Chapter 00036: The Life of a Scavenger
# The Life of a Scavenger
Chapter 36
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 36: The Life of a Scavenger
"Your aunt has been busy with military projects recently and can't spare time for you at the moment. However, the materials and textbooks are all ready for you. You can study on your own."
The next morning, as soon as the sun rose, Ji Jue rushed to Professor Ye's workshop.
What greeted him were three full cabinets loaded with various materials and books.
At the back of the factory, there was a warehouse that Ye Chun had opened, filled to the brim with heaps of scrap!
Heaven knows how many years it had been left untouched.
Inside lay a chaotic mix of objects, too many to fit on the shelves, with boxes piled high on the ground, reaching almost to the ceiling.
There were incomprehensible machines and parts, a giant bronze tree as tall as three Ji Jue, hundreds of knives and swords capable of slaying him in a single strike, strange ceramic urns that oozed blood from their cracks, ferocious masks that seemed to have eyes that would move, incomplete armor, melted bronze statues that had turned to puddles, and countless fragments that were beyond counting...
Just taking two steps inside, Ji Jue found himself choking on the dust.
Ye Chun, who stood nearby with a smug smile, said, "Aunt said you can freely take anything in here to practice. If you don’t understand anything, look it up yourself. If you have any questions, she'll be back from five to six in the afternoon when you can ask her. Don’t worry, even though this is all scrap and leftover materials, everything has been treated and is completely harmless. It’s perfect for a beginner like you to get some hands-on practice. According to your aunt, as soon as you use up this pile of materials, you’ll be ready to take on tasks by yourself."
However, this scale is a bit too exaggerated!
Ji Jue held his breath and peered inside, shocked by the terrifying amount that could drown him at least ten times over.
He thought to himself, could he possibly spend his entire life here?
The first challenge that lay before Ji Jue was the large, ancient bronze book he had seen yesterday.
It wasn’t thick—after removing the cover, only twelve pages remained… twelve symbols of virtue!
All related data and references were stored in the cabinets.
Ji Jue's first step in learning alchemy was to engrave these twelve symbols onto various materials within a month.
This was not only a fundamental understanding of the twelve virtues but also meant he had to reach standards with various materials, engraving methods, and all basic skills.
Yesterday was easy mode, and today it felt like he was thrown into hellish difficulty—time to face the music!
Life truly felt unbearable.
"Something doesn't seem right. Didn't the book suggest beginners start with basic runes and spiritual circuits?" Ji Jue, covered in dust, flipped through books all morning before realizing something was off.
Why had the difficulty suddenly increased?
He started to feel a headache coming on: "If this goes on, I'll never finish!"
"Ah, today’s youths are all so lazy…" Ye Chun said while lying on the sofa, shaking her head exaggeratedly as if she had aged a hundred years.
"Back in my day, we didn’t have such resources! Don’t be so unaware of your fortune, little Ji! Now, nearly all apprentices are working jobs to pay off student loans. In some places, you need to work hard just to learn how to cook! You, on the other hand, have materials to work with and classes to attend, along with so much free scrap to practice with—aren't you lucky?"
With a roll of his eyes, Ji Jue replied, "I understand, but could you stop talking down to me?"
"Older sisters are like mothers, don’t you know? Rounded up, I’m practically half your elder!"
Ye Chun jumped up in mock outrage, hugging her cat pillow.
"I know you’ve become the chosen one, with a bright future ahead and your aunt has high hopes for you, but you can’t even call me 'senpai'… Go grab the chips beside the fridge for me!"
Ji Jue rolled his eyes again, retrieved two bags of chips without hesitation, and also took out a chilled soda from the fridge.
After downing it heartily, he turned back to the center of the workshop.
Before him stood the massive furnace that continued to operate silently, thousands of spiritual circuits extending from its depths like a gigantic web, converging beneath his feet.
This was the tool he would use for practice.
There were countless ways to handle materials and items in alchemy, with fire and heat being the most common and widely applicable methods.
Most materials would have their properties triggered at high temperatures, which also enhanced their spiritual qualities, making them more suitable for alchemical operations.
For a beginner like Ji Jue, he actually wasn’t qualified for such a high-end model.
Except for the simple probe set he had yesterday that was only good for absolute beginners, the entire workshop only had this advanced equipment Ye used regularly.
It was so advanced that Ji Jue couldn’t comprehend most of its functions and didn’t dare to touch it.
Even though most of the settings wouldn’t be available to apprentices who hadn’t passed spiritual quality verification, just the basic functions would take him months to figure out.
A master-level high-temperature reaction vessel was far too extravagant for a novice like him.
And even more extravagant were the scraps, waste materials, and garbage that Professor Ye had already processed.
