Dormammu was stirring up trouble in the shadows.
At Kamar-Taj, Karl naturally had no idea.
Right now, he was thinking of ways to guard against Dormammu.
To be honest, he wasn't afraid of a direct assault.
Kamar-Taj wasn't a weak faction, and his own power kept growing stronger. They feared no challenge that came head-on.
The real headache was betrayal from within.
The Ancient One didn't want anything to happen to her sorcerer disciples, and Karl didn't want anything to happen to his friends in Kamar-Taj either.
Aldrich, Guanhe, and several other sorcerers had all treated him extremely well.
He had to ensure these people stayed safe.
"Looks like it's time to finish developing a dark-protection device."
"I have to guarantee the sorcerers' safety."
Karl thought to himself.
In his plan, this kind of device should be divided into two parts.
One part would be something each sorcerer could carry on their person, using only everyday spells to operate.
The other would be a large-scale device placed inside Kamar-Taj itself.
Like a powerful warning bell—once it rang, it could even notify sorcerers who were inside dimensional space.
It would cover all of Kamar-Taj, detect dark power, and raise the alarm.
It would fully protect the sorcerers.
"You've mastered alchemy now—have you come up with a method yet?"
"Can you create the artifact you described?"
While Karl was thinking, the Ancient One asked from beside him.
Karl froze for a moment, then rubbed his head.
Seeing that, the Ancient One spoke again.
"It's fine, Karl. You haven't seen a 'Sentinel' before."
"If it really doesn't work, we'll pull our sorcerers back."
"Then I'll just work a bit harder."
"Anyway, with collective projection, there's no need to worry about rest."
The Ancient One tried to reassure him.
"You misunderstood."
"It's because I have too many ideas—I don't know which one to pick!"
Karl rubbed his head in frustration.
The Ancient One: ???
The gap between people could really be this big?
Learning alchemy quickly was one thing. Having cooking skills like a culinary god was another.
Sure—talent.
But in the blink of an eye, he had a pile of different solutions?
That, she couldn't understand.
Wasn't alchemy a discipline that required enormous accumulation of knowledge before you could accomplish anything?
Talent did exist in alchemy, yes.
But knowledge mattered even more.
Why did Karl say her alchemy was decent?
Because she had lived a long time and seen a lot.
Many things Karl had never even heard of, she could still reproduce with skilled craftsmanship.
Even if her level wasn't exceptional, she could still make good things.
But Karl was different.
This kid had just learned alchemy, and he could already accomplish things she couldn't?
What kind of monster was he?
The Ancient One took a deep breath.
"You're actually still hesitating over this?"
"Just pick one at random."
"As long as you choose an approach that can be mass-produced, you don't need to overthink it."
"When we're facing Dormammu, there's no room for hesitation."
The Ancient One said, half amused and half exasperated.
"You're right. That's my problem."
"There really isn't anything to hesitate over."
Karl suddenly realized it, and nodded repeatedly.
"In that case, I'll make some prototypes first. You can see what needs improvement."
"Fine. What materials do you need?" the Ancient One asked.
"Infernal Ancient Bronze, Inspiration Crystal, Star-Dome Demon Bone…"
Karl listed several materials.
He realized that as his talent value increased, as long as a critical strike happened, he would naturally grasp a great deal of knowledge.
For example, these materials—before, he had only seen them in books.
Now, he could understand their functions with absolute clarity.
With the development of Earth's technology and the damage to the environment, many materials on Earth had lost their original effects.
By contrast, Hell still retained the appearance it had from decades or even a century ago.
What Karl was talking about were materials commonly seen all over Hell.
The Ancient One flicked her hand.
A moment later, the required materials were placed in front of him.
Karl nodded, then waved his hand.
A powerful ripple of mental force spread out as magic surged within his body.
The items on the ground all floated up.
Under the control of his immense willpower and magic, in no time at all, over a dozen materials began to slowly merge together.
Karl flicked his hand again. A dozen runes appeared and shot directly into the materials before him, forming patterns that looked intensely mysterious.
The materials gradually cooled.
A strange ring appeared in Karl's hand.
"Ancient One, please take a look—does anything need improving?"
Karl respectfully offered the ring.
The Ancient One took it, and her mental force carefully traced through the runes and materials inch by inch.
The more she examined it—
the more shocked she became.
To be honest, the artifact Karl had made wasn't exquisite, and it wasn't powerful either.
Even the rune structure inside looked crude and simplistic.
But seeing this thing still made waves surge in the Ancient One's heart.
Because its structure was too simple.
So simple that even an ordinary sorcerer could make it—without even learning alchemy.
Which meant—
this thing could be mass-produced.
It wasn't strong, but it could absolutely detect the power of the Dark Dimension, and it even had a nasty mental-defense effect.
This…
This was genuinely hard to believe.
Making a complicated artifact wasn't that difficult.
As long as your alchemy reached a certain level, you could do it.
But simplifying an artifact's production process until even an ordinary sorcerer could produce it?
That was not something a normal sorcerer could achieve.
It required astonishing understanding of alchemy.
Astonishing understanding of runes.
In other words—
only a true master could do this.
But Karl had only just learned alchemy!
The Ancient One couldn't help screaming internally for a long while.
"You really just started learning alchemy? You never studied it before?"
The Ancient One asked again.
"Of course."
"There's no reason for me to lie to you."
Karl said helplessly.
These days, even telling the truth wasn't believed?
"Then you really are talented."
The Ancient One couldn't help turning away.
Her expression twisted badly.
This kid really was a monster.
How long had it even been?
And he was already an alchemy master?
This was absurd!
Were there really people this outrageous in the world?
The Ancient One felt that from now on, no matter what happened to Karl, she wouldn't be surprised anymore.
"Karl, since you've developed this thing…"
"Hurry up and write out the manufacturing method so we can teach it to the sorcerers."
"Get these made for the sorcerers as soon as possible."
"Facing Dormammu, we can't be careless."
The Ancient One said in a deep voice.
Karl nodded respectfully.
(End of Chapter)
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