Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

The city was reduced to ashes in an instant, and civilization was reduced to nothing in a flash.

This is the power of a nuclear bomb. Isaac developed it but only used it once, mostly as a deterrent to intimidate other countries.

Even the nuclear bomb he personally detonated was never witnessed by him; he only learned of the tragedy caused by opening the 'demon seal' from the battle report a few days later.

Now, he has witnessed the nuclear explosion firsthand, and he is right at the epicenter of the blast.

……

About an hour has passed since the explosion, and the smoke in the sky has not yet dissipated.

The once bustling city has become a ghost town, devoid of any life, with only the black powder on the ground telling the story of how humans once lived here.

Click!

The ruins suddenly crumbled, and a figure crawled out of the silent earth, covered in dust.

"That damn professor, he really wants to drag me down to hell with him."

In the instant the nuclear bomb exploded, Isaac activated the Philosopher's Stone's absolute defense and the λ-driver's protective shield, wrapping himself up layer by layer, thus protecting himself from the epicenter of the nuclear explosion.

He dusted himself off and took out a small booklet from his pocket.

While attacking the professor, he used the shadow to take back the textbook from his hand. He thought that taking the phantom book away would stop the explosion, but it seems he was overthinking it.

After glancing around at the desolate, hellish city, Isaac hurried through the ruins that should have been streets.

"Well, anyway, this time it's not my fault. It was the professor who did it. Besides, it was going to explode sooner or later anyway."

--------------

The next morning, while Isaac was still fast asleep in his room, chaos had already broken out outside.

"Did you feel it? It felt like an earthquake yesterday."

"It seems something happened in Japan."

"If the tremors are so noticeable here, how strong must the earthquakes be over there?"

"Finally, God has come out to teach those arrogant guys a lesson."

As the saying goes, amidst natural disasters and man-made calamities, some rejoice while others grieve.

As long as the disaster doesn't befall them, everyone maintains an attitude of either pity or schadenfreude.

After getting up, brushing his teeth and washing his face, Isaac walked out as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, Isaac, where did you go last night?"

Fran was standing right in front of him.

How did you know I wasn't here yesterday?

"Because I originally planned to sneak over and raid your room last night, but I found that there was no one in your room. You must have gone out."

“You really have the nerve to say something like this so confidently…” Isaac sighed. “I went to Japan last night.”

"Japan? Speaking of which, something happened in Japan yesterday. Could it be related to you...?"

"Don't pin all the blame on me. I behaved myself yesterday. I only killed a few people and burned down a house. I didn't do anything else. The professor did most of the work."

"Professor? Who is that?"

"That jerk with the red-haired girl by his side tried to drag me down to hell yesterday, but he failed."

Isaac yawned as he spoke.

"But I didn't expect him to make this dangerous thing with his bare hands. He's quite capable. If he weren't my enemy, I would really like to have him come with me to Amestris to work on it."

"Really... Rajel is in Japan too?" Fran frowned. "What happened to her?"

“He died because he committed the crime of ‘contempt of humanity’ and I killed him.”

"Wow, you actually had the heart to kill a cute little girl? Are you even human?"

"The 'cute little girl' you're talking about is an old monster who's lived for hundreds of years. What's there to be reluctant about?"

During their relaxed conversation, the two seemed completely unaware of the turbulent changes that were about to unfold in the outside world.

Chapter 1055: St. Margaret Academy

"Thinking about it carefully, there doesn't seem to be anything to do here. I'll go back to Europe in a few days."

"Hey~ I haven't had enough of the delicious food here yet."

"What do you consider to be enough food?"

"I'll at least try all the delicious food in China," Fran said confidently.

"Don't even think about it. If you try all of them, you won't need to go back for several years. Don't you know how many kinds of dishes there are in China?"

"Eh..."

"Stop shouting. Go out and eat a few meals these next few days, then go back."

As Isaac spoke, he put on the Zhongshan suit he had modified himself.

"Two textbooks have been collected, and we still need two more. If another 'professor' like this comes out in Europe, it will be a troublesome matter."

"understood."

The two went out together again.

The nuclear bomb that the professor detonated yesterday had a yield of at least 200,000 tons. Not only Isaac's city, but also surrounding cities were affected to varying degrees, and even Tokyo was affected to some extent.

That city was not a densely populated major city, but it was the main city where arsenals and troops were located.

