The Association President gnawed at his lips as he watched the Association’s directors being dragged out.
He forced himself to act in order to avoid suspicion.
“How could this be! Demons, of all things.”
Lee Gangyeol gave a faint laugh and played along with the Association President’s awkward performance.
“Well now, even so, now that you’ve weeded them out like this, the Association should be somewhat relieved. Still, just in case, you ought to conduct an inspection of the Association at least once. To think demons were found among the executives……”
“Y-yes, you’re right. We should.”
Suppressing the fury boiling inside him, the Association President hurriedly returned.
Sinhyeok checked the (former) lover in his hand.
It still retained its shape, but even the system no longer brought up an explanation window.
In other words, all of its functions had ceased.
‘It’s completely broken……’
Sinhyeok placed the K14 carefully into his inventory, then handed the captured demons over to the military.
Soon, when he saw the battalion commander approaching, he began to worry about what came next.
“Sinhyeok.”
At the low call of his name, the air around them turned murderous, and everyone quickly scattered.
Sinhyeok answered with an expressionless face.
“Sergeant Bu Sinhyeok. I will accept any punishment.”
“It’s too soon. You’re moving too fast.”
Lee Gangyeol was anxious as he looked at Sinhyeok, who was rushing ahead.
“Can’t you wait just a little?”
“I’m sorry…… But to me, even this is slow. Do you know what it feels like for your blood to surge and your head to turn upside down?”
Whenever Sinhyeok thought of the words Persona had spat out, he trembled with the emotion surging up in him, with filth and revulsion.
“Even when I throw myself into other work to forget, I can never forget.”
Lee Gangyeol could say nothing.
“So please, don’t stop…… me. I beg you.”
With only those words, Sinhyeok left the scene.
Colonel Lee Hochan and Colonel Gang Giseok, who had been nearby, approached.
“You foolish bastard. He’s Bu Chanyong’s son. You think he’ll be stopped just because you try to stop him? You know damn well he won’t.”
Lee Gangyeol answered with a sigh.
“Then should I just leave him be?”
“That ain’t right either. Right now, an egg’s raising hell saying it’ll crack a boulder. You asking if we should just let it?”
“Argh! This is so frustrating! I’m telling you, we should just kill them!”
Lee Gangyeol and Gang Giseok clamped their hands over Colonel Lee Hochan’s mouth as he shouted.
“Mmph mmph mmph! Kill! Mmph!”
Lee Gangyeol sighed and said,
“Now I don’t know anymore.”
* * *
Sinhyeok and the Hongik group returned immediately.
“I’m back.”
He gathered the samples right away and stopped by Aurumstone’s workshop.
“The gun! What about the gun!?”
At Aurumstone’s urgent question, Sinhyeok took it out of his inventory and showed him.
“Agh! Nooo!”
He plopped down in despair.
“Damn it! Put it back together!”
“Unfortunately, I made good use of it. It killed them spectacularly.”
“Aaagh! What do you expect me to do about that!”
Sinhyeok hung the (former) lover, which truly had nothing left but its pattern, back in its frame.
“May the deceased rest in peace.”
“Take it down! What’s the point of hanging that up!”
Sinhyeok chuckled as he watched Aurumstone snap at him to take it down.
“But it is a shame. I did use it well, though.”
“I’m the one who feels worse. If it had been used properly, transcendence even seemed possible.”
“Transcendence, my foot……”
When Sinhyeok denied it, Aurumstone glared.
“It could!”
“Come on, even a beginner like me can see it’s impossible.”
“I’m telling you it can! This punk is looking down on my skills!”
“Heng~ Then have you ever made one before?”
“……”
“Pfft.”
Aurumstone fell silent.
“It can be done! If there are enough materials, it can be done, you brat!”
In the end, unable to hold back his anger, Aurumstone grabbed a hammer and targeted Sinhyeok.
“You’re dead! It’s been a while since I offered up a human as a sacrifice! I’ll synthesize you!”
“Sorry! I’m sorry! Aaargh!”
To shake off his damp and filthy feelings, Sinhyeok teased the dwarf.
After running around for quite some time, the two of them, both exhausted, agreed to peace.
“Huff, huff. Rest—huaaak.”
“Damn it! Your stamina’s disgustingly good.”
They were lying on the floor, sweating profusely.
Aurumstone glanced at Sinhyeok, who was breathing roughly, and asked,
“Something happen?”
Sinhyeok spoke with an awkward expression.
“Is it that obvious?”
“How old do you think I am? You think I wouldn’t notice something like that?”
“Just something filthy happened. Digging up a past I tried hard to forget again has left me feeling a little off.”
“Whew, that thing?”
Knowing what it was, Aurumstone sympathized with that feeling.
“You really do live a hard life.”
“It can’t be helped. What can I do, when this is how I grew up? I’ll just burn everything to the ground.”
