Chapter 1 : Alchemist’s Path Life

Alchemist (鍊金術師)

A profession that deals with alchemy, the precursor to modern chemistry and an ancient form of extreme recycling technology.

Alchemists transmute low-value materials like lead and scrap metal into expensive gold and jewels.

They create panaceas capable of curing all ailments using weeds from the field and lye.

By combining unique materials, they produce artificial life forms or special tools.

Humanity has always strived to transform the worthless into the valuable, and even in the modern era, where alchemy has degenerated into mere fantasy, that desire remains unchanged.

“Ah! Participant Ryu Seo-jun! You’ve synthesized a blade trap using elemental stones from your inventory!”

The same held true in the globally sensational MMORPG game that became a massive trend.

Although not specialized for combat, the alchemist, launched as a profession focused on life-content gameplay, initially drew the interest of many players.

And then it flopped spectacularly.

To the point where there wasn’t a single player who stuck with the alchemist for more than a month.

Players tried out the alchemist profession, spat it out in disgust, and abandoned it.

It wasn’t because of any major incidents or scandals. The main reason was simple: the alchemist’s performance was laughably, disastrously underwhelming.

Even considering it was a life-content-oriented profession, its abilities were too pitifully subpar.

“They did it! Thanks to participant Ryu Seo-jun’s victory, the alchemist’s name has appeared on the server rankings for the first time!”

It’s often said that when five people gather, at least one of them will be an oddball.

If you define an oddball as someone who deviates from general norms, I proudly claim the title of the top-tier oddball.

Although I’d prefer if people used the softer term “eccentric,” my nickname has long been solidified as

“King of Trash,” likely because the alchemist profession itself was considered garbage.

“Is Ryu Seo-jun completely insane?”

“Does it even make sense to reach the rankings as an alchemist?”

└ If Ryu Seo-jun were a meta-chaser, he would’ve overturned the rankings by now.

└ He shackled himself with a trash profession, then used those shackles to beat people senseless.

└ The undisputed King of Trash;;

Honestly, it couldn’t be helped.

After all, I was the only player across all servers who was fully dedicated to the alchemist profession.

While everyone else turned their backs on alchemists, I alone clung to the profession, carving out a niche with a craftsman’s dedication.
And this is the result.

With my alchemist character, I achieved a respectable ranking in the annual official ranking tournament.

Although 73rd place out of the top 100 isn’t particularly high, it was still a jaw-dropping achievement for an alchemist character to reach that level.

“Wow, this actually worked.”

After the tournament ended, I returned to the participants’ waiting room, slumped onto the sofa, and let out a chuckle of disbelief.

To be honest, even I hadn’t expected to achieve a ranking as high as 73rd.
I would’ve been satisfied to scrape into the low 90s, so placing 73rd was far beyond my expectations.

“Hyung, did you see the post the admins just uploaded on their official account?”

“Post? What post?”

While I was grinning to myself in bliss, a junior from college I was close with approached me.

We had dropped the formal senior-junior dynamic and settled into a casual “hyung-dongsaeng” relationship, but now he was making a huge fuss, shoving his smartphone screen in my face.

And sure enough, there was a post on the official admin account that was worth all the commotion.

“I haven’t seen anything like this lately, but wow, they made it official?”

“Wow, is this really happening?”

The post was simple.

The game devs, impressed by my achievements, announced that in the next major update, my character would be immortalized as the head NPC of an alchemy workshop in a new region.

It wasn’t unheard of for devs of old RPG games to mention players and honor their achievements, but I never thought it would be about me.

“Wow, you’ve made it big. You’ve been saying for ages that you’d blow everyone’s minds as an alchemist.”

“Of course, it’s you. You’re the one who took down 22 ranked players using alchemy.”

Even life-skills-based professions have at least some combat ability.

When you max out a profession’s mastery level, you can choose between Succession or Awakening to pursue higher-tier development. So, alchemists weren’t exactly treated as second-class citizens.

Actually, my alchemist was more like a special case.

While others struggled to choose between Succession and Awakening, I had the privilege of choosing both.

“But honestly, making both your main and sub-profession alchemist is pretty insane.”

“Doesn’t it feel purer, though?”

