Brando lined up eleven artisanal daggers in a row, then used a silver hammer to crush the tree crystal from the Withered Beast and meld it into the alchemical liquid. He then turned around and said:
"Tama, why don’t you give it a try?"
"Me?" The middle-aged man standing behind Brando was momentarily startled, but a look of eager anticipation appeared on his face. Although this future alchemy master was usually silent and reserved, he couldn’t help but become animated when discussing matters related to alchemy.
However, no amount of talking could compare to trying it firsthand. Even though Tama held the title of alchemist in the noble council, he usually only helped purify some insignificant materials—after all, most nobles with any status had their own alchemists and would not easily reveal their secrets.
Therefore, to personally craft a magic item was a first for Tama. As he looked at the eleven daggers, he couldn’t help but gulp. NovelHub
Brando smiled and nodded. Tama’s alchemy skills were improving rapidly; when they first met, Brando guessed from Tama’s actual ability and experience that he should be at Level 3 alchemy, but now he estimated that Tama was nearing Level 5.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before this future alchemy master surpassed him and joined the ranks of professional alchemists, making Brando marvel at the power of talent.
Of course, this was also due to a month of extensive practice purifying moonlight grass, fluorescent moss, and materials from the Black Mage—Brando’s own alchemy skills were locked at Level 5 due to his civilian status, so he handed over all practice opportunities to this future alchemy master, leading to Tama’s rapid progress over the month.
However, this future alchemy master seemed unaware of his own talent to the point where, when Brando expressed an intention to recruit him, Tama, out of gratitude for saving his life and recognizing his talent, readily agreed and even voluntarily reduced most of his commission. Brando initially offered thirty thousand gold coins, but the future alchemy master insisted on only a symbolic one-sixth of that amount.
Hiring an alchemy master for five thousand gold coins was a price even house servants wouldn’t match. But Brando wasn’t worried, as noble alchemists are extremely private and typically bound by contracts, and he also believed he could afford to retain Tama’s services in the future.
Because no one knew better than him how far this alchemy master could go.
"Alright, I’ll give it a try." The middle-aged man considered for just a moment before agreeing.
Brando smiled again, appreciating the confidence Tama showed in his professional field.
When the alchemy laboratory quieted down, the young man casually pulled a book on noble history from the nearby bookshelf and began reading. His noble knowledge and heraldry knowledge had reached Level 6 in the past few days, raising his scholar level to 11.
With the additional skill experience, he had also elevated military swordsmanship to Level (6+1), first aid to Level 4, White Crow swordsmanship to Level 2, as well as mastering weaponry (mercenary), crossbow specialization (mercenary), concealment, and Tree Tenacity.
Mastery of weaponry is an exclusive skill of mercenaries and warriors, and is the core skill of mercenaries. It is only Level 1, with a core description comprising just one sentence: A character with this skill has learned as if through the system all methods of using military and simple weapons, even if they had never undergone related training before.
In essence, this skill saves a considerable amount of skill experience and fits the versatile role of mercenaries on the battlefield. Some enthusiasts had calculated how much skill experience would be wasted if a character wanted to excel in all weapons without learning this skill. The final result was about twelve thousand to thirteen thousand, a huge investment even in the late stages of the game.
Hence, many other professions in the game often take on mercenary/warrior as secondary roles just for this skill. On the flip side, apart from warriors and mercenaries, few other professions would utilize so many weapons.
And crossbow specialization is an advanced training for the crossbow. Different professions often have different weapon specializations, but mercenaries almost possess all weapon specializations except for magic wands, scepters, and magic staves. In this aspect, they even surpass warriors. After all, mercenaries are synonymous with versatility, they can even learn spells, but this jack-of-all-trades nature results in no true mastery, which is the biggest disadvantage of the mercenary profession.