Chapter 24
After school, Ray visited the school library to seek knowledge about his foggy talent. However, it took him a considerable amount of time to piece together the information because there were no clear references to the foggy phenomenon. It seemed that this unique foggy manifestation was specific to him and talent users who focused on copying other people's talents. Users of this talent would be able to see the copied talent on their altar when it appeared.
According to what Ray concluded in a short time, the misty passive talent was a talent that had undergone enhancement after reaching a certain advanced stage. Whenever practitioners advanced to higher stages, such as from the mortal stage to the baron stage, they had to find suitable materials to absorb and enhance their talents. This explained why the foggy D-rank talent seemed more impressive than ordinary B-rank talent.
Having read extensively about talent enhancement, Ray eventually felt embarrassed and realized the mistake he had made. Until now, Ray had been covertly collecting people's hair by enveloping it with his divine consciousness, whether it was shed or still attached to their heads. He would then carefully store the hair in his storage ring, ensuring that the other party remained unaware of his actions. Ray had believed his method to be ingenious and had been employing it for quite some time.
However, little did Ray know that his method, which he took pride in, was completely flawed when dealing with practitioners at the baron level and above. At the baron level, practitioners possessed extremely sensitive senses. They could easily discern even the faintest presence of Ray's consciousness wandering through their bodies, let alone the subtle characteristics of someone's breath. Identifying someone solely based on their exhaled breath was not a challenging task for a baron practitioner.
Teacher Jasmin and several other adults were already aware of Ray's actions. Embarrassed by this revelation, Ray wished he could find a hole to bury his flushed face in. Consequently, he realized he needed to be more cautious in his future endeavors.
Despite knowing that his actions had been discovered by the school, Ray decided to feign ignorance and continue his shameless behavior. He believed that not only did the other party not mind it, but he also genuinely needed these passives for his future development. Ray remained determined to utilize the resources available to him before eventually turning to more honest sources, such as monster cores.
Returning home, Ray diligently engaged in his activities throughout the night without slacking off. The next day, he followed his usual schedule and went to school. Afterward, he made a stop at Cousin Lucas' shop to explore.
Upon entering the luxurious shop filled with alchemy materials, Ray felt slightly stunned. It was his first time visiting such an extravagant place. The air was permeated with a distinct medicinal scent, which Ray found a bit unfamiliar. His awkward demeanor and amazement while observing his surroundings did not go unnoticed by the shop attendant.
But despite Ray's untidy appearance, the maid still courteously escorted him to the relevant areas of the shop, providing close accompaniment. It seemed that the shop was well-organized, and Ray did not encounter any belittling scenes as depicted in novels. After wandering around for a while, Ray finally inquired about the deer antlers he was carrying.
"Alright, sir, let me have a look," said the beautiful maid as she took the deer antlers from Ray's hand. Ray patiently waited as the maid pulled out a magnifying glass seemingly out of thin air. The maid's professional identification process, coupled with her alluring figure, made Ray briefly suspect whether the shop deliberately employed attractive staff to entice customers.
"This is the antler of a Rank 0 monster stag, estimated to have a lifespan of ten years. The horn is in good condition with a few scratches, but it was cut in the wrong place, poorly preserved, and just taken three to four days ago. The estimated price of this material is at least one hundred unit values per gram," smoothly and calmly explained the beautiful maid, leaving Ray slightly speechless. He had initially thought that the maid was merely a decorative presence, lacking substance. However, her precise explanation proved him wrong, and Ray couldn't help but feel a pang of realization about his limited knowledge.
With his shallow understanding, Ray sighed helplessly and decided to inquire further about alchemy tools. The maid, now somewhat skeptical due to Ray's multiple requests, wondered why he, who initially seemed interested in selling items for money, now acted like a wealthy second-generation individual. "Is he trying to impress me with a show of dominance?" pondered the beautiful maid silently. Working in this place, she had encountered many people like Ray before.
Unaware of the maid's internal thoughts, Ray continued making purchases, buying various glass cups and even ancient stills and furnaces without hesitation. Initially, the pretty shop assistant doubted his sincerity, thinking that Ray was merely boasting to impress her. She anticipated an embarrassing show as Ray would find excuses to avoid paying for his order. However, to her surprise, Ray instead led her to the cashier.
Although the items Ray purchased seemed cheap and inconsequential, they still took a toll on his wallet when bought in bulk. Ray maintained a calm demeanor as he made the payment, but inwardly, he felt torn. After all, he had to hunt numerous wolves and nearly lost his life due to the alpha wolf's revenge to gather enough money. While at the cashier, Ray also noticed a woman around his age who bore a striking resemblance to his friend Lucas. He assumed she must be the cousin Lucas had mentioned before. Since it was evident they didn't know each other, Ray chose not to greet her and calmly left the city center.
…
At night, Ray began organizing all the items he had purchased in the attic. With the addition of numerous items, the attic was no longer empty but resembled a warehouse and the workspace of a struggling alchemist. It was now brimming with various crafts, including leather, paper, and wood, scattered haphazardly throughout the space. Ray felt quite uncomfortable with the cluttered condition of the room. He wanted to tidy up the attic properly, but time constraints prevented him from addressing the chaos around him.
After arranging the alchemist's tools, Ray sat down and started swiping the screen of his communicator's watch. He surfed the internet for a while until he finally found a video tutorial on creating Aether recovery fluids and basic healing fluids. Without any hesitation, Ray paid for the video and watched it carefully, replaying it multiple times. He was meticulous in not missing any small details of each step. At one point, he even activated the Tesseract, but soon realized that it consumed a considerable amount of energy. Despite that, Ray didn't complain because the cube object in his sea of consciousness had already solved many problems for him.
After an hour of observation, Ray felt ready to begin concocting. He rose from his seat and walked lightly toward the newly acquired tools. Taking out a set of materials from his storage ring, Ray commenced his first alchemical endeavor. However, his hand movements while handling the ingredients were somewhat awkward. This was understandable since Ray was not accustomed to performing alchemical refinements. Following the memorized movements, he managed to smoothly execute half of the overall method.
When Ray attempted to combine the next two ingredients, a cracking sound suddenly emanated from the test tube. "Crack..." Realizing the reaction, Ray hurriedly moved to turn off the fireplace, but unfortunately, the test tube was already engulfed in flames, crackling ominously as if it were about to explode. "Bang!" The resulting sound resembled that of a Molotov cocktail, causing a loud commotion and startling everyone in the household.