Chapter 63

Chapter 63

"So, where's your wheelchair?"

"The servants took it. Father told me to exercise more."

Eve: "..."

She followed the frail young master, stopping and starting, until she could no longer bear his sluggish pace. Lifting the hem of her robe, she half-crouched before Lorca, took a deep breath, and said, "Get on."

Lorca looked at her, his expression somewhat cold. "What are you doing?"

"I'll carry you," Eve said, not thrilled about carrying anyone, but watching him struggle, gasping for breath with every few steps, gave her an inexplicable sense of guilt, as if she were mistreating a patient. She added, a hint of displeasure in her voice, "After all, I am your current chief alchemist. It wouldn't do for me to just stand by and watch you exert yourself like this."

Somehow, this remark pricked the young master's fragile self-esteem. He angrily refused Eve's offer. But after a while, seeing that Eve truly wasn't waiting for him and had continued walking at a normal pace, Lorca struggled to keep up for a bit before giving up entirely, leaning against the railing in resignation.

Outside the railing, branches stretched horizontally, and slender ivy swayed in the wind. Standing in the tree's shadow, a faint sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead. He lowered his eyes to the ground, doing his best to suppress the negative emotions welling up inside him.

"Sigh..."

An enlarged mask appeared right before his eyes. Eve, who had turned back halfway after realizing he wasn't following, crouched down again and looked up, asking, "Did I make you cry?"

"..." Lorca averted his gaze, avoiding her dark eyes. "No, I didn't."

"Can you still walk?"

Lorca fell silent.

Twenty seconds later, he obediently climbed onto the alchemist's not-so-broad back. Eve stood up and adjusted her grip. Due to years of chronic illness, Lorca was surprisingly light, and carrying him wasn't difficult, which somewhat mitigated her annoyance at this physical exertion.

But the person on her back didn't feel the same way. Lorca buried his face in the back of her neck, like a hamster refusing to face reality.

This was too much... Even with his poor health, no one outside his family had ever been this close to him. And the feeling Eve's proximity brought was entirely different from that of family. He couldn't quite articulate it, but an instinct compelled him to draw even closer to Eve.

He didn't know the source of this urge, but as he felt the young girl's warm body temperature, a soothing sensation seemed to slowly spread within him. Lorca simply closed his eyes, pretending to be dizzy.

Eve had no idea what was going through his mind. All she felt was the person on her back snuggling up like a small animal, then becoming utterly still, as if devoid of life. Her heart tightened—surely not?

He had been walking on his own initially, hadn't he? It couldn't be that leaving him here for a moment would cause him to ascend to heaven, could it?

But his past record was too "illustrious." Whether it was his helplessness when his wheelchair slid into a ditch with a dead branch, or his helplessness after holding a gun for a short while, or what just happened today—his helplessness after being exposed to the wind for a bit—in short, Eve's right eyelid twitched slightly. After taking a few steps and feeling no movement or response from the person on her back, even her expression under the mask changed.

She quickened her pace, intending to get him into the laboratory and administer some medicine without further ado.

The Oliver family had many alchemy laboratories, each with its own style, capable of meeting the needs of alchemists from almost all schools. Among these, due to his toxic condition, Lorca had been allocated an additional laboratory, exclusively for his chief alchemist.

The private laboratory was on the same floor as Lorca's room, and Eve was now staying directly opposite him. The castle had an elevator, but the two had been lingering in a secluded part of the back corridor, far from the main castle. This was precisely why Eve had been annoyed by Lorca's slow pace and offered to carry him earlier.

Originally, Eve had planned to save Lorca some dignity by setting him down at the door. But now, seeing him appear almost lifeless, she no longer cared about such trivialities. She swept through the living room like a gust of wind and then whisked him into the elevator.

Ludwig, who happened to be passing through the living room while looking for someone: "Huh?"

What just rushed past?

With so many alchemists in the house, Ludwig had grown accustomed to mysterious incidents occurring at any moment. He merely scowled, rubbed his nose, and didn't dwell on it. By the time he turned around, he had already forgotten about it.

It wasn't until they were in the elevator that Eve gently set him down. She stared at his perpetually paper-pale face for a long time but couldn't discern his condition. Hesitantly, she asked, "Are you alright?"

Lorca shook his head, his voice soft. "I'm fine."

Relieved that he could still speak, Eve breathed a sigh of relief.

The Oliver family never skimped on alchemy. In Eve's opinion, the laboratory allocated to Lorca was on par with the one the Medici family had specially built for Lorin.

After explaining her purpose, the housekeeper retrieved the corresponding key and placed it in Eve's hand, saying, "This key is for this laboratory. There are only two in total, and copying it is not convenient, so please take good care of it."

