Chapter 377: Paracelsus's Spirits (2)
Chapter 377: Paracelsus's Spirits (2)
“Where should I even start…”
“From the beginning! Tell me from the very beginning, Junior!”
Fay, her nose stuffed with tissues, hopped up and down while speaking in a nasal voice. Of course, to avoid repeating the same mistake, she held her chest with one hand as she moved.
“…Senior Fay. Haven't they gotten even bigger lately?”
“Maybe they’re just swollen? You’ve been touching them every day lately, Junior.”
“Hey now. There’s no way that’s… actually, is there?”
Since I tended to slip my hand into Fay’s bodice as casually as reaching for a snack whenever no one was around, it was a possibility.
Does that mean the more I touch them, the bigger they get…?
I tilted my head while staring at Fay’s chest, but only for a moment. It seemed the others were just as curious about the dungeon’s secrets, as Iris and Elisha began pestering me as well.
“You! What did you just say? Did you say artificial spirits?”
“Why would an alchemist study spirits? Master, do not keep this to yourself. Pray, tell us as well.”
Iris said this as she tried to sneak closer. I suspected she was planning to act cute and slip in beside me…
Unfortunately, the spots on both my sides were already occupied by Carla and Fay. And Iris, of all directions, was trying to approach from Carla’s side.
“That’s far enough.”
“Eh?”
Iris was stopped in her tracks, her forehead caught by an outstretched hand. The owner of that hand… Carla, issued a warning in an incredibly solemn voice.
“The seat next to Master belongs to me, his only slave. Lady Iris, please look elsewhere.”
“What…?”
Iris looked up at Carla with a bewildered expression. Carla wore her usual beaming smile, but her face radiated a stubbornness that made it clear she would never yield.
Having become my only slave, Carla’s pride had reached new heights. ‘Baby’ Iris didn't seem to have the confidence to overcome such a Carla; she stammered for a long while before finally turning around.
She looked toward her disciple, Elisha.
“Sigh… Honestly, Master. If you were going to do that, you should have just gone to Fay’s other side.”
Despite her sigh, Elisha pulled Iris away and hoisted her up. Then, she plopped her right onto my back.
…She wasn't piggybacking. She had been draped over my shoulders like a sack of rice.
Iris herself didn't seem to mind, however, as she dangled there and began urging me again.
“Now! Master, explain it to me! Artificial spirits? What on earth does that mean?!”
Her voice was calm, as if nothing had happened. But her body was more honest; she kept glancing toward Carla, and every time it looked like their eyes might meet, she squeezed her own shut.
Is she a child…?
I let out a dry chuckle and nodded.
“Fine. We’re close, but there’s still some time before we arrive. So, first, regarding what happened after Paracelsus created the Philosopher’s Stone…”
After Paracelsus achieved the Philosopher’s Stone—one of the three ultimate goals of alchemy—he set his sights on the remaining two: the Elixir and the Homunculus.
He prioritized the Homunculus and began his research. In the process, he came to believe that a spirit’s body was more perfect than a human’s, which led him to study artificial spirits.
Of course, if the spirit mages of that era—especially the Elves—had discovered his research, there would have been hell to pay, so he conducted his work in secret…
But he passed away from old age before the research could be completed.
The workshop he left behind had been slumbering in silence… until the forces of the Confused Unity stumbled upon it near the end of the War of the Gods.
The result was a massive clash between the defense systems protecting the workshop and the monsters trying to break in and occupy it.
“Because it was considered a major battlefield, the entire place was sealed off and became a dungeon,” I explained simply.
“So, on the surface, the golems are fighting the monsters of the Confused Unity, while inside the workshop, various traps and incomplete spirits appear.”
“To think such a thing happened… Well, they did say Paracelsus was over a hundred years old when he created the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“Marvelous. Setting aside why he considered a spirit’s body to be perfect, the fact that he created incomplete spirits means he achieved significant results, does it not?”
Fay nodded in a daze, while Iris expressed her admiration.
Then, as if suddenly sensing something strange, Iris began to squirm. When I carefully lowered her from my shoulders, she clung tightly to my torso.
Unlike Fay, there was nothing blocking her, so she looked like a cicada stuck to a tree.
“But Master. You said Alfheim has known of this dungeon’s existence for a long time and periodically harvests spirit stones from it. Did they truly not know it was Paracelsus’s workshop?”
“Yeah. The area Alfheim explored was just the outer part of the workshop. A place used as a spirit stone warehouse where they basically dumped the failed experiments.”
