章節 55: Studies

"Hmm..."

Christa was looking thoughtfully at a small mound of ash on the floor; Johan and Mari next to her were also doing the same.

"Can we say... did it work?"

"Well... you could say."

The small mound of ash on the floor, despite seeming insignificant, was actually the most successful test they had achieved in trying to create the elemental crystals.

They had tried without much expectation; after all, they hadn't changed the process that much; they had just used other materials, but that seemed to be the key to this attempt being much more successful, to say the least.

Christa tore her gaze away from the mound of ash and instead looked at the other two crystals on the tray; one was a bright green color, and the one next to it was blue.

Christa grabbed the green-colored crystal and prepared to throw it.

"Let's see if it wasn't just a coincidence."

The crystal flew out of Christa's hand, crashing to the ground and shattering.

Woosh—

Blew a light breeze, but they could feel it from a distance, and it could even scatter the small mound of ash that was 1 meter away from where the crystal landed.

"Haha! It's a success! Oh, well, almost success!"

Christa shouted excitedly but quickly calmed down when she noticed that the results were nowhere near what she had planned.

But they couldn't blame her; they had been working on these elemental crystals for a month now, and this had been the best result by far.

Previous attempts had been disastrous, with the crystals barely having any power or outright exploding before they could be used.

"But... why?"

This was a question every good alchemist always had to ask himself.

What had been the action that led to that reaction? What had been the factors that led to that result? What were the perfect proportions to be able to achieve and amplify that result?

These questions haunted Christa's mind in no less than a second.

"What did we do in this attempt?"

Like any good alchemist, Christa had also written down the process of each attempt.

Mari looked at the small notebook in her hand and began to explain.

"We extracted the elemental mana and used Lunar Silver to create the vessels; finally we put everything in the alchemical furnace for about 1 hour."

Christa listened carefully to every word Mari said; however, her doubts remained unclear.

"There were no major changes; the most remarkable thing was the material used for the containers and the time in the oven."

Although it might seem like a major change, if one paid attention to the hundreds of previous attempts, it would not seem that way.

First of all, the materials used, aside from the monster parts required to extract the elemental mana, the criteria followed to choose the materials used to create the vessels was very simple.

That it should be hard enough to be able to store the elemental mana without breaking immediately, but not hard enough that it could not be broken later.

Lunar silver, while an expensive material with great malleability, had no other characteristics other than those mentioned above.

And the time in the alchemical furnace varied depending on the materials used; lunar silver this time took the longest to be ready.

"Hmmmm... Hmmmmmmm!"

Christa seemed to be thinking with all her might, trying to find the reason for her unexpected success in this attempt.

"I don't know."

But it wasn't long before she gave up with a sigh.

"Well, I'll think about that. A success is a success. Would you like something to drink to celebrate the occasion?"

"Sounds good to me."

Johan replied with a smile, and Mari, at his side, nodded.

"Oh, it's rare that you lovebirds have time for a drink. Alright, I'll have to get out that special wine I've been saving then."

Christa said with a smile and proceeded to leave the workshop; Johan and Mari followed her from behind.

Pop-!

With a sound, the cork that capped the bottle flew out, allowing them to enjoy its contents.

Christa poured some wine into the three glasses on the table.

"Here's to a successful project, or something like that."

She said, and the next moment the three clinked their glasses and drank the wine inside.

"Ah~ Right on point."

Christa savored the wine thoroughly, appreciating its sweet taste; Mari also seemed to be enjoying it just as much, if not more than her. Joha, for his part, although he liked wine, it wasn't particularly his preference, but he could recognize a good wine when he tasted it.

Time passed placidly as the group chatted and drank; before they knew it, the sun had already begun to set, but their conversation showed no signs of ending.

"Hey, Christa, if you don't mind me asking, why did you start alchemy?"

Johan asked, looking half-drunk, though he clearly wasn't; it would take about two whole barrels of beer to get Arthur drunk with his current body.

And despite knowing his reasons, he asked anyway; his goal was to get Christa to trust them, and talking about personal things or secrets is the best way to tighten a relationship.

"Well... don't laugh, okay?".

Christa grabbed her wine glass and gulped it down, let out a sigh, and began to speak.

"You may have already noticed, but I don't have any mana in my body."

"Yes, it's a strange thing; it has to do with that disease called mana leakage, doesn't it?"

Livia, noticing what Arthur was doing, helped him by participating in the conversation.

"That's right, mana leakage is a disease that prevents people from gathering mana in their bodies and consequently prevents them from using magic. I think you'll understand what it means to have this disease in a family like the Schmetterlings."

Christa let out a deep sigh before continuing.

"I guess... I wanted to prove that I could be useful."

No one said anything; Livia and Arthur let Christa continue.

