Chapter 126
After returning to the city.
The place we headed was none other than Golden Intellect.
First, there was a need to check my condition, and Golden Intellect was the organization most closely entangled with this incident after all.
As the saying went, one couldn’t fill their stomach with the first spoonful, so on the first day we only did simple tests, blood sampling, and relayed our experiences.
Costin seemed to be in a very good mood.
Certainly, since Naturalis was a group looked down upon within Golden Intellect, Costin seemed quite pleased to have caught their weakness.
And on the second day.
After a full day's rest, back at Golden Intellect, I was facing another examination, or honestly speaking, a live experiment.
"Begin."
Phew.
I took a deep breath to dilute the tension.
And closing my eyes, I slowly sank my consciousness to the depths.
Feeling the presence of the Divine Blood Serum flowing through my body, still circulating through my veins, the moment my consciousness touched something unidentifiable.
My world changed.
§
I was inside a huge egg.
The name of that egg was the world.
In this closed world, my hand could reach anywhere, and everything I saw was the entirety of the world.
I was floating there.
When I waved my hand, the world rotated accordingly.
When I stretched my legs, the world extended accordingly.
A place where the boundaries of the world were determined solely by my senses and the form of that world was defined by my mental image.
Therefore, it was a place where I felt like I might melt and seep into the world.
If I didn't constantly define myself, it felt like I might forget the boundary between myself and the world at any moment.
Consciously, I kept separating myself.
─ You understand, Roman? The most important thing for a mage is an unshakeable definition of yourself.
Who said that?
Ah, it was Hecate who said it.
If you become engrossed in the power of Devils, you forget yourself.
I remember involuntarily smiling at how similar it was to something I heard before falling into this damned world.
Memory.
Memory was the perfect criterion for defining myself.
In the pitch-black night.
Like a child who woke up and groped their way out despite their fear.
I started to ruminate on my memories.
Who am I?
Human.
Who am I?
Devil Sorcerer.
Who am I?
Explorer.
Who am I?
Roman Sun.
I am, I am...
[Time's up, Roman-san. I'll pull you up!]
Ah, the egg is cracking.
The voice coming through the crack created from outside pulled my consciousness out.
In the sensation of my fading consciousness becoming clear again.
I saw.
Three rings attached to my body.
§
I blinked my eyes.
Several times, quickly.
To adapt to the unfamiliar view as quickly as possible.
The gap between what my eyes were seeing and what my brain was understanding gradually disappeared, synchronizing with the former.
In front of my eyes, which had brightened like lights turning on in a theater after a movie, were faces showing various emotions.
Leaf with a worried look.
Rei looking frustrated as if telling me to say something already.
Mea not much different from usual.
And Costin with undisguised curiosity.
"Are you coming to your senses?" Costin asked with an intrigued face.
"Yes, well... How long has it been?"
"Not long. About 10 minutes, I'd say."
"10 minutes, you say."
It felt like it had been several hours.
But it wasn't that surprising.
Because such cases were common.
Why is it that when you focus on one thing, you lose track of time?
Even without such everyday examples, it had long been common knowledge that the flow of time in places like mental worlds or subspaces differs from the outside.
"Your consciousness?"
"I think I maintained it."
"Were there any changes?"
"I think I moved a bit at first, but not at all after that."
From then on, I tried my hardest not to lose myself.
"Moved, you say..." Costin muttered to itself while fiddling with its pipe.
Mea's words flew out.
"Seems right, doesn't it?"
"Hmm, most likely."
Surprisingly, the first to express dissatisfaction with this very unfriendly conversation that only the two of them understood was Leaf, not Rei.
"Excuse me, Teacher. Please explain so we can understand too."
"Ah, right. Sorry about that, our little light."
"No, that... here it's a bit..."
Leaf waved her hands with her face turning bright red.
Probably a nickname used when it was just the two of them.
"Pfft. Little light..."
"...Rei, you're smaller than me."
"I'll grow!"
Leaving those two bickering and going off on a tangent, I asked Mea for an explanation, "Mea, can you explain in more detail?"
"I'll explain. That Dark Elf isn't skilled at explanations."
"I asked Mea."
"I'm better in this field. You've only grasped a vague idea, right? If you're confident you can explain better than me, go ahead. Give her some extra tutoring later."
"...Fine."
Mea was a walking small encyclopedia who had accumulated knowledge and experience over years of devouring the secrets of the Telema School, which was said to have one of the most notable histories in the city.
Costin was someone who could crush even Mea with knowledge.
From what I gathered, it seemed to be because it was closer to alchemy.
