Wizard Alchemist

Chapter 866 The Fifth Element (4-in-1)

Knowledge is constantly being updated, and the alchemists' understanding of the "fifth element" is somewhat like a shift from geocentrism to heliocentrism, or from the simple concept of a flat earth to various different cosmological models.

The fifth element in alchemy ( ) originally referred to "the pure essence hidden within all things, and the matter that constitutes the celestial bodies," and literally means "the fifth essence."

It is the fifth element besides "earth, wind, water, and fire," and is a subcategory of "source matter."

In classical times, it was often considered to be "ether," the substance that constitutes the spiritual essence of celestial bodies, souls, and all living beings, filling the void and being omnipresent.

Later spiritual doctrines gradually overturned this and shifted their focus to the fundamental existence of "Mana," the source of magic.

Next is "Star Antimony," a type of stellar core material that embodies energy.

Of course, this point was gradually overturned later, and it was even deleted at one point, as it was considered to be a hypothetical thing that did not exist.

It wasn't until the modernist period, when some alchemical schools borrowed a portion of the scientific framework of quantum mechanics and integrated the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire, that the concept of "source matter" was clearly defined, and it was finally reintroduced and unified.

Therefore, the textbook definition is: Earth, wind, water, fire, and the fifth element all belong to the same source matter.

To be more specific, it represents "others," encompassing intangible entities and concepts.

Roy returned from the technological dimension and happened to have read some books, so he knew that imaginary space and digital monsters were actually products guided by the "holographic universe theory".

By combining this "holographic" theory, he was able to vaguely understand the virtual body and the seed of concepts.

He didn't just stay in his apartment playing games all day; he read quite a few books, unlike what Grina thought of him as being idle and unproductive.

"One of the most important fundamental assumptions of holographic theory is that the local contains information about the whole."

Just like biological cells, a tiny fertilized egg can continuously grow and develop into a complete biological offspring.

This is holographic biology.

The source matter, as well as the seeds of concepts, theoretically contain holographic information. By deeply exploring their foundations, it is theoretically possible to create heaven and earth and all things, and to create everything in the entire universe.

Of course, this is an ideal ultimate goal, a miracle of "creation".

My current Fifth Element talent is limited to the in-depth application of abilities such as Conceptual Armament and Arcane Darkness.

Therefore, it does not yet possess the conditions to 'create everything' and can only be manifested through virtual entities or digital monsters.

It is actually related to the ability of "transformation between reality and illusion," as well as "holographic information," "constancy," and "projection avatars," among others.

With these points roughly clarified, it's not hard to connect them to hellish demons and abyssal monsters, as well as the projection principle of celestial beings onto the material plane.

These things may seem unrelated, but they all lead to the same result.

If there were any "ghost scholars" in this world of Katoplon, they might, based on some different but similar research, conclude that the essence of these evil spirits is some higher-dimensional projection containing the characteristics of laws.

While it cannot provide a comprehensive and realistic understanding like the world of high magic, it can still explain many fundamental things and can be considered a theory similar to classical mechanics.

"In any case, let's try to see how this talent is applied!"

Roy pondered for a moment, then summoned several of his subordinates from the shelter base to prepare the materials.

……

Soon after, in the secret room.

Roy dismissed the others and began to use his new talent, the Fifth Element, alone.

What he had prepared was a strange object the size of a backpack, shaped like a demon's skin.

It possesses a terrifying appearance that inspires awe in mortals; beneath its wrinkled, grayish-black skin lies an internal structure resembling a mouth.

Overall, it looks like a sandworm's mouth that has been cut off, leaving only the front part.

However, inside this "mouth" there were no sharp teeth or anything like that. Instead, there were tentacles about the thickness of a finger growing around the mouth.

What's particularly strange is that this "mouth" has obvious cracks distributed around it.

It's not hard to imagine that it can open like a flower petal, just like a carnivorous plant, and swallow a person whole in one gulp.

Despite being only the size of a backpack, clearly only capable of swallowing heads, it is still extremely threatening.

