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I have no fucking idea what I’m supposed to do.

Okay, he knew he had to transmute an ingredient to put into the concoction, but he had no idea what to use. He quickly realized it was some mana-destroying poison, and he remembered lightning mana having the ability to “burn” other mana types, so should he add that?

Was he even supposed to transform the energy into a different affinity? He tried to go with his initial thought even if his intuition didn’t make him feel it was right. Which it wasn’t, as the first concoction failed as he put the transmuted herb in.

A new half-finished work popped up, and Jake was just as clueless. He stumbled and tried different things for a while until he just took the time penalty and skipped. A third one appeared, and he once more had to skip.

In the fourth one, Jake managed to somehow transmute some weird liquid by combining two of the items that appeared, and it worked when he put them into the large cauldron with a half-done elixir. That gave him a bit of confidence that was swiftly crushed and utterly stomped all over for the next fifteen minutes or so as the second part of the transmutation test ended with Jake only doing a single thing correctly and way too many skips.

He gritted his teeth and did a mental reset as the final part began. The one where he could do whatever he wanted. As it started, the room changed as more than a hundred weapons, dozens of armor pieces of different kinds, gems, herbs, and a plethora of other ingredients appeared all over the chamber. It was almost overwhelming, making Jake think being decisive enough to even get started was a part of the test.

Jake did not fall into this pitfall but just got started. Strings of mana flew out as Jake furiously dragged a sword he liked the feeling of and several more ingredients straight in front of him. He then picked up the sword and began inspecting it as he cursed a bit to himself over his performance in the last test.

What the fuck kind of test was that with such stringent rules for transmutation anyway? It was like he was expected to just know what fits in where and just magically come up with a solution instantly based on a bunch of bullshit materials he had never even seen before. What the fuck was up with that?

He activated Touch as the blade began cracking and groaning from the pure energy. “Yeah yeah, stop crying,” Jake insulted the sword as he just dragged a spear and an axe to him that looked to be made of the same metal. He forcefully broke them and melted them down, and just pushed the metal to merge. The three weapons resisted the merger, but Jake was having none of it as he just brute-forced his will through.

If the curse within Eternal Hunger had failed to resist being overwhelmed by Jake’s will, then what chance did a few pathetic weapons in this test have?

That is when Jake noticed something else as he scanned the room with his Sense of the Malefic Viper: cursed items.

Get the fuck over here, Jake thought as strings of mana flew out, and Jake gathered about thirty such cursed items and gathered them all in front of him. There were a few pieces of equipment, metals, a single dagger, and just a bunch of random items, some of which looked like household items.

He looked at all of them for a second before he channeled his mana and created an arcane barrier around himself and his victim- eh, ingredients. He then picked up three cursed items and began absorbing the curses out of them as he slowly destroyed the physical item with Alchemical Flame.

The barrier was to keep all the wayward energy in and to amplify the power of Jake’s own Pride as he destroyed the cursed vessels one by one and used himself as a temporary container for the curses. Now, one could argue absorbing thirty curses, none of which Jake even knew what was about, was recklessly stupid, but on the other hand, Jake was still pissed about the prior part of the transmutation test, so he really didn’t give a fuck as his own emotions overpowered whatever the curses tried to do.

He pumped all of this curse energy into the poor sword made by forcefully merging three weapons. It looked like utter shit, and the “sword” barely had any edge or anything as Jake had just mashed metal together, but at least it made the vessel powerful enough to contain the thirty curses.

Now, the curses didn’t play well together, so Jake fixed that by just destroying all of them and reducing them to pure curse energy by just reducing it to its base element. He had no idea what the fuck the monstrosity he was creating would actually turn into. He just dominated the curse energies with his own presence and waited to see the result. Touch of the Malefic Viper going ham the entire time, of course.

Time passed, and soon he felt just about done with whatever the fuck he had been doing. The arcane barrier disappeared as all that surrounded him was dust of broken items, and he held a sword of sorts with bulks of metal all over it and no discernable edge. The only thing even a little normal was the handle, and that was only because Jake had been holding it.

When the time expired, the projection appeared as expected and just looked at Jake.

“This test was bullshit,” Jake said as he began rambling. “The first part I got. It made sense. But that second part was just a god damn scam. I had no information on what to do and what to put in. It would take way more than half an hour just to figure out what is expected of me. Rather just toss out the entire concoction and start from scratch and make something better.”

“But you did do one,” the projection pointed out.

“Yeah, because I got lucky, and-“

“No, because you had insight into handling it. Knowledge is a fundamental aspect of alchemy, and you are ignorant to the extreme in most areas. Your sea of knowledge may be deep as a pond but only as wide as a puddle. You need to sit your ass down and study properly for a long time. You have only done alchemy for what, a year or two? Most, even the talented, who reach your level will have taken at least a decade, probably more. True, areas you have dabbled with, you do well in, but it feels like everything else that doesn’t fall into your narrow scope of interest just falls to the wayside,” the projection answered as he sighed. “Also… you talk about the test being unfair? Tough shit. The world isn’t fair, and it is your job to adapt when thrown a curveball. Even if you fail something, just use that time properly for something else or do as you did and experiment. Use it as a learning opportunity, and don’t look at it as a failure. You are still a novice and in many ways a child in the context of the multiverse, and if this is how you react to every setback, then you need a serious adjustment of your mindset.”

Jake stared at the projection a bit and was about to counter but forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath as he felt his own heartbeat also calm. Closing his eyes for a moment, he breathed out and felt his heartbeat return to normal.

