[Mia's POV: ]
[ "The time all of us have been waiting for has finally arrived, everyone! The end of what has started, the beginning of what would mark the end, the sixth and final round of the third day of the competition, as well as the last chance for all the great participants to show all that they have got!" ]
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"WOOOOHOOOOOO~!"
"GOGOGOGOGOGOGO!"
[ "That's right everyone! They are the last group of the great creators who have made it to the last round, to the final stage of this competition and also the ones who created the greatest last of items, potions, golems and artificial lifeforms like homunculus!
They are the nine great contestants who will, most likely, emerge as the victor of this year's competition as well as champions who will retain the titles of the greatest Alchemists OF THEM ALL…!" ]
He sure knew how to do these announcements. His reputation and decades of experience surely is are no exaggeration.
And his ways with the crowd were quite remarkable as well.
'He is good, as always…'
[ "So then, everyone! I know everyone already knows the last nine participants, however, it is my job to reintroduce them now that we are starting the final round!" ]
Thousands of people participated in this computation but only nine 'blocks' were chosen as the finalists of the cometation and, we were the only ones that were participating as a team.
[ "The first one, of course, the elder who has won this very cometation not once or twice, but twelve times in the last century! The elder and grandmaster that everyone knows about!
Master Öling!" ]
A dwarf elder that has been participating in this competition since they started doing it all those years ago.
And, it is said he was one of the first people to receive the titles of masters as well as grandmaster on this very grounds.
[ "The second, just like Elder Ôling, is known to all! However instead of her titles of master or grandmaster, people recognise her for her other unique title! The <Lady of Medicine and elixirs>, Master Petricia LaQ Laì!" ]
An old lady Elf that actually looked old, so one can guess from her looks alone how she must be a few hundred years old already.
'However, she is still freaking gorgeous and possesses that adult kind of beauty that those with some unique presence would love to be dominated by.'
But that was the second most attractive characteristic of hers.
'The first one, of course, is her unfathomably advanced medicine knowledge and her Elixir synthesis skills.'
She is so good at creating medicines that she is called the best Apothecary alive at the moment… at least, the known best one.
But she is very good at what she does. And it's going to be difficult going against her as well.
[ Third…" ]
The announcer was announcing the participants in detail but there was no need to pay attention to all that since there were only eight individuals and our team as the final participants.
'And aside from the two grandmasters, Lady Ëthereal, and us, there were also two more grandmasters and three masters who had made it to the final round.'
And among the other two grandmasters, one was an old human Mage who had recently been acknowledged as a grandmaster, and an Old Merperson lady that was perhaps the hottest ones among the participants… as well as one of the most dangerous ones.
'She was the noble of the only Empire of the Sea people, and, her speciality were homunculus. Ones that could be used in practical wars and ones that were visibly veryyyy intimidating from my perspective.'
Perhaps it might be a normal look from their perspective but I didn't quite like that look. But whatever…
'And the other three masters that had made it to the final round… well, I don't really feel we would lose to them if the fight was about who could give their all for their creation.'
The usual mentality of the Alchemists or any kind of creators was the biggest hurdle when it comes to a competition like this one where they have to show all they had if they wanted any chance of winning and create something that held all the essence of their talent, vision, and creativity.
They had the chance only if they could do this, and many masters as well as grandmasters participate in this competition exactly for pushing themselves to the point they have no choice but to squeeze out everything they were capable of.
'I know it isn't anything easy in any way… however, I also know I can do it if a miracle like the last round happens once again.'
And this time, I have an idea what I have to make as well.
"Listen up everyone…"
Sir announcer was doing his job while we were now in the final creation rooms, a place much more advanced than the one we used in the last round. A place that contained practically everything an alchemist could need to create any kind of alchemical product, or, well, anything that was even closely related to the alchemy.
'There were all kinds of artifacts and equipments present in this place, things that I don't think I will ever get to possess anytime soon, things that were so presceious that one could buy an entire estate, many a city in exchange of that.'
Not only were these things super advanced, they were one of a kind in this world and, every single one of them that were present in the rooms that the the nine participants were in right now, were handcrafted by the best craftsmen of this world over the past decades, and centuries.
