064. Introduction to Alchemy [2]

On the way back after hearing everything out.

"I'll walk you home."

Choi Eun-ha had decided to see me off.

"My, my. Look how proactive our daughter is."

"Ugh, crap! Mom, it's not like that!"

Flushing scarlet, Eun-ha stormed out after me, kicking up a fuss the whole way.

And so the two of us walked in silence through the apartment complex.

"Oh."

"What?"

"This is the spot."

"What spot?"

"Where I saw that woman who killed herself."

"Ah. That woman."

The old memory surfaced, already feeling distant. Now that I thought about it, that really had happened. The ghost of the suicide victim latched onto Eun-ha, and helping her pass on was how Eun-ha and I became friends. Without that incident, I never would have gotten close to Eun-ha. Without that friendship, I never would have appeared as a guest on Momo's stream. And I never would have met Lee Ha-ram or Kim Han-su ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there, either.

"So... that story Mom told you... what was it, in the end?"

"...Don't tell me you just dropped the whole suicide-woman story as small talk before getting to the real conversation."

That was neither small nor talk. It was brutally heavy and very, very big.

"Crap, quit dodging the question... what do you think?"

"Hm..."

"'Hm'?"

Even with her complaining, all I really had to offer was that vague little "hm."

"Well, for starters, the Secret Garden has to be the Philosopher's Stone. A Philosopher's Stone made from a human soul, at that."

"Probably, yeah."

And that Secret Garden had been achieved in Eun-ha's generation. Which meant...

"So whether the Secret Garden could be achieved had nothing to do with Paracelsus's own skill—timing was what mattered. Right?"

"Exactly."

And that time... was now. An age where anomalies and mysteries overflowed like a clearance sale.

"So when he told his descendants to go off themselves, was that basically him saying, 'The End of Days is here, so don't suffer for nothing—just die'?"

"I don't think that was it..."

Your average person wouldn't know, but Paracelsus was a psychic—well, an alchemist, technically—one skilled enough to make a Philosopher's Stone. Given that the Count of St. Germain, a fellow stone-maker, and the Chairman had both been Special-grade, Paracelsus surely was too. And as far as I knew, the way psychics regarded the End of Days was the exact opposite of Paracelsus's despair.

And yet Paracelsus, in despair, had urged his descendants to take their own lives. Urged them to escape, through death, from something.

'Is there something waiting at the end of this End of Days—something beyond mere frequent anomalies? Something that could drive even a Special-grade like Paracelsus to despair?'

If that were true, another question remained. Why did Paracelsus... send me this site? Paracelsus's Alchemy Workshop. Had some change of heart come over a man who had despaired of the future?

"Ugh, my head hurts..."

No amount of brooding was going to produce an answer tonight. By then, we'd reached the entrance of my complex.

"This is as far as I go. Go on in."

"Um... Yi-yeon oppa."

"Yeah?"

"Could you teach me alchemy too? The way you did with Min-seo?"

There was a fierce resolve burning in Eun-ha's eyes.

"That bastard, the Count of St. Germain... he treated me like an object. I never want to go through anything that disgusting again. And, well... I kind of want to be a help to you too, oppa, so... yeah. That's it. That's all."

I looked at her, fumbling and trailing off in embarrassment, and asked, thoroughly dumbfounded.

"You're... great and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all, but did you forget that I'm Kim 'Do-sa'? A Daoist master? Why do you just assume I can teach alchemy?"

"So you can't?"

"...I can, actually..."

Right—your ancestor even went so far as to send over a textbook.

'No, wait. Same thing happened with Min-seo. If he's going to do this, why not send it to them directly?! Why shove me into the middle and make my life difficult?!'

And so Choi Eun-ha found herself enrolled in Kim Do-sa's A Simple Alchemy Lecture Anyone Can Do NEW.

Once I got home, in celebration of the new course opening, I pored over Paracelsus's Alchemy Workshop from cover to cover. And after working through the entire site, I reached one conclusion.

"Well, shit. We're fucked, aren't we?"

A few days later, striking while the iron was hot, I scheduled the very first alchemy lesson. Originally the only enrolled student had been Eun-ha, but...

"Um, Teacher... may I sit in as well?"

"...Min-seo, you too? You're interested in alchemy?"

