From Alchemy Apprentice to All-Powerful God King

Smoke and fire filled the mass grave.

The dust, along with the smell of burning, lingered in the air for a while.

Just as a blade of wind shot out from the smoke and dust, slicing the charred corpse lying on the ground in front of him in two, a hoarse laugh rang out at the same time.

"Heh, luckily I'm a cut above the rest, otherwise I would have really been caught off guard."

Shi Pu held the shattered, charred disposable demonic insect in his hand, a hint of lingering fear flashing in his eyes.

Even when he pulled out the Barrier Bug at the last moment, he was still badly injured by the explosion, blood flowing from his mouth and his internal organs ruptured to varying degrees.

"Damn it, they're so troublesome. Not only did we come here for nothing, but we also lost a barrier worm."

Shi Pu took out a magic potion and was about to put it in his mouth to replenish the magic power he had just lost.

However, the next moment, a cold, ghostly voice rang in his ear.

"It's okay, as long as I don't lose out."

"you!"

Instantly, Shi Pu's skin broke out in goosebumps, and as soon as he turned around, he was met head-on by Matthew's all-out punch.

The dung beetle in his left hand, combined with the explosive insect's ability, directly blew his head off.

At the same time, he was punched and sent flying, rolling around in the mass grave before finally crashing into a pit and falling completely still.

"call......"

Matthew let out a long breath and, after confirming that the other person was completely dead, sat down heavily on the ground.

At that moment, he felt only one thing all over his body: soreness.

Not only that, but the magic power in his body was also completely swept away. Fortunately, the stone servant came alone, otherwise it would have been hard to say what the outcome would have been.

After a while, Matthew stood up again and walked closer to the stone servant, feeling around.

"There's a lot of good stuff here, no wonder they're all ripping each other off."

Matthew took a ring-like object from the other person's hand and sighed. He had only ever seen this kind of thing on his mentor before; it was a kind of storage space.

The price is even more outrageous than that of a first-tier magical insect; one can even own a stone servant.

"Looks like I'm still too kind; I can't make money by going against my conscience."

With the death of the stone servant, Matthew opened it with a light touch of magic, but when he saw what was inside, he could no longer suppress the smile on his face.

A square space measuring two meters in size, half of which was filled with disposable magical insects, and the rest with some clothes.

In addition, there were a dozen or so gold coins and five or six bottles of magic potions quietly placed in the corner.

"We've struck it rich! This time it's for real!"

After counting the spoils, Matthew looked at the stone servant's heart, hesitated for a moment, and then slashed it open with a knife.

The next moment, a pale blue flying insect shot out from it and crashed into Matthew's forehead, with wind blades faintly gathering in front of him.

However, Matthew grabbed him and stuffed him into the culture jar.

"Wind Blade Insect, unfortunately I already have the recipe, so I can't use it for now."

Multiple demonic insects can coexist within the body of an ability user, provided that you can handle the strain.

Different demonic insects will compete for positions, and if not controlled properly, the insects will be destroyed and people will die.

After storing the Tier 1 Windblade Insect in his ring, Matthew swiftly disposed of the three corpses, burying them in the mass grave.

He then went to the charred body that had been split in two, and with an apologetic look on his face, buried the body again.

"I should have buried you deeper that day. I'm sorry."

However, if it weren't for this young apprentice taking the blow, Shi Pu might not have let his guard down and given him an opportunity.

As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, the mass grave returned to silence, though some irregularly shaped pits of varying sizes appeared.

Just as Matthew was about to leave, he heard several footsteps not far away.

He had a bad feeling; the explosion must have been too loud and attracted attention.

Before he could even make his escape, a clear female voice called out to him.

"Matthew! It's you."

The other party recognized him immediately, leaving Matthew frozen in place, unsure whether to leave or stay.

But when he saw who it was, his head throbbed even more.

The goddess Elena, followed by two knights, was walking towards him.

At this moment, he could only grit his teeth and wait for the other party to approach. If he showed even the slightest intention to escape, he would probably be captured immediately.

"Goddess, Knight."

As the other person approached, Matthew greeted them respectfully.

The middle-aged knight asked directly, "There were a series of explosions here just now. Did you see anyone else?"

Clearly, they were drawn there by the sound of the explosion.

As a squad of knights from the Empire, they had been stationed at the border all month and rushed over as soon as they heard the commotion.

"Sir Knight, it was I who caused this."

Matthew spoke frankly, taking full responsibility for the explosion, as he couldn't really shift the blame to anyone else.

"you?"

The young knight Leon, standing to the side, questioned with a disdainful expression.

"Yes, I'm testing the newly refined swarm of exploding bugs, and the results are obvious—they're not very stable."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the goddess's laughter came from the side.

"Pfft, I can definitely tell, even your shoes were blown off."

Elena covered her mouth, a girlish smile on her face, and laughed at Matthew without any politeness.

After being told that, Matthew looked down at his two dark feet and rubbed his toes awkwardly.

The middle-aged knight frowned, his nose twitching: "Isn't the power of your swarm of exploding insects a bit too much?"

Matthew remained calm and composed, without blushing or skipping a beat: "This is normal. I was trying to see if adding other materials could increase its power, but I went too far."

Since he was the one who created the demonic insects, he has the final say on everything.

"Oh, you even change the materials used in the refining?"

Elena looked surprised upon hearing this, and not only her, but also Leon and the middle-aged knight beside her showed varying degrees of surprise.

It's important to know that the recipes for the magic insects are basically fixed, and if you want to find alternative materials, you can only try them one by one.

Even if you know the properties of the material, it is still difficult to control the dosage.

Matthew nodded, showing no fear on his face. After all, academic reports and final results are different, which is quite common.

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back to town now and record the results of this operation."

After saying that, without waiting for any questions the other party might have, he turned and left.

In this situation, the more you talk, the more flaws you'll uncover.

Elena and her two companions couldn't very well keep the person there, since they were only testing the demonic insects in the mass grave, and the other party was intentionally keeping their distance from them; forcing them to stay would only cause resentment.

After Matthew had walked away, Elena squatted down and gently blew a breath onto the ground.

"He's quite an interesting person, huh."

On the ground where she had blown away the dust, there were a few drops of blood that were still fresh and not yet dried.

Seeing this, the middle-aged knight frowned and asked the goddess, "Should we bring the person back for questioning?"

Elena stood up and shook her head.

"Everyone has their own secrets, you have yours, and so do I. Besides, all we need is the formula. As long as he's not colluding with alien beasts, it doesn't really matter."

"And don't you think he's a really interesting person?"

The middle-aged knight fell into thought upon hearing this; he had indeed never met anyone who showed absolutely no interest in the goddess.

Elena hummed a tune as she walked back towards the border post, with the two knights following behind.

However, Leon's face gradually became filled with jealousy, and his fists clenched tighter.