Difficulty.
Helos propped her chin on her hand, sinking into thought.
She had indeed considered prioritizing unlocking the Martial Alchemy path earlier, but the requirement of “killing a monster” was a bit too much for her at this stage.
At first, she thought she could easily deal with some low-level harmless beasts to meet the condition, but after personally experiencing the unlocking requirements of Life Alchemy,
she realized it was far from that simple.
After all, last time she had to painstakingly craft a truly effective healing potion before she could successfully unlock Life Alchemy.
Although the alchemy text stated “by any means,” purely relying on shortcuts was unlikely to satisfy the unlocking conditions.
The girl sighed softly, her fingertips tapping absentmindedly on the workbench.
As for the Enlightenment path…
The unlocking condition required a full ten separate formulas!
What troubled her even more was that the formulas from Life Alchemy obviously didn’t count toward this.
By that calculation, the only formula she currently had was the “Mana Core.”
The “Prototype Earthen Fragmentation Grenade” she made earlier for Julius wasn’t recorded in the alchemy ledger—on second thought, that made sense.
After all, that device was based on earthly technology and had little to do with the seemingly magical orthodox alchemy.
Helos sighed again; it looked like unlocking the Enlightenment path would still be a long way off.
Right now, she was stuck.
The Martial path was too dangerous, the Enlightenment formulas wouldn’t come easily, and then there was the Phantom path—she had no idea how to approach that one at all.
“Sigh, this feeling is so frustrating.”
The girl weakly collapsed onto the workbench, pressing her cheek against the cold surface, her silver hair spilling down like a waterfall.
She puffed out her cheeks and mumbled quietly, “Looks like after Julius and the others finish handling that matter, I’ll have to find a way to ‘ask’ them for help.”
***
The next morning, just as the sunlight began to fill the courtyard, Julius’s figure appeared at the workshop door.
He gently knocked on the wooden door, but before he could speak, he heard the clanging of tools from inside.
The door creaked open, and Helos appeared at the entrance with her messy silver hair, her pale purple eyes shadowed by two obvious dark circles.
“You came just in time!”
She quickly pulled Julius inside the workshop, nimbly grabbing a leather pouch from the workbench. “Here, I prepared this for you.”
Julius took the pouch, feeling its weight the moment his fingers touched the leather.
He unbuckled it, revealing a neat row of colorful small bottles—besides healing and antidote potions, there were two kinds he didn’t recognize.
“That many?”
Julius looked up in surprise, meeting Helos’s stance as she placed her hands on her hips, a proud look on her face.
His gaze flicked over her dark circles, and his brow furrowed unconsciously.
“You didn’t stay up all night making these, did you?”
“Ah? Uh, well, sort of…”
Helos suddenly turned her face away, the ends of her silver hair swaying to conceal her slightly reddened ear tips.
She couldn’t very well admit she’d been racking her brain late into the night trying to figure out how to persuade him to help hunt monsters, right?
Julius stared at her evasive eyes for a moment, then sighed.
“Don’t do that next time. Your health is more important.”
“Oh? You actually care about someone?”
Helos chuckled softly and waved it off casually. “It’s fine. I’m just free anyway, so I might as well catch up on sleep during the day.”
She squinted at Julius, her tone half teasing, half concerned.
“But you, you’ve been running yourself ragged lately—you should take better care of yourself!”
“I—”
Julius was about to respond, but she cut him off without hesitation.
“Ahem! At times like this, I must solemnly present to you—the latest achievements of Helos’s Workshop!”
The girl beamed proudly as she approached him, reaching to open the pouch at his waist and triumphantly raised two bottles:
“Ta-da! This yellow one is the Vitality Potion, and this blue one is the Concentration Potion!”
She shook the bottles with a bright smile.
“The former helps you quickly restore your energy, and the latter sharpens your focus, wiping away fatigue! It’s the perfect combo!”
At that, she suddenly sighed heavily, her expression turning grave, as if recalling a harrowing experience:
“But, well, don’t drink these at night… unless you’re really planning to pull an all-nighter.”
“You look like there’s a story behind that.”
“None of your business.”
Helos pouted, slipping the potions back into Julius’s pouch. Then she switched topics, asking about the real matter at hand.
“By the way, how’s that guy Allen doing now?”
“He’s alright.”
Julius’s expression softened, his gaze fixed on the girl, his voice serious. “I just came back from seeing him. If his condition continues to stabilize, he should be able to move freely in a few days.”
“And what do you plan to do next?”
Helos tilted her head curiously.
“Once Allen recovers a bit more, we plan to use his identity to sneak into that tavern.”
Julius’s voice lowered significantly, his eyes darkening.
“No matter what… we can’t let that poisonous wine continue to harm innocent people.”
***
A lively conversation.
In the Upper District of Olivias City, the luxurious Banquet Hall sparkled under the crystal chandelier, casting dazzling light.
Amidst the fragrance of fine clothes and elegant conversation, guests raised their glasses.
Recently, a high-end red wine named Scarlet Dream had become all the rage in noble circles, almost an indispensable “trend” at every gathering.
“This wine tastes really unique, with a strange richness.”
“Yes, a slight astringency at first sip, but a long-lasting finish that seems to invigorate the spirit.”
Amid clinking glasses, praise poured forth from the guests; many even boasted it could relieve fatigue and sharpen the mind.
This red wine was regarded as a “noble-exclusive” luxury—expensive and yet always in short supply.
Yet, as the wine rippled in crystal cups, a subtle, almost imperceptible shimmer went unnoticed.
In a corner of the brightly lit Banquet Hall, a young man dressed neatly as a servant stood respectfully, holding a tray, a practiced smile fixed on his face.
No one paid attention to such a trivial servant—he blended so quietly into the surroundings.
But beneath that submissive facade, his eyes gleamed with a hint of amusement.
The youth’s gaze silently swept over the nobles raising their glasses, a faint, almost imperceptible curve forming at the corner of his lips.
“Heh heh heh, what a bunch of fools.”
These lofty people, proud of their elegance and nobility, were now intoxicated by wine tainted with poison, eagerly weaving lavish praises for it.
A moment later, a noble casually waved, and the youth respectfully approached, bowing as he poured wine, his demeanor that of an ordinary servant.
But when he retreated back into the shadows, his eyes flashed with a sinister satisfaction.
“It’s spreading quickly… this is going even better than we expected.”