Chapter 2 : National Power Level Alchemist

The moment I snapped out of my daze, staring blankly ahead, was when a violent gale struck, as though it intended to sweep me off my feet.

It felt like standing directly in front of a colossal industrial fan; the fierce wind carried dust and small pebbles, pelting me relentlessly.

Fortunately, the wind subsided within a few seconds, but my thoughts swirled wildly, as if mimicking the storm’s ferocity.

What just happened?

Am I dreaming?

Is this really Myeolguk?

“Stay calm. Even in a tiger’s den, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.”

Taking a deep breath, I steadied my chaotic mind and surveyed my surroundings.

First of all, this isn’t a dream.

The lingering sting of pebbles hitting my skin and the way my clothes had flapped wildly in the sudden gust were all too real.

The question of where I was had also been answered.

This place looked eerily identical to the official illustration of Myeolguk I had seen before—a ruined wasteland of irregularly collapsed structures, as if buildings had fallen straight from the sky, beneath a swirling purple sky shrouded in stormy clouds.

The landscape and phenomena before me were impossible to recreate on a mere set. I was certain—this was Myeolguk.

No doubt about it: I was in Myeolguk, and this wasn’t a dream.
So then, how on earth did this happen?

The answer came to me surprisingly quickly.
“Possession?”

As absurd as it sounded, there was no other explanation.

Isn’t this exactly how many stories begin? The sudden flash from a monitor, followed by familiar game-world scenery unfolding—it was as if everything was screaming, “You’ve been transported into the world of this game!”

“If this is Myeolguk, then whose body have I been possessed into?”

I lowered my gaze to examine myself and tried speaking aloud.
What I saw was my familiar body, and my voice was unchanged.

In other words, I hadn’t possessed someone else’s body—I had been transported into the game world as myself.

It was possession, but a half-baked one.
“Seriously?”

A string of curses almost escaped my mouth.

If I’d entered this game’s world with the body of an ordinary earthling and was now somewhere in Myeolguk, the situation was anything but trivial.

Myeolguk is a late-game area.

According to official lore, it’s a hellish landscape corrupted entirely by the enemy’s influence, known as the Abyss.

Monstrous creatures that can decimate armies roam as common mobs, and even those monsters are devoured by bigger monsters, only to be torn apart by natural disasters that occur frequently.

What would have happened if that earlier gale wasn’t just wind?
The thought of my body being shredded like meat in a blender sent shivers down my spine.

“Don’t I have anything? Most transmigrators usually have at least a status window, right?”

I’m now a transmigrator, specifically one who’s entered the world of a game. If I didn’t have a status window, that would be a major violation of clichés.

“Status window. Please, status window.”

I repeated the phrase “status window” in my head over and over, willing it to appear.

Fortunately, as if meeting my expectations, a familiar status window appeared before my eyes.

『Ryu Seo-jun』
Race: Human
ᆞGift: Universal Transmutation (萬物煉成), Dual Soul Frame (二重靈格)
Ability: X
Skill: Alchemy (EX)

I barely had time to cheer at the sight of the status window before noticing something odd about its structure. I frowned.

‘What is this?’

The status window spread out before me looked identical to the character interface I’d seen in the game.

It should have displayed the character’s level and various stats, yet all the “quantified” categories were missing.

Does this mean that, since this is no longer a game but reality, simple calculations no longer matter?

Accepting the changes to the status window, I shifted my focus to the remaining contents.

‘The status window currently shows four main items.’

The first item, race, wasn’t particularly surprising. It was only natural that I had no special ability stats. However, the Gift and Skill sections were a bit unusual.

‘Alchemy, I can understand. But what is this Gift?’

It made sense for Alchemy to be listed under the Skills section.

After all, the game company had designated my character as an NPC for the Nation-Destroying Alchemy Workshop. This aligned with the reason for my possession, so it seemed to fit together.

The problem was the Gift section.

If this world followed the game’s lore, Gifts were abilities that manifested from innate talents—a type of unique power.

‘I’ve never seen Gifts like these in the game before.’

It wasn’t just the fact that I had Gifts that surprised me.

What was truly surprising were the two Gifts prominently occupying a spot in the status window:
Universal Transmutation (萬物煉成) and Dual Soul Frame (二重靈格).

These were Gifts I had never encountered during my gameplay.

Still, I kept my composure and tried interacting with the status window.

If the status window functioned similarly to the game system, I should be able to examine the specifics of these unknown Gifts.

Just like when I first opened the status window, I focused my intent on the Gifts, hoping to learn more.

The status window shifted, erasing other information, and displayed detailed descriptions of the Gifts.

『Universal Transmutation (萬物煉成)』
Allows alchemy using Ether as a resource and provides absolute enhancements to all transmutation activities.

Increases magical precision based on Alchemy proficiency (Rank).

Grants perfect understanding of the structure of any material to be transmuted.

『Dual Soul Frame (二重靈格)』
Elevates the quality of the soul.
ᆞProvides high resistance to all types of mental status effects.
ᆞEnsures a vast quantity and excellent quality of accumulated mana.

This is incredible.

That was the first thought that struck me after reading the descriptions of the Gifts.

Universal Transmutation maximizes the effectiveness of my sole skill, Alchemy, while Dual Soul Frame is a versatile ability that can be useful from the early game to the late game.

Moreover, the “absolute enhancement” attached to Universal Transmutation was on par with some of the most coveted buffs across the entire game.

As for Dual Soul Frame, although the phrase “elevates the quality of the soul” was a bit vague, its benefits—resistance to mental interference and enhancement of mana—were indisputable.

