The most shameless alchemist in history

He still had a way to turn the situation around, but in his current state, he was completely bound, unable to move his hands and feet, and extremely weak. He couldn't even muster the strength to struggle, let alone use magic power. This deep sense of powerlessness made him feel terrified and uneasy.

"Let me go! What are you going to do to me? Let me go right now!" Du Lei struggled desperately, but all he could do was make the handcuffs and shackles clang. He couldn't do anything else.

By the glowing red light from the stove, he saw several stark white skulls beside the old woman. This made Dure even more terrified. No matter how you looked at it, his situation was extremely dangerous, and if things continued like this, he was very likely to become one of those skulls.

"It will be over soon, young man, don't be afraid. It won't be long before it's over, and you'll be free in no time. What a bargain!" The old woman held a kitchen knife over the fire and slowly walked towards Du Lei.

This put the latter under great pressure. Even if he wanted to retreat, he had reached a point where he had nowhere to retreat. After all, his hands and feet were tied up, so how could he retreat?

"No, I have to do something. Calm down, there must be a way..." Du Lei tried to calm himself down so that his brain could keep thinking, but before he could respond, the old woman had already approached him and stopped in front of him. She raised the gleaming kitchen knife in her hand high and slashed it down at Du Lei!

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" In a spacious and bright office, Bee Sting asked the young woman who was processing documents. She had knocked before entering, but the woman had been looking out the window, lost in thought. Although Bee Sting knew this was a bit presumptuous, their relationship was more than just superior and subordinate, so she couldn't help but ask.

"Bee Sting? When did you come in? Sorry, I was thinking about something else. What brings you here?" Wen Li realized what was going on after a while and finally came to her senses, asking Bee Sting's purpose. It was raining outside the window, with lightning and thunder. Winter City rarely had such bad weather.

"I'm submitting your schedule for tomorrow. You need to attend several meetings and visit the soldiers in the barracks. This will greatly boost morale," Bee Sting reported earnestly. She had always been a very serious person when it came to work, never allowing any flaws or carelessness in her work.

"Okay, put it here. I will attend all these meetings tomorrow and also go to the military camp." Wenli nodded and agreed. She had complete confidence in the schedule set by Bee Sting. There had never been any problems in the past eight years. It could be said that Bee Sting was someone she trusted very much.

“Your Highness, these are critical times. Our Northern army and the Southern army are on the verge of a decisive battle. Once war breaks out, any mistake in decision-making, even the slightest flaw, could be extremely dangerous and terrible if discovered and exploited by the enemy.” Bee Sting solemnly reminded Wenli. Wenli was of noble status, so she could not point it out directly and could only offer a subtle reminder.

“I understand everything you’re saying. We are facing not only internal troubles but also external threats. If we slack off even a little, we will fall into an irrecoverable situation. I am very clear about this.” Wenli nodded.

She has only been back in Winter City for a day, but she has already held several meetings. The Northern Army is facing many problems. Logistics and supplies are not keeping up. Moreover, when she was inspecting the city, she found that morale was low and various rumors were spreading. This is not a good sign.

"Your Highness, it's good that you understand. You bear the fate of millions of people in the Snow Kingdom on your shoulders. Their fate is in your hands." Bee Sting was completely loyal to Winry, because without Winry, she would not be able to be with Leopard Tail.

Thinking of this, she touched her slightly protruding belly, where a new life was growing. This child had come at such an inopportune time. She wondered if it was a boy or a girl.

“Their fate…should be in their own hands,” Winry said softly. Before going to Winterhold, she had indeed felt, just as Bee Sting had said, that she had a heavy responsibility on her shoulders, that she had to be responsible for the millions of people of the Snow Kingdom.

Of course, she did not resist this responsibility, and she thought it was only right and proper. However, after going to Winter Town, she suddenly realized that she was not so great. She was not a god and could not control other people's fate. Even if she was high above, everyone has the right to choose their own destiny!

