Everything will be my way!

The contract with the Bakers has been concluded, which means it's time to do alchemy. He's running out of time.

First, Kyon studied all the recipes of medicine in the Russells treasury and took a lot of ingredients from there, then he settled down in a lonely mansion on the edge of the city, where no one would interfere with him for sure. Making medicine in the palace would be stupid.

The task is the following: to create the transformation medicine of "Frozen Heart" of at least excellent (4) quality with an imperceptible trick inside. To do this, he will have to master the previously unknown branch of alchemy responsible for development – the manufacture of transformation medicine, breakthrough and acceleration of development. But how long will it take?

For example, it took Kyon two weeks to fully understand the working principle of the field of alchemy concerning unique bodies. The reason is simple: the quality of the ingredients in it did not play any role. Even the earwax of a field mouse makes the same contribution as a drop of phoenix blood. What matters is the amount of active ingredients and how stably they are fused with each other. Moreover, only 100 slots are given.

Mediocre bodies have 5 active ingredients in the core at best, and even those are fused disgustingly, and in the unique bodies found in the tomb, there were up to 25 of them, which is an incredible amount. They served as the basis for creating the body of the Void from 100 active slots. Otherwise, he would have wasted years on creating a decent body, because there is no reliable way to find out what property this or that ingredient will give to a unique body, and there are an infinite number of them.

As a result, Kyon managed to make a unique body of the "SSS" rank due to the method of fusion developed by him – "The Cycle of the Universe", thanks to which even ingredients with different polarities do not conflict with each other.

Now the situation is different. The ingredients contain explosive energy, and even 1% of the imbalance of the energies of different elements will break the glue called "The Cycle of the Universe". After all, no matter how good this principle is, it will not allow a drop of water to reliably exist inside the ocean of flame.

{Let's get started.} – Kyon decided to start small: with the medicine of transformation into the advanced phase "Upstream", but it is of the "А" rank, which means that it is many times better than its low-ranking counterparts. Only an alchemist of the 2nd rank can make it. It is worth noting that the "A" rank medicine for transformation into higher phases will be much more difficult to make and, equally importantly, more expensive.

Half an hour later, a slight glow lit up the room, signaling success. Taking the pill, Lovr immediately determined its purity: a measly 10%! Please visit 𝒇𝘳𝗲𝚎w𝑒𝚋𝚗𝐨v𝒆l. 𝒄𝒐𝚖

{And what am I wrong about?} – Kyon frowned, carefully examining the ball in his hand.

It is easy to set the necessary set of actions (to key in a code) of energy inside medicine. He honed this art to perfection long ago. He can even create a pill that will turn the nail on the ring finger of his left hand green. So it's something else… Of course, this is a terrible balance of energy inside! The alchemical kit would be torn apart without "The Cycle of the Universe". He needs to figure it out.

The day flew by.

Kyon was now able to make "Upstream" with a purity of 90%, which is undoubtedly amazing, but he didn't look very happy because he realized that it was impossible to create this pill with a purity of 100%.

The reason lies in the binding ingredients. They, under the weight of the energy load, cannot cope with their task even with the support of "The Cycle of the Universe". As if a donkey with a huge vat of water on his back was walking along a wooden bridge. Even if the bridge does not break, it still wobbles, causing the water from the vat to splash.

What's the way out? Obviously, it is necessary to build not a wooden bridge, but a metal one, replacing ingredients of rare (2) quality with unique (3), or even exceptional (4). That's the problem… Some analogues are absurdly expensive because of their rarity, and some are not found in nature at all.

{Does everything really rest on a banal lack of ingredients?} – this state of affairs disappointed Kyon. He has always strived for perfection, and the fact that it is simply impossible to achieve it is depressing.

Lovr had to accept reality and continue his practice. The very next day he switched from the medicine of transformation to the medicine of breakthrough, and by the evening to the medicine of accelerating development.

As it turned out, all three types of medicine are very similar to each other.

The medicine of accelerating development gently helps the soul to make cycles at the expense of its energy.

Breakthrough medicine roughly pushes the soul to one, or even to several stages.

Transformation medicine by brute force makes the soul shrink as it evolves.

If breakthrough medicine is a bomb, then acceleration medicine is a stove that uses TNT as fuel. But transformation medicine is a controlled nuclear reactor with a built-in transformer.

A week passed unnoticed, a total of 9 days.

Kyon hardly slept, but achieved great success. Now he could flawlessly make the medicine for practitioners of the noble (4) phase. But even the skills honed to perfection did not allow him to make the medicine with 100% purity due to the lack of binding ingredients of high-quality. It also happened that it was simply not possible to create a pill with a purity above 65%, which was very depressing.

Finally, the empress sent a message with a list of ingredients that make up the medicine of "Frozen heart". After reading it, Kyon frowned in displeasure. All the ingredients are extremely rare and expensive, but another thing is even sadder: there are no good binding ingredients for all of them in nature.

{Excellent quality… Can I handle it?} – thought Lovr.

Shaking his head, he first sent the list to the Golden Pig guild, and then continued to conduct experiments and practice his difficult task.

2 weeks flew by. There was a week left until the end of the month allotted by Elsa. Kyon was very stressed by the deadlines pressing on him, but he convinced himself not to be nervous.

Over the past time, Lovr has learned to create medicine for accelerating development, breakthrough and transformation for practitioners of the royal phase. Each sample obtained during the experiments was incredibly expensive. If he had resold them through the guild, he would have earned a hundred billion, but the cunning old fox Bazhen decided not to accept payment in medicine, but came up with his own payment method…

Kyon has honed his skill of making development medicine almost to the limit. He should also experiment with medicine for imperial phasers and sovereign phasers, but it is too expensive – there are no resources and recipes. And this means that it's time to move on to the most important thing: to figure out how and what kind of trick to shove into the medicine of "Frozen Heart" and, of course, to make this very medicine.

