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chapter 213
I came to the school with the blonde woman who had been a spy infiltrating Oracle.
Then, we entered Kim Eun-yeon’s laboratory without hesitation.
“Ah… you’re here…?”
Kim Eun-yeon, the owner of the lab, was waiting for me. Whether she hadn’t left school yet or came back after receiving my message, I didn’t know.
“What about the materials I asked for?”
“I… told you, didn’t I…?”
“Really?”
The association staff in charge of Kim Eun-yeon was competent. If they were informed, the materials would be procured as quickly as possible. Even if it took some time to deliver, we could start with what we could do before they arrived.
“But… who is that person…?”
Kim Eun-yeon pointed at the blonde woman who had followed me.
Introduction…
“Hello, Alchemist Kim Eun-yeon. I’m Sophia, the one who asked Artist to create the cure this time.”
The woman herself spoke.
‘… Sophia… probably not her real name.’
Since she was a spy, I assumed she used an alias. For now, she had introduced herself as Sophia, so I decided to call her that.
“But… your arm…”
Kim Eun-yeon pointed out that Sophia was missing one arm. She must have realized it had been lost very recently.
“Ah, this…”
Sophia looked for words but seemed to have completely forgotten that her arm had been cut off. So, I decided to cover for her.
“Kim Eun-yeon, you saw the news about the zombie outbreak in the U.S., right?”
“Yeah…”
“Sophia got infected with that zombie virus. She had to amputate her arm before it was too late, which is why it’s like this.”
“Ah…”
Kim Eun-yeon looked at Sophia with a pitying expression.
“And Sophia escaped from the U.S. and came to me, asking to make a cure for the zombie virus.”
“… Zombie virus… cure?”
“Yes.”
Kim Eun-yeon’s expression became grave as she realized why I wanted to use her lab and what the materials I requested were for.
“… But… you don’t even have a virus sample… how do you plan to make a cure?”
“I received the virus sample and analyzed it. The cure has already been made and tested. All that remains is to mass-produce it.”
I showed her the cure that Sophia had brought. Seeing it, Kim Eun-yeon asked me,
“So, I… just assist you…?”
“Yes. Help me mass-produce the cure. And if there’s anything you can learn in the process, learn it.”
I planned to use not just alchemy but also sorcery while making the cure. Plus, my alchemy differed greatly from the traditional alchemists’ methods, so it would be a valuable experience for Kim Eun-yeon.
“Let’s do what we can before the materials arrive.”
“Okay…”
After saying that, I arranged the various tools in Kim Eun-yeon’s lab. I took out all the tools needed for making the cure and placed the bottles containing the completed cure.
… That was all.
The rest depended on the materials being delivered, so we had to wait for the association staff who went to purchase them.
“(Artist?)”
“Hmm?”
“(I want to talk for a moment.)”
Sophia spoke in English. I glanced at Kim Eun-yeon.
“I’ll wait here… go ahead and talk.”
“Alright. I’ll be quick.”
I excused myself to Kim Eun-yeon and left the lab with Sophia. Once the door closed, I erected a barrier so that no one else could hear our conversation.
“Soundproofing.”
Once the barrier was up, Sophia spoke.
“(Since we have some time, I’ll share information I learned while at Oracle headquarters.)”
… Indeed, this was useful to hear while waiting.
“(Recently, Oracle has split into two major factions.)”
“Huh? Split?”
“(Yes. At some point, Oracle began making prophecies more passively.)”
It was hard to understand why they split just from that. But her next words clarified it.
“(Seeing this, a hardline faction emerged, believing Oracle had lost its prophetic abilities and was useless. Of course, they didn’t rebel immediately, since Oracle was still the leader and they feared organizational collapse if it disappeared.)”
Oracle had lost its prophetic abilities… Whether it was truly lost or they were just being cautious due to future betrayal, it was useful information.
“(I call them the hardline faction because they believe all humans on Earth must be killed.)”
“(… Kill all humans on Earth? Wait, does that mean this zombie outbreak…?)”
“(Yes, this zombie outbreak was also planned by the hardline faction. They assumed humanity wouldn’t be able to cure the virus, so they planned to massacre everyone in Chicago.)”
