The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Now Yonivore understands why accompanying girls shopping is such a chore.

Although Iseria was very sensible and only looked without buying, he would occasionally buy some desserts out of guilt.

Miracle Alchemy Street has an excellent location, but the potions are absolutely terrible...

It was so bad that he almost suffered a sudden stroke.

Haha, a flying cake...

The creamy jelly that Iseria offered poked his face.

The half-dead Yonivore came to his senses, waved his hand slightly in refusal, and turned to look at the delighted girl.

With each spoonful of ice-crusted cream she ate, her smile was as radiant as layers of blooming flowers.

He sighed, patted Iseria's head, and then looked at the building in front of him, known as the Math Olympiad Corridor.

Although named a corridor, its structure is more like several intersecting and spiraling towers reaching towards the sky, with a hollow interior and stairs and platforms suspended by magical energy.

The murals on its inner walls are radiant and colorful, with densely packed runes engraved on them... It is said to record the evolutionary history of the "master".

Not only that, but there are also the "notes" of the great masters, like drafts made when inspiration strikes.

Although the mages call this "the true solution to magic".

"So beautiful..."

Iseria tilted her head back, and the arcane light flowing across the sky danced like fireflies. She felt as if she had entered a sea of ​​stars.

Driven by the world's mages' pursuit of 'truth'... their understanding of arcane magic and spells is not significantly different.

Essentially, they are all extensions and applications of "knowledge".

"Yonefu! Yunefu! What does it mean that the raging crimson lotus blooms amidst fury... and there's a burning flame next to it!"

No, where in a Western fantasy world would a Buddha's wrathful lotus come from?!

"And there's more! That sigh from the heart originating from the vast blue sky... the wings of freedom... how romantic!"

What kind of youth angst literature is this... Yonivo glanced at the so-called "true interpretation" and rubbed the goosebumps that had risen on his body.

Making basic spells sound incredibly sophisticated... is that over-packaging?

"What are they doing...? It looks amazing," Iseria said, pulling Yunevo to a mural.

The image shows an old man in a Buddhist robe, raising his hands as if shouting to the sky.

The runes below are full of rhetoric that has been over-processed and exaggerated by bards, based on hearsay.

"When the passion in your heart reaches its peak, shout the true name of fire, and use the void as a spark to ignite the kindling!"

"What a mess... Isn't this just a prototype of the Fireball spell?"

In Yonivore's view, the essence of spellcasting in this world is extremely simple... provided one has magical talent.

For example, if he wanted to summon a giant fire dragon one day, he could risk having his magic power drained by raising his arms and shouting—

"O noble and supreme source of fire! Transform into a colossal dragon before me and devour all enemies!"

Isn't memorizing spells and doing permutations and combinations a simple thing?

Most of the sorcerers probably knew the awkwardness, so they silently recited the incantations in their minds when casting spells.

Furthermore, with the deliberate guidance of the Mage Association, magic was shrouded in a thick veil of mystery.

Of course, another way to put it is "anti-self-learning mechanism".

"Um... I think I understand a little bit about it."

Iseria stared at the fire demon source dancing in her hand, her mind replaying the complicated rhetoric.

"Hmm... From the perspective of alchemy decomposition, the entire spell can be broken down into 'semantics' and 'grammar'."

"Semantics is what you ultimately need to break down, and syntax is the process of breaking it down."

Iseria nodded vigorously, her sky-blue eyes filled with seriousness.

"Pfft... Where did this heretical alchemical thinking come from?"

A sneer, undisguised, came from beside me, and a young apprentice dressed in an academy robe with flame patterns embroidered on the cuffs approached without my noticing.

"When did rigid, formulaic 'synthesis' and 'decomposition' become a way to interpret the romance of magic?"

He held his head high, his tone radiating obvious superiority.

"Magic is art... a hymn of resonance between mind and elements! No wonder alchemists have fallen to the same level as those arcane artisans who only know how to hammer and bang!"

"You have tainted magic, reducing it to cold gears and formulas... No wonder you'll never become noble mages!"

"This is typical riddle-maker thinking. A riddle-maker is someone who doesn't explain things clearly. Do you understand, Iseria?" Yunevo didn't even bother to lift his eyes.

Iseria glanced at Yunevo's face, then at the apprentice whose face was flushed and who was preparing to retort, and frowned slightly.

She didn't like this feeling... She wanted to prove Eunicevo right.

A flash of inspiration struck her, and Iseria's eyes lit up. She nudged Yunevo's arm eagerly.

"Yonev...is that so?"

Without any spell incantation or hand gestures, she simply raised her right hand, palm slightly upward, her gaze unusually focused.

A tiny glimmer of light, like a firefly, slowly danced, then seemed to attract the entire "swarm," which was shaped under Iseria's insistence.

At the center of the clearly visible spherical outline, orange light began to diffuse, then diffused throughout the entire sphere...

The temperature rose sharply, and even the air was burned and "distorted"—all of this happened in just two or three seconds!

The exquisite fireball, about the size of a fist, hovered quietly in Iseria's palm...

The firelight illuminated her joyful face and also lit up the apprentice's face, which was filled with disbelief.

"This is impossible! This is impossible! You're all ganging up on me!" He took a step back, his finger trembling as he pointed at Iseria.

"That's not how it works in the basic spellcasting rules! You should first channel the energy through incantations! Then resonate with the elements through meditation! Finally, construct a stable spell!"

"How can you cast spells directly!?"

Looking at the textbook-perfect fireball in Iseria's hand, the apprentice felt as if his years of apprenticeship had been severely damaged.

Looking at the distraught apprentice, Yunevo understood.

No wonder the earliest nobles wrapped their magic in layers of "poetry" and "rituals"...

When this way of thinking becomes ingrained, all actions that directly address the essence of magic have a legitimate reason to be concealed.

Iseria was still staring blankly at the fireball in her hand, while the surrounding aetheric elements seemed to be cheering and jumping for joy for her.

Yunevo reached out and gently "extinguished" the fireball in her hand, then flicked Iseria on the forehead.

"Whoa! What are you doing!"

"Isn't Iseria always saying she wants to find a beautiful place to stay? We should get going..."