Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Translation: godtl
The cramped studio apartment.
A suffocating silence filled the air.
'He's not saying anything.'
At this point, one would expect him to speak first.
But Si-mun remained silent, merely gazing intently at the Philosopher's Stone resting quietly at the center of his chest.
'Well, it must be struggling with the decision.'
It had only been about a day since the Philosopher's Stone had become one with his body.
Yet in that short time.
Si-mun had come to understand that the stone possessed considerable intelligence.
That's why he could comprehend why it was maintaining such prolonged silence.
'Because human body transmutation is considered taboo in alchemy.'
The Emerald Tablet containing alchemical knowledge.
While most of its contents were knowledge for creating the Elixir and the Philosopher's Stone.
It also included warnings about certain forbidden practices.
'When I first obtained the Emerald Tablet, I thought those warnings were just laughable.'
Even when the world first entered the regular Arena.
The only risk was losing one's life.
Most Players still treated the Galaxy Arena like some sort of game.
Si-mun hadn't been much different.
He hadn't given deep thought to the warnings about human body transmutation in the Emerald Tablet either.
And by the time nations began falling one by one, he'd been so absorbed in Elixir production that he'd completely forgotten about it.
But.
'Not anymore.'
He knew full well that Chimeras were the representative result of human body transmutation.
And that they occasionally appeared as monsters in the Arena.
The Philosopher's Stone was probably wary of that aspect, hence this silence.
But.
'The same logic applies to modern science.'
Consider science purely as a tool for killing.
You'd be hard-pressed to find such creatively excellent murder weapons.
Human body transmutation is no different.
If the user—myself—only employs it for beneficial purposes?
Just as science has advanced 21st century Earth to this extent.
It could absolutely be used advantageously.
Had it read Si-mun's thoughts?
Oooong.
After maintaining silence for a while, the Philosopher's Stone communicated its will.
"Will you truly only use it beneficially?"
To that question, Si-mun answered quietly.
"That's the plan. It's strictly for making myself stronger. But."
He could have just given an obvious, sweet answer.
"If an unavoidable situation arises, I can't make any promises. I have goals I must achieve."
Si-mun spoke his mind without hiding anything.
Was it due to the nagging of a half-formed conscience?
Or because he felt the Philosopher's Stone could read his mind?
Neither.
"Philosopher's Stone, you're the only one who knows about my regression."
Regression isn't purely advantageous and happy.
No matter how much future knowledge I possess or how much corresponding experience I have.
The fact that I must consciously will myself to act on it is never easy.
"In that sense, you're practically my only comrade I can lean on when things get tough."
Therefore.
At least with the Philosopher's Stone, he didn't want to lie.
"I believe you'll understand me. We experienced that future together."
Oooong.
The Philosopher's Stone's resonance wavered unstably.
It was deliberating.
Si-mun waited without pressing.
'If it says no, then that's that. Human body transmutation isn't the only method anyway.'
It was merely one path for rapid growth.
Even without human body transmutation, he knew plenty of training methods to compensate for physical weaknesses.
After all, he'd memorized all the training methods known in his previous life.
After a brief silence.
Oong.
Finally, the awaited answer came.
Si-mun smiled at the clear resonance emanating from his chest.
"Thank you for understanding."
Oooong.
"I know. I'm fully aware of the dangers of human body transmutation."
Even if he'd only skimmed over it superficially.
He was at least aware that human body transmutation was closely related to Black Magic.
However.
"What? That's not it?"
The Philosopher's Stone was warning about something entirely different.
Ooooong.
"An object opposite of the Emerald Tablet? What do you mean?"
Oooong.
"So you're saying there's another object that compiles knowledge from the opposite side, like the Emerald Tablet does?"
Oong.
The Philosopher's Stone conveyed its affirmation.
Si-mun blinked blankly at this.
Then nodded slowly.
'Right, that makes sense. The Emerald Tablet contained nothing about human body transmutation after all.'
Hadn't the Emerald Tablet only carried warnings about human body transmutation?
Si-mun rested his chin on his hand.
'When I first obtained the Emerald Tablet, I had to take a qualification test.'
The message window that had appeared the moment he grasped the Emerald Tablet.
[Testing qualification for Emerald Tablet ownership.]
How could he ever forget?
It wasn't just because an item was testing ownership qualifications.
In truth, for high-grade items,
it was quite common to examine the user's qualifications.
Yet, the reason Si-mun couldn't forget that moment was something else entirely.
[Qualification confirmed. The Emerald Tablet acknowledges you as its owner.]
All he had felt was a slight static-like sting—nothing more.
After becoming its owner, the Emerald Tablet never exhibited any peculiar phenomena.
Instead, its smooth surface displayed only the formulas for the Elixir and the Philosopher's Stone, visible to him alone.
