The most shameless alchemist in history

"That's not right. Only four hours have passed, how come it's already dusk? We arrived at the square at eight o'clock, and now it's six o'clock in the afternoon. A full ten hours have passed. Where did the other six hours go?" Kotetsu noticed the discrepancy in the time.

"Huh? Is that so? Boss Kotetsu, I didn't even notice until you pointed it out. We were inside for four hours and came out now. It should be noon, but it's already six in the afternoon. How did this happen?" Leopard Tail also noticed this and raised his question.

"This must be a matter of the flow of time," Dure thought for a moment. He had noticed this point long ago, but he hadn't brought it up first.

"Time flow rate? What time flow rate?" Leopard Tail was stunned and asked Du Lei, who was weak in this area of ​​knowledge.

"The flow of time is the speed at which time passes in our normal spacetime. Look at that clock over there, the second hand is ticking away. Every time it ticks, one second has passed. Sixty ticks, one minute has passed," Du Lei said, pointing to the clock on the distant clock tower.

"I know that without you explaining it. What I want to know is why the time inside is different from the time outside." Leopard Tail waved his hand impatiently. Du Lei's explanation made him feel looked down upon. Did he think that he didn't even have basic common sense?

"Because it is a spatial fragment that has separated from our space and has its own unique laws, it is normal that the flow of time there is faster than ours. I once heard a story about someone seeing immortals playing chess on a mountain..." Du Lei explained patiently.

"Wait, what are immortals?" Leopard Tail was puzzled by the term "immortals," as he had never heard of it before.

"The guy who told me this story was an Asian, and the 'gods' he mentioned must be something like deities," Dure said after thinking for a moment.

“Alright, gods playing chess, and then what?” Leopard Tail nodded, signaling Du Lei to continue the story.

"That man originally went up the mountain to chop wood, but when he saw the immortals playing chess, he became so engrossed that he stopped chopping wood, put his axe aside, and watched them play chess attentively. After watching the immortals finish a game, the immortals told him that he should go home, and only then did he go down the mountain," Du Lei continued.

"What kind of story is this? Watching the chess game and then leaving? This is too ordinary." Leopard Tail immediately lost interest.

"Don't interrupt. It can't be that simple, right? What's next?" Hu Che knew that Du Lei wouldn't tell such a story for no reason, but he hadn't gleaned anything from it yet. There was only one reason: the story had a sequel, and the focus was definitely on the sequel.

"And then? Then this man discovered that his axe was broken, the handle was rotten." Dure paused for a moment before continuing.

"What? It's rotten? How can his axe be of such poor quality? How can you chop wood with an axe like that?" Leopard Tail was stunned.

"No, it shouldn't be a quality issue. The axe handle should be made of wood, right? If the wood is rotten, it must have taken a long time to decay." Kotetsu shook his head. Compared to Leopard Tail, he was better able to grasp the details of the problem.

"A long time? How long does a game of chess take? At most, it's only a few hours." Leopard Tail waved his hand.

"Stop interrupting, let Du Lei continue." Kotetsu glared at Leopard Tail, who obediently shrank back.

"Not only did his axe handle rot away, but he also discovered that his hair had turned completely white and his teeth had fallen out. When he returned to the village, no one recognized him; decades had passed." Du Lei finally revealed the rest of the story.

"What? Decades have passed since a single game of chess? How is that possible? Don't they eat or sleep?" Leopard Tail was incredulous.

"No, that's not right. It's not a matter of decades, it's a matter of the flow of time. They might only have played a game of chess for two or three hours, but decades have passed in the real world. Did that person accidentally enter a spatial fragment?" Kotetsu shook his head, pointing out the crux of the problem.

“That’s right, he accidentally entered a spatial fragment. The place we went to before was the same, except the time flow wasn’t as drastically fast, only a little over twice as fast.” Du Lei nodded, confirming Hu Che’s guess.

"There are actually such magical places in this world... it's really unbelievable." Leopard Tail was stunned for a long time before finally understanding what the flow of time was, which made him sigh with emotion.

