Chapter 17 Perfect Physique X

"Kill him!" the gunmen howled in a rage, all raising their guns and sweeping fire toward him.

Aske rolled to the side, dodging behind a nearby house. Bullets tore through the air like a torrential storm, kicking dust up from the ground. Watching the trigger-happy display, Aske sighed.

The most important things for a gunman are choosing the right position and moving smart, then comes tactical awareness, and only then control power and reaction speed. These gunmen chose to charge straight on, with practically zero knowledge of positioning; they kept firing at empty space even after their target had vanished, showing no tactical sense whatsoever. Facing off against these rubbish NPCs, it felt like a grown man bullying children.

The opponents were too weak, and he couldn't get himself fired up!

While the gunmen continued to spray the empty ground, a few others had quietly split off, attempting to flank and stage a surprise backstab while their companions distracted with gunfire. Yet when they circled around the back of the house, where was he?

Just as everyone was dumbfounded, a burst of gunfire rang out, and several gunmen who had tried to flank fell to the ground.

"He's on the roof!" the gunmen finally realized as they began to raise their guns, only to catch a fleeting glimpse of a figure dashing past the rooftop, vanishing behind the eaves.

"Intercept him with your men! Petrik, what are you doing over there!" the lead gunman roared with anger. He had ordered his trusted Petrik to take three or four men to hold the other side of the house, in case the enemy noticed and ran. But now, the enemy had leaped from the roof in that direction, and there had been no gunshots from Petrik's position.

"Petrik's men are all dead!" a gunman racing to that spot shouted back, "Just now, when he was on the roof!"

Before his words had faded, another gunshot sounded, and the lead gunman fell in response. The bullet had passed through his skull, opening a black hole on his forehead.

"The boss is dead!" the gunmen yelled frantically, continuing to charge toward the direction of the gunshots. Though ferocity and bloodlust still drove them to keep fighting, without leadership their flanking formation quickly became disorganized.

"Left! The brother on the left is down, he's on the left!"

"No, the bullet came from the right!"

"He's on top! He's gone back up to the roof!"

"Suppressive fire! What are you all doing? Can't you lock down one person?"

As the gunmen continued to howl and get gunned down, those left began to falter. From the start of the engagement till now, their side had lost over twenty men, while their opponent hadn't lost even a hair. Oftentimes, they only glimpsed a shadow, then lost sight of the target. Five or six seconds later, as gunfire rang out again and comrades fell in succession, they'd find that he had already moved to a different position.

This fight couldn't go on! It was like trying to chase a cat with a mouse, a sure path to death! Soon, the remaining men reached a terrified consensus and scattered, each fleeing for their lives.

Aske hid in the shadow of a corner, watching silently as the gunmen fled and didn't pursue. These trash NPCs didn't even possess extraordinary traits; killing them was nothing but a waste of bullets. Were bullets free or something?

He stepped out from the corner, looked over the sprawl of bodies, and sighed helplessly again.

After the slaughter, no one hindered his departure from the slums. The city guard hadn't even shown their faces... everyone knew the slums were chaotic, and nobody wished to be stationed there. Thus, Aske had an unobstructed path back to his ancestral home, where he found everyone else had already returned.

"We've acquired the Shadow Insect Beast's Eye and thick-scaled copper, as well as the diamond powder and iron oxide powder, totaling 130 pounds," Medea handed over the banknotes, "and I also bought a set of alchemy chemical equipment for 1 pound... this is the remaining 419 pounds."

Aske unceremoniously took back the banknotes. Alchemy equipment for 1 pound? Who knew how much Medea had skimmed off the top, but it didn't matter; money was meant to be spent. Especially money in a game, spending it didn't hurt at all.

Seeing he didn't object, Nora felt a little uneasy and spoke up:

"Everyone, becoming a Transcendent with magic potions is our responsibility, and it doesn't seem right to use Aske's own funds. I suggest we chip in for the materials and recipes, and if we don't have cash on hand, we can let Aske deduct it from our future salaries."

"Eh, the idea of deducting from future salaries isn't bad," Eleanor agreed.

"We have no problem with that," Peggy and Medea voiced their approval.

"Alright," Aske said with a smile, "the materials I ordered should arrive tomorrow, totaling 230 pounds. Together with the 130 pounds you spent on purchasing, and the 100 pounds already spent at the party, that makes it a total price of 460 pounds. According to our contract, the current monthly salary is 2 pounds, so if we calculate it by averaging, you'll have no salary for the next five years, haha."

Everyone: ???

"How about this," Aske, seeing everyone's embarrassed silence, continued with a smile, "the magic potion materials are indeed a significant expense, far exceeding your daily expenditure. Why don't we set up a 'Team Transcendents Fund' where all team profits are pooled into this fund? From now on, we won't raise salaries anymore, and everyone can draw 2 pounds per month from the fund to cover daily expenses. As for the expenses for the magic potion materials, they will be taken from the team fund. For this, we'll need someone to act as an accountant..."