As the magical energy, imbued with white light, circulated, the "disasters" of this world, once corrupted by alien forces, were cleansed as if by pure water, releasing foul black smoke.

And that white magical energy quickly turned black.

But it's not just about turning black.

Roy watched closely with the Eye of Hermes.

Immediately, a unique golden light was drawn out from it and separated.

"Seed of Deception - Head-Hand Kill (Level 4)..."

The peculiar and unpredictable nature of this technique is triggered when it conforms to the conventional definition of "head-holding" (a "grappling" action) in the understanding of intelligent beings, resulting in a lethal judgment...

This judgment ignores willpower and physical strength..."

The wizarding world, having conquered various planes and worlds, had already come into contact with the realm of "trickery" and incorporated it into its system.

This means that such a special trigger switch, the power of "rule-based killing," can produce different magical effect judgments when specific conditions are met.

Here, Roy witnessed the deadly magical attack known as "Head-Holding Kill."

Although this judgment is only at level four, it ignores things that should be exempted, achieving an effect similar to true damage, which is a powerful feature.

"They actually extracted something!"

Roy was not surprised by this, because he already knew that this was a monster similar to a facehugger, and its laws and the patterns of its killing behavior were to be expected.

The next moment, he concentrated this power and actually tried to integrate it into his own hair-ghost witch body.

The jet-black hair, which already possessed many strange characteristics, billowed up like smoke.

Roy watched this scene quietly, not worried about exceeding its capacity.

After all, he had already seen with his own eyes that his hair was of an extremely high level, and its potential carrying capacity was definitely far greater than that of the power seed extracted from this small monster.

Sure enough, after a large clump of hair clashed violently in one area, the hair-ghost witch body began to accept and carry this thing, making it a new vessel.

******
"Having these eyes is really convenient..."

If it weren't for this, it would take a lot of effort just to determine the various characteristics, their respective levels, and their carrying limits.

Even if one's own knowledge is sufficient to support these judgments, it would still waste a lot of time and energy.

After a moment of reflection, Roy gently stroked his hair, feeling that although it looked unchanged on the outside, its internal state was completely different from when he drank the Thousand Potions Potion in the past.

The Thousand-Hair Potion he drank at the time was made by burning the hair of more than 10 kinds of demon god-level monsters one by one, or by treating it with [darkening] and [whitening].

Essentially, it's a similar process of extracting the remnants of demon gods and the seeds of laws.

But there is one thing.

Just like tying a stone to a stick, it's still an "axe".

Forged from bronze and meticulously polished, it is also called an "axe".

The magic metal is forged using advanced magic technology and formed into a single piece, which is also known as an "axe".

Products made from different materials and at different levels of technology can have vastly different effects.

In the past, when I was relatively weak, what I could obtain was far less than what I can get now.

Therefore, the total amount of source matter provided by those seemingly numerous and high-level demon-god level monsters is about the same as the "head-holding kill" we are currently using.

However, this also means that the strength of the Ghostly Witch Body, or rather, the upper limit of its power, can be doubled.

Powers: 15214/15214...

"I've finally reached around level four!"

Roy paused for a moment, then made up his mind.

He hadn't paid much attention to the advancement of this thing, but instead focused on creating slice clones and even transforming into a god.

This result is still acceptable.

But just then, he suddenly realized that the potential level of "Tricks' Darkness" was so high, and it could contain a whole bunch of messy laws without changing...

Does this mean that the differentiation and proliferation of hair can serve as a wonderful vessel to contain even more bizarre and strange creatures?
My past simplistic attribution of it to vampiric properties was too superficial.

Shortly after, Roy dealt with the contents of the secret room and then left.

The god of war, Kamulus, and others just returned.

Roy didn't pay much attention at first, but after looking around, he noticed that everyone looked rather serious, so he asked, "What happened?"

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that not all the people who had returned were there.

Several of the weaker subordinates, servants, and followers are no longer here.

