Chapter 33: Born for Poison Crafting (Part I)

Chapter 33: Born for Poison Alchemy (Part I)

During today’s anatomy class, Madam Morton only required students to dissect white mice, opting not to introduce new subjects so that everyone could gradually adapt to the visceral impact of flesh and organs. Under Xazo’s encouragement, Anjou attempted the task. After completing her first independent dissection, the girl actually took the initiative to suggest doing another one. For a moment, Xazo wondered if he had opened a wonderful window into her soul and awakened a deeper layer of her personality.

12:00 PM. The two went to the canteen for lunch—a steak, pasta, and vegetable soup each—completely unburdened by the anatomy lesson. Xazo twirled some pasta with his fork and popped it into his mouth. "Is Oil Alchemy difficult to learn?"

"My mentor says that as long as your sense of smell is normal and you have wind-element resistance, this branch of alchemy is quite easy to master. It should be the easiest of the four branches to learn. It would be more difficult without wind resistance." Anjou wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin and glanced toward the center of the canteen as an elemental servant served a platter of pastries. "I’m going to get some dessert. Do you want any?"

Xazo shook his head. Once she returned, he weighed his tone and asked gently, "Have you always lived alone?"

Anjou gazed at the white clouds in the sky, her expression turning lonely as she recalled the past. "When I was nine, my parents sent me to a girls' school in the city of Rosack. In the second week of the term, a messenger soldier brought news that they had perished. Fortunately, my parents had some savings, and I lived off their inheritance at the school. At twelve, I began to study painting, and my teacher said I had a good talent for it. After a few years, I was able to support myself by selling my paintings."

Xazo lowered his eyes, nodded heavily, and raised his glass. "To our parents. Thank you for the life they gave us."

Anjou raised her own glass. "To our parents."

The glasses clinked, and they finished their drinks. Xazo stood up with his empty glass. "What would you like to drink?"

"Um, any kind of fruit juice will do." Anjou smiled and handed him her empty glass.

The two chatted while eating in the canteen until 12:30 PM, when they returned to their respective dormitories to rest. Xazo lay on his bed for ten minutes before shouldering his bag and heading to the Poison Alchemy laboratory.

12:50 PM. He was the first student to arrive at the classroom. Mentor Kulov was arranging various vials of toxins on a large table. "Xazo, you’ve arrived."

"Good afternoon, Professor Kulov." Xazo bowed.

"Have you read *The Separation of Toxins*?" Kulov carefully set down the last vial and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows.

"I have memorized the book."

"Memorized it?" Kulov looked at him and gestured to the table. "Then see how many of these toxins you can identify."

There were sixty vials in total, arranged in a grid of six rows and ten columns, with no labels. One could only infer their names by observing the color and state of the contents. During the first minute, Xazo compared the contents of the vials with the records in his [Knowledge Base]. By the time he identified the third vial, he had to forcibly suppress the urge to slap his forehead, inwardly scolding himself for being dense—why not just use "Probe"?

The "Probe" skill was practically a divine tool for identification! As long as his [Knowledge Base] and perception were sufficient, it would provide an accurate result, completely bypassing the need for thinking. Xazo rubbed his chin, feigning a look of deep concentration, and gradually increased the speed of his identification.

These sixty vials contained basic toxins from the four major toxic categories; when combined, they could create composite toxins with different effects. Mixing these composite toxins with specific solvents resulted in alchemical agents. The process of blending agents was relatively simple. The difficulty of poison alchemy lay in exploring the composite toxins. Mathematically, with sixty different elements, choosing two at a time would yield 1,770 unique combinations. Choosing three would yield 1,711. Thus, thousands of different composite toxins could be created. *The Separation of Toxins* only recorded the sixty basic ones and did not list information on composite toxins.

Other branches of alchemy started with a goal and searched for a path. Poison alchemy, however, already had the paths, and one had to explore where those paths led. This was the charm of poison alchemy.

"Professor Kulov, those are sixty basic toxins on the table," Xazo said confidently.

"Oh? Then tell me what is in the third row, seventh column." Kulov crossed his arms, pointing his chin toward the vial.

Xazo cast "Probe" at the target and answered calmly: "Mallow-green, derived from the tender buds of the Green-Vine Branch. When it acts upon humanoids, it produces a strong paralytic effect."

"And that vial? Sixth row, second column."

"Sunflower-腥-toxin, derived from deep-sea spiky sea anemones. When it acts upon humanoids, it produces a strong dizzying effect."

Xazo answered his mentor’s questions with a steady expression, pausing for a few seconds before each answer as if he were carefully discerning and thinking. After Kulov asked about several more toxins and found Xazo’s answers flawless, he picked out two vials and placed them on the alchemy bench.

"If these two toxins are mixed in a ratio of three to seven, what is obtained after dry-steaming? What is obtained after crushing and sun-drying? And what if they are steeped in clear water and filtered? What are the products of these three different alchemical operations?"

Xazo smiled in surprise. "Professor... aren't you going beyond the syllabus? *The Separation of Toxins* only contains separation tutorials and introductions to basic toxins."

Kulov chuckled and encouraged him: "The uses of alchemical operations are in the book *Alchemical Linguistics*. The Dean told me you have already finished self-studying it. You can certainly imagine how the operations I mentioned would affect the raw materials. Use your imagination and take a bold guess."

