Chapter 37: [Artisan’s Apprentice (Alchemy)]

Time flew by. With Higgins dead and Raymond unable to provide any useful information, the progress of the smuggling case had stalled.

Despite the stagnation, Danika's team still had to monitor Raymond day and night; after all, who knew if he might secretly contact the so-called "Razor."

Fortunately, this was no problem for Leon. To him, it was just like changing locations to grind for levels.

Inside the inconspicuous sedan, Leon opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

[Novice Qi Practitioner lv7 (14/700) / Qi Practitioner (San-Yi) lv5 (423/500)], [Reverse Life Triple (Proficient 302/1000)].

Looking at the information on his interface, he couldn't help but think to himself:

"Slacking off at work is what you call making money; working hard is just exchanging labor for a paycheck."

"In a little while, [Novice Qi Practitioner] should hit max level."

This was their fifth day monitoring Raymond.

Just then, Danika, in the passenger seat, noticed Leon open his eyes through the rearview mirror and said, "Awake? The Bureau just arranged for others to take over the surveillance of Raymond. We can go back and get some rest."

"Does the Chief have other arrangements for us?"

Leon didn't think their Chief was that kind-hearted.

Hearing this, Danika shrugged. "Who knows."

After seeing a vehicle of the same model pull up in front, she had Cole drive her and Leon back to their quarters. On the way, however, Leon had Cole take a detour so he could purchase some tools for practicing alchemy.

In front of their dormitory, Danika looked at the tools in Leon's hands and said with some surprise, "Are you really planning to practice alchemy? It's quite difficult to succeed without professional bonuses."

She then added thoughtfully, "My advice is, if you have the energy, it’s better to spend it on finding your path for a profession."

"After all, your professional potential is quite high. As long as you keep going, your future prospects won't necessarily be worse than an [Artisan]."

Leon knew Danika was speaking out of kindness, as she didn't know that his number of profession slots was unlimited.

But the key problem was...

The promotion requirement for [Qi Practitioner (San-Yi)] to become an [Immortal] was too absurd; he truly felt powerless and had to find a way to act circuitously.

Leon opened the door and said, "It won't hurt to try. If I don't have the talent, I'll just give up."

"Fair enough."

Hearing this, Danika stopped trying to persuade him. In her view, Leon would naturally give up after failing a few times.

Stepping inside, Leon didn't rush into his first attempt at alchemy, choosing instead to wash up first.

Once he had cleaned the grime from his body, he sat down at his desk, feeling refreshed.

"Alchemy, initiate!"

Unfortunately, since he lacked alchemical objects to engrave, he could only experiment on the metal blocks he had bought alongside his tools.

Taking a deep breath, Leon quickly calmed his mind with the help of [Composure]. Then, his fair hand picked up a metal block, and he began to engrave the [Concealment] array from the book in front of him using a carving knife.

If a [Commoner] without a profession tried this step, it would clearly be very difficult; after all, carving into a metal block still required a certain level of physical strength.

Leon, however, had no such worries. Soon, a metal block etched with a crude array appeared in his hand.

"Hoo..."

Leon blew away the metal shavings on the surface and examined it closely.

After a moment, he tilted his head in confusion. "Failed?"

To Leon, the metal block in his hand looked no different than it had before, which made him suspect he had failed.

Filled with doubt, he flipped through the "Detailed Introduction to Alchemy" again.

It didn't take long for him to find the answer.

It lacked an energy source.

According to standard procedure, alchemical arrays were only engraved on alchemical items or, at the very least, items that could provide energy, in order to make them effective.

The metal block in Leon's hand clearly lacked that capability.

"Where am I supposed to get energy..."

Leon rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

As he pondered, his eyes suddenly lit up. A faint, milky-white energy appeared on his fair palm, and he grabbed the metal block on the table once more.

The next moment, under Leon's gaze, the metal block seemed to turn invisible, its color fading slightly.

"It actually worked?!"

That's right, what Leon had just used was [Qi Control], a professional skill that came with [Novice Qi Practitioner].

He had originally intended to try it out just to see, never expecting alchemy to be so accommodating.

"Could it be that I'm actually a genius? I succeeded on the first try."

Leon hadn't expected to succeed on his first attempt.

Just then, his professional interface popped up with information at the perfect moment.

[An alchemical work has been completed. You may now adopt the profession: Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)].

[Profession adopted: Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)].

—

[Profession: Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)]

[Level: 1/10 (0/100)]

[Attribute Bonus: Mental Strength +0.3 per level, Energy +1 per level]

[Professional Skill: Basic Construction (Novice 0/100)]

[Professional Specialty: Nimble Hands]

[Promotion Path: Alchemist, Pharmacist, Human Transmutation Heretic...]

—

[Basic Construction: You can perform simple analysis on raw materials.]

[Nimble Hands: Your hands now have improved stability when performing precision work.]

With a cooling sensation in his brain, Leon had successfully adopted the [Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)] profession.

When he saw the attribute bonuses for [Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)], a thought involuntarily flashed through his mind:

"There's absolutely no physical strength bonus? No wonder Raymond was so fragile."

But then again, alchemy was never a skill meant for strengthening oneself for combat.

...At least, low-level alchemy wasn't.

But for Leon, this wasn't a fatal problem. Given his current physical strength, if an opponent of the same level mistook him for a "glass cannon," he could show them that he, a humble practitioner, also knew a thing or two about fisticuffs.

After composing himself, Leon prepared to engrave the [Concealment] array onto the service-issued firearms from the Public Security Bureau.

It wasn't that he didn't want to forge the [Scales of Gallos]; it was mainly because the required materials were somewhat hard to find.

[Scales of Gallos: One dragon scale (can be replaced with other scales), 200 kilograms of any metal].

Where was Leon supposed to find a dragon scale...

"Wait."

"Could those bug carapaces from earlier be used?"

He suddenly remembered the strange beetle he had encountered in the Technical Talent Resettlement Zone 2, the one with dense, fine scales growing on its carapace.