"Suffering, so much suffering."

In the workshop, Ji Jue, covered in grime, opened his eyes and crawled up from the floor, wailing, "So painful, I'm in so much pain."

To be honest, he had been prepared for hardship but never imagined it would be this severe.

A mere week felt like an eternity in hell.

Professor Ye didn't subscribe to any cramming boot camp; quite the contrary, she valued a balance between work and rest. Aside from having Ji Jue continue the exercises he had been practicing previously and keep using up the junk and scraps in the storehouse, she only added two fixed classes to his daily routine.

An hour-long basic lecture delved into the specifics of the four main elements, their subcategories, and various fields of alchemy, ranging from Superior to blessings to the application of runes under different conditions.

Pure theory.

Ji Jue soaked it up eagerly.

Then came... the catastrophic practical classes.

Under Professor Ye's guidance, he practiced with the scrap materials in the warehouse. She would explain the creation process of those scraps and the problems they encountered and would precisely assess Ji Jue's abilities; then she'd issue him a challenge that either barely reached his limits or slightly exceeded his capability, pushing him to practice hands-on.

Etching spiritual circuits, engraving multiple runes, connecting emblems of the Superior—these were all issues that were not in textbooks but exceptionally problematic or prone to errors in practice!

As a result, Ji Jue began a vicious cycle of failed attempts, trying, failing, and then trying again, only to fail and try once more until finally achieving success. Then, with a new problem, the cycle of failure would begin anew.

The physical depletion of spiritual materials was one thing, but the unending psychological blows were relentless and unbearable, to the point where just approaching the Melting Furnace would involuntarily tighten his grip out of fear.

Afraid.

Wouldn't it be better to have the damned furnace come to life and fight him? That would be less torturous!

Although under this pressure, his skills improved leaps and bounds daily, the process was indeed quite torturous.

And just when Ji Jue, by fiercely slaving away, had finally managed to activate all the emblems of the Twelve Superior, a new course of study began.

"As a craftsman, one must understand the alchemy items they use, especially those utilized personally."

Professor Ye said indifferently, "In general, an ambitious craftsman does not use others' creations, not only due to trust in their own skills but for many practical reasons as well."

On one hand, items crafted by oneself are naturally better understood in terms of their usage, optimal operation, over-limit potential, and limits.

On the other hand, it's because... items made by others often contained too many hidden pitfalls!

Modern artifacts were still manageable, the worst being they might come fitted with surveillance and backdoors, recording your spiritual fluctuations, physical conditions, and detailed capability effects, leaving nothing private... that was still not the worst. Imagine suddenly having it fail on you during a battle due to someone exploiting the backdoor—nothing left but to wait for death.

Going further back to the era of calamities, or even earlier... it was essentially a free-for-all quality contest!

Before the era of the Taiyi Ring, the environment for craftsmanship was abysmally low, and unprincipled craftsmen continuously innovated in their malpractices. Just looking at artifacts unearthed today, some demand a sacrifice of your life over time, abruptly mutate, curse all your friends and family to death, hide millennia-old spirits that come out to murder your family at night, or slowly erode your soul, seeking to rebirth in your body...

It was a real eye-opener for Ji Jue!

Under Professor Ye's stern guidance, he ingrained a sense of caution deep into his mind—when encountering unknown, seemingly powerful items in ancient tombs, the Crack Realm, or the Time Ruins, if it's unclear, then just walk around, keep your distance, and don't touch no matter how alluring. Some lucky ones might come across a thousand items without incident, while the unlucky might perish without even touching one.

Therefore, the pressing issue at hand was to thoroughly understand the principles, materials, and effects of the alchemy items he carried, such as the fragment of the Emperor figurine—known as the Ancient's Mouth—hanging around Ji Jue's neck.

Of course, as a representation of the Emperor and an official souvenir of the Eternal Empire, no craftsman was gutsy enough to tamper with it. However, to showcase the splendor of the Empire and the dignity of the Emperor, it had to be crafted flawlessly.

This marked the beginning of hell...

Within a fragment the size of a thumb, there lay thousands of spiritual circuits, hundreds of miniature runes, and more than nine Superior Emblems... Most of them were already damaged, the runes and emblems' symbiotic blessings entirely lost, leaving behind only a single blessing.

According to Ji Jue's estimate, in its complete state, the complexity would exceed this shard by a hundred or even a thousand times!

Inside a workshop, dozens of craftsmen could spend decades, sparing no expense in materials, to create such a symbolic item—a depiction of the extravagance and madness of the Eternal Empire.

With Ji Jue's current level of expertise, let alone replicate it, just understanding and analyzing its structure was nearly costing him his life.

How was this different from asking a middle school student who had only attended a few math classes to analyze a paper on advanced calculus? Furthermore, this was just two pages of a fragment, yet he had to figure out the meaning, the calculations, and why it was calculated that way.

"Just let me die..."

Ji Jue lay with his face on the desk, groaning in despair.

"We've barely started, haven't we?"

