The Silly Alchemist

After a moment, the alchemists couldn’t wait any longer.  “Alright Ye Lang, we’ll study this box for a bit. We don’t want to interrupt your celebration with the seventh princess.”

“Why? Is it fun?” the little prodigal son did not understand their decision.

“It isn’t fun, this is not something to play with. We have to open the box to get Ban’s notes.” said the alchemists earnestly.

“Notes, you mean this book?” A book suddenly appeared in the little prodigal son’s hand.

“Yes, these are the alchemy notes...Eh, it can’t be...You, you...” The alchemists pointed at the little prodigal son, their eyes opened so wide their eyeballs looked like they were going to fall out anytime. They were in shock!

“Ah...” At that moment, everyone looked at the little prodigal son with their jaws on the floor, not being able to speak out of shock.

“There are a few more books. One, two, three, four…Five books. There are five books in this box,” the little prodigal son took the books out one by one while everyone was still in a daze.

“Are you all sure you weren’t lying before? Was this box that difficult to open?” The emperor and his people started to question the alchemists, suspecting that the alchemists had lied so that they’d be the first to see the notes.

Everyone there knew that was an extremely small possibility though. 

The alchemists panicked, ”No, that’s impossible. We would never lie to you, Your Majesty, the box did indeed have very complicated locks...You’ve got to overcome a lot of challenges to open, it’s just……”

“It’s just... Then why did the ten-year-old open the box so easily?” the emperor looked at the little prodigal son doubtfully- though he looked more like he was weirded out.

It was true. The box, which couldn’t be open by all the top alchemists, was successfully opened by our thirteenth prince. It was so effortless no one noticed he opened the box.

This caught everyone off guard, doubting themselves. They thought they’d made a mistake, doubting what they'd just witnessed.

If he were another child, they’d probably call him a genius. The thirteenth prince couldn’t even compare to an ordinary person, so how was it possible?

“Perhaps... He’s a genius in alchemy.” suggested the alchemist, even though they felt that it was also impossible. 

“No way, he never learned alchemy. We’ll never let him come into contact with something so dangerous.” Long Anqi denied the possibility immediately. As his mother, she clearly knew everything about her son- at least about this matter.

“It’s true, the thirteenth prince doesn’t know anything about alchemy, he hasn’t read any books about it,” said Tigress, nodding.

If Long Anqi’s word wasn’t enough, then Tigress’s confirmation would’ve been enough to convince everyone. They all knew Tigress had been at the thirteenth prince’s side since day one, she would know best about every single thing he’d done all these years.

“If he doesn’t know alchemy, how did he opened the box? Is it another coincidence? Lady Luck truly smiles upon him, this is a miracle indeed!” The emperor and his people started to discuss but this explanation was the only explanation they had. Luck.

At this moment, the seventh princess asked, "Ye Lang, how did you open this box?”

Everyone suddenly realized that instead of assuming, they should’ve asked him directly.

They were worried about one thing though. He might not be able to explain the entire situation clearly.

“What do you mean? I just opened it, it's not that hard.” As expected, the thirteenth prince’s answer didn’t help.

“Seems like it’s just pure luck, this is inexplicable!” Everyone smiled wryly. Nothing was impossible with luck.

Was it really just luck?

“I’m sure I’ve never seen these alchemy formations, but why does it feel so familiar?” muttered the prodigal son while staring at the alchemy notes. He then made a decision that shocked everyone else.

“I want to learn alchemy. I'll read all these books,” he declared, keeping all five books of alchemy notes in his space ring. The alchemist couldn’t stop him in time.

“Ye Lang, can you give us the books? We still have many books here, let’s exchange,” said the alchemists while showing him many books. These were all precious alchemy books, so valuable the alchemists wouldn’t take them out without good reason. Right now, they were willing to do whatever it took to get the five books back. 

Once Ye Lang kept all the books they offered, the next sentence he uttered disappointed the alchemists greatly.

“I want all these books too, but I’m not exchanging!”

“……”

The alchemists were close to tears. They looked helplessly at the Emperor, hoping His Majesty could help them fight for justice and let them get their books back.

Even if they didn't ask for help, the emperor would still look for a solution. He knew the books wouldn’t be useful in the hands of the thirteenth prince, and the royal alchemists could help the empire if the books were passed to them.

The final decision made after the discussion was as such: the thirteenth prince would lend them the alchemy notes out for three days, where they would copy down all the contents.

Keep in mind the alchemy notes were just Ban’s notes but not any advanced alchemy items. If they copied the contents, both would have the exact same function.

This idea was suggested by the thirteenth prince. Everyone was thinking too much. The fact that they didn’t even consider such an easy solution to the problem made them turn red with shame.

Sometimes the key to solving the problem was easy. People don’t always think that way though. They’d usually make things more and more complicated, and the problem would be more and more troublesome at the end.

“Ye Lang, can you first give our books back? We’ll make you a copy too...” asked the royal alchemists. With their previous conversation, they’d obviously think of this too.

It was a pity for the thirteenth prince to keep their precious books, they had to try their luck to get it back! Pride was not a problem when it came to their favourite collection of books.

“No problem!”  the thirteenth prince promised immediately, but continued, “make a copy of all the books for me too!”

“……”

Was the thirteenth prince as dumb as people say he was? He didn’t look like one, but right now he sounded like a sly fox! Could he have faked it?

Many were suspicious, though only for a moment. They didn’t believe someone could fake everything to this extent--- and since young too.

The truth was: the thirteenth prince didn’t fake it. A better way to put it was that he'd lost...something. A part of himself. This made him weaker in some areas, but powerful in others, i.e.his memory abilities, and alchemy, which was what he was going to learn next. 

Perhaps luck helped, too.