Chapter 7: The Guru

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Chapter 7: The Guru

The next day, Charlie returned to the alchemy laboratory.

If Charlie had to find a more precise way to describe the alchemy laboratory, he would call it a magic chemistry lab.

Cauldrons of all sizes and materials, like witches’ potion pots, filled every corner of the laboratory. The glassware on the tables resembled distillation flasks, measuring cups, funnels, test tubes, and other such equipment from later generations, and presumably served much the same purposes.

There were also countless oddly shaped metal implements whose purposes Charlie couldn’t make out. Some were like chimneys that extended straight up to the ceiling, while others were strange-looking furnaces, among other things.

Of course, a world of magic was never short on mystery.

At the very center stood an ink-black stone table with the lustrous texture of jade. Its surface was engraved with a magic array even more intricate and elaborate than the inverted pentagram.

Ben said this was an alchemy table, used to carry out important steps in alchemy. In other words, magic was used to activate the alchemical array and transform one substance into another.

Charlie didn’t rush to put anything into practice. Instead, he first took out The Alchemy Notes and began studying it.

According to the notes, alchemy had two main applications. One was brewing potions, or what were known as alchemical potions, ranging from ordinary Life Potions to elixirs that sought to grant immortality. The other was alchemy in the literal sense: transforming base metals such as lead and copper into the precious metal gold.

It sounded utterly absurd. If alchemists could really do this, Charlie was certain it would be the most popular profession on the entire continent of Totolando, bar none.

“Ben, did your master ever make gold?”

“I don’t remember.”

It was the answer he had expected, so Charlie wasn’t particularly disappointed. He continued reading and discovered that whether it was potion-making or alchemy, the notes mentioned the same thing: the Philosopher’s Stone.

It was the universal key, the perfect finishing touch. To transform base metals into genuine gold, it was an indispensable ingredient in the formula. To brew an elixir of immortality, it was even the essential catalyst. And yet such a precious substance had its recipe recorded openly in the notes.

“Sea salt, iron sulfide, mercury… eggshells?” Charlie murmured, his voice tinged with absurdity and disbelief.

He turned the page, and the next page contained a few conspicuous lines of red text:

[Note: The salt comes from the Transparent Sea.]

[The eggshells come from a dragon’s nest.]

The moment Charlie saw those two lines, he instantly calmed down, although he had no idea what exactly he was calming down about. In any case, with his current strength, there was no way he could go get salt from the Transparent Sea or eggshells from a dragon’s nest.

But speaking of the Transparent Sea… Charlie vaguely remembered that the place where Lord Lully’s biological son, Armand, was receiving his ancient legacy was in the Transparent Sea.

His thoughts wandered, and Charlie spaced out for a moment before bringing his attention back to the alchemical potions.

The Pinecone Tower master had recorded more than fifty potion recipes, along with plenty of notes on how she had continually refined the formulas and what she had learned in the process. Charlie didn’t have time to examine them closely, so he simply skimmed the names and effects of the recipes, eventually settling on one.

The name of this alchemical potion was Talent Awakening.

Charlie’s original talent had been stolen by a curse, and even after the curse lost its effect, he had been unable to truly reclaim it. Would this Talent Awakening Potion be useful to him?

He couldn’t be sure, so he could only treat a dead horse as though it were still alive and ask Ben.

Ben’s left and right hands had successfully been reunited, and he had found most of his other body parts as well. At the moment, he was busy assembling his own skeleton.

Hearing Charlie’s question, he froze for a moment. “Talent Awakening?”

The next second, he became excited. “That’s right, the Talent Awakening Potion! You can take this!”

Affected by his excitement, Charlie instinctively sat up straighter. “Would this really work for me?”

Aside from the fact that he had transmigrated from another world, Charlie hadn’t hidden anything about his situation from Ben, nor had there been any need to. Inside Pinecone Tower, they were in the same boat.

Ben’s skeletal hand propped up his skull, and he manually nodded. “I remember my master saying that this potion can’t hurt you. Take enough of it, and even a pig can cast spells and become a flying divine pig!”