A demigod said, "Lord Roy, we have encountered a strange enemy this time."

"Oh?"

"It may have come from the abyss, or perhaps it is a new species born from the fusion of demonic and abyssal power..."

As the demigod recounted his story, Roy gradually came to understand that it was a being capable of possessing people and granting them magical abilities similar to psychic powers.

Roy said thoughtfully, "I think I've heard of this before; it falls under the category of superpowers."

Kamurus nodded: "Have you noticed that this thing is very similar to the 'ghosts' of this world?"

Perhaps they are things of the same lineage, arriving at the same destination through different paths.

The difference is that ordinary anomalies originate from evil gods, outer gods, or the remnants of dead demon gods, and belong to the category of divine abominations.

These new types of beings capable of possession, whether demons or monsters, are essentially intelligent beings with significantly stronger agency.

The demigod said, "This time, we were all careless and were ambushed."

Roy said, "I see."

No wonder Kamurus looked so unhappy. It wasn't just that the outgoing team suffered a setback, but also that a new force had joined, causing the change in circumstances.

"These days, those devils or demons are getting more and more impolite..."

I've heard that tens of thousands of years ago, those great wizards rarely encountered such a thing.

Kamurus indeed complained.

Roy was also helpless after hearing this.

At that time, the universe was still largely untouched virgin territory. Even if there were external forces vying for control, they could easily avoid direct conflict.

As aggressive forces, everyone occupies a predator-like ecological niche, so it is naturally more advantageous to avoid direct confrontation.

Instead of fighting to the death in places that others have already taken, it's better to find more worlds with low to medium magic and plunder more resources.

Who has the time or inclination to fight to the death with you?
However, the situation is indeed very different now.

The indigenous world is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and their understanding of various forces is deepening.

People like Chief Kellon actually knew how to bring in various forces and manipulate the colonists.

The plane of Osis has also attracted the attention of several major forces vying for control.

There may be more violent conflicts in the future.

While Roy was pondering, Camurus summoned everyone to the mysterious temple to discuss the matter.

During this time, he depicted the images of the enemies he encountered and manifested them in the air as projections using his mental power.

Roy then realized that the other party was actually a disfigured, mummified corpse holding a giant syringe.

She was filthy, her clothes were tattered, and her face was disfigured, but from the remaining untouched parts, one could clearly see her curvaceous figure and the uniform of a hospital nurse.

"We call it the Syringe Demon. The weapons it possesses do not exist in reality and have no practical combat significance. It is suspected to be a kind of embodiment formed by the convergence of the beliefs and fears of all living beings."

Roy nodded secretly.

Having returned from his "study abroad" experience in the technological world, he knew that this fear of "injections," or more professionally known as "giving injections," has a specific term in psychology.

There are two main ones, with slightly different focuses.

One is needle phobia, which refers to an individual's significant and irrational fear of needles or injections.

When faced with or anticipating the need for an injection, it can trigger a strong anxiety response.

The second is acrophobia, which is a broader concept referring to the fear of any sharp object.

Many people who are afraid of injections actually have a combination of these two phobias.

The fear of one or two people is not enough to provide spiritual energy for such a devil or demon, but the convergence of many planes and worlds is enough to condense a physical entity in the outer plane.

Kamurus named it the Syringe Demon, probably because he sensed that the power within it leaned towards the chaotic and evil camp, and was more deeply influenced by the Abyss.

This is not within the main category of Tanari demons; it should be considered a special breed.

Sure enough, his subsequent explanation confirmed this, and he went on to explain that there was a "death by touch" rule, which also belonged to the category of strange and mysterious arts.

******
"Things have become complicated; developing this world is not so easy anymore."

After the meeting, Roy thought to himself.

As expected, in the following months, Kamurus and his group's hunting of native strongmen was repeatedly thwarted, and their resource collection speed also slowed down.

They even suffered a series of losses.

Moreover, in addition to the syringe demon, several similar demons have appeared in succession, which are called the butcher demon, the meat mountain demon, the scissors demon, and the club demon.

