A few hundred miles away from the Earthen City is the Sunset Duchy under the Sunset Family.
Behind the Sunset Mansion, inside an underground warehouse,
Two men were standing in front of a capped man wearing a black mask. Only his piercing amber eyes were visible.
"My Lord, we just heard the news that the King ordered to move every piece of titan iron from the warehouses and shift them back to the forbidden forest. The lode is also in that place. If not for Duke status, I won't be able to get my hands on this news." A burly troll with a thick beard respectfully told.
If other trolls saw him, they would've instantly recognized this troll because he was one of six dukes of the Earthen Kingdom, Sunset Duke. But now he was standing respectfully in front of his masked man like he was standing in front of his King.
This masked man was naturally Jacob, who appeared in the Earthen Kingdom two weeks ago and directly enslaved the Sunset Duke and his eldest son.
It was simply more convenient to have the locals working for him while he remained in the shadows. Furthermore, someone like the Sunset Duke would know the whereabouts of the titan iron.
His guess was right and just three days ago, with Sunset Duke's help, he raided a titan iron warehouse and gained over 250KG titan iron ores.
He also didn't have to worry about hiding since the sunset mansion was quite huge, and he could use it as his backyard. No one would think the loyal sunset duke was hiding a national criminal in his home.
The Sunset Duke was also his eyes and ears in the earthen kingdom.
Jacob's eyes shimmered with uncertainty. 'Why are they collecting all the titan iron at the same place? Aren't they responding excessively? I just raided a low-level warehouse, and they're already panicking.
'Well, since they're going into all this trouble to collect all the titan iron in a place, I can simply intercept them, and get a sufficient amount of titan iron. I can't carry a large amount of titan tears with me even if I want to.
'So, there's no point in showing myself. I never intended to take all the titan iron in the first place. They can guard it as much as they want.' Jacob's lips curled up into a mocking smile.
Although he wanted to empty the entire titan iron vein of the earthen kingdom and convert everything into the titan tears. But he knew it was impossible.
First, there were three more auxiliary materials required to make the titan tears. The Golden Grass, the Vintage Leaf, and the Night Dew. Although these materials weren't as rare as titan iron, they were still rare in the uncommon region. There might not be enough to make even 2000 drops of titan tears.
Second, Jacob can always get more uncommon titan iron in higher regions. He wasn't like Jerry or Tunny, who were hunted by the rarer region. No one knows he had the titan tears formula.
Lastly, Jacob knew the more he progressed, the lesser the uncommon-grade titan tears affects him, and he would require either a large supply of uncommon titan tears or a higher-grade potion.
That's why he only wanted to make enough titan tears that could let him safely pass through 60% and 70% level hunger.
In the meantime, he would search for the materials to make the higher-level potion.
Since Jerry and Tunny can't find those materials in the rare region, it doesn't mean Jacob won't be able to find them in the rarer region as well.
He was completely confident in roaming unhindered in the rarer region after crossing the fifty percent mark. So, there wasn't any need for him to bully those trolls so much.
"Alright, find out the convoy routes and the amount of titan iron they were carrying. I need them before they reach the final destination. Now, go." Jacob coldly ordered before he closed the door.
The underground warehouse was quite large, and there was an enormous pile of titan iron ores.
On the other side were three different piles of materials, which Jacob made the Sunset Duke purchase at any price.
At the other corner of this warehouse was a large stone table with glass test tubes and other stuff required for potion making. It was like creating chemicals in a chemistry lab.
From Tunny, Jacob had learned that the Potion Alchemy was just a minor branch of Alchemy, like the Gunsmith Guild, Apothecary Guild, and the Apothecary Alchemy Guild. And these were just the branches that were in the rare and rarer regions.
He also learned that if one wanted to learn true alchemy and entered the main Alchemy Guild, it was compulsory to be proficient in these branches. At least one had to be a Grandmaster in at least three branches.
There were three levels of Apprentice Rank, followed by Basic, Intermediate, Advance.
After these ranks were the Master Rank with the same three levels. Then there was the Grandmaster Rank, which was the pinnacle of any alchemy branch.
There wasn't any single Grandmaster Rank present in any branch of the rare or rarer regions.
So, to achieve a grandmaster rank in all these branches was night impossible, and many believed that it was just a hoax made by the alchemy guild to keep them in check.
But what truly made Jacob fascinated and want to learn about alchemy was their knowledge. Although this knowledge wasn't as advanced as quantum physics, The Physics of Time & Space, or algebraic number theories which he was familiar with.
Yet, he found their traces in the Gunsmith Guild library, and those low-level books made his foundation more refined.
That was why he believed he might be surprised when he proceeded to the higher regions.
Jacob now considers this world like an onion. He was just at the first layer of this world, and he had already experienced so much here.
That's why he didn't dare to think of himself as superior anymore, just because he had more knowledge than the natives of the uncommon or rare region.
His goal was immortality, and to reach that goal, he'll do anything as long as it made him come closer to that goal.
Jacob turns on the furnace before he tosses titan iron into it. It was the first step in making the Titan Tears. He was required to melt the titan iron in the furnace.
After it was done, he was required to use the night dew, which was like dark mercury. The night dew would clear the impurity, turns the molten iron state into a pure liquid form, and make its melting point to room temperature.
Then he was required to use a mixture of Golden Grass and Vintage Leaf.
The moment he mixed those two, a huge reaction occurred.
Deep black smoke rose from the bicker as if a cloud was being made. This black smoke didn't have any smell.
However, Jacob didn't dare to touch it because this black smoke was acidic, and he had prepared a special vacuum to collect the smoke so he could release it in the air at night, or it might draw some attention.
After the smoke stopped, only a tiny amount of black liquid was left which was the titan tears!
Jacob was already at a 65% conversion rate of his body, and he was planning to make it hundred percent so he could achieve and use the full strength of 50%.
Furthermore, he still hasn't activated his Fluid Acceleration. A part of being he was afraid, and a part was he didn't have any chance or he didn't know how to accelerate his heart rate at 10 HBPS.
It was quite risky if he tried a force method and then had no power left to concentrate to control the fluid acceleration.
He also hadn't had the chance to continue his water meditation since it wasn't required any longer after his body had no longer expanded.
Nevertheless, he was planning to continue it when he was done with the titan tears matter.
Jacob then spent all day making titian tears and used 100KG from that pile.
After consuming all the titan tears he had made, his hunger was completely gone. He was laden with unimaginable strength. He mused he was trice stronger than he was at 40%, and his speed also increased by at least 50 KMPH.
At this moment, a knock rang on the door.
Jacob's lips curled as anticipation appeared in his eyes.
He opened the door and saw it was Sunset Duke.
Sunset Duke respectfully handed over some paper to Jacob and said, "My Lord, these are the convoys routes. The largest of them is holding over 2 tons of titan iron while the smallest one is keeping 100 kg."
Jacob didn't even look at the reports and coldly asked, "Where is the 2 tons convoy at this moment?"