"By the way, Dure, how exactly did you do that? I mean, how did you produce the gold leaf?" Kotetsu asked about another matter while he was still impressed. Even though he was the person involved and Dure's companion, he was still completely baffled as to how Dure produced the gold leaf.

“That’s right, kid, I’m still completely in the dark. How did you conjure up so many gold leaves? Even if you know alchemy, you can’t just conjure gold out of thin air.” Leopard Tail was also puzzled by this question.

"Alchemy can't produce gold, but it can change the form of objects, breaking them down and then reconstructing them." Dure hadn't told Jin how he did it before, but now that his companion was asking, he had no need to hide it.

"What decomposition? What composition? What are you talking about?" Leopard Tail's mind was a complete mess; he couldn't understand a word.

"The explanation is actually quite simple. A stone can be carved into all sorts of things. It can be carved into a person or a majestic beast." Du Lei and his group happened to pass by a stone carving shop, where stonemasons were carrying out various carvings.

"Huh? What does this mean?" Leopard Tail was puzzled as to why the question suddenly shifted to carving; the leap was far too large.

"It means that gold can be made into a dagger, or it can be broken down and reassembled into 362 gold leaves. Oh, right, we should subtract three leaves, so it should be 359. But as long as we know what those three leaves are, it's not a difficult problem."

Du Lei changed the subject, bringing the topic back from the stone carving to the gold leaf, and Leopard Tail seemed to have figured something out.

531 Golden Dagger

After Du Lei's careful explanation, Leopard Tail finally understood how those three hundred-plus gold leaves were obtained. Although alchemy cannot conjure gold leaves out of thin air, it can decompose a dagger made of gold into liquid gold, and then reconstitute the liquid gold into the shape of gold leaves.

The process itself is not complicated; the difficulty lies in recasting the object into the outline of the gold leaf, and making it exactly the same as the three gold leaves used as a reference. This requires not only a large amount of magical energy but also extremely high talent. The slightest mistake will result in a flaw.

Just like cooking, with the same pot, the same ingredients and seasonings, ordinary people can only make decent food, but only a master chef can cook up exquisite dishes that are delicious to eat. Leopard Tail did not think of this and was unaware of the complexity involved, but Kotetsu was very clear about it.

"Today was really tough. I almost thought we were done for. By the way, Du Lei, I heard that tomorrow's fifth round will be the final round. What do you think it will be like?" Hu Che didn't press Du Lei for too many details about alchemy.

Because he knew that everyone had secrets hidden in their hearts, he had one, Leopard Tail had one, and Dure naturally had one too. It would be very rude to ask about them so rashly. If Dure was willing to talk about it, he would tell him himself. Since he chose to remain silent about it, he could not ask any further questions, and could only ask other things.

“Yeah, you guessed the third and fourth rounds right. What will the fifth round be? Tell us sooner rather than later so we can prepare.” Leopard Tail chimed in. If he had some doubts about Du Lei at first, thinking that the kid was just guessing, he was still a bit skeptical.

So, winning the bid twice in a row, plus his use of alchemy, was enough to change Leopard Tail's opinion of Dure. Of course, he still had a lot of opinions about Dure on the surface. To get him to verbally acknowledge Dure, it would be better to just kill him.

"What's the content of the fifth round? I don't know either. You guys go back first, I have some things to take care of, I'll be back in a bit." Du Lei shook his head, he didn't intend to speculate any further. Just as they were about to arrive at the Sky Hotel, he noticed someone waiting not far away.

He recognized the man as someone he had seen yesterday, and he immediately signaled Hu Che and the others to return, not wanting these three people to get involved.

"Who is this person? Could he be here to cause trouble?" Leopard Tail also noticed the man's presence and immediately became alert.

“Just go back when we tell you to. Why are you talking so much? We’ll be going now, but if you need any help, just let us know.” Hu Che patted Bao Wei on the head, signaling the latter not to make wild guesses, and at the same time he also gave Du Lei a word of advice.

"I understand. If I need any help from you, I certainly won't hesitate to ask. See you later then." Du Lei nodded.

Although Kotetsu, Hyobi, and the others still had some doubts, since Dure had said so, they had no choice but to return to their rooms.

