Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

“Isaac Yao, I already told you,” Isaac said calmly, “is an alchemist.”

"An alchemist..."

Hugh seemed to have heard some very new words.

An Easterner claiming to be an alchemist came to him and told him that what he had written had turned into a phantom book. Even Hugh, who had dealt with many mysterious events caused by phantom books, felt something strange about this event.

"You don't believe I'm an alchemist?"

"It's not that I don't believe in anything, but this is the 20th century after all, and alchemy should already be..."

Isaac did not respond further.

Isaac snapped off a corner of the table and held it to his fingertips. A flash of electricity appeared, and he tossed a diamond onto the table.

Do you believe it now?

"...That's amazing."

Hugh picked up the diamond and examined it closely. With his extensive knowledge, he knew it was indeed a diamond, and he had watched the wood twist and deform in Isaac's hands into a diamond.

"How did you do that?"

"By extracting the carbon from wood and rearranging it, you can get a decent diamond."

"Wow, that's amazing! Sir, you really are an alchemist..."

“Absolutely genuine,” Isaac chuckled. “So, could you perhaps tell me about the Book of Illusions? Recent events have been giving me quite a headache.”

"Of course, no problem. I do know a little about the Illusionary Book, but there are probably people who know more about it than I do."

After he finished speaking, he looked around.

"That's strange... it was just here a moment ago."

“You mean the other person in this house?” Isaac casually pointed to the back of the kitchen door next door. “That person is hiding there.”

"what?"

"Well……"

Sure enough, a cute voice came from behind the door, and a little girl with long black hair peeked her head out from behind the door.

Her waist-length hair was jet black, as were her eyes, and her face was as delicate as a doll's.

She was wearing a loose black dress adorned with multiple layers of ruffles, but what caught the eye was the large, old metal lock covered in chains on her chest.

"Dalian, so you were hiding here."

"Humph."

Upon learning that she had been discovered, the black-haired girl named Dallian snorted and gracefully walked out to sit next to Hugh.

Are you that afraid of strangers?

"No, this guy has a really awful smell."

"what?"

Isaac lowered his head and sniffed himself.

"There's no smell. I must have showered before I came."

"Yes, that's really rude."

“I didn’t say that! Hugh, you idiot!” Dalian said, pointing at Isaac. “You said you’re an alchemist? Hugh, you moron, you’re so easily convinced, but I’m not.”

"..."

Isaac looked at Hugh and asked, "Your daughter?"

"No, that's not true!"

Dalian slammed her hand on the table, making a loud 'bang' sound.

“I’m old enough to be your grandmother.”

"Is that so, 'Grandmother'? What will it take for you to believe me?"

"Ugh...you rude scoundrel."

Enraged by Isaac's nonchalant attitude, Dalian snorted and said, "Perform that thing you just did again. Conjure up some fried bread and I'll believe you..."

呲——

A crimson lightning flashed, and a basket of golden-fried bread emitted an enticing sizzle.

"Oh~"

Dalian glanced at the food on the table in surprise, picked up a piece and stuffed it into her mouth, squinting her eyes and revealing a satisfied expression.

"Well, I'll believe you for now, alchemist."

Hugh: "..."

"This fried bread is so delicious! Its soft texture must be from the capital..."

"Miss Dalian, this is a fried dough stick."

Chapter 981: A World Within a Pot

“This is Dahlia, who used to live with my grandfather. Her background is a little special,” Hugh introduced to Isaac.

"I can tell, it's probably not human."

"You can tell that?"

“She didn’t have any human qualities. I met someone similar when I was in Munich, Germany.”

Are there any other people similar to Dalian?

“Well, I don’t know if you recognize her,” Isaac described. “She was wearing red clothes, looked about the same age as Miss Dalian, and had an eyepatch with a keyhole over her left eye…”

"What!?"

While still eating her fried dough sticks, Dallian immediately slammed her hand on the table and stood up after hearing Isaac's description.

"What? You know him?"