'Thanks to that, it never got stolen either.'
The reason Si-mun, a mere Level 1, could fully possess the Emerald Tablet
was neither due to his connections with Korea's strongest players, Kim Si-hyeok or Go Mal-suk,
nor because of some special privilege.
It was simply because the tablet was soulbound—usable by no one else—and had an anti-theft function that burned would-be thieves alive.
'To be precise, it killed anyone unworthy of ownership.'
Thinking back now, it was a rather chilling feature.
Had he been unlucky and fallen short of the ownership requirements,
Si-mun, too, would have been reduced to charred remains like those thieves.
Sheer luck, truly.
As his thoughts reached that point,
he finally grasped the Philosopher's Stone's concern.
"Philosopher's Stone, you're worried I might not be qualified to create that transmuted object, aren't you?"
Hmm.
A short affirmative hummed back.
Si-mun bit his lip with a grave expression.
'Well, even the Emerald Tablet—which only contained alchemical knowledge—had that kind of function.'
There was no way an artifact inscribed with the secrets of human transmutation wouldn't test its user's worthiness.
Sigh. Should I just give up on it?
There was no need to stake his life on a stat he didn't even specialize in.
Besides, since he already knew somewhat efficient training methods,
if he worked hard from his current low level, he could eventually meet the requirements.
Just then—
Hmm-hmm.
The Philosopher's Stone spoke up again.
"Huh? You're saying you can mitigate the penalty for falling short of the qualifications to some extent?"
Did the Philosopher's Stone have that kind of function too?
'Well, considering it even minimizes rebound, I guess it's not that strange.'
After a brief moment of contemplation, Si-mun opened his mouth.
"Just confirm this for me—you can at least prevent death, right?"
Hmm.
"Good."
Nodding at the Philosopher's Stone's affirmation, Si-mun continued,
"I'm an official player now. As long as I don't die, I can recover somehow."
He had already cleared the Tutorial, after all.
He could also use player-exclusive hospitals.
A place like that could easily restore someone who had just finished the Tutorial.
'And if all else fails, I can always ask that punk Si-hyeok for help.'
Though he was just a Level 3 alchemist scraping by day-to-day in this tiny rented room,
wasn't his younger brother at this time a top-tier powerhouse dominating the rankings?
On top of that, unlike him, the kid was the legitimate heir of the Kim Clan—their medical resources would be on a whole other level.
'I've really changed a lot, huh.'
They say people change after facing death.
The old him would never have even considered relying on his brother's help.
Si-mun glanced at the slightly stained mirror beside the wardrobe.
'Looking back now, I was really foolish.'
Sometimes, it would've been okay to lean on family.
Wasn't that what family was for?
So why had he gritted his teeth and struggled alone all this time?
Because he was born a rare bastard in the 21st century?
Or because he couldn't stand the sight of his brother—who only ever rode upward while he himself kept falling?
'Probably... all of the above.'
Truthfully, it wasn't until his past life—when he was nearing forty—that he managed to steady his heart.
But now, in this timeline,
at 28 years old, even recalling those memories was painful.
But—
"Not anymore."
That was then, and this is now.
It was all in the past, and the anguish was something anyone might experience in their youth.
With a soft chuckle, Si-mun tidied his emotions and opened his Status Window.
"Let's see. First, I'll allocate all remaining stat points to Transmutation Power..."
The higher his Transmutation Power, the more he'd benefit from transmutation, right?
After raising his Transmutation Power from 11 to 13, he closed the window and asked,
"Philosopher's Stone, can you give me a rough idea of what the transmuted object looks like?"
Hmm-hmm.
"Just a different color from the Emerald Tablet? Got it."
Si-mun immediately visualized the pale green stele.
Like the screen of a cutting-edge smartphone,
the Emerald Tablet had allowed him to conveniently browse any knowledge he desired by treating the stele as a display.
Recalling that familiar structure,
he refined the details—dark violet instead of pale green—as the Philosopher's Stone had described.
Then, drawing the Transmutation Power flowing from the center of his chest, he flicked his fingers—
Snap.
[Insufficient Transmutation Power to meet the required threshold for the transmutation.]
A message window popped up as if it had been waiting.
But—
'I already expected this.'
Having already guessed the Philosopher's Stone was at least on par with the Emerald Tablet, Si-mun calmly waited for the next message.
[The Philosopher's Stone demands 10,000 Achievement Points to compensate for the insufficient Equivalent Exchange.]
[Do you accept? (Yes / No)]
Just as with the transmutation of Astrapē.
The Philosopher's Stone naturally requested Achievement Points for the Equivalent Exchange.
Si-mun, who had confidently reached toward 'Yes,' flinched.