Even if it was garbage, it was the leftover garbage of a master.
Most of it would have been discarded after being deemed unfit in terms of strength or function or after having some kind of flaw.
After carefully going through the texts, Ji Jue sorrowfully discovered that if these "garbage" items were intact and put on the market, even someone like him wouldn’t be able to buy a full set without selling his blood or kidney.
But on the bright side, once he got lucky enough to become a master, wouldn’t selling a few scraps be enough to live lavishly for years?
Thinking of this gave him renewed motivation.
With thoughts of student loans, the dreadful job market in Cliff City over the years, rising prices, and the daily meals of white-cut chicken he had to feed his little lamb, he felt the urge to stay by the furnace twenty-four hours a day.
With such good conditions and luxurious configurations, if he didn’t work hard now, he would really face divine punishment!
Boom!
With a muffled sound, Ye Chun looked up from her position on the couch, observing Ji Jue’s dusty demeanor.
She sighed and returned her gaze without surprise.
Just this afternoon alone, he had already failed countless times.
Being an alchemist was a meticulous job, and while spiritual matter consumption wasn’t severe, Ji Jue’s inexperience led to many failures in just a few hours, draining him completely.
Grinding his teeth, he donned his fireproof suit and, using tongs, pulled a piece of copper from the furnace.
Once cooled, he realized the problem was the same as many of his failures.
Spiritual matter conflict.
Creating circuits in the metal and engraving virtue symbols was a technical task.
When he lost the theoretical bubble provided by yesterday's crystal ball, practical operations invited numerous problems; every detail could trip him up and one mistake could lead to total failure.
His willpower, control of his spiritual matter, and even emotional fluctuations all had to be within bounds, and he needed absolute stability and focus.
More importantly, he had to understand how to manage the properties of materials and adapt to different conditions.
This was pure experience work with no shortcuts.
"If only I could extract them beforehand."
Ji Jue slumped onto the sofa, exhaling tiredly.
"Huh?" Ye Chun looked puzzled.
"I mean, if I could extract other spiritual matters or impurities before they got into conflict," Ji Jue explained, "it wouldn’t be so troublesome."
"... Are you serious?!" Ye Chun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Is that difficult?"
"…"
Ye Chun sighed, standing up to pick up her blackboard again.
After adjusting her glasses, she stated seriously, "First, you need to understand that spiritual matter is very complex and variable. While they generally share similarities, there are nearly hundreds of main classifications, and sometimes the differences between them can be greater than between a person and a pig. Theoretically, absolutely pure and non-conflicting spiritual matter comes from time sand, which isn’t something at your current level to dream about. Even absolutely pure spiritual matter will change after physical interference and handling. It’s like when you mix paint; you need to understand the consequences of blending different colors and brush strokes before putting pen to canvas. You can’t just paint and then decide to peel off every drop of turpentine and pigment molecule from the canvas afterward. Extracting reactive spiritual matter from its carrier afterward requires an absurd level of control. It’s not that it’s theoretically impossible; actually attempting to do it is simply dreaming. Such absurdity, even the current grandmaster Tian Lu may not be able to accomplish."
Before putting her blackboard down, she concluded, "Instead of thinking about this, it would be more realistic to dream of everyone in the federation giving you a dollar so you can become rich overnight."
"Is it… really that outrageous?" Ji Jue was dumbfounded, struggling to maintain calm.
He wasn’t shocked by the difficulty but rather by the recent realization… if extracting the reacting spiritual matter from its carrier was so hard, then how was he able to revert to his original state after being corroded by dragon blood? Wasn’t that just ludicrous?
He slowly lowered his head to look at his watch, which ticked on, seemingly endless.
How could he precisely separate all the corrupted structures and portions just before he was completely transformed, and without any subsequent issues to restore himself... what was that thing?
It’s no wonder Wen Jie looked like she had seen a ghost when she discovered he could reverse his corruption!
He might as well claim he could turn back time, and it would be better accepted.
Given such an outrageous situation, it was truly compassionate and kind-hearted of Wen Jie not to crush him on the spot for some serious study!
Ji Jue couldn’t help but want to build her a shrine in his home.
Yet...
He stared hard at the watch, increasingly feeling that this watch was extraordinary and might be far more impressive than he initially considered.
So, if this watch is that impressive, how ridiculous must its maker be?
After thinking for a while, he finally gathered the courage to peek at Ye Chun’s expression while pretending to casually scroll on his phone.
He asked with feigned curiosity, "Senpai, do you know about Skytrack?"
"I know!"
Ye Chun nodded without hesitation.
While speaking, she munched on chips, her cheeks bulging like a hamster.
A hamster big enough to scare Ji Jue’s heart out!
(End of Chapter)