'These artifacts and these rooms are one of the reasons there are always a limited number of participants in the last round each year, and just like how the number of last round participants haven't increased since a decade ago, there are times it stays the same for many, many decades.'
But we are some of the few that have the chance to use this one of a kind facility, these artefacts I might never get the chance to even touch in the future, and these… use these gorgeous materials I don't know much about, however I like.
"Yes captain."
"What are we going to do, captain? Do you have a plan this time as well?"
"Captain…"
"Shuuuu. Let me speak."
Many, no, most of the people that get to the final round of this cometation try to create the one thing that they had always wanted to create by using the facilities provided by Lakmer, or try to create the best work of their lives.
And I am going to do the same.
"Ball gave me an idea, so please applaud him first."
We had gathered around each other just like how we had been doing before the start of each round.
They were looking at me, just like they usually do, however, what I said just now was a first for them. And for me of course.
"I mean it, jeez. He gave me an idea."
-Clap. Clap. Clap.
They were staring at me blankly so I just started clapping my hands since I knew they weren't going to clap for our cute Ball who already had an embarrassed expression.
"Um… right."
-Clap! Clap! Clap!
They were confused, but they clapped, after me and some of them thanked him as well. Though they were still confused after doing that.
"Now, what do you all know about the phantoms and ghosts?"
They were confused by the sudden question as well; however, they answered it to the best of their abilities.
"So, what do you think it would be like to become something like those beings that aren't mortal or physical but just a packet of energy?"
"What…?"
"What do you mean captain?"
"Are you talking about becoming a ghost or something? Is that possible?"
"Technically, not for everyone. But, yes. I believe it is possible."
Ball was able to absorb all the matter and presence around him and thus only his energy remained of his existence which, of course, couldn't stay in the physical world and since it wasn't only his Soul that had remained of him, he was able to enter a unique realm not many are able to.
So, using that concept, the fact that there exists people who could separate their own souls from their bodies, and speculating that the Soul enters a separate world from the Shadow realm even after being a pure mass of energy, we can say that Matter and Energy have a close relationship with each other however, in this world, it is possible for them to exist completely separately.
'On that basis, it is also possible for a mortal being to enter the world that is not meant for them like Ball did, just like how the ghosts and phantoms are able to come over to this world, even though they aren't supposed to be here.'
We are talking about the soul, the mind, and the bodies in this context now, which exists in certain realms physically, mentally, and spiritually.
"So, ultimately, what if we are able to turn into a phantom that exists in a unique world? Or, what if a person could turn into a phantom or a ghost by some kind of external stimulus?"
What if I can make a potion that could allow someone, who is strong enough to handle the effects of the potion, to turn into a ghost like creature, something either separate from their physical body or something that has turned into a Spector completely?
'Doing it is possible since Ball was able to do something much much more difficult than simply turning into a Spector in this physical world.'
He entered that place without the authority to do so, so, if someone has the authority to separate their souls from their bodies already, what if they could do something like he did?
How crazy would that be now, hun?
Mortals being able to enter a world that was different from the world where pure souls existed?
"I… don't understand what you want to say, captain. But, how do we create this thing?"
They had many questions, but Ball was the only one that expressed what was on his mind.
"How do we create it?"
I looked at them, with an excited smile on my face, a bunch of ideas popping into my mind.
"Well, to create something like that, we will first have to find out if it is even possible to create something like this in the first place, hehehe."
This was a completely new concept that no one in the world had ever worked on according to my knowledge.
So, however much we find out, however close to the end product we could get with the resources and the time allocated to us, how ever much we are able to push ourselves in this moment, technically, it would be the first attempt anyone is doing anything like this.
'It was beyond human, or as a matter of fact mortal capabilities, which ultimately made this whole concept itself, a fun thing to play around with.'
I don't know where we will go once we start going on this direction, but that very 'unknown' of this path makes it much more exciting than any normal, safer, known route someone can take in a situation like this~!
Besides, alchemy isn't limited to end products anyway.
Concepts, theories, and equations are an inseparable part of this creative field.
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