Chapter 500: …and the destruction of Common Sense
A section from the Alchemist’s Manual: The First Pill
It is a known fact that in order to reach the very limits of aether cultivation, there are two things all warriors need: a good formula and compatibility.
Aether formulas serve as the platform on which a cultivator builds up their entire future upon.
A good formula means a good foundation, which in turn means a bright future.
However, not all formulas are created equally, hence why we have rankings for them.
Additionally, not all cultivators can use all formulas.
Much like how architects need to figure out the right foundation in order to build their buildings upon and find the right materials appropriate to the area, it is up to the would-be Aether Warriors to find a formula that is the most compatible with them.
In an ideal world, all formulas would be the highest rank possible and all warriors would have access to formulas they would have maximum compatibility with.
But this is not an ideal world.
Many, many times over, warriors will reach bottlenecks in their cultivation due to their bodies being unable to cope with their formula’s power, or they were cultivating a formula that is incompatible with themselves or they had reached the absolute limit with their chosen formula.
Regardless of how talented someone may be in their growth period, they become just as ordinary as everyone else the moment they hit this bottleneck.
That’s where we come in.
As alchemists, our job is to create medicines and pills that can not only treat a variety of wounds and illnesses, but also create the means in which cultivators can use to break through these bottlenecks and limits and reach even greater heights.
If we didn’t exist, then most warriors would have to destroy their original formulas in order to replace them with a better version, but doing so would mean undoing decades, or perhaps centuries, worth of cultivation.
Because as we all know, there’s no way to improve a formula once it’s been established in someone’s soul.
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“Huh…teacher Logos? Why do you have these books that are factually wrong? Don’t the kaijin regularly mess with other people’s formula?,” Jasper asked as he looked through the alchemist’s manual.
The boy had finished his calligraphy homework and was given free time to do what he wished, as such, he used that time to read even more books.
While he didn’t necessarily have the talent to be an alchemist, he had figured it didn’t hurt to at least learn how alchemists made their living.
That and he had just finished reading a “comic” about a warrior alchemist from another world that had access to this special type of flame energy and was curious if alchemists in this world functioned the same way.
Granted that comic used the term “dou qi” instead of aether, which was weird.
=Well my young Jasper, it’s not that the book is factually wrong, it’s simply that it is a record about what was known at the time of it’s writing.=
“Huh?”
=Let’s put it this way, you once believed that the stars in the sky were giant fireflies that clung to the heavens like how most insects cling to walls, right?=
“I did…,” Jasper admitted in a mildly embarrassed tone.
=But then you learned that they’re actually…=
“Giant balls of energy floating in a void known as space and depending on which part of the universe we’re in, may or may not be sentient.”
=Exactly. Many times over, one’s common sense will become challenged as they take in more and more information in all of its forms. Whether or not they learn from this intake is another question entirely, but those who believe their common sense is the most “common”, will try and share this information with all they can.=
“So…the book’s not wrong…it’s just…a record of what once was fact?”
=Exactly.=
“Huh…okay.”
=Now then, are you ready to practice your [Chaos Arts]?=
“Finally!”
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Zhen Li stared at the Overlord with a confounded look on his face.
Was this masked guy even crazier than what he and his master anticipated?
Did this guy seriously boast that he could empower someone sans alchemy?
And not just that, straight up manipulate someone’s formula, the very foundation of their existence, and make them even stronger than before?
That had to be impossible, there was just no way…right?
Sensing Zhen Li’s confusion over his question, the Overlord began to chuckle once more.
“Oh come on now, Master Zhen Li, you sincerely believe that the only way to progress and grow more powerful is to rely solely on alchemy? On formulas and compatibility? Let me ask you something, do you sincerely believe that the soul is so ephemeral that I can’t touch it. Do you truly believe that once a formula is established it’s stuck like that, forever?”
“Y-yes, because there isn’t a person alive able to do such a thing!”
“Ah. Keywords there: person and alive,” the Overlord mused.
The Overlord became a bit more animated as he explained himself further, throwing in some unnecessary but showy gestures to keep Zhen Li’s focus solely on himself.
“Do you recall our very first meeting? What I said about strange, terrible and monstrous beings that could come crawling from the depths of darkness and how I was able to control them?”
“Yes…,” Zhen Li managed to answer despite the trauma of that moment running through his mind.
He could still recall that monstrous horned woman with eyes of fire, the giant that radiated a coldness more piercing than the iciest prison and the other monstrous woman that felt like the living embodiment of a stampede and a hurricane mixed into one being.
Zhen Li had been told that he would eventually get over these feelings, that he would look back at the moment with amusement since he managed to survive such an encounter..but sometimes, when he dreamed…he still saw their demonic faces.
“Excellent,” the masked man praised while noting the tinge of fear painted across Zhen Li’s face. He could use that.
“So…what if I told you that those monsters could…lend you their power?”
At this statement, Zhen Li froze up like a deer in a hunter’s crosshairs.
“What?”
“You heard me the first time, but let me reiterate and explain it for you,” the Overlord said while spreading his hands like a corner preacher.
“The creatures under my command are not of this material world, as such, they don’t play by the same rules and logic that, well, mainly you work with. Therefore, they are able to do the things others deem impossible, they are able to play with the facets of reality that others deem…untouchable.”
The Overlord took the strange contraption again and pointed it at Zhen Li’s face, causing the latter to brace himself in fear.
He didn’t know why, it just felt natural.
“In its current state, if I shoot you with this here treasure of mine, you’d probably end up dead,” the Overlord said in a tone that was so casual that Zhen Li assumed he was talking about squishing a fly, “but if I get one of my…friends, to imbue it with their power, I can bestow their strength onto you and well…you saw firsthand about what it could do.”
“It…it’ll make me dance like a loon?,” Zhen Li asked as he tried to see how being blasted in the face with a monster’s energy would somehow increase his power and potential.
At this answer, the Overlord let out a small laugh.
“Well that might happen, but no. Nothing like that…if I recall correctly, you had a profile, a series of records pertaining to Patriarch Zhen Shi, correct? That it was written that he was merely an Aether Grandmaster and an old goat no less, correct?”
Zhen Li nodded at this question, he was kind of getting sick of saying “yes” at this point.
“But the moment you and your granddaddy showed up, not only was he not an Aether Grandmaster, but he was a full blown Aether Lord, his aether affinity hade somehow changed altogether from what was originally pure Aquarii to an Aquarri/Ice mixture, and a much more youthful countenance on top of that. Still old mind you, but significantly more energetic than what was last recorded.”
“Wait…”
“So…how do you think all that came about?”
Zhen Li’s mind began to churn as he began to pick up what the Overlord was implicitly implying.
If what he said was true about being able to bestow others the power of monsters he could summon, and since one of the monsters he remembered being traumatized by was an ice giant, then that would mean…
“The…Patriarch of the Zhen Clan broke through because of you,” Zhen Li eventually concluded aloud.
“You…gave him the power of that ice giant that almost froze me to death.”
“I prefer the term bestowal myself,” the Overlord corrected while ignoring the part about almost killing Zhen Li.
“But now we come to the main reason why I have you sitting here before me,” the Overlord said in a much gentler tone.
“I want to make you an offer.”
