Chapter 382

Chapter 382

For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Episode 382: Paracelsus’s Spirits (7)

We cleared the dungeon like crazy, with the phrase “unprecedented momentum” hardly doing justice to our progress.

Smashing traps, destroying guard golems… in short, we just plowed through everything that stood in our way.

Perhaps we were too caught up in the frenzy of battle. The moment we entered Paracelsus’s real workshop, the final destination of this dungeon, I immediately stabbed a dagger into the heart of a golden spirit that was just rising from a rectangular platform that looked like an altar or an operating table.

“Gah!”

“Oops.”

Who did I just kill?

Coming to my senses belatedly, I examined the spirit’s appearance.

Its whole body shone gold and was even translucent, but apart from that, it looked exactly like a handsome young man.

If I had to point out anything unusual, it would be the hair that extended down to his waist.

The spirit, whose eyes met mine, mouthed something with a very wronged expression, then slumped over.

The guy melted into the air with the light dust unique to spirit annihilation. A book, perhaps his drop item… no, his keepsake, fell onto the platform.

Thump.

[A Study on the Correlation Between the Philosopher’s Stone and Ideal Humans from Theological, Magical, and Alchemical Perspectives]

“…Ah.”

I remember this unnecessarily long and grand title.

In H&A, if you give it to Faye after completing all events, you can definitely obtain the Philosopher’s Stone. If you gift it to another alchemist character or if an alchemist player uses it, their proficiency greatly increases, making it a job-specific awakening item.

This is Paracelsus’s research journal, the main reward of this dungeon.

Come to think of it, Paracelsus’s skeleton was supposed to be lying on this platform, holding the journal, wasn’t it?

Was the one I killed…?

Perhaps I looked strange, suddenly running out, stabbing a spirit, and sweating profusely.

Helena, who was in the lead and closest to me, asked cautiously.

“Brother? What’s wrong?”

“Well…”

“Even if it’s a bit anticlimactic, we’ve defeated the last security system, so we should gather what we need and clear it.”

“……”

Do they think the one I just defeated was a spirit guarding this place, not Paracelsus, who had taken over a spirit’s body?

Well, Paracelsus would have died long before this workshop became a dungeon, so it’s a natural reaction.

…Alright. Let’s bury what I just killed.

I feel a bit sorry, but isn’t it Paracelsus’s fault for creating such a suspicious atmosphere in the first place?

As I muttered inwardly and tried to put on a poker face,

“Junior! Look at this!”

A cheerful voice came from behind. Turning around, Faye was hugging a cannon barrel much larger than herself, grinning.

A dozen more cannon barrels, identical to it, were rolling around on the floor.

“It seems like the spirit from before was controlling this! It came down from the ceiling half a beat after you rushed in, but the spirit died before it could gather energy, so it turned off while still activated! With a little work, we can use it ourselves, you know?”

“Huh.”

I take that back. Paracelsus didn’t die unjustly; he deserved to die.

He wasn’t just creating a suspicious atmosphere; he was actually suspicious.

If I hadn’t reflexively swung my dagger, we would have been in danger.

Paracelsus sitting leisurely on the platform, looking down at us, and the cannon barrels around him aiming at us… it would have been something like that.

Upon closer look, Helena was nodding nonchalantly, knowing about the cannon barrels.

They probably thought it was a defense system because of how it handled those cannon barrels.

I said I’d bury it since it had already happened, but honestly, I was very uneasy. Now I feel a bit relieved.

I opened my mouth with a much softer voice.

“Well, anyway, nothing happened, so that’s good. Shall we start searching right away?”

Shrugging, I picked up the research journal that had fallen.

Then, Faye quietly put down the cannon barrel she was hugging and ran over.

“Junior! Give me that first!”

“Jeez.”

She ran up so suddenly that I reflexively raised the research journal high above my head.

Faye, unable to do anything, jumped up and down in place. I briefly admired her swaying chest and said,

“I’ll give it to you, so don’t rush. But don’t read it now.”

“Why?! No, don’t tell me… since Elisha and Iris were freed from slavery, you’re thinking of making me a slave as a substitute! I know everything! You pervert! You’re planning to make me do things like endure climax, aren’t you?!”

“…No, I’m not.”

It’s a pretty thick journal, and it looks like it will take a long time to read.

“I meant we should gather everything we can and clear the dungeon first, then read it in a safe place. It’s okay if Senior Faye reads it while we search… but wouldn’t it be better for someone with knowledge of alchemy to see it to know what to take?”

“Ugh… then I have no choice. Okay, let’s do as you say, Junior. But can I hold onto the journal?”

“No. I’ll keep it and give it to you as soon as we clear it.”

“Eek…!”

Faye, puffing out her cheeks and trembling alone, shouted.

“What are you doing?! We need to find useful things first! Even if Paracelsus was a great alchemist, he was from a long time ago, so the equipment is outdated! Most of it looks like antiques that should be in a museum! Focus on items and potions! You don’t need to judge what they do. We’re taking everything anyway!”

Then, she busily fiddled with things here and there, shoving them into her subspace pocket.

Her skilled hands reminded me of an automatic looting pet.

I admired her for a moment, then started searching with her.

