Jean didn't use the salt shield; it was too slow. He used the residue of Salty Mist Potion remaining in his body to accelerate his perception, grinding time into fine powder.The bullet Le Requin fired sliced through the air, seeming to move in syrup. Jean didn't have time to retrieve a new Potion bottle. He had to use what was in his hand: a transmuted silver screwdriver.He swung the screwdriver upward, hitting the bullet dead center.*Clang!*The screwdriver didn't stop the bullet, but deflected it a fraction of a degree. The bullet missed Jean's ear and slammed into the crystal chandelier above Le Requin's head.The chandelier shattered, and a rain of crystal shards fell.Le Requin, physically strong but slow to react, was momentarily stunned. Jean seized this split-second advantage."You won't shoot me again," Jean said, his voice as cold as the ice he had just broken.Le Requin snarled. "Damn it! You're the dead Valéry! How are you that fast?""I told you, I'm not the Valéry you

The coral began to melt, and Jean quickly pulled his hand back from the hovering iron transmutation needle. The Level 2 Potion energy had overreacted, transforming the protective coral barrier he had constructed into a sizzling chalk slurry.Jean retracted the dark silver Potion, sealing the bottle with an alchemical stopper lined with an anti-corrosive membrane. He submerged the Potion into a bucket of pure brine in the corner of the lab.“Too strong,” he hissed, stabilizing the melting coral with an injection of concentrated saltwater. The ship groaned but held steady. “Non-organic transmutation requires insane precision.”He stared at the iron needle still suspended in the air, a perfect manifestation of controlled chaos. “I could turn steel into dust. I could bring an entire fleet to a standstill.”But he couldn't use this Potion in a direct confrontation in the middle of the harbor. The force of its energy release would destroy the Triton and himself. He had to use it secretly, t