For what felt like hours, I kept losing consciousness, each time waking to a creeping chill spreading through my body before blacking out again.
Every time I came to, the state of the desk had changed slightly—it seemed the alchemy was still progressing.
By the nth blackout, I realized the pattern:
Darkness → More iron and stone on the desk → Darkness → More iron and stone on the desk.
In other words, what was supposed to be a single 「Decomposition」 must have accidentally triggered on all the Iron Ore on the desk, draining my MP to zero and knocking me out—only for the process to resume once I recovered.
I have no idea why this happened.
Normally, shouldn't the process stop when MP runs out?
Or is this some kind of feature?
If so, what a godawful skill.
Just imagine if I'd tried this on a warehouse full of Iron Ore—the process would've repeated for days.
When I finally woke up properly, my vision was filled with debris—no, more accurately, a chaotic mess of iron and stone scattered everywhere.
『Alchemy skill level has increased to 3』
Yeah, no kidding… Every single piece of Iron Ore I'd laid out on the desk had been separated into iron and stone, so a level-up or two was inevitable.
For now, I tossed the useless stone chunks into my Spatial Magic storage to get them out of the way. The question was, what to do with the iron?
According to Reinrich, after separating iron from ore, you either craft something from it or smelt it into ingots to sell at the Blacksmith's Guild.
Five iron chunks make one ingot, which sells for 2000 Nohl each.
With 15 Iron Ores decomposed, I could make 3 ingots—but that'd probably eat up 70% of my MP.
As for crafting, accessories seem to be the way to go.
What you need for that is taste and skill level.
At lower levels, you can't handle complex designs or high-grade materials.
But accessories can also be imbued with secondary effects, meaning they're not just small change—if the ability is good, they can sell for a hefty sum.
-0-
First, I smelted the iron into ingots for easier handling, storing all but one in my Spatial Magic storage.
A full ingot was too bulky, so I used 『Reconstruction』 to divide it into eight smaller pieces—keeping the same total volume but in more manageable chunks.
I picked up one of the small iron lumps and pictured what I wanted to make in my mind.
Something simple—a twisted necklace made of thin, bundled iron wires.
Activating my Alchemy skill, the lump melted into a viscous blob before reshaping itself.
Apparently, this was an application of 『Reconstruction』.
The result was a simple necklace, just as I'd imagined… except for the clasp.
That part turned out messy, like a tangled knot of metal.
I tried fixing just that section, but the entire thing glowed and melted back into a blob.
Seems like corrections require starting over from scratch.
After several attempts, I finally got it right.
『Twisted Iron Necklace – Defense +2』
Nice. I'm not sure how much that stat actually helps, but for a first try, this isn't bad at all.
This is fun.
Compared to potion-making, being able to create something just by holding materials and imagining it is ridiculously convenient.
But, unsurprisingly, the MP cost is brutal.
I'm already running on fumes.
Still, not bad for a first attempt.
Besides, if I don't know its market value, I won't feel motivated to make more.
For now, I'll call it a day—time for market research and gathering materials for the next alchemy session.
Oh, and I should probably sell those potions too.
And most importantly…
「I'm starving…」
I only just noticed sunlight streaming through the window.
I've spent nearly an entire day working without food or water.
My stomach growls every few seconds, a grim reminder that despite living in another world, I haven't actually enjoyed any of it yet.
So, I push myself up from the chair—time to sell what I've made and grab some street food. Maybe I'll finally get a taste of this world's cuisine.
...Let's just ignore the part where I got chased by a giant caterpillar. That doesn't count as "enjoying" the isekai experience.