“Spirit Magic?” Anna mumbled in confusion as she stared at the ethereal ghost as if it were a fool.
Spirit Magic? And that she’s, according to who is supposedly her ancestor, insanely talented in this unknown Spirit Magic that he created? Doubt was a light way to describe her feelings right now, after all, this was something that would only occur in fictional stories with incredibly lucky protagonists.
Well, I did reincarnate, so it’s not that impossible. Anna silently coughed and cast her gaze at her ancestor with suspicion clear in her eyes.
“I know this might appear too sudden, and too shocking to you, but there’s a quick way I can resolve this,” the old old ghost said with a smile and stretched out his wrinkly finger. A strange milky white light then flew out of the old ghost’s outstretched finger, shooting straight at her at breakneck speeds, and entered her head.
Like a river drowning an entire village, Van Hisprite’s memories flooded her mind and she soon came to a clear understanding of the situation.
Van Hisprite was indeed her ancestor, a person who has lived from a very, very, long time ago. It was a normal life of a talented mage, a person who studied and roamed the world as an eccentric youth until finally developing his own magic, Spirit Magic.
Then with the usual twists and turns, romance came which then lead to him procreating with his wife, a noble lady of the Auburn family. He lead a life full of excitement and thrill, of glory and valor, but would soon come to a tragic end when a certain demonic alchemist started to capture and experiment on the innocent spirits all throughout the land.
This caused Van Hisprite to take action, leaving his family to help deal with this demonic alchemist. In the end, he found the alchemist and defeated him in a life-and-death battle, but not before receiving an incurable wound that would soon leave him to die.
Because of this, he desperately created his final inheritance, leaving it inside this dungeon abundant with spirits, and sealing the accursed book of forbidden knowledge created by the demonic alchemist inside his tomb.
Wow… Anna stared at her ancestor with a numb gaze. It sounded way too make-believe, as if it were a hastily crafted story - not just his memories, but the entire situation altogether. Who would even believe her if she were to explain it to someone?
“Look, look! I entered this super lame F Rank dungeon, found myself in a cave, and managed to find the inheritance left by my ancestor and found out I’m actually a super prodigy in the magic that he created!”
It was too coincidental with such an abysmal chance of happening, but it did. Not only was it real, the floating ghost in front of her was the biggest proof she would ever need to believe this absurd reality.
The only other thought she had inside her mind, other than bewilderment, was amusement. Why inside this random dungeon and not out there - in the outside world? She couldn’t really understand the thought process behind this decision, but oh well, all’s well that ends well.
“Fufufu, quite the glorious life your ancestor has led, right?” The old ghost laughed and rubbed his long white beard. He then coughed, waved his hand, formed a large ball of milky white light, and stared at Annabeth Auburn with a proud smile, before saying, “Now come! Receive the secrets of Spirit Magic, and spread the glory of the creation of your ancestor!”
“Lead this magic towards greater heights, my descendant, Annabeth Auburn!”
The ball of milky white light shot forward once again at unavoidable speeds, but this time, Anna was prepared and received it wholeheartedly with a smile.
…
“Damn, this guy’s coffin is extravagant as hell. Those are some real pricey jewels and gems.” Rob licked his lips but held back the urge to loot and instead observed the general design of the coffin to look for any kind of traps around it.
While he did find traces of magic, the flow of time caused them to be mere fragments of the past, and he deduced that he can safely open the coffin without any problem.
Treasure, treasure, give me some treasure! Rob smiled and pushed open the lid of the coffin with a wide smile. Even though he was desecrating the corpse of someone else, he couldn’t care less and was instead hoping to find something of value inside. It was like back in his tomb raider days, trespassing the sacred lands of those in eternal lest in hopes of finding some loot.
Would it have the inheritance of a great senior? Would the bones be some sort of priceless treasure? Would I find a lich that would teach me the dark arts of Death Magic? An almighty artifact, perhaps? Wait, maybe I’ll even find my own grandpa in a ring!
With a loud thud, the lid of the coffin was finally pushed to the side, and surprisingly, there was no accumulation of dust to billow out the moment he opened the coffin. Instead, he was greeted by a skeleton halfway through decay, with a significant portion of its frame already decaying beyond normalcy.
But, what caught Rob’s full attention was the leather-bound book held in between the crossed arms of the skeleton, a leather-bound book that seemed to call out to him, calling out to his luck!
Don’t tell me… this is my Opportunity?! No, there are actually two Opportunities waiting for her! Rob looked back at Anna in astonishment. Two Opportunities, this might have even caused her luck to reach a fraction of a World’s Chosen’s luck! This isn’t just a “when it rains, it pours,” moment, this is a damn flood!
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Well, well, well. The Opportunity belonging to someone who already has 5-S Luck has landed in my hands! Let’s see just how big of a fortune you are, eh?
With a yank and a pull, Rob carefully slid the book away from the skeleton’s hands and used his mana to push away the accumulated dust on the book. Based on touch alone, he could feel that the book was still okay, without any signs of decay at all!
This book must’ve been tampered with magic, the pages are still neat. Rob stared at the book and traced along the edges with a subtle smile. Rob then cautiously grabbed the cover of the book and pried it open.
Oscar Vane’s Alchemy Research Notes? This is a guy’s notebook? How grand! Rob wore a sarcastic grin and shook his head. Alchemy. That’s definitely something he wanted to meddle with in the future, so maybe this book would finally allow him to undertake that future endeavor.
