From Prisoner to Si Chen..

Chapter 365 Silver Bottle Eight

"The vast majority of alchemists in the world are either half-baked and unskilled, or low-level alchemists who use their skills to deceive people."

Mrs. McCulla elaborated to the apprentices.

"They only mastered the most basic alchemy arrays, but they tried to use the wrong, flawed 'alchemy catalyst' to make gold... In the end, they simply dyed the surface of the base metal, like a shoddy dyeing process, to defraud money with fake gold."

"According to the information I collected, I concluded that there are more than 260 folk recipes for making high-quality imitation gold, artificial pearls and fake jewelry."

Mrs. McCullagh shook her head.

"This is not the right way, remember that."

"At the same time, this is also the first major branch I want to talk to you about today, 'metal alchemy' in alchemy."

"The core of these is the 'mercury-sulfur theory'. This theory was first proposed by an unknown alchemist, which states that everything in the world is made up of two substances ejected from the center of the earth. The dry one like smoke is 'sulfur', and the wet one like steam is 'mercury'. When they are synthesized underground in different proportions and concentrations, different metals and stones appear."

"But in an incident two hundred years ago, an ancient cult called 'Midnight Rose' tried to bypass the 'equivalent exchange' principle and refine gold in large quantities, which angered the September Hour 'Ms. Snow' and she punished them."

"The leader of the secret cult at that time, Ibn Har, and even most of the alchemists, paid the price with their lives... So far, the important role of salt has been added to the 'mercury-sulfur theory'."

"This is both a reverence for 'Ms. Snow' and a proof of faith."

Mrs. McCullagh tossed it again.

Seven kinds of metals were floating in the air, with the golden ball on the table in the center and silver, copper, iron, tin, lead and mercury on the periphery.

“The only precious metals are gold and silver, which symbolize the sun and the moon, while the base metals represent the five planets of the astral world: gold, fire, wood, earth, and water.”

Seven spherical metals, like stars, circled around Mrs. McCalla's fingertips.

She continued:
"In 'Metal Alchemy', in addition to the 'mercury-sulfur-salt theory', there is also a 'form-spirit theory', which comes from the 'forge king' Master Hermes Mish."

"He pointed out that the body is not volatile, but the spirit is volatile, just like the two properties of the substance 'mercury and sulfur'. So if you extract the spirit of a metal and put it into another metal, you can change the metal substance."

"And the soul symbolizes the salt crystal. If we eventually imprint the soul of a person into the metal, we can stabilize it and permanently change its properties."

"This..." Flamel and Galken were stunned. "Extracting human souls and putting them into metal?!"

"Yes, it's just an idea."

Mrs. McCullagh sighed.

"Gold is eternal and indestructible. If a person's soul can reside in gold, it can live forever... and this also involves the ultimate vision of alchemy, the philosopher's stone."

"But the Philosopher's Stone is still too far away for you. Knowing too much now will do more harm than good."

"Yes, ma'am."

The apprentices nodded and replied.

Mrs. McCalla continued to talk about some knowledge of "Metal Alchemy" until night fell, then she began to talk about the other two major branches.

"…In addition to 'metal alchemy', there is also 'human alchemy' and 'soul alchemy'."

"The act of grafting other people's body parts, or even animals or inanimate materials such as rocks and metals, onto the human body to achieve longevity, healing, or even the creation of powers and functions that do not belong to humans is called 'human alchemy'."

"Improving the quality of the soul through spiritual transformation is called 'soul alchemy'. You can understand it as a kind of consciousness projection, commonly known as 'ritual sense', which can be used to improve the realm of one's own soul. This is the same as the process of alchemy, but the ultimate goal is to make one's own soul perfect and flawless, like gold."

"..."

Ms. McCalla explained the vast knowledge of alchemy to the apprentices in a steady pace and gentle tone with great patience.

The three of them were so fascinated by the story that they didn't notice how time flew by.

When the bright moon was high in the sky, Mrs. McCullagh finished her story. Finally, she mentioned a forbidden branch called "Life Alchemy":
"This is a delusion of creating life and even achieving immortality. It is also related to the 'Philosopher's Stone'..."

Mrs. McCullagh shook her head.

"The human body can be replicated with only a few simple materials, and is a very cheap substance. However, everyone's body and even soul are unique. If you grab others to complete yourself or create life, I think this is against the law."

"I hope you won't go astray in the future."

"I will follow Madam's instructions."

The three apprentices said respectfully.

Mrs. McCullagh nodded and looked at the sky.

"It's getting late. I'll give you some homework. Then go wash up and rest."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hmm..." Mrs. McCullagh paused. "Based on what I have said today, you will each practice a 'magnetic cleansing ritual' to cleanse the residents of Andrea and exorcise the evil spirits."

