After they left, Dominic excused everyone and called Levi's squad for a private chat at his table... Tyrese, Evangeline, and their teammates had already spread the news about the battle to the rest of the teams and swiftly took off to the Conference Arena.
"I am afraid to say that Wei-Lan has just ruined his son's potential and future over nothing... again," Dominic uttered, his voice laced with frustration.
"What do you mean?" Arthur frowned, "Is it the baldness?"
"Baldness is a cover-up." Levi shared calmly, "His father must have taken him to a veteran Alchemist for some sort of unnatural evolution."
"Unnatural evolution? Is that a real thing?"
Arthur wondered, having never bothered to deep dive into Alchemy and their mystic practices.
"I am surprised you figured it out already." Dominic raised an eyebrow at Levi and then shared, "I called you to warn you about it before your battle, but it seems like you already know what you're doing."
"Don't worry, sir... His father can try anything to empower his strength, but at the end of the day, he will remain as Yanhuan." Levi replied calmly, "He is never going to defeat me... he just lacks the necessary skills."
"Good... you don't have to worry about his father." Dominic chuckled as he patted Levi's shoulder, "If he dares to look at you the wrong way, he will find himself back home the moment he blinks."
Levi smirked faintly in amusement and stepped out from the table, heading to the arena... Meanwhile, the girls were quick to follow, while Arthur was still scratching his head from the first question.
"Is it because I am the only one who doesn't understand what an unnatural evolution is?" He murmured.
"Yes." Dominic chuckled, "Let's go, I will explain it on the way... maybe you won't forget it this way."
As Dominic and Arthur walked in the back discussing unnatural evolutions, Levi was having the same conversation with his tenants.
'What do you think, Ash? Based on the signs, can you tell which grade of the potion he took? And would it be possible for his father to afford one?' Levi asked solemnly.
'Where is the fun in that?' Ash'Kral smiled, 'You have been doing some readings about Alchemy from Alzhukar's laboratory and library for the past two months... this is your chance to show me that you were diligent and not just skimming through books to hasten your first practical lessons.'
The moment Levi saw Alzhukar's Laboratory and notes, he was eager to join the cult... However, Ash'Kral's standards were far too high as a teacher, and he refused to mentor Levi from ground zero.
He wanted him to build some sort of understanding about the subject, or at least an intellectual foundation, before he could teach him.
It was the same as asking marvelous minds like Tesla, Madame Curie, and such historical intellectual figures to waste their time teaching a seventeen-year-old kid about the basics of math or physics.
'I can try.'
Levi entered a deep focus mode, using his Harmonic Spine to paint Yanhuan's appearance both internally and externally from memory... not even his soul was spared. Then, he started analyzing him, starting with the big signs first.
'Significant increase in muscle mass and spiritual prowess in less than two months implies a high-quality potion... but, the baldness and change in persona mean that the potion suffers from certain side effects, which will lower the overall quality of the potion by a grade.' Levi thought, 'I noticed some fresh patches of skin on his back and chest... he got wounded during the process and healed up. This means that the process isn't stable enough and the patients might die during it... another grade shelved.'
'My final answer is Grade B. I need additional information to get an accurate reading of other signs.' Levi shook his head.
'Not bad for a total rookie.' Ash'Kral shared a small praise, and then he added, 'But, you're wrong... First, the Alchemist didn't use only one potion... but a series of vials through multiple sessions to ensure no evolutionary collapse occurs... He is a decent Alchemist, but that's it... His work is genuinely sloppy and makes him seem more like a self-taught Alchemist, who isn't concerned about the beauty of such art, but just the final result.'
'The boy's strength may have increased substantially through an unnatural evolution… but he can forget about ever becoming an Ecliptic Daywalker.'
Levi wasn't surprised by this... he understood that there were many risks to having an unnatural evolution.
The most prominent one was killing one's potential to continue on their natural evolutionary path that was handpicked carefully by the Shadowlife Seed.
After all, having an unnatural evolution meant using external items, potions, rituals, genetic manipulation, and whatnot to achieve any sort of evolution besides using Seeds.
Shadowlife Seeds might seem everywhere, but this didn't mean that their capabilities to evolve someone were to be questioned... they were considered the sole method of accelerating one's evolution through a natural method approved by the universe.
The insanely complicated Shadowlife Codex was the system that made it work.
On the other hand, Alchemists, Array Masters, Evolutionists, and any other researchers were doing nothing more than attempting to reach the same perfection through their fields of study.
Hence, the staple of being considered great by their peers was to create their own method of achieving a successful unnatural evolution with minimized side effects.
Sadly, this was easier said than done... Unnatural evolution implied having the body's genetic code modified through any sort of means without affecting the Shadowlife Seed's already chosen evolutionary path.
If it worked perfectly, it was considered to have an additional evolution with all the enhancements, mutations, and such... but at the same time, it didn't confuse the Shadowlife Seed's system.
Yanhuan didn't get this type of perfection... not in a million years.
'All in all, the boy's father does have a chance of buying services from such an average Alchemist...'
Just as Levi was about to lower his suspicions of Wei-Lan that he might have some connections from the other side, Ash'Kral added calmly, 'If... if he has already hired him months or even years ago for the procedure... average Alchemist or not, there is always more demand than supply for their services.'
'This means Wei-Lan can't hire him unless he knew him or had some favors to use... either way,' Levi tightened his brows, 'Something feels dirty about this whole situation.'
Levi knew that he would be getting his answers once he beat Yanhuan senseless again... He wasn't going to ask him, but his father's reaction was everything he needed.