Chapter 528: Turning Stone into Gold
“Could it be…” Archer’s voice had gone thin. “Have you extracted the Philosopher’s Stone?”
The hall had gone completely quiet — the particular quiet of a room full of people who are all holding the same breath.
The Philosopher’s Stone was the culmination: the ancient claim at the center of everything alchemy promised to become. In its most powerful form it was said to transform any substance into anything else — common metal to gold, unlimited and forever. It was from this claim that alchemy drew its old name, the art of philosophy. Turning stone into gold. The phrase was not metaphorical.
“A stone that transforms everything.” Kyle waved a dismissive hand. “That was an invention by ancient alchemists who wanted a shortcut.” He reached into his bag. “What I am about to show you is something older than that.”
He produced a pipe made of crystal glass — thick as two fingers, sealed at both ends, containing a reddish-brown powder packed inside so densely it had no room to shift. The glass was first-rate work; Retnin could see that immediately, and he registered, with a small additional unease, that neither he nor anyone else in this room had produced a vessel of exactly that form.
Kyle asked for a glass of clean water. While the water was brought, he selected a green alum stone from the table and used it to smash one sealed end of the pipe.
Someone in the crowd made a pained noise. The crystal glass was extraordinary — the kind of piece that took careful, expert work to produce. Kyle had just broken it.
Retnin forced himself to watch. The broken end scattered into pieces, and Kyle tipped the brownish-red powder into the water glass, holding it over the opening. The powder dissolved. The water slowly became yellow-green.
“Do you have lead bars?” Kyle asked. “The best quality you have.”
“One moment,” Rayleigh said. His anger had been subsumed by something more complicated. “If this is an alchemic reaction, the operator should make no difference. I’ve seen street performers switch bronze coins for gold in front of a crowd.” He glanced at the other two chiefs. “I don’t doubt your knowledge — but on a matter like this, we should insist on verifying it ourselves.”
Archer nodded slowly.
Retnin hesitated. Comparing Kyle Sichi to a street performer was not a subtle insult. But the Workshop had to stand together. “I agree as well.”
He expected fury. Kyle Sichi simply smiled. “Of course. The process works regardless of who completes the final step. That is precisely what I mean when I say alchemy is simple and orderly. Who would like to proceed?”
I have to know. The thought moved through Retnin before he could weigh it. He stepped forward. “I will.”
The apprentice brought a cotton-lined box containing the Workshop’s best refined lead rods — green-and-white, very pure. Retnin selected one and held it over the yellow-green liquid. His hands, he noted, were not entirely steady.
He lowered the rod into the glass.
A golden tint appeared on the lead’s surface.
“Look — something is growing from it—”
“It’s gold-colored—”
“Is that real gold? It could be copper—”
“How is that possible—”
The voices around Retnin had become a blur. He stared at the rod in the yellow-green water and watched the golden filaments extend from its surface like coral reaching toward light, and felt the world shift under him in a way that had nothing to do with his feet.
If Kyle was right — if alchemy is truly constant and precise and the chaos is only our misunderstanding — then what have I been doing for thirty years?
When he lifted the rod, the surface had bloomed with gold-colored growth.
“That’s copper!” Rayleigh had one more line of defense left in him. “It must be copper. This is impossible — if you knew how to produce gold, you’d have bought the entire Kingdom of Graycastle by now instead of serving as some small town’s chief alchemist!”
“I am not here for gold royals.” Kyle’s voice came from somewhere calm and very far away. “I am here to understand the world.”
Then: “You can verify it. The difference between copper and gold is well known to alchemists of your caliber.”
A filament of the gold-colored growth was sliced away and placed on a plate over fire. Copper darkens under heat, turns into an ugly solid mass. This did not. It melted — flowing, liquid, the color of sunlight poured into a container — and ran across the plate like something alive.
True gold fears no fire.
It was real.
The Hall erupted.
“The transmutation formula exists!”
“Lord Kyle, what were those symbols you wrote earlier—”
“Where does this knowledge come from?”