Beside him, the recently recovered Ye Chun gloated at his plight, "I endured this kind of life for well over a year when I was younger."

In reality, within the first week, Professor Ye had realized her niece was not cut out for this but didn't stop, completely ignoring Ye Chun's cries and Little Pearl's pleadings.

During that year-long period, she crammed every piece of knowledge a Chosen One needed to know and understand—from alchemy to appraisal and all-encompassing general knowledge, as well as all the courses from middle school to university—straight into Ye Chun's brain.

Only when she was sure that Ye Chun could survive on her own and live well did she stop.

Afterward, she swiftly plummeted into a life of idleness.

Every day she lazed around with the air of someone who lived solely to make spicy crayfish-flavored chips more expensive—an attitude that was truly enviable... despicable!

"Here, want some?" Ye Chun offered the chips in her hand.

Ji Jue glared in annoyance—did I look like someone who craved your chips?

Then he subconsciously opened his mouth to accept.

"...Yes!"

"Alright, stop howling. Your aunt is stepping out today; you're on holiday."

After feeding the half-bag of potato chips, Ye Chun, feeling she had already had a tough day, lay back down on the sofa and waved her hand, "Aren't you supposed to go to the Security Bureau? Don't cause any more trouble."

"What do you mean 'cause trouble'? I'm such a peace-loving person, afraid to hurt even ants when sweeping, cherish the moths around the light, I hate causing trouble."

Ji Jue rebuked solemnly, and after freshening up briefly in the downstairs communal bathroom, he happily shouldered his bag and left the house with his little calf horse.

The sun was bright and the breeze was refreshing.

Praise freedom!

If the classes could be a bit easier tomorrow, that would be even more liberating!

He whistled, sent a message to Wen Wen, and then followed the address she had given all the way to the bustling commercial district in the Northern Mountain District, double-checking the address.

He looked up ahead.

All he saw was a massive shopping mall, bustling with people.

"Holy shit?"

Ji Jue scratched his head, "Is the Security Bureau really this down-to-earth?"

"Because Sister Wen said a lively place helps with the mood," someone replied from behind.

Ji Jue turned, startled, and saw the child with a cane. With ear-length short hair and a youthful face, they looked like they were still in middle school, their greenness striking.

"Hello, are you Brother Ji Jue?" The newcomer asked politely.

"Ah?"

Ji Jue paused, and then, recognizing the person he had seen behind Wen Wen at the scene the day before yesterday, he warmed up instantly and reached out his hand, "May I know your name?"

"An Ran, like 'peaceful' An and 'then' Ran. Brother Ji Jue, you can call me Little An or Little Ran," the child said with a beaming smile, "It's perfect timing; I just arrived. I'll show you upstairs, let's go."

With that, An Ran took the lead with the cane in hand.

Ji Jue obediently followed, but he couldn't help but speculate as he glanced over the child's figure... Is this a boy or girl?

"It's a boy."

An Ran, walking ahead, called back without turning his head.

"Ah?"

Ji Jue was shocked. Could this be the legendary mind reader?

"I'm not a Chosen One of the Heart Core, every generation in my family are White Deers."

An Ran turned around with a hearty smile, "But, it's common for people to be curious when they meet me for the first time. Maybe because I can't exercise, my skin and physique aren't very good, so it's easy to get confused."

No, no, no, this isn't about skin and physique, right?

Ji Jue looked up, noticing the delicate cheeks of the other in the reflection of the shop windows, shoot, his thoughts began to slip... What's with the sensation of his heart pounding out of his chest?!

Following behind An Ran, he finally got a sense of the Security Bureau's grandeur.

Even if it was just the Northern Mountain District branch, they had wrapped up an entire floor of the shopping mall and even had a dedicated elevator. According to An Ran, there were even more exaggerated setups elsewhere.

The branch in the Southern Mountain District had gone all out to build a forty-story building just for themselves, and then the leader Lu Shenzhou blatantly misused his position to open the biggest, most comprehensive, and most badass 24-hour gym in the entire Cliff City... Just the thought of it was a spiritual wound to someone like Ji Jue who had to take out loans for school.

"We're here."

In the elevator, An Ran suddenly announced.

With a ding, the elevator door slowly opened.

And then, a shrill scream hit them like a nightmare...

.

Half a minute earlier, in the lobby.

Calling it a lobby was really just a rest area for members of the Northern Mountain District Security Bureau, complete with sofas, TVs, and unlimited free snacks, enough to satisfy someone like Tong Hua who could lounge for twenty-four hours straight.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, he's here! The famous Brother Ji is here!"

Tong Hua clutched her phone, fist-pumping with unbridled excitement and letting out a wild cheer, "Quack, I'm going to perform Brother Ji's famous quotes live today!

My performance definitely won't disappoint Brother Ji!"

Camera, on!

Recording, start!

Her eyes were shining, full of anticipation.

I, Tong Hua, am about to personally document this glorious moment of Brother Ji!

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