Chapter 276: Ambrose's New Research |
After leaving the Court of the Silver Moon, Ambrose returned to his underground alchemical factory.
The deal hadn't gone through, but the trip was far from wasted. He had sold the secrets he uncovered about Arthur Lyon to Heki Stone, making a tidy profit of several million gold.
Out of consideration for their shared ties to the Elegiac Society, he'd even given the dwarf vampire a discount. Had it been anyone else, he would have demanded hundreds of millions without hesitation.
Upon learning the truth about the dragonblood curse, Heki Stone had howled in excitement for several straight minutes like an overgrown child. Then he promptly threw Ambrose out, declaring that he would be going into seclusion for the next few years to write a history book worthy of immortal fame.
Ambrose was delighted to hear it, and generously informed him that he expected half the royalties, plus credit as co-author.
When Heki Stone tried to argue that desert dwarves didn't recognize copyright claims, Ambrose calmly countered, "If you don't pay me or put my name on it, I'll sell this secret to other historians. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to meet my terms."
Heki Stone surrendered immediately. Compared to eternal fame, a bit of money and a name on the cover was a small price to pay. This was essentially hush money for the lich.
Satisfied, Ambrose returned to his factory.
A quick inspection showed everything was running smoothly.
There were already over a thousand bottles prepared. Ambrose had Harvey deliver them to surface distributors in preparation for the big debut.
Harvey asked curiously, "Master, what price are we setting for the sunscreen?"
Sunscreen currently sold for around ten gold coins per bottle, an outrageous luxury only nobles could afford. And since it had to be applied daily, one bottle would last at most half a month. No ordinary family could sustain that expense.
The price was a result of the rarity of mycelid spore powder.
Intending to break into the low-end market, Ambrose decisively set the price at five silver coins.
One gold coin was worth one hundred silver coins. This decision would transform sunscreen from a luxury item into something ordinary people could afford. Five silver coins wasn't cheap, but it was within reach, like an occasional decent meal.
He also planned to sell larger bottles that could last an entire month, making it even more cost-effective.
"Five silver coins per bottle, and a twenty-percent discount for those customers who recite a hymn to the God of Alchemy upon purchase."
"That cheap? Won't people think we're selling an inferior product?" Harvey asked.
He wasn't naïve. He understood how the market worked.
They weren't just launching a new product, but rather challenging established competitors. Those rivals would do anything to undermine them.
Lower price meant accusations of inferior materials, rumors of side effects, staged victims claiming harm—standard tactics.
If things escalated, it wouldn't be out of the question for thugs to smash Ambrose's storefronts.
Fortunately, their distributors were locals, so physical threats were less of a concern.
The real issue was reputation.
Ambrose smiled. "I've already prepared for that. Go to Alkhemia and bring my other student over. Her name is Isabel, and she's a rising star among alchemists. Have her produce our sunscreen on-site in the desert. That alone will silence most doubts."
Harvey nodded, realizing that Ambrose had planned for this.
Certainly he wouldn't be the one to question a legendary diviner's words.
Just as Harvey was about to leave, Ambrose called him back. "Wait. I just thought of another way to build our brand quickly. Take a block of ice to each distributor, coat it completely with our sunscreen, and have them display it outside their shops in direct sunlight."
Harvey blinked. "Our sunscreen is that effective? It can even stop ice from melting?"
Ambrose scoffed. "Of course not. I'm telling you to use a few tricks so the ice doesn't melt."
Harvey: "…"
Harvey was a diviner. How was he supposed to know that kind of magic?
"Anyway, I'm leaving it to you. Don't expect me to handle everything personally. Use your brain once in a while. If all you ever do is roll dice, your intelligence will deteriorate."
To be fair, Ambrose wasn't entirely exaggerating. Divination mages really did have that problem.
Those who relied too much on the dice of fate quickly grew lazy. Slowly, they would stop thinking for themselves and merely drift alongside the current.
Harvey didn't think he rolled dice all that often… but when his master put things that way, he could hardly refute him. As he walked off, he sank into deep thought.