“Lord Chief — are you still accepting students? I’d start as an apprentice—”
Kyle extended his arms and the noise gradually contracted. “Everything you have witnessed today comes from a more ancient field of study. It encompasses all possible alchemy formulas and explains the deep structure of the world. From it, you can even predict formulas that have never yet been discovered — and transmutation is not an exception. I can teach all of this. But you would have to follow me to the Western Region.”
The Western Region.
Retnin looked past Kyle to where Roland Wimbledon sat slightly to one side, wearing a small and composed smile, and understood in that instant that he had been watching a performance — a calculated one, elegant in its simplicity. The visit to the Workshop, the challenge, the demonstration: all of it had been aimed at exactly this moment. And it had worked completely. The enthusiasm in the hall had passed out of any single person’s control. No alchemist present would willingly stay in King’s City after today, not when the knowledge of transmutation was moving west.
The hundred-year-old Alchemist Workshop of King’s City had been dissolved in an afternoon.
Kyle crossed the hall and came to stand before Retnin.
“Do you remember,” he said quietly, “the apprentice who came to you twenty-seven years ago, trying to configure a gold solution? He failed the qualification test twice. You confiscated his money and banned him from the Workshop.” A pause. “The failure was mainly caused by insufficient acid concentration — something you should have provided.”
The apprentice— Memory and recognition collided. A face younger than the one before him, but the same bone structure, the same deliberateness in the eyes.
“You were the one I examined,” Retnin said.
“Yes.” Kyle nodded. “I am simply claiming what was taken from me.”
He said it without rancor. That, somehow, was the worst part — that there was no anger in it at all. Only the fact of it, stated plainly, after twenty-seven years.
Chapter 528: Turning Stone into Gold
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
“Could it be that… you’ve extracted the Philosopher’s Stone successfully?” Archer asked in a trembling voice.
The hall suddenly fell into pin-drop silence; it was perhaps an answer that everyone wanted to hear.
The Philosopher’s Stone the culmination of alchemy and the rumors claimed that it had the ability to transform anything, which was the very reason why alchemy was called the art of philosophy. When used as a medium, it could transform a generic metal or lead into gold, creating unlimited wealth; it was also the origin of the term “turning stone into gold”.
“A stone that can transform everything… it was simply an invention of the ancient alchemist who wanted to be lazy,” Kyle waved a hand and said, “And, what I’m about to show you is the mystery of the world.”
He pulled out a strange-looking pipe, which was made of crystal glass, from his bag and generously displayed it in front of the alchemists.
Everyone, including Retnin, was stretching their neck to take a peek at it. The pipe was as thick as two fingers and was sealed at both ends. It contained some matte-looking, brownish-red powder that looked just like some dried soil at first glance. It was hard to imagine how that powder had gotten inside.
Kyle asked for a glass of clean water before he picked up a green alum stone from the table and used it to smash one end of the pipe, shattering it into pieces.
This caused a stir among the crowd.
Even Retnin was feeling greatly distressed; the immaculate transparent color showed that the tube was obviously made from first-class crystal glass, which must have taken the craftsman a lot of effort to make into such a symmetrical shape. Yet, Kyle simply smashed it to pieces. However, he realized that Prince Roland was not lying when he claimed that the domain had developed crystal glass since the Alchemist Workshop of King’s City would definitely not produce this type of strange vessel.
The water was quickly provided and Kyle poured the powder into the glass of water, and then the color of the water gradually turned into a yellow-green hue and the powder disappeared.
“Do you have any lead bars here?” he turned around and asked. “Give me two of the best quality.”
“Hang on!” Rayleigh said, “Since it’s an alchemic reaction, it shouldn’t matter who does it. I’ve seen some street performers who’re very good at covering-up; switching bronze royals into gold royals in front of a crowd… I’m not doubting you but it’s better to be cautious on such an occasion.” He looked at two of the other chiefs and said,”What do you think?”
“Indeed,” Archer slowly answered.
Retnin hesitated. It was obvious that Rayleigh was doubtful and comparing Kyle to the street performers was indeed quite disrespectful. However, he had to support the Alchemist Workshop in this situation. “I… agree as well.”
He was expecting the Chief Alchemist of Border Town to be furious. However, Kyle Sichi simply smiled and said, “Of course, there’s no difference if the last step is carried out by either the alchemist or the apprentice. Just as I mentioned, the essence of alchemy is simple, orderly and straightforward. Who would like to do it?”