As it soon turned out, it is not so easy to install the invisible trap in the medicine, because it should organically fit into the very essence of the manufactured medicine. You can't just stuff the pill with toxins, poisons, or change the "code" of the energy behavior inside the pill. Of course, he would really like to instantly kill this bitch or, for example, turn her into a whore, which the world has never seen, but no. All these manipulations will be easily detected by a competent alchemist, and Lanatelle is probably just like that.

{The medicine of "Frozen heart", what kind of trick will it be convenient to hide in it?} – after a minute of reflection, Lovr's eyes shone: ice flame extract! It perfectly combines with medicine, the basis of which is the elements of darkness and cold. The defect of the abovementioned extract is that it causes an outbreak of uncontrollable bloodlust. Since complete calm is necessary for the medicine of "Frozen heart" this outbreak will undoubtedly lead to failure and to the most serious recoil by several stages. But for the success of this venture, the thirst for blood must appear in the final stage of transformation… And how to delay its activation until the last moment?

{I'll just seal the energy of the flame into the energy of "Eternal Ice"!} – Kyon snapped his fingers in satisfaction. Lanatelle will be overcome by a thirst for blood just at the most crucial moment. It will spoil her transformation and thereby permanently block her access to the overlord phase. And all this will be possible to notice only when it is too late.

With a fanatical gleam in his eyes, Lovr continued to experiment.

4 days have flashed by, and there are only 3 days left before the deadline.

Kyon has made significant progress. He managed to create the medicine similar to the original with a fatal trick inside, which even he could not have noticed. Now it's time to move on from experiments to the main thing.

Just today, Lovr received the latest missing ingredients necessary for the medicine of "Frozen heart". Everything would be fine, but there were only two samples of "The Ice Root of Millennium Tranquility" on the market. The Bakers found another sample in their treasury. This means that if the guy fails in 3 attempts, then everything is gone.

Kyon decided to spend the first attempt on making the pill without the trick, because he didn't have the exact recipe, just the list of ingredients. However, because of his alchemical skills, he already knew what should interact with what, what to focus on and what the result should be.

Mentally prepared, Lovr cracked his fingers and began to make it… His every action was honed to automatism. Even 1st rank alchemists would be dumbfounded. All of them would faint if they saw only the principle of operation of "The Cycle of the Universe".

Many of the ingredients that Kyon was dealing with now contained so much energy that in case of the slightest mistake they could easily leave a hundred-meter funnel. In a sense, Lovr felt like a sapper trying to defuse a nuclear bomb.

The manufacturing process had already lasted 6 hours, and his forehead was sweaty.

Finally, the room was lit up with an azure glow, signaling success… The air was filled with mighty energy capable of strangling an ordinary person to death only by its manifestation. If the alchemist showed at least some emotion now, as the energy immediately bit sharply into the mind, causing a headache, thereby hinting that any feelings now are her worst enemy.

Grimacing, Kyon took the ball in his hands and frowned sharply: the purity was 40%!

Any of the three legendary alchemists of the 1st rank would have gone crazy to find out that the messenger of the goddess managed to make the medicine of such a level and of such high quality on the first attempt, without the recipe, having only the list of ingredients. Lovr, however, was not at all satisfied with this result. In two attempts, he must not only create medicine with a purity of at least 66%, but also set a trap.

{Why so little? Is it really because of the binding ingredients again?}

During the manufacture of the medicine, Kyon used the best binding ingredients that can only be found all over the world, and even so he achieved only 40% purity. However, he noticed a few minor mistakes made due to the fact that he was dealing with such unique, rare and energy-intensive ingredients for the first time.

Getting rid of unnecessary hesitation, Kyon put away the first pill and started making the new one, this time intending to avoid previous mistakes. He decided that two of the three medicines of "Frozen heart" would be without a catch, that is, trial and suitable for sale in order to maximize the purity of the final sample.

6 hours later, a new azure flash lit up the room…

{Fifty percent…} – Lovr realized with despair, ignoring the headache attack. It seems that this is a theoretically possible maximum, because there are simply no sufficiently high-quality binding ingredients. So he made a blunder?

There are 2 days left until the end of the month allotted by Elsa, and Kyon suddenly realized that he would not be able to cope with this. Only if he once again does not go against the basic principles of alchemy and does not come out victorious… He must perform a miracle!

Lovr set himself the following task: to make "Upstream" medicine with a purity higher than 90% at any price.

Kyon plunged headlong into experiments. He used Synergy, tried to fuse two binding ingredients into one, practiced enchanting and more. He was failing all the time. Time after time, he received 90% purity, as if it were some kind of indestructible ceiling. Well, you can't build a skyscraper with wooden planks! He needs other materials.

Lovr was gradually overcome by despair. There is a little more than a day left, and Juno is talking to herself, trying to hint at something. I'm busy, you lustful fool! Even if he wanted to, he still couldn't because of Elsa.

Obviously, over the past month, the blonde only miraculously did not go crazy. Every day she unsuccessfully tried to satisfy herself with thoughts of Lovr. Perhaps anyone in her place would have long ago broken down and gone to seek satisfaction elsewhere.

Frowning and tired, Kyon leaned back in his chair and thought: {The foundation of the bridge cannot be changed. I'm not a god to turn wood into metal. But then how am I supposed to transport a heavy vat of water over a flimsy bridge without spilling the contents? Can I somehow divide the water into parts, or even lay a pipe? No… It's impossible. The moment of merging occurs strictly in a second, and this period cannot be increased. This is the fundamental principle of alchemy. Stop… STOP!}