Chapter 1442 - Many Questions, No Answers, Just Alchemy (Patreon)

Jake smiled as he looked at the contents of the cauldron, finding a nice little pile of dark gray dust in there. It looked a lot like regular dust, actually, something that Jake, in retrospect, didn’t really remember seeing much after the system arrived? Did dust, at least as he knew it, still exist?

Most dust came from dead skin cells and whatnot shed by people, but did people still shed skin cells? Were cells even a thing?

Moving on, Jake carefully took the dust and put it in a small bottle he’d prepared. He had enough to fill two entire bottles, which was pretty good in his opinion, but naturally far from enough to cause any proper war crimes. He would need a lot of it if he wanted to cover an entire battlefield and reach a sufficient level of intensity, so he had plenty more crafting ahead.

Checking his other notifications, Jake was pleasantly surprised that his success had even netted him a profession level, making him a tiny bit stronger before he returned to the World of the Exalted Prima.

 ’DING!’ Profession: [Primeval Alchemist of Malefic Origins] has reached level 363 - Stat points allocated, +125 Free Points

’DING!’ Race: [Human (B)] has reached level 359 - Stat points allocated, +135 Free Points

Feeling in a pretty good mood, Jake also finally identified the bottles of dust he’d just made, finding the result very much as expected.

[Weak Cursed Dust of Shrouded Desolation (Epic)] – Weak and somewhat incomplete Cursed Dust of Shrouded Desolation. This dust can be burned by an alchemical flame to release a poisonous gas that will seek to affect any applicable entities. Affected entities are afflicted by a weak cursed poison that outwardly heightens natural desires while dealing negligible damage. Hidden within the curse lies dormant, yet relatively potent, energy of desolation. Has limited effect if ingested or used in dust form.

Jake was under no illusion that he’d created some marvel of alchemy, but was fully aware that one of the main reasons he’d achieved such a high-rarity product was that he'd wasted even higher-rarity ingredients.

He wasn’t disappointed, though, as it was still an impressive success given how little time he’d spent on crafting it, and it even made use of some pretty high-level concepts. Especially making something that used desolation was a huge victory, as Jake had many times witnessed firsthand just how potent it was.

As Jake was still sitting there, happy with himself, a figure appeared behind him, not really surprising Jake, as he knew the snake god had witnessed his success.

“Before you say anything, yes, I know I created something that’s shit by your standards, primarily through wasting high-level ingredients with no regard for cost or modesty,” Jake said, getting ahead of the Viper.

“I wasn’t going to say anything negative,” Villy said, acting all offended. “I came to praise you and tell you how impressed I was at your success. Stabilizing and using the concept of desolation as a newly evolved B-grade is no easy feat, and you even went as far as to mix it with curse energy. The ‘weak’ prefix is not a mark of shame, but an indicator of potential. Imagine what it can one day become when you’ve perfected the method and reached a sufficient level of power to craft it.”

Jake stared at the Primordial, unsure whether he was fucking with him or not. He sounded sincere, but Jake had no way of actually gauging whether he was being genuine. Having to make a decision, he just rolled with it.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it in any kind of negative way,” Jake said, now also acting all hurt. “I just wanted to say, in a joking way, that I truly acknowledge your level of skill and realize how much I have to learn, while also feeling sorry for my wasteful approach to alchemy and misusing Order funds.”

“I see, I see,” the Viper said, looking sympathetic. “We’re both really good and empathetic people, aren’t we?”

“Beacons of morality and righteousness,” Jake nodded in agreement while mentally taking note of how many batches of ingredients he had remaining to craft his cursed poison gas.

The Viper flashed Jake a smile before shaking his head. “In all seriousness, it is a pretty decent creation considering the time constraints. That core seems to have benefitted you quite a lot when it comes to comprehending desolation.”

“It definitely has,” Jake nodded in agreement. “Though I still feel like I’m barely scratching the surface, and there’s no way I could conjure desolation even if I wanted to.”

“You’ll figure it out at some point,” Villy shrugged. “Plenty of my Legacy skills make use of it, and it’s already part of your scales. It would be weird if you didn’t eventually attain a rather high level of comprehension, and with the Gate of Enlightenment, you should be pretty fast at it, too.”

