The economic crisis in Alchemy City was more severe than Amberser had imagined; even the minor lords below him had started to take precautions, preparing for the city's collapse.
However, whether Alchemy City would fall or not, Amberser didn't have the time to care at the moment, as he was fully immersed in the experiment of creating the Spirit Puppet.
Master Morgan pointed Amberser in the right direction; through the optimization of Pseudo-Soul technology, Amberser soon created a "Synthetic" soul, at a cost of about two hundred Gold Coins.
Judging by the value of souls, two hundred Gold Coins was undoubtedly extravagant, given that the soul of a human slave wasn't even worth one Gold Coin. But the cost of the magical rituals created by Master Morgan was fifty thousand Gold Coins, and Amberser only spending two hundred was undoubtedly a drastic cost reduction.
Moreover, there was still room to further reduce the costs.
The first step in creating the Spirit Puppet was completed, but after solving the soul issue, Amberser ran into a slight problem with the body design of the Spirit Puppet.
Living Mercury was the most suitable shell for a soul, but the problem was that Living Mercury lacked many internal organs when it was created.
Who knows what those madmen of Alchemy City initially planned, as Living Mercury, aside from exhibiting extremely high Magic Resistance, was essentially a deformed life form.
Lacking essential internal organs made Living Mercury very fragile, incapable of any action other than its instinct to devour metals. In such a state, even forcibly imbuing it with a soul would only be a waste of materials, so Amberser had to help the Living Mercury complete its missing internal organs.
And the best way to do that was to reference the body structure of the Slime since Living Mercury was a kind of Mercury Slime that had been modified.
"Alas, you never realize how little you know until you need the information. I really know nothing about Slimes."
Even Liches, who live eternally, feel very small in the face of the vast ocean of magical knowledge. Every year, new theories of magic are published in "Legendary Spells", and there are countless more findings that don't make it into publication.
Even though Amberser was a diligent scholar, he could not possibly be an expert in all fields.
At this time, seeking the help of an expert was necessary.
However, after asking around in the Elegy Poetry Society's chat group, all the Legendary Undead indicated they had absolutely no research on Slimes.
This was normal, as Slimes were not only weak and ugly but almost worthless in use, making them an extremely niche research area. The Undead had plenty of time but no interest in such creatures.
Amberser could only take out the past issues of "Legendary Spells" and start searching through them for content related to Slimes.
The results were disappointing; even in a famous magical journal like "Legendary Spells", there was scant content about Slimes.
It simply showed that Slimes were indeed pathetically weak.
After much thought, the only way to find an expert on Slimes was Alchemy City, the very place that had developed the Living Mercury.
But now Alchemy City was in the midst of a financial crisis, and prices were being jacked up like crazy from the top down; seeking relevant materials now would probably mean getting fleeced.
Inflating the price was something that Amberser could do to others, but when it happened to him, it became a torment as painful as bathing in holy water.
After a lot of thought and no shortcuts found, Amberser could only resort to the most traditional Lich method—capturing a few Slimes to experiment on. By dissecting one or two hundred Slimes, he could become an expert on Slime research himself.
Once again, Amberser cast a shapeshifting spell to return to his human form.
This was a world rife with racial discrimination, where Liches faced many inconveniences while traveling outside; only by adopting a human appearance could many unnecessary troubles be minimized.
Donning the guise of a black-haired youth, Amberser left his laboratory once more, stepping out of the castle.
Passing by Isabel's workroom, Amberser peered in, quite the capitalist.
Thankfully, the young girl was quite honest and hadn't stolen any of his experimental materials.
Previously, Amberser had created an intelligent Ghoul as an experimental assistant, but within a few days, it had eaten a third of his inventory; he was so angry that his Soul Fire nearly smoked. Amberser had no choice but to dismantle the Ghoul, which had fattened up considerably, to salvage a bit of the loss.
The sensitive Isabel noticed the presence of Amberser and showed a surprised expression, then walked over quickly to greet, saying, "Teacher, it's finally nice to see you again."
"Teacher?"
Amberser was taken aback and asked, "You're calling me teacher?"
Isabel nodded and said, "Thanks to your guidance in alchemy last time, I've found myself greatly improved. Maybe it's a bit presumptuous to call you that, but I truly am very grateful for your instruction."
Amberser didn't reject the title, as he indeed deserved the word 'teacher.'
Since he had become a teacher, he should be concerned about the student's progress, so Amberser asked Isabel, "Do you have any questions recently?"
Isabel's eyes lit up as she said, "Yes, teacher, wait a moment."
Isabel took out her notebook, flipped to a page, and said, "During the extraction of belladonna, I can't control the heat well..."
"Pay attention to when the bubbles start appearing. Once the first bubble shows up, stop heating in no more than thirty seconds."
"The Animal Conversation Potion I made following the recipe in the book turned out to be of very poor quality."
"It's affected by temperature. The temperatures in the castle are quite low, so you need to slightly increase the proportion of the suspension, by about five percent."
...
No matter what questions Isabel raised, Amberser was almost able to answer them without hesitation.
The more Isabel asked, the more she felt that this dark-haired youth before her was enigmatic. Many of these were questions that her previous teacher could not or would not answer, but this one effortlessly gave her the solutions.
These were all very basic alchemy knowledge, trivial for a research scholar like him, but for Isabel, they were precious experiences that would have taken many years to figure out on her own without guidance.
Isabel was well aware of the value of knowledge and grew increasingly respectful and even admiring of this young teacher before her.
Quickly flipping through the back pages of her notebook, Isabel continued to ask, "Also, the Hill Giant Strength Potion..."
"Wait, is this a potion you can make right now?"
"This... I saw the recipe, and there are materials here..."
"You're reaching too far, it'll only waste materials. Even if I guided you hand-in-hand, you'd still fail to grasp how to make such an advanced potion."
Amberser's tone became strict, the basic potions weren't a big issue, with a high consumption rate, as they needed to be made through hard work every day by Isabel anyway. But the Hill Giant Strength Potion was different; it was precious and belonged to elevated potions. A single failure could waste materials that would cause Amberser immense distress.
After being delayed for a good half hour, Amberser hastily stopped Isabel, saying, "Alchemy is a profound subject. You're not expecting to become a master of alchemy in one day, are you? Master what I've taught you first before asking about anything else!"
Having been lectured, Isabel felt not the slightest bit of dissatisfaction.
Compared to her previous teacher, Amberser could be considered angelically merciful. He didn't even use derogatory words like fool or idiot to scold her, nor did he hold back or be secretive about alchemy knowledge. Many of the problems recorded in this little book had puzzled Isabel for a long time, but whenever she asked her former teacher, she received nothing but perfunctory answers.
Amberser carefully admonished Isabel not to waste materials and was getting ready to leave when suddenly Isabel stopped him again.
"Teacher, please wait a moment, I have one last question."
Amberser turned around, puzzled, and asked, "What's the question?"
Isabel cautiously asked, "Teacher, you... are supposed to be undead, right? The undead of this old castle? Is that correct?"
Amberser: ...