The Greatest Genius Alchemist Of All Time Wants To Retire - Chapter 32 - Elzemi in Full Swing

TL: Xean || ED: SevenTails

“Welcome, both of you.”

With a lot of noise, Alice and Monica walked in.

I welcomed them as I held up the materials I’ve been studying. By the way, Rita hadn’t arrived yet, and we still had ten minutes before the end of the lunch break.

“P-please take care of us… Sensei.”

“Fufu~n! I’m coming for you! Sensei!”

“Ah, my pleasure to the both of you.”

Monica was quite frightened while Alice acted as usual. It seemed that Fii talked her into it and made her yield. I don’t mind it since we know each other, but Alice was somewhat reckless. I’m sure she’ll cause a lot of trouble.

Then, I quickly put away my materials and decided to introduce them.

“All right, everyone can come out now.”

Then the corn came out of the box that was on my desk. I’ve inspected them, and starting from No. 1 to No. 4, they all seemed to be in good health. It was the right choice to have Rita take care of them. Moreover, these guys have been strangely calm lately. The bullying on No. 2 has also stopped.

I wonder what kind of education Rita has given them…

「「「「…!」」」」

They all raised their hands as a sign of greeting. It was the first time they behaved like this. Rita might have been a genius after all.

“Wow… So this is a homunculus… It’s so cute…”

“Sensei! Is this really a homunculus?”

When Alice asked me that, I answered with a smug look on my face.

“Ah, that’s right! It incorporates the greatest achievement of my research, a fully independent artificial intelligence.”

“He~e… you’re really amazing. As expected, Sensei…?”

Alice poked and prodded No. 1 with her finger as she said this. In response, No. 1 did the same to her finger with its hand. It was a sight to behold. An encounter with the unknown. Both Alice and Monica were curiously interacting with them.

Then the door opened. As expected, it was Rita who came in.

“*Pant*… *pant*…  I’m safe, right?”

“Yeah… but, why are you in such a hurry?”

“Tada! I’ve heard two new people are coming, so I bought a cake! Let’s eat it later! I’ll put it in the fridge.”

“Oh… that’s very thoughtful of you.”

“Ah! Hmm, Monica-san and Alice-san, right? I am Rita Medis… It’s nice to meet you.” Rita bowed her head as she introduced herself. I was smiling as I watched the scene.

“Monica Dunn…! Nice, Nice to meet you! Rita-san!”

“I’m Alice Canovaria. It’s nice to meet you too, Rita.”

And then the three of them shook hands with each other in turn. My seminar was now three people. I felt like it was finally starting in full swing.

“Ah, Sensei. You’ll have the first order of business, won’t you? Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

Rita yelled 「Attention！」after clearing her throat.

What? What is she going to do?

“Attention! Roll call! One, two, three, four! Good! At ease!” Rita said with a very strong voice.

「「「Eh？」」」

All the corns straightened up and saluted after their numbers were called out. Once they were told ‘At ease’, they disbanded.

“Phew…”

Rita seemed to be satisfied after doing that.

Eh? What was that?

“That, Rita. What did you just do?”

“Eh? It’s teaching.”

“T-teaching?”

“Yes. Sensei put me in charge, so I did my best.”

“By the way… what did you use as a reference?”

“A military training book. There was no use reading books about growing vegetables, so I went with a book I had at home that looked like that. I’m glad it worked out… Everyone doesn’t act up like they used to anymore, right?”

“Y-Yeah. They don’t. So that’s why they’re so obedient…”

“Wowww. That’s amazing, Rita-san.”

“Tch, there’s an enemy here too…? Wait, no… or is she?”

Monica and Alice had their own reactions. Perhaps we should do some proper alchemy practice today.

With that in mind, we headed outside to the training grounds.

“Okay. So, today we’re going to do exercises.”

「「「Yes」」」

After having them change into comfortable clothes, we gathered at the training grounds. It’s good to do research indoors, but it was also important to understand the theory with your own body. We were going to start training seriously today.

“Then… Let’s start with Monica as she’s probably the best of the bunch, so please set as a model.”

“Yes. So, what do I have to do?”

“Hmm. Make a pillar of ice. A very thin one. It should be up to head-height.”