"Everyone has limited materials, but at least they need to succeed once."

Hearing this, the three apprentices agreed.

...

...

The next morning.

Jilan was fiddling with the materials needed for the "magnetic swinging ceremony" in the yard.

He kept working, pouring a portion of "magnetic water" refined by the alchemical array into a thin-necked, fat-bellied glass bottle, adding precious metal fragments and glass powder, and then putting it into another alchemical array, preparing for transformation.

Jilan found it funny in his heart.

Speaking of the "magnetic ritual", he once used it as an excuse to perform an exorcism on a noble lady.

In fact, he didn't understand anything at the time, and relied entirely on the spells of Vivi, the devil noble, to "cheat". Fortunately, the result was similar.

It finally restores people to normal.

Gillan shook his head. He lit the glass bottle with sulfur, causing the liquid inside to undergo a transmutation reaction.

'According to Mrs. McCullagh, unconscious forces combined with cosmic elements cause the spirit to produce a substance called 'ether'.'

Gillan thought.

"But mortals do not know how to meditate and practice, and their poor spiritual knowledge makes them "ignorant". They cannot see the elements of the universe, so they cannot absorb them..."

He looked at the alchemy array in his hand. The liquid in the glass bottle was boiling in the flames and gradually turned into a translucent thick liquid.

'The smell of this "magnetic water" can make mortals enter a trance and unconscious state, and use the magnetic force contained in it to force the elements of the universe into their bodies, thereby generating "ether" to help mortals get rid of the mysterious magnetic field and even curses that are harmful to the body, and become healthier.'

Not long after.

The alchemy array in Jilan's hand lost its glow.

Only the glass bottle was left standing on the ground.

"It's done." He reached out and picked it up, taking a look. "This is actually a very simple alchemical potion."

Just as Gillan was about to put it away, he left the cabin and headed to the town center of Andrea to look for people who needed help.

But at this moment.

Galken walked out of the wooden house, also holding a bottle of "magnetic water" in his hand. Seeing Jilan squatting in the yard, he was startled.

"Brother Jilan, have you finished your practice too?" he asked.

"Yeah." Gillan nodded. "I'm getting ready to go out."

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

Because through clairvoyance, Gilan discovered that Galken's spirituality was somewhat obscure, as if he was contaminated by some harmful magnetic field.

"I didn't notice it a few days ago. When did Galken's situation occur?"

Ji Lan secretly thought.

But he smiled:

"That's great. Since you're here, why don't we try it on each other first to see if it works?"

"Well... OK." Galken did not refuse and stepped forward shyly. "Brother Jilan, how do we try?"

"Just treat me as an ordinary person in need and try to cleanse me."

Gillan laughed.

Galken hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

At this moment, Le May from another wooden house also came out with the "magnetic water" he had refined. Seeing this, he also wanted to join in with great interest.

Gillan didn't refuse.

So he found a chair and sat down, letting Galken operate beside him.

The civilian youth uncorked the bottle and let Jilan sniff it. Immediately, a fishy smell like ammonia entered his nostrils.

Immediately, Jilan felt slightly sleepy.

But almost the next moment, this sleepiness was dispelled by the mark of his kingdom.

"It should have been successfully refined. It does have a psychedelic effect."

He said softly.

Galken nodded and carefully sprinkled some magnetic water on Jilan's shoulders.

After Jilan opened his spiritual vision, he saw that some of the four-colored particles floating around him actually floated over and merged into the "magnetic water" on his body, and finally entered his body after evaporation.

Unfortunately, Gillan’s spirituality had already reached mortal perfection, and all these cosmic elements were repelled.

“Yes, it works.”

Gilan, however, grinned at Galken.

The latter was stunned at first, then showed an expression of joy and excitement.

"That's great... After studying with Madam for so long, I finally succeeded in refining alchemical medicine."

Galken put the cork back in the bottle and said with a red face.

Then, Gillan tried Flamel's "Magnetic Water", which was also effective, and even better than Galken's... This shows that Flamel's talent for alchemy is indeed good, and he can definitely be called a genius.

Finally, Gillan had Galken sit in a chair and tried to magnetize him.

After some operations, Galken fell into an unconscious coma, and then the noble girl Flamel, who had been watching, changed her expression slightly.

Just after Jilan sprinkled the "magnetic water" on Galken's shoulders, in less than ten seconds, a bluish-gray color appeared on the face of the civilian young man.

The expression also looked somewhat painful.

"Puff——" Suddenly, Galken spat out a large mouthful of black water!

"Jilan, what happened to him?!"

exclaimed Flamel.

Jilan's eyes were deep, and he said in a deep voice:

"He was cursed..."

(End of this chapter)