"Wait. Ten thousand points?"
He blinked several times, even rubbing his eyes hard.
But the message window remained unchanged.
"Ten thousand? Philosopher's Stone, are you seriously asking for ten thousand points?"
Hmm.
"And you're saying this is cheap?"
Astrapē had only cost 500 points!
At the Philosopher's Stone's affirmation, Si-mun let out a hollow laugh.
He'd gone through the trouble of accumulating 12,300 points, only to face this massive hemorrhage.
"Sigh. Well, it can't be helped."
No risk, no gain.
If he'd prioritized safety from the beginning.
He wouldn't have even considered the path of human transmutation.
Having made up his mind, Si-mun selected 'Yes.'
[10,000 Achievement Points have been deducted.]
As the points were subtracted.
A familiar energy gathered at his fingertips, compensating for the lacking Transmutation Power.
Flicking his fingers with that energy still flowing—
Whoooosh.
A dark violet energy appeared from nowhere, swirling around Si-mun.
Coiling like a serpent.
It wrapped around his hand with an eerie motion.
Crunch.
The sound of flesh—or something equivalent—being crushed echoed.
That grotesque noise grew louder until it finally took the form of a square slab.
"This......"
Aside from its color.
A stele indistinguishable from the Emerald Tablet in form.
Well, there was one slight difference.
"It's alive?"
A stele pulsating incessantly like the veins or heart of a living creature.
Though shaped like a stele.
This transmuted object could easily be mistaken for a living being.
Then.
[You have created an unregistered mythical product.]
[You have acquired 5,000 Achievement Points.]
[The effects of the title 'Pioneer of Alchemy' have grown.]
[A new effect has been added to the title 'Pioneer of Alchemy.']
A series of message windows appeared before Si-mun's eyes.
'The title evolved?'
15 kills, 100% occupation points.
Even with those overwhelming achievements, the Pioneer of Alchemy title hadn't budged—yet now it grew.
Si-mun immediately opened the title window to inspect 'Pioneer of Alchemy.'
[Pioneer of Alchemy] - Growth Type
A title granted to an alchemist who has transmuted all mythical alchemical products.
"Oho."
An exclamation escaped him.
5% reduction in Transmutation Power.
It might seem negligible as a single-digit percentage.
But as levels increase, percentage-based efficiency becomes invaluable.
And if the title continues to grow, that number will rise further.
Ultimately, gaining an option that reduces Transmutation Power consumption was undeniably overpowered.
'Black Goat wasn't just casually mentioning growth-type titles for no reason.'
Si-mun smiled contentedly.
Before him.
[The Constellation Black Goat from beyond grows greatly enraged at the birth of an unprecedented Divine Artifact.]
[The Constellation Black Goat's eyes widen at the traces you've left upon it.]
[Instead of wrath, the Constellation Black Goat expresses profound interest.]
A sudden message window appeared.
'Black Goat? Never heard of that Constellation.'
Constellation Black Goat.
Even in his past life when the official Arena had begun, he'd never heard that name.
If he had to make sense of it—
'A Constellation from beyond... Could it be because of that title?'
The unintentionally acquired title, 'One Who Draws the Gaze from Beyond.'
Given how the Olympus Constellations had reacted.
Though the title had no explicit effects, it clearly wasn't just a meaningless label.
'Well, whatever. It's a relief. A Constellation's wrath is pretty dangerous.'
Since it wasn't the official Arena yet, there wouldn't be major consequences.
But Si-mun knew Constellations were beings second only to gods.
There was no need to make enemies of them unnecessarily.
[You have attracted the attention of Black Goat, an unregistered Constellation in the Galaxy Arena.]
[Due to an unbelievable series of achievements, the Galaxy Arena has initiated discussions regarding player Kim Si-mun.]
As the messages continued, Si-mun's gaze settled calmly.
'Series of achievements... So this has happened before?'
It couldn't be Astrapē.
Back then, the Olympus Constellations had shown interest, but no such messages appeared.
'Then it must be because of the last transmutation in my past life.'
Regression and the recovery of his Mana Disability.
The Philosopher's Stone had transmuted that at the cost of his senses—no, more than that.
'Thinking back now, it wasn't just my senses I lost from the backlash of that transmutation.'
His very life.
From the beginning, the Philosopher's Stone had used not only its own power but his very life as part of the Equivalent Exchange.
And the result must have been something truly extraordinary—enough to earn a whopping 1 million Achievement Points.
But.
"What matters is this right now."
While his previous doubts had been resolved, they were ultimately things of the past.
Si-mun stared at the dark violet stele writhing incessantly before his eyes.
Then, information about the stele surfaced in his vision.
"This is......"
Si-mun's eyes widened into perfect circles as he read the details.