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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Alchemy Lottery
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“…Gasp!”
Lellia awoke from her dream, breathing raggedly.
“Gasp… Hah…”
A cold sweat poured down her like rain. Lellia blinked, looking around.
“It was a dream… a dream… Thank goodness… Hah…”
Outside the window, the moon had set, and the light of dawn was breaking.
Lellia was lying on the cabin floor, just as she had collapsed last night.
“…”
Gasping for breath, Lellia recalled the dream she'd just had.
‘…What was that? A dream of the original story?’
She couldn't understand why the contents of the original novel had appeared so vividly in her dream.
A shiver ran down her entire body.
‘The original me didn't die from slipping and falling into the pond…’
She took her own life.
‘But why?’
In the original novel, Lellia died around this time.
That meant it was after the incident with the doll.
She had spent a long time atoning for the sin of stealing Yuriana's doll, and then she witnessed Emperor Perseus appear and tenderly take Yuriana away.
Unlike her, who had memories of a past life, the original Lellia was truly just a seven-year-old child.
Moreover, she was small for her age and underdeveloped.
It might have been too great a shock for such a child to bear. But to take her own life… how…?
Lellia trembled, her fists clenched. Tears of despair streamed down her face.
Having been reincarnated as the Lellia from the novel, she could often see herself from an objective viewpoint.
But still, she was herself. From the moment she was first born into this world, everything had been hers. It was impossible to feel as if it were someone else's story.
“…”
In the original novel, Emperor Perseus would suffer in the distant future upon learning that Lellia was his daughter. The twin brothers would, too.
‘And it was Yuriana who comforted them as they suffered from guilt.’
But they had no right to feel guilty. They were the ones who had driven Lellia to her death.
Lellia bit her lip hard.
For the sake of the original Lellia, and for her own sake, she couldn't die so easily in this life.
‘I'll survive, no matter what. I'll cling to life.’
Crying, Lellia clenched her teeth and pulled herself together. This was no time to be weeping weakly.
‘Right, what about that pocket watch from yesterday?’
Only then did she remember the events of last night.
Lellia quickly turned and headed for the space beneath the window.
There, lying on the floor, was the pocket watch, just as it had been yesterday.
‘…Could it be? Did my wish really come true?’
Lellia hesitated for a moment.
The forbidden spell Raidios had used was simple.
If Lellia, of her own free will, revealed to anyone that she had been hiding her identity as Crown Prince Leo, she would die. But Lellia had to tell her friends the truth.
Since her wish was to break the forbidden spell, the only way to confirm it had been granted was to reveal her identity to someone—to tell them she wasn't Crown Prince Leo, but Lellia Auraria…
‘What if I die trying?’
It was a predicament.
Lellia cursed her foolish self for not having considered that and picked up the pocket watch.
It was then.
*Tiring, tiring.*
“…?”
*Tiring, tiring.*
A sound, both familiar and strange, reached her ears. It was a sound that had no reason to be heard here.
Lellia turned her head. The sound was coming from Elizabeth's vanity.
She cautiously approached it.
*Tiring, tiring.*
“…”
The strange sound was still coming from there. When she opened the vanity drawer, she saw a sparkling necklace.
It was a beautiful necklace with a small blue gem.
“…What is this?”
Lellia carefully lifted the necklace. The moment she touched the gem.
“Aah!”
A large, unfamiliar screen appeared in midair.
Lellia was so startled that she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her scream.
The screen before her was completely alien, yet it also felt familiar.
“N-No way…”
The screen was none other than the game interface for ‘Alchemy Lottery,’ something that shouldn't exist here.
The very game she had wished to be reincarnated into before she died.
On the screen, an alchemy tool in a familiar art style sparkled and displayed a speech bubble.
And text in a familiar language floated above it.
[System: Optimization 100% Complete!]
[Optimization is finally complete, Master! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و New recipes have been added to suit the environment, so please check them out! °˖◝(⁰▿⁰)◜˖°]
“…”
Lellia stared blankly at the screen. She was too stunned to even blink.
She recalled a day from her past life, just before she died. The memory played out vividly in her mind.
For her, who had been waiting for the day she would die, it was just another ordinary day.
If there was anything special, it was that she had reached the max level in the game she had been playing so diligently.
[Title Acquired: 'Legendary Alchemist'!]
[Title Acquired: 'Great Alchemist Who Commands the Three Great Dragons'!]
With a *tiring*, a series of messages filled her phone screen.
Behind an animation of cute baby dragons jumping up and down, a golden alchemy tool displayed a speech bubble.
[Congratulations, Master! The final upgrade is complete. You can now create the Philosopher's Stone! o(≧▽≦)o]
The Philosopher's Stone!
She was probably the first person in this game to achieve this feat and obtain the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone.