"Yes. I think I could apply it to my summoning magic."

"Hm. True, learning the two together does sound like it'd have some synergy..."

And so Yu Min-seo was added.

"Kim Do-sa-nim, may I listen in too?"

"Momo, you as well? Ha, but I was planning to teach you talisman arts and shikigami-making separately..."

"I want to take all of your classes, Kim Do-sa-nim. Is that not allowed?"

"R-right, sure, okay..."

Momo added.

"Master! Me too! I want to listen as well! Since I lack the talent the others have, I want to work harder and learn even more!"

"...Sure, fine..."

Lee Ha-ram added. Which made four students in total. In other words... I now had to prepare enough alchemy ingredients for four people.

"...Alright, take these. Gem powder."

I distributed glass vials of gem powder, sorted by type, among the four of them.

"Gem powder!?"

"You do alchemy with gem powder?"

"Wow, it's so pretty..."

"This doesn't look like the fake glitter stuff you put in slime... don't tell me..."

Correct. Every last grain of it was ground from real gems.

'Alchemy costs a stupid amount of money...'

Originally, I'd planned to use different ingredients. The problem was that those ingredients were salt, mercury, and sulfur. But that's only the outcome. The fundamental purpose of alchemy is to refine matter and, through that refinement, elevate the soul to a higher state. In other words, where the Daoist arts of internal alchemy build gong within the body, alchemy builds it outside the body.

The core of alchemy lies in the theory of the four elements, and Paracelsus—a titan in that very field—had left behind his own research on the subject. It was called the theory of the tria ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prima. Paracelsus believed that the four elements—fire, water, earth, and air—were formed when three primal substances, separated from the great mystery that had existed since the beginning, were mixed together. Those three were: salt, possessing the property of being incombustible. Sulfur, possessing the property of burning. And mercury, whose absence in this field would be a crying shame—possessing the properties of evaporation and of metal.

Want immortality? Inhale mercury vapor! Want a pale white complexion? Rub mercury on your face! Weak organs? Drink mercury! Ahh~ the versatility of mercury! Hey, don't get cocky! Mercury is god, and I who wield it are imm—oh. He's dead.

Yes, that mercury. The one that makes Dongbin hyung foam at the mouth at the mere mention of it.

At first I'd figured, 'It's dangerous, sure, but can't I manage if I just handle it carefully?' Except—careful or not—simply acquiring the mercury proved difficult in the first place. It was far too toxic and hazardous for a private individual to obtain legally.

"Master, I think I could manage to get some through my connections..."

Ha-ram's shady network did manage to open a path, but...

I gave up on the spot after receiving a 5,700-character note enumerating exactly why mercury was dangerous, opening precisely like that. Unlike Solomon's Grand Encyclopedia of Anomalies or Nikola's Hyper-Radio Communication, Dongbin's Dao Study Room was a haughty little noble lady who had never once initiated contact on her own—yet the moment she learned I was trying to get my hands on mercury, a message came flying. Between gratitude for the loyalty and the sheer shame of stubbornly pressing on when someone had come sprinting out barefoot to stop me, I had no choice but to pick an alternative.

And that alternative was gems. Gems are materials treated with tremendous importance in Western occultism. Formed deep in the earth over immense spans of time, they hold an equally important place in alchemy. Even Paracelsus's Alchemy Workshop acknowledged this, going so far as to include a separate method that used gems in place of the tria prima.

The one small consolation was that artificial gems worked just as well for alchemy. Of course, it still cost tens of times more than preparing the same amount of sulfur and mercury would have. Even artificial gems were pricey, if you wanted decent quality...

Anyway, enough whining from me.

"A-hem. Since today is our first lesson, we'll keep things simple and make a Solar Stone—a stone that radiates heat all on its own."

"Wow~"

"Sounds fun!"

"W-wow...!"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Clap clap clap clap clap.

Amid the applause, I began sketching the design onto the chalkboard Ha-ram had prepared in advance. The Solar Stone was the simplest alchemical product published on the very first page of Paracelsus's Alchemy Workshop—an object that demonstrated, with perfect clarity, alchemy's core principle of altering the properties of matter. Fittingly for an introductory exercise, the method was simple, too. Place the stone you wish to transform at the center, use sulfur (we substituted ruby powder) to draw the corresponding alchemical array around it, then pour spiritual power into the finished array and... well, would you look at that? A heat-radiating Solar Stone, complete!