Several tank factories, warship assembly plants, and aircraft parts manufacturing plants were all paralyzed after the nuclear explosion, causing hundreds of production lines in the country to come to a standstill.

The massive loss of troops and the death of people caused turmoil in Japan.

In fact, given Japan's current level of industrialization, rebuilding the destroyed cities would not be particularly difficult, but it is certain that they absolutely do not have the conditions to start another war.

After all, this nuclear bomb was more than ten times more powerful than any nuclear bomb they should have been subjected to in history.

Of course, in this era of underdeveloped information transmission and before economic globalization, what happened in Japan was not yet widely known. At least for the people in Foshan, apart from feeling a slight tremor at night, they didn't feel much and continued to live their ordinary daily lives.

"What exactly did you guys do in Japan yesterday?"

"The professor built a nuclear bomb as soon as he got my formula, but thankfully it wasn't particularly powerful," Isaac said. "If I had given him the fusion formula, Japan would probably be finished."

"Wow, that's terrible."

"I didn't want this to happen either. The things that the Illusion Book brings are all unpredictable."

The explosion didn't really affect Isaac much.

Aside from experiencing the novelty of standing at the epicenter of a nuclear explosion and feeling like he was being hit in the face by a nuclear bomb, the only other thing that made him feel like his trip wasn't in vain was retrieving his lost textbooks.

He didn't think much of it, after all, he wasn't the one who dropped the nuclear bomb.

"Young Master!"

"Ok?"

Hearing someone calling him, Isaac looked up and saw Asen waving as he ran toward him.

"What is it?"

"Young Master, I originally wanted to go to your house to find you... Ha... Let me catch my breath."

Ah Sheng is the bookworm type. Although he is well-read, he lacks exercise and running a few meters is like a death sentence for him.

"Your physical condition is worrying."

"After all, not everyone is as accomplished in both literature and martial arts as the young master," Ah Sheng said, catching his breath. "Let's not talk about that. Is the young master coming to my house? My father would like to meet you."

"Oh? Sure, Fran and I were just looking for a place to eat. What does your father want with me?"

"I just wanted to catch up and talk about my time studying abroad."

Have you decided where you want to study abroad?

“Yes, it’s decided.” Ah Sheng nodded. “The final decision is to go to the Kingdom of Suvar.”

"Oh my, oh my, it's rare for Young Master Yao to come over."

Upon arriving at Asheng's house, a plump middle-aged man quickly invited Isaac and Fran inside.

"I heard you were back a long time ago, and I've been wanting to treat you to a meal, but I haven't had the chance."

"You're too kind."

The overweight middle-aged man is Ah Sheng's father, a well-known local shipping merchant who occasionally does cross-sea business. He used to trade between Guangdong and Shanghai, but recently he started doing international trade after getting involved with the Japanese.

"Excuse me, who is this...?"

The middle-aged man pointed at Fran and asked.

“Oh, Fran, my friend.”

"Nice to meet you, Miss Fu."

"Oh, her surname is Chesca, and her given name is Fran Chesca."

"Oh right, right right, look at my memory, foreigners always put their surnames at the end." The overweight middle-aged man laughed heartily.

Everyone sat down at the dining table, where a large pile of dishes were laid out.

Fran doesn't care where she eats, as long as there's something to eat. At least Ah Sheng's family is relatively well-off, and the dishes the chef makes are quite delicious.

“Young Master Yao, I heard from Ah Sheng that you defeated the expert from Japan. You’ve really made us proud.” Ah Sheng’s father picked up a glass of wine and said, “Come, let me toast you.”

"He's not exactly a master."

Isaac picked up the small glass, clinked it together, and drank the wine in one gulp.

"Speaking of which, Uncle, weren't you doing business with that Japanese guy? You beat up your partner, are you alright?"

“It’s alright. When Ah Sheng came back, he told me that those Japanese seemed to have ulterior motives. Now that I think about it, I was indeed greedy back then,” Ah Sheng’s father said. “I also plan to cut off business ties with them.”

"Oh, that's good."

"And there's something else you might not know, young master, but something big happened in Japan yesterday." He suddenly said mysteriously, "It seems like some once-in-a-century disaster occurred, and several cities were destroyed instantly."

"Oh."

Thanks for the invitation. I was at the scene, at the epicenter of the nuclear explosion, and just flew back.