Apocalypse Forecast

Publius’s work?

Huai Shi realized, then turned to look at the skeleton.

His gaze turned suspicious.

Could this guy be messing with me?

"Don’t bother with that, Huai Shi."

Tong Ji patted her little wings, expressing pity, "It’s just remnants left from the past, after all. Whether it’s still Publius or something else is up for debate.

Moreover, have you ever sensed any malice from it?

Even if it has bits and pieces of Publius’s memory, it’s just a newborn that’s been in this world for mere half a month... Perhaps you should reflect on whether your heart is too dark?"

"...You’re the one who led me to think that!" Huai Shi fumed, how come the blame is on him again!

Also, what she mentioned about the grand ritual and miracle forge, what are those?

"It’s just the current Helios itself." Tong Ji replied, "Do you still remember the essence of alchemy?"

"Gain requires sacrifice?"

"Hmm, although it’s not entirely correct, it’s close enough. From some perspectives, this pertains to the foundation upon which physics exists, and is also the premise for alchemy to be viable.

Leading from this concept is the notion of ’miracle conservation’.

"In most alchemical processes, you create fertile chaos soil in a closed environment, and then extract whatever essences you need, while the discards become meaningless residue.

In other words—if you don’t eliminate the meaningless residue, then creating a true masterpiece becomes impossible."

Huai Shi rolled his eyes.

Whenever Tong Ji keeps things mysterious, she ends up saying a bunch of stuff he already knows. Yet, he suddenly realizes what Tong Ji meant.

Miracles don’t come out of nowhere.

Material or energy might be infinite, but to attain a miracle, a price must be paid.

As pure energy rises, impure energy must descend, thus forming the sky and earth.

’Ascent’ and ’descent’ are equivalences, both following the principle that disaster and miracle are two sides of the same coin.

If the initial value is 0, then the appearance of 1 must be balanced by the emergence of ’-1’, to maintain overall balance.

What differs is that profound alchemists can, through ritual, means, craft, and even experience, make the benefits of the work itself exceed its detriments.

If it’s some clumsy newbie or one who screws up everything, they can only hover between a ratio of 0=0. However, a beginner apprentice can already extract a precious essence from ten portions of Abyss sediment, achieving 1=10.

It’s also one of the rigorous standards by Stone Pot Society for assessing alchemists, and though numerous standards are referenced when evaluating results, in the end it can always be reduced to an intuitive outcome.

However, this accepted standard in the current circumstances is good and all, but the nagging part is that it was created by those dead nerds of Golden Dawn.

Those Solidifiers who’ve plunged into the Abyss were once exceptional geniuses for countless generations, naturally with a broad vision, their evaluations can be regarded as precise, but the price of too lofty a vision is they’ve never considered space for the incompetent.

At every upward level, the effort and talent required are almost several times those of all previous ones.

It can’t be called anything but rigorous.

In Stone Pot Society’s assessment, unless you reach the realm of 4=7, you can’t shed the apprentice title and be called a real alchemist.

And Huai Shi belongs to those problem children severely lopsided in their studies, barely breaking through the barrier of 7=4 with the various hacks of Alchemy Fire, Hand of Confinement, and Forgers’ craft, touching the edge of 8=3, confining within the realm of Metallography, within his own Soul Armor.

Once changing to another goal, he’d instantly be at a loss, restored to original form.

Possibly wouldn’t even reach the ordinary level of 6=5.

It’s no wonder that other alchemists aboard Helios aren’t fond of him. How does a deceitful cheater compete against those professionally trained?

As for the hardcore standard for Grandmasters, it’s the threshold of 10=1.

But this is just theoretical, reaching this level, the conversion ratio can no longer be measured in numbers, according to one’s strengths, the former could be almost infinitely large, or the latter could be infinitely small.

What is an ultimate limit for normal people is just the starting point for them.

Everyone has their own forte.

Take Grandmaster Mikhail, who excels at group alchemy and ultra-large forging, uniting all powers singlehandedly, the more people the better, the more qualified alchemists there are, the larger the things created, the faster the manufacturing speed.

Regarding Garand, that Old Turtle, Huai Shi doesn’t know much, but has heard he’s best at creating stigmata, and anything he forges will be divine artifacts enhancing Sublimators.

As for Publius, besides knowing he excels in Source Studies, Huai Shi knows nothing else.

"Looking at it now, he might probably excel in the aspect of Miracle Engraving? Source Substance is the soil from which divine nature germinates, that Grandmaster may not be easy to deal with either."

Tong Ji sighed lightly: "Just look at what’s before us and you’ll understand."

Huai Shi finally grasped her meaning.

Now in boundless space, on Jupiter, the former Authority Relic, Sun Chariot Helios, has been transformed by Publius into a supergiant alchemical pot.

Using the endless empty vacuum as isolation, the Miracle Engraving of the former Greek gods as the miracle’s cauldron, he extracted its endless energy and began an unprecedented mystic ritual.

And before them, this bizarre world, utterly deepened Hell, is residue extracted in the miracle refining process.

It’s not even the limit, the depth here is decreasing rapidly at a terrifying rate.

The mystic ritual is still ongoing.

Results are yet to be obtained!

So then, with turning all Helios into Hell as the price, what is it that he ultimately seeks?

Huai Shi was chilled throughout.

Recalling that gaze that makes his scalp tingle to this day, he reached an inconceivable conclusion.

"Of course, it’s god creation."

Tong Ji casually deduced: "Aside from Helios, where else within the current circumstances is free from the three major seals, yet rich in divine nature and the power of former gods?"

Aside from here, there’s no other place where he could achieve his aim.

—to recreate the gods of yore who were claimed by death!

In the silence, Huai Shi stiffly turned to look at the nearby skeleton, looking dumbfounded.

Amazing for being in such good spirits!