"Who says I failed?"


    As soon as Leon spoke, Liliana, who had just offered him encouraging words, instantly froze and gave him a strange look.


    "What did you just say? I didn''t hear that wrong, did I?" Liliana asked, her beautiful face full of doubt and confusion.


    Leon smiled at her confused expression, unable to resist gently pinching her cheek.


    "I just said, ''Who says I failed?''" Leon repeated it in a light tone.


    Liliana frowned, confusion still apparent on her beautiful face.


    "''Who says I failed?''... Doesn''t that mean you..." Liliana pursed her lips, her words trailing off as if she couldn''t believe her own guess.


    "Pfft! Yes, you guessed it right, Liliana. I sessfully concocted an antidote for the devouring poison," Leon replied, a faint smile on his lips.


    Hearing that her guess was correct, Liliana''s eyes widened, and she pulled away from his embrace with a horrified expression.


    "You... You''re not kidding, right?" Liliana inquired seriously, her palms tightly gripped, as if she still couldn''t believe it.


    Concocting an antidote for the devouring poison, with chances below one percent, was something even she, well-acquainted with the form and itsplexities, found extremely challenging, if not impossible, to concoct.


    Yet Leon just imed that he sessfully concocted an antidote for the devouring poison!?


    How could she not be surprised by his words and find them hard to believe, even though they came from Leon himself, the person she cared about?


    Certainly, it wasn''t that she underestimated Leon''s alchemical skills, but merely days ago, he hadn''t reached the level of a high-level alchemist, rendering it even more improbable for him to concoct an antidote for the devouring poison.


    Given all the considerations and facts at hand, it was very difficult to believe Leon''s words.


    Noticing Liliana''s anxious expression and serious gaze, Leon realized she didn''t believe him, which made sense.


    Even he found it hard to believe he had seeded, let alone Liliana.


    However, the fact remained that he had indeed sessfully concocted an antidote for the devouring poisonst night, despite the chances being less than one percent!


    With a confident smile, Leon nodded firmly and replied, "Of course, Liliana. I couldn''t possibly lie to you."


    "You know that although I''m sometimes shameless and prone to lying on various asions, I would never joke or lie about something this serious."


    As Leon spoke, his expression became serious, showing no signs of deceit.


    Liliana fell silent; her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, no words came out.


    Indeed, in hindsight, Leon could not have joked or lied about such a matter.


    Aside from there being no benefit for him, it would also tarnish their newly built rtionship.


    After considering this, Liliana finally chose to trust Leonpletely.


    Taking a deep breath and then letting it out, Liliana, now calm, looked back at Leon more gently.


    "Alright, I trust you," Liliana said with a slight, firm nod. "But can you tell me how you seeded in concocting it?"


    Feeling reassured by her firm deration of trust, Leon''s heart swelled with happiness as he gently pulled her into his arms, his hand tenderly stroking her smooth, exposed back.


    "If I told you there was a missing ingredient in the antidote form for the devouring poison, would you believe me?" Leon inquired, a yful smile adorning his lips.


    "What? An ingredient missing from the form!?" Liliana eximed in surprise, looking at Leon with disbelief.


    "Yes, there''s an ingredient missing that your ancestor didn''t include in the form," Leon confirmed with a slight nod.


    Liliana fell into silence for a few moments before asking hesitantly, "What ingredient was missing and not written down?"


    With a faint smile, Leon leaned closer to Liliana''s ear and whispered, "The missing ingredient to concoct the antidote for the devouring poison, not documented by your ancestor, is..."


    ***


    Last night...


    *Boom!*


    The explosion rang through Leon''s room like an rm, filling the space with smoke and leaving ck stains in its wake.


    "Hah~ failed again, failed again..." Helplessly, Leon muttered as he stood before the alchemy furnace, now billowing ck smoke.


    His face and clothes were covered in ck stains, giving him the appearance of a disheveled beggar.


    This marked his 499th failure, a remarkable number.


    If there existed a ranking for the most experienced failures in the world, Leon would undoubtedly im the top spot without hesitation.


    "Damn it! Am I truly unable to regain my powers?" Leon cursed inwardly, his handsome face contorting with despair as he clenched his palms into fists.


    The confidence he exuded on the first night had nowpletely crumbled, reced by a palpable sense of helplessness etched across his features.


    499 failures were not just a few, but rather an immense number, each one apanied by a curse!


    In this world, Leon was certain that no one else had endured as many failures as he had.


    "Ah..." Leon sighed wearily once more, the exhaustion evident in his haggard golden eyes.


