How to Become an Alchemist

Seong-il stared at his points total. "Let's see... I've got 6,665 points piled up? I really should use them for something..."

After mulling it over for a while, he decided to try out a feature in the Game Master system that he had never used before.

"Come to think of it, I've never once touched the shop function. Maybe I should check it out..."

Having made up his mind, Seong-il clicked on the shop icon within the Game ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Master interface.

"Hmm... With the points I have, I can only really afford the Silver or Bronze boxes."

Seong-il thought hard for a long time before finally deciding. No matter how many points I've saved up, I shouldn't waste them on something when I don't even know what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it does. Buying a Silver box feels a bit reckless...

With that in mind, he pressed the purchase button for a Bronze-grade random box.

After completing a few simple steps, he bought the box and clicked to open it. To his astonishment, a real physical box materialized before his eyes in a flash of light. The box opened on its own, and several items tumbled onto the floor.

"...What the hell is this?"

Startled, Seong-il quickly examined the items that had fallen.

"...Tasty Preserved Rations?"

The name on the retort pouch was so lazily written that it was almost insulting. "What is this? Some half-assed three-minute meal...?"

Unable to hide his bewilderment, Seong-il began reading the instructions for the so-called three-minute meal.

This... this can't be a scam, right?

Still half-skeptical about the item's authenticity, Seong-il tore open the pouch. To his surprise, hot steam immediately rose from it, carrying a genuinely appetizing aroma.

Having eaten nothing since morning, Seong-il took a bite and his eyes widened in shock.

"Kek? This... this is actually good? What the fuck..."

He devoured the rest in a frenzy, marveling at the item's quality, then opened the shop again.

"If the quality is this good, it's definitely worth going all in."

In his excitement, Seong-il bought twenty Bronze boxes in one go.

"Let's see what we got..."

After spending a total of 2,000 points, the results were as follows.

"Ugh... Thirteen of those three-minute meals..."

"And what the hell is this? 'Masquerade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mask'? I got two of them.

"Oh ho... So if I wear this mask, I can hide my identity while still expressing my emotions? And I can even modulate my voice if needed...?"

Intrigued, Seong-il tried the mask on. It clung to his face with a satisfying *snap*, but after that he felt absolutely no discomfort or weight.

"The texture feels like human skin..."

To test the instructions, he deliberately scrunched his face into a frown.

"What? It's not reacting at all. This is annoying... Did I get scammed?"

The moment the thought crossed his mind, the mask's brow furrowed, perfectly mimicking an irritated expression.

"Whoa! What the—!"

Startled by the change, Seong-il's eyes widened. The mask immediately mirrored him—its black eyes grew large and wrinkles formed on its forehead, displaying a perfect look of surprise.

"Ah... So it changes expression based on the wearer's emotions. That's pretty amazing."

Seong-il took the mask off and continued examining the other items.

"A dog collar...?"

"...Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that one."

Muttering to himself, Seong-il began organizing the items and recording their descriptions into a list.

"Uh... well... they're all kind of... mediocre. Is it because the grade is so low?"

Deciding to take a bigger risk, Seong-il bought two Silver-grade boxes.

"....."

"Apayo Corporation? What the hell is this pathetic naming sense?"

Seong-il was muttering to himself, completely dumbfounded by the lazy naming and abilities of the items, when his smartphone began to vibrate.

"Hm...? What's this?"

"What?! Inventory?!"

In his surprise, Seong-il tapped his phone and began examining the newly unlocked Inventory function.

"In short... I can store and retrieve items I bought from the shop? But what the hell is this 'tariff' thing???"

As expected of the Game Master skill—it answered one question only to raise three more. Feeling a headache coming on, Seong-il decided to test it.

"Inventory!"

A fist-sized red space appeared in front of him and began to ripple.

"Oh... so I just put stuff in here?"

He tried to shove one of the three-minute meals into the hole, but it was too small for the item to fit.

Frustrated, Seong-il grumbled, "What the hell? How am I supposed to put it in? This is so damn clunky, 'Inventory'—"

The moment the word left his mouth, the three-minute meal in his hand began to glow, turned into smoke, and was sucked into the red space.

"Whoa...!"

Finally understanding how it worked, Seong-il spoke with excitement. Ah! So the 'activation word' means I have to touch the item and say 'Inventory' for it to get sucked in!

He spent the next several minutes experimenting, touching the meals and calling out the command. Just as he predicted, every single item was sucked cleanly into the inventory space without exception.

"This is awesome..."

After marveling at the Inventory ability for a while, a new question arose. "But what exactly is this tariff?"

As he absentmindedly spun a ballpoint pen between his fingers while thinking, a message appeared before his eyes.

"?!"

Startled by the sudden message, Seong-il clutched his chest. Does that mean if I hold an item and say 'tariff,' it assigns a point cost?!

Calming his racing heart, he held the ballpoint pen and clearly said, "Inventory."

