Ch.109Chapter 109 – The Side Effects of Leaping Are Terrifying

The research building adjacent to the Glesius Academy main building is always bustling with people.

Everyone who frequents the research building studies alchemy.

Of these, 70% are students who have chosen the Alchemy Department as their major, while the remaining 30% are students majoring in magic with alchemy as their minor.

Among the students researching alchemy here was a female student with red hair tied back in a ponytail.

Her name was Jessie Elister.

She was the second daughter of the Elister family and currently a suspect candidate believed to have exchanged secret communications with someone outside during the faculty meeting.

“Experiment… failed… That makes 134 failures.”

Jessie Elister’s face was covered in black soot, the cause being none other than an explosion from her failed experiment.

“Money… none. Materials… none… Major crisis situation…”

Although no one was around, Jessie Elister talked to herself.

This habit developed because her naturally quiet personality made it difficult for her to get along with others, resulting in few friends and a tendency to talk to herself during her time alone.

“Big problem. Need to buy materials… but, funds completely depleted…”

Moreover, her speech pattern deviated significantly from that of a normal person.

Rather than combining words and various modifiers to create perfect sentences, she merely listed fragmentary words, and the number of modifiers she combined was relatively few.

Fortunately, at least one could understand what she was trying to say.

“Failure… what is cause…?”

Jessie Elister analyzed why her experiments kept failing.

Even with her brilliant mind, she couldn’t understand why the experiments were failing.

According to the theory developed in Jessie Elister’s mind, this experiment should have been a perfect success.

“Cause analysis… later issue… now… funding acquisition… necessary…”

But her focus quickly shifted to securing funds.

Alchemy, which she had chosen as her major, was bound to grow through failure and frustration.

Of course, not just alchemy but all types of academic disciplines involve mistakes or failures in the process of learning and mastering them.

But the one difference that alchemy possessed.

It created an enormous gap between alchemy and other types of disciplines.

The problem with alchemy.

It was that the risk brought by a single failure was much greater compared to magic or martial arts.

Just look at Jessie Elister, who had run out of money due to this experimental failure.

Moreover, since all the materials she had purchased for the experiment were depleted, further experimentation was impossible.

“Experiment failure… hypothesis stage… problem? Or… variable control… parameter issue…?”

Jessie Elister changed her train of thought again and began to deduce why her experiments kept failing.

“Theory… accurate… but failure… some variable exists… certain…”

Jessie Elister’s theory was accurate.

She was pioneering a field that no one had attempted before by studying both the latest and historical alchemy theories.

The field she was pioneering was “removing the side effects of enhancement potions.”

“Reagent… appropriate… dosage… appropriate… but… failure…”

Her determination to remove the side effects of enhancement potions was related to her own condition.

In the past, Jessie Elister had been poor at conversation, often fumbling or stuttering when people spoke to her.

Because of this issue, even her family treated her like a fool or an idiot.

So the solution she chose was alchemy, and based on her exceptional intellect, she created a potion to solve her “communication disorder.”

After creating the potion, Jessie immediately drank it and attempted to converse with people.

“Hello… parents… everyone…”

But something must have gone wrong in the production process, as a problem occurred after she consumed the potion.

“Jessie. Why are you speaking in such short, broken sentences?”

She began listing a small number of words in conversation and using only enough modifiers to barely communicate.

Moreover, since her word usage failed to properly express emotions, her family initially thought she was playing a prank.

“Not… joke… Proper… conversation…”

Clearly, her previous stuttering had disappeared, and the problem of losing her eloquence in front of others was solved.

But as a result, she had transformed from a stuttering foolish sister/daughter into an emotionless doll-like person.

Consequently, her family could no longer look at her as they had before.

Someone who had been fun to tease for stuttering and lacking eloquence now couldn’t speak properly and barely showed any emotion.

In the end, the only solution was for her to go to Glesius Academy to find a way to solve this problem.

“Big trouble… lack of funds…”

However, the practical problem of insufficient funds now stood before her.

“Top grade… sell…?”

Unable to speak properly and with no money at hand, her only option was to sell the top-grade magic stone she possessed.

“But… purchase… none…”

To sell her top-grade magic stone, she would have to go outside on the weekend.

However, according to academy regulations, magic stones of superior grade or higher required the academy’s export permission for external removal.

Moreover, the magic stone she currently possessed was one that Pathos had modified from a waste-grade to an S-grade using his ability.

Regina, who had special feelings for Pathos, naturally prohibited taking magic stones created by Pathos outside the academy.

“Troublesome. Funds… needed…”

Though she needed money immediately, her severely reduced vocabulary made it difficult to find a job.

If she could just sell the top-grade magic stone she had, she wouldn’t have to worry about research funds for a while.

Wasn’t it because of the rumor that Pathos’s shop gave top-grade magic stones as a service when items were brought in for inspection that she had purchased a magic wand specifically to have it inspected at his shop?

After the inspection, the number of top-grade magic stones included as service was two.

Jessie was delighted to have acquired two top-grade magic stones.

Selling just one of them would bring in quite a substantial amount of money.

But there was no one within the academy who would buy the magic stones.

Those wealthy enough to afford them had no reason to buy since they couldn’t take them outside.

Magic students who needed magic stones already had them thanks to Pathos, so they had no reason to spend money buying these.

Therefore, the most reasonable solution in Jessie’s mind was to sell the magic stone to someone outside.

“Contact… 3 days left…”

Jessie resumed her research.

She had previously conversed with someone outside the academy through secret communication, and they had arranged to trade the magic stone in three days through the door used for supplying goods to the academy.

Of course, magic circles were installed there too, but guards were not always present.

Especially on days when goods were being delivered, the situation was so busy that guards relied almost entirely on magic circles for security.

And in three days, it would be the day when food ingredients for the academy residents would be delivered.

“Academy… back… supply warehouse… third shelf…”

Jessie would place the top-grade magic stone in a collection box on the third shelf of the supply warehouse at the back of the academy, and the trader would come to retrieve it.

Notably, 10% of the transaction amount had already been paid to Jessie as a deposit, and that amount had been completely spent on materials.

Jessie was reviewing her research materials once more to check whether her theory was correct or not.

“Remember… three days later…”

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

Deep in the mountains, far from Glesius Academy.

In what appeared to be an abandoned temple, a man wearing a black hood was paying respects to an elderly man.

“Archbishop. We have finally obtained one of the materials to constitute His body. It’s a top-grade magic stone.”

“A top-grade magic stone, you say?”

“Yes, Archbishop.”

The elderly man referred to as the Archbishop.

The red trident and pentagram attached to his clothes were symbols of the Demon Cult.

He was essentially the leader of one branch of the Demon Cult.

The Archbishop of the Demon Cult responsible for this branch stroked his chin.

“Is this information reliable?”

“Yes, it is. The person requesting the trade was even an academy student.”

“A student?”

The Archbishop was considerably surprised by the situation of an academy student requesting a trade.

But he soon regained his composure.

“The transaction amount?”

“They seem to be quite desperate for money, so I’ve only deposited about 10% in advance.”

“What about the remaining amount?”

“Hehehe. Since the student has made illegal contact with the outside, we can just take the item without paying. After all, they’re the ones who broke the regulations.”

The man explaining his plan to the Archbishop let out an evil laugh.

“Well done. Proceed as planned.”

The Archbishop and the man smiled wickedly, hoping only for the success of their plan.