Capítulo 7: Contemplating the Future
Burne realised that the boy was more skilled than he initially thought. The concepts he was taught were a bit flawed— which was also the reason that he had to use too much of his energy trying to use alchemy. And that flaw also made the calculations a bit too difficult.
But after he helped Ammon with the errors, the boy improved significantly within a few hours.
"That should be enough." He said making Ammon cancel the transmutation.
"Remember that earth consists of water and you can easily mould it using the moisture. It is far more efficient to use moisture instead of focusing on the entire composition and changing them one by one." He explained. "Use the water to manipulate the intermolecular forces. That was also the method I used to create the quicksand."
Ammon nodded. "So does this form of alchemy suit me?" He asked.
Every alchemist had an alchemic style that they specialized in. For Burne, it was elemental alchemy but there was still a lot that he had yet to learn.
He smiled. "That's something you have to figure out on your own. No one can figure that out other than the alchemist himself. While you are quite good in elemental alchemy, I would suggest that you try some other forms before pursuing a specific alchemic style."
Ammon nodded. "Then what should I try next?"
Burne thought about it for a while before giving suggestions. "I would suggest organic alchemy or… have you heard of disassembly?" He asked and Ammon nodded.
"Yes. It is the deconstruction of the elements." He said, making Burne nod.
"You can try that." He said. "It is quite difficult but since you are training to be a warrior monk, it might be the best option for you." He smiled. "But still try other forms before making a final decision."
"That should be enough for today. I will help you tomorrow one last time— then I will be leaving for Amestris." He said. "As an independent alchemist, I need to travel to various places to expand my knowledge."
Ammon looked a bit confused. "Why didn't you join the military? As a state alchemist, you can have access to a lot of alchemy books." He asked but Burne laughed at his question.
"True. You get access to almost every alchemy book possessed by the state but… it comes with a price that is not something I can afford."
This made Ammon even more confused. "What is that?"
Burne smiled. "The reason a lot of alchemists doesn't join the military and prefer to work on their own… the reason your brother became a warrior monk instead of choosing state alchemy is because of the same reason"
"What is that?"
"Freedom." Burne said. "The cost of that knowledge is your freedom. You have to follow the rules of the state and you are also under a lot of restrictions, which is never good for a curious alchemist. That's why I chose to stay independent."
Ammon had never thought of the restrictions and so when he heard about them, it greatly surprised him.
'I am glad that brother didn't become a state alchemist.' He thought.
"Well then, I will see you tomorrow when I visit the library. I still need to read the books on organic alchemy." Burne said.
"Alright."
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Inside a massive mansion— in the middle of the Amestrian Nation, a beautiful girl sighed as she picked up the letter that was in front of her. Tucking her beautiful blonde hair behind the ear, she started reading the letter.
It was sent by the Führer of Amestris, King Bradley.
She already had an idea what the letter was about but she wasn't too intrigued by it.
The letter gave her the mission to Guard Briggs, which was a major place for attacks from other nations… especially Drachma. Terrorists and illegal immigrants entered the nation from Briggs so it went without saying as to how important the mission was.
And the reward wasn't any less appealing.
"Major General…" She read out the reward with a complicated look on her face. It was what she was aiming for the longest of the times… yet when she got the offer, she wasn't sure about it anymore.
She was selected as the new heir of the Armstrong family as they followed the tradition of appointing the oldest child as the heir, whether it was a girl or a boy. And as the oldest, the position fell to her.
"Mira."
She heard the voice of a certain girl which put a smile on her face.
"Hello, Catherine." She said, smiling at her younger sister.
The young girl who was barely past the age of ten, grinned.
"Father is calling you for dinner." She said which made Mira realise that it was way late than she expected.
"Ah, forgive me. I was reading a letter. I will be there shortly." She said, piquing the girl's curiosity.
"What letter?" She asked in a cute voice which made Mira chuckle.
"It is from the King." She said, causing the little girl's eyes to widen.
"The king!" She nearly yelled which made Mira to laugh even louder.
"Will you meet the king?" She asked and Mira nodded. This made the little girl very excited.
But Mira was not half as excited as her little sister. Accepting the mission meant leaving her family for years and she wasn't sure if she could do that. She was supposed to send the letter in two days.
'I will worry about it tomorrow.' She sighed and looked at Catherine. "Let's go. We mustn't keep father waiting."
The young girl nodded as the two of them went towards the dining hall.
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Burne groaned as he scribbled what seemed to be the nth paper. Teaching Ammon made him remember a theory suggested by his grandfather when he was a kid and neither of them could prove nor deny it.
It was a concept of organic alchemy. Everyone knew that the human body consisted of organic matter which was mostly carbon mixed with a million other elements. But he knew that the body mostly consisted of Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus amongst many others.
It was possible to create structures from non-organic substances and mould them but when it came to organic matter, things became a million times more difficult. Yet it made sense as no one in recorded history has ever been able to successfully explain the working of organic chemistry. No one has been able to regrow lost limbs.
And that's exactly what he was searching for.
He was not someone who would go around with a lost arm as a symbol of the sins he committed. He was dedicated to find a way to regrow his lost arm and eyeball. But things were not that easy. He had to perfectly replicate the arm and the eyeball or it will be a disaster if he messed up.
"Attaching a limb made from a different substance can cause infections and even if it didn't… it wouldn't be the same as the original arm." He mumbled looking at his prosthetic arm.
Even if he could somehow work with the arm, his eye was an entirely different case. The current eye that he had was made of glass and that meant it was nothing more than a cosmetic cover-up. He was blind from one side.
He knew that he had to be extra careful with his eye. Creating a prosthetic eye and connecting it like his arm may damage his optical nerves even more which in turn might cause him to go entirely blind.
The reason he searched for the philosopher's stone was to restore his lost body parts but the secret he unravelled shook him to the core.
He tried theorising many possibilities from using animals as a replacement for the human souls but he found it too cruel and he figured that the number of souls needed will be more than twice the original. And he was not willing to sacrifice so many innocent souls for something that he was not sure about. He didn't know if it worked or if it had any side effects.
He scribbled out another page. He had already denied the possibility of using a substituent element or using the philosopher's stone. That left him with the option of recreating the limb with the same elements as the human body.
"This will be difficult." He sighed.
Bones, muscles, nerves, tissues… There were a lot of parts that he had to create and that was only for the arm. The eye had a million more components that were impossible for him to replicate at his current level.
"Matter can neither be created nor destroyed… it can only be transmuted." He mumbled. "I can swap the elements to create a limb… but I am not sure about all the elements present in a human body. There are still a lot of elements that are yet to be discovered and without figuring them out, I cannot remake my arm."
He was getting annoyed at the lack of information but suddenly he remembered something.
"Dr. Xerner Cain." He said. "He had a theory about organic transmutation. I might get a clue from reading it… The only problem is that it is heavily guarded by the Amestris' military. There is no way I will join the state alchemy board, so I need to figure something out." He thought out loud.
'The rest of the plan I can only figure out after checking out the place… which will be after I reach Amestris.' He sighed. 'Which will take more than a week.'
He closed the book and threw the torn and scribbled pages in the bin. 'I should sleep. It is getting late.' He thought and went to make his bed.
'Amestris… I don't know how to think about that place.'
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[A/N: I haven't proofread this chapter as I am very tired. I will be returning home by 21st but currently I am still in France. But I didn't want to miss my daily upload so wrote this chapter in a rush.
So, let me know about the mistakes and errors through paragraph comments. And thank you for the comments, they mean a lot. 😄😄😄]
[Discord Link: https://discord.gg/DXwDzxSAED]
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