As he flipped through the pages, he was greeted with normal contents for beginner alchemists, like healing potions or mana potions, and the later the page, the more complex and deep the knowledge was held.
There were even some potions and theoretical pieces of info that intrigued him, like the Increase Metabolism Potion or the Belly Fat Burner Potion. Some were even named Skin Whitening Potion and Hairless Limbs Potion. And scarily enough, there was a pair of potions simply named Male Potion and Female Potion.
Damn, this guy’s naming sense is straight to the point. Don’t tell me those are barbaric forms of testosterone and estrogen. No, wait, the ingredients listed on them are even more comprehensive than that. Don’t tell me those potions can allow one to actually change their biological sex?
Rob had already experienced the life of an alchemist in many of his previous lives in his journey to reach supremacy, but because he sealed away most of his knowledge, he had a hard time deducing the true effects of those potions.
If I had all of my knowledge and experience, then I would only need a mere thought to design a potion that can cause one to turn into a Reality Devourer.
Rob dismissed his useless thoughts of his almighty past and instead flipped through the book’s pages with newfound fervor. The book was truly interesting as if he were witnessing the descent of a genius alchemist into crazed madness, to peer into the depths of alchemy and learn of its arcane secrets.
Cat Human Potion, Hydra Regeneration Potion, Dragon Blood Potion. It wasn’t just potions, there were even other alchemical products and procedures that had interesting ideas. For example, one of Oscar Vane’s ideas was to create a heart that can continuously produce a synthetic Hydra’s blood, allowing one to acquire the poisonous blood of a Hydra endlessly, but that would kill its host because a human isn’t naturally resistant to the blood of a Hydra.
Another interesting idea was to transfer the modified flesh of a Royal Knight into that of a newborn child, to see whether or not he can create children with enhanced physical capabilities - he even had the novel idea of transplanting those cells into a fetus, both human and non-human.
Many of Oscar Vane’s ideas, the author of the book, were morally dubious, to say the least. The farther he got, the more mad the ideas became, as if Oscar Vane was hellbent on researching Alchemy to its limits.
It wasn’t just potions, he researched plants and herbs, biology, metals, ores, and almost everything related to alchemy. He researched the creation of artificial life and unknowingly created the framework for Homunculi life, he studied monsters and their effects when fused with the human body and found the existence of cells and DNA in the process, along with many other feats that were praiseworthy.
He was, in the truest essence of a word, a mad genius of alchemy!
His study has expanded upon multiple fields of arcane science. Biology, Chemistry, Medicine, even Engineering and so much more!
Golems, Homunculus, half-human hybrids, the creation of magical artifacts, the birth of biological weapons capable of theoretically killing entire kingdoms, along with an endless array of knowledge in numerous fields of magic!
Wait, this, this… Fuck. Rob paused as his eyes stared at a certain page in a daze. Two recipes were written out in clear detail, two certain recipes that almost drove him mad.
Philosopher’s Stone… and the Elixir of Life.
Eternal life of both body and soul… YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!
FUCK! Oh my god, what’s this? I have to sacrifice a million human souls? Oh? I have to gather the bullshit water of life from some stupid ass world tree?
ARGH!
Rob almost bashed in his head to the book and unseal his knowledge so he can go back in time and strangle Oscar Vane to death, but held it in and instead calmed down. He sighed, slumping his shoulders in helplessness.
So much for his peaceful and easygoing life. So much for his little secret goal of committing zero crimes - as long as the law stated it was a crime - as possible, kind of like a little side objective. He was going to be lucky after all, so he expected that he didn’t have to do any illegal activities.
But, nope! As if life was mocking his wishful thoughts, he was now here, bestowed with forbidden knowledge.
According to the book, the Elixir of Life would grant true biological immortality, with an endless lifespan and a body and mind that would never die. On the other hand, the Philosopher’s Stone would grant an eternal soul, soul immortality, basically.
It also stated a rather interesting tidbit, talking about greatly amplifying one’s ability in alchemy and alchemy magic, bypassing its greatest flaws, and removing the reliance on an Alchemist’s Body. But what was Alchemy Magic-
WAIT! How could he have been so stupid to not realize this?
With bated breath, Rob hastily looked to the side of the book, and as he had expected, half of the notebook was still unflipped.
If this is his pinnacle recipe in Alchemy, then the remaining pages must be… Rob flipped the page, and what he immediately saw was a string of words written in bold letters at the top of the page—ALCHEMY MAGIC NOTES.
“Oscar Vane, YOU FUCKING GENIUS!” Rob laughed loudly and stared at the ceiling, his eyes almost spatting out flames of endless joy.
This Opportunity… THIS OPPORTUNITY IS GOLDEN FINGER WORTHY!
My own luck, it even automatically rose to 1-A! Whew, I’m glad my connection with that Auburn lass is only shallow because a portion of my luck would have instead been shared with her.
Nice, nice! This is truly where my life would enter its astronomical rise!
…
Anna slowly woke up in a daze, and as her blurry vision returned to normal, she was shocked to see Rob holding a skull while standing right beside an open coffin.
“W-What are you doing?!” Anna shouted out in surprise. She was unable to believe what she is witnessing right now. She felt anger, confusion, and righteous fury because that skull belonged to none other than her own ancestor!
“Shush, I’m trying to look for treasure right now. Tsk, the only thing of value here is that coffin’s jewels.” Rob clicked his tongue and stared at Anna with an annoyed look.
“Hmm? Why are you so angry? Huh, woah, why are you creating a flame right now?!”
“Rob, you fucking bastard! I’m gonna kill you!”