TL/Editor: raei

    Status: 5/week mon-fri

    Illustrations: none

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    "Walking with giants feels reassuring~"

    Actually, it had been the same on their way there.

    Hadn''t Polymus and his friend guided Ian''s group to the village?

    Ian nodded along with Elia''s words as they walked.

    ''I''ve done what I needed to do here.''

    Ian glanced at Sephina.

    She probably had a lot to do going forward... but that wasn''t Ian''s concern anymore.

    No, he didn''t want it to be his concern.

    Since Demonite started this, he planned to let him handle the aftermath.

    Ian still had his own work to do.

    Mining through Archwizard Maronius''s memories.

    This trip felt like something unexpected that had suddenly come up.

    When he got back, he needed to focus on his research-

    "Ah. Ian."

    Demonite casually approached.

    Ian found him strange every time he saw him.

    Seriously, what kind of stealth magic had this guy learned?

    At least make some noise when you move around.

    "Thank you for accepting my unreasonable request."

    "It wasn''t really difficult."

    That was honest.

    From the moment he''d heard Sephina''s story, his instincts had told him necromancy would be the solution.

    Though it hadn''t exactly gone smoothly... it had worked out somehow.

    "Professor."@@@@

    "Yes?"

    "What would you have done? With Sephina''s situation, I mean."

    Demonite answered with an enigmatic smile.

    "If I were in charge of healing her... I probably would have gone with giving her a suitable human."

    "A human..."

    "A slave. The university has plenty of slaves, doesn''t it?"

    That was a fact.

    Imperial University had many foreign slaves doing menial work.

    No one would criticize Demonite for taking a few for human sacrifice(?).

    Some devout priests might raise their voices... but wizards were the type who treated priests'' words like a dog eating grass.

    "Sephina just isn''t used to goodbyes."

    "...Does anyone ever get used to goodbyes?"

    Demonite shrugged.

    "Surprisingly, humans can get used to any emotion. The first time is always hardest. Same with goodbyes. After experiencing separation a few times, you can face it more calmly." ?a?NObE?S?

    "But giving her a new human doesn''t guarantee she''ll forget Henry..."

    "Hahaha! Ian! You''re thinking too seriously!"

    "?"

    "Our job is to make Sephina''s heart comfortable. At least while raising the new human, she''ll be happy."

    Demonite said casually.

    "Until the slave dies... for about 50 years."

    "..."

    "I don''t know what will happen after 50 years. She might get more depressed, she might raise another human, or she might lose interest in raising humans. But that''s not my concern, is it?"

    Like a proper university-educated wizard, Demonite''s logic had no holes.

    New problems might arise in 50 years but... why should he care?

    In 50 years, Demonite would already be dead!

    "A summoner''s trick."

    Ian nodded, understanding Demonite''s method.

    Many mysteries had ridiculously long lifespans.

    Such mysteries had absurdly warped senses of time.

    When making contracts with humans, if they said they''d repay in 50 years...

    Ah, just wait a bit and I''ll get my payment soon! That''s what they thought.

    But after 50 years?

    The wizard who owed the debt had already gone to heaven.

    Well~ Just die without paying~

    The mystery would be incredibly frustrated and pissed off, but what could they do?

    Storm into heaven?

    Feel confident about winning 1-on-1 against the Sun God?

    So?

    The most realistic method was human experimentation on slaves, but doing that would have Heaven''s Faith priests chasing after you shouting "You villain!"

    Even if they were slaves, wasn''t human experimentation crossing a line?

    Of course, black wizards just said fuck that and experimented anyway.

    Ian, who had zero desire to become a black wizard, naturally didn''t want to learn body modification.

    If you mastered it you could probably stretch your arms and do gum-gum gatling[1] stuff but...

    What was the point?

    "So the transmutation I''ll teach you is object transmutation."

    "Oh ho."

    This was similar to "alchemy" from modern content Ian knew.

    Actually, far away in the Sand Empire, there were wizards trying to turn things into gold, truly called alchemists.

    "It''s called alchemy in the eastern world. Hehe."

    Actually, the term alchemist was a joke to imperial wizards.

    Because no transmuter had ever succeeded in actually turning things into gold.

    If you can''t make gold, why call yourself an alchemist? (Really don''t know)

    That''s right.

    Alchemist didn''t mean a wizard who made gold... but a wizard who "wanted to" make gold.

    Red-faced eastern alchemists claimed-

    ''Th-the translation is wrong! The "gold" in alchemy means metal, not actual gold!''

    That''s what they said anyway.

    It was why transmuters didn''t call themselves alchemists.

    "Now then, let''s begin."

    Demonite skillfully started drawing a magic circle.

    Seeing the clean magic circle containing all essential words, Ian was genuinely impressed.

    Though he acted a bit strange, his magical skills were the real deal!

    "Professor. This part seems a bit incomplete?"

    "I did that intentionally."

    "?"

    "The mystery of transformation likes chaos."

    Fitting for a mystery that changed things, it disliked fixed existence.

    That''s why he employed the technique of writing only half the letters.

    Ian realized this was truly a difficult technique.

    When you fragment letters, meaning naturally becomes harder to convey.

    You had to fully convey your will to the mystery while fragmenting letters.

    ''This is really advanced stuff.''

    Demonite''s promise to teach good magic was genuine.

    "Shall we try?"

    Ian drew the transmutation circle as Demonite instructed.

    It was [Magic to turn iron into copper].

    "The key to transmutation is intense desire."

    "Desire?"

    "Act with absolute belief that the object will change."

    Following Demonite''s advice, Ian summoned the mystery of transformation.

    "[O formless one.]"

    [Yes, human! You called me!]

    Ian spoke carefully.

    "[Can you see...]"

    ''Belief is important, right?''

    "[Can you see this ''copper spoon''?]"

    [Copper spoon?]

    What Ian pointed to was an iron spoon.

    "[Yes. A copper spoon.]"

    Then the mystery of transformation cackled and shouted.

    [I see it! There''s a copper spoon!]

    The iron spoon soon changed to copper.

    Ian''s magic had succeeded.

    [New Skill Acquired!]

    [Magic: Transmutation]

    [Magic that twists forms and changes appearances. Beware. Once changed, forms don''t easily return!]

    Clap clap clap!

    Demonite applauded.

    "Excellent! Ian!"

    ---

    [1. raei: this is from one piece. source: google]