Chapter 1

I sat up quickly and scanned my surroundings with a sharp gaze.

Memories flooded my mind.

I recalled Zephyr Tierra’s hypocritical smiling face, my female peers’ cold, indifferent gaze, and that agonizing, heart-wrenching pain right before I died.

Then, a ton of information hit me all at once. I saw flashes of things from tens of thousands of years ago.

The entire world was my cauldron. All of nature was my ingredient. With a wave of my hand, dead trees bloomed again. I could raise the dead and bring them back to life.

Long-buried memories came flooding back like a tide. It turned out that in the past, I was actually the First Arch-Alchemist!

A hundred years ago, I fell due to an accident. I returned as Carlton Helfer, a lowly little alchemist at Crucible.

My real power and memories were deliberately sealed away in the Arch-Alchemist Dimension, waiting only for the right moment to awaken.

My wretched death in the past was exactly that trigger.

I slowly raised my right hand. With just a thought, a wisp of pure wood energy flowed out of my palm.

My spiritual power had fully recovered.

“Carlton, are you in there?” One of my female peers, Melissa Vesper, spoke from outside the door.

I withdrew the energy that had been nourishing the Enneaphyllon in my hand.

Then, I pushed the door open and walked out calmly.

Several people were standing in the courtyard.

Melissa stood at the very front. Behind her followed my other peers, Ella Cinnabar and Helena Silverthorn.

Beside Melissa stood a man. He stood tall in a plain white alchemist’s robe. His posture was dignified, and his gaze was cold and proud.

He was Zephyr Tierra. I remembered that face from my past. I would never forget it even in death.

“Carlton, this is Zephyr, a once-in-a-millennium prodigy at pill crafting who just joined Crucible,” Melissa introduced him warmly.

“Zephyr’s very talented. He was highly regarded the moment he walked in.”

He looked at me indifferently. His voice carried authority as he said, “Sure, I joined late, but I’m older than you. So, you better show me some respect.”

That was exactly how it went in the past. He used his age to demand respect from me.

Back then, I could not be bothered to argue over that, so I obediently agreed.

From then on, he used his seniority to suppress me at every turn.

“Yeah, Carlton. Zephyr’s older than you. You should show him some respect,” Ella chimed in from the side.

In the past, I probably would have just gone along with it.

This time, I looked at his cold expression and gently shook my head.

Then, I said in a slow, deliberate voice, “Crucible is a major alchemist order. Respect is earned, not given. You don’t get to demand mine just because you’re older.”

Melissa was stunned at first, then nodded. “Carlton has a point.”

Zephyr’s expression instantly darkened. “Ugh, what a pain! I’ve always been blunt and straightforward. I don’t have time for all this beating around the bush!

“Listen, the only things that matter to me are talent and hard work. The weak get weeded out. There’s no room for people who coast on connections or favoritism.”