Sunders thoroughly read through Angor’s papers.
“I see you put a lot of work on it, but why did you only use a single test subject? Without a ‘control group’, it’s too difficult to find any conclusive result.”
“I don’t have a choice, sir.” Angor showed a bitter smile. “I need over two thousand killed souls to get one bullet, and I only have six bullets so far.”
Sunders frowned—if this was true, then doing the test on multiple souls was quite pointless since all they got was a “reverted undead”.
However, it wasn’t strange to discover a “pointless” Mystery effect in this world. Even a true Mystery item like “Whelk of the Dreaming Coast” could have a completely useless effect, and Angor’s revolver was only a semi-Mystery item.
Sunders slowly flipped through Angor’s report again. He suddenly noticed something when looking at the records that showed the energy change inside the undead soul.
Next, he replayed the image recorded in Angor’s transmitter.
“This is... deficient soul structure.”
“Deficient... huh?” Angor didn’t understand what that meant.
“I don’t know much about souls, but I heard Ness mentioning it when I went to Haunt World with him a hundred years ago,” Sunders explained as he went through his memory. “You don’t have to know what this ‘soul structure’ is. The point is, a soul must be relatively stable to exist in this world. Otherwise, it will dwindle away and completely vanish.”
“So this ‘stable structure’ meant—” Angor realized something.
“Stable soul energy, if my assumption stands.”
“I see. So Eyki ‘died’ because he didn’t have enough stable energy?”
“Should be. According to your research, about 80% of that soul was made of stable energy, which was far from enough for a soul to stay safe.”
“Then how much stable energy should he have for me to be able to use my Prelude to Elimination on him without killing him?”
“Ness told me before. He said that the stable energy proportion must exceed 98%.”
Ninety-eight? Angor quickly did some mental calculations to see how to achieve that energy amount.
“Using all six bullets...” He soon reached an answer. If every subsequent bullet cut the negative energy inside an undead soul to half, this was what he needed to make that happen.
“Right. The second purpose of your Prelude to Rebirth is using all the bullets it collected to save a fallen undead,” said Sunders, “which is not that bad for a semi-Mystery item, as long as you can accept the great cost.”
The cost of using this effect was indeed great since Angor needed to eliminate roughly 12,000 undead souls just to save one.
“It might not be that useful,” Sunders continued speaking, “but at least you completely invalidated a theorem used for a long time in this world. If you don’t mind revealing the true effect of your weapon, you can try publishing an article on The Mirror, after which the other magazines will soon help you spread your knowledge. Of course, this is for you to decide.” It seemed that Sunders didn’t plan to take any credit from the work of his student.
“I’ll... think about it. Even if I’m to publish this, it will have to wait until I return from the Old Earth.” Angor didn’t seem happy about his experiment since the effect he discovered was almost worthless to him.
“Can I do something useful with this effect?” Angor tried to send his imagination wild and soon got a new idea. “Professor, are there any really powerful ancient wizards who ended up as fallen undead so that I can save their souls—”
“So they’ll be grateful and suddenly offer to teach you their legacy, which in turn helps you become a legendary wizard like them and conquer the world?” Sunders chuckled.
Angor nodded with a bright smile.
“Wake up, it’s not the time for sweet dreams yet. While wizards might become undead if they’re unlucky enough, it’s almost impossible for truth-finders to fall, let alone legendaries. With enough strength and knowledge, people will know what it means to become fallen souls, and they will make sure it doesn’t happen upon their death.”
“Er, so I put so much work on my Prelude to Rebirth just to compose an article for people to read?” Angor looked a bit defeated.
“This ‘article’ of yours will completely deny an existing theory as well as a great many people who feel proud for establishing that theory, while your name will get known by wizards. Is that not enough?”
Of course not! Angor yelled in his mind. I want an “actual” profit!
“Who knows, maybe you’ll need this effect one day. After you’ve completed your thesis, there might be wizards who’ll come and request for your service, by which time you’re free to ask for a price.”
In Sunders’ view, every item served a purpose in this world. Perhaps Angor’s weapon would display its true value one day.
“I’m leaving Brute Cavern in a few days.” Sunders suddenly changed the subject. “I’ve reactivated the defenses around Phantom Island fully, while you have full control of them. If you need to leave the island as well, tell Goode to handle the rest.”
When he heard this, Angor quickly took out the illusion items he just crafted.
“What are you doing?” Sunders watched in confusion as his student filled his study with a bunch of crystal balls.
“Alchemy illusions with manifestations of Mystery, sir.”
“I see, but why crystal balls?”
Angor maintained a straight face. “I didn’t put much effort into their outer shapes, so I can make them faster. You prefer such a design, right, sir?”
Did I ever tell him that? Sunders was left speechless.
“Oh, and,” Angor continued, “I didn’t leave my signature on them either, so you know, to save time.”
Again, Sunders remained silent.
Yeah, you don’t want people to see your signatures on these poorly-made items. I get you.
“Ahem, Angor, while it is true that I don’t know much about alchemy, I believe dedicated craftsmen like you should not stop seeking creativity.”
Angor wasn’t convinced. Surely all alchemists would need to do hasty jobs occasionally?
He made sure that he dumped the last “crystal ball” from his bracelet as he said, “I didn’t have much time to check every illusion, but I’m sure they almost contained every type of manifestation I can think of. I also used different materials, so the manifestations last for different durations once triggered. Are these enough as samples, sir?”
“Mystery means unknown, something we cannot completely understand. There is never such a thing as ‘too many’.” Sunders looked around his now cramped study. “I’m afraid these aren’t enough for us to completely comprehend the manifestations, but I should be able to figure out more useful clues. I’ll get to it soon and tell you the result before departure.”
After receiving a brief lesson about Illusionist spells as well as how to choose a secondary subject, Angor stepped out of Sunders’ room.
While heading back to his bedroom, he saw Flora floating across the hallway and moving toward Sunders’ study. She was not alone—Spivet was following behind.
While moving past each other, Flora briefly stopped and gave Angor a thoughtful look.
Angor greeted her politely while feeling a bit anxious. He was a little worried that Flora might want to know how he helped Greya.
Flora spoke up with a bright smile, “Since you gave your ‘alchemy illusion’ to a guest, surely I can have one as well? I really want to check it out because your illusion—”
“Flora,” a low, hoarse voice suddenly came to them. Flora froze up mid-speech.
“Professor, you’re making me really curious here,” Flora said toward Sunders’ study, from where the voice just came.
“If that’s the case, feel free to ask Angor to make you one. Of course, prepare your payment.”
“Of course, professor. Equivalent exchange, I know that.”
“You know, when Leona—”
“Oh, the essence of Glutton Flower Lord? I didn’t know that thing’s so expensive, and Leona kinda tricked me!”
Despite her words, it didn’t seem Flora was blaming Leona for not telling her the true value of the essence she extracted from Angor.
“Well, I don’t have anything to give you right now.” Flora looked at Angor again. “I’ll talk about it when I find a chance.”
Angor slowly nodded.
“Oh, and,” Flora continued, “I need to tell you something else too, but I’m kinda in a hurry right now, so... maybe later!”
Flora then floated away while Spivet followed behind her after showing Angor a cunning smile.