My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

Chapter 462: Chapter 309: Alchemy Heart

Erin was truly a talented woman, and her tenderness was endless. Li Xiang was genuinely moved. A long while passed before the two of them finally separated.

”Go wait over there. I’ll be finished soon,” Erin said, her face flushed. But she hadn’t forgotten the important task at hand. The Alchemy Heart just needed one final step to be complete.

”Okay.” Li Xiang nodded lightly and stepped to the side, watching her attentively.

He was admiring both the beautiful woman and the unique art of Western Alchemy.

This Alchemy gave him some inspiration, a way to slightly improve his Crystal Vein Armor.

Erin, that most splendid rose of France, glanced back at Li Xiang before quickly immersing herself in her work with intense focus and concentration.

Her slender index finger traced through the air, and seven burning, Gothic-style Runes materialized. The Iris totem floating amidst her satin-gold hair suddenly split into twelve gears...

A rumbling sound echoed as a seven-layered alchemy matrix activated underground.

Steam pipes descending from the laboratory’s dome began to spew iridescent light. The eye sockets of twelve dormant gear puppets suddenly lit up with an ethereal blue soul-fire. Their mechanical arms precisely grabbed the twelve floating alchemical components and carefully began to assemble them...

At the same time, a strange crimson vortex appeared, slowly rotating.

「Half an hour later.」

”CLANG!”

The Alchemy Core, originally the size of a millstone, suddenly collapsed into a fist-sized, twelve-sided crystal. Ripples of liquid metal interwoven with iridescent light flowed across its surface.

Erin bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of Holy Blood. The moment the bloody mist touched the crystal, it transformed into tens of thousands of nano-sized alchemical Runes, which began to cycle endlessly along the Klein Bottle structure on the crystal’s surface.

The dodecahedron evolved into a 64-hedron, shaped like a human heart, but it was an alchemical creation.

In fact, the modern medical world also has artificial hearts, also known as ”mechanical hearts.”

The world’s smallest and lightest artificial heart is the ”Implantable Fully Magnetically Levitated Artificial Heart” produced by a certain company in China. Its blood pump has a diameter of only 34 millimeters, a thickness of 26 millimeters, and weighs about 90 grams, making it 40% smaller in diameter and 50% lighter than similar products on the market.

For heart transplant surgery, a mechanical heart can be used; a human donor is not always necessary.

China has long been far ahead in many fields, especially the military. The old notion that ”their engines are no good” is ancient history.

However, the Holy Blood Alchemy Heart crafted by Erin de Merovingian was an Extraordinary heart, its functions far surpassing any technological creation.

”Mr. Armor, please have a look,” Erin said with a faint smile, handing the Holy Blood Alchemy Heart to Li Xiang.

Li Xiang took it and examined it closely, unable to stop himself from exclaiming, ”This is a work of art.”

In terms of craftsmanship alone, it was far more complex and exquisite than the Battle Armor and Spiritual Soldiers condensed by his Crystal Vein Armor.

This Holy Blood Alchemy Heart was an Extraordinary Item. With a thought, Li Xiang placed the dark gold Alchemy Heart into one of the Spiritual Power Vortexes within his body.

Inside the Spiritual Power Vortex, the 64-hedron Alchemy Heart began to spin, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but always with a certain rhythm. Each rotation pumped out a stream of iridescent energy.

A wondrous feeling arose within him.

It was like adding another power source; his stamina and Spiritual Power were both greatly amplified. He was currently Tier Ten, yet he felt as if he had already stepped into Tier Eleven, or even Tier Twelve.

Li Xiang carefully experienced the sensation and quickly understood the Extraordinary Attribute of this Alchemy Heart: it could compress and purify Spiritual Power.

When enough Spiritual Power was compressed, it would—liquefy.

According to the cultivation system he knew, for the Tiers from One to Eighteen Below the Saint Tier, one would form eighteen Spiritual Power Vortexes in the body. A Tier One Transcendent had one Spiritual Power Vortex, a Tier Two had two, and a Tier Eighteen had eighteen.

The Saint Tier, however, was achieved when all eighteen Spiritual Power Vortexes merged into one, forming a ”Spirit Pool”—a pool of liquefied Spiritual Power.

This was a major hurdle where many people got stuck. However, this type of Alchemy Heart could automatically compress Spiritual Power and eventually gather all of it within itself, forming a Liquid Spirit Pool.