The Philosopher's Stone was the ultimate item that appeared in every alchemy-based game.
The ultimate item for an alchemist. A stone said to grant not only immortality but any wish!
It was just a game item, but if this Philosopher's Stone could truly grant wishes, she would have answered without hesitation.
Let me enter this game world after I die.
The Alchemist class, capable of creating even the Philosopher's Stone, various titles, a max-level alchemy tool, and even cute dragons.
On top of that, her item bag held dozens of stacks of various alchemy ingredients, each with 9999 units.
With all this, she could live in the game world, creating whatever she wanted until the day she died.
…But something like that could never happen.
The game ‘Alchemy Lottery’ was a crafting game where you became an alchemist and obtained various recipes, one that required a lot of grinding.
It was a perfect fit for her, as she loved alchemy-themed things to begin with.
The game's story was nothing special.
The protagonist, who ran a lottery shop for the townspeople, one day hits it big with an alchemy potion they were making and selling on the side.
So, they change the shop's name to ‘Alchemy Lottery’ and use alchemy to create all sorts of items.
It was a game where you took on various quests from the townspeople, raised your alchemy level, and unlocked different recipes.
There were thousands of alchemy recipes. They called it alchemy, but you could create everything from magic potions and tools to even food with the alchemy tool.
The residents' requests were so outrageous that there were many complaints from the players, but…
…it was popular thanks to its charming illustrations and diverse alchemy recipes.
Plus, the talking alchemy tool and the dragons were so adorable that a considerable number of players still remained.
After clearing the final achievement, she felt a wave of both pride and a slight emptiness.
‘I can't believe I cleared the final achievement.’
She was probably the first. After all, her situation was far more advantageous compared to office workers, students, or even the unemployed who had many other temptations.
And lately, she'd been spending more time playing games than reading novels.
After savoring the moment for a bit, she tapped the alchemy tool on the screen to look at the recipe list.
She saw that a new recipe had been added at the very end.
Only after unlocking all other recipes did the final one get added.
A thrill washed over her. She tapped the recipe to check the ingredients.
Required Materials: None
‘Wow, no materials needed?’
It seemed the only thing needed to create the Philosopher's Stone was the title ‘Legendary Alchemist.’
‘So satisfying…’
She immediately pressed the craft button.
Fortunately, the crafting time was short. Ten seconds.
Feeling impatient, she tapped the screen several times. It didn't shorten the crafting time, but it was a habit.
<'Ultimate Item: Philosopher's Stone' Complete!>
A glowing ore appeared, shimmering with a mix of fluorescent rainbow colors like neon green and neon orange.
So this is what it looked like.
‘It looks a bit like a radioactive ore…’
Soon after, the alchemy tool appeared and displayed a speech bubble.
[Master, you've successfully crafted the 'Philosopher's Stone'! ٩(*•̀ᴗ•́*)و Make a wish to the stone that grants anything! It will grant your every desire! ✧*٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و✧*]
What the. Then at least give me an input box or something…
Just in case, she whispered softly to her phone.
“Let me enter the game world with my Alchemist title, inventory, alchemy tool, and dragons all intact.”
She made her wish deliberately specific, afraid she might be reincarnated at level 1. But the phone screen remained unchanged.
“…”
She had expected as much, but it still felt empty somehow.
After confirming that the Philosopher's Stone was safely stored in her item inventory, she closed the game.
Now that she had cleared the achievement, it was time to read novels for a while.
‘Anyway. Now I can die with no regrets!’
It wasn't an empty phrase; it was the truth. There wasn't much a patient lying in a hospital bed waiting for death could do.
Play mobile games, or read novels.
They were excellent ways to forget reality.
‘Time to read a novel now.’
After closing the game screen, she opened a webnovel app.
In truth, she still hadn't gotten over a novel she had finished a few days ago, so she couldn't bring herself to start a new one.
‘Well, thanks to that lingering feeling, I only played the game and managed to get the achievement.’
While searching for a new novel, she must have slowly drifted off to sleep.
Making a real wish that would never come true.
‘I want to live…’
As one might expect, the Philosopher's Stone didn't grant her wish perfectly.
She had clearly told her phone to let her possess a character in the ‘Alchemy Lottery’ game, and before falling asleep, she had wished to ‘live’…
When she opened her eyes, she was a spirit, looking down at her own dead body.
‘How absurd…’
Still, goodbye to that tedious hospital life!
Her dead soul was naturally guided to the spirit world. For a while, she drifted through the spirit world, residing in darkness.
A world of nothingness, of void.
Though she was usually a coward, she felt no fear at all. It was a world where she felt no emotions, fear included.
After a long time, she saw a glimmer of light, and her soul was absorbed by it.
And she was reborn into this life.