They are all aggregates of some kind of fear or violence, possibly related to the seventh level of hell, the prison of perpetrators, but more so to the abyss and various chaotic rules and characteristics.

Roy had encountered the traditional seventh-level lords before, such as the Bone Demon King, Osteron, and his ilk.

He must have been a tyrant or a warmonger in his previous life. After his soul was reborn in hell, he became an incarnation of a "tyrant," but he did not possess the characteristics of the rules in these realms of sorcery.

Therefore, they are fundamentally different.

Kamurus understood all of this, of course, but with his subordinates being attacked repeatedly and him rushing to put out the fires, he was also in a lot of trouble.

Those special species of demons possess the characteristic of being immortal and indestructible, and are repeatedly defeated, only to be resurrected and reborn.

In addition, the world itself possesses the greatest monstrous demon god, Katopron, which is indeed not so easy to deal with.

In mid-February of the new year, he summoned everyone, including Roy, and had to admit that the situation was getting out of control.

"It seems that the plan for the True God to dominate this place is going to fail."

Both Katopron and I are at the level of a sixth-level high god, and I lack the confidence to lead you to solve the problem here, so I've decided to give up for now...

However, this matter still needs to be voted on according to the charter.

"Please share your opinions."

"This one……"

The gods looked at each other in bewilderment.

"In that case, let's just forget about it."

"Let's hand over the teleportation anchor to the Seven Towers Alliance and see if any other great wizards are interested!"

“Sending ordinary wizards here to try their luck and discover new systems would be a great idea.”

"I also agree with giving up here; there's no need to fight to the death."

As Roy listened to the discussions, he began to ponder the matter.

Abandoning a certain world...

This is not something to be happy about, but it is also unavoidable.

It's impossible to be so lucky every time and easily defeat the natives. In fact, if it really came down to a fight to the death, the god of war, Kamulus, would never have been defeated so easily.

With the help of the other gods, we are still confident of victory.

But do the wizards really need to fight this tough battle?
Once you understand this problem, you can understand why Kamurus and others backed out.

"I agree too."

After a moment's thought, Roy also cast his vote.

And so, the decision was made.

Kamurus pondered for a moment and said, "There's another matter, which is choosing who to leave on guard duty..."

Giving up this place doesn't mean surrendering it. If there's an opportunity, such as the native strongmen dying of old age, or them fighting the foreign demons to a standstill, we can make a comeback.

Wizards are opportunists and have plenty of time to wait.

This is indeed a necessary arrangement.

Roy's heart stirred slightly, and he volunteered, "I'm new to the organization and haven't made any contributions yet, so let me do it."

Look at the awareness of this new god...

Kamurus looked approving.

But as a high priest, he also knew that Roy must have other motives: "What do you want?"

Roy said, "That immortal avatar from before..."

"Alright, I'll leave it to you to handle."

Kamurus found the terms acceptable and agreed.

Others had some reservations, but were generally accepting of it.

No matter how unconscious Katopron is, he is still a level six being. The risk of him staying here is actually quite high. Moreover, even if an ordinary great wizard cuts his soul to create an avatar, it will damage his foundation.

They didn't know that it was very convenient for Roy to do this.

Therefore, this was actually a gamble with the life of a "precious incarnation".

……

"Will the true god abandon the mirror world of Captopril?"

Wolf World.

Inside the Nehebur Wizard Tower.

Freya, Nisa, and the others soon learned of the situation.

"There's no way to chew it."

However, my new incarnation will remain there for the time being.

If possible, it could evolve into a level seven slice, or something like that...

That's not bad.

"So, should we continue to focus on conquering the Osis plane and advancing our own power?"

Nisha asked.

“That’s right. I have some new ideas now. Perhaps we can use a level 5 avatar to refine a high-level artificial demon god, and then use the power of the pillars to project and generate it.”

During this time, you can also take care of other miscellaneous tasks.

Roy nodded in agreement.