The professors at the academy were well-informed; Beatrice had only checked his self-study progress that morning, and Kulov already knew by the afternoon. Xazo calmed his mind and simulated the operations in his head. The two toxins Kulov chose were Willow-Yellow and Moth-Blue. Willow-Yellow caused spasms in humanoids. It came from a certain willow branch that turned yellow after autumn and had to be stored in a cool, dry place; high temperatures and light would destroy its toxicity. Clearly, Kulov had set a trap.

"Professor, both dry-steaming and sun-drying will cause Willow-Yellow to lose its toxicity, but Moth-Blue will not. Therefore, the first two operations will result in Moth-Blue with mixed impurities and weakened effects."

Just as Xazo finished speaking, footsteps sounded behind him. Mason and Brandon, also Kulov’s students, arrived right on time.

"Good day, Professor." They saluted the mentor and nodded to Xazo.

Kulov secured his sleeves, put on leather gloves that protected his forearms and hands, and stood before the alchemy bench. "You two are just in time. The two vials on the bench contain Willow-Yellow and Moth-Blue. You can find their specific effects in *The Separation of Toxins*. Now, I am going to steep them in clear water, let them settle, and filter them. The three of you identify the alchemical product." Kulov paused, his tone grave. "Although you are not yet Mage Apprentices, I must warn you: when refining poisons, do not use spells, and do not have elemental servants do it for you. Understood?"

"Yes, teacher, we understand," the three answered in unison.

Kulov nodded, picked up the vials, and demonstrated the process.

*Pop.*

The Willow-Yellow vial was opened. A sweet yet sour scent spread through the laboratory. Xazo’s eyelids twitched as he noticed a change in his character template's health regeneration data:

[Health Regen Speed]
[Base Regen: 0.1/min (6/hr)]
[Real-time Regen: 0.1 - 0.002 → 0.098/min (5.988/hr)]

The vial contained a concentrate of Willow-Yellow. Its scent caused a faint reduction in health. Xazo glanced at Mason and Brandon; they watched the mentor with unchanging expressions, seemingly unaware of the anomaly in the air.

*No wonder you need a high Willpower attribute to take Poison Alchemy...*

Xazo shook his head to clear his thoughts and refocused on the mentor's actions. Kulov used tweezers to place a bit of Willow-Yellow into the water, then plugged the vial and used another pair of tweezers to take out the Moth-Blue. The scent was mostly sucked away by the ventilation hood above the bench, while the rest drifted, thinning until it was absorbed by the four "human air purifiers." His regen data returned to normal.

Kulov stirred the solution with a glass rod. Once the black particles dissolved, he let the bottle sit until the swirling water stabilized. Five minutes later, the solution separated: a purple oily substance on top, white floccules at the bottom, and clear water in the middle. Kulov used a fine sieve to skim the purple substance into a glass dish. Once out of the water, it became like a puddle of jelly. It was the leftover material that hadn't reacted, which could be processed to recover the original toxins. The white floccules were the actual product.

Kulov poured the solution through three layers of mesh, then used tweezers to distribute the white floccules equally among the three students. "Using the identification methods in *The Separation of Toxins*, see what effects it has," Kulov said while removing his gloves.

Xazo walked to the wall shelf and put on a mask. This was the most important preparation step to prevent splashes from entering his eyes, mouth, or nose. Mason and Brandon hesitated for a few seconds, then remembered the emphasis on safety in the opening of *The Separation of Toxins*, and rushed to grab masks. Kulov stood by with his arms crossed, watching their different reactions, his eyes flickering. He had intentionally not reminded them to wear masks to observe their characters.

Xazo pretended to consult his book along with the others. In reality, as soon as Kulov began the synthesis, he had already used "Probe" on the white floccules.

*"Unknown toxin. A composite toxin made from Willow-Yellow and Moth-Blue. Expected to cause spasms and constriction of the nasal and throat passages. If asphyxiation occurs due to the dual toxic effects, it will drain 30 HP per minute."*

With the help of "Probe," he didn't need to think, perform tedious identification procedures, or even observe carefully. As long as he used the skill, he knew the effects. Once he started formulating composite toxins in the future, he could skip the most difficult, time-consuming, and dangerous identification process! The combination of "Probe" and [Knowledge Base] was the perfect match for poison identification.

Realizing this, Xazo’s hands trembled with excitement. He had to turn his back to the others under the guise of looking for equipment to suppress his joy. He calmed his emotions and recalled the identification methods recorded in the book. The logic was similar to identifying basic toxins—using a dozen alchemical operations to test various aspects. As long as he followed the steps in *The Separation of Toxins*, he could test the floccules without any need for innovation or struggle.

Being their first time, the three freshmen inevitably made minor mistakes. Kulov turned a blind eye to these harmless errors. They worked from 1:00 PM until about 5:00 PM, barely finishing the identification by dinner time. Eventually, three standardized reports sat on the bench. Mason and Brandon had written down many guesses. To avoid exposing his anomaly, Xazo also fabricated a dozen logical guesses, placing the only correct result in the first line.

Kulov picked up the reports to review them, telling the students to bottle the toxins and clean up. Five minutes later, Kulov smiled and neatly stacked the reports into his drawer. "Very good. Although the process was a bit bumpy, all three of you have roughly identified the 'White-Palate Toxin'."

He took a heavy tome from his desk and beckoned them over to a specific page. This was *The Aggregation of Toxins*, a companion to the first book, dedicated to the methods of creating composite toxins. Xazo quickly read the content, committing the key information about White-Palate Toxin to memory. When he used "Probe" on the white floccules again, the name field accurately displayed "White-Palate Toxin" instead of "Unknown."