“I’ll head out for today!”
Sinhyeok thought of Blue, who was hibernating back in the barracks.
“Hey! I’m bored!”
“Yes!”
Having been ignored, Aurum Stone glared at Sinhyeok, who dashed out.
“What if that Moron Number Two succeeds?”
A strangely pleasant anxiety welled up inside him.
Aurum Stone got up and headed to the warehouse.
“If he really succeeds.”
He turned the doorknob to the left twice.
Opening the door and stepping inside, he found a spacious warehouse.
In the vast warehouse that seemed to stretch endlessly, giant golems over four meters tall stood in rows.
“Hehe. I might even give him all of these.”
Aurum Stone swept his gaze over the golems, his eyes brimming with anticipation.
“If it’s Moron Number Two… he might actually bring the golems back to life.”
A person clutching a golem in the corner of the warehouse suddenly shouted.
“Dwarf! Why aren’t you making golems!”
He put down the magic circle he had been carving into the golem and glared at Aurum Stone.
“Hey! What’re ya doin’ to my golem!”
“What else! I’m installing the algorithm so it can move! Hurry up and meet the quota!”
Aurum Stone scampered off, seeming annoyed.
“Y-you! Damned dwarf! Do some work!”
“No way! Stop scratching up my golems, you incompetent enchanter!”
The enchanter sighed as he watched Aurum Stone flee.
“That damn guy. What’s with him lately! Just do things like you used to!”
Aurum Stone shouted as he closed the warehouse door.
“I’ll let you take a break from work soon enough! Kuwahaha!”
The door closed, and the dwarf’s confident shout lingered in the man’s ears.
“Let me take a break? Did he really restore the golems?”
Curious, he decided to step out of this workshop for the first time in a while.
“Hmm, maybe I’ll go out for a stroll.”
* * *
“Blue~”
Wondering if Blue would wake up today, he headed to the barracks.
Blue, placed in the corner of the bed, was the same as ever.
Curled into a ball, eyes closed, not stirring in the slightest.
Sinhyeok carefully poked it with his finger.
“Blue. When are you going to open your eyes.”
He lay down on the bed, holding Blue in his arms.
“Your big brother is bored. Ichan isn’t here, and neither is that loudmouth Arin.”
Blue had been silent for several weeks now, and its condition was beginning to worry him.
“Blue. You haven’t been discharged yet either.”
He poked it again and again, but there was no reaction.
‘Isn’t there anyone I can ask?’
He thought of a suitable person—no, an elf—but the train of thought stopped right there.
He shook his head and pondered.
“Elysia, ahh.”
After agonizing on the bed for a while, he sprang up.
“Let’s go. She won’t grab me for experiments, right?”
Holding Blue in his arms, he left the barracks.
As he came out, personnel staying at the base spoke to him.
“Sinhyeok, do you raise a dog too? But why is it wobbling around like that?”
“I got it at the training center. I’ll explain later!”
He quickly ran off.
Entering the workshop, he opened the door to Elysia’s laboratory.
“U-um.”
Seen after a long time, her laboratory was gruesome again.
She had placed a monster on the workbench and was diligently sawing away.
“Hup! Hup-hup!”
She, busy sawing, turned sideways at the sound of the door opening.
Wearing a white gown and goggles, she greeted him with a bright smile, leaving the saw stuck in the monster.
“Oh my! What brings you here?”
Thwack.
When she pulled the saw from the monster’s body, blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
“U-uh.”
Sinhyeok glanced at Blue in his arms and let out an awkward smile.
“No, I came to the wrong place. I’ll see you next time!”
As he tried to close it, she hurriedly shouted.
“I’ll take a look at that!”
“No! It’s fine!”
Elysia grabbed the door with spirits and shouted.
“Sylph! I—I told you, I’m good at this!”
“I—I’m fine. Urg!”
“Sylphiron!”
She even summoned a high-grade spirit to force the door open.
“Uwah!”
Forced to stumble forward into the room, Sinhyeok found Elysia standing over him, holding the saw.
“I told you I’m good~ at this.”
Gulp, gulp.
She lifted Blue with one hand.
“Our Blue is—”
“The kid is on the brink.”
“Huh?”
Shocked by a condition worse than he had thought, Sinhyeok sprang up and followed her.
She cleared the monster from the workbench with spirits.
“Undine, clean up.”
Undine fluttered over and cleansed the workbench.
“Hmm, baby. Is it a mix?”
Elysia placed Blue on the workbench and asked Sinhyeok.
“A mix?”
“Meaning, I think it’s the result of a procedure like a chimera. You don’t see such spiritual creatures often.”
She prodded it with her finger.
She pointed at the wobbling flesh.
“I’ve synthesized all sorts of creatures trying to revive the World Tree, so I know. There’s no species like this.”
Sinhyeok remembered the moment he had met Blue.
“That’s probably it. It’s a child I found in a dark mage’s laboratory.”
At those words, she roughly guessed the process of its birth.