……

A few months later.

Alaj World.

The void of stars.

Roy's true form, a hazy golden light, floated near the celestial spirits that resembled a campfire.

At this point, because the world's will has become so accepting, the instinctive resistance that should have burned the soul has become very weak.

He easily probed into it with his spiritual will, like an invisible giant, manifesting a projection that covered half the sky.

"Ah, gods!"

"The gods have appeared!"

All living things on earth were shocked.

Their insignificant souls sensed the approach of an exceptionally magnificent and vast spiritual entity; the mere aura emanating from it inspired awe from the very core of their being.

However, Roy ignored them and simply gazed at the sky above the ocean.

Moments later, the entire sky began to distort, and the clouds seemed to be stirred by an invisible giant hand, forming a huge vortex.

A majestic city slowly emerged from the scene, its entire structure made of white jade, gleaming with a warm luster under the sunlight.

That was the floating city of Sumvich, built by the Mogis civilization and later excavated and rebuilt by Roy.

The next moment, the enormous city vanished into thin air, and they had entered the distant starry sky, inside the Alchemy God Kingdom.

"The divine realm can also contain matter..."

It could even be said that the total amount of matter contained determines the overall scale.

However, this will also dilute the 'atmosphere' of the divine realm, alter the concentration of spiritual energy, and even change the dimensional level!

At this moment, inside the divine kingdom, the fifth-level slice of the true god body responsible for receiving it clearly felt that its divine kingdom suddenly became "heavy".

The original spiritual and spiritual attributes quickly faded, and it "fell" directly from the dimensional level towards the inner layer.

This is a matter-of-fact aspect; the material attributes of the divine kingdom immediately surged in proportion.

******
"Lord Roy, star charts have been sent from various observatories, and after analysis, it is confirmed that the stars are indeed showing signs of dimming."

Churches across the region also reported that their perception of God's Kingdom was becoming increasingly vague.

Wolf World.

Inside the Nehebur Wizard Tower.

Freya reported to Roy.

"It seems that adding too much material at once will indeed drastically change the environment inside the entire divine kingdom."

This requires some time to settle and adjust the proportions.

Roy nodded upon hearing this.

However, all of this was expected.

He had received a divine oracle before doing this, instructing himself to "cultivate himself."

Furthermore, since each church was controlled by its own disciples and followers, overall stability was still maintained.

We can gradually adjust the spiritual ratio back to normal in the future.

After giving the instructions, Roy refocused his attention on the Kingdom of God.

At this moment, inside the Alchemy Kingdom, a scene indeed unfolded: a void bubble enveloping a floating island.

The overall image is now quite different.

"If there is an opportunity in the future, we can connect to the etheric space created by the Seed of Akasha again..."

Perhaps by combining the characteristics of the Root of the Divine Kingdom, we can create an alternative imaginary space.

That would put us on the border of the Dream World.

The phenomenon of planes bordering each other has both advantages and disadvantages.

Just like the Ethereal Plane, the Shadow Plane, and the Starry Sea, which are adjacent to almost all planes, the Dream Plane also has similar characteristics.

Most beings in most planes dream, their natural spirituality unconsciously emanating, achieving an effect similar to "astral projection."

If this is achieved, the interior of this alchemical kingdom will also have a certain degree of "convenient transportation".

Therefore, dreams themselves may become extraordinary, realizing ideas such as "Miracle Castle".

……

at the same time.

In the sanctuary of the world of Captoprón.

The monster awakens from its dream.

He had just deliberately gone into hibernation in order to concentrate on his work.

To avoid unconscious soul fluctuations attracting dream invasions and repeating the dark history of being taken advantage of by a certain lustful demon, the corresponding spiritual anchor was also set at the "Akasha World".

Now that he has awakened, he has withdrawn from it.

"Now I've truly become a time management master. With multiple time slots and alternating shifts, things won't be delayed."

He rose and went outside, where several divine servants and demigods who remained on duty bowed and said, "Lord Roy."

