After waiting for another half day, Kaier finally returned to the cave.
His cloak was wrinkled and dirty, and his travel-weary face clearly showed he had been outside the Sandworm Market area.
"My lord, sorry for the long wait." Kaier bowed respectfully before beginning to recount his materials collection journey.
"I went around several nearby Wizard Markets but still lacked some materials, especially the Nightmare Light Crystal. None of the shops at the large markets had it, and it’s usually found only at auctions in Wizard Markets. With no other choice, I made a trip to Quicksand City. This time I was lucky and met a friend of Mentor Esos who happened to have a Nightmare Light Crystal and sold it to me."
After speaking, Kaier took out various materials from his spatial artifact one by one.
Soon, a small pile formed.
Angel glanced over and roughly confirmed everything was correct.
However, he still checked to see if there were any substandard materials. After a while, Angel withdrew his hand; all materials were qualified, except...
"I gave you a list by grams, and you really bought by grams." Angel raised an eyebrow. "Aren’t you worried about my refining failure?"
Kaier was taken aback, oh right, what if the refining failed?
After pondering for a moment, Kaier cautiously said: "The Lord shouldn’t fail, right?"
While waiting for Angel’s response, Kaier’s eyes showed both anticipation and a hint of worry, fearing the worst outcome.
Angel glanced at Kaier, stood up, and began to collect the materials on the table, saying: "Shouldn’t you tidy yourself up first?"
Kaier looked at his clothing, "Oh," and immediately used a Cleansing Spell to thoroughly clean off the dust.
However, this left his clothes soaking wet, and his hair completely drenched.
Angel was stunned. It was the first time he had seen someone use a Cleansing Spell to get themselves wet. The Cleansing Spell combines water and wind, a 0-level trick; any apprentice can precisely balance the two elements, but Kaier still messed it up.
Kaier felt embarrassed being stared at and hung his head: "Just a moment, I’ll dry using the Firebird Technique."
With that said, Kaier prepared to cast the Firebird Technique.
Seeing Kaier’s familiar actions, it was clear why Dox was so practiced in using Cleansing Spell on him last time; this guy hadn’t mastered the Cleansing Spell yet.
Angel thought about it but didn’t let Kaier release the Firebird; who knows if he would dry himself or roast himself.
Angel casually cast a Cleansing Spell on Kaier, this time with less water and more wind, just enough to dry the moisture on him.
Kaier awkwardly said, "Thank you, my lord... Actually, I can use the Cleansing Spell; it just occasionally fails."
Angel didn’t respond, silently remarking in his heart: Even a 0-level trick can fail; you’re quite the talent.
But upon reflection, Kaier wasn’t relying on the Cleansing Spell for a living; he had great talent in spatial research. With strengths naturally come weaknesses. It’s a kind of balance.
Just like Angel’s Magic Bread, this basic trick also got messed up by him, which shows no one is perfect... Of course, Angel would never admit this, believing someone in the world would appreciate his Magic Bread, though they just haven’t appeared yet.
After Kaier cleaned himself up, he looked at Angel with expectant eyes, the meaning clear.
Angel sat back at the table and said plainly: "Every success comes with the possibility of failure, and alchemy is no exception. What I can do is try to control the variables to avoid failure. Otherwise, you’d have to make another trip."
Actually, Angel had a very high probability of success, but knowing this alone was enough; in case something went wrong, it would at least leave him some room.
Kaier didn’t know Angel’s thoughts and nodded, saying earnestly: "My lord will definitely succeed!"
Whether successful or not wasn’t for Kaier to determine; it was human nature, assuming encouragement, when in reality, it was self-deception, adding pressure for others.
Of course, Angel felt no pressure; with a wave of his hand: "Go out. I’m going to start the preparation now. I’ll call you when it’s over, successful or not."
Kaier nodded and, with prayer, prepared to leave. Just as he was about to step out the door, he suddenly thought of something: "By the way, my lord, don’t you need an assistant?"
In Kaier’s understanding, not only Alchemists but even Magic Rune Mages needed assistants for some menial work. Angel planning to tackle this alone?
"No need," Angel said indifferently.
Kaier said nothing more, nodded, and left the Earth Cavern.
After Kaier left, Angel didn’t immediately handle the materials but pondered for a moment on the "alchemy assistant" issue.
Not only Kaier, but even Master Midora and Dean Muse in Sky Mechanical City suggested Angel seek an alchemy assistant at Ashiliya Academy; it’s a mutually beneficial process.
But Angel was used to alchemizing alone, finding assistants more trouble than help.
However, if he needed to refine large alchemy tools in the future, taking three to five months, or even longer, it would require one or more assistants.
Once back in Barbarian Cave, he might find someone pleasing... or perhaps, try David?
Angel didn’t delve further; there wasn’t urgency regarding assistants. First, he needed to refine the Alchemy Blueprint at hand.
With this in mind, Angel began the alchemy preparation.
Preparation didn’t involve material analysis or blueprint resolution; those were already completed. The only preparation now was...
Angel turned to look at Dangross soaking in the quenching solution, a smile playing on his lips.
...
While Angel was engrossed in alchemy, a major event took place at the Pamiji Plateau.
This incident involved many participants, with almost all major Witcher Organizations joining in, even the "Mechanical Beast Emperor" Rosen Yada of Sky Mechanical City secretly arrived at Pamiji Plateau.
The gathering of so many organization leaders indicated a major affair, yet the entire discussion was kept very low-profile.
Many Wizard journals knew of this matter, but they remained silent.
The reason was simple: this time they banded together to deal with a group of outsiders, and even the big shots of the Origin World found these guys troublesome – the followers of the Seed.