Rock Kingdom: Why is black smoke coming out of my star chart?

Chapter 10: The Mission Completed inexplicably

"Claire, put what you're doing down for now."

Yigu pushed open the door of the small wooden house in the backyard, and a bitter smell mixed with iron sand and crystal ore wafted out. Lin Feng covered his nose and looked inside.

Hey!

The room was filled with all sorts of materials, a complete mess, and the only desk was piled high with scattered draft papers.

In the dim light, only the liquid in the alchemical cauldron emitted a faint yellow glow, illuminating an elderly, wrinkled face.

This is a one-eyed old man with a bald head, only white hair on both sides like ram's horns, and a stiff beard that sticks up high.

He stopped what he was doing, glanced at Lin Feng at the door, and said, "Is this the kid?"

Igu frowned and said disdainfully, "Could you tidy up this dilapidated alchemy room?"

"Tsk, after all that cleaning up, can it still be called the Alchemy House?"

Claire scoffed, raised her wand and lightly tapped the rim of the alchemical cauldron, releasing deep blue magic that spiraled into the cauldron.

Suddenly, light shone everywhere!

The blinding yellow light, accompanied by a very slight suction, stirred up the air in the room, causing the liquid in the pot to pool together and form several liquid spheres, which then floated up.

Claire skillfully waved her wand, and one rune after another appeared, imprinted on the spherical liquid.

After the last rune fell, the spherical liquids all transformed into yellow glowing balls, which fell one by one into the pot.

Claire beckoned to the nearby plate shell, which sprayed out cool water to cool the alchemical pot.

He grabbed a ball from inside and threw it at Lin Feng, "How's that? How much have you learned?"

Lin Feng caught the incoming Gulu Ball and examined it closely. The Gulu Ball's shell was yellowish-brown, and the lower half was white. Many runes were not hidden on its surface.

However, the intricate structure made him a little dizzy, and he asked in confusion, "Claire... Master, the runes on this look very complex. How did you manage to imprint them so easily just by moving your wand when you were crafting it?"

Claire leisurely tossed the glutinous rice balls from the pot into a box beside him, walked to the desk, took out a somewhat worn book, dusted it off, and tossed it to Lin Feng.

"This book is about the relationship between magical runes and alchemy. Take it home and study it carefully. Getting started with alchemy isn't difficult."

Igu knocked on the door with dissatisfaction and said, "Claire, are you planning to take all your alchemical knowledge to your grave? I don't think you can find a Locke more suitable to be your student than Lin Feng."

"He is, after all, a magician."

Claire's vision darkened. Ever since Griffin issued the ban on machinery, the status of alchemists and alchemists had become very low.

Most magicians only learned basic alchemy, such as the technique of making goo balls and the technique of dust transformation. Deeper knowledge was either forbidden or of little use.

Alchemy is too difficult in this era.

[Unlock Branch: Alchemist]

Lin Feng's eyes lit up; the system, which had been dormant for a long time, finally popped up.

He looked at the unlocked branches on the panel with some confusion. What's the difference between an alchemist and a normal mage?

He thought for a moment, then asked Claire in another way, "Master Claire, I'd like to ask what the relationship is between alchemical runes and magical runes?"

Claire stroked her beard, sighed, and said, "Alchemical runes work on inanimate objects, while magic works on living things, so there's a big difference."

He knew that in this era dominated by elves, even magic might not be as important as elf combat. Alchemy, which could only shine in the mechanical field, had no future after machinery was banned.

Claire couldn't resist Igu's piercing gaze, so she called Lin Feng in. "Alright, you can learn some basics from me first, learn as much as you can."

Igu gave Lin Feng a push from behind and whispered in his ear, "Go on, study hard, and try to learn everything Claire knows so you can replace him."

Claire, who knew quite a bit of magic, heard everything Igu said. He cursed, "Igu, at least don't say that to my face!"

Igu shrugged and left the room.

Claire took a sip of water, coughed twice, took two pieces of black iron ore from a box in the corner, threw them into the pot, and shouted to Lin Feng, "Kid, come here."

Lin Feng was curiously peeking at the draft paper on Claire's desk when he was startled by the voice and quickly came back to his senses.

"You little rascal, watch out."

Claire took out a small cube, pressed it gently, and a flame shot out from the hole, igniting the firewood under the alchemical pot.

Seeing that the temperature was about right, Claire threw the black iron ore into the alchemy pot and said, "Once the ore is liquefied, we can use runes to activate the condensation of the Gulu Ball's outer shell."

……

Time flew by, and throughout the morning, Claire talked a lot about the effects of the runes used in the Gollum Ball.

However, there's no need to go through all that trouble to actually craft Gulu Balls. Most alchemy pots sold in stores come with engraved runes; you just need to follow the instructions to control the magic infusion into the runes.

Claire planned to let Lin Feng try it out himself, cleaning the residue in the alchemy pot and throwing a piece of topaz into the pot.

He handed the "firestone" to Lin Feng and said, "Go and try it."

Lin Feng swallowed hard. He didn't even understand the function of many of the runes used to make the Gulu Ball, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and get on with it.

He lit the firewood under the alchemy pot and stared intently at the ore inside.

The ore melted little by little in the high temperature, turning into a pool of yellow water. Some bubbles burst on the surface of the liquid, releasing bursts of hot air.

Lin Feng quickly injected magic power, but he soon realized something was wrong. The magic power, which was originally easy to control, was distorted out of control by the high temperature as soon as it came into contact with the liquid.

His expression changed, and he continuously increased his magic output. Waves of magic propelled the previously out-of-control magic forward until it passed through the flames and touched the restraining runes, at which point it stabilized.

"It must be tough, right?"

Claire chuckled, "Most Lockes would suffer at this step on their first try, without understanding how magic changes in different environments."

Lin Feng nodded, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and carefully controlled his magic power to activate the engraved runes in sequence.

He lowered his hand and let out a long breath as the last rune was imprinted on the surface of the Gulu Ball. Alchemy was more difficult than he had imagined, but also more interesting.

Suddenly, the system popped up again.

[Mastering the Gulu Ball making technique is complete. Reward: Portable Alchemy Pot]

not good!

The reward for the last mission was given as soon as the mission was completed. If a cauldron suddenly appears, how is he supposed to explain it?

Lin Feng was extremely uneasy, watching Claire warily.

Claire felt a chill run down her spine under his gaze, patted Lin Feng on the shoulder, and said, "What are you standing there for? It's lunchtime, time to go eat."

"Oh, oh."

Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief. The alchemy pot hadn't appeared for so long, so it probably wouldn't suddenly pop up and scare everyone.

However, he still had some doubts, thinking to himself, "I haven't even figured out what the runes for making Gollum Balls mean, and I've already tried refining them in the alchemy pot. Can I really call that learning?"

Now that the most difficult task is done, it's time to figure out how to finish the third task as soon as possible and see what magical rewards the second stage will bring.