Now that Kamurus and the others have evacuated, Roy has volunteered to stay and continue to be in charge of logistics.

They also took on the important task of guarding the area.

This job doesn't offer much benefit, but it can serve as a platform for those in a privileged position to gain advantages.

Shortly after, Roy went to another room and found a lump of mud-like foreign object slowly wriggling there.

"Lord Roy, please come and take a look! This thing seems to be starting to revive!"

The True God Society subordinates who were observing there quickly spoke up.

This is the immortal avatar that Kamurus left behind as a reward for the quest, given to Roy.

Seeing this, Roy couldn't help but feel pleased.

"The 'Activation Technique' has worked. You can all leave now; I'll take care of the rest."

"Yes."

The True God's subordinates hurriedly went out.

Roy then used his alchemical talent to extract the Fifth Element and began attempting to transfer it.

It's still the same old routine, throwing everything at the ghost witch's body.

A seven-level carrier can hold six levels of seeds.

This can enhance the original characteristics of the Ghostly Witch Body to some extent.

This caused the power of the Ghostly Witch Body to surge dramatically, reaching a staggering 5.

Powers: 56841/56841
“Very good, it can already be called a high-quality witch artifact at the peak of level four.”

This system differs from the spiritual attribute value system of intelligent life, but it still has some reference value.

Roy stroked his increasingly dark and lustrous hair, secretly pleased with himself.

Moreover, besides the increase in power value, the greater benefit one gains is the increase in law characteristics.

This means that the abilities in the field of trickery, both offensively and defensively, have become much stronger.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.

Like the cry of a thousand birds, the entire sanctuary shook violently as if it had been hit by a cannon.

"Something terrible has happened, Lord Roy!"
Indigenous people...

The natives are attacking!

Roy frowned, casually dealt with the remaining remnants of the law in the flesh, and left the room.

……

"How's the situation?"

"It's not clear yet, but that attack just now should have taken effect."

At this moment, on the edge of the city.

On a small hillside.

Several team members, dressed in hunting attire and wearing trench coats, watched warily from afar.

Each person was well-trained and responsible for a different area, sharing their observations with each other.

After years of darkness and decline, this world gradually formed surviving human settlements organized into cities.

Every city that survived had a corresponding containment organization and armed force.

The extraordinary power in this world is the ability to control ghosts and monsters, or extraordinary treasures.

Such a number of people cannot be too large; they can only be organized into small teams.

Even Roy and the others couldn't immediately categorize these people using conventional levels, because even a mere level zero mortal could potentially unleash the power of laws and perform legendary-level trickery when on the verge of death.

Driven by that power, even demigods and true gods could be harmed.

Therefore, compared to a direct, face-to-face confrontation, intelligence and tactics have become the key factors.

Previously, Kamurus and his group swiftly conquered one of the cities, killing the top-tier warriors guarding it, and establishing themselves as warlords in this world.

This is similar to the practice of landing on a beachhead in some parts of the world and conquering a kingdom as a base.

But now, because of this strategic abandonment, they've finally been approached by someone.

The native strongmen weren't stupid either; they didn't let them wait for the opportunity to kill each other and suffer mutual destruction.

The first choice was to destroy the stronghold of this strange outsider.

"Out!"

Suddenly, one of the members exclaimed in alarm.

"That's not Kamurus, it's a guy I've never seen before!"

"He seems to be a teenager..."

"Abilities unknown, strength unknown..."

The mystery and power of the outsiders had already deeply impressed everyone present, and they instantly went into battle mode.

One of the female team members blew a whistle.

It was a bone whistle the size of a finger bone. With a sharp whistle, thousands of black shadows appeared like blades, attacking Roy like a storm.

But the next moment, nightmares raged, smoke and clouds shifted, and a huge, golden moon hung high in the sky, radiating its bright light.

Everyone present was startled.

"Uncanny Realm!"

"He really does control the Ghost Domain!"

"Just like those guys before, they're S-rank!"

(End of this chapter)