“I’ll do it.” Retnin was so excited that he did not dare look at Kyle, but he was not able to resist his curiosity towards learning the art of turning-stoneinto-gold. “Can the glass of yellow-green liquid really transform the lead into gold?”
The apprentice quickly presented the materials—some green-and-white colored refined lead rods which were usually kept in a cotton-lined wooden box. They would be considered the best of the inventories. Retnin picked one up and carefully put it into the glass. To his surprise, he saw a golden tint appear on the surface of the lead bar!
He could feel his hands trembling uncontrollably.
“Look! It looks like something is growing out of it!”
“It’s golden… Oh God, it’s gold in color!”
“Is that gold?”
“It could be copper as well!”
The sounds of discussion behind Retnin grew louder. He turned around and realized that all of the alchemists and students were staring intently at the changes happening in the glass on the long table, with eyes wide open. They sounded surprised and unconvinced. All the while, Archer was looking lost and confused.
He was feeling the same at that moment… “Perhaps Kyle was right— alchemy is truly constant itself, completely simple and concise; and any selfassumed chaos is simply caused by making a wrong choice.”
In that case, what’s all of the decades of study for?
When the lead rod was lifted from the glass of water, there was already some filament blooming on the surface, resembling coral.
“These are all… copper!” Rayleigh was biting his lips and yelling with his last-ditch effort, “It’s impossible for you to know the way to transform stone into gold!” It makes no sense! Otherwise, you’d have bought the entire Kingdom of Graycastle with gold royals, instead of simply becoming a Lord’s Chief Alchemist of a small town!”
“I’m choosing this path, not for the gold royals but to understand the world.” Kyle’s voice seemed to come from far away. “If you don’t believe, you can
always examine it… I think as the Chief of King’s City, you would know the differences between copper and gold pretty well, so do you?”
However, there was no reversal to be incurred for a post-verification, a piece of the gold wire was sliced off and baked on a plate in the fire. It quickly melted indicating that it was gold. It was obviously not copper because copper would darken into an ugly solid mass under high temperature, while the flowing metal solution on the plate looked as bright and golden as the sun in the sky.
True gold fears no fire.
It was indeed real gold.
The hall already seethed with excitement!
“The alchemic formula for turning rock into gold does exist!”
“Lord Kyle, what were the symbols you wrote down on the paper just now?” Was that part of a higher-level formula?”
“Where exactly did you acquire all the knowledge from?”
“Lord Chief, do you still accept any student? I’m willing to start as an apprentice!”
Kyle Sichi extended his arms, intending to suppress the cheering noise. “Listen, everything you have seen today comes from a more ancient subject. It not only includes all the possible alchemy formulas but also discloses the mystery formed within the world! From it, you can even predict those alchemy formulas that have never been seen before, and turning stone into gold isn’t an exception! I could teach you all this, as long as you follow me to the Western Region!”
“To the Western Region?” Retnin became stiff, looking at Roland Wimbledon, His Majesty, who was sitting off to the side with a smile… “Is that the true purpose of why they’re here?” However, it was too late for him to realize how effective it would be. The enthusiasm on the scene had totally
gone out of his control. Imagine that who wouldn’t want to work for the association if he could master the art of turning stone into gold? Perhaps, none of the alchemists in the hall would stay, and the hundred-year-old Alchemist Workshop of King’s City had unexpectedly crumbled within a day.
Retnin noticed that Kyle was slowly walking towards him.
“Do you still remember the apprentice who wanted to configure the molten gold solution 27 years ago?” He leaned forward and whispered, “After failing the test twice, you took away his money and banned him from ever passing through the door of the association… In fact, the failure was mainly caused by a lack of acid concentration, which should have been provided by you.”
“You were the apprentice who was audited by me…” Retnin said in shock— the pieces of memory in his mind were overlapping with the silhouette in front of him.
“That’s right.” Kyle nodded. “I’m just claiming what I deserve.”
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I recommend a book titled “The Noble Evil King”, whose author is Kaihuang; the title may be slightly witless but the content is very good, please take a look if you are interested in~!