Charlie had noticed that Ben couldn’t remember his master’s name or many other crucial details, yet he remembered certain things his master had said with remarkable clarity, such as how necromancers purified by burning were purer, and the flying divine pig.

But… Charlie thought it over again.

Could such a useful alchemical potion really have no drawbacks or side effects? He lowered his head and looked at the recipe: luck root, henbane seeds, salt-crystal powder, swan feathers, and elf tears.

The moment Charlie saw “elf tears,” he knew the potion couldn’t be cheap. Perhaps it really didn’t have any major side effects. If it did, there should have been a record of them in the notes. Maybe it was simply expensive and rare.

With Charlie’s current assets, even if he could find the ingredients, he probably couldn’t afford them.

Was he destined to follow the path of a typical web novel protagonist making a comeback?

First, buy medicinal ingredients and mass-produce low-level potions to sell, accumulating his initial capital. Then, while he was at it, pick up some hidden treasures at the market…

Just then, a commotion suddenly arose outside the tower.

Charlie immediately became alert. He put down the notes, went to the window, and cautiously pulled open a crack in the curtains to look outside. The soul from another world was peering out once again, but the local residents in the street were completely unaware.

Gray Hat Street wasn’t particularly lively during the day, since most of its residents were craftsmen. There was Jeffrey, who was apprenticed to the old shoemaker, while his father worked at Old John’s smithy. The street got its name from a famous hatmaker who had once lived here, whose sign bore a distinctive gray hat.

The hatmaker had long since passed away, and his children and grandchildren had moved away from Gray Hat Street with his craft, but the name had remained. At this hour, however, when everyone should have been at work, there were still quite a few people in the street.

The commotion was coming from the direction of the market.

Charlie was on the fifth floor, giving him a bird’s-eye view of Gray Hat Street. He could see everything clearly, but the distance was too great for him to make out what anyone was saying.

He gazed into the distance, then frowned slightly.

It was the knight order. From the looks of things, they seemed to be escorting someone out of the market and passing through Gray Hat Street.

Charlie had seen the Black-Armored Knights on his very first night after transmigrating. Believers had gotten into a fight in the street, and the knight order had arrived to suppress it and take them away.

What was it this time?

Charlie waited patiently. Ben was curious too and wanted to come over, but his skeleton wasn’t finished yet and fell apart after a few steps. His skull came rolling to Charlie’s feet with a rumble, then bounced a few times, still refusing to give up.

“Shh.” Charlie raised a finger to his lips, keeping an eye on the street out of the corner of his eye. When the knights drew closer, he saw the person being escorted in the middle of the group, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

That patched, shabby mage’s robe, that familiar hood covering half her head… It was the middle-aged woman from the market, the local guru who had sold him the books!

Why had she been arrested?

Questions filled Charlie’s mind, and for a moment he forgot to be cautious. Suddenly, one of the Black-Armored Knights at the front of the procession seemed to sense something and abruptly looked up.

Damn. Charlie instinctively wanted to let go and hide behind the curtains, but just as that gaze swept toward him, he forcibly restrained the impulse. Instead, he pulled the curtains open a little farther and leaned down to look, his expression filled with surprise and curiosity.

Oh, and fear, too.

It was said that these Black-Armored Knights were officially dispatched by the city lord to guard Magipo City, but in reality, they answered directly to the royal family and were extraordinarily powerful. They were the only ones capable of keeping those arrogant mages in check and firmly anchoring this holy city of magic within the territory of the Garland Empire.

Ordinary civilians regarded the Black-Armored Knights with awe. When they saw the knights arresting someone, they wouldn’t dare approach. Most simply stayed by the roadside, curious but afraid.

Just like Charlie was now.

The Black-Armored Knight scrutinized him. Those sharp, eagle-like eyes seemed capable of seeing through everything, leaving no soul anywhere to hide. Charlie could feel his back slick with cold sweat, and his face probably didn’t look much better, but being afraid and feeling guilty were two entirely different things.

He was simply afraid, not guilty. The arrest of that local guru had absolutely nothing to do with him, but being stared at by this knight was more than enough to make him uncomfortable.

“Captain?” The procession didn’t stop, but one of the young, round-faced knights noticed what his captain was doing and couldn’t resist speaking up.

