CHAPTER 402: CHAPTER 44: THE PINNACLE OF ALCHEMY

The so-called "resurrection," or to put it more formally—the act of placing the souls stored in Yila’s body, whose original bodies have died, into new, unowned shells.

Although Yila always agreed cheerfully and appeared nonchalant about this task, in reality...

This wasn’t just a matter of *"extracting souls from the body and implanting them into husks,"* making Tipcapu and Raphael jump up lively. In fact, Yila couldn’t do this at all.

Yes, he had no clue how.

It was simple enough for Yila to trigger the Death Trigger, absorb others into his body, or even absorb entire souls into his body, an act that had become completely automated and required no effort on his part.

However, doing the reverse was something Yila was completely clueless about.

To put it bluntly, Yila had no idea where the souls entered his body from; there didn’t seem to be a "channel" or anything like that. If they didn’t enter through a channel, then "exiting through a channel" was out of the question.

Because of this, Yila felt he needed some help in matters of souls... he knew several formidable people in this area, like Vera (currently busy with research on husks), Master Isidro (currently busy with research on world relocation)...

Also Soul Dragons (a bit far in the Spirit Realm), and... Yila’s current destination—the Imperial Capital, Royal Alchemist Headquarters: Gurela Jinesis Parada’s research lab.

"Sigh..."

Yila couldn’t help but sigh as he knocked on the door of Gurela’s research lab, under the watchful eyes of the alchemists in the Alchemy Association hall behind him... to be honest, he wasn’t particularly eager to ask Gurela for help.

As for this guy, Yila’s attitude could only be described as "resigned".

"Knock knock knock~"

After a while, the door in front of Yila opened from the inside. A girl with chestnut hair and eyes looked at Yila standing in front of her. The fatigue on her face quickly turned into unexpected joy.

"Yila?! What brings you here? Come in, come in!"

Pulled by the girl named Gurela, Yila resignedly followed her into the room...

"Bang!"

The door was then slammed shut.

"..."

"Wow, Boss Gurela effortlessly dragged Yila in, Boss Gurela is unbeatable!"

"Pfft, hahaha, that’s hilarious."

"But, Yila is still as adorable as ever, hasn’t changed a bit."

"Exactly! So small and soft!"

——————————

Actually, Gurela could definitely guess that Yila was here for work-related matters... how should she put it, she had the self-awareness of "He wouldn’t come to chat without something important."

"Soul transfer, huh..."

Gurela said this while continuing an unfinished experiment on a glass apparatus, stepping aside so Yila could see her ongoing experiment. She said, "The mages from the Three Towers should be quite adept at this too. Isn’t Vera helping you?"

Vera and Gurela had known each other for quite some time. In fact... Yila was the newcomer; Vera and Gurela were colleagues with the "court" nickname first. After Vera’s defection, their communication became less frequent.

"Everyone’s busy. I thought you might be a bit more free."

Gurela didn’t mind Yila’s blunt words at all. After all, she was indeed quite free... their relationship was strange like that, or rather, their mode of interaction was very much like buddies.

"What nonsense... how am I free..."

Gurela complained as she waited for the results of the alchemy experiment, casually sitting next to Yila, leaning toward him, and putting an arm around his shoulder, saying, "But my current work indeed has no significance."

Normally, that would be called "free."

"I got it. Once I finish what I’m working on, I’ll help you try to extract the soul from the body."

Gurela said this while looking at the boiling liquid in the glassware in front of her, "It’s been a while, Yila... the cement and the liquid fragrance called ’Bee Flower Snow Moon,’ those were your handiwork, weren’t they?"

If it was Gurela, she could easily guess this. Yila had no intention of hiding it. In fact... it was precisely because of their familiarity that they understood each other this well.

Yila had mixed Forbidden Magic Stone powder into the cement to prevent the genius alchemist in front of him from quickly analyzing the ingredients... Gurela knew this meant Yila was guarding against her.

"Yes, of course it was my idea, just like with the fertilizer... but, if you say it’s been a long time."

Yila said this while leaning together with Gurela, squinting at the fragrant liquid in the glassware, "Actually, it hasn’t even been a year, right? While I was still in the Empire... the time spent on a single expedition was longer than this."

That was true. Yila hadn’t left the Empire long enough... the time was so short that when Yila reconciled with the Empire, many people hadn’t fully realized he had joined the Demon King Territory.

"Ah, that’s true... perhaps too much has happened recently, making it feel more fulfilling than my entire life before... of course, I mean before I met you."

Gurela said this, watching the potion as it gradually cooled, then proceeded to slowly pour out the colorful liquid.

"Magic potions are supposed to be a mage’s domain... you’re an alchemist, right?"

Yila asked this.

"Isn’t there a connection? Hmm, you were the one who reminded me of this."

Gurela casually responded, pouring the liquid into a potion bottle... Yila felt something was off, so he asked, "Usually, you would be more... enthusiastic. Are you working on something very important right now?"

"..."

Of course, if it weren’t for a significant improvement, Gurela would have already hung on Yila and refused to come down... while confirming that the last drop of potion was properly distributed, she said—

"Yes, this is the All-purpose Potion."

"..."

What Gurela said so casually was an extraordinary item... in alchemy, there were three things that existed only in theory—things that could exceed "limits": the Sage’s Stone, the All-purpose Potion, which could "restore" conditions.

And the Homunculus (Artificial Human), which could "surpass the authority of gods."

However, eventually, the "All-purpose Potion" was categorized under magic because material-based synthesis couldn’t encompass all "diseases," "injuries," "genetic diseases," and "colds."

"..."

"You two... should have switched professions from the start."

Yila said this, pinching his brow, and seeing Gurela’s confused expression, he added, "While Vera was working in the Demon King Territory, she successfully created the ’Sage’s Stone.’"

Gurela: "!!!"