What Witch? This Alchemist is Breaking Bad!

Half a month later, in Rena’s cellar, Rena stood before an altar-styled surgical experiment table and placed a basin of ruby-like, vividly translucent liquid onto the altar.

Earlier, in the workshop inside the labyrinth, Leon had assisted Rena in slaughtering the Head-Hunting Rabbits and Slimes, carefully extracting the Head-Hunting Rabbits’ brains and hearts intact, along with the Slimes’ cores.

After washing them with limewater, they were added to a medicinal solution prepared by Rena, ground and extracted, then filtered.

New reagents were added, and the mixture was heated to react, producing these red liquids.

Up to this point, Leon could still help a little.

He could even strictly follow the steps and complete the process independently without relying on Rena, even if he did not fully understand the principles behind it.

But what came next was something only Rena could do—she was going to extract Mana here.

Rena placed the basin securely on the gray tabletop engraved with magic arrays, then covered it with a specially made arched glass lid.

A long blowpipe extended from the side of the lid, its end connected to a tadpole-shaped glass container.

A rune was carved into the tabletop directly beneath the container.

This was the distillation apparatus used in alchemy in this era.

Rena did not heat the container as one would in normal distillation procedures.

Instead, she placed both hands on either side of the basin filled with blood-red liquid, closed her eyes, entered meditation, and began to inject her magical power.

The magic array on the tabletop began to glow faintly.

Bubbles continuously emerged in the basin, and the liquid inside began to boil without any heating at all.

Leon stood to the side with his arms folded, watching.

If the previous steps could barely be considered within the realm of chemistry, then this stage had completely entered the domain of mysticism.

He recalled the excitement he had felt when he first crossed into this world and discovered the existence of supernatural forces.

Since it was another world, it naturally had to come with magic, cultivation, and extraordinary powers to make things interesting.

Although entering Church work had involved a certain degree of coincidence, it was mainly a path he had chosen himself.

In this world, extraordinary power was essentially monopolized by the Four Great Churches that worshipped the Four Gods of Origin.

Only the Church and its affiliated institutions possessed the resources that allowed people to receive divine blessings and gain transcendent power.

Reality, however, quickly poured a bucket of cold water over him.

As an ordinary civilian with no special connections, he did not even have the qualifications to participate in the selection for trainee knights.

At most, he could start as a menial Delegate Officer in the Church, then be selected to become an Inquisitor.

After diligently working for another ten or so years, he might be promoted to Captain—this was the career endpoint he could foresee.

Among the Inquisitors, only someone in a position like Director Caron Eso could obtain an official rank within the Church and thereby receive blessings.

Sitting in such a position required additional recommendation—either sufficient background, or the establishment of tremendous merit for the Church.

The former was impossible without starting over in life, while the latter was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that usually required gambling with one’s life.

By now, Leon had been tempered enough to gradually accept reality and had essentially given up on the unrealistic fantasy of becoming a transcendent.

Before long, a faintly glowing mist rose from the basin Rena was holding, then spread along the glass blowpipe, beginning to fill the tadpole-shaped container at the end.

After about five minutes, the mist inside the container reached a certain concentration, and Leon finally saw small amounts of crystallization begin to precipitate on the inner walls.

Another ten minutes passed, and the mist gradually faded until it disappeared completely.

Rena opened her eyes and released her hands.

The runes and magic arrays on the tabletop stopped glowing.

She removed the distillation container and gently shook it.

A small amount of cloudy crystallization had already formed inside.

“Looks like quite a lot,” Leon said.

Just from the looks of it, the amount seemed comparable to the batch of Mana he had sold last time, and this time they had only killed three male Head-Hunting Rabbits.

At present, the Magical Beasts they were raising were still in their breeding period and had not yet reached the stage for output.

However, breeding did not require that many male Head-Hunting Rabbits.

Rena also needed materials to research potions and prepare medicine for Sally, so they had taken three adult male Head-Hunting Rabbits from the cages and slaughtered them to produce materials and Mana.

“This is only the crude crystallization from the first extraction. The Mana concentration is only twenty to thirty percent. The rest is useless inert magical power crystallization. It still needs to be prepared like this for two more rounds of purification. The inert magical power will disappear during the process, and the final finished Mana will probably only be about one-third of this amount,” Rena explained carefully, then suddenly changed the subject. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“But…”

“But what?” Leon asked.

“But this really is much more than when I extract it myself—almost double. Your idea was right. Raising Magical Beasts inside a labyrinth really can greatly increase Mana output,” Rena said as she had already begun the second purification of Mana.

“Then will the purity increase as well?” Leon continued asking.

Even a slight increase in Mana purity could cause a massive difference in price.

The higher the purity, the greater the profit margin.

“That depends on the final purification, but judging from how it looks now… there doesn’t seem to be much difference in purity compared to before,” Rena answered after observing the crystals.

“Wouldn’t purifying it more times raise the purity?” Leon said.

“It’s useless. There’s a limit to the purity of Mana each Witch can extract. I can probably refine it to a little over seventy percent. When I’m lucky, it can reach seventy-five. Beyond that is impossible. This should be directly linked to the extractor’s magical power level,” Rena replied.

“By the way, you still haven’t told me why it has to be brought back here for extraction,” Leon asked as he looked around the cellar.

“Oh, you ask so many questions!” Rena clicked her tongue impatiently, but still answered.

“To extract Mana, it must be done on this altar that can connect to Lady Moilai’s source power. The altar needs to be successfully made inside an active labyrinth. This thing is very heavy, and leaving it inside that labyrinth wouldn’t be safe, so it’s better to keep it here in the cellar.”

“No wonder. I used to hear that when the Inquisition arrests Witches, the most valued piece of evidence is the Moilai altar. So it turns out Mana can only be extracted here,” Leon said, suddenly enlightened.

At that moment, another question occurred to him.

“Wait—then where did you get this altar from?”

He had actually already quietly investigated Rena’s background.

Rena had originally come from another village.

It was said that her mother ran away from home when she was young, and after her father remarried, he abandoned her.

In the end, it was her grandmother from River Mouth Village who took her in and raised her.

Rena was only sixteen this year.

Clearly, she had had no opportunity to personally create a Moilai altar inside some labyrinth.

After all, Witches were generally taught through master-to-apprentice transmission.

Without an old Witch passing down the ritual of becoming a Witch, an ordinary girl would have no chance of becoming one.

Rena, who had begun the second extraction, glanced at Leon and fell silent for a moment before replying, “My grandmother left it behind.”