To Elara, the word "talent" was a vicious curse etched upon her very soul.
In the grand White Tower Alchemy Academy, everyone could perceive the flow of mana as naturally as breathing. They could guide the temperature of a flame with their minds, sense the dormant energy sleeping within herbs.
And then there was Elara. A "Mana Mute."
Her sensory world was a dead silence; the ocean of mana had sealed its gates to her. For that reason, the only job she was qualified for was the most wretched in the academy—cleaning the waste sump.
"Hurry up, Elara! Get all those 'failures' cleaned up!"
Her supervisor was a senior apprentice named Kyle. His pristine white robes were a stark contrast to the filth-caked burlap of Elara's attire. Pinching his nose, he stared in disgust at the viscous pool bubbling with gray-green gas at her feet.
This place was the academy's dumping ground, the final destination for all failed potions, alchemical dregs, and discarded materials. The air was thick with the acrid stench of sulfur, rotted dragonflower, and a hundred other chemical concoctions.
"Yes, Senior Kyle," Elara muttered, her head bowed and her voice as faint as a buzzing fly.
She lifted the heavy iron ladle, plunged it into the pool, and stirred the nightmarish, thick liquid. It was a dangerous job. No one ever knew what might happen when two different failed potions mixed. The last apprentice assigned to this post had half his face corroded off by a single stray droplet.
But Elara had no choice. She was the only one who could stand here without getting debilitating headaches or vomiting from the chaotic mana fluctuations—the sole "advantage" of being a Mana Mute.
Impatiently, Kyle kicked the metal guardrail by the sump with the tip of his boot, producing a jarring clang. "Useless girl. You belong with the rest of this trash."
His words were needles, pricking at her heart, but she was long used to it. She silently scooped the viscous waste into a disposal barrel, her mind reciting chapters from The Theory of Basic Material Properties. Unable to perceive mana, her only way of getting close to the world of alchemy was to memorize the physical traits of thousands of materials.
Suddenly, the ladle struck something hard.
With some effort, she fished it out of the sludge. It was a dull metal shard, about the size of her palm, with jagged edges and caked in a thick, almost petrified layer of grime.
"What's that?" Kyle narrowed his eyes. "Don't tell me it's some dangerous cursed artifact. Throw it away!"
"No... Senior," Elara summoned her courage. "It looks like a fragment of an ancient alloy. The books say..."
"The books? The books also say a Mana Mute like you should be digging rocks in a mine!" Kyle cut her off harshly, kicking the disposal barrel beside her.
Startled, Elara stumbled forward. Her hand, the one holding the metal shard, slammed down hard on the guardrail.
"Hiss!"
A sharp pain shot through her. The shard's razor-sharp edge sliced open her palm. Blood immediately welled up, dripping onto the grimy piece of metal.
In that instant, something bizarre happened.
The unremarkable shard, upon contact with her blood, seemed to come alive. The grime flaked away, revealing intricate, unfamiliar patterns etched beneath. The patterns glowed with a faint golden light, like awakening metallic worms.
"What the hell..." Kyle froze, stunned.
But Elara had no time to pay him any mind. An irresistible force surged from the fragment, entered her wound, and shot straight into her brain. Her vision went black, and the world began to spin.
Then, a cold, emotionless, mechanical voice echoed in the depths of her mind.
[Qualified Soul Host Detected... Commencing Binding Protocol...]
[10%... 50%... 99%...]
[Binding Successful!]
[The God-Tier Alchemy System is now active! Welcome, User Elara.]
Elara's pupils contracted violently. A translucent panel, composed of faint blue light that only she could see, materialized in her vision.
Name: Elara
Level: 0
Spirit: 3/3 (Extremely Weak)
Mana Affinity: 0 (Unmeasurable)
Skills Mastered: None
"What... what is this?" she whispered, stunned.
"Are you insane?" Seeing her dazed expression, Kyle assumed she'd lost her mind from shock, a sneer of even greater contempt forming on his face.
But Elara's attention was completely captivated by the voice in her head and the panel before her eyes.
[Newbie Guide Mission Issued!]
[Mission Name: A Novice's Revenge]
[Description: As the future God of Alchemy, how can you tolerate the scorn of a mere mortal? Utilize the "waste" before you to synthesize a low-grade alchemical product and prove your potential.]
[Hint: The System has automatically analyzed the composition of all materials within a 5-meter radius.]
[Reward: 10 EXP, Unlock Skill "Beginner's Mana Guidance."]
And just like that, Elara's world transformed.
The nauseating sludge pool resolved into countless streams of shimmering data in her eyes.
[Corrupted Carnivora Slime: Purity 3%, extractable components...]
[Inert Fire Lizard Blood: Energy residue 1.7%, extractable components...]
[Neutralized Troll Acid: Stability 89%, suitable as a solvent...]
[...]
Hundreds of lines of information flooded her brain. The dregs that everyone considered trash were now presented to her as a list of precise ingredients. The system had already mapped out the optimal synthesis path, a faint golden line appearing in the air, guiding her on which scoop of sludge to take, which container to place it in, and even how much force to use when stirring.
"Beginner's Mana Guidance..." she murmured the name of the reward. It was the first lesson for every alchemy apprentice, and the one insurmountable wall she could never climb. If... if this was real...
Her heart began to pound in her chest. It could be a hallucination, a figment brought on by the sump's toxic fumes. But it was also her only hope.
Ignoring Kyle's curses, she took a deep breath, her eyes fixed on the golden guideline. Her hands trembled, but her gaze was sharper and more determined than it had ever been. She scooped up a ladle of deep purple sludge marked by the system as a "key material," ignored its putrid smell, and carefully poured it into a clean disposal barrel.
Then the second scoop, and the third...
To Kyle, her actions looked like utter nonsense. He had no idea that, right under his nose, the most precise alchemical experiment was being conducted.
When she dripped the final drop of a silver liquid marked as a "catalyst" into the barrel, a miracle occurred.
The chaotic, foul-smelling sludge instantly stopped churning. All its colors and impurities seemed to be sucked into an invisible vortex, leaving behind only a fine, delicate powder at the bottom of the barrel, glowing with a soft white light. A faint, fresh scent, like grass after a spring rain, wafted out, dispelling the surrounding stench.
[Synthesis Successful! You have obtained: Purification Dust (Common Grade) x1]
[Mission Complete!]
[Congratulations! You have received 10 EXP. You have leveled up to LV.1!]
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: Beginner's Mana Guidance!]
A warm current of energy, a sensation she had never experienced, flooded her entire body. After sixteen years of silence, for the very first time, she could feel it—the omnipresent, ethereal substance known as mana. It flowed like a gentle stream, obedient to her will, pooling at her fingertips.
Elara slowly lifted her head to look at the dumbfounded Kyle, then opened her palm. A faint but clearly visible wisp of azure mana coalesced and swirled above her hand.
She was a Mana Mute no longer.
She clenched her fist, feeling the nascent power within her, her mind consumed by a single, unwavering thought:
Starting today, everything was about to change.