Eve looked down at the cold, hard object in her palm—a small black iron key with a green energy stone embedded in the handle. The lock also had a corresponding alchemical formula. When inserted, the energy stone on the key would release an energy signature that resonated with the alchemical formula on the lock, thus unlocking the door.

It was an intricate setup. To design such a clever opening mechanism for a mere laboratory was quite unusual, as laboratories weren't typically considered highly valuable or secret places.

This could only mean that the Oliver family's regard and favoritism for Lorca were truly exceptional.

Eve felt another pang of envy, this time purely out of resentment toward the wealthy. After she took the key, the Mirage hanging from her neck, disguised as a pendant, began to hum slightly. This indicated that the energy stone could also be used to recharge the Mirage.

And only high-grade energy stones, which were astronomically expensive, could recharge advanced alchemical artifacts.

She pinched the energy stone on the key handle before stuffing it into her pocket.

After entering the laboratory, Eve closed the door behind her and casually asked, "Does the other key the housekeeper mentioned belong to you?"

"No."

"Then who has it?" Eve turned to look at him.

"Uncle Louis."

Lorca found a chair and sat down, a faint, mask-like smile on his face. He said gently, "It's so he can access it in case of an emergency."

The answer sounded somewhat subtle. Eve carefully observed Lorca's expression but detected no resentment or suspicion. For a moment, she wasn't sure whether she should voice her suspicions about Louis.

She cleared her throat twice and decided to keep her unilateral speculations to herself for now. Instead, she began to survey the laboratory.

It was fully equipped with a variety of materials, including some precious alchemical raw ingredients. The walls were designed like bookshelves.

Eve quickly prepared two tubes of blood-replenishing and energy-restoring potions, handed them to Lorca, and then, driven by intense curiosity, began flipping through the books on the shelves.

The bookshelves were filled with alchemists' manuscript collections. Eve opened several volumes and was surprised to find that they were all copies.

Due to the unique language used, copying alchemists' manuscripts was extremely difficult. Most were written in alchemical ciphers, which, in Eve's opinion, was a deliberate but effective means of creating a knowledge monopoly.

This meant that only those who could understand the alchemical ciphers could transcribe these texts. Most alchemists only went through the trouble of copying manuscripts when they needed to borrow them. Otherwise, only one-star alchemy apprentices, under their masters' instructions, would copy manuscript collections. Alchemists of two stars and above rarely engaged in such purely manual labor.

Thus, even copies of alchemical manuscripts were highly valuable.

Nevertheless, Eve found it very strange that the shelves were filled with copies. She didn't think the Oliver family's collection was so limited that they couldn't place an original manuscript here.

Coupled with the fact that the laboratory key wasn't given to Lorca, the actual user, but instead given to Louis under some excuse, both situations seemed quite illogical. After pondering for a long time, a highly probable reason emerged in her mind.

Eve turned to the other person in the room, who was sitting peacefully in a chair, and asked, "Did you cause some trouble in this alchemy laboratory before?"

"..."

Lorca suddenly fell silent, simply watching her with his calm green eyes.

Eve: "."

She knew this guy wasn't as innocent as he seemed.

The topic was a bit awkward. Lorca, of course, was too embarrassed to admit what he had done in this place when he was younger.

Conveniently, the main table in the laboratory was a long one. He instinctively took a seat opposite the head seat, staring intently at the black-robed alchemist. Deciding to change the subject to capture her attention, he asked, "How do you plan to examine me?"

Of course, with her spiritual state.

Eve was about to reach out when hesitation suddenly crept in. Lorca probably didn't know the specifics of her spiritual state ability—only that she could hypnotize. But in reality, she was also considering whether to let Lorca know about her spiritual state ability now.

He was different from Alice. Alice's spiritual form was the queen bee, even more dangerous than Eve's. Both of them had a need for secrecy, and as someone Eve saw as a promising professional partner, she didn't mind telling Alice about her spiritual state ability in advance to build a solid foundation of trust between them.

But what did Lorca have to do with her in the future?

It was just a transaction of mutual benefit—was it really necessary to disclose her ability?

Eve's outstretched hand paused, and her gaze cooled inch by inch. She asked Lorca, "What level is your psychic ability?"

"Class A, but it's meaningless," the young man said, lowering his handsome brows. "I have a toxic condition that prevents me from using my psychic energy."

Eve knew the latter point—Agnes's notes had mentioned that Lorca would suffer headaches whenever he tried to use his psychic energy due to the toxin.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered that the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent preferred to stay in the real world rather than return to the spiritual world. And having a spiritual form constantly active would drain its master's psychic energy.

Didn't that mean Lorca had been enduring headaches all along?

