A section from the Alchemist’s Manual: The First Pill
It is a known fact that in order to reach the very limits of aether cultivation, there are two things all warriors need: a good formula and compatibility.
Aether formulas serve as the platform on which a cultivator builds up their entire future upon.
A good formula ans a good foundation, which in turn ans a bright future.
However, not all formulas are created equally, hence why we have rankings for them.
Additionally, not all cultivators can use all formulas.
Much like how architects need to figure out the right foundation in order to build their buildings upon and find the right materials appropriate to the area, it is up to the would-be Aether Warriors to find a formula that is the most compatible with them.
In an ideal world, all formulas would be the highest rank possible and all warriors would have access to formulas they would have maximum compatibility with.
But this is not an ideal world.
Many, many tis over, warriors will reach bottlenecks in their cultivation due to their bodies being unable to cope with their formula’s power, or they were cultivating a formula that is incompatible with themselves or they had reached the absolute limit with their chosen formula.
Regardless of how talented soone may be in their growth period, they beco just as ordinary as everyone else the mont they hit this bottleneck.
That’s where we co in.
As alchemists, our job is to create dicines and pills that can not only treat a variety of wounds and illnesses, but also create the ans in which cultivators can use to break through these bottlenecks and limits and reach even greater heights.
If we didn’t exist, then most warriors would have to destroy their original formulas in order to replace them with a better version, but doing so would an undoing decades, or perhaps centuries, worth of cultivation.
Because as we all know, there’s no way to improve a formula once it’s been established in soone’s soul.
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"Huh...teacher Logos? Why do you have these books that are factually wrong? Don’t the kaijin regularly ss with other people’s formula?," Jasper asked as he looked through the alchemist’s manual.
The boy had finished his calligraphy howork and was given free ti to do what he wished, as such, he used that ti to read even more books.
While he didn’t necessarily have the talent to be an alchemist, he had figured it didn’t hurt to at least learn how alchemists made their living.
That and he had just finished reading a "comic" about a warrior alchemist from another world that had access to this special type of fla energy and was curious if alchemists in this world functioned the sa way.
Granted that comic used the term "dou qi" instead of aether, which was weird.
=Well my young Jasper, it’s not that the book is factually wrong, it’s simply that it is a record about what was known at the ti of it’s writing.=
"Huh?"
=Let’s put it this way, you once believed that the stars in the sky were giant fireflies that clung to the heavens like how most insects cling to walls, right?=
"I did...," Jasper admitted in a mildly embarrassed tone.
=But then you learned that they’re actually...=
"Giant balls of energy floating in a void known as space and depending on which part of the universe we’re in, may or may not be sentient."
=Exactly. Many tis over, one’s common sense will beco challenged as they take in more and more information in all of its forms. Whether or not they learn from this intake is another question entirely, but those who believe their common sense is the most "common", will try and share this information with all they can.=
"So...the book’s not wrong...it’s just...a record of what once was fact?"
=Exactly.=
"Huh...okay."
=Now then, are you ready to practice your [Chaos Arts]?=
"Finally!"
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Zhen Li stared at the Overlord with a confounded look on his face.
Was this masked guy even crazier than what he and his master anticipated?
Did this guy seriously boast that he could empower soone sans alchemy?
And not just that, straight up manipulate soone’s formula, the very foundation of their existence, and make them even stronger than before?
That had to be impossible, there was just no way...right?
Sensing Zhen Li’s confusion over his question, the Overlord began to chuckle once more.
"Oh co on now, Master Zhen Li, you sincerely believe that the only way to progress and grow more powerful is to rely solely on alchemy? On formulas and compatibility? Let ask you sothing, do you sincerely believe that the soul is so epheral that I can’t touch it. Do you truly believe that once a formula is established it’s stuck like that, forever?"
"Y-yes, because there isn’t a person alive able to do such a thing!"
"Ah. Keywords there: person and alive," the Overlord mused.
The Overlord beca a bit more animated as he explained himself further, throwing in so unnecessary but showy gestures to keep Zhen Li’s focus solely on himself.
"Do you recall our very first eting? What I said about strange, terrible and monstrous beings that could co crawling from the depths of darkness and how I was able to control them?"
"Yes…," Zhen Li managed to answer despite the trauma of that mont running through his mind.
He could still recall that monstrous horned woman with eyes of fire, the giant that radiated a coldness more piercing than the iciest prison and the other monstrous woman that felt like the living embodint of a stampede and a hurricane mixed into one being.
Zhen Li had been told that he would eventually get over these feelings, that he would look back at the mont with amusent since he managed to survive such an encounter..but sotis, when he dread…he still saw their demonic faces.
"Excellent," the masked man praised while noting the tinge of fear painted across Zhen Li’s face. He could use that.
"So…what if I told you that those monsters could…lend you their power?"
At this statent, Zhen Li froze up like a deer in a hunter’s crosshairs.
"What?"
"You heard the first ti, but let reiterate and explain it for you," the Overlord said while spreading his hands like a corner preacher.
"The creatures under my command are not of this material world, as such, they don’t play by the sa rules and logic that, well, mainly you work with. Therefore, they are able to do the things others deem impossible, they are able to play with the facets of reality that others deem…untouchable."
The Overlord took the strange contraption again and pointed it at Zhen Li’s face, causing the latter to brace himself in fear.
He didn’t know why, it just felt natural.
"In its current state, if I shoot you with this here treasure of mine, you’d probably end up dead," the Overlord said in a tone that was so casual that Zhen Li assud he was talking about squishing a fly, "but if I get one of my…friends, to imbue it with their power, I can bestow their strength onto you and well…you saw firsthand about what it could do."
"It…it’ll make dance like a loon?," Zhen Li asked as he tried to see how being blasted in the face with a monster’s energy would sohow increase his power and potential.
At this answer, the Overlord let out a small laugh.
"Well that might happen, but no. Nothing like that…if I recall correctly, you had a profile, a series of records pertaining to Patriarch Zhen Shi, correct? That it was written that he was rely an Aether Grandmaster and an old goat no less, correct?"
Zhen Li nodded at this question, he was kind of getting sick of saying "yes" at this point.
"But the mont you and your granddaddy showed up, not only was he not an Aether Grandmaster, but he was a full blown Aether Lord, his aether affinity hade sohow changed altogether from what was originally pure Aquarii to an Aquarri/Ice mixture, and a much more youthful countenance on top of that. Still old mind you, but significantly more energetic than what was last recorded."
"Wait…"
"So…how do you think all that ca about?"
Zhen Li’s mind began to churn as he began to pick up what the Overlord was implicitly implying.
If what he said was true about being able to bestow others the power of monsters he could summon, and since one of the monsters he rembered being traumatized by was an ice giant, then that would an…
"The…Patriarch of the Zhen Clan broke through because of you," Zhen Li eventually concluded aloud.
"You…gave him the power of that ice giant that almost froze to death."
"I prefer the term bestowal myself," the Overlord corrected while ignoring the part about almost killing Zhen Li.
"But now we co to the main reason why I have you sitting here before ," the Overlord said in a much gentler tone.
"I want to make you an offer."
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