The most shameless alchemist in history

"Cough cough cough, I'm already an old man, long past my prime, I can't withstand the evening breeze anymore, I should go home first." The old man coughed twice, then got up and led Du Lei down the hill, back to his shop that hadn't done business with anyone for two years.

"Grandpa Laka, you're still in good health. I'm a young man and I can't even beat you. How can you be so frail and old?" Dure's words weren't entirely flattery. His fight with Laka had given him a lot of trouble. If someone like him was frail and old, who could he complain to?

"I know my own body well. I don't have more than two years left to run around. I just don't know if I'll still be able to see Kazan and Zambu when I close my eyes... Anyway, let's not talk about that. By the way, kid, what brings you here so late? You came by once during the day, right?"

The old man looked up at the moon in the sky, wondering if his son and grandson, thousands of miles away, were looking at the same full moon, assuming they were still alive. His face was bathed in moonlight, yet he appeared somewhat lonely and sad, a sight that tugged at the heartstrings.

He quickly composed himself and turned to ask Du Lei why he had come. "By the way, there was another brat during the day, right? Where is he? He made a huge fuss and disturbed my afternoon nap. I haven't even given him a good beating yet."

The old man recalled the scene from earlier that day, especially the shouting voice. Although he hadn't seen the person, he could tell that it wasn't Du Lei.

"Well... Lance is the kind of person who acts recklessly. I apologize on his behalf. I'll bring him here personally to apologize tomorrow. As for why I came to see Grandpa Laka, it was Uncle Tiexin who introduced us." Du Lei didn't directly state his purpose but mentioned Tiexin's name.

"Tie Xin? You mean that stubborn guy whose temper is as stubborn as the iron hammer he uses to forge iron? It's really strange that someone as hard-hearted as him would actually introduce someone to me." Laka was no stranger to Tie Xin; in fact, he knew Tie Xin's personality very well.

"This must be thanks to Sherry. It was all thanks to her that Uncle Tiexin was willing to introduce us," Du Lei continued to explain.

“I understand now that you mention Sherry. You mean that lively little girl? I’ve seen her twice before. The first time was when Tie Xin had just brought her back, and the other time…” The old man paused here, his expression somewhat strange.

"And what was the other time?" Du Lei asked curiously.

"It's nothing, just old news. But if it's that little girl, Shirley, then even the most hard-hearted Tie Xin is helpless. That girl is his weakness." The old man smiled. Parents are always completely controlled by their children.

"Uncle Tiexin really has it tough. After his wife left him, he raised his daughter Shirley alone..." Du Lei nodded. Although he was still young and hadn't become a parent yet, he couldn't understand many things, but he could feel the bitterness and hardship to some extent.

"Wife? Where would Tie Xin get a wife?" The old man paused for a moment, then asked in return.

"What? Isn't Uncle Tiexin's wife Shirley's mother? Shirley said her mother left when she was very young, and she never even saw what her mother looked like." Du Lei was baffled by the old man's reaction.

"Well... it seems you don't know yet." The old man shook his head, seemingly denying what Du Lei had said.

"What?" Du Lei was even more puzzled.

"Tie Xin has never been married, he's a bachelor, and Shirley... is a child he adopted from outside." The old man hesitated for a moment, but after thinking about it, he told Du Lei about it, because he knew Du Lei wasn't the kind of person who would go around telling everyone.

Furthermore, many people on the street knew about this, so it wasn't exactly a big secret. However, due to Tie Xin's notoriously bad temper, no one on the street dared to mess with him, so for many years no one dared to tell Shirley this almost public secret.

"Is that so? Then what about Sherry...?" Du Lei recalled the scene he had seen Sherry and Tie Xin talking together not long ago, and a mix of emotions welled up inside him.

"Forget about that, it's a sad story for this father and daughter. Tell me what you want from me, or let me guess." The old man had already led Du Lei into his shop and lit candles. The room was a mess because of their fight earlier.

