The weapons I forge are absolutely flawless.

Therefore, they set up checkpoints along the border roads to conduct inspections.

Ostensibly, it was to protect the safety of official and commercial roads from thieves, but in reality, it was to inspect the goods transported by various merchant caravans. If strategic materials related to military supplies were discovered, exorbitant tolls would be levied.

Even after all that, transporting materials from other places to the school for sale didn't generate much profit.

Especially for those major chambers of commerce that are being targeted, the larger the convoy, the higher the toll fees will be.

Therefore, the Valentin Chamber of Commerce decided to suspend the delivery of supplies other than daily necessities to the college until the situation was clarified.

[If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. But all the students in the Alchemy Department were like they were possessed, forging armor and completely ignoring everything else.]

[Those guys who placed orders late, couldn't find anyone, and then came knocking on my door demanding compensation—they practically wore my shop down.]

The fact that Anna was bombarded with messages one after another shows just how much pressure she was under during this period.

“It started last week…” Wiener pondered.

That was precisely the time when he saw off Listy's parents and began his secluded training to conquer the Udvik Armor.

So he wasn't quite sure what happened in between.

Fortunately, there is a proper alchemy student in the family.

"Felix!" Viner shouted, "Did anything unusual happen at the Alchemy Institute last week?!"

"Hmm... if you ask me that, then there does seem to be one."

Felix walked out of the room.

“Last week, the Alchemy Institute organized a sword-forging competition. They originally wanted to invite you to participate as well, but you said you didn’t want anything to bother you during this time, so I declined on your behalf.”

"A sword-forging competition?"

Wiener was slightly puzzled.

If it were just an armor-forging competition, that would be one thing, but why didn't they go back to digest their weapon-forging experience after the sword-forging competition ended, and instead all went to forge armor?

Did you go?

Wiener remembered that Felix was the kind of guy who loved to get involved in anything.

“Of course!” Felix proudly raised his head. “They invited me to be a special guest.”

The meaning of "special guest" is that, knowing Felix can only wield a sword but not forge one, a special title was created for him so that he would feel involved.

"You're being asked to present the award to the champion again?"

“What do you think they are!” Felix scoffed. “They’ll hand over the forged swords to me and let me be in charge of testing their slashing and chopping.”

"only..."

At this point, Felix's voice sounded somewhat weak.

"The result is that no matter what kind of sword or blade you use, it's all a one-hit kill, so it doesn't test anything at all, right?"

No one knows Felix better than Wiener.

"Vina, you're amazing! You guessed it right away!"

After Felix ruined six testing stones, the Alchemists finally realized they shouldn't have let him do such a thing.

He then comforted Felix and told him to rest aside, while summoning an alchemical golem to help test the sword.

Everything is still normal up to this point, Wiener thought.

"and after?"

"Later they weren't satisfied with just cutting the testing stone. Senior Clay took out a suit of armor and boasted that whoever could leave a mark on it would be awarded a thousand credits."

"I guess nobody can do that, right?"

Clay was the star student of the Alchemy Institute, and his specialty was armor making.

Although he failed to forge the Udvik armor, the process itself was very beneficial to him.

Without relying on personal strength, it would be quite difficult to destroy the armor forged by Clay simply by relying on the sharpness of the weapon.

“That’s because you didn’t participate, Vena,” Felix retorted. “If I had gone up there with Vena’s weapon, I could have shredded that armor to smithereens.”

“Yes, yes, Felix is ​​the best,” Viner coaxed. “And then what?”

"Later, Senior Clay brought over a box of blueprints. He said that there was still room for improvement in that armor, and he hoped that everyone could brainstorm and forge the most perfect Udvik Armor."

So it was you who did this!

Chapter 357 Is the Alchemy Institute saved...?

"I knew it."

Wiener slapped his forehead.

If Clay was willing to hand over the blueprints so readily, then there's a similar possibility that he would hand them over to someone else.

After realizing that he could not forge the Udvik Armor no matter what he did, he took advantage of the forging competition to reveal the blueprints to the entire Alchemy Institute.

While this spirit of selfless sharing is commendable, there's just one problem...

I roughly understand what happened, and I'll try to find a solution.

Really? Do you need my cooperation?

[Not for now. You should focus on calming down your clients first.]

"Hey, just let me know if there's anything I can help with... I have one last copy of those materials you asked for before, remember to come and pick them up when you have time."

As the alchemy students scrambled for forging materials, Anna inexplicably thought of Venere.

Although someone was in seclusion and refused to receive any student card messages, making her completely unreachable, she still left a spare copy of the materials for Venus just in case.