Let’s see.

Should I take that cannon barrel first? It looks like it can barely fit in my inventory.

We gathered all sorts of potions, top-grade spirit stones used in research, golems so precise they could be mistaken for robots, and even unknown alchemical steel.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything that enhanced the results of alchemy.

Since that strange phenomenon disappeared when Paracelsus died, perhaps it was Paracelsus’s ability as a spirit?

I organized my thoughts inwardly and destroyed the platform that had become the core of the dungeon.

I and the others were ejected outside in the blink of an eye. The elves, surprised that we had cleared the dungeon so quickly, were giving us slightly awkward glances… but I needed to take care of this dungeon’s reward first.

Like the dungeon containing the last moments of Atlantis, where we took Faye last time, this dungeon’s reward was also helpful for alchemy.

The difference was that it was an item, not a skill.

After we exited the dungeon, I pushed Faye towards the sparkling light mass in the air.

“Senior Faye? This is yours, so please take it.”

“Okay.”

Perhaps she was eager to check Paracelsus’s research journal, Faye nodded casually, as if bothered, and reached into the light mass.

Then, the light burst out with explosive force, then quickly subsided, taking the form of a monocle and settling into Faye’s hand.

“This is…?”

“Mana, aura, divine power… it’s a monocle that allows you to see the flow of power that is usually hard to see. If you use it with the mana crystallization ability you got last time, it’ll create a pretty good synergy.”

“Hmm, I guess so. But, Junior… Now that we’ve cleared it and come out…”

“Yes, yes. Here’s the research journal.”

I smiled and handed over the book, and Faye, hugging it tightly enough to slightly distort her large chest, gave her characteristic eerie smile.

“Hehe… if I research this…”

It was a sight a bit embarrassing to show in front of others, so I picked up Faye and left, giving a casual greeting to the elves.

Is this the complete end of our business in Alfheim? We’re finally going back to the academy.

I sighed in relief and looked at Faye, who was completely absorbed in reading the research journal.

She can’t even walk properly like this. It doesn’t matter since I’ll carry her with flight magic anyway.

I shook my head and cast flight magic on Faye and Helena. Elisha and Iris had mostly recovered, so they could at least fly, even if they couldn’t fight.

As we retraced our steps, I also checked the dungeon clear notifications that I had pushed aside until now.

There was nothing special, probably because I had already grown as much as I could.

It just slightly increased all my stats, to the point where they wouldn’t increase anymore. In fact, this dungeon was just for the research journal, so it was to be expected.

I turned off the notification window and focused on flying again. When the edge of the Great Forest started to appear at the edge of my vision, Faye, who had been reading the research journal with her mouth shut, said in an admiring tone.

“Ah, Junior. About the alchemy items suddenly getting enhanced. I think I found the reason?”

“Really? Is there something in the research journal?”

In H&A, you could read the journal, but it only showed a few pages, not the entire book.

Thanks to that, I knew why Paracelsus had secluded himself in that workshop to spend his last years, but I didn’t know much else.

“Yeah. I was speed-reading it lightly since I plan to read it multiple times anyway. But there’s this passage on the last page.”

‘With all preparations complete, it’s time to discard my dying old body and be reborn as a spirit. I’m worried about the lack of output, but… I don’t have enough time.’

“From the preceding content, it seems he was trying to be reborn as a spirit of alchemy, not just any spirit. That’s probably why the performance of the alchemy items was enhanced. You’ve heard of it too, right, Junior? Polluted water being purified near a water spirit, or the blacksmith’s fire becoming stronger near a fire spirit. A spirit with a high rank affects its surroundings, so maybe it’s something like that?”

“That makes sense. It also explains why he tried to create a spirit homunculus to transfer his mind, rather than anything else.”

“Right. To add a bit more, it seems he ultimately wanted to gain faith as a spirit and become a new god, like the Righteous Radiance… but to be reborn, not just transfer his mind, he needed immense power, and it seems he lacked that output.”

“Ah, I see? Fafnir even ground down a high dragon-level Dragon Heart to make his body. Unless there was a dragon slayer in Paracelsus’s time, it would have been impossible.”

“Probably. Judging from the journal ending with the previous sentence, the experiment probably failed. Even if he drew mana from the ley lines, he wouldn’t have had enough power, and the process would have been interrupted midway… but then we showed up.”

“I think I know what you mean. The incomplete magic Iris scattered around absorbed the power and completed the interrupted experiment?”

“Probably. Of course, it was interrupted once and resumed after a long time, so it wouldn’t have been in perfect condition. Amnesia would have been basic, and only the instinct to stabilize himself would have been greatly amplified.”

“So, he ended up in a state no different from the artificial spirits he created and discarded.”

“Yeah. And if Paracelsus like that sensed you, who has the Dragon Heart…?”

“He would try to kill me and steal the heart somehow. The power contained in the Dragon Heart could achieve almost anything.”

“Junior, don’t you have anything to say to me?”

I smiled, slightly raising one hand towards Faye, who was glaring at me with narrowed eyes.

“I took care of the crazy Paracelsus, so rest assured!”

“Tell me honestly! You stabbed him first without knowing who it was, didn’t you?!”

Hey!

No slander!