Chapter 57: Transmigration Chronicles: Shoveling Coal in the Dragon Race

As the heavy gates slowly closed, the warehouse was left with only Leon inside.

He looked at the mountain of steel piled up before him and took a deep breath to steady his emotions.

There was a furnace inside the warehouse, but Leon had no need for it.

His golden pupils ignited in an instant.

Blood Rage could amplify the intensity of a Spoken Word, which, when reflected through Heaven and Earth as a Furnace, naturally resulted in an expanded area of effect and a higher degree of metal smelting.

Sensing that everything within a radius of nearly fifteen metres had been brought under his control, Leon let out a gentle sigh.

*Yea, Heaven and Earth are the furnace, and Creation is the smith; Yin and Yang are the charcoal, and all things are the copper.*

At this very moment, the space surrounding Leon transformed into a massive smelting furnace. Under the refining heat of his spiritual fire, the huge chunks of steel rapidly turned incandescent, transforming into droplets of liquid metal that began to spin mid-air.

As the liquid droplets collided, impurities were reduced to ash and slowly drifted away into the warehouse.

Under the influence of Heaven and Earth as a Furnace, the metal droplets grew increasingly luminous until no more impurities were expelled, and their spinning speed gradually decreased.

Looking at the surrounding liquid metal droplets that had now been shaped into individual bullet heads, Leon thought silently to himself:

'The efficiency of Heaven and Earth as a Furnace is even more terrifying than I imagined. At this rate, my plan to go back and become a weapons dealer is entirely viable.'

'Moreover, I feel like Heaven and Earth as a Furnace isn't completely useless in combat either. If one day my spiritual strength becomes sufficient to truly turn the entire world into a furnace...'

At this thought, Leon's gaze flickered.

It could only be said that [Heaven and Earth as a Furnace] combined with almost any artisan-class profession was an absolute trump card.

However, he also knew that the astonishing efficiency of his [Heaven and Earth as a Furnace] was inextricably linked to his own unique characteristics.

If he only possessed the [Half-Breed] class alone, he certainly wouldn't have been able to reach this level.

Yet Leon's current spiritual strength had already reached 5.1, completely incomparable to ordinary half-breeds. Coupled with the enhancement from Blood Rage, [Heaven and Earth as a Furnace] had completely transcended its original might.

Clink, clink, clink—

At that moment, the shaped bullet heads dropped to the ground, emitting crisp, clear sounds.

Although these bullet heads were currently nothing more than the most basic alchemical items, lacking even an appended alchemical matrix, their strength was undoubtedly vastly superior to ordinary rounds.

However, Leon did not intend to process this batch of bullets any further. After all, his short-term goal was to raise the professional level of [Artisan Apprentice]. Alchemical items that would truly prove useful could be refined just as well after reaching max level.

At the same time, a notification popped up on his professional status panel in a timely manner.

[Successfully performed alchemical work, professional EXP +11].

The experience wasn't massive, but one had to remember that Leon had only completed a single alchemical operation, and the metal currently inside the warehouse was enough for him to perform dozens, if not hundreds, of operations.

'It feels like [Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)] will be maxed out soon. As expected of a pay-to-win class.'

***

It could only be said that with enough money, pay-to-win classes were truly exhilarating.

It would be even more exhilarating if the money wasn't his own.

Furthermore, what Leon was increasing right now wasn't just the experience for [Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy)]; because Blood Rage was active, the experience for [Half-Breed] and [Blood Rage] was also growing steadily.

Stimulated by both money and experience, Leon felt as though he could grind endlessly without sleep or rest.

'Grind, what I'm grinding is alchemy!'

***

Outside the warehouse.

Several Execution Division agents were squatting by the roadside, smoking Marlboros.

"So the gentleman inside knows alchemy just like those bomb maniacs from the Equipment Department? I thought he only knew how to fight, just like us."

As Execution Division agents in New York, they naturally still remembered Leon's stunning feat of tearing a fifth-generation-breed apart with his bare hands a few days ago.

This had always kept Leon's image in their minds as a rugged, brawny bruiser.

At that moment, one of the Execution Division agents suddenly spoke in a gloomy tone:

"Do you guys think it's going to blow up in there later?"

The Equipment Department of Cassel College was full of demolition kids, and explosions were the kind of thing that happened every three days without fail. This had also given everyone else in the college the stereotype that alchemy always ended in explosions.

"..."

"..."

The few Execution Division agents silently changed their positions, moving further away from the warehouse.

Right then, the warehouse doors behind them slowly opened, and a dust-covered, utterly exhausted figure walked out from within.

Seeing this, the group hurriedly swarmed over.

Before they could even speak, Leon pointed behind him: "You guys find some time to haul the stuff inside away. It should come in useful."

Hearing this, the Execution Division agents subconsciously looked into the warehouse, and then they saw that the mountain of steel that had been piled up earlier was mostly gone, replaced by an exaggerated quantity of bullet heads.

"???"

What kind of human-shaped assembly line was this!?

Because they frequently dealt with alchemical bullets, the Execution Division agents present could certainly tell that the quality of the alchemical bullets piled on the floor inside the warehouse was by no means low.

Yet the question was, was this something a single human being could accomplish?

It was only at this moment that they finally understood why Leon's demand for metal had been "the more, the better."

***

"Take me back."

Ignoring the somewhat bizarre expressions of the Execution Division agents beside him, Leon directly opened the car door and got in.

He was genuinely a bit tired; constantly maintaining Heaven and Earth as a Furnace had made him feel as though his spiritual energy was on the verge of exhaustion.

It felt much like staying up all night at an internet café back in school, then eating breakfast at a morning food stall at dawn.

Fortunately, the results were also gratifying.

[Artisan Apprentice (Alchemy) Lv7 (43/700), Half-Breed Lv3 (126/300)].

[Blood Rage (Proficiency 94/200)].

Looking at the information on his professional panel, Leon's brow relaxed slightly.

At this rate, the two prerequisite classes required for the [Dragon Vein Alchemist] would soon reach max level.

That left only the final class-advancement condition.

[The dragon blood within the body reaches the level of a third-generation breed].

Regarding this, Leon actually had some ideas.

Since half-breeds could never truly transform into actual dragons, what if he used pure-blood dragon blood to completely replace his own bloodline?

Perhaps to people in the Dragon World, this was tantamount to courting death, but Leon felt he had a non-zero chance of success.

[Inversion of the Mortal Triad (Expert 238/5000)].

In case things really went wrong, he could completely circulate his mysterious techniques once more to sustain his life.

It was just that in that case, he would probably end up like Zuo Ruotong, utterly unable to ever exit the inverted state from then on.

Because the risk was simply too great, Leon couldn't blindly rush into it; before that, he still had to find a way to obtain the detailed data of the [Nibelungen Project] (Note 1) from Cassel College.

As for dragon blood...

Was there any target more suitable than Noden?

If Leon successfully managed to have the half-breed families of Shenzhou protect Constantine's egg, then presumably this Dragon King wouldn't mind shedding a little bit of blood.

At this thought, Leon's gaze suddenly sharpened.

'Heaven and Earth as a Furnace, Noden's dragon blood...'

'Could I really be the King of Bronze and Fire?!'