"Anyway. I'll explain it simply. The world you entered was probably the World of Forms."
"The World of Forms?"
"Think of it as a place that contains the essence of the world. There's a lot of talk about the World of Forms, whether here or there, but at least its existence has been confirmed. I use such an ambiguous expression because, not only theoretically, but there are also eyewitnesses who claim to have actually discovered or entered it."
"Then what do you mean by 'a lot of talk'?"
"You're impatient. It exists, for sure. But how much it interacts with the phenomenal world we live in, that's not really defined."
I wonder if we really needed to know such things.
Although I wasn’t an orthodox mage, I did study magic briefly at the training center, Teacher Fiona's crash course, and since joining the Telema School, I had been taking Devil Magic comprehension classes from Mea whenever I had time.
Yet the fact that I had never heard of this, didn’t it mean it wasn’t particularly important?
"That's how it is in magic. Mages are explorers of the laws that occur in the phenomenal world. Only real eccentrics or the Abyss School research it. Those guys are a school in name only, accepting anyone as long as they're not from the Martial School."
This time too, Costin got irritated when mentioning the Abyss School, as much as they interfered our job.
If they had just interfered, it might have let it go thinking “Serves them right,” but... they left behind one seed of anxiety.
More precisely, not Gephardt from the Abyss School, but those two elves from Shadow.
"Coming back to the point, the World of Forms is an important part dealt with in alchemy. The transformation of matter, which is the foundation of alchemy, originates from the control between the World of Forms and the phenomenal world. The Philosopher's Stone, Elixir, Celestial Key, Unknown Element, Homunculus of Truth that we aim for... it's no secret that all of these ultimately touch the World of Forms. The saying that the answer to alchemy's secret aspirations must be in the World of Forms is treated as a golden rule, almost like a habit."
And with this, this golden rule had truly become the immortal dharma words left by the ancestor.
When Costin had said that much and I still showed no reaction, it clicked its tongue with a tsk and said, "You still don't understand? What I'm saying is, you're a living Philosopher's Stone, Roman."
One who could freely enter the World of Forms and possessed the power to change the phenomenal world.
It was like the Philosopher's Stone, which was said to be able to permanently transform phenomena at will.
"If other guys see this, their eyes will roll back and they'll come running. The Stonemasons might even try to dissect you."
At Costin's words, Rei, who had been looking around at others with a bewildered face still not understanding, said, "Um... so basically, it's become dangerous?"
That's what you call speaking, Rei-Rei.
But Rei wasn't the only one who hadn't fully grasped the reality yet.
It would be unfair if it was just Rei.
Leaf immediately joined in, showing a very heartwarming camaraderie.
"What? Then isn't it dangerous? What should we do? What should we do, Roman?"
"...I guess I'll have to hide and pretend not to know."
It seemed I had become...
Not just the space-time goblin of the magic world, but also the golden goblin of the alchemy world.
§
After Costin's “You're a living Philosopher's Stone, Roman” declaration.
After a brief lull, things were somehow settled, but the atmosphere was still chaotic.
If there was a fortunate point, it might be that everyone here except Costin was a mage.
After all, even if they were colleagues, it was natural for reason to fly out the window when faced with a goal they considered a lifelong aspiration.
In that sense, the mental strength of Costin, who was smoking purification grass in its pipe, was truly dragon-like.
Although they said the Philosopher's Stone and Elixir were different, considering the common denominator of the World of Forms, it seemed like it could have just said, “To hell with it,” and overturned everything.
"Phew... What's with that look? It's like you think I might melt you down or something."
"It's not exactly like that..."
"Forget it. My goal isn't the Philosopher's Stone, and as long as our little light is with you, I intend to play the role of a patron of sorts."
From the side, Leaf's small protest of "Please stop calling me that..." was heard, but both Costin and I naturally glossed over it.
"And above all, you're just a living Philosopher's Stone in name, what could I do with someone who's doing their best just not to become a dead Philosopher's Stone? I don't have a hobby of making objects out of people. Only those Naturalis guys mess around with living things."
That statement, reversed, sounds like you could make objects out of people, you know?
It's not like some Philosopher's Stone made by extracting souls or something.
"In that sense, it's a very good thing to have put those Naturalis guys in our debt."
Costin, who was calm when talking about me being a Philosopher's Stone, grinned when the Naturalis branch was mentioned.
"For the time being, come regularly with Leaf. There are many experiments to do in the future. It will be fun days. You can look forward to it. I'll at least make you a Philosopher's Stone that doesn't die."
I'm not looking forward to it at all.