Becoming an Alchemist
I gripped the spark of inspiration that had flashed through my mind and kept the thought rolling. Mana comes directly from my hands, from my own body. That’s why transmuting something as simple as a weapon doesn’t take long at all. I could probably whip up dozens of hammers while that little golem was still closing in. But hammers alone wouldn’t be enough to smash it. I needed to layer on destructive force with mana remnants. The problem was that pulling the remnants out of my mouth and applying them to the weapon slowed everything down. So what if I could erase that middle step entirely and make the remnants emerge straight from my hands?
There was no need to overthink it. Obviously it would be faster.
Sluuurp— I pulled one of the dozen or so remnants stored in my soul. It was the kind that added a powerful shockwave to any weapon it touched. If I could make it come directly from my body instead of routing it through my mouth, wouldn’t every single thing I transmute release shockwaves?
How should I do it? Let’s try eating it.
After a quick glance at Aaron, I popped the remnant into my mouth and chewed. Crunch, crunch— I savored the soft, fluffy marshmallow texture for a brief second before swallowing it whole. This wasn’t storage. This was consumption. The effect hit instantly. Something besides mana was flowing through me now.
I snatched up a random pebble rolling across the floor, transmuted it into a decent hammer, and swung.
Baaang—!
“Huk.”
A shockwave exploded outward even though I hadn’t added a remnant separately. Of course the power was weaker. The proper way was to infuse one whole remnant into a single object. But I had eaten it and only used a fraction for the transmutation, so naturally the effect was diluted.
I can control it.
I could dump everything in at once. I hadn’t forgotten that sensation. I sneaked a look at Aaron. He was letting out that weird little scoff of his, but unlike every other time I’d eaten something strange, he didn’t shove his fingers into my mouth to make me spit it out. It seemed he was saying, Do whatever you want.
“The long years of humiliation and oppression… I’m so sick of it.”
I kicked off my shoes, peeled away my socks, planted my bare feet on the ground, and glared at the little golem.
“You arrogant little brat. Today I’m going to teach you exactly who you’re messing with.”
[Kihihihit!]
The moment I provoked it, the little golem charged with a mocking cackle. I ignored the noise and focused on my task. What I needed was a hammer. You can’t slice stone with a blade—not unless you’re a knight. But a hammer can crush it. Even an ordinary person can break rock with one. Add shockwaves on top of that and the conversation was over.
So a hammer it would be. Pointed head, solid build. Heavy and huge would be ideal, but I wouldn’t be able to swing anything like that. Still, if I could borrow gravity, it might work.
I pressed both hands to the floor. The materials were every piece of marble my mana could reach through my feet and palms. Shape didn’t matter. It just had to be pointed, hard, and heavy. I angled it slightly so that the instant it formed, it would tip forward and fall. Then I poured every last mana remnant that produced shockwaves straight into the mix—
Transmute.
Kagagagak—!
It finished the moment I thought it. A colossal shadow swallowed the room. The shadow didn’t pause. It simply toppled toward the little golem. The fall started slow, but gravity took hold and the speed snowballed.
[Kihit?!]
The charging golem panicked and tried to scramble backward, but it was already too late. I had made the hammer as large as possible just in case it tried to retreat. If it wanted to dodge, it should have kept running forward without hesitation. The golem was already inside the kill zone. So was I.
I hurled my body backward with everything I had. The hammer crashed down. A titanic shockwave followed right behind it.
Kwaaaaaaaaang—!!
“Uwaaaaaack!”
I tumbled across the floor like a rag doll and only regained my senses after slamming into the wall. Through the thick cloud of dust, the little golem’s remains finally appeared—smashed beyond any recognizable shape.
I turned my head and met Aaron’s eyes. He looked back and forth between the bizarrely shaped hammer I had created and the pulverized golem, then burst out laughing as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was that same strange laugh as always.
“So you really solved it by eating the damn thing.”
“Ehehe.”
But I did solve it, right?
*****
At Lulu’s silly grin, Aaron let out another soft chuckle. That beaming, ear-to-ear smile of hers always made the corners of his own mouth twitch for some reason. Yet behind that innocent, pure face lurked a monstrous talent for alchemy.
