There is nothing impossible in advanced alchemy. -Universal skill to match the other world-

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"I'm Marzen. Half an alchemist."

"I'm Turner. Thank you for fixing the carriage earlier -! Without Mr. Marzen, I'd have been stuck over there forever. Yo!

About ten minutes after I fixed the carriage.

We were introducing ourselves to each other as we walked behind a carriage loaded with luggage.

Turner's words are superficially friendly.

Being helped and thankful also seems like a sincere word.

But......

(... you're on guard)

Turner's gaze is poured on his hands and feet, not on my face.

It's as if I suddenly take it out even in a dark vessel and worry about killing Turner.

Am I that suspicious?

... No, if you think about it, it's natural to be suspicious.

If a guy from a country that doesn't even know his name, doesn't even know the currency of that country, suddenly shows up in front of him, everyone is on guard. Even I would be on guard.

With that in mind, I'm going to ask Tania about the current state of the country, society, and then the currency.

First, I need to tap the basics into my head.

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"So, this is 100,000 geese gold coins. There are big gold coins and white gold coins on the top more, but I don't normally use them, so it's okay. Yikes!

That's what Turner tells me. He shows me a coin that shines gold.

Apparently there are no banknotes in this country, and everything is like coins.

But...... those gold coins and those are of low quality nonetheless.

A fairly low-skilled foundry or something just poured gold into a properly made template... and so on.

No magical anti-camouflage measures or other tricks have been put in place to prevent them from being cast and crushed on the contrary.

Even for the gold used, the purity is probably quite low.

When I study alchemy, I somehow know the quality of the material just by looking at it... from that feeling, is the purity of gold something like 65%?

To be honest, I can do as much as I want if I want to counterfeit this or, conversely, cast it and make it just gold.

If gold coins are higher by the same weight, you can counterfeit them, or vice versa, if just gold is higher, you can crush them and turn them into extension sticks.

I'm not actually going to do it, but that means it's just a crude coin.

Currency is created by institutions at the heart of the country, such as counterfeiting measures.

What coins are at this level… Apparently, the decline in technology in this world is not the norm.

"Very well. Thanks."

Thanks to Tania, we largely understood the value of the currency.

The amount that the average person would normally get if he worked in a safe place for a day is roughly 10,000 guilders.

It seems like if you don't have the luxury, you can live a year for roughly 2 million guilders.

Given that, the reward of 50,000 guilders first presented seemed quite high.

If it's a 50,000 dollar alchemy repair, a carriage repair shop might be a good idea for the first money earner.

Well, considering it's convenient to find a broken carriage, it seems difficult to use it as the main source of funding.

"You're welcome -.... I wondered what kind of idiot you are because you don't even know the name of the country... are you smart?

"He said he was smart... I was just listening, why did you think that?

"The content of that question is not what stupid people do.... I don't normally ask what the revenue structure of labyrinth cities is like."

Until I got here, I had a lot of questions for Tania besides currency.

For example, about where to go.

Looks like the city we're headed to is called Maia Hart, a labyrinth city built around something called The Labyrinth.

'The Labyrinth' is like a giant cave stretched deep underground, and there's talk of demons inside.

There were demons in my time, but there was no such thing as a 'labyrinth'.

Perhaps in the last 500 years, we've made a new one.

The more I ask, the deeper the mystery about what happened during the 500 years I slept.

So I've been hearing root digging leaf digging about the difference between 500 years ago and the world today... and it looks like I've been certified 'smart' because of the content of that question.

Well, I have lived to be nearly a hundred years old, so it may well be that I have more knowledge than a normal eighteen.

"So what do we normally talk about?

"That's right... Mr. Marzen wants to go to the labyrinth city, right?

"Oh. I'm going to base my labyrinth city first"

From what I've heard, a place called the Labyrinth City attracts a large crowd of people from within the country.

I mean, it's tolerant of the rest of us, too.

Compared to normal cities and villages, it would be easier to blend in.

As a first base, it's not so bad.

"That means you're gonna be an adventurer, right? Then I think normal people want to be adventurers like this, defeat demons like this... and then they say how much they want to earn"

"I see... is that what a labyrinth city is all about"

"When I go to a labyrinth city, the market is set for someone who remembers my arm or who has trouble with gold.... I mean, were you in a labyrinth city without knowing that either?

"Oh, man, I didn't even know the currency of this country."

"... Speaking of which, I was. There's an imbalance between the level of knowledge and the level of thinking."

Looks like Tania remembered my level of knowledge when she heard what I said.

Turner continues his words, even as he looks a little awkward.

"If you don't have something you want to do, I don't recommend labyrinth cities. It's more rewarding than any other city, but it's probably dangerous."

"... is that what you want to do"

You never thought about it.

Anyway, I've never had the option to do anything other than research on alchemy.

Even when suddenly I am free, I have trouble figuring out what to do.

Think hard here for once.

What you want to do, what you want to do......

Yeah, I figured it out.

"Alchemy research."

Yeah, it's the same as before.

After all, I have nothing but alchemy.

Anyway, you even took rejuvenating pills to study alchemy.

Alchemy is also useful when you can do something else you want to do.

Medicine for immortality.

As the name suggests, it's a medicine that keeps you from getting old.

With that, you can do as much as you want in your infinite life.

I've already developed the recipe.

I just don't have enough arms yet to actually make it.

Conversely, if I hone my alchemy skills and prepare the ingredients, I can become immortal.

It would be enough afterwards to think about 'what you want to do' other than alchemy.

"Alchemy research...... does that have to be a labyrinth city -?

"I'm not saying you can't do it anywhere else, but you'd better get quality materials.... in the labyrinth and all, you get a lot of rare materials, don't you?

Turner told me that a labyrinth seems to be a treasure trove of quality materials.

If you want to do alchemy research, you will always need good materials.

If so, there is no place other than Labyrinth City where I should be based.

"Sure, if you dive into a deep hierarchy, you can get rare materials -... I don't get many of those materials on the market, so I hear it's hard to get them without being an adventurer on your own. Yo?

"Then be an adventurer"

"... is that an instant answer? Adventurers are dangerous, don't you regret it?

"Oh. If it's for the material, I'm prepared for some danger"

Get the materials you need, even if it's a disaster.

To do this, weapons, protective equipment, alchemy, magic, gold, and then to your own body. Use whatever you can.

That was the teacher's teaching.

Some of the teacher's teachings were unscrupulous, but I believe that teaching about materials was particularly beneficial among them.

Well, I've been dying a couple of times because of it.

Especially...... I really thought I would die when I challenged the solo crusade of "Dragon Bazeralmia in the Underworld" to get the scales that would be the ingredients of the medicine.

If I hadn't prepared the best quality potion I could make in 100 bottles, I would definitely have died.

Of course, pouring effort for materials is not the same as challenging reckless battles.

My challenge to the Dragon Bazelalumia in the Underworld was to have enough preparation and a chance to win.

It's a good memory now that I spent over a year just making potions and collecting materials as a pre fight prep.