“We’ve got an actual alchemy demon here.”

Main and sub-professions.

The system allowed one character to have two professions simultaneously.

You could even pick the same profession for both the main and sub, though most players didn’t do that.

The reason was simple: choosing different professions was far more efficient for growth and maximizing potential.

The most common combination was mage and swordsman.

Mages excel at mid-to-long range combat and buffs but are weak in close quarters. Swordsmen are strong in melee combat but lack buffs and struggle outside close-range fights.

However, if you choose swordsman as your main and mage as your sub, those weaknesses disappear.

You end up with a swordsman who can buff themselves up, perform flashy sword dances, and rain down spells when distancing themselves from the enemy.

I know all about it. Back when I was a noob and clueless, I walked into the arena and got destroyed by those kinds of setups more times than I’d like to admit.

Performance-obsessed meta-slaves, all of them.

“Anyway, once you get past the early stages, you have to build alchemists like combat specialists.”

That’s one of the reasons alchemists often get abandoned.

The role of crafting potions and combining materials is entirely front-loaded during the early stages of progression.

Unlike other professions, alchemists fulfill their utility early on even with minimal leveling.

Sure, if you keep leveling them, they can become decent combat characters, but let’s be honest—most players would rather focus on their main character and just make an alt for alchemy.

“But honestly, if you think about it practically, nothing’s as useful as alchemy.”

“Dude, it’s just a game.”

Game or not, this is the part that frustrates me.

Why do alchemists always get treated like glorified potion-makers in the vast majority of games?

Manipulating the properties of materials, shaping them, and altering their forms at will—these are some of the most versatile powers in the material world.

Casting fire with magic?

An alchemist can tweak the composition of the surrounding atmosphere and snap their fingers to ignite flames too.

Enveloping a sword in an energy aura for slicing power?

An alchemist can just transmute a chunk of earth into a magically infused blade of stone for an even easier and more effective attack.

Of course, there are certainly skills in magic and swordsmanship that alchemy can never replicate, but those are treated as separate, exclusive abilities from the start.

Alchemy lacks such distinct traits, which is why it gets overlooked. Damn it.

“By the way, what’s in the next update?”

“You didn’t check the announcement, bro?”

The major updates that happen quarterly.

I always made sure to check the update announcements on the official community forum and prepare for the upcoming changes, but this time, I was too busy getting ready for the tournament to look.

So, I asked, and what I heard was more intriguing than I expected.

“They say Nation of Ruin is finally opening.”

“The Nation of Ruin area is opening? Are they really trying to wrap up the story?”

The Nation of Ruin is one of the five key regions in the game’s lore.

It’s been consistently mentioned in the story since the early days of the game and was confirmed to be a late-game area during last year’s player summit.

They’d been opening one major region each year, so it was about time for the Nation of Ruin, but honestly, I thought it would open in the next quarter or the one after that.

Hearing that it would open in the very next update filled me with a mix of surprise and excitement.

“Let’s get going. The ranking results are out, and hanging around the waiting room is boring.”

“You’re just heading off to prep for the update.”

There’s a lot to do. I’ve postponed not just update preparations but also weekly bosses and other content because of the ranking tournament.

Now that the tournament’s over, I can head home and dive into the game until the update arrives.

Where should I start?

The most urgent thing is, of course, the daily quests that are more important than life itself. Then there’s the weekly bosses and lifestyle content.

With my head full of these delightful worries, I went home and immediately turned on my computer.
Seamlessly, I launched the game and selected my main character, the alchemist.

『Ryu Seo-jun: Alchemist』
The nickname I’d changed to my real name to focus and make a statement during the ranking tournament.

For a moment, I considered changing it back to what it was before, but I liked the feeling of being one with my alchemist character, so I decided to leave it as it was.

After all, thanks to the tournament, plenty of people already knew my name.

Changing my nickname now felt unnecessary, like, “Why bother?”

[Would you like to begin your journey?]
▶ Yes
▷ No

And the moment I started my journey, as usual, without any particular thought…

“What the…?”

Suddenly, the scenery of the Nation of Ruin, which I had only ever seen in illustrations, unfolded before my eyes on the monitor.