At that hollow answer, Aurumstone clicked his tongue.
“Tsk.”
Sinhyeok blew away the lingering filthy emotion with his rough breaths.
“By the way, can’t that be recycled?”
Regret dripped from his voice.
After awakening and using it, he once again realized just how incredible and insane a gun it had been.
“You think it can?”
“True. Even to me, it’s practically scrap metal.”
“It’s a shame, but there’s nothing to be done. If only I knew how to extract, I could recycle it.”
When Aurumstone said something, Sinhyeok turned his head.
“Extract?”
“It’s a technique that plucks out only the materials containing unique properties. Think of it as the reverse of synthesis.”
“The reverse?”
‘Since it’s a technique that weaves mana and mana together. The opposite would be unraveling all of it?’
From the way he spoke, it sounded very simple, but Sinhyeok couldn’t readily understand it.
“So if you simply unravel only the visible mana from a fully combined material, you can salvage the materials?”
“The visible mana, and even the mana of the tiny particles that make up the object.”
“What does that even mean?”
“To explain a little more background, it’s just a broadly accepted hypothesis throughout the universe. The idea that all matter is composed of mana. So, if you handle that mana well, you can even create all matter anew. That’s the hypothesis. I’m inclined to believe it.”
“Ah.”
Aurumstone spoke of an actual example from his own clan.
“There was an ancestor in the past who managed it.”
“Oh.”
Sinhyeok sprang up and looked at him.
“I trust you’ll naturally teach me.”
“You brat. I’d have to know it myself to teach you.”
“Ah. I’m disappointed.”
He flopped back down again.
“I want to teach you too. So you try doing something about that.”
Sinhyeok simply laughed at those words.
“What can I do? That’s the fate of that child.”
“Don’t make me laugh. An alchemist is someone who recycles even fate.”
“How wicked.”
“Hmph!”
Sinhyeok finally got up and dusted himself off.
“The reverse, huh.”
Seeing him ponder, Aurumstone rolled onto his side and looked at him.
“You going to try?”
“If I do it, all the masterpieces Master made are mine?”
At the bet, something rose up in Aurumstone.
“Ha~ Now that’s getting me excited. Not all of them—half?”
“Call~”
Aurumstone laughed and scoffed at Sinhyeok’s bet.
“A greenhorn who can’t even make a sword by himself is going to try extraction?”
“Good grief. You sure nag a lot just because I used the furnace a bit.”
“That is a technique, you brat.”
“Shh!”
“Well, would you look at him.”
Sinhyeok laughed and teased the dwarf.
“You said it was the reverse.”
He went to the storage room and brought out one of the synthesized products he had made.
[Freezing Platinum][Rare][Ice][Metal]
=======================
An alloy made by synthesizing a coldly frozen horn and platinum ore. The unfading crystals of frost grant it aesthetic beauty.
The formed crystals of frost exhibit strong resistance to fire.
=======================
[Warning]
The freezing does not stop, causing it to grow heavier and heavier.
=======================
“Eusha. Too heavy.”
He struggled to carry it with both hands and placed it on the workbench.
“Concentrate.”
Breathing deeply, he stared at the mana woven tightly together.
[Beginning mapping.]
[Switching to precision search mode.]
[All search spheres are fusing into a single unit.]
‘I can see it. I can feel it.’
In a state of intense concentration, he observed the mana.
‘Now, if I unravel it.’
He tapped at it with his fingertips, but instead, the particles of mana became even more solid and hardened.
‘Ugh.’
He sent his will with all his might, telling it to break, and tried pulling at it, but it was no use.
“Haa.”
Aurumstone stared at him and then remarked,
“Kekeke. Not going well, is it?”
“It’s not over yet.”
“Heheh, I tried that too. I did it for about ten years before giving up. With the will of an ordinary mortal, you can’t even sever visible mana.”
Sinhyeok exhaled and canceled the mapping.
“Ugh, my eyes hurt.”
“That furnace is the result I got after agonizing over and researching extraction, you brat.”
Aurumstone proudly pointed at the furnace.
“It’s thanks to that thing that synthesis can be utilized.”
“Isn’t synthesis just something you do? It worked fine for me.”
“That’s because you’re the weird one. Think about it carefully. If you take two finished iron ingots and stick them together, does that make synthesis happen?”
“No.”
“Right. It’s work that only becomes possible after structurally transforming them so they can accept each other. That’s why synthesis was originally paired with ‘dissolution.’”
“Dissolution? It sounds similar to extraction.”
“Dissolution is the process of touching the particles of mana and unraveling them. After that, extracting is combining and separating them one by one.”
At his explanation, Sinhyeok’s head throbbed.
“Ugh. Complicated.”
“What’s complicated about it? That’s all life, life.”