"I do know her. Judging from your description, she should be 'Red Reading Princess'."

"Du Ji?"

“I’m referring to bookshelf managers like us, who exist to protect the ancient phantom books,” Dalian said. “I didn’t expect you to actually see that guy. It seems she’s in Germany.”

"Dalian, are you close to that 'Red Reader'?" Hugh asked from the side.

"I'm not familiar with that bedwetting little kid at all."

"It seems you know it very well."

Isaac glanced at Dallian and asked, "Are you friends?"

"No, we're not friends."

“That’s good,” Isaac said, “because one day I might have to kill that brat.”

"Huh?"

“She and that guy with her who claims to be a professor are the ones who took the textbook I wrote, and from what they said to me, they’re planning to do something big with my book,” Isaac said in a low voice. “They got away with it last time, but next time we’ll definitely kill them.”

From Isaac's words, both Hugh and Dallian could sense the seemingly solidified killing intent.

Finally, seeing the awkward atmosphere, Hughie quickly asked, "So, Mr. Isaac, how do you plan to investigate the books you wrote? They should be lost, right? Do you have any clues?"

“We’ve found two copies so far. One is in the hands of the two people I mentioned earlier, and the other was taken by the president of the German Far North Guild, but he abused alchemy and killed himself,” Isaac said. “The only information we have is that these chapters came from Europe, so I plan to look for them in these European countries.”

“I see. I can actually be of some help with that. I’m fairly familiar with the nobles around here, and they sometimes come to me for help. Maybe I can get some inside information from them.”

Thank you very much.

"By the way, Mr. Isaac, where are you staying now? I can let you know as soon as I get the news."

"I don't have a place to stay right now. I plan to just find a hotel to stay in for a while when I go to London."

Anyway, the UK is a fairly small country, so there's no need to change hotels every time you go somewhere.

"Is that so? If it's convenient, why don't you stay here in this mansion?" Hugh asked with a smile. "Anyway, the house left by my grandfather is quite big."

"Wouldn't this be too much trouble for you?"

"No, no, to be honest, most of the things related to the Phantom Book in Britain are centered around me and Dalian, so it would probably be much easier to investigate if they acted with us."

"Then I'll take my leave."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At Hugh's invitation, Isaac stayed at the enormous mansion.

Although Dalian still seemed to dislike Isaac, she didn't object to her living there.

Isaac learned about the so-called Phantom Book, the Reader, and the bookshelf from the two of them.

Tracing back to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, written during the Southern Song Dynasty in China, the biography of Fei Changfang records: "Changfang once served as a market official. In the market, there was an old man selling medicine, hanging a pot on his seat. After the market closed, he jumped into the pot. Changfang saw this from upstairs and knew he was no ordinary person, so he sought him out to learn the Dao." This refers to "Pot Master".

There is another world inside the treasure pot, which is also known as the 'Heaven in a Pot'.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the treasure pot left its owner and wandered to many places, changing hands over the centuries. Finally, it fell into the hands of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor, who had left the mainland.

The king wanted to use the pot for some unexpected things, such as gaining the wisdom of the devil.

A certain demon packed all the knowledge—the lost ancient library's collection, burned books, forbidden magic books, and so on—into a pot-shaped heaven. Only with this pot could countless pieces of knowledge be contained within it.

However, this is not a good thing.

Years of war caused the potted plant to be lost once again in the 17th century and ended up in the small island nation of England. A century later, it was bought by a collector, who was Hughie's grandfather, Wesley Deswald.

"So what about the teapot?"

"I already told you it's just a legend, so just take it as fact."

Dalian sat at the dining table eating the donuts Isaac had made, which was why she had no objection to Isaac staying there temporarily.

“I am the manager of the bookshelf, also known as the Heaven in the Pot, or the ‘Black Reader’,” Dalian said. “The bookshelf is called the Dantalian Bookshelf, and it contains a total of 900,666 phantom books.”

"Impressive, it's probably as powerful as a portable hard drive."

"what is that?"