“If only I knew alchemy…” The girl sat on a rock, swinging her legs, her hands supporting her cheeks, mumbling to herself.
She had a treasure trove of alchemical materials but limited knowledge of alchemy, like staring at a gold and silver mine within reach but realizing she didn’t have a pickaxe.
She wanted to learn alchemy… but how could alchemy be something learned so easily? If it were, everyone on the street would be an alchemist.
There were many intricacies to alchemy; first, she needed a teacher.
Becoming self-taught was harder than reaching the heavens.
A teacher, she just needed a teacher… Once she learned alchemy, wouldn’t she be raking in gold coins? But where could she find an alchemy teacher? Alchemists were highly sought after in every country, especially mid-level or high-level alchemists.
These arrogant individuals would only take prodigious noble children as apprentices, not someone like her, a penniless and powerless beggar.
As for top-tier alchemists, they didn’t need to seek employment; people from inside and outside the court sought them out, including minor and major nobles, even kings.
This showed how esteemed alchemists were.
However, human alchemy wasn’t very advanced; the true ancestors of alchemy were the vampires of the Scarlet Blood Domain.
It was said that vampires were obsessed with dark rituals, and during one such ritual, a high priest accidentally added reactive alchemical materials to a boiling pot, creating a new substance.
This was the beginning of alchemy.
It was a technical skill requiring many tools, with success and purity rates closely tied to many details.
For example, to avoid too many impurities, a siphon was often used, and to fully mix two liquids, three shakes were needed.
If only two shakes were done, the result might not be what was desired, or it could fail entirely.
Alchemy required precision, and mastering it was a great test of one’s intuition for alchemy.
“Alchemy, alchemy, teacher…” Jasmine, wearing black-framed glasses, swayed as if she hadn’t had enough sleep or was full from eating tree bark, starting to feel drowsy.
Ah, someone like me, just living in this world is already the limit, why bother thinking about such exhausting things? “Mmm, gurgle gurgle, goodnight~~” The white-haired girl lay on a large green stone, pulling her long hair over her body, her breathing gradually becoming steady.
“Plop.” The black-framed glasses slipped from her nose, emitting a few mysterious glimmers.
“Gurgle gurgle… sniff, sniff, don’t, don’t mess with me.” Sleeping Jasmine suddenly felt someone poking her nose, furrowing her brows and turning her head, pouting.
The person in front of her chuckled, seemingly amused by the adorable demeanor of this white-haired young dragon.
“Little girl, little girl~ wake up.” “Don’t, don’t disturb my sleep, didn’t your mom teach you that interrupting someone’s sweet dreams is very rude?…” Jasmine tried to swat away the hand but missed, squinting her heterochromatic dragon eyes.
“My mom?” The person speaking in front of her paused, recalling with a mix of amusement and helplessness.
“My mom has been gone for a long time.” “So long, I can’t even remember what she looked like or her name.” “You, can’t remember…” A cold wind blew, and the groggy Jasmine suddenly became much more alert.
She immediately sat up, looking around, crossing her arms, feeling very insecure.
She clearly remembered falling asleep in the forest not far from the orphanage, so how did the scene change when she woke up? Was she kidnapped while sleeping?? Surrounded by pitch-black walls, candles were lit at regular intervals, casting a warm glow on the ancient books in the display cases and the spell paper covered in intricate symbols on the round wooden table.
The surroundings felt familiar to Jasmine, and she quickly realized this was the ‘world’ inside the ring.
However, the usually gray-toned black tower had regained its color, as if it was no longer a projection but something tangible.
“Don’t worry about your identity being exposed… This is your sea of consciousness, and I am a projection transmitted from a faraway dimension.” Jasmine turned her gaze back to the girl who had been speaking to her.
The girl had long black hair, looking about twelve years old, with a pointed purple witch hat that seemed a bit large on her small head, wearing a slightly oversized ancient witch’s outfit.
It felt a bit out of place… The girl, who looked not much bigger than Jasmine’s dragon form, gave her a very peculiar feeling.
Those violet eyes seemed to hold a sky full of stars, exuding an extraordinary aura.
Her face was so exquisitely beautiful, and her skin like mutton fat jade, that even Jasmine, who was used to her own appearance and somewhat immune to beautiful girls, was stunned.
She even forgot the fact that she herself was a girl now, completely captivated by the beauty of the girl in front of her.
The purple eye color was the most noble of all.
Unlike the queenly Emilia and the pure and refined Jasmine, it was a kind of nobility and elegance that came purely from her bloodline, as if the girl was a natural-born ruler, commanding the world, with everything bowing down to her.
Was she a witch?
“Finally, we meet, my cute little one.
Well, it’s not exactly a formal meeting, since in front of you, I’m just a projection,” the girl said, approaching Jasmine with a familiarity, looking her up and down, sniffing here and there, nodding frequently.
“Oh, so you’re a half-blood? … But that’s okay, it’s not a big deal.” The girl slightly adjusted her large witch hat and performed a complex and long-lost courtly noble salute to the stunned Jasmine.
If Jasmine’s knowledge of history was rich enough, she would recognize that the girl was performing a noble salute from the ancient Ayatin Empire, long since obsolete.
“Nice to meet you.”
“You, you are…?” Jasmine asked instinctively as she came back to her senses.
“You took my glasses and still don’t know my name?” the girl giggled.
“Well, I suppose I should introduce myself.
My name is Mira Belle, and my title is the ‘Alchemist Witch.’ At least, that’s what they called me in the Ayatin Empire.”
