A New Discovery
Freedom sounded like it would mean a peaceful, leisurely life spent doing whatever research I wanted. But it turned out nothing like I imagined. When you hand freedom to someone who's lived by routine, they end up freely following that same routine. That was me. Suddenly given the freedom to research whatever I pleased, I had no idea what to do. I'd only been following Aaron's instructions for a year, but maybe I'd already been tamed. With nothing to do, nothing came to mind.
So for the first week, I continued my mana decomposition research. As I worked, I realized Aaron was right—my limit was just tweaking the flow a little more. I didn't even feel a wall. What stood before me was a cliff. A cliff I couldn't break or climb. According to him, only becoming a high-ranking alchemist would let me cross it.
So in the second week, I tried making statues of Aaron and myself. It was more fun than I'd expected. When I carved the fine details, attached joints, and turned them into moving dolls, I felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment.
“Hmm. Not bad.”
“This one's for you, Master.”
“You're giving it to me?”
“Yes. It's a gift. If you don't like the shape, I can make it more detailed.”
“No, this is fine. I'll accept it gratefully.”
Aaron even said it was well made. So I spent a full three weeks on statue-making, going from small to medium, large, and extra-large sizes. When I finished the extra-large ones, I couldn't resist attaching mana threads and making them fight. Of course, they didn't move automatically—I had to control both. I even added remnants. My statue got fifteen, Aaron's got one.
But I made a small mistake and caused a bit of a commotion.
“Why did you destroy the room? If you don't like it, just say so.”
“I do like it. Breaking it was an accident. The movements were bigger than I thought. I'm sorry.”
“Hmm. Are you plotting my assassination?”
“Of course not. I like you, Master.”
“Then why is only my statue missing its head and limbs?”
“I thought it might break the ceiling and floor even more, so I took them off for a bit.”
“This isn't the result of Eternal Climax Hyper Neo Golem Transmutation, is it?”
“Aah!”
“By the way, what exactly is Eternal Climax Hyper Neo Golem Transmutation? Can I see it too?”
“It's not finished yet, so I can't show you.”
“Pity.”
In the process, I smashed the ceiling, windows, and floor of my room and even broke parts of Aaron's statue, earning me a scolding.
By the fifth week, I could finally start real free research. That's right—I finally began making potions that were actually drinkable. Making delicious potions from the start would obviously be hard, so I lowered my goal to something merely drinkable. After getting the necessary books from Aaron, memorizing them all, and starting research for two days, I hit a wall.
“So this is why even you couldn't change a potion's taste, Master.”
The ingredients that mix, separate, and combine during potion transmutation create a specific mana flow. The basic theory is that this “specific mana flow” determines both the potion's taste and its effects. So I had to forcibly twist that flow to keep the effects the same while only changing the taste—but it was no easy task. One bottle of potion is just one sip. Yet that single sip contains at least hundreds of billions of branching mana flows. I had to find the part responsible for taste, twist it, and keep adjusting until I got the desired flavor before I could even attempt making a drinkable potion.
Of course, that kind of repetitive work just meant doing it until it worked. The truly terrifying part was having to taste the potions over and over during the process. Having to sample those horrible potions each time was what scared me most.
“Let's see who wins—you or me...”
Still, I decided to go through with it. I was determined to create a pseudo-strawberry-medicine-flavored potion and get rich. If I couldn't even manage this, I'd never lay eyes on the Philosopher's Stone, so giving up wasn't an option.
*****
A month passed.
“Tell me what you were trying to make.”
“A tasty potion—cough—sir.”
“What you made is poison.”
“I must have sneezed and my hand slipped a little.”
“And why did you drink it?”
“I didn't know it was poison.”
“You couldn't tell this pitch-black liquid was poison?”
“It smelled delicious.”
“It took three days just to make the antidote. Quite the excellent poison. Even a 6th-level knight would die within four days of drinking it.”
“I'm sorry. I'll be more careful.”
“...Don't be careful. Just don't drink it.”
“Yes, sir.”
I'd created a poison so potent that even Aaron had to spend three days making an antidote. I nearly died from drinking it by mistake.
BOOOOOOM—!!
In the second month, a potion exploded. I tumbled down from the second floor and barely stopped at Aaron's feet while he was reading.
“So you really were an assassin sent by the Empire?”
“I'm the world's most expensive orphan, Lulu.”
“Your actions make me suspicious.”
“I'm sorry. I made a mistake while making potions.”
“What kind of mistake during potion-making would cause the second through fifth floors to completely evaporate?”
“Ehehe.”
In the third month, I created a living, moving potion. It was too fast for me to catch.
[Pwoo-it!]
“Master! Please catch that for me!”
“You're calling this a potion too?”
[Pwoo-pwoo-it?!]