… Oracle’s actions had always been problematic, but now they were openly trying to slaughter people.
“(But what is Oracle’s goal anyway? Even if the hardline faction is radical, not every member can be a psychopathic killer.)”
“(… The eradication of the Black Mist and the rebuilding of human civilization. That’s the only purpose I know. I’ve never heard how Oracle’s actions achieve that goal.)”
What?
A group kidnapping people to create doppelgangers claims their goal is the rebuilding of civilization?
Releasing a zombie virus and massacring people is supposed to rebuild human civilization?
I didn’t think Sophia was lying, but it was hard to believe.
“(Anyway… from now on, Oracle will act differently. Previously, they still killed people, but now the hardline faction will actively try to kill more.)”
I sighed and asked Sophia,
“(And the other faction?)”
“Huh?”
“(You said Oracle split into two. What about the other faction?)”
Since she spoke about the hardline faction first, I assumed the other faction was less threatening, though still problematic.
“(Ah, that’s nothing special. They’re more moderate compared to the hardline faction. Even so, they still believe humans on Earth must die. They just prefer not to kill directly and use the Black Mist or other organizations instead.)”
… That’s the “moderate” faction?
Are all Oracle members insane?
Sophia seemed to notice my thoughts.
“(At least at headquarters, all members are like that. Typically, skilled members are sent to lunar outposts, and only the insane ones are brought to headquarters.)”
Hmm… Not immediately useful information.
As I thought this, I sensed many people approaching. I signaled Sophia to stay quiet and dissolved the barrier.
“Ugh…! So many, varied spells…”
“Shh, let’s move quickly. I want to finish and rest.”
As the barrier dissolved, people who seemed like delivery personnel approached with various supplies. The materials for the zombie virus cure had arrived.
“Ah, Artist.”
The association staff in charge of Kim Eun-yeon had also arrived with the deliveries.
“This was ordered by Artist through Eun-yeon, right? Where should I take it?”
“To the lab.”
I opened the lab door. Kim Eun-yeon, holding her phone, had been waiting for us and looked up when the door opened.
“Eun-yeon, get ready.”
“Okay…”
The delivery personnel began stacking the boxes containing the cure materials in the lab. I opened the boxes and sorted the materials by type.
“Uh…?”
“Wow…”
Using void manipulation.
Sorting manually would take too long, but with void manipulation, I could move objects freely, like telekinesis, making sorting much faster.
‘… This one needs aging, this one has impurities, so I’ll burn the impurities with Sammae Refinement…’
I sped up the time for some materials using the Harmonious Art technique and burned impurities in others using Sammae Refinement.
“Uh… uh… uh…?”
Kim Eun-yeon’s eyes spun. She understood I was preparing materials for alchemy, but couldn’t comprehend the process.
“Forget it. You can’t do this.”
I had said she could learn, but this was beyond her abilities.
“Ah… okay…”
Not giving up completely. Maybe she could reproduce the process in her own way later.
“Do you know how to extract clean blood from monster meat?”
“Yes… it was on the certification exam.”
“Do it.”
I asked her to handle a simple task and began the work only I could do.
‘Oracle’s virus and cure are all imbued with sorcery.’
I was the only one who could perform the sorcery here. Luckily, the sorcery used in the cure wasn’t very difficult.
‘… How long will this take…’
Given the amount of cure to make, applying sorcery to every dose would take a long time.
‘No, that’s not the only problem.’
Even though the association staff brought as many materials as possible, I still couldn’t produce enough cure to save all the infected in Chicago. The supply was insufficient.
‘Like last time with the low-frequency device, I could upload the cure’s formula to the Awakener system…’
The low-frequency device could be made purely scientifically, but the zombie cure required a sorcerer. And greedy companies might hoard ingredients, so releasing the formula wasn’t ideal.
‘… Not impossible, though.’
I was replicating Oracle’s cure exactly. If that wasn’t enough…
‘We’ll need to improve it beyond simply mass-producing Oracle’s cure.’
We had to surpass Oracle’s sorcerers.
