Chapter 550
Who Do You Think I Am
The decor in Freya’s room was completely different from what Eivass had imagined.
As an alchemist, he had expected Freya to be a very meticulous person. Especially since this villa was used not only for living but also as a research institute; he had thought it would be bright and clean, with everything neatly organized.
But upon entering, while there was indeed an atmosphere of research, it had nothing to do with being organized.
In the corner of the room was a single bed, and in front of it, a desk piled high with books and documents. The blanket on the bed was not folded but simply tossed aside.
There was no stool in front of the desk, and one could even see traces of someone sitting on the bed.
In stark contrast to this small living space, one entire wall of the room was taken up by a massive, five-tiered shelf. The left side held books and documents, while the right was filled with various bottles and jars. The bottom shelf also contained several wooden boxes, some open and some closed, resembling a storeroom.
In the center of the room stood two large metal devices.
One was bronze-colored and seemed related to liquids, as it had a large, transparent spherical liquid container behind it, currently empty. It had a distinct steampunk aesthetic. The other was a long, silvery-white metal counter, like a cooking station, with various devices operating autonomously, giving it a very modern feel.
Eivass even noticed three circular crucibles, looking like they were unearthed from ruins, on a corner of what resembled a modern laboratory bench. Their outer shells were an impure black, appearing to be made of smooth stone or dark metal. One of them was overflowing with a bubbling green liquid that gave an ominous impression.
On the floor beneath each instrument, a circular ritual array was inscribed.
The ritual arrays beneath any smoking containers were active. They shimmered with multicolored light, and nascent hemispherical shields could be seen forming in the distorted air, completely isolating the interior from the exterior.
On the other side, leaning against the wall, was a low metal furnace. It looked quite ugly, with a black iron shell, about six to seven meters long, only half a meter high, and not even a meter wide. A warm fire glowed inside, though it was unclear what was being burned.
“…So this is a Grand Alchemist’s workshop?” Eivass murmured.
The style here was a hodgepodge of everything. From the outside, the pure wooden villa was quite aesthetically pleasing, even the entrance and hall had an artistic flair. But stepping into this largest master bedroom, one found it in such disarray.
Freya, however, seemed quite proud of it. “These are all good things; my heart and soul, and all my collections of the years are here. I’ve spent years meticulously designing this system, and finally, it can operate stably.”
As she spoke, she proudly introduced her laboratory. “This magic furnace, when I was doing business with the dwarves in the Everfrost Empire, I managed to acquire a second-hand core component of a light-forged furnace. I modified its fuel system, allowing it to connect to the giant tree and use the Sacred Tree’s blood as fuel.”
“…Ah?”
Freya’s first sentence completely stunned Eivass. “Isn’t that illegal?”
It was like… stealing electricity, wasn’t it?
A light-forged furnace sounded incredibly power-hungry, and Freya was directly using the Sacred Tree’s blood as fuel.
“No problem,” Freya stated confidently. “I specifically asked; the fifth ring is a research zone. I have an allocation… I’ve reduced the furnace’s operating power consumption, and it’s definitely operating stably below the maximum permissible limit.”
At this point, she became quite cheerful. The feeling even reminded Eivass of Yulia, who was also studying alchemy.
Could it be that all alchemists had this kind of style?
“With this light-forged furnace, I can automatically drive these ritual arrays without materials and supply energy to these devices uniformly. You don’t see any wires because I’ve hidden the power lines beneath the floor. When I need to change them, I just pry up the floor, and it’ll heal itself when I put it back down.”
Freya, excitedly, led Eivass to the large, brass-colored instrument.
It was about two and a half meters tall, with the control panel about at Eivass’s eye level. To operate it, Freya had even set up a box as a footrest.
She caressed the instrument, boasting, “I found this in the ruins on the sixth floor. It’s an ancient elven technology used to extract Sacred Tree blood to provide portable energy sources. I feel it can also be used to efficiently refine other liquids. I pulled in a lot of favors to get it.
“Once this thing runs, it can separate fifty liters of liquid on demand, isn’t that amazing! Many plant essences that are difficult to obtain elsewhere—like hyper-concentrated essential oils that require botanists of the Second or even Third Tier to produce—can be made with this, saving a lot of money. And there’s no need to use transmutation to separate and purify them layer by layer, saving a lot of time…”
“After you asked me to bring it down, how many times have you actually used it?” Master Janis grumbled from the side.
“Quite a few times,” Freya argued. “The main problem is that there isn’t a smaller version. It can extract fifty liters of liquid at once, but I usually only need a few milliliters.
