Chapter 77 - Ancient Steles
"You have an alchemist wife? She must be impressive if you said she's going to win." Lin Wei was intrigued as he folded his fan.
"Hahaha! Although I'm somewhat bragging, my wife is an Alchemist Master, so I think she might have a chance to win." Leyvi said.
He didn't underestimate anyone but from what he heard, an Alchemist Grandmaster at the age of 30 years old was unheard of. So, if the top Alchemists were at the same level as Anda, she might have a chance to win.
Lin Wei's eyes widened. He was an Alchemist Master too but he achieved this level due to his encounter and the academy has many great alchemists to teach him. What about them?
"Brother Leyvi, does your alchemist wife come from a big family or a big sect?" Lin Wei suddenly felt that he might have been underestimating other people too much.
"Ah, no no.... she came from the same orphanage as me. We grew up together." Leyvi said, there's nothing to hide.
Lin Wei was silent. They really started from the bottom. No wonder his instinct told him to believe Leyvi. It was great to have met with Leyvi today, if not, he would have been too complacent with his current achievement.
At first, he talked to Leyvi because his interest was piqued after seeing a cultivator with a strong body here. As a cultivator who cultivated his body as well, he could sense the bodily strength exuded from Leyvi's flesh.
"So.... Brother Lin Wei, are you here to see all these demonic beast skeletons?" Leyvi asked after seeing Lin Wei lost in his thoughts.
"Ah! Hahaha! Pardon me, I was thinking about something. I came here because I was trying to run away from my girl fans, there were so many of them it made me suffocated." Lin Wei unfolded his fan and fanned himself again.
"So Brother Lin Wei is the popular guy who has many girls chasing him around. I've heard about this term before, a heartthrob, yes, and I can see why. Hahaha! Why not just make them your harem? Countless men would like to be in your position you know." Leyvi suggested.
"Brother Leyvi, it's not that I don't want it, it's just that I can't right now. There are things I have to do first." Lin Wei answered vaguely.
Leyvi nodded. He knew it was a private matter so he didn't ask further.
"But running away from the girls was not the only reason I came here. I heard there are a bunch of ancient alchemy formulas here on display, so I came to see them." Lin Wei's expression changed to curiosity as he talked.
"Ancient alchemy formulas?" Leyvi immediately looked at Layla.
Layla nodded, confirming what Leyvi had in his mind. "Husband, we are here to see this ancient alchemy formula too. They are being showcased in the exhibition room."
"Oh? So you guys are here to see them too? What a nice coincidence. Haha! Brother Leyvi, and Sister Layla, how about we observe them together? Lin Wei suggested.
Leyvi agreed to observe the ancient alchemy formula together. However, now that they were here, Leyvi wanted to see all the demonic beast skeletons and their history first. Leyvi spent an hour in the museum foyer learning about the demonic beast while chatting with Lin Wei.
After that, they went deeper into the museum and entered the exhibition room which displayed all the ancient alchemy formulas. Leyvi saw ten aged and antique stone steles exhibited on the wall.
The stone steles were rectangular with curved edges but the top part had been tapered due to weathering and the passage of time. On the surface of the stone steles, there were engraved inscriptions of an unknown language and engraved drawings of some alchemy process.
Although historians and archeologists were clueless about 95% of what the text described, they were positive the steles recorded the alchemic formulas of the previous civilization based on the drawings and the few words they could decipher.
According to the archeologists, the steles were dated around five hundred thousand years ago and many similar steles or other relics were found across the continents dating around the same period.
They concluded that the civilization of five hundred thousand years ago was a civilization that heavily focused on Alchemy because they hadn't found a single relic that suggested the existence of formations, spirit weapons and artifacts, or martial skills.
However, something happened five hundred thousand years ago that eradicated the entire civilization because there was a huge gap in history or an empty timeline for around a hundred thousand years. It is hypothesized that the humans on this continent were entirely extinct and only plants and animals survived somehow. The missing a hundred thousand years of history was called the Void Era.
A hundred thousand years later, which was four hundred thousand years ago, humans from other continents arrived on the Cloud Continent and started a new civilization, and it continued until now. Since they came from other continents, it meant they brought the cultures from their continent here and it could be seen reflected by the existence of many kinds of cultures across the continent.
However, due to the past civilization having zero connections to the civilization now, it was impossible to decipher the language of the civilization before the Void Era. Only some simple repetitive words relative to the engraved drawings could be translated into the current language.
Lin Wei and Layla were disappointed to see an entirely unknown language on the stone steles. No wonder it was on display in the museum for a long time. Nobody could understand these steles so this was their only value left, to be seen as a historical piece of evidence. As an alchemist, Lin Wei still worked his brain out to find out what alchemy product it was based on the drawings.
Layla looked at Leyvi and saw him focusing on the stone stele. It was as if he was reading the text intently. Layla was confused. Does her husband try to memorize the writings so he can try to decipher them at home?
Leyvi was indeed reading the writings carved on the steles. His Universal Language benefit was immediately activated when he first looked at the writings. Leyvi had never seen these words or symbols before, but he could understand what texts were describing, in their entirety. Except for Anda, nobody else knew about his ability. They only knew that he could talk to animals and became a beast tamer due to this.
At this moment, Leyvi was engrossed in reading the texts on the ancient stele. As the historian predicted, it was indeed describing the Alchemy Formula of that era. The one Leyvi was reading right now tells about how to concoct a Brain Activation Pill. It allows the user to enhance their brain usage ten times faster, making them perceive the time around them ten times slower than normal. It was a Tier-3 alchemy formula, only suitable to be consumed by Core Formation and higher realm cultivators.
Leyvi didn't know whether Anda had this alchemy formula or not. He would memorize all of them first and tell Anda later.
After a while, Lin Wei gave up on deciphering the stele and saw that Leyvi was engrossed in memorizing the steles so he didn't disturb him. Leyvi's action was not out of the ordinary at all because many had done the same. Image recorders, paintings, notes, and other devices with similar functions were not allowed to be used in the museum, so many people had memorized the content of stone steles in person like Leyvi.
He must be trying to memorize the content and decipher them for his alchemist wife. What a nice husband. Most men he knew wouldn't do this for their wives. Lin Wei smiled as he praised Leyvi in his mind.
He decided to chat with Layla, the secretary wife while waiting for Leyvi. He asked about how she met Leyvi and became his wife. Lin Wei was dumbfounded when he learned that the alchemist wife, Anda was the one bringing women to Leyvi. She even prepared more candidates to be his concubines.
Good lord, he wanted a wife like her too. His father got beaten up frequently by his stepmother when he mentioned having another concubine. It wasn't just his father, other men in his clan had to endure constant fighting and conflicts between their wives and concubines. It was a mess.
Lin Wei secretly gave Leyvi a thumbs up for winning in life. A woman like Anda was a rare breed. It was harder than finding a life-changing fortuitous encounter.
An hour later, Leyvi finished reading and memorizing the stone steles' content. All of them were Alchemy Formulas but for different tiers. There were one tier-2 formula, four tier-3 formulas, three tier-4 formulas, and two tier-5 formulas!
Leyvi didn't know whether the alchemy world right now had these formulas or not, however, his family now has higher-tiered Alchemy Formulas. The Universal Language benefit was definitely the most amazing ability he had right now.
Leyvi smiled. Now they must explore the entire Cloud Continent to search for more ancient steles like this.