"Guess?" Du Lei looked at the old man with a puzzled expression.

"You must be here to find materials to refine magical weapons, right?" The old man saw through Du Lei's purpose.

"Grandpa Laka, how did you know..." Dure looked at the old man in surprise.

"Guessing this is easy. My shop sells these kinds of things, and you have an unpleasant alchemist's scent on you." The old man pointed to his shop and then to his nose, which was exceptionally sensitive, even though he was old.

"The scent of an alchemist?" Durei was puzzled by this mysterious thing.

"Alchemists all have a unique scent, to be precise, the scent of defying the gods." The old man nodded in affirmation.

"Disobeying the gods? What is that?" This was the first time Du Lei had ever heard such a thing.

The room was brightly lit, and moonlight streamed in through the window, bathing the floor in its glow. Du Lei knew that after half a night of twists and turns, he was sure to achieve something this time!

.

362 Rare Materials

Dure's premonition was quickly confirmed. Upon learning of Dure's purpose, the old man Laka quickly gestured for Dure to follow him. Dure did not ask any questions and obediently followed behind the old man. The old man opened a mechanism in the room, revealing a dark secret passage.

Although Du Lei had many questions, he knew now was not the time to ask. The old man lit a torch and led him down the secret passage, which wound its way down. Du Lei kept counting his steps until he reached more than six hundred before a door finally appeared in front of him.

If judged by distance, Du Lei knew he was below the street. He found it hard to believe that there was another world beneath such a narrow street. The old man placed the torch in the slot on the wall, took out a key from his pocket, and opened the door.

The door was covered in rust and had several strange symbols that Du Lei had never seen before. With a clang, the door, which had been closed for who knows how many years, slowly opened under the old man's withered hands. Du Lei followed the old man inside and looked around.

Using the light from the torches on the wall, he could tell that it was a small storage room. However, compared to the messy state of the old man's shop upstairs, this place was neatly arranged, with three iron cabinets against the three walls, each filled with iron boxes.

There are two types of these iron boxes. One type is square and only the size of a palm, while the other type is long and narrow, about the length of an arm. Although Du Lei could not see clearly what was inside the iron boxes through them, he could tell the clues from the scene in front of him at a glance.

"The shops upstairs are just for show; they don't have many good items. My real collection is all here." The old man pointed to the rows of iron cabinets, his words carrying a hint of pride. Du Lei had visited Jarison's shop during the day and had seen its impressive style before.

Although the old man's small collection room was far less impressive than Jarrison's shop, Dure had every reason to believe that if Jarrison's monstrosities were brought here, they would be no match for it.

"But I don't have any crystal cards on me, only three in total..." Du Lei saw the boxes and knew that they must contain extraordinary items. However, he touched his pockets and knew that running a business meant making money, but he was short of cash.

"If I really valued those things that much, there would be no need to bury them underground and keep them from seeing the light of day, would there?" The old man shook his head. He walked to the iron cabinet and wiped the dust off each box. It was clear that he hadn't been here for a long time.

"But..." Du Lei was still a little hesitant. He was curious about where the old man had gotten all these things.

"These are all spoils of war from my youth," the old man said proudly, seemingly noticing the doubt in Du Lei's eyes.

"Spoils of war?" Du Lei paused for a moment, pondering the meaning behind those words.

"That's right. Don't let my current appearance fool you. I was once a famous mercenary in my youth." A ruddy glow appeared on the old man's face, making him look rosy. Recalling the past, he straightened his back a bit.

“Grandpa Laka, you’re already so amazing now, you must have been incredibly talented when you were young.” Dure didn’t doubt the old man’s words.

"Hahaha, I can't do it anymore. I'm old, especially after I got sick. My body is not as good as before. Even the crystal bottle has dried up. My old comrades who fought alongside me... have also been buried in the ground." The old man looked a little melancholy and sad.

"Old buddy?" Du Lei wasn't quite sure what the old man was referring to.