“Then I suppose it was made through some dark magic chimera procedure. Let me look at its base components first. Let’s see what was used and then talk.”
She levitated Blue with mana.
And began vibrating it strongly with resonance.
“Hmm. Slime, spirit, and hell hound?”
Finished checking, she placed it back on the workbench.
“Strange. It’s a funny combination, but it somehow endured.”
Sinhyeok listened carefully to her words, as she was an expert in monsters and creatures.
“Did this one keep eating things rich in mana? Like potions, for example?”
“That’s right!”
She turned away from Blue and looked at Sinhyeok.
“It was probably born through a low-quality technique, so it was a bit crude. That’s how black magic techniques usually are. But this one managed to endure because the quality was excellent.”
“Excuse me?”
She explained calmly.
“Hell hounds possess the attribute of death, and spirits possess the attribute of pure life. The relationship between these two is, funnily enough, both mutually antagonistic and mutually beneficial.”
Sinhyeok nodded. It was because he had checked the book she had told him to read about mutual benefit and antagonism.
“Left alone, they are antagonistic, but if you place another medium between them, they sometimes move toward mutual benefit.”
“That’s its current state?”
“That’s right. But in this child’s case, that medium is the slime’s body. Quite crude and weak. On top of that, the technique that bound all this together is a Necromancer’s Undead Rise. It’s a mismatch. That’s why it kept seeking out stable things to fill the gap.”
At her words, he recalled the basic efficacy of the highest-grade potions made from magic herbs.
‘Stabilization.’
“So that’s why it kept drinking potions?”
She said, stroking Blue on the workbench.
“It was likely instinctive. It drank them to survive. Surprisingly, it seems to have drunk some very high-quality potions?”
Sinhyeok nodded quickly.
“That’s right. It only drank what I made.”
“Since they were potions made from pure ancient recipes. It kept being stabilized, extending its life, but in the end, it couldn’t withstand the overflowing mana.”
“Ah.”
Sinhyeok looked at Blue lying precariously on the workbench.
“Our Blue.”
She spoke, seeing Sinhyeok approach anxiously.
“But it’s not dead. It’s just standing at a crossroads. Either it dies, or it evolves.”
“Ah.”
Sinhyeok’s surging feelings of sorrow immediately subsided.
“Do you think it will endure?”
She made an ambiguous expression.
“Well. It’s not showing any particular signs right now. If this state continues, the chances are slim.”
“Is there no way to help?”
“There is, but given its current state…”
She pointed to the open yard illuminated by moonlight.
“The World Tree?”
“One of the World Tree’s characteristics is exactly that. Stabilization—the same as your talent.”
“Aha?”
“That’s why I ask—how about you try it, Sergeant? You can use Synthesis to gather things together nicely and remove what’s unnecessary.”
A chill ran down his spine.
“You’re telling me to dissect Blue?!”
“It’s not that difficult.”
She pointed at Blue with a nonchalant expression.
“Such beings exist in alchemy too. Artificial lifeforms born through synthesis.”
“Homunculus?”
“That’s right. In fact, dwarven techniques aren’t just for smelting iron and such. And if you think about it, potions are also you manipulating life.”
Her words stabbed Sinhyeok considerably.
“So.”
Elysia lifted Blue and placed it into Sinhyeok’s arms.
“Try it. You need to break the frame of your thoughts, Sergeant. Don’t place limits on Synthesis.”
Looking at Blue nestled in his arms, Sinhyeok stared blankly.
‘It’ll wake up even if I don’t go that far.’
“I think it’ll be fine. I don’t want to take the risk.”
Having received the answer to his question, Sinhyeok bowed politely and escaped her laboratory.
“Melting can be done with a furnace. That’s not really the problem anyway.”
Extraction was a matter of completely decomposing and then recombining.
“Hmm.”
“Nyaaang.”
Upon leaving Elysia’s laboratory, he sensed two presences he was meeting for the first time.
Both opened their respective doors and stared intently at Sinhyeok.
“What is it?”
The cat-person meowing alternated her gaze between Sinhyeok and Blue.
“Just looking, meow.”
“I too am just looking.”
At their extremely strange gazes, Sinhyeok watched them for a moment before speaking.
“But who are you?”
“I’m an enchanter staying here. Lucien Bloom.”
Hearing his name, it somehow felt familiar.
‘Ah! The one from the gravity bracelet’s description.’
“Are you the one in charge of Hongik’s artifacts?”
“That’s right. I thought no one would know my face since I never show it, but you figured it out?”
“Haha. It just happened.”
He politely shook hands and greeted him.
After greeting him, he looked to the side and saw her, whose ears were like those of a cat, staring.
“What are you doing?”
“Just looking, meow. No particular meaning, meow.”
Awkward at the constant “meow” at the end of her sentences, Sinhyeok asked.
“Excuse me, but do you always meow like that?”
“It’s just a concept, meow.”
“What?”
She looked at Blue in Sinhyeok’s arms and spoke.
