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Rise of The Bastard Alchemist

J_Prime
14
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 14 chs / week.
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Synopsis
A bastard, casted out, looked down upon and condemned to be a failure due to almost no affinity for mana, that is the case of Dorian Viremont...at least that was his case until he stumbles upon a guide that sets him on the path of true alchemy. But things are never that easy, are they?
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Chapter 1 - Prologue(1)

"I finally did it! I cracked the encryption," Dorian threw his arms in the air raising a thick spined hardcover book in excitement, "It took weeks but I finally did it, now let's take a look," 

Dorian gulped audibly as he stared at the cover of the black book in front of him, half of him felt excitement and some form of accomplishment but the other part was wary, anxious and even a little bit scared as to what he should expect. 

Dorian Viremont, the bastard son of Nicholas Viremont. His existence was a stain to the long and very much noble history of the house Viremont; one of the noble houses in King Nicholai's Kingdom of Artoria. 

The identity of Dorian's mother was unknown, but Dorian only knew one thing about her. Whoever she was, his father loved her deeply because to take in a bastard was a shameful act in itself, talk less of a useless bastard. 

A bastard with almost zero affinity for mana and the magic arts, although Nicholas treated Dorian no differently from his own children, his wife and half-siblings were another story. 

They looked down on him with eyes that even servants and slaves would find condescending, they treated him less than tools and talked down on him any chance they got. Of course Dorian didn't take all their antiques lying down, he often tried to talk back or stand his ground, but it rarely ended well as he usually found himself on the receiving end of a spell, a blade, or a brutal fist

In time Dorian learnt to ignore them altogether because no matter what approach he took with them, the last time he tried to defend himself, he woke up with his face in a mud puddle and a servant quietly placing healing balm beside him. They pressed and oppressed Dorian. 

Dorian slowly became a recluse, isolating himself in the library; a section of their mansion where even the servants rarely visited. There he buried himself in mountains of books, studying the magic arts. He had already given up on learning magic or finding a solution to his poor affinity for it, instead he devoted his studies to the theoretical aspect of magic as he felt that if not for himself, he owed to his father to at least make something of the life he had given him. 

It was in this library that Dorian discovered this strange book. It was a thick covered book with a leather latch and buckle to keep its contents hidden, at first Dorian wanted to abandon it as it didn't look like it contained anything magic related but his curiosity as a scholar couldn't let him just leave it be. 

Three things were at the core of his curiosity; one was why such a nameless and tattered book was in the family's prestigious library, second was what was so hidden that it required it to be locked shut with a puzzle in place of a lock? 

Dorian made several attempts to crack open the code that sealed the book over the span of weeks and today he finally succeeded. 

He excitedly flung the first page of the book open, hoping to see some hidden texts, long lost magic or a recipe to a forgotten elixir. He was thoroughly disappointed as the first page was totally blank and empty. 

He continued flipping frantically up until he reached half of the book's contents then he flung it away out of frustration. Just when Dorian thought he had wasted his time, a bright light glowed from within the book.

He carefully approached the book and as he picked it up, upon further inspection he found the source of the light was a small tablet made completely out of emerald. It had been embedded in a small compartment within the book where pages should have been. 

Dorian inspected the emerald tablet, it was roughly five centimetres in breadth and twelve centimetres in length and some strange inscriptions were written or rather etched into it. 

"This is what whoever placed a lock on the book was probably trying to hide," Dorian brought it closer to his face for further inspection, "I wonder what's so special about it? That is if there's something special about it and it's not just a piece of rock"

One of the inscriptions was written in a language Dorian understood, an ancient tongue he came across during his studies. He adjusted his glasses and squinted his eyes as he tried to read the inscription

"That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of the Azoth"

Suddenly the light grew even brighter as he read, so bright that it chased away all the shadows in the room. Dorian shielded his eyes and instinctively dropped the tablet. 

He slowly backed away from the tablet which was now violently shaking on the floor. Unfortunately, he tripped on a pile of books and fell on his ass, his spectacles fell down to the bridge of his nose upon impact.

Dorian was almost blind without his spectacles, his siblings made sure to remind him anytime they had the chance. He struggled to quickly adjust them and when he finally did, what filled his vision was the emerald tablet zooming at him with incredible speed.

He had no time to react before it slammed into his forehead, and the world went black.

When Dorian came to, he found himself in an unknown space. It was a fog ridden flat empty space that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions as far as his eyes could see.

"Am I dreaming or is this what being dead feels like?" He asked no one in particular as he navigated his way through the strange terrain.

Dorian felt like he wasn't alone; he constantly felt a gaze on him, watching him intently from all directions. It made him feel naked and exposed, causing goosebumps to form all over his body.

The fog slowly cleared up to reveal the sight of the same emerald tablet that 'attacked' Dorian but this time its size had increased tremendously, completely towering over Dorian, it was bigger than any building and structure he had seen both in his books and in real life, and he had seen the mighty wizard's tower once.

He reached out to touch the tablet but it began to pulse- once, twice - and then expanded flooding the space in a radiant green glow. The light condensed, folding in on itself like liquid crystal, until it began to take shape. A figure emerges - tall, neither strictly masculine nor feminine, gleaming skin like polished emerald.

The figure's eyes were deep and vast as if it held the whole world within them, hair flowing weightlessly, dark as midnight with thin strands of gold and silver. Clothed in flowing robes of the deepest green and black, the figure hovered towards Dorian.

Dorian felt his entire self tense up at the sight of the being before him, he couldn't even run if he wanted to, his body failed to listen to him. As the being approached Dorian thought to himself:

'Shit, just what the hell is this thing? The grim reaper? Am I really dead?!"