A Saint Tier who advanced normally would have no physical vessel for their Spirit Pool; it would exist in a mysterious space within their body. But for someone who broke through using an Alchemy Heart, the Spirit Pool would be housed within that very heart.

As for Erin, although she was only Tier Two, she had an Alchemy Heart ”installed” in her body, making the purity of her Spiritual Power far exceed that of an ordinary Tier Two Transcendent.

However, because she was still only Tier Two and far from the threshold of a Saint Tier Transcendent, her Spiritual Power was only being compressed and purified, not yet liquefied.

Li Xiang felt that if he wanted to break through to the Saint Tier right now, the vast and unparalleled amount of Spiritual Power in his body would be enough to form a Spirit Pool. With the help of this Alchemy Heart, he could leap to the Saint Tier in a single go. But obviously, Li Xiang would not do that.

He always restrained himself, even when advancing a minor Realm, only breaking through when he absolutely couldn’t hold back any longer (meaning his foundation had become incredibly solid). How could he take a shortcut for a major Realm like the Saint Tier?

He would definitely choose to rely on his own strength to break through, rather than take such a shortcut.

So, Li Xiang quickly removed the Alchemy Heart and stored it in his Otherworldly Warehouse, saving it for a core team member who might be unable to break through on their own in the future.

Even with the replenishment from Li Xiang’s Spirit Fruits, Erin was still greatly drained. She would need to rest and recuperate for the next few days. Since Li Xiang had caused such a huge commotion outside, he decided not to go out either. It was best to wait for the storm to die down a bit before making his next move.

He gave Erin enough Spiritual Medicine to help her recover.

Erin loved to read and enjoyed holing up in the old castle’s library while she recuperated. This gave Li Xiang a chance to go inside and take a look.

It was a massive library and also a forbidden area for the Melovanga Clan. Normally, only Erin was allowed inside; no outsider could possibly be qualified to enter.

But to Erin, an outstanding man like Li Xiang was the father of her future ten children, so naturally, he could enter.

After passing through twelve gilded gear-locked gates, bronze candelabras sensed their living presence and lit up automatically. Pale blue flames spread sequentially along serpentine tracks on the ceiling, illuminating the thirty-meter-high dome like an inverted starry sky.

Although the air in the library was mixed with the scents of beeswax and ancient parchment, as well as the strange, cool fragrance of sulfur and liquid metal, it wasn’t musty. In fact, it was slightly fresh, which clearly indicated the presence of ventilation ducts. Otherwise, the candelabras wouldn’t be able to burn.

The library was laid out in the shape of a heptagram, with each point corresponding to a collection of books in a different language.

A fifteen-meter-diameter orrery floated in the center, its twelve zodiac rings levitating and rotating via Meteorite Iron Magnets. Seven circular levels of book galleries spiraled upwards, each connected by a gear-driven spiral staircase forged from Mithril.

Li Xiang followed Erin, touring the library as they walked. There was a Latin section, a Greek section, a French section, an English section... and even a section for Eastern classics.

The collection was incredibly rich, and many of the books were rare editions that couldn’t be found anywhere else. Li Xiang thought of Jiang Cai’Er. ’If I brought her here, she would absolutely love it.’

But on second thought, ’I definitely can’t bring her here. Wouldn’t the two women end up fighting?’

’Even though Erin is quite strong, she definitely couldn’t beat Jiang Cai’Er.’

Li Xiang didn’t waste energy dwelling on things that hadn’t happened yet. While Erin went to read quietly, he also picked up a few volumes and sat down to read.

The two of them spent several days and nights in that sunless library. Meanwhile, outside, Europe had been ransacked, naturally sparking a global media frenzy over what was being called the ”Great Calamity of Europe,” an event destined for the history books. Li Xiang couldn’t even be bothered to read the news.

Li Xiang consumed a Creation Lotus every day, so even the various ancient European languages posed no challenge to him. If there was something he truly didn’t understand, he could always ask Erin.

”Huh?” One day, as Li Xiang was reading a parchment scroll, he suddenly perked up. He had just read something ”sensational.”

The parchment scroll was only half-complete. It had no cover, and many of its pages were missing or had torn corners. There was no telling which dynasty it was from or who had written it, but it recorded information about a ”Dragon Vein.”

This Dragon Vein came from the East.

Li Xiang pondered, ’Could this be one of the two veins that extended to Europe from the Kunlun Mountain’s Ancestral Vein, the ”One Qi Transforms Five Dragons”?’