Still one with the floor, Aurumstone pointed toward the storage room at the resting Sinhyeok.
“Since you’re cooling your head anyway, make fifty military bayonets. Put the freezing function into all of them.”
“Ah, yes~! Thank you for dumping the grunt work on me.”
Aurumstone cackled and said,
“If you feel wronged, you be the master!”
“Good grief.”
Sinhyeok picked out materials containing the freezing property from the storage room one by one.
“Do we have military bayonets in stock?”
“Look beside you! I’ve piled up a ton of them!”
“Yes~”
He brought the materials over and tossed them into the furnace one by one.
‘So this is the result of extraction research.’
Come to think of it, this furnace was quite mysterious.
It transformed materials, yet there was no physical heat or anything of the sort.
‘What is this thing? How is it altering the physical structure when there isn’t even any heat?’
He placed his hand on the furnace and tried to feel it.
“It just seems impressive.”
“If you figure that out, I’ll call you elder brother.”
At those words, Sinhyeok thought even harder.
“Dissolution? Melting. It melts? Wait a second.”
He knew something similar.
“Blue!!”
When Sinhyeok suddenly mentioned a color, Aurumstone flinched.
“What?”
“Life—isn’t something like that the hint? When I made my bullets, I mixed that kind of thing in and structurally destabilized the mana.”
“……!”
Aurumstone’s arm, as he lay there, began to tremble.
“You said life works well because it stands opposite stabilized mana.”
It quivered.
“But didn’t you say this only used some spirit flame? Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.”
Drip.
Aurumstone’s expression rapidly worsened.
“I-isn’t it about time for you to go home?”
“Please wait a moment. I think I’m starting to get a feel for it.”
Sinhyeok spoke while looking at the furnace melting things down.
“This isn’t just spirit flame and mana stones, is it? I’ve never seen you refill the mana stones.”
“E-eh-hei~ I secretly put them in at night!”
Seeing his awkward reply, Sinhyeok was certain.
“Perhaps something like dragon blood. Or a spirit flame fueled by the blood of a spiritual creature of comparable rank.”
Aurumstone’s expression said everything. He had gone beyond stiff and looked on the verge of tears.
“Haha, that’s the answer.”
“N-no! Do you know how precious dragon blood is!”
“Then can I put out this fire?”
“Kyaaak! Are you insane! Do you know how precious dragon blood is!”
Seeing him have a fit, Sinhyeok was certain.
“Now then, Master~ From now on, it’s time for you to call me elder brother.”
Aurumstone began sweating profusely.
“H-hey, disciple?”
“Uh-uh. Right now, you should call me ‘elder brother’!”
“Let me off…… I have my age to consider.”
With an extremely shameless expression, he demanded that Sinhyeok back down.
Sinhyeok laughed and suggested an alternative.
“In that case, Master, please handle the supply-related requests for one week!”
“Damn it. I’d finally escaped all the petty work.”
Sinhyeok took the materials out of the burning furnace and began synthesis.
[Beginning synthesis.]
[Synthesis successful.]
The same message began to appear repeatedly.
“But Master, why does life structurally destabilize it?”
Aurumstone answered with an indifferent expression.
“How would I know? That’s just how it’s made.”
“Ehei. A master in name only.”
“You brat, I do know the gist of it, the gist!”
Irritated, Aurumstone brought out the knowledge and conjectures he had.
“It’s simply a matter of will. Life is close to primal instinct, so its will is different! And the ancestors did just fine even without such shortcuts in the first place!”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“Hah, I’m telling you it’s a matter of will.”
Sinhyeok looked at Aurumstone and said,
“Isn’t that too vague? Everyone has will. Are you saying what I do is ordinary, but a spiritual creature’s is different?”
“Their level is different. Is an order given by a mere soldier the same as an order given by a corps commander?”
“Ah.”
The analogy struck home, and he understood at once.
“Most of our ancestors were Sword Masters at the very least, and learning 9th Circle magic was considered personal cultivation.”
At those words, Sinhyeok looked at Aurumstone, who was lying on the floor scratching his belly.
“You too, Master?”
“Me? Of course not. It’s not like 9th Circle magic is some neighbor’s dog. I’m just saying the will of a transcendent being solves anything easily.”
“Boo. That’s no good.”
Sinhyeok jeered at the answer that only made him sigh.
“What can I do? That’s just how the world is made.”
“Isn’t there some shortcut besides that?”
Aurumstone clicked his tongue.
“You stop looking for shortcuts. It’s getting really obnoxious.”
“Is there really no other method?”
“There isn’t, you brat. Then go raise yourself a spiritual creature somewhere. Ask it to dissolve things for you~”
He said it mockingly, but to Sinhyeok, it sounded wonderful.
“Huh? Amazing! You’re right, I can just do that.”
“What?”
“Just in time, I have one such spiritual creature. Probably?”