“I do feel that, while the concept is incredibly complex, it’s not impossibly so,” Jake said. “Does that mean I have good compatibility with the affinity or something? A bit like with the dark affinity?”

“Eh, not entirely, though not too far off either,” the Viper answered. “Your dark affinity is in large part innate and something you’re born with, while desolation is more of an acquired taste. The Records of your Path have influenced you a lot in that regard, and, as you should have picked up by now, it isn’t as if compatibilities with affinities are set from birth. While it’s rarely, if ever, worth it, you can brute-force your way to becoming superb at using a school of magic, which will eventually also attune your body and soul. Again, not worth it under usual circumstances, but it is nice when it comes to things like inheriting Legacies. I can also say that you had a decent compatibility with desolation from the beginning, so that did help a little.”

Jake had a longer and more in-depth explanation than he’d expected, though he wasn’t going to complain. He didn’t learn anything new, aside from confirmation that he was decent at using desolation now and that he had a good outlook when it came to further learning and using the concept and affinity. Together with curses, he had a feeling that desolation would start to play a bigger and bigger role in his poisons going forward, though desolation and curses, to an extent, both had the issue that they didn’t work well with other types of energies, so he would definitely continue to use plenty of classic poisons like hemotoxin and necrotic poison.

“I’ll keep working on it for sure,” Jake nodded, turning back to the cauldron. “Including making several more batches to bring into the World of the Exalted Prima.”

“Hey, I’m all for it. Maybe you’ll actually fight the way one would expect of my Chosen for once,” the Viper joked around.

“Don’t blame me for your failure in realizing that the bow is superior,” Jake said shamelessly, shrugging.

“In my defense, I didn’t have hands for a good while.”

“You know what? Valid excuse,” Jake had to admit, unable to come up with any good arguments to counter that one.

“Though if I had been able to use weapons, I’d probably have preferred a spear,” the Viper added, getting a glare from Jake.

“Spears are kind of just superior arrows, aren’t they?” the evil snake god kept going.

Jake’s glare intensified.

“Actually, maybe a crossbow would-“

“You’re really lucky I can’t renounce my Blessing,” Jake said in a cold voice, considering whether he could instead just go for becoming a Usurper instead.

“I guess I was bound to get lucky at some point,” Villy grinned, enjoying himself a bit too much. “Alas, I won’t hold you up for too long, just enough to give you a little update on recent events in case you’re curious.”

“About the World of the Exalted Prima?” Jake asked, wondering what had happened in the two or so months since he’d last gotten an overview.

“Nah, about that little place known as Venus, right next to your home planet,” the Viper answered.

“Oh,” Jake muttered, suddenly reminded that the place existed as he got a little nervous. “What happened there? Anything to do with Earth?”

“Nothing like that, at least not directly. It’s just that, do you remember how you and the one who calls himself the Great Serpent lied about a one-year deadline to the other factions? Well, a year and a bit passed, and they realized that you’re long gone and probably not returning anytime soon, so things have gotten a bit chaotic,” the snake god explained, Jake’s nervousness not fully alleviated yet.

“Is the Great Serpent okay?” Jake asked, as he would feel bad about getting the A-grade in big trouble.

“He’s fine,” Villy waved off Jake’s concern. “Better than fine, even. Seeing as the place will probably become a territory belonging to the Order of the Malefic Viper – or at least belong to you, which in my mind is more or less the same thing – I figured I could give the snake some guidance. He indeed did prove himself rather talented and has gotten noticeably more powerful, and combined with having a home-field advantage, none of the other top figures or factions of Venus dare raise too much of a fuss. Things are chaotic, though, and due to the few Venusians you brought out before, the pathway is somewhat open, and they might soon start to explore the solar system on their own, and if they do that, Earth will no doubt be one of the first places they visit.”

Hearing this made Jake frown, but he quickly calmed down. Because of how the barrier between Venus and the rest of the universe worked, the power of those who exited was extremely limited, and even if they got out, it wasn’t as if Earth was defenseless. Arnold was there and was also actively monitoring Venus, so if anything went wrong, Jake trusted the scientist would handle it.

