Ch. 22 - The Second Fusion

Paladin was genuinely ecstatic as he held the olive-sized, gem-like Philosopher's Stone in his hand. After quickly storing it in his pocket, Paladin took out the ink absorber from his pocket and began to wipe off the magic circle drawn on the floor. The contents written in this magic formation were entirely his only. Therefore, it must be destroyed whenever a Philosopher's Stone was successfully refined. If someone else saw and copied it, it'd be over for Paladin.

Without giving a single glance at the four skeletons strewn on the floor, Paladin climbed the stairs, put on his gloves, and pushed the door open.

"Ah, you are finally here, Father Paladin.”

As soon as the wooden door opened, Paladin noticed Northam lift his hand in surprise. It seemed like he was about to knock on the door. When Paladin saw this, he laughed maliciously.

"Northam, you sure look relieved. Did you not hear the loud fighting noises coming from the basement just now?”

"Yes, I did hear. However, Father Paladin ordered that no matter what, I shall not enter."

Paladin snorted at Northam’s excuse. He slammed the wooden door shut behind him with the back of his hand, took the door’s key card from his waist, and swiped it on the lock.

"Father, what happened to the four of them?” Northam inquired after hesitating for a long time.

"What happened to them? Northam, that's not a question you should be asking. You just have to keep in mind that I'm the one who'll destroy the Holy See.''

Paladin turned around after seeing Northam nod reluctantly at his answer. Before going upstairs, he continued, "I have some personal matters to attend to. If I didn't come down before dawn, please inform those who come to pray that the priest is ill."

"Certainly, Father Paladin."

The sound of the door closing confirmed that Paladin had entered his room. Northam threw the attic a complicated gaze before turning his head to look solemnly at the entrance of the basement. Lost deeply in his thoughts.

Inside his room, Paladin took in the view of the clear night sky outside the window. He sat quietly on a stool, his hand playing with the Philosopher's Stone. Not a single word was uttered. As if in a trance, it wasn’t until the morning sun cast its harsh sunlight through the window and shone on Paladin's hand that he came to his senses. He silently raised his head to look directly at the sunlight. Not a single care was given about the pain and discomfort it caused his eyes. Paladin rose to his feet with a smile plastered on his face.

Paladin took a huge magnifying glass from the box beside the bed and positioned it in front of the window. The sunlight that fell directly on the magnifying glass condensed into an extremely dense beam of light that shone onto the table. A burning odor immediately filled Paladin's nose. Paladin smiled slightly and sat down at the table. A magnifying glass wasn’t difficult to obtain, especially in wealthier towns like Nurba. It was always available in any shop that sold alchemy and magical supplies.

Ordinary alchemists and Freemasons' Association alchemists held fundamentally opposing views. The alchemists who joined the Freemasons' Association firmly believed that Enos, the God of Light, was nothing more than a sham. They also believed in an invisible force that ran through the world and was greater than all the Gods. The truth, the fundamental law, and/or the essence of the universe. You could call it whatever you want.

For the Holy See, this belief was simply a slap in the face. Contrary to those who joined the Freemasons’ Association, ordinary alchemists were talents that no forces or countries would ever turn down. In comparison to mages, who controlled magical elements and thus had powerful strength that made them difficult to control, alchemists didn’t have many deadly abilities. They only performed enchantments and/or created magic items and supplies. Nonetheless, those were extremely valuable. As a result, as long as you weren't an alchemist from the Freemasons' Association, you could find a decent job and live a life free of worries about food and clothing.

Paladin removed his gloves and examined the veins on his wrist, which were emitting a faint golden light. With the quill, he drew the disintegration and reintegration magic circles on his wrist. Lastly, he placed the Philosopher's Stone on top. Paladin then took a deep breath. If you looked closely, you could see that Paladin was currently sweating profusely and continuously gulping his saliva. Those were, in fact, signs of fear.

It was natural, because he had previously experienced the sharp pain that tore into his soul when he was fusing with the light element before. Normal people would never want to do it again. Because if one wasn’t strong enough to withstand the pain, they could fall unconscious from such severe pain!

