Chapter 228 Learning [2] - Epiphany
A day had passed in what felt like a blink of an eye... Or at least that was the case with Silas.
Ivy was bored out of her mind, so, at a certain point, she decided to leave and go back to her dorm room, which happened to be in the VIP sector.
She could have asked for a house in the nearby cities and would have gotten it due to her status as a princess, yet, she didn't.
Silas didn't understand it, but he wasn't trying to understand it, even when she told him where she lived.
His eyes were locked upon a book before him that explained why minerals were used in alchemy. Of course, since their knowledge of mana was quite limited, the explanation was quite basic, too.
Mana crystals, just like mana cores one could obtain from monsters and beasts, could hold elements within them. Of course, Silas already knew that.
However, the explanation given in the book was far from satisfactory.
Sure, the potion he created last time through alchemy used several different ingredients with similar characteristics.
However, to understand how creating a potion worked, one must understand what alchemy was and the possibilities of it.
Alchemy itself was a minor form of magic. Through alchemy, one could heal wounds, increase their strength and abilities to rival that of beasts, and even gain new abilities that one would not expect from a human without a blessing.
However, while that was the basics, it was a little more than just that.
When saying "alchemy is a form of magic," it is not an exaggeration. A potion could quite literally have the same effects as a spell, and go beyond the normal abilities of a spell as it broke away from the rule of the magic circle.
Without a magic circle holding it back, one could even reach new heights that magic circles of the same level would not have the capabilities to do.
At the same time, it also broke away from the rule on elemental affinities. It wasn't much of a problem for Silas since he had an affinity toward mana itself. Still, for people who could only use one to three of the six elements, alchemy was an escape from the shackles that would have usually held them back in certain instances.
For example, the concoction Silas created last time was one created out of a frost rose, the fur of snow buffalo, and mana crystals that had the water element embedded into them. Sure, to concoct such a potion, one would need to have a water affinity and control the water element with all three ingredients by creating runes fast enough to do such a thing.
At the same time, if someone were to do this without an instruction guide, they would need to have a vast understanding of how mana doubted that was the case for some of the more complex concoctions he had found in many of the books he had read over and the elements worked in comparison to the runes they used.
Of course, this would require a process of trial and error, but Silas doubted that was the case for some of the more complex concoctions he had found in many of the books he had read over the past night.
The step-by-step process was very intricate, yet, very old as well. It truly made Silas wonder whether there were people in the past with far more advanced knowledge than the current humans. Or maybe mythical creatures with supreme intelligence can understand and see mana through a different lens.
The latter seemed more plausible to Silas; after all, beasts, even with high intelligence, had a connection to mana that allowed them to use it without the use of runes. Maybe they were the people who created the runes, passed it down to the miserable humans, and forgot about them?
Silas shook his head, realizing those thoughts were far beyond the point.
Thinking back, the thought about the capabilities of the potions entered his mind, and the image of the frost potion flashed before his eyes.
'If I were to throw such a potion, it would have the same effect as casting a flash freeze. For someone without a water affinity, or possibly for someone without the capability of using ice magic, alchemy is an invaluable product that would dramatically help people in fights...
I wonder why I don't see more of it. The only person I remember using Alchemy is Greed, and she was a little bit of a maniac...' Silas inwardly thought before throwing the thought of the woman to the side.
She had already created enough problems for them. The least he could do was try to forget about her to the best of his ability.
"Though, this brings me back to the mineral problem." Silas frowned, his eyes scouting the entire library and seeing no one in sight.
Even the librarian wasn't there, probably getting another cup of coffee if not going on a break.
Silas scratched his chin and thought to himself, 'I understand that the mineral itself had been injected with the water element and that the runes used to control the mana within the potion being concocted were helping the concocter to use it to create the required effects.
However, minerals are not like biological products. They do not have genes that tell the mana where to go...' Silas paused as his thought process returned to the runes he was thinking about a moment earlier.
"Wait... Maybe the runes aren't for every ingredient in the mana. I don't have all the knowledge about the runes used, so I didn't understand it the way I would have if I had that information. Which makes you think..." Silas thought back to all the books he read. He had made a mental note that minerals were within every ingredient list. Of course, the minerals themselves differed, but they all had the characteristics of the mana crystals.
It was just that some of them seemed to have more of a single element than others, making them better for certain concoctions and worse for others.
The mineral he used last time was most likely one gathered from the far north or south of the continent. Since Egiladore reached all the way from the north of the world to the south, it wasn't surprising to find out that it connected to the poles on both ends.
'Therefore, the crystals most likely already had what was needed to create the concoction. However, the problem was that they didn't have a route—a guide. The runes are that guide, as well as the thing that will help the procedure take place. Threw the runes, an alchemist can mix the ingredients almost seamlessly.' Silas thought with enlightenment.
At the same time, the volition flame deep within him that symbolized his deep hunger for knowledge burned brightly.
Silas could feel mountains of thoughts and ideas enter his mind, like a dam had been broken.
'Did I just get passed a minor bottleneck, or did I just have an epiphany.' Silas inwardly thought before choosing to test the idea.
Without much second thought, he left the library and quickly appeared before the alchemy lab.
It looked a lot like a chemistry lab, but of course, like everything that was related to magic, it was a bit old-fashioned, as if it was a product of the medieval era.
'Let's get started, shall we.' A tucked at the corner of Silas' lips Silas quickly paced toward one of the many tables and looked over it. There were dozens of beakers, each one of them with different shapes and sizes.
There were also dozens of little tubes meant to be used to store liquids. They had a small cork at the top to stop any possible vapors from leaving.
Grabbing his storage pouch, he quickly emptied a vast portion of his material wealth, most of it being ingredients he could use during alchemy.
'Let's get started, shall we.' A tucked at the corner of Silas' lips before a smile blossomed onto his face.
***
---Demon Continent---
The girl with a tiny horn on her forehead looked on at the scene before her in shock. She had been in this state for a couple of hours now, and it seemed like the people around her didn't mind it, as if they had seen such a scene many times before.
Hell, some of them even looked at her with understanding, while others looked at her with pity.
She sat down on one of the seats, covered with a blanket, and was given an herbal tea native to the demon continent.
The tea relaxed her mind, and slowly, her shock turned into gratitude.
It only took a few more minutes for her to understand her situation. It would take her much longer to wrap her head around the fact that she was finally free, but for now, all she could do was wail.
And that's exactly what she did for the next couple of hours as everyone around he did their best to comfort her with the utmost passion and understanding of her situation.
And throughout everything, a single thought went through her mind.
'I'm finally free.'
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