"Your Highness, what are you saying?" Bee Sting hadn't heard her clearly and asked again.

"Nothing. By the way, did anyone come looking for me today?" Wen Li shook her head, not repeating what she had just said. She suddenly remembered something and immediately asked.

"Many people came to see Your Highness today. I heard that after you arrived in Winter City, local officials and generals all wanted to see you, but I turned them all away. Your Highness has worked very hard today and needs to rest now," Bee Sting replied earnestly.

"Among those people who came to see me, were there any...?" Wen Li didn't care about those officials; she continued to ask.

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760 conducts a survey

"Is there anything?" Bee Sting still didn't understand her words for a moment.

"Never mind, it's nothing." Wen Li thought for a moment, then waved her hand, deciding not to ask any further questions.

"Then I'll take my leave." After putting down her schedule for tomorrow, Bee Sting left the room. Before leaving, she glanced at Wenli one last time. Wenli was working diligently, signing documents. She naturally knew what Bee Sting had asked earlier.

She knew about that man, and sometimes she would think, wouldn't it have been better if he had really died eight years ago? Why did he have to come back now? It's so hateful!

The city hall office was brightly lit, and a light was also on in an ordinary house not far away. In recent months, the mobilization of troops in Winter City had become more and more frequent. Everyone knew that war was about to break out here. Those with connections had already left the city with their families, while those without connections had no choice but to stay. No matter whether Winter City underwent a complete upheaval or remained unchanged, they still had to make a living.

Through the window, one can see guards patrolling. Recently, several spies from the Southern Front have been arrested in Winter City. They infiltrated Winter City to gather intelligence and create disturbances; several hundred have been arrested in just one month.

As for whether all of these hundreds of people were spies of the Southern Front, and how many were real spies, no one knew. Once night fell, they all stayed obediently at home, and no one dared to go out. If they were caught by the guards and thrown into prison, they would be in big trouble.

"Miss Liana, I've obtained the information you requested." In this ordinary three-story house, someone entered the room and handed Liana a scroll.

"Thank you very much." Liana looked gratefully at the middle-aged man. He looked dull and honest, and very inconspicuous, but in fact he was a very shrewd intelligence officer. And most importantly, he was not a member of the Southern Front and maintained a single-line contact with her. Even within the Southern Front, no one knew that he existed.

“Miss Liana, you flatter me. Mr. and Mrs. Hanks were very kind to me when they were alive. It is my honor to serve their daughter,” the man named Kloff said earnestly. Hanks was the name of the young woman’s father. Few people may have heard of this name now, but twenty years ago, he was a very famous figure.

"That being said, I've really troubled you a lot over the years, Mr. Kluff. Without your help, I wouldn't have been able to handle many things at all," Liana said gratefully. Her parents had died in an accident when she was very young.

Throughout her childhood, two people played father-like roles: one was Grant, who is now the leader of the Yugoslav Front, and the other was Klose, who is standing before Liana.

“It is my honor and my wish to serve you, Miss Liana. If it weren’t for Mr. Hanks, I would have died on the battlefield long ago,” Kluf said with a smile. His right leg was lame, making it difficult for him to walk.

These are old wounds he sustained on the battlefield. To be precise, he is a veteran who retired from the battlefield. In addition to the wound on his right leg, he has many gunshot wounds on his body. These are all traces left on him by the cruel war and the long years.

"Please don't say that, Mr. Kloff, you've already done enough for me. Although I really don't want to trouble you anymore, there's one thing I still need your help with." Liana hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking. She didn't want to bother Kloff any further, but she couldn't find a more suitable person to help her with this matter.

“Miss Liana, when did you become so polite? Please tell me what you need. Whatever it is, I will do it for you.” Kluff was not a man of many words, which was perhaps a common trait among veterans who had retired from the battlefield. But he knew that as long as Liana asked, no matter how difficult it was, he would do it even if it cost him his life.