“This might actually work…
•?”

I might be able to escape the destruction unscathed.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a grin spread across my face, as if my lips were hooked to my ears. Considering I’d just found a surefire way to survive in a situation where life and death were hanging by a thread, it was an unavoidable reaction.

And then, it happened.

“Wait a second.”

Far in the distance, at the edge of the horizon, something was churning violently in the sky.
The next moment, an ear-splitting roar and a fierce gust of wind crashed against my body as if to sweep me away.

The destruction is a region that hasn’t been released yet, so there’s less information available compared to other areas.
However, I knew exactly what was happening before my eyes.

“An Aether Storm.”

Just as the name suggests, an Aether Storm is a calamity where aether whirls like a storm and sweeps away everything around it.

What was once only a brief cutscene in the game was now unfolding before me in real life.

The sheer magnitude of it sent chills down my spine, and my instincts screamed at me to figure out a way to avoid it.

“What do I do?”

In this world, humans use aether as an energy source akin to oil or coal, or refine it through the art of aether alchemy to create magic power.

Magic power refined through alchemy becomes fuel for magic and alchemical techniques, enabling humans to protect themselves from danger.

Though aether is inherently a beneficial force, nature isn’t always kind to humans.

Just as rain can cause floods and winds can bring typhoons, aether occasionally wreaks devastating havoc.

“An Aether Storm is something that must be avoided at all costs.”

The Aether Storm advancing toward me was among the most vicious of natural disasters.
It’s a phenomenon where ultra-dense aether whirls in a vortex, turning everything around it to ashes.

Calling it a storm is almost misleading; it’s essentially a vortex of ultra-dense energy sweeping across the ground—a catastrophe in motion.

“To survive an Aether Storm…”

Hiding inside a building is pointless.

An Aether Storm has the power to crumple steel like paper and shred it to pieces.

Even if I sought refuge in a ruined building, all it would do is leave my flesh and bones torn apart by the storm.

Running away on foot is an even more foolish option.

The Aether Storm is already heading in this direction, and no matter how hard I run, it will eventually catch up.

Hiding behind cover? The storm would rip the cover apart as easily as it would shred me. Running away? I’d only end up being caught and killed.

That leaves only one answer.

“Time to show off the skills of an alchemist.”

Was it thanks to the gifts and skills displayed in my status window?
I already knew how to use alchemy.

From drawing in aether from the air to executing and deploying alchemical techniques, the entire process played out step by step in my mind.

“An Aether Storm only ravages the surface. If I go underground, its impact will be minimal.”

I dropped into a crouch, knelt down, and placed both hands on the ground.

As I inhaled, the aether mixed in the air flowed into my lungs.
The aether, which had been evenly distributed throughout my body, gathered in my hands according to my will and then flowed into the ground, altering the structure of the material.

Alchemy is the art of understanding the structure of matter, breaking it down with magic power, and then reconstructing it.

Although I used aether instead of magic power due to the effects of the Universal Transmutation ability, the principle remained the same.

I broke through the hard soil floor step by step, creating a staircase as I descended underground. Once I reached an appropriate depth, I sealed the entrance.

Normally, building a bunker like this, which is almost akin to being buried alive, carries the risk of suffocation due to oxygen depletion. However, I could simply transmute the surrounding materials into oxygen.

“Rather than suffocation, I should be more worried about oxygen toxicity.”

While waiting for the aether Storm to pass, I summoned my status window once again.

It didn’t emit any light, yet somehow, I could see it clearly even in the pitch-black underground.

Skill: Alchemy (EX)

Earlier, my attention was drawn to the gift, so I didn’t examine this thoroughly. But as I suspected, this skill wasn’t ordinary either.

In the game system, most skills are subject to a proficiency system from the moment they are acquired.

Although there are numerous limitations, such as potential and special conditions, the basic principle is that the more a skill is used, the more its rank increases, thereby enhancing its effects.

The minimum rank granted upon acquiring a skill is typically E-rank.

By meeting extraordinary potential and countless fateful opportunities, one could max out a skill’s proficiency and achieve S-rank, at which point the skill ceases to grow further.

“But to acquire it at EX-rank right from the start…”

Suddenly, a memory of something the developers said during an official broadcast flashed through my mind.

— “What would happen if there were a character with an EX-rank skill, something higher than S-rank?”

The effects of skills vary widely, from combat-related to non-combat fields, so it’s impossible to evaluate all skills purely based on destructive power or lethality.

However, influence could serve as a universal measure for all skills. In the game’s story, characters with S-rank skills wielded immense influence.

Their personal desires transcended the legal boundaries defined by society, and their individual actions could force institutions to reconsider their decisions.

— “If someone were to have an EX-rank skill…”

If S-rank skill holders were like that, just how overwhelming would a character with an EX-rank skill be?

— “They’d essentially be a walking nation, wouldn’t they? If S-rank is asymmetrical warfare on legs, then EX-rank is practically a mobile sovereign state in itself.”

My gaze couldn’t tear away from the EX-rank Alchemy skill.

This wasn’t a skill painstakingly honed through accumulated proficiency. It was a skill born as EX-rank.

“The alchemist boom has finally arrived.”

Truly, the return of the king.

The long days of ridicule and persecution had finally come to an end.

Days of being trampled on and utterly beaten by every other profession had finally given way.

“Though the beginning was humble, its end will undoubtedly be glorious.”

With EX-rank Alchemy and universal transmutation at my disposal, I had become an alchemist wielding national-level power.

Author’s Note (Epilogue)
It’s common sense, isn’t it? Hipster picks making a kingly return?

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