“Failed experiments… dumped…”
Iris furrowed her brows as if something was bothering her. I suppose for Iris, who had lived since before the Great War unlike Elisha, spirits weren't such distant beings.
“Just so you know, incomplete spirits don't have a sense of self. If they did, they wouldn't be regenerated by the dungeon’s loop.”
“Ah.”
That was true. Even if a loop occurs in a loop-type dungeon, the memories of the challengers are not erased.
Monsters are essentially part of the dungeon, having received the Evil God’s blessing… or rather, they were the cause of the dungeon’s creation in the first place, so they repeat the loop together.
However, other intelligent beings are not caught in the loop. At most, they are simply returned to the point where they first entered.
But the spirits in this dungeon are regenerated every time it loops. Just like the monsters or the surrounding terrain.
“You know better than anyone what that means, right, Iris?”
“…It means that while they take the form of spirits and wield spirit-like abilities, they are merely lumps of power without souls.”
“Bingo. This is just my guess, but I think Paracelsus ran into the same problem Fafnir did.”
One approached it through magic and the other through alchemy, but they both succeeded in creating the physical vessel.
However, a sense of self failed to develop properly within the bodies they created.
“Paracelsus’s ultimate goal was to create spirits that belonged to the Eurelia Continent, not the Spirit Realm. That’s why many of them will have attributes slightly different from the spirits we know.”
“Different attributes? What do you mean?”
“Usually, spirits from the Spirit Realm overlap a lot with elemental magic in terms of their attributes, right?”
“Indeed. Spirits are a race where the forces of nature have gained a body and consciousness, while elemental magic is magic that seeks to mimic the world… to mimic nature.”
“Right. But because Paracelsus’s spirits are artificial by birth, they have some very peculiar attributes.”
For example, the Spirit of Emotion. Joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure don't exist in nature; they are found in people.
“Besides that, there are Spirits of Luck, Space, and Illusion. Most of them handle strange powers, but their actual combat ability isn't that great, so you don't need to worry… Hm?”
“Grrr… Rrrgh…!”
Suddenly, Iris’s body began to tremble. I poked her soft, quivering cheek and asked.
“What is it? Why the sudden reaction, Iris?”
“These… these are not spirits!”
“Eh.”
Suddenly flying into a rage, Iris began hopping up and down like she was on a pogo stick.
She was likely doing it because she couldn't contain her anger… but in many ways, it was a stark contrast to Fay.
I decided to calm Iris down first.
“What do you mean they aren't spirits? Explain yourself, Iris.”
“Luck? Emotion? Space? Illusion? How can those be spirits, Master?!”
“Well, it’s not that strange, is it?”
Perhaps it was because I’d seen non-attribute spirits pop up occasionally in old fantasy novels. The concept was quite familiar to me.
Though, it seemed it wasn't for Iris, who was born and raised on the Eurelia Continent.
“Not strange?! Where in any of that is there a part of nature?! Are they not all things born from human perception?! Emotion originates from people, and Luck is only judged as such by someone’s perception! The others are the same! They are not the components that make up the world, but a world measured by humans!”
“I suppose so. But what does that matter?”
“Because…!”
“Aren't humans part of nature too?”
“……Huh?”
Iris froze for a moment. After organizing my thoughts, I continued calmly.
“Humans are just one of the many life forms living in this world. There’s no reason they wouldn't belong to nature. And more importantly… isn't that exactly what you thought when you tried to replace spirit power with elemental magic, Iris?”
“!!!”
Is the power of spirits the power of nature? If so, how is it different from magic? Are the two truly unrelated, merely appearing similar on the surface?
In the past, Iris had reached a conclusion after such agonizing thoughts. Or perhaps she chose to believe what she wanted to believe.
That there was no difference between the two. That nature… spirit power… could be realized by human hands.
But perhaps due to her long history of failure, or for some other reason, the current Iris seemed unable to believe even the conclusion she had reached herself.
When I pointed this out directly, Iris fell silent, her expression one of shock.
After that, she stopped jumping around and remained lost in thought. Everyone else walked quietly as if to give her space.
…Except for the clueless Fay.
“Ju-Junior? About those golems fighting on the surface and the research journals that might be in the workshop…”
“…I’ll give them all to you, Senior, so please be quiet for a moment.”
“Hmph!”
As I walked with Fay, who had covered her own mouth with her hands, a small encampment soon came into view.
It was the Alfheim guards protecting the dungeon.
We had finally arrived.