The points were deducted, and just like before, the pen was sucked into the red inventory space floating before him.

"Holy shit..."

Witnessing this, Seong-il began pondering how to use the Inventory function most effectively.

"Hoo... How should I make the most of this Inventory..."

Without thinking, he muttered the word again. The red space in front of him vanished instantly.

"Ah... So saying the word makes it appear and disappear!"

Now that he had the hang of it, Seong-il reopened the inventory and called the pen back. Sure enough, the pen appeared in front of him without issue.

Just to test it further, he tried calling out "Black Ball," but there was no response whatsoever.

"Hmm... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What's the criteria...?"

Now that I think about it, after I used the Black Ball in that wuxia world last time, I couldn't summon it in other game worlds or in reality...

Seong-il quickly formed a hypothesis.

To verify his theory, Seong-il logged into the Explosive Wuxia Chronicles.

"..."

His hypothesis was correct, but the absurdly high price left him stunned. He quickly returned from the wuxia world to reality.

"The price is insane..."

After staring blankly into space for a long time, Seong-il finally pulled himself together. Points will accumulate eventually... It's not like I absolutely have to bring Eun-wol into reality right now.

Having finished his thoughts, Seong-il returned to the world of How to Become an Alchemist.

Once back inside, he spent an entire week diligently memorizing answers and preparing for the exam.

When the test day finally arrived, Seong-il began the examination.

Easy.

To be precise, it wasn't that the test was easy—it was simply that he had already memorized all the answers. Knowing the material, he flew through the questions at lightning speed.

Finished all the multiple choice... Now for the practical...

The practical exam simply required following a set sequence to refine reagents and ingredients, then combining them in a predetermined pattern. Because of this, Seong-il found the practical section even easier than the written portion.

"Done!"

Having finished the test in record time, Seong-il was the first to stand up and leave the exam room.

A murmur began to spread through the room.

"Isn't that the Easterner who barely scraped in at the very bottom not too long ago...?"

"Is he crazy?"

"He must have given up. With those grades, I can't blame him."

Though the voices were quiet, the sheer number of students whispering at once filled the room with noise. Unable to tolerate it any longer, Professor Devon shouted.

"Silence! I demand silence! If anyone mutters one more time, I will use them as an example and give them a zero!"

At Professor Devon's fierce threat, the room fell deathly quiet in an instant.

Chuckling inwardly at them, Seong-il approached Professor Devon.

"Professor, I've finished all the questions. May I leave the exam room?"

"...Is that true?"

Faced with the dumbfounded professor, Seong-il smiled brightly. "Yes. I completed everything without issue."

"..."

Devon let out a sigh, nodded, and spoke to his assistant. "Owen. Put Student Seong-il's test paper and combination results in a box, seal it, and leave it on the desk."

The assistant followed the instructions, placing Seong-il's papers and results into a box and beginning the sealing process.

Watching this, Seong-il asked, "If you're done, may I leave now?"

Devon looked at him with a strange glint in his eye, then nodded. "Very well. You may go."

With those words, Seong-il gave a light bow and left the classroom.

Back in his dormitory, Seong-il lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hmm... The results come out in three days. In the meantime, I should secretly gather some alchemy-related supplies, right?"

"Once I have everything ready, I'll invite Elisha over and use the 'Devil's Incense'... Hehehe..."

While Seong-il was alone indulging in his lewd fantasies, someone knocked on his door.

"Hm? Who is it?"

"Seong-il, it's me, Elisha. Are you in there...?"

The sudden visit from the very person in his dirty fantasies startled him. Hiding his emotional turmoil, he approached the door.

"Ah... E-Elisha. What brings you here?"

Elisha looked at him with worried eyes. "Um... Are you thinking of dropping out of school?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

With a sympathetic voice, Elisha continued, "It looked like the test questions were too hard, so you just guessed and left early... Are you going to be okay? Of course, I understand since the first three months are about learning the culture here..."

Seong-il cut her off. "What are you saying? The questions were so easy that I just finished quickly..."

"?!"

Elisha was visibly flustered by his unexpected answer. "What? They were easy?! Really?"

"Yeah. Even though it's first-year level... I never imagined they'd make questions that basic. You were worrying for nothing."

At his words, Elisha's face turned pale. "B-but when I solved them, the difficulty was... it was brutal...?"

Seong-il put on a puzzled expression, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "Really? Well, maybe for you. But they were easy for me."

At his firm response, Elisha was left speechless. She stood there with a dazed look before finally saying, "Ah... I see... So that's how it is. I... I was just worrying unnecessarily..."

Her face flushed bright red as she stammered through her goodbye and hurriedly left the room.

"What the... I came because I was worried my pushover friend might have gotten scared by the test and wanted to quit the tutoring sessions to study instead. But that attitude...? How bizarre..."

With an expression of utter confusion, Elisha began making her way out of the school.