After seeing off his three companions, Du Lei walked toward the man who was waiting for him. The man led him to the right and soon took him to a nearby restaurant. There were guards outside the restaurant, making it difficult for others to get close, but the man did not stop Du Lei from entering.

Compared to the dozen or so people guarding the restaurant outside, the restaurant itself was empty, with only one person dining inside. Du Lei glanced at him and was quite familiar with this man, who was probably around thirty years old. After all, they had met just last night, and he always had a good memory.

"Would you like something to eat? You must be tired and hungry after a long day, right?" Leon pointed to the tableware set on the seat opposite him, which had not been used and seemed to be prepared for him.

“No need. I thought you would choose a more discreet and secluded place, but you chose this place instead. Aren’t you afraid your brother will find out with such a grand display?” Dure waved his hand. He did not choose to dine with Lyon, and he did not even sit down.

"My brother, who's always on edge, already found me. Rather than playing a pointless game of hide-and-seek with him, I'd rather be right under his nose. That way, he can relax, and I can properly enjoy the delicious food of Lan City. The beef here is quite good; why don't you try some?"

Lyon extended the invitation again, his movements slow, the afterglow of the setting sun shining through the window onto his profile.

“No need. So what brings you here? Is it for the fifth round tomorrow?” Dure asked Lyon.

"The fifth round... I guess it's because of this. I heard from Kerry that you used a golden dagger to forge a golden leaf and passed the fourth round. You actually know alchemy, and in terms of talent, you are absolutely outstanding. It's really amazing."

Instead of answering Dure's question directly, Leon shifted the topic to alchemy, seemingly very interested in it.

"I wouldn't call it talent; it's just a hobby, and I passed by luck." Du Lei didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"You rejected Kerry's offer, which means you are very confident in yourself. So, your talk of luck is quite modest. By the way, there's something else I'm wondering about. Where did you get that golden dagger? If I remember correctly, you don't have one."

Lyon's seemingly casual question caused Dure, who had been relatively calm, to frown.

"Mr. Leon, you investigated this thoroughly? You even know that I don't have the golden dagger?" Du Lei felt uneasy because no one had paid attention to such details until now, but Leon insisted on focusing on this point.

“Let me guess the answer. This golden dagger… was actually forged by you in the Golden City, right?” Leon said with a smile.

"Golden City? What kind of place is that?" Du Lei frowned upon hearing the name, showing great interest.

"Golden City is where you were teleported. It's said to be a land overflowing with gold. Otherwise, don't you think it's strange that the common people there use gold leaves as their daily currency instead of silver coins or something?" Leon countered.

“It’s true they used gold leaves, but there wasn’t much gold to be seen in that ancient city.” Dure shook his head again.

“If you said this to someone else, they might be stumped, but you know perfectly well what you're doing, especially considering your identity as an alchemist. The area around the Golden City is full of gold elements, so that golden dagger was also forged by you,” Leon said confidently.

Why participate in 532?

It was already evening when Dure came out of the restaurant. Since there was no third party present, no one knew what he and Leon had talked about. However, ever since he entered the restaurant, someone had been pacing back and forth suspiciously outside the restaurant.

After Dure came out, these people followed him. Among the people who cared about Dure so much, besides Kotetsu and his group who could be considered his companions, there was only Jin. After he learned that Dure had met with Leon, he immediately ordered his men to keep a close eye on Dure.

From the moment he first saw Dure, he harbored a strong hostility towards this unknown young man, even though he didn't know the source of this hostility. It wasn't until what happened in the fourth round that it was confirmed that Kim's intuition was accurate; this was indeed a difficult character to deal with.

"What's wrong with you guys? Where are the people I told you to keep an eye on?" Jin's confidant knew that his previous performance had not satisfied his master, so this time he chose the most clever people to keep an eye on Du Lei. He was determined to redeem himself and not let things go wrong.

But not long after, the men he sent out to keep watch returned in disgrace, all with bruises and swelling on their faces, which puzzled him greatly.

"They...they ran away." Six or seven people ran back, and the leader replied with his head hanging low and his face covered in dust.