“I understand, Sensei.”

After hearing my words, Monica put her right hand in front of her and started to concentrate.

She started forming ice from her feet, stretching upward and becoming thinner as it went up.

“It’s done.”

What remained was an ice pillar with no signs of shaking. As expected of a Platinum-level Alchemist. Her speed and accuracy are of a very high standard. It is probably the result of hard work that she can do it so accurately without an alchemy formation.

“… This is pretty good. However, couldn’t you have made it thinner?”

“… I figured if I went any further, it would probably fall apart.”

“… I see.”

I lightly swiped my right hand and cast the same thing as Monica. Mine, however, was even thinner. It was so thin that you couldn’t even see it from a distance.

“… wow, that’s amazing, Sensei.”

“I’m not saying that you should aim for this level, but by doing so, you’ll gradually improve your accuracy. It’s also for future battles in the labyrinth.”

“Yes!!!”

To be frank, I didn’t have that much to teach Monica. So, I decided to let her practice on her own.

“Sensei. What about me? What should I do?”

“Alice, can you cast alchemy without a formation?”

“Hmm. Just simple ones… unlike Monica.”

“What about Rita?”

“I can some thanks to Sensei.”

“Then, why don’t you two do the same training as Monica?”

「「Yes!!」」

Then, both of them started to concentrate.

Practice is the foundation of everything. The three elements necessary for alchemy are a clear mental image, the First Quality Prima Materia, and magic power. If these three are not properly balanced, a tall, thin pillar of ice like what Monica did cannot be created.

If the mental image is not correct, the pillar will collapse, and if the Prima Materia isn’t correctly handled, the pillar would collapse. It was a product that can only be created by achieving a delicate balance.

If one wants to live as an alchemist in the future, they better cultivate this sense of balance early while they still can. That’s what I thought, so I decided to assign these practices to the three of them.

“Mmmm…”

Rita had good instincts, or rather, she was probably the most talented of the bunch. Her growth since I started teaching her has been extraordinary. She’s probably already close to Platinum-level.

She was still trying her best to create a pillar of ice, though her speed was slow, she’s getting there.

“Hmmm… Mmm…”

For better or worse, Alice was normal. Even though her resistance skills are already on the same level as mine, it seemed to be hard for her to cast alchemy without formation. Only a small ice pillar stood before her. She struggled in various ways, but I didn’t think that the ice would grow any taller.

“Alice, how do you feel?”

“It’s hard to get… the right balance. If I think about casting without an alchemy formation, the balance is even more…”

“… You think I’m a big believer in alchemy without formation, but that’s not strictly true.”

“Eh?”

“I mean that, on an unconscious level, the alchemy formation is formed. After all, alchemists are inextricably linked to alchemy no matter how deep they go. It’s not visible, but it’s embedded in the process. I’m just making it look like I’m doing alchemy without the formation. Well, there’s no need to go into specifics, but that’s what I mean.”

“I see… Then, it’s okay if I can do the whole process of alchemy unconsciously?”

“That’s right. If you can do that, then it’s just a matter of balancing the three. However, the next step is difficult. It’ll take a lot of practice to get to my or Fii’s level.”

“… I understand. I’ll do my best!”

“That’s the spirit.”

We practiced for about an hour and then broke up. I used to think that I didn’t care about this stuff and that I should just concentrate on crops, but it’s not so bad after all. Now that I think about it, nurturing successors was also an important mission. After selling my crops to the world, I wonder if I should also raise legitimate successors… As I was returning home thinking about this, Fii came running by as usual.

She’s still as busy as ever.

“Fii, what’s up?”

“I’ve got some top-secret information!”

“About what?”

“Leif Allan is in the Imperial City right now. Tomorrow is a holiday, right? Let’s go to the Imperial City. It’s a rare opportunity to hear the story from a labyrinth conqueror!”

“Hmm… that’s true. I’ve been stuck with the labyrinth research myself. It’s perfect timing.”

“Then, we’ll leave early tomorrow morning. Let’s take Monica with us.”

“Hm? Ah… since the three of us are conquering it together. That’ll be good.”

“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

After saying that, Fii went back to the academy. I’m sure she still has work to do.

And this was how we ended up heading to the Imperial City.