Several hours earlier, while the Loki Familia was still deep within the Dungeon, Su Mo had already returned to his own Familia's home. Surprisingly, Hestia wasn't there. Given that shut-in goddess's usual lack of a social life, she was most likely visiting her friend, the goddess of flame and forge, Hephaestus. The two of them had a pretty close relationship. In fact, Hestia had previously freeloaded at Hephaestus's place, living off her hospitality. That was, until Hephaestus finally lost patience with her carefree, unemployed lifestyle and kicked her out, forcing Hestia to fend for herself. It was only then that she encountered Su Mo and established their Familia.
After acquiring his power within the Mist Space, Su Mo had already left certain safeguards in place on the little goddess. He wasn't particularly worried that she might encounter danger. Closing the door behind him, Su Mo carefully placed two large Philosopher's Stones onto the table. The crimson stones gleamed with a brilliance that resembled fresh blood. "At last, I can begin the next phase of my plan."
Gazing at the Philosopher's Stones with satisfaction, Su Mo reflected on the stark difference between worlds. In the Fullmetal Alchemist world, one would need to sacrifice countless human souls to obtain this much material. But here, in this world, only monsters needed to be consumed. It was almost too convenient. Now, he wondered just how far he could push the potential of these stones.
With everything prepared, Su Mo gathered up the Philosopher's Stones and closed his eyes, pressing his palms together. In the next instant, his consciousness entered a boundless space. Surrounding him was an endless void, and before him stood a colossal stone gate—the Gate of Truth. Its surface was engraved with the diagram of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, ancient and mysterious. Behind this gate lay the sum of all knowledge, all mysteries, and all power of this world. But nothing here came for free. One had to pay the proper price to obtain what they desired. Equivalent exchange—this was the fundamental principle of alchemy.
However, Su Mo's goal this time was not the Gate of Truth itself. Turning away from the gate, he focused on the massive orb of light quietly floating behind him. This glowing sphere was known by many names: Truth, The One, The All, God... It was the embodiment of the knowledge behind the Gate of Truth. In a sense, it was akin to the collective consciousnesses of Alaya or Gaia from other worlds, but even that didn't fully capture its essence. The Truth was more like a manifestation of the Root itself—a consciousness born from pure knowledge, unlike existences such as Akasha's Record.
"Technically, Truth shouldn't have a consciousness, right?" Su Mo mused, eyeing the orb with curiosity.
"I possess knowledge of consciousness, but no will of my own," the glowing orb vibrated slightly as it answered. "To some, I may appear as a humanoid; to others, as a book; to yet others, like you, as a sphere of light. None of these forms represent my true nature. My appearance merely conforms to the understanding and imagination of the one who stands before me."
Simply put, the light orb was just a projection, a construct born of Su Mo's subconscious. Truth itself was merely an aggregation of information, without form or sentience. But to interact with a being, a medium was necessary. For humans, that medium was language and form. If Su Mo were a machine, Truth might have appeared as a hard drive with data ports for direct interface. But since he was human, their communication defaulted to speech and symbols.
After hearing this, Su Mo nodded thoughtfully. "It seems that Truth manifests differently in every world." Compared to the emotionally detached orb before him, the Truth of Fullmetal Alchemist clearly carried a hint of sadistic malice. "To prevent human arrogance, it grants them proper despair—that is Truth," the being once said. It certainly didn't behave like an emotionless data archive.
To be honest, Su Mo actually preferred the emotionless version of Truth in this world over the eerie, sadistic one in Fullmetal Alchemist. Without further delay, he posed his first question. "How many Philosopher's Stones must be offered in exchange for the knowledge to refine them into a completed product?"
Out of caution, he phrased his inquiry indirectly, avoiding directly requesting the refinement knowledge itself. Instead, he asked what price the knowledge would require—a strategy to better control the risks involved.
The orb quickly responded, condensing into a fist-sized sphere to represent the necessary cost. A minute portion of the Philosopher's Stones in Su Mo's possession—no more than a few strands of hair in volume—was consumed in the process. The tiny loss didn't bother him. Once he confirmed that the price was acceptable, Su Mo immediately stated, "I wish to obtain the knowledge required to refine the Philosopher's Stones into their complete form."
"Understood."