"What did you say? He escaped? How were you keeping an eye on him? How could you let him get away? And what's going on here?" The confidant was not satisfied with the answer. He raised his voice and questioned loudly. He didn't want to waste his chance to redeem himself.

“We saw him come out of the restaurant and followed him. We found another person waiting for him. We wanted to see who it was, but suddenly a group of people rushed out and beat us up. We...we couldn't fight back, so we had to come back.”

The leader touched the injury on his face and answered softly. He knew that his way back was somewhat pathetic and he couldn't reply, but the other party was too fierce, and he couldn't afford to offend them. Compared to losing his life, the consequences of failing the mission were still bearable, that's what they thought.

"They actually got beaten up? Are you all useless? Damn it, where are they? Send men to them, double, no, triple the number!" The confidant was furious. He ordered his men to move again, unaware that someone was waiting for them hundreds of meters away.

"They're Young Master Jin's men. Is it really okay to beat them away like this?" someone asked their companion in the alley.

"So what if Young Master Jin's men are beaten? We're all just doing our jobs. There's no reason why Young Master Jin's men can't be beaten, but we, the men of Lyon, can only take it, right? But what did they say just now?" The person next to him squatted on the ground and answered slowly.

"They said they'd go back and get reinforcements right now, and that we'd regret it. I think that's what they said?" the man replied after thinking for a moment.

"So you're going to get reinforcements? So everyone, are you all ready?" The person who was squatting on the ground slowly stood up and stretched.

"What are you preparing?" his companion asked him.

"Is there any need to ask? Of course, we need to stop their reinforcements. We can't let them bother that kid." After stretching, the man suddenly whistled, and soon, in the twilight, a large number of people gathered, almost blocking the entire alley.

"Come on, kid, we'll take care of the rest of you, but you'll have to work hard too." The man glanced to his right and smiled meaningfully. In the distance, the sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, with only faint wisps of rosy clouds still visible.

"Achoo!" On the ancient city tower, someone was swinging their feet and looking at the undulating mountains in the distance, as the evening breeze blew gently.

"I never expected to see you here. Didn't your family take you back before?" Du Lei walked up behind the man. After leaving the restaurant, he originally planned to go straight back to the Sky Hotel, where Kotetsu and Winry were waiting for him, but soon he ran into an acquaintance.

We might not be very familiar with each other, after all, we only spent a short time together, to be precise, one afternoon.

"So I snuck out again this time, and I didn't expect to run into you again as soon as I slipped out. What a coincidence, isn't it, Du Lei?" The other person said Du Lei's name with a smile. He was wearing a hat, and when he turned his head to look at Du Lei, the evening breeze blew the hair at his temples.

"Did we just bump into each other? I thought you were waiting for me here on purpose." Du Lei didn't quite believe what he was saying.

"Oh, oh, it's all the same anyway. By the way, Dure, I heard you participated in the matchmaking event, you know... the matchmaking event for the daughter of that rich man, Ababa, is that right?" It was none other than Eli, the boy Dure knew before, who asked Dure earnestly.

"Why are you suddenly asking this?" Du Lei frowned; he didn't want to discuss this issue too much.

"I'm just curious, I wanted to ask," Ellie said with a smile.

"That's true." Du Lei nodded, not denying it.

"Can you tell me why?" Ellie continued to ask.

"What do you mean, why?" Du Lei didn't understand his intention for a moment.

"Isn't marriage a very serious and solemn thing? There must be a reason for getting married, right? Have you met that lady? Do you know what she looks like or what kind of person she is?" Ellie asked one question after another.

"I've never met her, and I don't know what kind of person she is," Du Lei answered honestly.

"Then why do you still participate in the matchmaking event? Are you like those people, coveting Ababa's wealth, thinking it's a shortcut to success that can save you many years of struggle, or something like that?" Ellie asked, biting her lip.

"To be honest, I have had that thought." Du Lei thought it over carefully and answered seriously.

"Is that really how it is?" Ellie lowered her head, her eyes dimming.

"Yes, if you can marry a rich girl, you can indeed avoid many years of struggle, you won't have to work so hard, and you can get a lot without doing many things. When I was still living in the snow mountain, a friend of mine said this to me many times," Du Lei continued.