Add a few more processes to that, and you get alchemical fire—flames that water cannot quench and that burn even atop water. Develop it further still, and you can craft a kind of grenade that produces spiritual heat and blast pressure.

'Come to think of it, the grenades Cosmos used at Lostco were probably made the same way.'

"Hm... is this right?"

"Harder than I expected..."

"Like this, like this..."

"It feels like etching circuits onto a circuit board."

The four of them groaned and grunted over their first attempt, tracing out their designs in gem powder.

Ah, Eun-ha, you little—conserve the gem powder! Min-seo, cover your mouth when you sneeze! Even turning your head sends the powder flying, never mind a sneeze!

Screaming internally, I kept drawing my own design as well.

"Huh? You're doing it too, Yi-yeon oppa?"

"Yeah. I've tried it a few times on my own. Failed every time, though."

"Oh~ so there's something even you can't do?"

"Hey, it's not like I'm good at everything."

"Hehehe~ how gracious of me! Once you've gotten some practice in, I, descendant of Paracelsus, shall instruct you personally."

"Uh, you're the one learning from me right now..."

About thirty minutes passed like that? By then, all five of us had finished our designs.

"Alright. Now pour in your spiritual power."

At my words, the four of them channeled their power in at the same time.

"Gnh!"

"Yahp!"

"Work, damn it!"

"Kiiiyoooooot!"

First to succeed was Min-seo. The ruby powder burned away and vanished, and her stone began radiating warmth on the level of a freshly baked roasted sweet potato.

"Got it!"

Next to succeed was Momo.

"It'd make a lovely hand warmer, wouldn't it?"

Then Ha-ram.

"I-I did it! Master, your unworthy disciple has succeeded on his very first attempt!"

Last of all was Eun-ha.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No, no, it's fine, it happens. You only started learning the meditation method recently, so squeezing out spiritual power can be tough. Um. Hang in there, descendant of Paracelsus."

"Ggguuuuhhh! Stop needling me...! Then what about you, oppa!? Whatever you say about me, I succeeded on my first try!"

Eun-ha thrust her Solar Stone forward—the one radiating about as much warmth as a soak in lukewarm bathwater.

"And you failed your first attempt, didn't you? See? I have more talent! Proof complete! Come on! I, the alchemy genius Choi Eun-ha, shall personally observe, so hurry up and try again!"

Desperate to hide her embarrassment, Eun-ha simply fired off whatever came to mind.

"Fine! Fine! I'll do it, so back off a little. And, Ha-ram."

"Yes, Master!"

Ha-ram readied a tin basket filled to the brim with ice water, along with a pair of tongs.

"Why would you prepare that..."

"Because I'm going all out."

Having confirmed Ha-ram's preparations, I poured my Do-ryeok into the design I'd drawn. In an instant, the transmutation array drawn in ruby powder evaporated, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stone began to generate heat. The problem was...

Sssssssssshhh!

"Wh-whoa!? Th-the desk! The desk is melting!?"

The heat was simply too strong. The desk beneath the array melted away, and the Solar Stone dropped toward the floor.

"Catch!"

Before the stone could hit the ground, Ha-ram snatched it out of the air with the tongs and flung it into the tin basket of ice water. The water boiled away with a fizzing hiss before finally settling down.

That ice water hadn't been ordinary ice water, either. Mixed with sapphire powder and empowered by Fey, it had been prepared especially to neutralize the heat the Solar Stone gave off.

"Whew. Temperature control is a real pain in the ass... At this rate it can't even do the job of a hand warmer, can it? In that sense, Eun-ha, your Solar Stone is far higher quality—warmth like a hot pack thirty minutes after it's spent! Just perfect, right?"

"......"

"Hm? What's the matter, descendant of Paracelsus?"

"...This is teabagging... beating down a total newbie who just started feels great, doesn't it!?"

That's exactly what it is.

"Feels fucking fantastic."

"GGAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Vrrrrrrm.

"Hm?"

Leaving Eun-ha to roar in fury behind me, I checked my phone.