"I studied every day; there were nights when I would get lost in my notes and not realize the sun had risen, failing countless times trying to get the result I wanted."

Christa's voice grew heavier and her expression darkened with each step.

But moments later a smile appeared on her lips, and her tone became more animated.

"But between all those sleepless nights and countless failures, I realized something: I was...having fun. Before I knew it, I went from studying to prove myself to doing it out of pure interest; it went from something I felt I had to do so I wouldn't be seen as useless to a genuine passion.

With spirits clearly high, Christa grabbed the bottle and started drinking straight from it.

"Ka~! You know, I'm not one to get sentimental or anything, but I don't know, I feel like you guys are easy to talk to."

Because of Christa's reputation and her circumstances, she had to deal with arrogant nobles every day who did nothing but rant about how much better they were compared to her.

Brats who knew nothing of the world but still thought they were the most special, at least until someone better than them came along, and their arrogant attitudes did a 180° turn, becoming helpful and unassuming.

"I guess I had a lot of shit in store...thanks."

It was a sincere thank you.

Christa had never put much stock in relationships; she thought she didn't need them and wouldn't mind being alone for the rest of her life. But now she felt her days would be deadly dull without these two.

"Anytime."

Johan nodded with a smile, and Mari did the same.

While their goal was to get close to her so they could destroy the Schmetterling family, they had begun to see her as a true friend.

"Well, enough of the sentimental talk! Let's keep drinking!"

And so the lively evening continued.

***

"I guess this place will do just fine."

One day after the night of drinking with Christa, Arthur, along with Livia, headed to a secluded spot in the woods.

"Alright, let's get started with the tests."

Arthur sat down on the ground cross-legged and took a deep breath, isolated any outside distractions, and entered a state of deep concentration.

Livia, a few feet away from him, was watching him with utmost attention, ready to intervene at any moment if anything should go wrong. Ebony and Ivory were also at her side, equally attentive.

After a few minutes in silence, Arthur finally opened his eyes.

They were still a stunning golden color, but his pupils had changed, taking on vertical shapes, like the eyes of a beast.

But it wasn't just the appearance of his eyes that had changed; his perception had changed as well.

He was now able to see hundreds of lines floating everywhere, similar to small rivers.

"I've seen it before, but this is amazing."

Being able to witness the streams of pure mana in the air was something he didn't think he would get used to anytime soon.

"Alright, let's try something."

Arthur held out his hands and tried to focus on one of the flows, specifically, the smallest one there was, as thin as a tiny thread of cloth.

He took another deep breath, focusing all his attention on that small flow of mana.

Woosh—

After almost an hour, the flow moved slightly.

Arthur, without losing his cool, continued to concentrate on the flow.

He concentrated on drawing it in, using it.

Little by little, the flux moved closer to Arthur. He could feel that the closer the flow came, the harder it was for him to maintain it, so that even with his improved body, he could feel himself getting tired.

But his efforts were rewarded when the flow finally concentrated between his palms.

Sweat beaded all over his body, but he still tried to manipulate or even use the power that was now within his grasp.

Woosh-!

But when he tried to manipulate it, the small sphere in his hands deformed and began to shake violently.

Seeing that things were clearly going wrong, Livia wanted to run towards Arthur to get him away from the small sphere of pure mana, but before she even took a step, Ibory was already running towards Arthur at full speed; Ebony instead bit the collar of her shirt and lifted her up in the air and threw her on her back.

Ibony, when she reached Arthur, did the same, and both horses began to run with all their might, away from the pure mana that had begun to glow brightly.

Noticing that it was about to explode, Livia manipulated her orichalcum and created a shield that enveloped them all.

BOOM-!

A huge explosion could be seen in the distance; luckily, they had chosen a place far away from the city; if they had been closer, they would have caused a huge uproar.

Woosh—

The earth settled, and the orichalcum shield made by Livia could be seen glowing red hot and partially melted; the area around it was completely devastated, with the trees turned to ash and the stones melted under the ground.

"Are you all right Livia?"

"Yes."

Fortunately, the shield had done its job excellently, and they received no injuries.

Arthur looked around, witnessing the disaster that had been caused by the small shard of pure mana he tried to manipulate.

"This is... quite frightening."

Even Arthur couldn't help but shudder.

That such a small piece of the flow had so much power was unexpected.

What if he was able to extract a larger amount? Or even be able to use such power as he pleased?

"No, it's not right to think about that."

Being too greedy could lead to his death.

He had already seen many examples of this in both his other life and this one, so he was fully aware when it came to identifying when something was beyond his capabilities.

"I guess we shouldn't experiment with flux for a while."

"I agree."

Ebony and Ibory also snorted in agreement.

And so the group left the shattered moor and returned to the city.