Book 6: Chapter 69:2: Have You Ever Heard of the Philosopher’s Stone? Part 2 |
Root always had high expectations for Chen Heng because you never knew what kind of crazy ideas he would come up with. For instance, making a new world consciousness call him “Papa”…
“Wanna know? I’m not telling you.”
“…”
“Since you’re so curious, how about a guessing game with prizes? Each person gets one chance.” Chen Heng extended a finger toward the three in front of him.
“Just one chance? There are so many things in the Dimension Administrators Association’s store; one chance isn’t enough,” Root objected.
“You can guess or not; it’s up to you. If you don’t guess, I’ll start, and once I start, there won’t be any rewards if you guess correctly later.”
“Elder Brother, give us a hint,” Sirin urged with a hint of seduction, trying to coax information out of him.
“No use. You have ten seconds, or rather, ten, nine, eight…” Chen Heng began counting down without succumbing to Sirin’s ploy.
“Well, I guess it’s a Poké Ball,” Root suggested. She figured that Chen Heng had been using Poké Balls to solve problems quite often recently, to ridiculous effect, and although the odds of using a Poké Ball to capture the All the World’s Evils weren’t high, it was still a better guess than nothing.
“What about you, Little Li?” Chen Heng turned to the only person who hadn’t hazarded a guess.
“…A Philosopher’s Stone.”
[TL note: The Philosopher’s Stone is a powerful transmutation amplifier. One of the known ways of creating a Philosopher’s Stone is by sacrificing human lives. It gives the illusion of making one’s alchemy abilities stronger or being able to ignore equivalent exchange, but that is not true, as the price is the consumption of the Philosopher’s Stone. The Philosopher’s Stone does not last forever and can get used up. Here is more information about it: https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/Philosopher%27s_Stone.]
“Good guess, my younger sister. You’re quite clever.” Chen Heng extended his thumb toward Luo Li and patted her head, which was right in front of him.
In reality, Chen Heng had only done this to give Luo Li a little bonus. After all, with so many things in the Dimension Administrators Association’s store, who could truly guess how Chen Heng would solve the problem? If anyone could, it would be Luo Li, who seemed capable of seeing the future.
“…This isn’t fair. You guys are cheating. I finally didn’t cheat this time, but you guys still did. That’s not right.”
“Oh, Root, are you admitting that you cheated previously?”
“I didn’t! I haven’t! Don’t make stuff up!” Root realized she had misspoken and quickly denied it three times, even though everyone knew the truth. However, saying it out loud was different from keeping it to oneself.
“…” Sirin wanted to make a snarky comment, but when she saw Luo Li looking at her coldly, she backed down.
“Alright, the winner this time is Little Li. Little Li, if you have any requests later, just let me know, and I’ll try to fulfill them. Right now, I need to deal with the Holy Grail.”
Chen Heng tilted the Holy Grail containing the black mud and opened the Dimension Administrators Association’s store.
His method for dealing with this issue was to offer this All the World’s Evils as a sacrifice to the Truth and transform it into a Philosopher’s Stone.
[TL Note: In Fullmetal Alchemist, the Truth is an enigmatic, metaphysical, deity-like being that appears when someone attempts human transmutation. It is not known if it is truly the god of that world, but it is the closest thing to being one in that world. It upholds the law of equivalent exchange. Here is more information on it: https://fma.fandom.com/wiki/The_Truth.]
Chen Heng had thought of this method just recently.
Actually, he had several backup plans. The first was as Root said, using a Poké Ball, but there were many flaws with this. He felt it was unlikely that a Poké Ball could capture something as massive as the All the World’s Evils.
Moreover, he didn’t know how to approach it, even if capturing it with a Poké Ball was possible. Threats? Bribes? None of that would work. The All the World’s Evils had only one thing on its mind—the destruction of the world.
Finally, even if Chen Heng could capture the All the World’s Evils, this thing might backstab him at any moment. After all, it was the All the World’s Evils, capable of anything. Loyalty? This was the All the World’s Evils; how loyal could it be?
Only if a small fragment were left might that be viable.
The second option was to take the Holy Grail and find Aqua. Despite Aqua’s somewhat lacking intelligence and luck, her status as a goddess of water was undeniable. She was skilled in purification.
However, this method had its downsides. First, Chen Heng wasn’t well-acquainted with Aqua. Second, there was no guarantee that Aqua could purify the All the World’s Evils contained within the Holy Grail, which was a reservoir of the wicked thoughts of 6,000,000,000 people. Aqua’s previous performances didn’t inspire much confidence.
The third option was for Chen Heng to trigger his necklace’s life-saving sword strike. The advantage of this method was that it would ensure the destruction of the black mud. However, Chen Heng was afraid that he might accidentally destroy the Holy Grail itself. Moreover, this life-saving sword strike could only be used three times in total, even though it would regenerate in a month. Squandering it on a whim was not an option.
Chen Heng had been wrestling with the question of how to deal with the All the World’s Evils until he became an alchemist. It was while searching for information on alchemists in the Dimension Administrators Association’s cultural section that he stumbled upon an anime called Fullmetal Alchemist.
Initially, when Chen Heng started researching alchemists, he hoped to find similar abilities in the vast multidimensions that might inspire him. After all, the multidimensions were full of incredibly imaginative geniuses.
The first result he found was Fullmetal Alchemist. A brief look at the synopsis revealed something interesting—the Philosopher’s Stone.
The Philosopher’s Stone, in that world, was a red stone created through the alchemical processing of living human souls in a transmutation circle. It required a large number of human sacrifices and contained the hatred, enmity, and anger that erupted at the moment of death.
Chen Heng believed that in some sense, the All the World’s Evils could also be used to create a Philosopher’s Stone. Souls? Since the Holy Grail could achieve the Third Magic—materialization of souls—the All the World’s Evils should have a similar nature to souls.
[TL Note: The Third Magic is a magic that prevents the dispersion of souls once they leave the physical body, losing their anchor. This allows for the souls to transform into a higher form of existence, attaining true immortality and an unlimited source of Magical Energy (mana is a type of Magical Energy). https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Third_Magic.]
Hatred, enmity, and anger? Weren’t these synonymous with the All the World’s Evils?
With a mindset of just giving it a try, Chen Heng tried searching for the option to exchange for a Philosopher’s Stone in the Dimension Administrators Association’s store, using the store’s intelligent scanning function. Then the following exchange option appeared:
1. Exchange for one Philosopher’s Stone with 10,000 points.
Chen Heng felt this choice was not viable. It would be a huge loss! After all, even though the Philosopher’s Stone had a wide range of uses and was incredibly versatile, wasn’t it more sensible to use those points to purchase items directly from the Dimension Administrators Association’s store? Furthermore, items bought from the store came with quality assurance and after-sales service, as for the Philosopher’s Stone…