"It's like this, I'd like to ask you to help me investigate Mr. Grant." Liana said cautiously in a low voice. If others heard her words, they would definitely find it absurd, because Liana, as the number two figure in the Southern Front, was someone Grant had personally groomed.

Within the Southern Front, everyone knew that Grant was like a father to Liana. So how could it not be surprising that Liana would send someone to investigate Grant under such circumstances?

"Investigate Grant? I understand." After a moment of silence, Kloff nodded slightly and readily agreed. He wasn't a member of the Southern Front, but he knew about Grant's relationship with Liana. However, the difference was that he knew Grant, but Grant didn't know him.

“Mr. Kloff, are you... not going to ask why?” After hesitating for a moment, Liana decided to say these words. She couldn’t find a second person to investigate Grant, because the people around her were all members of the Southern Front, and it was certainly unrealistic to expect them to investigate Grant.

“I believe Miss Liana has her reasons for doing things. As long as you say so, I will do it. Give me three days, and I will give you a definite result soon.” Kloff slowly turned around, leaning on his cane, intending to leave. He couldn’t stay here too long. If others found out that he and Liana were getting close, it would be troublesome for both of them.

“It’s wonderful that you’re willing to help. I’ll look forward to your good news.” Liana watched Kloff leave, walking with a limp, and he soon disappeared from her sight.

“Mr. Grant… I hope my worries are unnecessary, and Dure… I wonder how you are doing now?” If it were before, Liana would have trusted Grant completely and would never have done something like having someone investigate him. But after talking with Dure and thinking it over carefully, she did find some unusual signs.

She prayed silently, hoping that in a few days Clough would give her a negative answer, that Clough would tell her that her worries were completely unnecessary, and that Grant was fine.

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761 Evil Curse

But why did she feel so uneasy? Liana couldn't understand what she was worried about. Was what she had been pursuing all along correct? Doubt was like water leaking from a flood. At first, only droplets of water seeped out, but gradually the sluice gates opened, and a massive flood was about to rush out. Faced with the raging flood, she would only be swallowed up, wouldn't she?

Du Lei thought he was doomed. Even though he had faced danger many times before and thought he was going to die, he always managed to find a way out. At worst, he could fight back and struggle. But now he couldn't find a way to escape because he was completely powerless and was tied up tightly. He could only watch helplessly as the old woman swung the kitchen knife down!

"Snap!" The old woman raised her knife and brought it down. Her strike was ruthless. Du Lei thought he was going to die here. He had weathered many storms, but he never expected to capsize here. This made him feel especially unwilling!

"Huh, what's going on? I'm still alive?" After a long while, Du Lei slowly opened his eyes. He looked around in surprise. It was pitch black all around, and the environment was very strange. It was the same room in the Alchemist's Guild that he had mistakenly entered earlier. In front of him, the wrinkled face appeared, and a pair of cloudy eyes were still staring straight at him.

"Young man, I've finally gotten this thing off you. I don't know who was so wicked as to cast such a curse on you and raise such a vicious creature. It's a miracle you've survived this long." The old woman swung her knife a few more times, but this time she cut through the handcuffs and shackles binding Du Lei, freeing him.

"Spells, vicious things, what are you talking about?" Dure felt confused. He wanted to say that she was vicious enough, but he didn't say it. He originally thought that this old woman was a treacherous person and that he had fallen into her trap. But now that she had let him go, it meant that things were not quite as he had imagined.

"This is it." The old woman threw a dark, round thing on the ground. It was about the size of a palm, and it was moving, constantly emitting a "squeaking" sound that sent chills down one's spine.

"What, what is this?" Du Lei was startled. He wasn't usually a timid person, but in this atmosphere, and having just escaped with his life, it was no wonder that his nerves were on edge.

"This is what I just cut off your body, the thing that's been attached to you all this time," the old woman explained. She picked up the thing and was about to throw it into the fire, which greatly frightened the dark, lumpy creature, causing it to let out a series of screams.