"Have you been having headaches all this time?"

Hearing this, Lorca instinctively tightened his grip on the pain relief potion in his pocket and almost denied it. But honesty was a virtue for patients, so after a moment of silence, he said, "A little."

Eve took one look at his expression and knew his stubborn habit of avoiding the truth had resurfaced.

She sighed and beckoned him to come closer. Lorca obediently leaned in. Eve tapped a finger on his forehead, and her psychic energy flowed like clear water, instantly straightening out the chaotic mental landscape in his mind and driving away the headache. But it was immediately replaced by overwhelming sleepiness.

This technique was all too familiar. Before shock could fully register in Lorca’s eyes, his eyelids drooped, and his head slumped forward.

Eve quickly reached out, catching his falling head with a soft thud. She adjusted his position on the table to prevent poor blood circulation while he slept.

Class A psychic energy was within Eve’s control but not yet something she could manipulate freely. So, she decided to knock him out before proceeding with the next steps.

Her slender fingers spread out and pressed against Lorca’s crown, continuing to channel psychic energy.

Eve didn't know that Lorca carried a defensive alchemical tool crafted by a five-star alchemist. Fortunately, she meant no harm, and her initial act of relieving his headache was interpreted by the tool as a good intention. Thus, her psychic energy encountered no resistance.

Silver-glowing psychic energy flowed like an endless tide, sliding down Lorca’s nerve channels while carefully avoiding the ominous gray mental factors. Everything Eve sensed and saw was what her psychic energy could perceive. As she had suspected, Lorca’s toxic condition, though stubborn, had developed some resistance after coexisting with it for over a decade. The spread wasn’t rapid, and he could probably live two or three more years without issue.

In the original story, his premature death was most likely due to the aftermath of Agnes’s failed surgery.

Eve couldn't help but feel a sense of relief that she had stopped that surgery—it had saved her a lot of trouble now.

The planned treatment involved three steps. Since gathering materials for the decomposition potion would take some time, and Lorca’s body needed special conditioning before formal treatment could begin.

Eve wasn't sure if she could successfully create a high-level alchemical potion on her first try. She could have commissioned a senior alchemist from the Oliver family to help, but Louis’s unusual reaction earlier had made her suspicious.

...It was better not to trust others too much. After all, Lorca’s toxic condition was a result of the Oliver family’s internal strife over a decade ago.

If there were traitors back then, how could she be sure everyone was loyal now?

So, Eve changed her mind. She decided to handle every step of the treatment personally as much as possible. The first step was to gradually alter Lorca’s constitution, conditioning his body to withstand the toxin’s decomposition process. At the same time, she needed to practice crafting the decomposition potion.

The decomposition potion was a high-level potion. Without trusting the Oliver family’s senior alchemists, Eve would need to find another senior alchemist willing to teach her, one without conflicting interests, to guide her through this step.

The second step involved having him drink the decomposition potion and gradually transferring the toxin into the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent. The final step was standard follow-up conditioning.

She planned to channel the toxin into the red flower on the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent’s head—a mutation spawned by the toxin itself, which should adapt better to the decomposed toxin than the serpent’s main body.

However, with no prior cases like this, even Eve wasn’t sure what effect it would have on the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent.

Psychic energy slowly withdrew from between Lorca’s brows, flowing back into the girl’s fingers. Eve lightly tapped the table, using the rhythmic sound to organize her thoughts.

She was pondering the potion brewing problem. The concoction for physical conditioning was easy enough, and the materials for the decomposition potion, though precious, weren’t a problem—the Oliver family was well-stocked with those resources.

But the real question was where to find an alchemist willing to teach her.

Senior alchemists... The Oliver family’s monopoly on alchemy was too absolute. If this family had internal issues, the entire alchemy world became untrustworthy. Eve found herself briefly missing Agnes again—there weren’t many good people like her who truly valued talent.

Wait.

A figure suddenly appeared in Eve’s mind.

She recalled there was another senior alchemist who wasn’t afraid of powerful families.

Her fingers subtly moved to her ear clip, an alchemical tool used for communication.

After Lorin discovered she had been poisoned targeting her psychic energy and spiritual form, she mentioned having a mysterious teacher whose research coincidentally focused on that area.

Come to think of it, Lorca’s current problem was somewhat similar to hers back then.

Eve didn’t hesitate any longer. She fed psychic energy into the ear clip, and the ring-shaped alloy began to glow faintly. But just then, a series of rapid knocks came from outside the door. Inside, Lorca was still slumped on the table, wrapped in sleep, though his eyelashes fluttered slightly at the urgent knocking.

With a faint "snap," the ear clip’s light extinguished before it could fully activate.