“Arnold should have the situation handled, though I should probably investigate it at some point or at least send some people in there,” Jake muttered. “Perhaps some will even try to come out and try something. But I don’t really have time right now, with the World of the Exalted Prima taking precedence.”

“I didn’t inform you because I thought you needed to do anything; I just reckoned I’d let you know so you didn’t wake up one day after suddenly remembering Venus and the rather complicated situation you left there,” Villy said casually. “I do agree; focus on the World Wonder for now. There’ll be plenty of time in the future to figure out what to do with the minor world.”

Jake nodded, mentally shelving the topic for now as he sighed. “I guess I should get back to the alchemy. Thanks for the talk... actually, wait, why did you come in the first place?”

Jake suddenly remembered he had no idea why the snake god had popped in to begin with. Villy rarely just appeared for no reason, and conversation had kind of just flowed until now.

“Oh, right,” the Viper nodded. “I came to tell you that my true body just got out of the Mycotic Depths, at which point our minds reconnected, and I came to know that I had a meeting with the mystery faction who ambushed you in the void, had a good talk, and they shouldn’t cause you any problems going forward. Oh, and don’t mention any of this to anyone, ever. Should be pretty obvious why.”

For several seconds, Jake just stared at the snake god, thinking he was joking, but everything told him he wasn’t.

“You’re serious?” Jake asked, simply having to confirm as it sounded absurd. As far as Jake knew, they were still investigating this mystery faction, and now Villy said he had a “good talk” with them? What?

“I am,” Villy said, shedding off traces of jest as his expression turned serious. “They approached me within the World Wonder as I said. We talked, I got some information, and ultimately, we reached a temporary agreement. I can’t give you extensive details, but one part is that they’ll leave you be.”

“That makes no fucking sense,” Jake muttered as he stared at the god. “What the hell did they offer? What did they say?”

“Already told you I can’t give details,” Villy shook his head. “Me even telling you this in the first place is probably ill-advised, but I thought you had the right to know. Also, no, I have no idea what they want you for, but I do know they consider you rather important for whatever they’re planning. The people who went for you were also acting of their own discretion, being too hasty, which I guess is why the entire ambush felt so off in the first place.”

Jake wanted to ask more, but the Viper raised a hand and stopped him. “I’m really not saying more than this. Just remember not to share any of what I told you about it. All I will finish by saying is that we merely reached an agreement. I don’t work for them, they don’t work for me, but this is still an opportunity to learn more about them and their goals. Keep your friends close and enemies closer and all that, though at this point, I’m unsure whether I can even classify them as enemies.”

Despite having a lot of questions and not liking what he was hearing, he ultimately sighed. “Fine, I’ll trust you on this, but know that I’m not a fan.”

“That’s fine,” Villy smiled. “Again, probably shouldn’t have told you, as it’ll only cause needless thoughts and worry, but I hope you can focus on what’s at hand. What you can do. I’ll handle things with this faction for now, and you just worry about growing stronger and claiming this virtual world. Oh, and don’t ask me about this faction in the future. I’ll tell you if there’s anything you need to know, so don’t be the one bringing it up first.”

Jake did feel a little weird about that last request, but still nodded in acknowledgment. The Viper flashed him a smile and patted him on the shoulder. “Let me know if you need more alchemical supplies. I’ll make sure you get a good batch before leaving for the World of the Exalted Prima so you can craft more of your deadly dust without returning here for a resupply.”

With those words, not even giving Jake the chance to actually ask for more supplies, the Viper disappeared. Sitting alone in the alchemy lab, Jake was in deep thought for a few moments before sighing. He had so many questions, so many things didn’t make sense to him, and so many thoughts and theories flooded his head... but Villy was right. He shouldn’t worry about all that but just do what he was capable of, which right now was alchemy to create more war crimes in dust form.

Just keep things simple and take the complications as they come, he told himself, mentally refocussing on alchemy as he still had two more days to craft batches in preparation for his return to the World of the Exalted Prima. He also hoped to spend at least a bit more time with Artemis before leaving, even if it was just a couple of hours, but to do that, he’d need to get crafting already.

Using telekinesis, Jake lifted another batch of ingredients over to him and got right back to work, mentally resetting as all those useless thoughts and considerations quickly faded, replaced by a single-minded focus on the task at hand.