[Rune Expert (Three and a Half Stars) Advancement Conditions:
Both Enchantment and Rune Magic must reach Master Level;
Need to create their own special rune;
Must successfully enchant an item with ’quasi-conscious level’ intelligent traits;
Master the ’Blood and Flesh Rune’ technique to directly engrave runes on living creatures, making the creature itself a carrier of the rune system.]
Regarding the failure examples of Rune Experts, Mendelssohn unusually did not make any annotations, only writing a simple sentence:
"Enchanters who can complete the ’Blood and Flesh Rune’ technique are pitifully rare in the entire wizard history..."
After seeing these detailed conditions and warnings, Ron instead felt a peculiar excitement.
Danger? Of course it exists, but any power worth pursuing comes with corresponding risks.
The key is how to maintain control over oneself while obtaining power.
He quickly analyzed these three advancement paths in his mind:
"The conditions of the Magic Potion Professor are relatively the easiest to achieve. My current level in Magic Potion Making is already close to expert level, and there is quite an accumulation of original formulas. In terms of cultivating students..."
He recalled his elite team, particularly Liss’s pure love for Magic Potion Making:
"The members of the elite team have a good foundation, given time, they should be able to be cultivated into qualified alchemists. The key is to ensure their growth trajectory is not interrupted by external factors."
"The conditions for the Alchemy Master are the most stringent, especially the creation of a ’semi-permanent level’ device. Such a device requires the use of top-notch techniques in multiple fields like time, space, energy..."
He remembered the Mobile Simulation Battle Device he was researching:
"Perhaps the simulation device can be upgraded to a semi-permanent level? If I can achieve self-maintenance with Aksa’s soul fragment, theoretically it can meet the requirement."
"The ’Blood and Flesh Rune’ technique of the Rune Expert is the most worrisome but also the most attractive. If I can safely master this technology, coupled with my current bloodline modulation ability..."
He looked at his right hand, where it once fused with the Stand-In Puppet:
"Maybe I can start experimenting from ’Ink’? As an alchemical creature I created myself, it has the highest level of trust in me, and the traits of the Autophagic Slime Monster make the experimental risk relatively controllable."
Closing the first book, Ron moved towards another section of the bookshelf, where the tomes on ancient techniques and lost knowledge were stored.
The appearance of these books was notably older and more dangerous, some even grew organ-like eyes on the spine, which would turn following the visitor’s movement.
He chose a heavy tome titled "Legacy of the Annihilation Era."
The author was a Moon Level Mage named Vasily Gould, who was also a historian.
It’s said that he spent his life seeking lost ancient techniques, ultimately disappearing during an exploration of the Abyss.
As he opened the pages, Ron felt a chilling aura emanating from the paper.
This book recorded not just knowledge, but the bloody history behind that knowledge.
Gould described, in an almost obsessive tone, the legends and tragedies of Ancient Alchemists:
"Lance Heivet, the name shines brightly in wizard history, but few people know the dark truth behind his success."
"He was indeed merciful, but only relatively. Compared to other alchemists of his time, Lance’s experiments rarely involved unnecessary cruelty.
But between ’relative mercy’ and ’true mercy’, there exists a chasm paved with blood."
"According to the records I discovered in an abandoned laboratory, Lance, during his research before becoming an ancient alchemist, ’consumed’ a total of one thousand three hundred and seventy-two experimental subjects.
This included two hundred volunteers, nine hundred prisoners of war, and one hundred and seventy-two ’purchased’ slaves."
"He would apologize to the experimental subjects before each experiment, mourn for the dead after the experiment, and even record the names and family situations of each experimental subject.
But this ’mercy’ does not change one fact: one thousand three hundred and seventy-two living lives were transformed into experimental data by him."
"However, this is not the most terrifying. What truly kept me awake at night was a sentence left by Lance:
’In the afterlife, I hope to find a research method that does not require sacrificing others.
But in this life, I must achieve a breakthrough within limited time, for greater good, I can only tolerate lesser evil.’"
Gould’s analysis left Ron deep in thought:
"This is the true face of ancient alchemists.
They were not merely madmen or demons, but researchers making extreme choices under extreme circumstances.
When the value of life collided with the value of knowledge, they chose knowledge."
The book then introduced other ancient alchemists, each a combination of legend and nightmare:
"Alexander King, known as the ’Merciful Alchemist’, indeed never voluntarily harmed the innocent.
But his ’mercy’ was built on a horrifying foundation—he only used his own body for experiments."
"In the last hundred years of his life, Alexander had already transformed himself into a living laboratory.
His blood was replaced by various magic potions, his organs were transformed into alchemy devices, even his marrow was converted into energy storage units."
"Witnesses described the last moments of Alexander as more like a transparent human-shaped container, with various colored liquids flowing inside his body.