Chapter 357 The Essence of Alchemy: Equivalent Exchange
In the past, Stellagosa's understanding of alchemy was relatively one-sided. She thought that alchemy was used to refine various potions.
Her understanding is not wrong, but it is indeed not comprehensive enough.
Various potions with different effects are indeed one of the hallmarks of alchemy, but they are only one of them.
Melia used to say this sentence proudly.
"Alchemy is one of the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the world. Theoretically, as long as there are enough resources, alchemy can create all things, even...people."
If intelligent arcane puppets are considered human beings, then Melia's boasting of "B" is really achieved.
But this is obviously not Melia's ultimate goal.
The preface on the first page of this introductory book written by Melia herself explains straight to the point the essence of alchemy - equivalent exchange.
No matter how alchemy transforms the form of matter, it must ultimately follow the principle of equivalent exchange.
It is impossible to transform 1 unit of resources into 2 units of something, but may be attenuated due to the conversion process.
Nothing can be conjured out of thin air.
For example, if Melia transformed a flower with her bare hands, she must have borrowed some material from the surrounding environment, which could be air or various free elements contained in the atmosphere.
Looking through these records on the bookshelf, Sarlayan and Stellagosa became more and more frightened.
Melia has been able to use magic-infused clays for alchemical transformation, shaping them into living flesh and blood.
But this has no real meaning, because the flesh and blood body she created lacks the most important thing in life.
soul.
This is also the reason why Melia has been concentrating on studying the core of arcane puppets in recent years. She wants to use the artificial intelligence program she compiled to replace human souls.
Judging from the scrawled notes in the book that clearly reveal the owner's irritability, the experiment did not go smoothly.
A program is always just a program, and has a lot to do with the real person's soul perception.
Although Melia is a research madman, she has her own bottom line and will not capture living people for in vivo experiments.
She selected many small animals to replace living people. Facts have proved that all animals in the world have souls, but there are differences in their intelligence.
"this……"
Stellagosa twitched her lips in horror: "If her research really yields results..."
Sarlayan shook his head: "It's not that easy."
"The body is easy to create, but the soul is difficult to find."
"Even the Titans can't guarantee that they know the nature of the soul. How can a mortal easily decipher the mystery?"
"This seems to be just the last step in the bottleneck, but it is likely that it will remain stuck until the day Meliya's life comes to an end."
What is the nature of the soul?
No one knows, but many people want answers.
The fundamental reason why the Great Thornspeaker Orfa got involved in the power of death, which is despised by the world, is to solve this ultimate problem that has plagued the entire universe for countless years.
'Wait a moment……'
Thinking of the Thornspeaker's power of life and death, an idea suddenly flashed in Sarlayan's mind.
'Equivalent exchange, conversion of life and death... If I study alchemy in depth, can I use it to uncover the mystery of life and death?'
Old Bear Orfa is more pragmatic. He does not directly study the mystery of the essence of the soul, but wants to solve the problem of life and death first.
Why are the natural lifespan limits of different races so different? Why do mortals have lifespan limits? Why is the length of lifespan inversely proportional to the fertility rate?
These are the secrets Orfa and Sarlayan want to uncover.
After the warrior level reached the bottleneck of level 49, he could no longer make progress in a short period of time. Sarlayan lost all his recently gained experience in the Druid profession.
He had a vague hunch that perhaps the Thornspeaker's professional template would be officially revealed when the druid level exceeded level 30 and became an elite.
"Found it!"
Melia, who was covered in dust, finally raised her head from the pile of books. In her hand, she held an ancient parchment scroll with a mottled skin.
"Um?"
Seeing the alchemy books that Sarlayan placed on the desk, Melia immediately jumped out of the stack of books with shining eyes.
"Oh oh oh oh! My dear little Sarlayan, are you finally interested in alchemy?"
"Uh~"
When Melia held her hand with excitement on her face, Sarlayan's face twitched.
"Don't be so excited, I'm just passing the time..."
"Stop saying anything!"
