood, and Pure Water.

Methodology: Under the full moon, place the Dew of Moonlight, Wolfsbane Root, Shadowberry, and blood of a Silver Wolf into a silver container. Heat using a Pure Flame while chanting an ancient incantation to fuse the components. When the mixture starts to bubble and emit a faint silver glow, extinguish the flame and add Pure Water to cool the potion immediately. Once cooled, pour it into a flask made of wolf hide and seal it. Drinking it under a full moon grants a chance of awakening the werewolf bloodline.

So, the werewolves he’d encountered were awakened after drinking this potion.

However, the side effects of the Lycanthrope Potion were severe. Even if the bloodline awakened successfully, there was a high chance of turning into a feral. Only a rare few retained their sanity after transformation. Even then, they were bound to the potion’s creator. They had to continue taking the potion regularly to remain lucid. Without it, they would drown into madness like the others.

Granny Wolf must have consumed a modified version of the potion, a superior variant. Not only was she stronger than standard werewolves, but she had also unlocked a second transformation.

“If these werewolves were created here, then there must be a laboratory nearby,” Rhodes reasoned.

He entered the wooden cabin and stored the unconscious Little Red Riding Hood in his personal space. After searching for a short while, he found what he expected — a hidden cellar beneath the floor.