"Cut off me? Just now?" Du Lei frowned and thought carefully. He quickly figured out what the old woman's knife had cut off. It turned out that she had cut off this thing. After examining it carefully, he suddenly realized something.

"Wait!" he immediately called out to stop the old woman, who was about to put the lump of something on the fire. The dark lump of something was clearly afraid of fire, and its screams were terrifying.

"What's wrong, young man? Is there a problem?" The old woman turned to look at him, not understanding why Du Lei would stop her.

"Well, it's like this, could you give me this thing so I can dispose of it myself?" Du Lei asked cautiously. At first, he was completely confused and had no idea what it was, but gradually he suddenly remembered that he recognized the dark thing—it was Little Gray!

"Are you going to handle this yourself, young man? By the way, do you know what this is?" The old woman stopped what she was doing and asked the young man in front of her.

"This... I'm not quite sure either..." Du Lei couldn't tell the old woman that he raised this thing himself. It was a monster that was created when something the Magic Power Association had messed up back then went wrong. At the time, Little Black and Little White were also raised with this thing.

Now that Blackie and Whitey have disappeared, Dure doesn't know where they went. The only one left, Grayy, has actually provided him with a lot of help. However, he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived at the Alchemist's Association, the old woman would discover Grayy's existence and even help him find Grayy. Moreover, this was the first time Dure had seen Grayy's true form, which surprised him greatly.

“Alright, young man, since you’ve asked, then you can handle it. But I need to remind you, it will devour your magical energy. I hope you remember this well.” The old woman earnestly warned Du Lei. She looked sinister and ghostly, exuding an evil aura, but Du Lei found that the old woman had a very kind heart; otherwise, she wouldn’t have deliberately helped him.

“I remember, but… you just mentioned some kind of vicious curse… what’s going on?” While grateful, Dure recalled what the old woman had said, which made him wary.

"You don't know yet, young man, if this thing is devouring your magic power in an external way, then the curse is restricting the growth of your magic power in an internal way. This curse is very ancient, and even I, an old woman, can't figure it out for the time being." The old woman's expression was strange.

She was a very knowledgeable person with a high reputation within the Alchemist Guild, but even she couldn't figure out the details of a curse, which was truly unheard of.

“A curse? But I don’t remember it at all…” Dure felt a sense of bewilderment. He did not doubt what the old woman said, because when he fell into her hands, he thought he was doomed and would perish in this pitch-black, gloomy place.

But the old woman not only didn't make things difficult for him, she even helped him get Little Gray down. Although Du Lei and Little Gray were complementary, the old woman's intentions were for his own good, which Du Lei understood very well. Therefore, he believed that the old woman had no reason to deceive him.

"This curse wasn't something you were born with. It must have been placed on you when you were around ten years old. Ordinary people can't cast such a curse; only a skilled alchemist can do it. Young man, think carefully. When you were around ten years old, did you encounter any evil alchemists?" The old woman solemnly reminded Dure, urging him to recall carefully, as this was something she cared about very much.

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762 Inhibits growth

"I was about ten years old? I grew up in the hot spring village from a young age until I was fourteen. The villagers were all ordinary people, there were no magic users. Even when mercenaries occasionally came to the village, they were all low-level mercenaries, not skilled alchemists..."

Du Lei tried to recall carefully, but he couldn't find any clues for the time being. This was because he had only met a very limited number of people throughout his life, and even by using the process of elimination, he could figure out the cause.

“That’s strange. Only titled alchemists can cast this kind of spell. Within our Alchemist Guild, there are very few people who can do it. And even if they could, our Alchemist Guild has long prohibited the use of curses. Could it have been done by those alchemists from the Dark Realm?” The old woman frowned.

As a member of the Alchemists' Guild, she had dedicated most of her life to regulating and restraining the behavior of alchemists, but now that she had seen suspicious alchemists doing illegal things, it was no wonder that she couldn't hold back.