The captain didn’t answer.

The round-faced knight looked up and laughed. “Captain, you’re scaring people again. Look at that poor young master. You’ve scared him white as a sheet. Haha.”

Only then did the captain glance at him. The temperature around them seemed to drop several degrees, and the round-faced knight promptly fell silent.

However, the interruption kept the Black-Armored Knight from giving Charlie any more attention. The procession soon left Gray Hat Street, and the commotion grew several decibels louder in its wake.

“What exactly happened? Why did they suddenly come to arrest someone?”

“They must have seen through some money-making scam.”

“Even so, there was no need to send the Black-Armored Knights, was there? They’re only arresting a liar who spouts nothing but nonsense.”

“Who knows?”

“I heard that crooked spice merchant thought they were coming for him and ran off with all his things. Instead, he took a faceful of dirt and made a huge fool of himself!”

……

…

A woman wearing a linen apron was enthusiastically recounting the spice merchant’s embarrassing misadventure when she spotted a familiar flash of gold and hurriedly called out to him. “Charlie?”

“Mrs. Macken.” Charlie got along quite well with this neighbor and occasionally received little bits of help from her. For example, Mrs. Macken had generously told him how to set traps at home to catch gray-furred rats before they could chew up his furniture.

“What’s wrong, my dear little Charlie? You don’t look well at all.”

“Was that guru the one who was arrested just now? A few days ago, I was still at her shop…”

Charlie’s hesitation and downcast eyes prompted Mrs. Macken to fill in the blanks herself. Everyone on Gray Hat Street treated Charlie as a favorite topic of conversation over meals, so naturally they knew about him spending ten copper coins on magic books. But most of them meant no harm. If anything, they felt a little sorry for him.

Ah, magic, that dazzling, enchanting magic. Who wouldn’t want to become a mage? Poor little Charlie had simply failed.

“Little Charlie, don’t worry. You were only tricked by her. If she really was arrested for deceiving people, you might even get your ten copper coins back.”

Reassured by Mrs. Macken, Charlie’s complexion improved considerably, though she still persuaded him to go see the barber.

A barber? Why would someone go see a barber because they looked unwell?

Charlie was puzzled, but everyone else looked perfectly normal, even nodding along as though Mrs. Macken’s suggestion were completely ordinary. To avoid giving himself away, he could only go along with it. “Thank you, Mrs. Macken. I will.”

After saying goodbye to Mrs. Macken and the other neighbors, Charlie walked out along Gray Hat Street, searching through the original owner’s memories as he went. After a moment, he finally found the answer.

At this time, barbers did more than cut people’s hair. They were also the lowest-ranking doctors.

The highest-ranking doctors were physicians, who generally lived in the noblemen’s Marguerite Gardens so they could conveniently treat them. Below them were surgeons, who wore white robes and could be recognized at a glance by their appearance.

As for barbers, most were obscure and held no lofty social status, but they were quite popular among commoners.

Charlie could confirm that the original owner hadn’t seen a doctor since arriving in Magipo City. Since Mrs. Macken had suggested it, he might as well take her advice and pay a visit to the barber.

Since barbers were also doctors, perhaps he might have some healing potions that Charlie could take a look at. Besides, his pale complexion really did need an explanation, and a better one at that.

Charlie still didn’t want anyone to know that he could learn magic. Besides, the person who had sold him the books had just been arrested. There was no telling what secrets might be hiding behind it all…

There it was.

Charlie looked up at the tiny shop across the street, less than ten square meters in size. A red cloth was wrapped around the pole outside, forming red-and-white stripes. It really did resemble a primitive version of the barbershops of later generations. Judging by the circumstances, the red cloth probably represented bandages.

The barber was inside the shop. He looked to be around thirty, wearing a fitted vest over a white shirt. He had curly black hair, deep-set eyes, and a small mustache. Watching him through the window, Charlie thought he looked more like a magician.

Charlie watched as he magically produced a beautiful rose from his sleeve and tucked it into his customer’s hair. His deep-set eyes met hers in the mirror as he smiled and gave a gentlemanly bow. “Beautiful lady, are you satisfied?”

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