"Living Mercury Solution?"
Amberser tapped his own skull. He had heard of this alchemical potion; it appeared to be an inferior product recently concocted by the Alchemy Association, a byproduct of a new slime breeding program.
In recent years, the Alchemists Council had struggled with a lack of creativity, which put those alchemists, who considered themselves above even mages, evil sorcerers, and deities, on edge. To them, no magic or gods could compare to the contents of their vials and jars.
They were consumed by the grand illusion that alchemy could create anything, and a few hundred years ago, they had the audacity to try to create a real deity through alchemy. But they forgot that the God of Alchemy truly existed.
The deity could not tolerate such a blasphemous act, and thus delivered these arrogant alchemists an unforgettable lesson in failure.
The project to create a deity was a complete disaster, and the God of Alchemy even punished all alchemists by denying them any inspiration through his divine power.
The great Alchemical City Alkaimia hadn't seen a new magic potion formula for two hundred years. Until many years ago, the current chairman of the Alchemist Council finally broke the deity's seal and created a new magic potion formula, saving Alkaimia from gradual collapse.
This chairman was a legendary figure, having broken the divine curse and saved Alchemical City. He also changed the city's rules, opening it to individuals of any race and nationality, and provided a wealth of affordable magic potions as welfare, allowing the city to attract a massive influx of talent and revive over several decades.
Amberser, who had come to Alkaimia in the last few decades, dared to reincarnate as a lich here precisely because of the city's inclusiveness.
But as the legendary figure grew old and gradually retired behind the scenes, the alchemists began a new round of foolhardy behavior. They once again indulged in creating new species not found in nature, one of which was the metal slime.
Without the involvement of that genius chairman, the experiments failed time and again. The metal slimes that were created were nothing but a pile of slime corpses. Hence, it shifted to Living Mercury Solution, usable only for dissolving and decomposing metals.
Beyond that, a series of disorganized experiments on new species were also declared failures one after another, causing Alkaimia to waste vast resources and plunge into severe financial strain. The economic downturn was worsened as the elves from the Silvermoon Tribunal quickly kicked the city while it was down, with massive price hikes on magical materials exacerbating Alkaimia's fiscal woes.
The result was the collapse of many magic potion-related industries. Even Amberser, an undead creature, was affected, with various investments failing and leaving him in financial crisis.
Damn high elves!
Amberser cursed once more before replying on the Necromancy Codex.
[Diga Ultraman: Are you doing experiments with this? I heard that this solution is a failed product, and the slimes treated with mercury lost all their activity.]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: I know, but the solution still retains the slimes' characteristic of consuming everything. I have some special circumstances here and need Living Mercury Solution to deal with some metal trash.]
[Diga Ultraman: Hush money?]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: What hush money? Goddess of the Undead above, don't make up slanderous accusations!]
[Withered Rose: Looks like it really is hush money. Why would an undead like you get married, and to a Bone Dragon at that?]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: You don't understand the beauty of matrimony. Enough chit-chat, Brother Diga, just tell me if you can get it or not. I'll even cover the transport costs.]
[Diga Ultraman: I can try, but it's likely to be expensive. The Alchemists Council is doing everything they can to reduce costs and increase efficiency, so even this failed product has been priced high, seems like they're trying to recoup some of their costs.]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: Twenty thousand Gold Coins a bottle, I can give half as a deposit now.]
An image slowly emerged on the yellowed pages, depicting a precious magical material, "Dragonbone Vine."
It was rumored that only a legendary Bone Dragon that had slumbered for a hundred years might sprout this vine, and it was a necessary extract for many high-level magic potions.
As the image grew clearer, the Dragonbone Vine emerged from the pages, turning into a real object. It was one of the special abilities of the Necromancy Codex, allowing the transportation of some small items through the book itself.
This Headless Knight brother sure is generous with his giving, no wonder he married a Bone Dragon. Looks like the dowry was quite substantial. With the High Elves constantly driving up the prices of Magic Potions, those Dragonbone Vines are worth at least twelve thousand Gold Coins. The deposit he gave was even more generous—it seems this brother has quite the stash of private savings.
"Damn those High Elves, I'll dismantle your Silvermoon Tribunal one day!"
Amberser cursed, then replied to the Headless Knight brother, "I'll place the order right away, it'll definitely arrive within five days."
Having closed the Necromancy Codex, Amberser immediately concentrated his magical power and created a magical crow.
This minor spell was nothing but trivial for a Legendary Spellcaster.
The crow had only one ability—to help Amberser send a letter with procurement information to Alchemical City Alkaimia. In a few days, a caravan would deliver the Living Mercury Potion to Amberser's ancient castle.
Such is the convenience of a Mage's life.
After writing the purchase letter, Amberser moved a pile of skeletal materials out of the cupboard, ready to continue his experiments.
"Humph, discrimination against the undead, huh? I'll let them see that there's absolutely nothing wrong with my thesis."
With a wave of his hand, Amberser dismantled the neatly arranged Skeleton with an invisible force, reducing it to individual bones.
These bones floated around Amberser as he fell into contemplation.
The reason Skeletons are clumsy is that the structure of human bones is just too complicated, and death inflicts considerable damage on the human Soul.
Every Necromancer must pass through this apprentice stage where the Undead Creatures they create have low-quality Souls, hence their clumsy movements. It's like an idiot trying to operate a Gundam, who knows how many years of practice it would take to precisely control every joint.
As such, most of the wild Undead Creatures need a lot of time to train their control, which Amberser sees as a meaningless task. The Soul is like a computer with limited computing power, and it wastes resources on balancing the body—of course its movements would be clumsy.
"Why must Skeletons inevitably take human form? Why insist on walking on legs when changing into four wheels would be simpler?"
The structure of bipedal walking is inherently flawed. Only intelligent beings evolved to walk upright so that their hands could be free to use tools, but this is a very challenging action. Even living human children need about a year to toddle, and it might take four or five years before they can ensure they don't fall while running.
But we're already dealing with the undead, so why still fuss over having two legs or eight?
If the original form is stable enough, there's no need to worry about falling over. The computing power saved from balancing could be diverted to other actions, thus performing them better. If you then limit other actions to a few simple, repetitive motions, it becomes even easier for the Soul to operate.
Amberser opened several scrolls, which contained the designs of several new Skeleton forms he had meticulously planned. Originally, these designs had been published in "Legendary Spells" for broad discussion and research among Necromancers.
Now, Amberser could only rely on his initial designs to create new-type Skeletons.
There were already many household Skeletons in the castle, but to make an impression on his undead colleagues, Amberser needed to create a Skeleton Warrior that was more cost-effective yet more combat-capable.
"Traditional Skeleton Warriors can only engage in combat with melee weapons..."
Amberser began meticulously dismantling the bones, assembling them piece by piece. He then took out a glass jar and retrieved a semi-transparent orb of light from within.
This was a Pseudo-Soul, capable not only of fabricating Souls out of thin air but also modifying them. The computing power of this Soul was so low, controlling an entire Skeleton body was far from sufficient, but if it were just one or two joints, it could handle it with ease, needing just a bit of tweaking...
Busy with his work, a scream suddenly echoed from outside the castle. Amberser immediately dropped the bones he was holding, the Soul Fire in his eye sockets concentrated, shrinking like the pupil of an eye.
The Magic Trap he designed had been triggered—someone was intruding into his ancient castle by abnormal means.