Even a high knight would have missed that speed.
Just now she had performed alchemy so fast it startled even him. Speed was Aaron’s greatest advantage. The experience of dancing on the edge of death, relentless effort, and raw talent had forged it, and by adding his workshop he had reached a realm no other human could touch. Because his workshop sat on his right hand, he could apply mana remnants the instant he drew them—overwhelming enemies faster than most knights could even draw their aura.
Lulu, however, had to route everything through her tongue. Her process was inevitably slower. That was why he had hoped this spar with the golem would push her to overcome that weakness in a more creative way… and she had. Instead of simply fixing the flaw, she had turned the weakness into her own unique strength by eating the mana remnants outright. It was something Aaron could never do. He could not consume them. No one could. Mana was not nutrition; it was something the soul embraced.
Yet Lulu had chewed it, swallowed it, succeeded, and produced a result that even surprised him.
And she’s only at the second rank.
If she was already doing this much, he was dying to know what kind of madness she would create once she reached his level.
“Teacher, about this. When I eat it and use it like that, it looks like it disappears completely after one use.”
When he snapped out of his thoughts, he found her bright, sparkling eyes fixed on him.
“Can’t you disassemble it and retrieve what’s left?”
“Nope. There used to be enough for about ten uses, but now it feels completely spent.”
“This is a first for me too, so I have nothing useful to tell you. Shall I cut your stomach open to check?”
Lulu hugged her belly and shook her head vigorously.
“It’s already digested. There won’t be anything left even if you open me up.”
“What a shame.”
At his short reply her face flooded with relief again. It was honestly impressive how she thought she was hiding anything when every emotion played so clearly across her features.
“But Teacher, if this really is the first time you’ve seen it, does that mean there were other ways to solve the problem besides eating them like I did?”
“Using the terrain would be one method.”
“The terrain?”
Lulu looked around. The phrase but there’s nothing here was written all over her face.
“An alchemist can change the terrain itself.”
“Aha.”
“A golem that walks on all fours is inevitably heavily affected by its surroundings.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
Her eyes rolled in thought before she gave an awkward little smile.
“Want to try again? I just thought of something good.”
“No need. Now that you’ve already grasped the principle, there’s no point suffering through extra practice. Winning and surviving is all that matters, no matter how you do it.”
“But the remnants get consumed so quickly.”
“The faster the consumption, the more ways there will be to use them.”
Lulu thought hard, then her eyes lit up.
“Terrain features. I can use them like traps, right?”
“That would be one way.”
“Are there more?”
“As you rise in rank and accumulate experience, they will come to you naturally.”
He didn’t add that her talent would make it even easier. He had seen far too many people die after becoming drunk on their own gifts.
“Teacher. Would it be all right if I ate two different kinds of remnants at the same time?”
She wasn’t really asking for permission. She was asking whether she would die. Ever since the time she had eaten random poison and survived for three days on nothing but grass, she had developed the habit of checking with him before consuming anything strange. Aaron found it both endearing and incredibly awkward.
“At your current rank, taking in two at once would likely make your body explode. So just drink a potion.”
“Ah.”
When Aaron produced a potion, Lulu’s eyebrows drooped into a perfect ‘八’ shape.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“You can’t even stand up properly.”
“I’ll be completely healed after a good night’s sleep.”
“Weren’t you the one who used to love potions because they were alchemical products? You don’t seem to like them anymore. Have you already grown tired of alchemy?”
The corners of her eyebrows sank even lower.
“That couldn’t be. I like drinking potions. Every time I do, my determination to create a truly delicious one gets renewed.”
“Good. Make sure you do. I’m looking forward to it as well.”
“Yes. I’ll definitely make one. I’ll create it before I make the giant transforming Tyrannosaurus.”
Just what was that giant transforming Tyrannosaurus that made her eyes sparkle every single time she mentioned it? He was starting to grow genuinely curious about what the thing even was.
How strange.
In his long, endless boredom, he had finally found something enjoyable. Far from growing tired of it, that enjoyment only grew larger with each passing day. In so many ways, his disciple was both troublesome and utterly fascinating.