The orb nodded. In the next moment, a fist-sized portion of the Philosopher's Stones in his hand vanished, and the Gate of Truth slowly creaked open. As Su Mo stepped into the pitch-black void behind the gate, torrents of knowledge about Philosopher's Stone refinement poured into his mind. After about half a minute, the gate closed, and Su Mo opened his eyes, fully digesting the newly acquired knowledge.
Without wasting any time, he began experimenting on the spot. Pressing his palms together, he activated a newly inscribed transmutation array. Before him, the previously unrefined Philosopher's Stones transformed, merging into flawless, crystalline gems. If the earlier stones were still incomplete prototypes, these were now fully perfected products.
Gems capable of granting joy in suffering, victory in battle, and resurrection to the dead. Previously, the stones could only offer the first two, but now even resurrection was within reach. They had become the ultimate panacea—an alchemist's greatest dream. While not as omnipotent as versions from certain other worlds, within the rules of this one, these were truly completed Philosopher's Stones.
"The first phase of my plan is complete," Su Mo smiled as he examined the perfect crystal in his hand. The Philosopher's Stone refinement array from the Fullmetal Alchemist world had its flaws—that much had already been established long ago during their early discussions.
The earlier versions of the Philosopher's Stones hadn't even been purified of the human souls and consciousness trapped inside. Naturally, such stones were crude and unstable products. To avoid falling into this trap, Su Mo and his other selves had already discussed this matter thoroughly and resolved to address it from the very beginning. Now, thanks to the knowledge recently acquired, that hidden danger was entirely eliminated. The Philosopher's Stones he held were converted into perfected products, completely devoid of any lingering consciousness. This was the foundation—the very first task that had to be completed.
With the Philosopher's Stones taken care of, Su Mo moved on to the next matter: power. In this world of Danmachi, an adventurer's strength originated from the Blessing of the Gods. The blessing wasn't so much a divine gift as it was a system that converted an adventurer's experiences into power, unlocking their human potential. Therefore, an adventurer's limit was ultimately the limit of humanity itself—completely independent of the gods' will.
Su Mo relied primarily on the battle experiences accumulated by his other selves from the God Slayer world and the Tiga world. Through their combat achievements, his adventurer abilities could steadily rise, so there was no need to rush on that front. But apart from an adventurer's power, there was another force in this world that couldn't be ignored—the power of the gods themselves. Although deities couldn't directly intervene, their divine power was very real. And it was this divine power that Su Mo coveted.
Take, for example, the goddess of the moon, Artemis, whose divine might could destroy entire worlds with a single arrow—Su Mo had been eyeing that power for a long time. But he had never been able to figure out a method to obtain it. Now, however, with the Philosopher's Stones in his possession, he could easily acquire the corresponding knowledge and learn how to absorb divine power. This way, not only could he avoid taking in Antares, but he could also save Artemis herself, preventing her rebirth in the heavens and sparing Hestia the heartache. And, of course, he'd gain Artemis's divine power in the process—a perfect threefold outcome.
The thought excited Su Mo, but he didn't let his eagerness cloud his caution. Instead, he remained steady and followed his usual safe approach. "How many Philosopher's Stones would it cost to obtain the knowledge on acquiring divine power?" he asked.
The glowing orb immediately provided an answer, transforming into a massive six-meter-tall pillar to represent the price. In other words, to learn how to absorb a god's authority, he would need to offer that enormous amount of Philosopher's Stones. The required quantity far exceeded what Su Mo currently possessed. Even getting this answer had consumed a full third of his remaining stones.
Realizing this, Su Mo patted his chest in relief. "Good thing I played it safe and didn't directly request the knowledge itself! Otherwise, I'd have had to dip into my trump cards just to survive the transaction."
He hadn't expected that even asking the question would cost so much. Thankfully, his caution had paid off. Otherwise, his current stock of Philosopher's Stones would have been insufficient. Of course, even if it came to that, Su Mo still had contingencies. The mana within his body—far surpassing that of any Dragon Vein—could be converted into Philosopher's Stones. Additionally, the spiritual power of Ultraman Tiga was also available to him. But unless absolutely necessary, he preferred not to touch those reserves. Having such backups allowed him to engage in these transactions with confidence.
Now he fully understood the gap between his ambitions and reality. Gazing at the towering pillar that symbolized the cost of the knowledge, then looking at the small quantity of stones remaining in his hand, Su Mo finally had an epiphany: "So this is it—money really does buy power."