From Alchemy Apprentice to All-Powerful God King

In the guild square, the ability users held magic crystals in their hands, their faces filled with joy.

"This time, I will personally lead the team to completely eradicate the beast tide that has plagued us for years!"

As Elena announced the start of the extermination, all the ability users around her were filled with excitement, mainly because the monster tides over the years had indeed troubled Val Town for a long time.

The second blessing ceremony ended quickly, and the entire town, from those with special abilities to alchemists and apprentices, was busy.

They were all preparing for the attack the following day.

"Luca, did the bishop say anything else?"

Inside the alchemy workshop, Matthew looked at the ability users in the square who were still immersed in the excitement of defeating them, and his expression was not very pleasant.

Luca shook his head: "No, it's just that I'm advised to stay home as much as possible lately, especially near the border."

After failing to get any information from him, Matthew took out dozens of magic crystals and stuffed them into Luca's hand.

Luca's eyes widened as he received the magic crystal.

"Where did you get so many of these?!"

Others might not recognize this thing, but Luca was different. After crushing one and absorbing its magic power, he exclaimed how wonderful it was.

Matthew made up some excuse to get by, then asked him to find him a completely safe place so he could refine the demonic insects.

"Leave this small matter to me!"

Ten minutes later, Luca brought Matthew to the guild's basement.

Before them was a completely enclosed chamber, containing nothing but a refining table.

"This is?"

"How about my uncle's alchemy room? Absolutely no one will be able to disturb you."

Looking at the traces of alchemy in the secret chamber, as well as the materials and ash of demonic insects that had accumulated over the years, he was certain that Luca had not lied to him.

But their efficiency is just too high.

"Don't worry, I've already inquired. He won't be using it these days. You can refine the demonic insects right here."

"Okay, I won't go out for the next few days. If there's any news outside, please keep an eye out for me, especially about Elena."

After giving his instructions, Matthew closed the door behind him, leaving him alone inside.

After everyone had gone far away, Matthew poured out all the magic crystals stored in the Ring.

The secret room was gradually filled with magic crystals, and the magic power became increasingly concentrated.

"Let's take 10,000 and see how it goes."

Matthew originally didn't want to try refining a second-tier magical insect so soon, since his reputation as an alchemy fanatic only gave him a 20% success rate.

For a first-tier ability user, refining a second-tier magical insect is a money-losing endeavor unless they are wealthy or have exceptional talent.

But Elena's plans forced him to accelerate his own improvement.

Others might not know, but he was well aware that the battle between a third-tier ability user and the Beast King was not something that first-tier ability users like them could participate in.

Of course, he also has his own ambitions.

"A third-tier demonic insect, I might not be unable to defeat it!"

He possesses the Record of Another World, and if the third-tier demonic insect is in a weakened state, he might be able to completely turn the tide.

In the past few days, he has realized that if he doesn't improve his own strength, he will always be a pawn that can be manipulated at will, whether in the eyes of Elena or Lucia.

But all of this is predicated on becoming a second-tier ability user and being qualified to join the battlefield.

His accidental fall into an underground river gave him this opportunity.

As the secret chamber filled with magic crystals, Matthew moved the bishop's alchemy table aside; he didn't intend to use it.

The next moment, a wisp of gray mist shot out from the Otherworld Record again, gathering in front of them to form an ancient alchemy platform.

Immediately afterwards, Matthew took out his dagger and removed the dung beetle from his arm again, placing it into the alchemy table along with the beetle.

[A Tier 2 magic insect recipe has been detected. Do you wish to begin crafting?]

[Recipe Branch 1: Mountain-Carrying Armored Beetle]

[Magic condenses into armor, increasing the user's carrying capacity. With each increase in carrying capacity, the user's strength increases proportionally, strengthening bones and skin.]

[Disadvantages: Requires long-term adaptation to heavy loads; otherwise, the weight may easily exceed the user's tolerance, and movement will be slow during use.]

......

[Recipe Branch 2: Heavy Frost Bug]

[By concentrating magical energy to increase weight on the body surface, one can instantly increase their own balance to achieve effects such as charging, thrusting, and slashing.]

[Disadvantages: Cannot maintain high-intensity bursts for extended periods; consumes a large amount of mana.]

"Branch..."

Looking at these two different second-tier magical insects, Matthew hesitated for a moment, unsure which one would be more useful to him.

But soon he realized that his worries were unnecessary.

Because which type of second-tier demonic insect can be refined depends entirely on the insect itself; the alchemist can only stabilize and control it from the sidelines.

However, given the current situation, he still hopes to refine the Heavy-Blade Insect.

Improving one's close-combat abilities, combined with the Exploding Bug and the Hidden Bug, perfectly aligns with the assassin's path.

The mountain-carrying armored beetle is the knight's path, too cumbersome and too straightforward, not suitable for me.

Soon, under Matthew's magical control, the two demonic insects began to grow closer to each other inside the gray mist alchemy platform.

The crafting of second to fifth-order magical insects is completely different from that of first-order ones.

It could even be described as worlds apart.

With the alchemy platform and the power of magic, all that is needed is to fuse their abilities with the body.

This is also the mainstream method, mainly because it is stable and only requires one alchemy platform.

As for wild demonic insects, they mostly evolve and advance by devouring each other.

As the dung beetles and the negative beetles came into contact, the gray mist alchemy platform began to surge, condensing into a semi-transparent dome above.

At the same time, the magic crystals on the nearby ground were being continuously absorbed, and a large amount of magic power was being extracted. The originally purple crystals gradually turned white until they turned into powder.

As the intermediary controlling and transmitting the energy, Matthew could feel a large amount of magic flowing into the alchemy table.

"No wonder everyone says you can't refine anything without enough magic crystals."

Looking at the rapidly depleting magic crystals around him, Matthew sighed, realizing that without some wealth, it was truly impossible to alchemy.

At this rate, all 10,000 magic crystals will be used up by tomorrow morning at the latest.

However, seeing the two demonic insects gradually merging and forming a cocoon within the alchemy platform, it was all worth it!

Inside the sealed room, time ticked by, second by second.

Outside Val Town, the ability users were equally busy.

With Matthew absent, Luca will temporarily take over the business at the Alchemist's.

"Luca, could you raise the price and expedite the order?"

"That's right, the extermination starts tomorrow, and without swarms of barrage bugs, our progress will be slowed down."

In no time, the alchemy workshop opposite the guild was packed with people again.

They were all there to buy swarm bugs; clearly, they were all preparing for this raid, and swarm bugs were the best option.

However, just as everyone was deferring to each other, wanting to buy the demonic insect ahead of time, a sudden change occurred.

A roar that pierced the high clouds came from the distant border; to be precise, it was a frenzied roar.

"What's going on? Wasn't the campaign supposed to start tomorrow?"

"For it to travel this far, it must be no ordinary beast, right?"

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances until Gareth's equally gruff voice echoed throughout the town, at which point they finally realized what was happening.

"All personnel on high alert! The beast tide has arrived ahead of schedule!"