    For four consecutive nights, he had relentlessly experimented with concocting an antidote for the devouring poison without getting any sleep at all!


    His haggard eyes and the dark circles under them bore witness to his seemingly futile struggle.


    *Thud!*


    Leon copsed onto the disheveled pile of books scattered across the carpet, his gaze drifting upward to the ceiling in a daze.


    "Do I press on, or is reaching this point sufficient?" he pondered inwardly, grappling with uncertainty.


    If he gave up now, it would mean wasting his efforts over the past four nights.


    Furthermore, surrendering meant embracing a grim fate—epting that he would never reim his powers.


    Additionally, he would be unable to seek retribution against Velix and his cohorts, who had plotted against him, or confront the uing war.


    However, if he didn''t give up, he knew that a sess rate below one percent was essentially an unattainable impossibility.


    For the first time, Leon found himself ensnared in a dilemma of unparalleled difficulty.


    "Hey..." Leon sighed, his head shaking slightly.


    With his body feeling somewhat tired and exhausted from four sleepless days, he slowly rose to sit, his gaze fixed on the chaotic mess surrounding him.


    The closet, bookcase, sofa, adjacent table, reading desk, and every other piece of furniture appeared as though they had been through the chaos of an atomic st, strewn about in disarray.


    Leon, a devotee of cleanliness, would typically feel ufortable in a disheveled and cluttered room.


    Yet, given his current state and circumstances, hecked the energy and time to tidy up the chaos surrounding him.


    With a subtle shake of his head, Leon redirected his attention toward the big ck box resting beneath his reading table.


    The ck box held the essentialponents for concocting an antidote to the devouring poison: fire seeds, frozen leaves, tricolor flowers, and the precious essence of Liliana''s Demon Emperor''s blood—supports she had bestowed upon him days earlier.


    Initially, the plentiful supply of these ingredients implied that he could conduct up to 500 experiments with them.


    Yet, as he reached his 499th attempt, it dawned on him that he now had only one opportunity left to experiment.


    If he failed, he would inevitably need to request new basic ingredients from Celine, a process that would consume valuable time.


    Furthermore, beyond the fundamental ingredients like fire seeds, the crucial ingredient remained the essence of Liliana''s Demon Emperor''s blood, which was impossible to obtain because Liliana was currently absent from the inner pce.


    "Damn it! This must be the unluckiest moment of my life," Leon cursed inwardly as he rose to his feet, frustration weighing heavy upon him.


    With fatigued movements, Leon approached the big ck box beneath the table to retrieve the remaining ingredients andmenced the process of concocting the antidote for the devouring poison.


    After repeating the monotonous steps, Leon reached the final stage, his expressioncking the initial enthusiasm he had when beginning this experiment.


    "This is bound to fail," Leon remarked with a wry smile, gripping the top of the alchemy furnace, ready to push it away from himself to avoid the impending explosion.


    However, just as he was about to shift it, his left index finger identally grazed the sharp edge of the furnace, causing it to bleed.


    In an instant, the blood dripped into the contents of the alchemy furnace, which had entered the final stage.


    *Bluub! Bluub!*


    The moment his blood touched the liquid inside the alchemy furnace, it reacted instantly, causing Leon to widen his eyes in panic.


    "Damn it!" Leon cursed loudly, releasing his grip on the alchemy furnace before darting under the bed, terror written across his face.


    He hadn''t anticipated that his blood, from a mere scratch, would inadvertently contaminate the liquid in such a fatal manner.


    If any extraneous ingredients were mixed in the alchemy process, it would trigger a massive explosion!


    With a panicked and fearful expression, Leon hid under the bed, covering his ears with his palms and closing his eyes, resigning himself to his fate.


    One minute...


    Three minutes...


    Five minutes...


    The anticipated explosion did not ur, prompting Leon to slowly open his eyes in confusion.


    "Huh? It didn''t explode?" He muttered, stunned, gradually lowering his hands from his ears.


    He had expected an explosion powerful enough to destroy the entire room. Was that it?


    Leon froze in ce, hesitating to crawl out from under the bed.


    Even though it hadn''t exploded yet, what if it did when he got out?


    Ultimately, Leon decided to wait a few more minutes.


    Ten minutester...


    After confirming that the alchemy furnace hadn''t exploded, Leon crawled out from under the bed and rushed to check its contents, his heart racing.


    If it didn''t explode, did that mean...


    As Leon stood before the alchemy furnace, his eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw inside.


    "This is..."


    ***


    ------------


    A/N: Thank you for the gifts and support! Hey~ Hey~ my spirit is burning straight to the top! Thank you and stay tuned!