"This is the magic-powered weapon I used before. Kid, remember this: no matter how powerful a magic user's magic power is, it's just training brute strength. The magic-powered weapon is the fist that unleashes that power. Without the magic-powered weapon, a magic user is not much different from a bull..."

"But once you have a high-level magical weapon that suits you, you will become the most valiant fighter. No matter how powerful the enemy, you will be able to fight them." The old man wiped the dust off the box and told Duree his experience.

"I understand." Du Lei nodded, looking at the old man's lonely figure, feeling a sense of a hero's twilight years.

Regardless of outsiders' prejudices against the old man, whether they call him an eccentric old man or a madman, Du Lei knows that he is a respectable person.

"Then let me show you my treasure. This is a Sandstorm Lizard's claw. I got it when I killed a Sandstorm Lizard in the Death Desert when I was young. I originally had a chance to get its magic core, but I didn't expect it to choose to self-destruct in the end. The magic core was shattered, and I only got the claw."

The old man opened an iron box in front of Dure. The moment the box was opened, a faint green light appeared, shining brightly even in the darkness. As the old man introduced the origin of the claw, he had unparalleled confidence, as if he had become thirty years younger in an instant.

He returned to those passionate and fiery years, battling powerful opponents in the desert.

“Sandstorm Lizard… If I remember correctly, this should be an eight-star steel-rank magical beast. Not to mention the Sandstorm Lizard’s magic core, even its claws are very rare forging materials. A small piece can sell for several hundred silver coins!” Du Lei exclaimed in surprise.

Although he didn't attend many classes during the month or so he spent at Maple Leaf Academy, the books he read in the library every day were not for nothing.

He possessed extensive knowledge related to forging and alchemy. Furthermore, when he was in Snow Eagle Town, a local boy named Gray Falcon gave him a notebook before he left. The notebook contained detailed notes on various forging techniques and insights, which Gray Falcon's father had left him.

By then, Grey Falcon had memorized the contents of the notebook, leaving it only as a memento, nothing more. Since Dure had helped him and his mother Linda, he gave the notebook, which was very meaningful to him, to Dure as a symbol of friendship.

"A few hundred silver coins? Heh heh, kid, do you even know what this is?" The old man was dismissive of the silver coins, not caring about them at all. At his age, he was very indifferent to money, otherwise he wouldn't have let such good materials gather dust underground.

As he spoke, he opened another box, and another pale blue light appeared.

This is a symbol of his passionate years and his medal of honor.

Time has taken away his youth and left its mark on him, but his spoils will remain forever in his memory.

No one can take it with them.

.

363, please do me a favor.

For Dure, the claws of the Steel-rank magical beast Sandstorm Lizard were already an unattainable dream. What the old man Raka introduced to him next was enough to make his jaw drop, because the series of names that came out of Raka's mouth were simply too shocking.

"This is the tail of the Gold-Eating Rat. Don't let its ordinary appearance fool you; it's a top-grade alchemical material with a 'perfect' rating for toughness. To get this thing, I went deep into the Gold-Eating Rat's lair and chased it for three days and three nights."

"This is a seed from the Twin Tree. The Twin Tree is a treasure from top to bottom. Whether it's the branches or the leaves, they are all excellent alchemical materials. But the most precious part of the Twin Tree is its seed. I found this seed by Twin Lake. The Twin Trees there must have died by now, right?"

"And this, this is a scale from the Sky-Splitting Python. You must have heard of the Sky-Splitting Python, right? It's a Flame-rank magical beast. I suffered a lot trying to deal with it. To my shame, I was young back then and didn't defeat it. I only managed to take one of its scales."

The old man opened box after box, introducing the alchemical materials as if they were his medals. He was not just talking about a single item, but about the glorious footprints of his lost youth, filled with blood and sweat. What a proud and honorable past he had been!