"Title Alchemist?" Dure pondered the term. He was very interested in it. Before this, although he had studied alchemy, he had always been self-taught and a complete amateur. At most, he had consulted with his teacher, Winster, but had never received any systematic training.

“That’s right, young man, didn’t you know? There are six levels of alchemists: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mithril, Gold, and Title.” The old woman nodded affirmatively.

"But I've heard that there are also Sage-level beings?" Du Lei thought for a moment and then asked. He had read about these things in books before. In the past few years, he had been studying scriptures by himself, and he had also learned about them from books. He lacked systematic training, which meant that he did not know what level he was at.

“Sage-level alchemists are legendary beings. Usually, there are only a handful of sage-level alchemists in an era. They are all unfathomable beings, a level that ordinary people cannot reach,” the old woman said, shaking her head.

"Are sages that powerful? Come to think of it, I've only encountered a few alchemists so far, including Teacher Winster, and... wait, the alchemist I met when I was ten... him?" After careful recollection, a name suddenly popped into Dure's mind.

That was a guy he dug out of the snow many years ago. To him, that person was a very special existence. He felt infinite gratitude towards that man and never imagined that he would curse him.

"What's wrong, young man? Do you remember who cursed you?" the old woman asked immediately. She despised those who used alchemy for evil purposes, and once she got the name from this young man, she was determined to find out the truth.

"No, it's nothing, I made a mistake." Du Lei put on a smile and waved his hand. He was in a very conflicted and contradictory state. According to the old woman, he was cursed when he was ten years old.

Of all the people he had come into contact with, only the one he had dug out of the snow was a possible candidate for the curse. Logically speaking, this was the only suspicious person he could deduce.

But he really couldn't understand why the man would do that. He believed that everyone has a starting point for doing something, and there is always a reason that drives them to do something in order to achieve a certain goal. But the man was just passing by the hot spring village by chance.

His destination should have been Beishan, but when he arrived at Beishan, for some reason, he turned back. Du Lei remembered that he had asked the man what he was there for.

But the man just smiled and didn't say anything. When the man left the village, Dure said he wanted to leave with him, but the man refused. He told Dure that if he wanted to live a peaceful life, he should stay in Hot Spring Village for the rest of his life and never leave the village. Obviously, Dure did not listen to him.

“Well, young man, but there’s something very strange.” The old woman didn’t press the matter; it had been a long time since anyone had come to this dark, old house.

She couldn't even remember the last time someone came to the Alchemist's Guild. Compared to the bustling crowds at the Magic Power Association next door, the Alchemist's Guild had always been deserted. This was partly because alchemists were already rare, and partly because the ancient discipline of alchemy was declining, with fewer and fewer people studying it.

"What is it? Please tell me." Du Lei was very polite to the old woman because he had misunderstood her before, which made him feel very guilty. Moreover, the old woman was indeed helping him, which made Du Lei very grateful.

“This curse is extremely complex; even I, an old woman, cannot fathom its details. Normally, such a curse should be extremely malevolent, yet it has been attached to you for over a decade, only suppressing your magical energy growth without causing any harm to your body. This is strange. It seems that the person who cast the curse on you only wanted to prevent you from learning magical energy and had no intention of harming you,” the old woman said, frowning.

She had lived most of her life and had never seen anything so bizarre. To go to such lengths, only to prevent the young man in front of her from cultivating demonic energy, was quite illogical. She should just kill him.

The old woman believed that the person who placed the curse could do it easily. She should either not interfere with him or not. Normal people are too busy cultivating their magical abilities to suppress his growth. She really couldn't understand what that person was thinking.

"It only suppresses my magical energy growth and doesn't harm my body? No wonder I was never able to absorb magical energy elements when I cultivated magical energy as a child. So that's the reason." Du Lei finally realized after many years.