"What are you afraid of?! Gaining power comes at a price and this is a worthy exchange! What's the point of hesitating if the cost is only pain?" Paladin tried to persuade himself. His head was slightly lowered, his somewhat pale lips trembled. He continued to prepare his mind.

"Reaching my dream life and obtaining the power to dominate others, all of it depends on you! What are you afraid of?!" As soon as he said that, Paladin’s eyes turned red. Fully determined, he stretched out his hand. The condensed beam of light immediately focused on the Philosopher's stone and in an instant, the magic circles drawn on his hand activated. The olive-sized Philosopher's Stone was glowing red. It broke down the sunlight that shone on him, made it flow into Paladin's arm, and reintegrate it again!

"AAAAHHHH!”

Paladin's eyes instantly widened. He tilted his head and cried out in desperation. The pain was like a swarm of razor-sharp knives piercing his every pore. It was like being dead, getting resurrected, and then dead again. It kept on repeating, never stopping. Blood began to gradually flow out of his pores. It trickled down onto the floor, staining the ground under him until a pool of blood was formed. Paladin’s entire body trembled, his teeth gritted.

Paladin felt like he couldn't stand it anymore and was about to collapse. When his last vestige of sanity was submerged by endless pain, Paladin's tightly shut mouth suddenly formed a curve. He then began to laugh madly and irrationally.

"Hehe, hahaha! HAHAHAHA! Very good, not bad! Power, I can sense an influx of power! That's exactly what I want! ”

When Paladin was laughing maniacally, his eyes were brightly glowing golden. This supposedly sacred golden light appeared gloomy and terrifying when reflected on the ceiling. As the olive-sized Philosopher's Stone’s power ran out, Paladin jumped up sharply and used his hand to topple the magnifying glass. He fell unconscious on top of the pool of blood and fell back into a deep sleep.

Paladin sat motionless on the ground in the empty space. A pitch-black baby was lying his head on Paladin's wrist. Its mouth cracked open to wail.

"Feed me, feed me, feed me."

Paladin sat like a puppet, his head blank, simply unmoved by foreign objects. His eyes gazed at the blank space in front of him, unfocused. However, some changes started to appear, when compared to before.

The befuddled Paladin noticed a strange and familiar pattern emerging on the ground in this empty space. An upside-down tree with branches separated from its trunk. Ten circles were drawn on the branches. Paladin noticed he was in the circle closest to the leaves. It also had text written on it. Paladin read it word by word, his initially unfocused eyes gradually cleared. Finally, he jumped up with a bang.

Feeling kind of lost, he said, "Material and kingdom? Isn't this the drawing on the stone tablet that came out after the Ripley Scroll was taken?! No, this is a dream! A dream I had before!”

He was startled awake and realized that he was in a dream. Paladin hadn’t yet come to his senses when he heard a persistent childish voice say, "Feed me, feed me, feed me!"

"Ugh!" Paladin was startled. He flicked his hand to push the pitch-black baby onto the ground. It appeared unscathed. Once again, Paladin laid on the ground and yelled at the black baby who had moved to come closer to him, "Don't come over, don't come over!"

However, the black baby ignored Paladin’s request. It continued to lick its lips and yell at Paladin to feed it. Paladin attempted to flee, but discovered that he couldn't leave the circle with 'Material and Kingdom' written beneath his feet. There was an invisible barrier directly in front of him as soon as he moved. He simply couldn’t leave at all.

"Feed me, feed me!"

The black baby grabbed Paladin's thigh and crawled up childishly and strangely, its mouth still repeating the boring two words. Paladin stared at the baby in horror, and for some reason, he felt an incomparable closeness to the baby. It felt like someone close to him. Finally, Paladin asked the question he held back deep inside.

"You, who the hell are you?"

But, who would've guessed? As soon as he asked that, the black baby, who had been repeating those two words over and over abruptly stopped. At first, it was stunned. Just as Paladin was about to ask, the black baby flashed a terrifying and crazed smile.

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