Chapter 308: Dragon Blood Elixir Complete
Zhou Ning: "..."
He had never expected Old Turing to be so generous—he actually gave him a whopping 715,000 experience points in one go.
"Wait a minute, you have the scent of Xinwood on you?" Old Turing wrinkled his nose slightly, asking in surprise.
He could smell that? Zhou Ning was startled. He'd only touched the thing two or three days ago when he first got it. He nodded and said, "That's right, I came across a piece a few days ago."
As he spoke, he retrieved the Xinwood from his inventory and handed it to Old Turing.
Old Turing sniffed the wood's scent, and for once, a rare smile appeared on his usually stern face. "You're in luck. I happen to have some sub-dragon blood left. If you'd like, I can help you make it into a finished product—as a token of my thanks."
"Then I'll trouble you." Zhou Ning hadn't expected that response. He bowed slightly in gratitude. Normally, learning to make Dragon Blood Elixirs would take at least half a year to a year—alchemy was not a simple craft.
"Follow me." Old Turing exhaled and gestured for Zhou Ning to come along, pushing his wheelchair toward the inner section of the alchemy shop.
At the alchemy table, Old Turing took a bottle of red liquid from the shelf—its color bright like a ruby, appearing to swirl as if alive.
Zhou Ning recognized it instantly. That had to be dragon blood. In the world of Apocalypse, dragons lived far to the north in Darkland's frozen tundras. Some nobles in another Kingdom even kept smaller species as exotic pets. Though they weren't as massive as Blue-Eyes White Dragons or Sky Dragons, they were still undeniably extraordinary beings.
So while dragon blood was rare, it wasn't impossible to obtain—just extremely expensive.
Despite his age, Old Turing's hands were still steady. He carefully ground the Xinwood into powder and added it to the cauldron, then swiftly poured in the dragon blood and a starlight reagent. With a snap of his fingers, the cauldron flared to life. The green starlight reagent mixed with the ruby dragon blood, turning into a pale yellow hue.
Every movement Old Turing made was smooth and precise, without a hint of waste. The Dragon Blood Elixir was a recipe only a master alchemist could learn—its process was extremely intricate. At certain stages, one had to monitor over twenty details per second and adjust constantly. Yet even at these critical moments, Old Turing remained calm, deliberately slowing his actions as if teaching Zhou Ning through demonstration.
A notification appeared on Zhou Ning's interface. He glanced at it and his face lit up with delight.
[Darian Turing is teaching you Alchemy (Grandmaster level). You have gained 675 proficiency (Divine Favor +60, Extreme Calm +15)…]
[Darian Turing is teaching you Alchemy (Grandmaster level). You have gained 628 proficiency (Divine Favor +59, Extreme Calm +13)…]
[Darian Turing is teaching you Alchemy (Grandmaster level). You have gained 735 proficiency (Divine Favor +68, Extreme Calm +18)…]
...
[Your Alchemy has reached Master level.]
In just a little over ten minutes, Zhou Ning's alchemy proficiency had skyrocketed, breaking past the expert-level bottleneck and leaping directly into the master tier—saving him several months of slow grind.
"All done." Ten minutes later, Old Turing exhaled, pouring the cauldron's liquid into three test tubes and sealing them tightly.
Bubbles rose within, and the pale yellow liquid instantly transformed into a vivid scarlet red.
"Here. Take them." Old Turing waved tiredly and looked at Zhou Ning. "Did you understand the process I used just now?"
"I did. I learned a great deal. You truly live up to your reputation as the former legendary alchemist of Braiston," Zhou Ning said sincerely.
"Legendary? I'm no legend." Old Turing shook his head as he began tidying the table. His tone turned faintly somber.
"There are no legends in Darkland City. The vile each have their own vices, and even the noble have their own shades of baseness. All right, take what else you need—I have work to do."
There seemed to be hidden meaning in his words. Zhou Ning nodded solemnly and put away the three test tubes of Dragon Blood Elixir. Beside him, Old Turing poured the life cores from a container and immersed himself in his research. Soon, a satisfied smile appeared on his face—his experiment seemed to be going smoothly.
Opening Old Turing's personal shop, Zhou Ning saw that the 213 life cores had already been converted into tokens, which could be exchanged for formulas or finished elixirs.
Now that his alchemy had reached master level, he could access a wider range of recipes—some quite valuable. One blueprint, for instance, was for an Alchemical Exo-Armor—an external suit even more advanced than the one stored in the Temple of Earth, and it only cost 70 tokens.
Zhou Ning redeemed the blueprint, then spent his remaining tokens on the two formulas he'd long coveted: the Windrunner Elixir and the Emerald Elixir. His balance dropped neatly to zero.
"Wait…"
Just as Zhou Ning was about to take his leave, Old Turing called out again. "I see you exchanged for the Exo-Armor blueprint. Seems you're interested in applied alchemy as well?"
"Yes, I am." Zhou Ning nodded. In truth, not only was he studying applied alchemy, he was also dabbling in puppet alchemy and life alchemy…
"Excellent. But remember—every branch of alchemy connects to the others. The boundaries aren't as rigid as they seem. Tell you what, come back here next Saturday. I'll have a gift for you," said Old Turing.
[You have triggered D-rank Quest: "The Grand Alchemist's New Invention III."]
[Quest Description: Your friend Old Turing deeply appreciates your help. Visit the Doyle Alchemy Shop next Saturday to receive his final token of gratitude.]
It must be the final link in the chain quest. Zhou Ning accepted it without hesitation.
Leaving the Doyle Alchemy Shop, he felt elated. This had been an incredible harvest—Old Turing was truly generous! It was getting late now, and though there were still a few things he needed to handle, the most important thing for the moment was to head home and digest everything he'd gained over the past few days.
Starting tomorrow, he'd have his hands full—negotiating for the Gargoyle Core, investigating the "Ascension Ritual" structure, and tracking down the man known as "Chris Fisher," whose real name was Jeremy Aiden.
Just as he was about to hail a carriage, a notification popped up on his interface:
[Your C-rank quest "Rescue Spark Lambert" has been updated to "Track Spark Lambert's Whereabouts." Quest difficulty upgraded to B-rank.]
[This is a timed quest. Countdown: 00:29:59]
Zhou Ning's expression turned grave. Something had clearly gone wrong with Spark Lambert—and this was a B-rank timed quest. If he wasn't careful, failure was certain.
He'd done similar tracking quests before—like in GTA—where a red dot appeared on the minimap as a moving target. Opening his map, he saw it: a red dot two blocks away on Levia Street, moving eastward—and fast.
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