“The extraction and purification efficiency of this single machine surpasses the combined efforts of three Third Tier botanists and three Second Tier alchemists working around the clock. This is definitely a good thing, I just can’t fully utilize its capabilities.”
“In my opinion, it’s useless; just get rid of it,” Janis quipped. “It takes up too much space and consumes too much energy—why do you keep it warmed up if you don’t use it?”
“You don’t understand. Once this ancient technology is completely shut down, it might not start up again. It took me about half a month to get it running when I first got it. It’s a technology phased out over two thousand years ago, and I doubt many elven craftsmen today would know how to repair it. Keeping it powered on is the way to extend its lifespan.”
Freya stopped pulling Eivass into the conversation and turned to discuss seriously with Janis. “Putting aside other things, if such a good item were to break down here… so even if I don’t use it much, I still need to maintain it. Anyway, it used Sacred Tree blood two thousand years ago, and the fuel is similar now; the operating environment is very stable.”
“Elven ruins?” Sherlock asked with some doubt. “Why would the Church have such things?”
“Oh.”
Freya turned back to Sherlock, her tone and attitude instantly turning cold.
In that moment, her demeanor reminded Eivass of the fake smile Professor Moriarty wore.
She pushed up her glasses and explained, “Because the Church wasn’t always the ‘Church’ from the beginning. Elves, unlike humans, possess adaptability across all Nine Great Paths, but they aren’t purely devoted beings.
“Besides the Path of Devotion, elves have strong adaptability to the Paths of Balance and Twilight. They also have a small amount of affinity for Beauty, Love, and Wisdom. This means that in their original form, elven society must have developed these three paths in balance—which implies that ancient elves must have been proficient in alchemy and necromancy. However, they later suddenly abandoned a large portion of their inheritance and moved towards a religious state centered on devotion.
“But the Twilight Path signifies inscription. Elves cannot destroy history; they can only set it aside. And this is the reason for the ruins on the sixth and seventh floors. They contain many abandoned inheritances and technologies. While they can be visited, generally, taking things from them is not permitted.”
…Necromancy?
Eivass, listening from the side, suddenly realized.
He had indeed forgotten about that.
Given the elves’ adaptability to the Paths of Balance and Twilight, under normal development, they should have developed a radiant alchemical civilization. They should also have been skilled in necromancy and Preservation Techniques.
Yet, in reality, around two thousand years ago, the elves abandoned almost all their technology and completely forsook the inheritance related to necromancy and Preservation Techniques…
In The Thirteenth Ring, many cultural specimens are preserved. Among them are numerous elven technologies that Eivass had never heard of.
…Come to think of it, many of the high-quality undergarments popular in the world now originated from elven craftsmanship.
That’s why that pure, soft, yet resilient Blessed Silk Cotton is called “Elven Silk.”
Besides stockings, there were also sleeves, undergarments, headwear, and ceremonial robes, all preserved as attire for high-ranking clergy. And with the alchemical technology of this era, it would be difficult to mass-produce clothing of this quality… not to mention that it had been popular since the Imperial era.
From this perspective, could human alchemy, necromancy, and Preservation Techniques actually have originated from elven inheritance?
Considering the ancient races of the same period—dwarves, giants, dragons, lizardmen, and snake people—none of them seemed particularly skilled in these areas. Even if these techniques were rediscovered, it’s likely that the elves, who lived longer and had greater adaptability, would have invented similar things.
While Eivass was contemplating this, Sherlock was pressing for an answer. “Then how did you manage to take it?”
“Me?”
Freya chuckled, but there was no joy in the fake smile on her face.
It was a fake smile similar to Professor Moriarty’s, in a way the complete opposite—Professor Moriarty’s fake smile was imperceptible. Only those with keen intuition could sense a hint of danger, whereas Freya’s smile made it obvious to anyone that she was not smiling at all.
“Because I offered the elves a price they couldn’t refuse.”
She replied with a smile, “I promised to use this device to research a cure for or even a way to reverse Amber Compaction Syndrome.”
“…Curing Amber Compaction Syndrome?” Lily couldn’t help but ask. “Can it really be done?”
“Of course. Who do you think I am?”
Freya looked at Lily, her smile becoming slightly more genuine.
She gently stroked her exceptionally soft golden hair and declared in an irrefutable tone, “I am Freya Moru, the one who defies life and death! I am the daughter of James Moriarty!
“Because I am a genius! I am a genius!”
(End of Chapter)