“I engraved a mana circuit similar to a golem core and added water remnants, but the potion seems a bit strange. Even after decomposing the water remnants, it keeps moving for a while. Isn't this a new discovery?”
“This is a potion? Can you even drink it?”
[Pwoo-ing?]
“Yes, you can drink it. I tried it myself—after an hour in your stomach, it automatically stops moving. Still tastes awful, though.”
“Hmm.”
[Pfft.]
“If you're curious, you can try drinking it. There's really no problem.”
“I'm seriously considering tying up your limbs and locking you in your room.”
[Pwoo-aa...]
“I'm sorry. From now on, I won't eat anything suspicious except poison.”
By the fourth month, I started mixing golems and potions little by little. It was a transmutation method inspired by the moving potion I'd made earlier. A golem that shoots potions.
“Go ahead and call this a potion too.”
“It's a golem that shoots potions, but I think I messed up the firepower part of the circuit engraved on the golem core. I'm sorry.”
“A golem that shoots potions? What it shot at me was... never mind. Why did you make this?”
“I wondered if it would taste good if you drank it without even having time to taste it, but it still tasted bad. So I thought maybe absorbing it through the whole body would work.”
“It wasn't potions it was shooting.”
“That can't be... Huh? Master, why do you have swords stuck in your back? Is that new alchemy?”
“Those are the things your golem shot.”
“Ah.”
“Take pride in this. You nearly succeeded in assassinating the Third Disaster, something the entire continent has failed at.”
“I'm really sorry. Would you like to try one of the potions I modified?”
“I'm not drinking it.”
After that, I took a period of self-reflection and changed my approach. I was still stuck in the realm of matter at the 2nd Rank. Once I reached the 3rd Rank, where I could handle concepts and perform multiplication-division transmutation, things would probably change. Handling concepts and multiplication-division sounded impressive, but simply put, it meant being able to touch the properties of matter. Energy makes for an easy example. Multiplication-division. In simple terms, it's multiplication and division. That is, a transmutation method that can raise 100-volt electricity to a higher voltage or lower it. Touching what decomposition and addition cannot reach—that is alchemy possible only from the 3rd Rank onward. It's the same level as a swordsman wrapping their blade in aura at 3rd level, or a mage being able to use proper offensive magic at the 3rd Circle.
So how does one reach the 3rd Rank? I didn't know. I hadn't thought about it. After deciding to make drinkable potions, it had been a concern I'd set aside for a while. I brought it back and began mulling it over. Even after a week, I couldn't get a feel for it. Normally I'd just run to Aaron and ask, but I'd heard that a master's teachings could actually hinder one's rise in rank. It was something I had to achieve alone. So I decided to just live as usual. Using my body or mind would probably be better for finding clues than sitting still and thinking. When I'd reached the 2nd Rank, I'd been repeatedly performing decomposition. Recalling that memory, I began mass-producing statues of Aaron and myself. All of them had different poses and sizes. I even touched the skin color, which I usually left alone, to make them as close to reality as possible. As they gradually became more similar to the real Aaron and me, the texture started to feel lacking.
“I wish it were a bit more realistic.”
At first, they'd been closer to wooden dolls or stone statues, so texture hadn't mattered. But as they grew more lifelike, I developed the desire to work on even finer details. Adding different materials made them collapse without holding their shape. Covering a solid frame with skin like a shell still felt awkward. What I wanted to make was a golem with a texture similar to a human. It was a pointless obsession, but since I'd started making them, I wanted to see it through to the end. At least the texture and appearance.
“What should I do?”
What else? Make the hard parts hard and the soft parts soft. I had to touch the fundamental realm of matter.
“And how do I do that?”
I clicked my tongue. I recalled the tastes I'd sensed while making the golem bodies. I had a hunch that compressing the hard taste would make it even harder, and capturing and stretching the soft taste would make it even softer. It sounded like nonsense, but that was how the taste felt, and I couldn't explain it any other way. Could I do something I couldn't even explain? Just as that doubt arose, my hands were already attempting it. The more I concentrated, the gray light bursting from my fingertips gradually began to take on a different color. And so, on the morning when the sparkling light during transmutation turned the same light-green color as my hair—
“Master! Look at this! It's Lulu mk.38!”
“It reminds me of an alchemist who once devoted himself to doll-making. This level isn't bad.”
“Yahoo! By the way, did that alchemist die because of you too, Master?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He wasn't satisfied with dolls and tried to transmute humans.”
“Did he succeed?”
“He failed six times, and on the seventh I went and killed him. If I'd left him alone, he might have succeeded.”
“I won't do anything like that.”
“By the way, you've reached the 3rd Rank.”
“Yes, it happened just this morning.”
Around three years after becoming Aaron's disciple, I reached the 3rd Rank. As a bonus, I'd also grasped the clue to making drinkable potions. This time, it was real. It really felt possible.