"Then let Nora take on that role," he appointed her on a whim.

"Oh, alright," Nora agreed readily. Everyone knew she was wealthy, though they couldn't guess how wealthy she really was. Anyway, they weren't worried about her embezzling.

"As the founder and leader of the team, I personally contribute 520 pounds," Aske declared. "After deducting the balance payment for the batch of materials I ordered, this is all the funds I have left."

"I can also contribute 500 pounds," Nora said, feeling somewhat guilty. She could actually afford ten times this amount quite easily, but she couldn't exceed Aske's amount. Otherwise, she risked appearing as if she was trying to usurp the founder by contributing a larger share.

"I'll put in 200 pounds," Medea said plainly. It was money she had embezzled from the intelligence budget allocated by the Seljuk Empire, so she didn't feel any pain parting with it.

"I don't have money," Peggy said.

"I... I'll contribute 5 pounds," Eleanor admitted with some shame, as that was all the wealth she had.

"Let's do it then," Aske declared with a clap of his hands.

Thus, the small team established their own little treasury, starting with capital of 1225 pounds. In an era when only about 100 pounds was needed to register a company, 1225 pounds was already quite a substantial amount of assets. But in the Mysterious Realm, that could be spent in a matter of minutes—after all, even the ingredients for a Sequence I magic potion started at 100 pounds each.

However, no one was in a hurry to worry about finances, because Aske was about to begin brewing his first magic potion.

"Please remember the Alchemy Manual," Aske said, setting up a small crucible on his desk, lighting it with alcohol from a portable canister below. He also opened a pack of disposable plastic gloves, "First, safety; second, cleanliness; third, secrecy."

The girls watched his every move intently, even Medea did the same—in the Seljuk Empire, her magic potions were always delivered as finished products by the court. Ever since she resolved to betray her country, she had to prepare these on her own.

Aske unscrewed the cap, first pouring in Strong X Potion, filling one-third of the crucible's height.

"Note that the total volume of liquid must not exceed half the crucible's height, otherwise you need to switch to a larger crucible," Aske said as the potion quickly began to boil, bubbles gurgling out. As the liquid gradually evaporated, bright-red crystals started to form at the bottom of the pot.

"If you already have a magic potion, evaporating the liquid through high temperature is a common method to extract its extraordinary traits," Aske carefully scraped off the crystals, placing them in a petri dish lined with filter paper, "However, for some Sequences that oppose high temperatures, such as Frost or Shadow, you can't use heating and must allow the solvent to evaporate by standing and blowing it with a fan. Some solvents are oily even more of a hassle, requiring the use of more advanced techniques."

He switched to a new crucible and replicated the process to obtain the extraordinary traits of both Wisdom X and Agility X—beautiful crystals in sea blue and grass green respectively. Next, Aske poured about 20ml of anhydrous ethanol into a new crucible and then added the three extraordinary traits.

The anhydrous ethanol immediately boiled at room temperature, with the water level not seeming to evaporate at all. The liquid's color changed suddenly from red to blue, from blue to green, and then from green to red, cycling faster and faster until finally, it turned into an opaque milky white and settled down.

"If it's an existing high Sequence magic potion, one can tell whether it's successful or not using Spiritual Intuition," Aske said while picking up a beaker and fanning air over it with his hand, "Otherwise, you can smell it like this. If it has failed, it will cause dizziness upon smelling. If successful, it will make one desire to drink it."

He tipped his head back and drank the contents of the beaker in one go, then immediately opened his mouth, gasping with a pained expression, "The alcohol is too strong, I can't stand it."

"Aske, your eyes!" Nora exclaimed. Through the eyes of the gathered girls, they saw Aske's irises begin to whiten. His muscles started to swell, slightly straining the neckline and cuffs of the Cotton Armor. His lips turned a bright red, his skin's pores seemed to open up, and his hair stood on end, with the blood vessels in the whites of his eyes almost bulging. Bulges erupted along his neck one after the other, as if something were surging beneath his skin.

Gradually, the abnormality subsided. As someone who had never consumed a magic potion before, Aske's body had an excellent capacity to contain the effects of Perfect Physique X, and it didn't trigger any signs of conflict or loss of control.

It was a success. Aske slowly felt the abundant Spirituality rising within his body, Perfect Physique X bringing him a vast amount of Extraordinary Power and also enhancing the conversion speed from Extraordinary Power to Physical Power and Spiritual Power. His Explosive Power, Muscle Control, Endurance, Reaction Speed, as well as cognitive abilities and Will Concentration, all had significantly improved. His body no longer had any weaknesses, and he was less likely to get sick, be poisoned, or age.

He was now genuinely a level 1.