Fearing that Sarlayan would regret it, Melia quickly dug out a large pile of books from the bookshelf.
Taken together, these alchemy books ranging from shallow to deep can really be regarded as a journey from entry to death.
"Come! Just accept these books and study them when you have time."
"Right."
Melia suddenly remembered something and ran into the nearby warehouse, rummaging around for a while.
"Here, take it."
Sarlayan reached out to catch the cloth bag thrown by Melia. The fabric he picked up was very soft, and he knew it was high-end at first glance.
"Is this... a space package?"
"Um!"
Melia proudly put her hands on her hips: "This is the high-end space package that Xiaomi made last month using the magic rune cloth I transformed."
"You are still using the tattered one Julian gave you, right? It should have been replaced a long time ago, use this one!"
Space packages also differ in quality.
As Melia said, the space package Julian gave to Sarlayan was not a high-end product and could be bought as long as you had money.
Sharlayan knew who the "Little Mi" Melia was talking about was. Her real name was Melia Yanghen, and she was the leading tailor master in Quel'Thalas and even the entire Eastern Kingdom.
"...You are really willing to spend a lot of money to kidnap me to learn alchemy."
Melia waved her hand indifferently: "You can't say that, you should make the best use of everything."
"This thing will only eat dust if I leave it here. It's just for you to hold a little more stuff."
Sarlayan shook his head and laughed, and transferred all the contents of the old space package to the demonized rune cloth package in front of Melia.
"Okay, I'll accept it. I will study alchemy carefully when I have time."
"Yeah~"
Melia happily showed her thumbs up: "I believe you will be able to understand something useful for yourself from the profound alchemy...Here, these are the teleportation coordinates you want."
Melia spread the parchment on the table: "Because the structure of the magic network in Crystal Song Forest is too chaotic to record the spatial coordinates, the transfer point I chose is in Grizzly Bear Hills."
Even after thousands of years, Crystal Song Forest is still filled with a large amount of twisted and dangerous arcane energy. Opening the portal there rashly is simply seeking death.
Zul'Drak is the lair of the frost trolls, and Melia is not stupid, so there is no way she could record the coordinates there.
Originally, Melia planned to cross the Icecrown Glacier and go to the Titan Laboratory in the west of Northrend - Sholazar Basin to continue exploring.
However, due to changes in her plans, she returned to Quel'Thalas without completing her exploration plan.
The spatial coordinates recommended by Melia are located at Rock Spring in the west of Grizzly Hills, very close to Dragonblight.
"The Grizzly Hills are a relatively safe area in Northrend. There are many gentle and peace-loving furbolgs living there, as well as a small number of Drakkari frost giants who came from Zul'Drak in the north and tried to invade the territory of the furbolgs.
magic."
The hatred of trolls is an instinct engraved in the DNA of high elves. When the Drakkari trolls were mentioned, Melia had a look of disgust on her face and had no good impression of them.
"Trolls all over the world are like ghosts, barbaric, primitive, self-righteous, clinging to the glory of the past and unwilling to face reality."
Melia tapped the Zul'Drak area with her fingers and tapped it several times.
"If there is no compelling reason, do not enter this area and let those blue-skinned fanged monsters fend for themselves."
Sarlayan shrugged: "I don't have time to chat with the trolls. This trip should come and go in a hurry. I will patiently say goodbye to them next time I have the opportunity."
With the help of the endless magic power of the Sunwell, Melia easily opened the portal to Grizzly Bear Hills.
"Wear more clothes. The climate in Northrend is not as good as Eversong Forest, which is like spring all year round. Don't catch yourself a cold!"
As Sarlayan stepped through the portal, he waved with his back to Melia.
"I know, this is not my first day traveling."
"You should also pay attention to rest. Don't spend time on the test bench all day long. Remember to balance work with rest."
The portal closed, and Sarlayan, who had been acting cool just now, suddenly shrank into a ball and hurriedly took out clothes from the magic rune bag he had just acquired.
"Hiss! Although I have been mentally prepared for a long time, it is too damn cold!"