“If you leave that as it is, it will die, meow.”
“Excuse me?”
“It was twisted once because of you, but the nature of fate seeks to restore itself, so it is returning to its original state, meow.”
Sinhyeok was dumbfounded by the words that were hard to immediately comprehend.
“No, what do you—”
“It will begin soon, meow. So choose wisely, meow. All fate is a well-woven fabric, meow. Do not forget that you are the blade and the scissors, meow.”
And she vanished in a flash.
“Excuse me?”
Lucien Bloom plugged his ears at her words.
“There she goes spouting abstract nonsense again. Just keep it in mind. You won’t be able to understand it until it happens anyway.”
“No, I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Twitch.
Blue in his arms squirmed.
“It’s awake. No, what do you mean to a perfectly healthy—”
Looking down at Blue in his arms, its condition was strange.
Its flesh was swelling up as if about to burst.
Lucien Bloom said with a nonchalant expression.
“Didn’t I say you won’t know until it happens?”
“No, what choice?!”
Surprised, Sinhyeok headed back to Elysia’s laboratory.
“Elysia!”
Upon entering, she received him with a surprised expression.
“Wh-what is it?!”
Seeing Blue, she looked at it pityingly.
“Oh dear.”
Seeing her expression, he understood.
“Will it die if left like this?”
“Unfortunately, that is the child’s limit.”
‘In the end, there’s only one way to save it.’
Sinhyeok held Blue in his arms, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
“Do I just synthesize it again?”
“Yes. You’ll probably be able to feel it. With your talent.”
Creeeak.
Lucien Bloom opened the door and watched.
Elysia confirmed his entrance.
“Blue. I can’t lose you too.”
Sinhyeok opened his Mapping and felt the mana precisely.
‘Three stray manas.’
He could feel them.
Three types drifting and refusing to mix.
And there was also a heavy, weighty mana with a dense texture enveloping those three.
‘Too different.’
The slime’s mana tried to embrace the rest, but to little avail.
The ominous ring binding the three together was far too loose.
It was like plugging a hole in a broken jar with just one finger.
‘It resonates.’
[Beginning Synthesis.]
His intense concentration even activated his unruly Sense.
[Sense is activating.]
[Due to extreme concentration, the level of Sense increases.]
It became minute and dense.
All the senses in his body sharpened, reaching their limit.
An auspicious light flickered over Sinhyeok’s hands touching Blue.
“Hmm.”
The hand imbued with that light passed gently through Blue and kneaded him.
“Oh my.”
“Alchemist.”
It passed even through matter, freely fiddling with its very source.
‘It’s not enough.’
Sinhyeok was about to lose his temper at the three types of matter and attributes that kept refusing to merge and falling apart.
‘Why won’t it work!’
Just as he shouted, the Mana Heart, which had been silent, activated.
[The silent Mana Heart begins to move.]
The engine that had normally only quietly supplemented his mana suddenly became active.
[The Mana Heart breaks its shell and temporarily transcends, revealing its true form.]
[The Core’s authority temporarily releases your limits.]
At that moment, a boundary that had been invisible to Sinhyeok’s eyes became clear.
He could distinctly glimpse something like an intangible membrane enveloping each of the three.
‘What is that?’
The membrane softly melted away, and the three began to merge.
[Synthesis succeeds.]
[You have come into contact for the first time with the mystery of synthesizing life.]
[The level of Synthesis increases.]
[The homunculus “Blue Jjambap Tiger” is born.]
[Status Window]
Name: Blue Jjambap Tiger (LV.1)
Strength: 12
Agility: 20
Stamina: 20
Mana: 100
Traits: Melting, Predation
[Possessed Skills]
=========================
Melting (LV.1)
Breath (LV.1)
==========================
[You have exchanged fundamental mana with a lifeform that shares a deep bond with the user.]
[The system’s new function, “Pet,” opens.]
[You share the pet’s trait.]
[Skill Melting is shared.]
[The existence of the skills Melting and Synthesis has been confirmed.]
[Another mystery of alchemy opens.]
[Skill Extraction is created.]
Sinhyeok opened his eyes and checked Blue, who was cradled in his arms.
“Blue.”
Blue opened his eyes and stuck out his tongue, licking Sinhyeok.
“Thank goodness.”
[The Core is locked again.]
[The Mana Heart ceases activity due to overload.]
[Severe mana exhaustion occurs.]
“Again.”
Thud.
Lucien Bloom and Elysia gathered over Sinhyeok, who had collapsed.
“Did you see that? He was holding the source within him.”
“A divinity capable of handling the mystery of life at will…”
The two found this Sinhyeok’s identity utterly puzzling.
Lucien Bloom was pleased by the appearance of such an intriguing being.
“How very fascinating.”
“My, I’d love to take him apart. I suppose I can’t take him apart just a little, can I?”
At her chillingly desire-filled remark, he stopped her.
“If you did, that man Lee Gangyeol would tear you limb from limb.”
“Hmmm.”