As I continued reading about Alchemy, I discovered more about why it was both so vital and so difficult.
Alchemy demands immense patience and precision; a single minor mistake could transform your potion from something precious into something useless to any living being.
Despite this, various techniques in alchemy were employed, such as impurity filtration. The most common and widely used method was fire, where impurities are burned away. However, it required extremely precise control, or the entire product would be incinerated.
There was also the technique of separating impurities. This was the superior method in terms of results, but it was hated and difficult. First, it required long periods of intense focus, and it could cause dizziness, vomiting, and even madness in rare cases.
Finally, I reached the Path of Lineage, and after reading it, I was truly disappointed. I had expected the creation of new, diverse, and hybrid lineages, but it was nothing more than grafting body parts to increase strength or speed. Even then, the failure rate was incredibly high.
Even if the procedure succeeded, the probability of facing severe complications was extremely high. The Path of Lineage was still very primitive; they hadn't yet solved the issue of the body rejecting foreign organs.
But the easiest path—or to be more precise, the least difficult—was the crafting of transcendent weapons. It required precious metals, along with requirements of blood or specific materials, depending on what you wanted from your weapon.
However, this created a monopoly. For instance, high-secrecy weapon-crafting techniques are monopolised by certain corporations and guilds. Even the precious metals were exorbitant because the mining sites were controlled.
So, yes, compared to other paths, this was the easiest... if you could have provided the requirements in the first place. It was, without a doubt, the path of the wealthy.
As I continued reading, I noticed the darkness beginning to fade. I immediately stopped reading Alchemy and left the library.
The moment I stepped out, I felt eyes watching me. I immediately knew who they were: the library guards. I wouldn't have felt their gaze if they hadn't intended for me to.
Finally, I reached my bed. After taking off my clothes, I tried to sleep, though it was difficult due to overthinking everything I had read today.
After attempts that lasted for hours, my eyes began to grow heavy. Just before I drifted off into sleep, a sound made me jump out of my skin:
[Warning, Master. Do not try to sleep tonight.]
My heart was pounding like war drums. The System had startled me, jolting me from a state of sleep into a state of high alert. Its voice was unusually loud, and its tone was cold and terrifying, which frightened me deeply.
I asked, barely calming down from my panic attack, my jaw muscles tight with anger:
"Why did you scare me like that?"
[Due to the high probability of you facing a very dangerous situation, Master.]
The sound of my teeth grinding echoed in the room. The System's indifferent tone only increased my anger. I expected an explanation, but it settled for the warning.
So, I asked again:
"What is the dangerous situation I was going to face?"
[Master, you were exposed to the interference of dangerous entities in your dreams.]
At this, I calmed down immediately. It seemed the System wasn't joking or provoking me. But... couldn't it have warned me before I prepared for sleep? Why did it choose this exact moment?
I knew what it would say if I asked, so I asked a different question:
"Who are these entities?"
This time, warnings filled the entire screen, turning a deep crimson.
[Warning... You will be contaminated just by knowing their names, Master.]
I almost ran to my father's room out of sheer terror. Entities that cause contamination just by knowing their names?!
I felt a deep sense of gratitude toward the System; if not for it, I would have lost myself tonight.
After I calmed down a bit, I asked:
"System, what caused those entities to be drawn to my dreams?"
[Because of the Forbidden Knowledge.]
I froze. I'm not stupid enough to read forbidden knowledge... I read nothing but Alchemy today.
...Wait. Is Alchemy forbidden knowledge?
Impossible. Humans practice it without facing such danger.
A feeling of fear and suspicion washed over me. Is someone trying to harm me?
The name Elias immediately crossed my mind.
I asked the System anxiously:
"What is the forbidden knowledge you mean?"
[The thing you were reading all day, Master.]
If Alchemy was this dangerous, why had no one mentioned it? It is rare knowledge, yes, but it is practised openly, and potions are sold in markets.
In fact, human mages are the ones who practice Alchemy the most, and they are known for their extreme paranoia regarding contamination and their possession of advanced techniques to counter it.
Therefore, the possibility of Alchemy itself being forbidden was very weak.
This increased my feeling that I was being targeted. There was only one possibility left... that there was hidden forbidden knowledge within what I had read.
While I was drowning in these thoughts, I suddenly heard my father's emotional voice:
"You don't know how happy I am that you're awake, Theo."
Before I could think about how he had entered my room, he embraced me immediately without any introduction.