"There are so many top-grade alchemical materials! Grandpa Raka, what were you like when you were young...?" Dure was dumbfounded. He could only see these things from books, even though this street was famous for its complete collection of alchemical materials.

But compared to Laka's collection, it's like comparing heaven and earth. Dure looked Laka over again. This old man, who now looks thin and withered, was such a powerful being decades ago. Is the passage of time really so terrible that it can bury too many things?

"Didn't I just say that? I was a fairly famous mercenary when I was young. In fact, the reason why Kazan and Zambu act so recklessly and without hesitation is just like me back then," the old man said with a smile.

Although he said he was "quite famous," anyone could hear the pride in his words, the subtext being that he was "very famous"!

“Those two will definitely make a name for themselves just like Grandpa Laka.” Dure admired this greatly, and at the same time, he was also very envious, because it meant a kind of inheritance, the inheritance of the spirit of three generations of grandfathers and grandsons who went out to adventure and explore the vast continent without hesitation, which he had never had.

"It's been so long, I don't even know if they're still alive... Sigh, let's not talk about those things. I've kept these things for many years. I originally thought they would be buried deep underground like me, never to see the light of day again. But now you've come..."

The old man sighed deeply, then turned his gaze back to Du Lei, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"You can choose a set of alchemy materials to take with you," the old man said, pointing to his collection.

"Choose?" Du Lei didn't quite understand what the old man meant. He was a little uneasy and hesitant.

"I would like to be generous and give them all to you, but firstly, I am still a little reluctant to part with them. Seeing them is like seeing yesterday, and I have something to look forward to. Secondly, you can't take so many with you," the old man said with a smile.

“But such a valuable thing…” Although Du Lei had a premonition, he still felt it was somewhat inappropriate to accept it.

"I'm telling you, you little boy, why do you have so many 'buts'? ​​I'm tired of hearing them. Don't say that word again. Besides, no matter how precious these things are, are they more precious than my life? If it weren't for you today, I might be done for."

The old man emphasized his words, his tone implying a reprimand for Du Lei, much like an elder admonishing a younger person for being disappointing.

“I understand, then I’ll accept it. If Grandpa Laka has any instructions for me to do, I will definitely do them.” Dure realized that his hesitation was indeed inappropriate, so he took a deep breath and decisively agreed.

"If there's anything I absolutely have to do..." The old man paused here.

"Huh? Is there really something I'm asked to do? I was just being polite." Du Lei's words carried a hint of grievance.

"You little brat, you really don't stand on ceremony with me at all. I want you to beat up those two guys, Kazan and Zambu, for me if you ever see them again, understand?" The old man chuckled and scolded Dure.

“But…” Du Lei hesitated.

"Why are you here again?" the old man asked impatiently.

"Oh, no buts. I mean, if you help Grandpa Laka beat them up, don't you feel bad?" Dure realized he shouldn't have said "buts" and quickly corrected himself.

"What's there to feel sorry for? When they were here, I used to beat them with a stick every day. I broke several sticks in the process," the old man replied confidently.

“Now I understand why they never came back after leaving home.” Dure looked at them with a hint of sympathy, but not for old man Laka, but for Kazan and his son Zambu, whom he had never met.

“You little rascal, you’re quite cunning. How come I didn’t notice before? Alright, I’m sleepy and going to bed. Hurry up and pick what you want. Once you’re done, get out of here. You still need to go find that guy Tie Xin to train you, right?” the old man urged impatiently.

"Choosing... I want this and I want that, it's really difficult. How about giving me two more?" Du Lei looked very troubled.

"You wish! One alchemical material and one alchemical magic core are all you have. Taking more than that will only attract covetous eyes. I'm only doing this for your own good," the old man earnestly advised.

"I think Grandpa Laka is just stingy," Dure said in a low voice.

"Who's stingy? I'm known for my generosity and magnanimity, and... I keep my word. If you don't want it, I'll kick you out!" The old man shouted, he hadn't spoken so much in a long time.