“Sorry… I don’t handle emotions and especially losing very well,” Jake said, genuinely embarrassed. He knew it had been his Bloodline acting up again, and that experience of any kind of loss kind of triggered it. The utter feeling of powerlessness in the second part of the test had just triggered him on a basic level.

The projection looked at him. “Emotions can be both a weapon and a hindrance. In the second part, you proved how much it can be a hindrance if you lose your cool. If you’d simply kept calm, you could’ve probably created at least three or four instead of only getting one.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m sorry for my rant,” Jake said as he sighed.

“With all that said, powerful emotions can also be a weapon. Simply look at what you created in the last part of the test,” the projection said as he motioned to the monstrosity in Jake’s hand.

He only really inspected it now, and… it wasn’t pretty, that was for sure. But the aura it gave off couldn’t be ignored. Jake tried to use Identify on it but failed as the skill simply didn’t activate. The same as all his other “creations” during this dungeon, as things he made, weren’t actually real.

“So… how badly did I do overall?”

“I feel like I am repeating myself, but it was a mixed bag. The first part went okay even if your methods are crude, the second part we already spoke about, and the third part went… well, rather uniquely,” the scalekin said with a smirk as he also looked at Jake’s fucked up sword.

“Would I even qualify to enter the academy with my performance so far?” Jake asked.

“That is not for me to answer yet, but we both know your actual performance here doesn’t matter for your acceptance,” the scalekin said, shaking his head. “But I can say that your overall evaluation of the transmutation test was high-tier four stars.”

Jake was confused. “Isn’t that a good grade?”

“Yes,” the projection answered, smirking again. “It isn’t like the parts of the test count a third each, and it is an overall evaluation. The reason for your grade is the last transmutation. You dominated thirty-one curses, absorbed them without being affected, and then merged and transformed a weapon to make it compatible with the new curse you forcefully transmuted. All of this results in a product that may look horrendous, but I am certain a skilled blacksmith could transform it into a deadly tool of destruction. So let me just ask… Bloodline, Transcendence, or both?”

“What?” Jake asked, looking confused.

“The Malefic One has already informed me of some unique circumstances surrounding you, and the entire dungeon is completely sealed off from all prying eyes by the grand array protecting it along with the Malefic One himself. Nothing said or done here leaves the dungeon without the Malefic One’s approval,” the scalekin explained.

“Why do you think I have either of those anyway?” Jake asked. He kinda already knew the reason, but he wanted confirmation.

“You appear immune to presences, that is why,” the projection said, shaking his head. “That you didn’t even notice the presence of the merged curse that affected you in your state of high emotions is proof enough you have something special. As items are not allowed during the trial, that means it must be a Transcendent skill or a Bloodline.”

Jake just nodded but didn’t actually answer. The projection acknowledged and smiled. “Keep your secrets then. Perhaps it is good for you to make it a habit. I shall see you in a few hours, so you have time to calm yourself completely and reach a proper mental state. The seventh test in alchemy will be the toughest of them all for most testees and tests your mentality. Note that this test will also take a long time, at least from your point of view.”

With that, the projection disappeared along with everything else in the room, including the fucked up sword he had made.

He took the advice from the projection as he closed his eyes and entered meditation with a single final thought:

Maybe I only halfway suck at transmutation?

Vilastromoz observed the tests as he stood with Duskleaf, who had decided to join him throughout it all. His disciple was curious as to how Jake would perform, and the Viper gladly allowed him to observe with him.

“Jake really is… well… a mixed bag,” Duskleaf said.

“Did you expect anything else?” Vilastromoz asked. “He is a novice, as he was told.”

“Yes… but I do wonder, what concepts did they say his arcane affinity had traces of?” Duskleaf asked, clearly interested. Perhaps because he couldn’t see it himself. Something that was only natural… the Viper had no clue either.

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly as he grinned at how wonderful that was. “I genuinely have no way to determine it, and even if I have my theories, I can’t confirm them. They only knew due to the system-assisted surveillance tools within the dungeon, and once Jake is done, the projections will naturally cease to exist, making the knowledge disappear with them.”

Duskleaf frowned, which the Viper understood, so he shook his head as he explained: “The core concepts of the affinity stem from his Bloodline, and thus are naturally quite unique. As for why I don’t want to know and wish to see the knowledge gone? Because Jake doesn’t know either. Him being told would be bad, wouldn’t it? Better he figures it out himself.”

“True,” Duskleaf agreed, even if he was curious. He then saw something as he chuckled. “While those old teachers are quite good, they certainly do misread things at times.”

The Viper agreed as he observed the internal discussion chamber of the many projections part of Jake’s dungeon instance. They were currently discussing the last transmutation item in amazement as they discussed the Bloodline or Transcendence.

However, they also discussed the upcoming test. It was one to test the mentality of alchemists, primarily to see if they had a mind fit for it. The unanimous opinion was that Jake was ill-fit for the test and that he would likely have terrible performance.

Oh, how little did they know? Jake had monstrous talent in many areas, but if there was one thing he was good at above anything else, it was being stupidly focussed on borderline anything he threw himself into. The council of projections all had the understanding Jake was a volatile and impulsive individual, which was perfectly accurate, but the Viper knew this was just one side of the coin.

“Indeed. Even the brightest can misinterpret those too odd to truly understand,” the Viper said.

“The combat portion will be even funnier. They are so certain Jake is a mage,” Duskleaf then added.

“It sure will be,” Vilastromoz agreed.

“How are the other humans doing, by the way?”

Vilastromoz hadn’t checked but decided to briefly do so.

“They’re all pretty shit,” the Viper said, shaking his head.

“As expected?”

“As expected.”