"Alright, boy, follow my instructions! Alchemy is about altering or transmuting matter. That's why you needed this ability—it'll be essential for creating our new bodies. Biomancy doesn't cover certain possibilities we need, so the two complement each other. Still, there's one more ability we'll need for everything to work."
"I get it—they support each other. So, how can I put alchemy into practice?"
"Picture that living mass you learned to create before with biomancy. Once it's in your hand, imagine the bones transforming into iron, and the flesh gaining tentacle-like properties. It'll be practically living meat, hehe."
Following Ewan's instructions step by step, Langdon summoned a ball of flesh at the center of his chest. Soon, veins began to grow, cartilage formed, and then the bones. Once everything was ready, the transmutation process began—first the bones into iron, then the flesh gained the consistency of tentacles.
"Incredible, boy! You got it on your first try. I'm certain you have real talent for this kind of thing. Now, punch the ground again!"
Langdon punched the floor with the same force as before. A loud THUM echoed as the ground cracked even further. This time, the bones didn't break—but the flesh was still damaged.
"What are you waiting for, boy? Go on, imagine the tentacles stitching together. That way, the repair will be much more efficient."
"Alright... I'll try!"
Using the tentacular and elastic properties of the flesh, the damage was quickly reversed. But it wasn't free—30% of Langdon's stardust was consumed just for that. It was a relatively costly feat at this stage. Until now, Langdon hadn't been using his mana because he didn't know any magical attacks or martial arts that used stardust. He had only been attacking with the mist from his body and his transformation—neither of which consumed mana, since he was the mist itself.
Langdon exclaimed:
"Wow! That's amazing—but extremely inefficient. Damn, I thought this would go faster. I got the humanoid form, but it's still going to take time..."
"We still have a lot ahead of us, my boy. Using both abilities at once is too much for you right now. Don't get discouraged—biomancy has other uses. I'll teach you how to absorb mana faster using it, and how to condense it into stardust much more efficiently than before. Listen—normally, a stellar master gathers mana from the environment or from monster cores through the skin. That's because the core attracts mana inside it, storing it. From there, the core can pump mana through the body using the heart and mana channels. You get it?
But since you only have a core, you use just it to absorb mana. That's less efficient than someone whose body naturally absorbs and attracts it faster. When someone's said to have low talent, it means their physiology isn't great at absorption. The core does its job of attracting mana, but by itself, only a small amount gets in."
"I see... man, you really know a lot about cultivation—and you're an amazing teacher! Now I finally understand how it works. I used to think talent had to do with fate or luck or something, haha. So it's really about whether your body is receptive to stardust or not... Knowing that, how do you plan to help me?"
"I've thought of everything. You're going to recreate your heart and veins again—but you don't need the bones or any of that this time. Just sit down and cultivate. Use those organs to draw mana from the environment and carry it to your core. You'll see the difference! The mana gain will outweigh the cost of using biomancy. After you cultivate a bit, I'll teach you some basic magic. Sound good? Then start now!"
Impressed by the cleverness of the plan, Langdon put it into action. The speed really was much greater! After a few hours, he was at the end of the initial stage—almost at the intermediate stage of level two.
"I'll never get used to this feeling of progression! It's incredibly satisfying every time! You were right—it's nothing like before. If I had a core like the Monkey King's, I'd probably already be at the beginning of the final stage."
"Haha, didn't I tell you? I know exactly what I'm doing! Trust me and we'll go far, my friend. Oh, right—you wanted to learn some spells, didn't you? Then the first one I'll teach you is Ignition. It's the one I used on that dumb monkey. Nothing like a Bakuretsu Mahō to deal with wild beasts, hehehe."
"Awesome! I really do need to learn some—thanks! I've heard of Ignition, but wait... what was that? Bako... Bako-something Maru?"
Ewan couldn't hold back his laughter and burst out laughing.
"Hahehahahaha! It's something from my world, boy! Haha—never mind, you just gave me a genuine laugh trying to say that. It's been a while since I laughed like this..."
"Hmm... You say the weirdest things and then laugh when I mess up your nonsense? Whatever—just teach me the spells already, you strange old man."
Ewan then began the lesson on basic and intermediate magic, focusing on the ones most useful at the moment. Hours passed as they studied, taking short breaks to avoid exhaustion. After finishing the training, they looked around for anything else of value. They found nothing interesting—until they checked under a shelf and saw a large, dark bluish-green oval object.
"Hey, what's this??? Looks like a seed—but it doesn't show signs of life. And it's huge."
"Ah... yes, boy. That's a seed from the World Tree. Oh, damn... just when I thought we'd found something good, this shows up."
"A World Tree Seed!? What do you mean 'just'? That's amazing! How did you even get this?"
"Calm down, boy. It would be amazing—if the seed weren't in a dead state. Not even at my peak could I figure out how to use it. And if you're thinking of selling it, don't. First, they'll investigate you to find out how you got it. If they leak that info to the elves, they'll kill you for defiling their 'god'. But hey, if you want it, you can keep it. Who knows? Maybe we'll figure out how to use it on our journey. It could be really useful."
"Too good to be true... Oh well, I'll take the gift. A defective treasure is still better than nothing, right?"
Searching a bit more, they found some simple clothes and armor. Langdon began getting dressed, already thinking about leaving the place and moving forward.