This is already a huge help, my dear Anna.

"What on earth happened, Venus?"

Felix looked on with curiosity.

"You're the only one in the entire Alchemy Institute who's unaffected."

Wiener smiled with relief.

Ignorance is bliss.

Even if you gave Felix the blueprints for the Udvik Armor, a complete novice, he would only treat them like scrap paper and not give them any attention.

But if it were other students from the Alchemy Department, the situation would be completely different.

Just as Sargozi was drawn to the Thousand Cuts Forge, the students of the Alchemy Institute were so captivated by this extraordinary blueprint that they disregarded everything else.

Even Wiener himself was unknowingly affected.

His arrogance after easily forging Adramura, coupled with the impatience caused by setting a time limit for himself, caused a slight flaw in his mental state.

A week passed by almost imperceptibly.

If it weren't for the fact that he could still eat and sleep normally every day, Felix would have been ready to tell someone on him.

If even Vena, who had one foot in the realm of a master forging expert, was affected like this, the other students would only be more deeply affected.

A perfectly crafted Udvik Armor is an A-rank item, on par with Admira.

If the actual object were placed in front of them, they would only feel admiration and would not have any thoughts of desecration.

But what they received were blueprints.

The meticulously disassembled blueprints give even those with only a superficial understanding the illusion that they can do it too, resulting in them becoming completely engrossed in them.

Strong external interference is needed to pull them back from the edge of the cliff.

"I have a feeling you're thinking something rude."

"On the contrary, this time it will probably be up to you to turn the tide."

"It sounds like you're praising someone, but first tell me why it turned into a raging storm?"

"Don't worry, I'll tell you what to do later."

Wiener took out his student ID and sent a message to Jessica.

[Come to the workshop immediately, it's extremely urgent!]

"what happened?"

While Vina was waiting for news, Jessica's voice suddenly rang in her ear.

"Isn't this too fast for you?"

“You were the one who said it was extremely urgent.” Jessica rolled her eyes at Vina. “Speak quickly if you have something to say.”

“Go back to this drawing again.”

Wiener pointed to the armor blueprints hanging on the beam.

Although she didn't know what he was up to, Jessica walked up to one of the pages of the drawing and pinched it between two fingers.

Unlike the previous seven red lines, this time at least thirty or forty red lines were separated from the blueprint.

"As expected, the entire Alchemy Institute has fallen."

"What's going on?"

This unusual number made Jessica look at Vina with a serious expression, waiting for an explanation.

“Clay’s good intentions backfired, as he distributed the blueprints for the Udvik Armor to every student in the Alchemy Department,” Venere bluntly stated. “Now all the students in the Alchemy Department are addicted, and all they can think about is forging the Udvik Armor.”

Jessica knew a little about the Alchemy Institute; if even Clay couldn't forge the armor, the chances for others would be even slimmer.

"And then it's like being trapped in an infinite loop, repeating endlessly?"

"Yes, no matter what strange thing they end up making, as long as they don't forge the Udvik Armor, they will keep repeating the process even if they don't eat or drink."

"Since you called me over, you must have thought of a solution."

"I need you to take me to Professor Wilford first, so I can get a feel for the current situation."

"Then what are we saying? Let's go."

Jessica extended her hand to Vina.

"Don't rush, bring Felixster along too, he's the key."

“Him?” Jessica couldn’t imagine Felix being able to help in this matter.

"They are, after all, part of the Alchemy Institute."

"Then let's say that."

Jessica, with one in each hand, led the two away from where they stood.

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

The Alchemy Institute is different from the other institutes.

It is quite normal for students to skip class in order to delve into their research.

Regardless of success or failure, a sufficiently detailed report must be submitted to demonstrate what was accomplished during this period.

However, the entire Alchemy Institute, except for Felix, was absent.

If Villefort, as the dean of the branch, still doesn't realize the problem, he's far too slow-witted.

"You unfilial disciple, what on earth has gone mad?"

Wilford used his authority as the branch dean to forcibly open Clay's workshop.

It turned out that this guy was like a madman, frantically kissing a half-finished suit of armor, saying something like, "It must be because the love wasn't enough that I couldn't forge the Udvik Armor."

Even if you knock him unconscious, he'll just revert to this state when he wakes up.

Left with no other choice, Villefort had to tie Clay to the chair.

Clay, who hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days, was so weak that he couldn't even break free of the ropes binding him, yet his mind was still preoccupied with the Udvik Armor.

Just as Villefort was about to knock the scoundrel unconscious again and forcibly send him to the infirmary, Vigna and her two companions arrived.

"Professor Villefort."

Jessica greeted her.