How was he to keep ice from melting?
With his disciple off on an errand, Ambrose turned to his own tasks.
The alchemy factory required little attention. Everything was running smoothly and in perfect order.
What he needed to focus on now was the large-scale breeding of his living mercury slimes. Black Rose had grown increasingly eager to attack Lyon, and was now urging him to prepare an army. Vast quantities of ore were being teleported in, cost be damned.
Having taken the payment, Ambrose couldn't exactly slack off. He designated a section of the dungeon specifically for receiving ore and cultivating the slimes.
Fortunately, they were easy enough to raise. The living mercury slimes consumed metal and produced no waste; simply placing them together with ore was enough for them to automatically split and multiply.
Once the setup was complete, all that remained was periodic observation.
After finishing that, Ambrose returned to his laboratory and began a new series of experiments.
This time, instead of bones, his workbench was covered with mechanical components of various shapes and functions, along with a few weapons.
With a few quick movements, he assembled a palm-sized drone. Then he took out the God of Alchemy's coin, imbued the drone with the quality of "bone", and inserted an artificial soul within.
The propellers spun rapidly, and the drone lifted into the air.
"Forward. Backward. Left. Right. Up. Down…" Ambrose issued commands one after another, and the little machine executed them flawlessly.
Once he was finished, he set the drone aside and picked up a dagger, transforming it in the same way.
Then he created another artificial soul and placed it inside.
Before long, the dagger rose into the air as well. It hovered and darted about gracefully, following his commands with remarkable agility.
This was what people commonly referred to as a flying weapon. It wasn't unheard of for a soul to linger after death, binding itself to a beloved weapon or suit of armor and becoming a peculiar form of undead.
Weapons possessed in this way, so-called "flying weapons," could float freely and attack on their own. When armor was possessed, they were usually known as hollow armor or living armor.
Either way, the principles were the same: a soul used dark magic to control metal.
Such cases were rare, however. Metal was difficult to possess, and only particularly powerful undead could achieve it.
But Ambrose possessed a legendary blessing that allowed him to imbue materials with various attributes, making the creation of such constructs trivial.
"Imprinting flight onto the artificial soul… just as expected. The dagger becomes a flying blade. Decent speed, far more agile than the drone, but much less precise, and hovering is harder to maintain…"
Ambrose continued to create various forms of "undead" for comparison.
Mechanical undead excelled in precision and had low soul costs, but their movements were rigid. Their predictable patterns made them easy to anticipate.
Flying weapons and hollow armor, on the other hand, were entirely soul-driven. They moved with fluid unpredictability, their trajectories unconstrained by physical form.
If a drone and a flying dagger were to fight, the drone would lose without question.
However, the difference in cost was likewise immense.
At minimum, these constructs required souls imprinted with flight magic, making them far more expensive than mechanical variants. Hollow armor, in particular, required a soul powerful enough to mimic human movement, and was essentially equivalent to creating a high-tier undead.
Each had its own strengths and weaknesses. Ambrose would need to keep refining his constructs to identify their most compatible roles.
"Drones can be sold to adventurers. They already team up with necromancers, and these can scout and track targets. If they're priced low enough, they'll sell. As for flying weapons and hollow armor… those can be disguised as antiques and sold to collectors."
After all, only ancient items were typically possessed by spirits. By definition, that made them "antiques," and Ambrose's forgery techniques were flawless.
"And I'll issue a twenty percent discount if the buyer praises the God of Alchemy. That should help restore your power quickly, Master."
Everything Ambrose was doing was preparation for the coming chaos.
Lyon's fracture was imminent, and a continental war was inevitable. Once the struggle between Lyon and the Dragon Tyrant's legacy reached its conclusion, the gods would break their long-standing pact of non-intervention and begin influencing the mortal world directly.
Ambrose had to be ready.
These new forms of undead weren't just products, but rather weapons for the future.
Agile and nimble weapons capable of flight… If each carried a vial of explosive alchemical compound and dropped it from above… He let out a quiet chuckle. "I'll let my enemies experience modern warfare."
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