Chapter 239: Success
Chapter 239: Success
"Where did my father run off to today?" Alice asked curiously during dinner. After all, he had been joining her for meals and chatting with her these past few days, so his sudden absence was a bit unsettling.
"He said he found a way to turn you into an Alchemist, so he needs some time to experiment", Liam explained.
"I hope this time it's for real. My father has made me get my hopes up many times before, only for it to end in disappointment. I really hope it doesn't happen again."
"It won't", Liam said confidently. "This time, the materials he's using are from another world, so they might be different from what's available here. They should help you break through this barrier."
"Alright, let's eat then." Hearing Liam's words, Alice nodded and sat down at the table. Helen the robot brought out the freshly prepared dishes.
"Thanks for all your help recently. It's really improved my relationship with my father. Even though he still struggles to find topics to talk about, it's much better than the silence we used to have."
"This is because your father loves you. He just didn't know how to express it before", Liam said fairly. "Raising a daughter alone, it's natural for a man to sometimes be a bit negligent."
"Back when I was bedridden with my illness, I actually hated him. But recently, with how he's been treating me, I can't bring myself to hate him anymore. I hope things stay this way. Let's not talk about these unpleasant things anymore. Let's eat."
For the entire week, Liam didn't see Professor Rogen again. He was a bit worried about this, so during their Tuesday afternoon tea, he asked Alice, "Your father hasn't come out of the Laboratory for three days. Is everything alright?"
"Don't worry", Alice said, placing her teacup back on the saucer gracefully. "At a certain level, Alchemists can convert anything into the energy they need. So it's quite normal for my father to stay in there for ten days or two weeks. The good thing is that this time, I have you and Helen to keep me company. In the past, I would have been truly bored in such situations."
During these days, besides chatting with Alice and working on machinery, Liam took the opportunity to reorganize all the knowledge he had acquired and integrate it using Alchemy. In this process, he realized that the biggest challenge wasn't the conflict of powers, but rather a kind of cognitive barrier, similar to what Buddhists call the "obstacle of knowledge."
When he broke through this cognitive blind spot and accepted the knowledge about power that Professor Rogen had taught him, he had already crossed the most difficult hurdle. The rest was just a matter of time and effort.
He began to categorize all the powers he knew, not by their sources but by their essential nature. For example, he grouped Thunder Art and Nature Magic together, or Corpse Control Technique with Life Magic.
He also combined all rune-related powers, regardless of their origin, and used Alchemy to integrate them into a cohesive whole.
These experiments quickly yielded results. For instance, Liam successfully created Stunning Spell talismans using yellow paper and cinnabar, or used a wand to channel Thunder Art instead of a peach wood sword and jade talisman.
However, his most significant achievement during this phase was the improvement of the Deathclaw Puppet. After mastering Alchemy, Liam realized that his previous modifications to the Deathclaw had merely forced together powers from different sources. Not only did this fail to create a synergistic effect, but the overall performance was even worse than the sum of its individual parts. It felt like a poorly assembled weapon, using top-tier components to create a third-rate product.
After thoroughly transforming Deathclaw using Alchemy, he finally connected all the previously isolated subsystems into a perfect Magic Circulation. After testing, Deathclaw's combat effectiveness and operability were now far superior to its past form.
Especially in terms of operability, if it was previously controlled using a keyboard, it now felt like it was controlled through motion sensing. The flexibility was on a completely different level compared to before.
Finally, Liam used the content from Professor Rogen's notebook to further modify some of the runes on Deathclaw. This allowed Deathclaw to transform into a palm-sized Basalt statue when not in use. This reduced the energy consumption significantly and greatly improved portability.
After all, the Multiverse General Store couldn't be opened during battle, so he had to take out the puppets in advance if he thought they might be needed. This was not only troublesome but also lacked stealth. Now, with the puppets able to transform into small statues, Liam could keep them in his Spatial Bag and throw them out when needed to catch enemies off guard.
By the time Liam finished upgrading Deathclaw, a week had passed. On this day, he had just completed a yellow paper charm for Armor when he saw Professor Rogen, with his hair in disarray, holding a blue Elixir and running out from the laboratory. When Liam reached the living room, he saw Rogen excitedly telling his daughter something.
As Liam approached, he heard Rogen saying, "—This time, thanks to the Crystal Liam brought. I discovered a special substance within it that promotes the mastery of Supernatural Power, but it was surrounded by a large amount of impurities. Those impurities can also grant Supernatural Power, but they would damage the body and soul. It took me a lot of effort to extract the usable part. Unfortunately, what was enough for three people is now only enough for one."
Hearing this, Liam let out a sigh of relief. He was glad he hadn't recklessly used it on himself; the consequences would have been dire.
Soon, under the watchful eyes of Rogen and Liam, Alice drank the blue Elixir. As soon as she finished, she closed her eyes and collapsed on the sofa. Fortunately, both Liam and Rogen had ways to monitor Alice's condition. They found that this was just the Elixir taking effect.
Five minutes later, Alice opened her eyes. Rogen, kneeling nervously, looked directly into her eyes and asked, "Alice, how do you feel now?"
"I, I feel like something is different", Alice said, her blue eyes filled with confusion.
"Focus on this piece of paper and try to make it fly", Liam said, tearing a small piece of cotton paper from the one used to line the snacks on the table.
"Yes, give it a try", Rogen added.
Alice stared intently at the piece of paper on the coffee table. After about five or six minutes, just as Rogen was starting to feel discouraged, the paper moved slightly. Soon, it was hovering about five or six centimeters above the table.
"We did it", Liam said happily, high-fiving Rogen. Everyone in the living room broke into joyful smiles.
(End of Chapter)
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